11 Tools - Tool #4

I have alwasy hated having several copies of documents thrown around the server and never knowing which one was the most accurate. I LOVE LOVE the idea of Google docs and think it is essential in the upper grades. Unfortunately, don't see how much use I can get from it with my students since I do not have access to student computers, but I can definitely see how it can make my life better. As far as the Google Reader, I like the idea of condensing all my sites into one location. I tend to hop from page to page so it would save lots of time.

11 Tools - Tool #5

So I already new about del.icio.us so I decided to join Diingo. Pretty cool!!! Makes things SO much easier to go through and narrows down the options better than a simple google search. I added SFSKids which is an interactive website sponsored by the San Francisco Symphony. It has games and activities perfect for my elementary kids. I also checked out Songs for Teaching which is a good resource to provide classroom teachers with songs that can support their lessons. I always like to have a resource of songs available to support the core subjects. I used the tags "music education", "elementary music", "songs for elementary". This would be great when I am in the computer lab and I give the kids the link to my diingo account so they can have access to all the music information, games, and sites that they might even be able to use at home on their personal computer.

For some reason, this site is not allowing me to post a direct link using the "insert link" button so here are the addresses to both sites mentioned above:

www.sfskids.org/templates/home.asp?pageid=1
www.diigo.com/user/tbkmadre?domain=www.songsforteaching.com

11 Tools - #3

I love to use visuals in my classroom for all aspects of my teaching. I try to teach to the whole learner and for me as a child, I remember how seeing posters or pictures that supported the lesson helped me tremendously. These were easy to create and fun too!

11 Tools - Tool #2

1. What are your thoughts about building an online education community and participating in a PLN? Personally, I suck at keeping up with anything let alone a blog, but I am willing to give it a try. I like the idea of being able to bounce ideas off other colleagues as well as get some suggestions from the comfort of my laptop. Also, I have always sought out better ideas or innovative ways to teach things in my classroom and a PLN would be ideal to help in that situation.
2. What point stood out to you from the commenting advice? Keeping things "open" to encourage response and interaction.
3. What five blogs did you select for your comments?
Bacon's Bunch Blog Page, Beverly the Diva, places we will go, SarahQ, Songbird55

11 Tools - Tool #1

I had trouble remembering my login and password for my blog since being a mother of three young boys doesn't quite allow you much time to update a blog (but apparently, I have enough time to update my Facebook status, but that's another story). Looking forward to what 11 Tools can teach me.

Thing #23

Perhaps you may be wondering about the title...my mother had always told me that a lady does not leave the house without lipstick and earrings.

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I absolutely loved Photo Story and can see how easy it would be to create a music video project for my kids. I think they could take their own pictures that would coincide with the lyrics in a song, then easily place them in the storyline, upload the song and Voila!!!

2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
I did not know how much organized and advanced certain areas of the internet were!!! I mean, I was stuck in the basic googling for information and jumping from one website to another to find information, but I really like the idea of organizing my websites for searches as well as having access from other computers. This course will greatly affect the way I organize my internet information

3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
Not really! I don't think that there was anything unexpected as my librarian had already filled me in on all the cool things that Library2Play would teach me. I will say that it has completely given me a creative drive to incorporate different technology into my classroom that I hadn't really thought of previously.

4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
Yikes!! I'm not very critical of the way this program was formatted. I enjoyed the flow and I truly enjoyed all the information and directions as well as the helpful "how to" videos you embedded into each Thing when necessary.


5. If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
Without a doubt, YES!!! In fact, I am going to have to revisit this site over and over to increase and further my understanding and expertise on the things I learned. I want to become an expert on many of the "things"!!!


6. How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities?
Magnetic!!! (I loved learning and didn't want to stop!)

Now go and comment on some of the other Players' blogs:
Well, first, I am going to go back to Thing #21 and figure out how in the world to show my video that I am so proud of!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thing #22

Did not find much use for Ning partly due to the fact that they had only one posting for Music Education and it was actually a Physical Education lesson plan. I visited the general teacher's website and discovered that there would be many benefits to using this site as a networking tool and a sharing place for regular ed teachers. Unfortunately, the only use I would be able to get would be from basic classroom management or general ideas for the classroom.

I am not close-minded to not visit again. I will wait for a while until more teachers have discovered this site.