Thing 21

I have been following some friends, family and John Quincy Adams from 1809-1810 so far. I am still not sure how I like it. I've never posted before, just followed a few others. Mostly, I don't check twitter. I am more likely to check my Facebook page than my twitter account. I know more people on Facebook and besides John Q's line a day diary, I haven't found anyone that I want to keep up on through Twitter. I guess maybe I need to look a little harder?

Thing 20.1

Bonus Material...

I checked into Scribd and found some really great documents. I love new recipes, so I was quick to click on this recipe book. Who doesn't like Mac and Cheese?
25 Mac & Cheese Recipes by Gooseberry Patch I am creating a family recipe book. I think this is a great way to share it when I am finished.

Thing 20

Slide Share is an amazing site. I wish I would have known about it a year ago when I was using more presentations in the classroom. This year I haven't been using as many since the age of kids in the ASLC is younger. I was also excited to see that OpenOffice presentations were able to be uploaded. We use NeoOffice at home and it was difficult to create a presentation at home and bring it to ASH to use with my kids. I browsed through a number of presentations and really thought that this one was well made and interesting:

What is Social Media?

View more presentations from Marta Kagan.

I created a project last year for the ASLC where we learned about and then created mosaics. At the time, I used a PowerPoint presentation to teach what a mosaic is. I found the following presentation on SlideShare that would have really been nice last year. It has great picture examples of various mosaics.

Pippa Murray Mosaics - Sausalito, CA

View more presentations from PippaMurrayMosaics.

Thing 19

I explored a few of the podcast directories, but found it just made more sense to use iTunes. Since I have a Mac and an iPod, it was easier to download and sync my iTunes with my iPod. I have listened to podcasts before about various topics. During my searching this time, I found Grading Michigan Schools, an interesting collection of podcasts documenting all kinds of learning and education around Michigan. I found a few other interesting podcasts and subscribed to a few, so yes, I think I'll be listening to more of them soon. Thanks!

Thing 18

I chose option 1 because although I had signed up for PBWorks, back when it was PBWiki, I have never actually used it. I added my favorite restaurants and animals to the site. It was very easy to use and I was really impressed with it. I can imagine all kinds of uses for a wiki. And with the ease of use it's not something that others have to really 'learn' to use. It's pretty simple. I would love to do a project with the kids in the ASLC where we use a wiki to collaborate on something. We are currently learning about science with James from the Cranbrook Science Center. It would be great to do a project with the kids to bring together some key points from our science days with Mr. James. Now to put something together!

Thing 17

I heard of and played around a little with wiki's a few years ago. I haven't really had the opportunity to use them in the classroom. My husband loves Wikipedia, which I also think is a great tool, but you have to be careful how much credit you give an article in it. I mean it's written by everyday people. The information may or may not be accurate at the time you read it. I think that is a really important point about Wiki's when teaching them to children. A friend of mine is a college professor and he can't stand it when his students use Wikipedia as a source. It isn't a credible source of information when it comes down to it.

On the other hand, Wiki's are great ways to collaborate on creating a project, like with the Kindergarten Counting Book. It's not only cute; it's an incredibly useful and an amazing project. I can also see Wiki's really useful for organizations. Back in my days volunteering with Amnesty International, I think a Wiki would really have come in handy in posting a document and having people be able to change it, add to it, etc.

I think in general, the education Wiki's seem to be for small groups to have privileges versus the other Wiki's, like Wikipedia, where almost anyone can post. Also, I've seen blogs related to events, like conferences, etc., I think posting a Wiki and letting everyone comment would be a lot more useful.

Thing 16.1

I wanted to take this opportunity to jazz up my blog. As a reminder, here is what my blog used to look like.

And you can see what it looks like now. I went to Shabby Blogs and added some decor. Enjoy!