Shauna Fisher

For our debate in class this week we had to take a pro or con stance on free tools on the internet for educational use. I was on the con side and man, is it difficult to find someone to say something bad about something that is free. We all know what budgets are and we all look for ways to do things on the cheap and there are a TON of free apps, games, and lesson plans on the Internet. I could spend a day listing them and still not get through most. I subscribe to a blog that is called Free Technology for Teachers that is dedicated to free stuff for us educators. Free doesn't = terrible.

But I do stand by what I said on Edmondo. You get what you pay for, most of the time. There are very nice, very usable tools out there that are worth the money. In the free category you have a lot of junk to sift through to find the gems, but they do exist! I'm not going to go through and put any on my blog today because I know if you Google search for free you will have more than enough to choose from.

I do think about the programs my old school paid for and how useful they were compared to the free stuff out there. Education City was one that our school paid for- it was nice because you could look up the benchmarks for GA and it would show the games aligned with them. I could set up my classroom and generate reports and assign homework. It was nice when the kids wanted to just "play around" in the computer lab because they are games, but they did have a learning goal. I believe that was money well spent.

Bailey watching my sis play Timez Attack

We also had a subscription to BrainPop. I think by now every teacher knows about this site and all the good it does for kids of all ages. There are free videos available but I know I used the quizzes and book suggestions quite a bit and BrainPop Jr. was great for the younger kids. Well worth the money invested.

Timez Attack is another game that you can start for free but our school decided it was worth buying. I've even suggested this game to my sister and friends as a fun way of brushing up on their facts. Again, playing a game so it doesn't seem like learning, even though it is. And it can generate a report card, AND it customizes itself for each child while they play.

So, yes, I do believe that is worth districts putting in a little bit of money to buy useful subscriptions or technology tools. Research should be done first before any money is invested to make sure they are getting what they are paying for- something that promotes educational advancement.

This doesn't discount the free. Enjoy the free. Use the free. Share the good free you find. But make sure it is useful toward your end goal. Don't just use it because it's free.

Photo from langwitches on Flickr

What a week! Every person I know from a different state chose this week to come visit. I have been to the zoo with friends from Georgia, I have spent the 4th with my uncle from Tennessee and my sister from Georgia, and finally today is the big day my cousin from California is having her wedding/baby shower.

It rained the whole time we were at the zoo. Smart orangutan.

I have been busy, busy, busy and its been nearly impossible to spend the amount of time I would like on my PowerPoint presentation for this week. Still, in the end, I think it ended up being rather cute.

My first obstacle in creating the PP was figuring out if I could make an actual PP or if it was just a "slide show." Everything I've looked at on Slideshare is a slide show, which is not what I consider PP to be. When I create a PP, animations for reveals are a big part. A slide show just shows a whole slide, one right after another. Therefore, I had to change my thinking about how I was going to present this project.

Then I had to pick a topic. I tend to lean toward math because it is my favorite or science because it can be easier to find things so I wanted to challenge myself a bit by doing something for ELA. I landed on grammar because it lends itself to a slideshow. And what is more basic for all students to know that nouns and verbs? Initially I had ideas for adjective and adverbs as well but my time got cut short so I focused in on the two biggies. It does make me want to work on an additional slide show, however, on those two things, the "ads" as I call them.

Making the slideshow wasn't overly difficult. But I will say that making it a slideshow and not a PP was work for my brain. I had to think about the whole project in a different light than what I would typically do for a PP. I had to make it simple, clean, and effective without the bells and whistles I associate with my normal PP presentations.

At first I was not happy to use Slideshare. But in the end, I will say it made me think about the bare basics of what I wanted to get across and how to effectively relay what I was teaching in a concise, logical manner. It was really a challenge and I like what I ended up with.

That being said, PowerPoint is still one of my favorite programs to use. I love the bells and whistles, even the subtle ones.

So I guess, in my opinion, one isn't better than the other. They are just different. And that's ok.

Cat caught editing a wiki! Pic curtsey of Dan

The two current book chapters are about using blogs in the classroom and RSS feeds. I am coming around to RSS feeds but I'm still not entirely convinced they are the be-all, end-all that the book claims. I can see the usefulness, don't get me wrong, but I don't know that I'm a person that would use one on a daily basis. That might change if I get a classroom. I'm open to it, lets put it that way.

Image curtsey of Cortega9

I've been doing some research on blogs in classrooms. They do seem to be the trend of the future. I'd have to agree with Brenda Dyck when she says that it might just be the thing to get kids interested in reading and writing again. I like how she points out that it provides an audience, some one besides a teacher reading their work. I think that is something we try to teach to young kids- write to an audience...but what does that mean really? The kids think, my teacher is going to read this so they write to the teacher. Having blog writing means they have an opportunity to really 'get' that they are writing to more than just a teacher. It brings that 'audience' part alive. Her article also shows how the student can get quick feed back and the feedback can keep the discussion going. Really using the top of Bloom's Taxonomy in this use of a blog.

