Information is power!

Whew! Classroom 2.0 has quite a bite of information.   Initially, it was too much, but I remembered to scan and then selectly read.  I did not join the community, but noticed Jerrie’s picture. I can see where this is a great resource professionally.  What I like most is the access to a plethora of resources.  There was a lady presenting at a conference and ask for more teachers to share their podcasts developed by their students and to present at a conference.  She not only received what she ask for, but also received detailed instructions on the projects.

This would be advantageous for students becasue they are getting input from others.   They not only get resources from their teachers, but from other teachers around the world!

I was able to locate some very interesting feeds and although I know that I do not have to read every feed, I find myself reading most of my feeds out of interest not obligation.  The most interesting feed I read was from the Google Reader Team.  They have given us a few presents for the Holidays such as a hot meter to determine how “hot” a feed is.  

I also learned that Burger King is introducing a new fragrance called “Flame”.     I can’t say that I would be attracted to a scent that smells like the whoppper, but it will be interesting to see who does buy it.

What a wonderful time to be a student of any age.  Pageflakes is an awesome virtual one stop shop.  You can have the things that interest you at your finger tips.  I initially had a problem copying the template, but I was amazed how easy it was when I read the instructions properly.

I also viewed other pagecasts. I found a Spanish pagecast to compliment my coffee break Spanish.  Thanks for introducing me to pageflakes. This is another resource I will share with my teachers.

I can see my teachers and I using pageflakes to introduce a topic to others, for personal interest and finally for personal enrichment.

jar

Google documents are yet another social networking tool.  I like that a document will can be viewed by several contributors This is a great tool in that my teachers can use as members of the SST team or School Improvement team.  Students can work on an assignment and their teacher can grad vitually.

The program will also be an asset for collaborating with people who do not have the Office suite.

You can find more than you ever imagined on You Tube.  I searched for videos on Camtasia for my professional choices, I selected how to use a neti pot as my things I wanted to know , and finally I found this funny video about a guy who finds a beautiful girl sleeping on a plane and emails his friends pictures of what looks like the girl sleeping against him until his buddy calls and wakes the girl.   Check out the guys response by clicking on the link below.  Talk about humor crossing language barriers, it’s a French commercial!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6Cuq-BueEs

I definitely can understand the need for Teacher Tube as I am sure that You Tube would eventually be blocked by even the most liberal IT department in a school system.  It is also nice not have to filter through the massive number of resources contained in You Tube for educational resources.

I decided to use del.ici.ous to identify bookmarks on the Big6 and Super 3 research tools.  I like the Big6 and Super 3 because students are taught to critically think their way through a problem.  For example, step one involves identifying the problem.  In step two one learns to note what information resources are available to solve or another the problem.  The systematic approach concludes with step 6 which requires the student to not only evaluate the product, but the process involved.

Please find links  to my delicious below:

http://delicious.com/judith.robinson

Podcasts are an awesome way to entertain and or educate.    I viewed several, but decided to subscribe to coffeebreak spanish and daily french.  CCSD purchased Rosetta Stone to assist students learning of foregin language; however, Rosetta Stone required that the user have access to the CCSD server. 

I own a 8 GB MP3 player and love to be able to not only listen to music, but to be track my workout specs such as calories burned, distance walked, pace,  and workout histories and totals by using my Nike Sport Kit.  This was the best gift I purchased as while ago.

I have used podcasts to educate.  I created a poetry podcast to  promote April as poetry month.

I have gone to heaven! Library Thing is long over due.  It gives me the opportunity to have my own  personalized “amazon.com” style site.  I love that I can catalog my personal library. I also like the fact that I can find titles to read over the break. I just started the J.D. Robb death series which solves futurist crimes.  I thought that had listened to all of the books when I had only read half of the series. 

I also  the Zeitgeist Overview it provided me a great list of authors from which to choose for additional readings. in the talk area I liked the Green Dragons suggestions for airport reading.  I read the Outlander series and agree that Claire and Jamie get you through any airport stay  and keep you occupied the entire flight. Professionally, I like the YA Lit.  There were recommendations for Foster Children.  I thought that was a great contribution and the recommendations were made by everyone from social workers to Foster care parents.

This would also be a great site to preview teacher book club titles.

One of my favorite feeds is “History is Elementary” although the information given can be used at all academic levels.  One thing I learned that was interesting was about ” Beach Red”.  Beach Red  is on the Tawara Island is better known as “Bloody Tarawar” because of the the more than one thousand American Soldiers died there and more than thousand soldiers were wounded.

What I found interesting and horrifying was not that it is believed that the opening shots of the movie “Saving Private Ryan” were supposedly based on the landing at Beach Red, but that in addition to the garbage that clutters Beach Red are the remains of over seventy two thousand American servicemen whose remains were not identified by the Governments 1946 investigation.  Those soldiers are still classified as MIA as their remains  lie where the soldiers fell.