Summary

This has been a lot of fun. I have learned so many new things and have gotten better at using some of the things that I was already familiar with. I would definitely take another class if it was offered. I just would not commit myself to so many other projects at the same time. The format for this class was perfect for me. I like being introduced to the topic, given a few examples, and then being able to explore, discover and learn things on my own using hands on activities. I have always learned much better and retained more by doing.

Learning about technology is a way of playing for me, so yes I have actually enjoyed this class. One of my favorite things was being creative with all of the fun generators. This is going to really be useful when I am making things for the choir. I am also excited about consolidated all of my different calendars into one online calendar and now that I have all of my bookmarks organized, I am so grateful to have Delicious in my life. I do however need to delete some of my RSS Readers, there is absolutely no way I can read everything that I have subscribed to. Once again I got a little carried away. I do plan on communicating with the parents of my choir students using some of the things we have been taught. I have just got to decide which way is the best way for dispersing information. Should I use a Blog, Wiki, or Google docs? Ohhh my, so much to decide!!

Thing #23

Beyond MySpace

I took a lot of time doing this last thing an honestly I think I am just tired and in information overload. I did see a few things on the Ning network that I feel will be beneficial to me in the future in the music classroom.There is a forum for music teachers called Music Techie Teachers. There was some discussion on using Audacity and Garage Band. These are both tools that I use in the classroom and for choir. I also look at the General Music Co-op I found a good board display on rhythm and some lessons that I would like to try. I decided not to join any forum right now. I will continue to monitor some of them and when I want to post something then I will join.

Thing #22

Exploring Social Networking

I have been a member on Facebook for about a year. It was a lot of fun first. I connected with friends that I went to high school and college with. However it didn't take long before it became more than I wanted to manage. I was getting messages from people requesting friends, I was receiving all of the little gadgets that Facebook offers for fun like flowers, drinks, and gifts and I was being poked by people that I have never heard of. I just have more important things to do in the real world with friends that I am seeing face to face.
It is my opinion that Facebook is not appropriate for school use at any age. You do not have enough control over who can access your page. I know teachers need to be aware of what is available to our students but we don't have to participate or promote those things. I recently addressed the subject of My Space with the heads of our Technology Department. They also felt that there were better ways to reach out to our students. We have used many tools during this class that I think would be much better to use.

Thing #7b

Google Reading

I recently read an article from the chicagotribune.com. The article wsa titled Oscar Mayer dies: What other products were named for real people? The legendary Oscar Mayer died on Monday, at the age of 95. At the time of his death, Mr. Myers was residing in a Wisconsin nursing home. The fact that Oscar Meyers was a real person, was the inspiration behind this article. What other famous food names are real people? Betty Crocker, Jennie-O, Orville Redenbacher, Ben & Jerry's, Mrs. Fields and many more. It is a very interesting and entertaining article to read.

I guess we always have our teacher thinking caps on, because even while reading this article I was thinking that this would be a fun research lesson for kids. There so many ways that this could be extended.

Thing #21

Google's not just for searching

I have been subscribing to Google for many years but I have never taken the time to learn about all of the different tools that it has to offer. This and others classes that I have taken, have made me take the time to familiarize myself more with the different things that you can do with Google. I recently took a Picasa class and I really like using it. However it is still fairly new to Mac and there are a few bugs that need to be addressed. But I have recommended it to a couple of my PC friends. As I stated in an earlier post, Google docs is a very good tool, I use YouTube and Google video to find clips for enrichment at work, Google maps directs me where I need to travel and being the shopper that I am I know every way possible to pay for goods on the internet and Google checkout is becoming as popular as PayPal. I played with the Google earth tool a little in the past. I don't know that I have any use for it personally but I can see how it could be used in the classroom.

During my exploring I played with the Google SketchUp. It was fun but it will take a little practice to learn how to manipulate the pencil. I also like the calendar. I am going to compare it to the 30 Boxes calendar to see which one will work the best for me. I did find a picture that I want to use on Google images, it said that it might be copyrighted but it did not give any other information.

Google has definitely become more prominent over the last few years. As I stated earlier, I have been using Google for a while, but I realized how popular it has become when my mother, who never even turns on the computer , made the statement "Why don't you just google it." :-)

Thing #20

Google Docs

Google Docs is one of the best things that I have ever used. I use it all the time for work. I send home a lot of letters to parents and usually I create them at home. With Google Docs I can access them when I get to school and make any revisions that are necessary. I have also used Google Docs to gather information from teachers. Before I started using them I would ask the teachers to email me the information and then I would enter it into a spreadsheet. After I started using the form feature, they entered in their information and it went directly into the spreadsheet. Of course I did have problems getting a few teachers to enter information this way, but for most it was very easy.

Thing #19

Voicethread

I really like the idea of using voice threads although I have never used one myself. Whenever I hear a recording of myself talking I always sound like Southern Texas Hick. I can see how this would be very useful in the classroom. Children always want to share their opinion and there is never enough time. Using voice threads gives everyone an opportunity to share. I think that I would use it more for personal use. This is a great way to add narration to photos when sharing them with family and friends and to get their reactions.