This article by Will Richardson has some other good potential ideas and reasons why blogging AND RSS feeds are useful. Using RSS to subscribe to the kid's blogs is an obvious use but having parents subscribe is an added bonus- they can subscribe not only to the classroom weblog for homework and updates but their student's page to see what they are contributing to class.

And I went to look on Will's page...it's the author of our book for the class. Well who woulda saw that coming?

He is now one of my new favorite people (there is not a mention of blogs but he has a lot of good things to say):


In his article here he has 3 suggestions as starting points for teachers becoming what he calls "connected educators."

1. Thinning the walls of the classroom- having class room participation be more than just 'in the building.' This means collaboration outside the classroom- easy to do with blogs. 
2. Talking to strangers- I thought this was an odd one, especially in light of our discussion on Internet filtering and safety, but as he points out talking to strangers means "teaching them how to find, vet and learn with people they don't know..." Teaching students how to interact on the Internet- again it is there, we need to teach them how to use it. The fun behind this idea is that of pen pals from another state or country. I know one of my classmates is thinking about doing that with her students. I think that's a great way to make safe connections and teach kids how to Interact on the web.
3. Be transparent- basically this means modelling correct behavior and sharing our lives with others. Be a blogger if you expect your students to be bloggers. Show them how its done.

I think this coincides a lot with what was read in the current chapters of our book. All this research has just made me more excited to get integrating and now I've found a new (apparently not new to the community but new to me) voice that I respect.

I had no idea what Google Reader was. In all honesty I am not a fan of the company of Google and it's practices but I do use it products because they are the best. Google, to me, has the best search engine and I really like using Google docs. I have a Google+ account because of my classes mainly but I don't really use all the features because I am not a social networking type person. I have a Facebook but I rarely use it other than to see how my friends in GA are doing and to see pics of my friend's kids (and to occasionally share pics of my dogs, as I have no kids). In honesty, I am not interested in what people are doing every second of every day. This is why I have avoided Twitter. I don't think I need to be that plugged into every one else's business and people don't need to know that much about me.

This is all for social purposes. Do I see the advantages for educational and school purposes- yes. My classes have taught me a bit about how I can use these things I have dismissed previously and use them to my advantage. Although I am still slightly upset I have to have an active Twitter account. It is not my favorite program. I'm just being honest here.

Back to my original topic: Google Reader. As I had no idea what it was I Google searched it and, ironically, looked at the Wikipedia page to garner an idea on what it was. As I have added all my classmates blogs to the Feedly thing I had to download for this class, I get the general idea of what it is and the Wikipedia page just confirmed it. Basically if I think something is important I can link it up or "subscribe" to it via Feedly and then just check that page to see if any of my pages have updates. I can sort things with tags and if I was one of those people that spent tons of time searching around on the Internet, I could see how it would be very useful. I can definitely see the merits of it for this class and for school purposes.

Will I use it in my daily life? Probably not. Can I see how it will be useful to others? Of course. It's just not something I see myself using.

Now Google Reader is going bu-bye. Why do I think that is? Well from what I know from the briefest of research that involved mostly Wikipedia (it has it's uses) my guess is that people stopped using it because they kept trying to update it to the point that users didn't recognize it any more. They do this with Facebook and emails. The interface is fine, there are no issues, but suddenly there's an update and my buttons aren't there anymore, I can't figure out how to upload a picture to where I want, and  my user settings are all jumbled- and I can't find WHERE to fix them! I think the companies believe they are making things "easier" when really, we are creatures of habit and we just want things to stay the way they are. I think Google updated itself out of a program.

Have we all learned to deal with Facebook's interface updates? Yes. Could we all adapt to Google's shiny, new interfaces? Yes. But when you have other programs that do the same thing, sometimes the competition kills you. Feedly looks like it's almost the exact same thing and I figured out how to use it in less than 90 seconds. I don't know how easy or hard Google Reader is/was but maybe Feedly just won this race? Or maybe Google just has 10,000 other things to worry about and a Reader is low priority, which is kind of what Google's explanation is. I don't know if we'll ever get a straight answer to that. It's all going to be speculation in the end.

Does it make sense to use an RSS reader? I suppose if you follow a lot of blogs it does. I will say I have gone this long without ever even knowing what was one or using one and I consider myself pretty computer savvy. But then, I'm not a social media junkie so I think I am outside the norm. I think they have their place, RSS apps, I just don't think it's something everyone needs. Or wants.

I wonder if Google has a stake Feedly?

