Thing 23!!!! Ning & Classroom 2.0

Classroom 2.0

Wow! I found tons of things of interest -- the most important being the beginner / how to sites. I did join Classroom 2.0, the Beginner 2.0 Group, subscribed to a new feed: delicious/MrBrown4b/edtech because he had lots of "how to" information. Under "Forum" I read some discussions about converting YouTube to show at school (I have had that problem in the past). Some suggestions were: http://www.zamzar.com/, skype, http://www.kickyoutube.com/, http://www.schooltube.com/, http://vixy.net/. Which of these would work best with MISD?

Under Tags I looked at blogging sites as I want to blog with my students this year. I found a 5th grade blog that I really liked for an example. The teacher used the Rock Star/my space slideshow to make the title, mydragonblog.com, really cool. All the students belonged to the classroom family "dragons" and all had an alias dragon name. We are going to be the Jitterbugs next year, so we could have alias Jitterbug names too (probably a good idea for privacy w/students). This blog had all the parts I was thinking about. I am going to look at some more 4th-5th grade blog sites for examples before I launch this missle. I also read some other interesting discussions about reasons to blog: 1) authentic audience -- the students aren't just writing for a grade, but have an audience that will comment back, plus the connections between the kids will get them hooked; 2, talking to oneself online v. true collaboration--which is what I've felt at times, but one has to start somewhere; and 3) ground rules and behavior expectations for blogging. On the member tab I looked at Steve Hargadon's because I kept seeing his name, well he founded 2.0, had lots of helpful links. Under Latest Activity I found more about the YouTube conversions, plus a discussion thread about Voicethread which I still want to learn more about. I couldn't make a recording on my pc and need to figure it out. I liked the video: How to Start a Blog by Steve Hargadon because once school starts and I actually set out to do this, I may need the baby steps again.



Ning

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I joined the "Teaching Critical Thinking" facebook group from the link posted. Our new TAKS tests will be shorter, but more rigorous, and will require our students to actually THINK!

23Things is an exceptional class and well worth the time this summer! I can't wait to implement blogging in my classroom! Thanks!