For class we had to watch the video (I will embed it at the bottom for my own future reference) Do Schools Kill Creativity? I was pleasantly surprised by the video. It articulated things that I have often thought but never vocalized. It had me looking up other lectures from the speaker including this one which where the video below gets some of its information. He's a great speaker and has many valid points.

There were two aspects of the video that really resonated with me. I have actually discussed them with friends and family quite a bit in the last week and it has sparked some interesting conversations.

I think the biggest thing I took away from the video is that education needs to change and evolve to meet today's standards. I love that he pointed out kids are bombarded at home by media- TVs, handheld games, computers, Xbox, iPhones, iPods...they are always surrounded by technology and its allure. It's something that is happening whether we like it or not. We can be, personally, against throwing all these things at our kids but in the end it doesn't matter. It's happening. It's not changing and it's not going back. So we have to accept it.

This means utilizing the technology tools we have at our disposal to keep the kids engaged. Robinson points out that we are still teaching kids the same way we did 100 years ago- stand in front of a chalkboard and talk at them. In today's society that's not the way kids function. Some students will still do well with this method but most are used to a much faster pace of information coming at them. Education needs to come into the 21st century.

Technology also needs to be utilized well. Having a student type their paper in word and play a few games isn't going to be effective in teaching regular subjects or technology. Those things have their place but if that is the only way you are using technology you're doing it wrong. There are so many other ways to integrate technology seamlessly into what you are already doing as a teacher and this makes in more engaging for the "now" generation. We as teachers need to embrace technology, not be afraid of it.

The second thing that really spoke to me was the undervaluing of the arts. As a dancer growing up and with a talented artist sister, I know how undervalued these things are. Dance was never considered as much of anything by my peers though I spent four nights and half my Saturdays at the studio either learning or teaching; more when it was close to performance time. Yet the girls at school who did cheerleading, basketball, and other sports were considered more athletic and using their time more wisely.  My sister is talented at art but it was never fostered within her because it wasn't something she would ever be able to make money at. I know she regets the lack of time spent and practice she could have had at drawing and becoming better at it. She now struggles because she is not a math ace or a science wiz so she is undervalued in our current society. This is wrong. It doesn't mean she's not smart, she's just not your typical "do well on tests" smart.

This undervaluing of the arts is frustrating because not only is it true but to change it would be to change society. I know there are movements of people trying to preserve the arts but I wonder how much that helps. Arts continually get the shaft in budget cuts. It's a big mountain to try and surmount, changing society's attitude toward the arts. Is it possible?





Edited for grammar

So today I attempted to read chapters 1 and 3 in the textbook. As it was a beautiful, sunny, slightly breezy day I decided to read the chapters outside with my dogs. This worked well for all of 10 minutes. Mia couldn't get comfortable. She sat on one side of me, then the other side of me, then began licking my face, and finally ended up in my lap. 40 pounds of dog in your lap does not make for a comfortable reading position. I managed to make it through chapter one before giving up and coming back inside to finish chapter three.

My thoughts: Chapter 1 has an interesting perspective that I hadn't previously thought about. The Internet obviously gives us lots of content to look (read) at but I never thought of it as a way that gives us the opportunity to write. Which is silly because I comment and blog and Facebook so of course I'm writing to the Internet-verse but I never thought of it as a collaboration tool. I guess what I'm saying is I never realized just how powerful that opportunity to write was. It's one of the many things I'm learning about in these courses- not just about how to use the technology tools, because I already know most of that. Really, these courses are teaching me how to utilize what I know in powerful and meaningful ways. Despite the dog in my lap licking my nose the first chapter made a pretty big impact on me.

The 3rd chapter was about using Blogger which I knew most of. The funny thing is, most of that is outdated, at least the parts telling you how to use Blogger. Blogger has updated it's system and I am not positive that it was for the better. I think the old system was easier, but then again that could just be me. Regardless, the main idea is to create a blog and maintain it and figure out how it works; you can't expect your kids to do something if you can't do it yourself.

I don't have a problem with that. I have a blog that no one but myself and my family read but I still try to write in it every week. As an aspiring author I have read blogs by many published authors who say WRITE WRITE WRITE every day, even if it's just an email or a blog post. So I have been trying to do that with my blog. Therefore, Blogger is nothing new to me.

I do like the idea of having a blog for each student. Kidblog would be a great tool for the classroom. I watched a video recently where the teacher would let the students blog some of their more exceptional work which I think could be great motivation for the students to do their best on assignments. I also watched a quick video about middle school kids blogging and they liked that it brought the classroom together as a community and they were able to express themselves.

I always express myself better in words. Online classes are great for me because this is how I communicate best- with writing. I am sure there are other kids out there who are the same and this blogging thing will be great for them to learn and grow in the best way possible.