Thing #17

I selected two podcasts, Teachers Teaching Teachers and The Tech Teachers. Honestly, I'm not too fond of the podcast. It's like listening to talk radio and I get "bored" too quickly. I thought The Tech Teachers might be interesting but it took too long to get to the information. They do a lot of conversational chit-chat before they get to the real information. They are a husband and wife team of teachers and its the same as listening to their dinner conversation.

Thing #16

I love to read and am a member to an online book club. I would love to participate in a bookclub. The Library Thing is a close second to a participating in a book club. I can create a list of my books, talk about the books I've read or want to read, and find recommendations of books to add to my list. I took the tour, joined, and started creating a list of my books. This will take some time to learn all of the details but I can see a lot of potential and fun discussions. I often want to discuss a book's ending with other readers. This site will let me do just that.

In my Tech classroom, I don't see a use for this site. However, the reading classes or English classes should be able to incorporate this site into their lessons, Check it out, especially in you are a reader.

Thing #15

I played around with Delicious and added a few people to my network. This is a site that I think I would use a lot once I know a little more. It would be nice to have all of my bookmarked sites in one place. Currently, each computer has a list of bookmarked sites. If I'm at a different computer I may not remember my bookmarked sites. Most of my bookmarked sites or personal or bill paying sites so I'm not sure I would want to share them. Again, something new I've learned with a lot of potential. I need more time!

Thing #7A/B

I have two items I want to share. The first is from Technology Tidbits: Thoughts of a Cyber Hero, Top 25 Sites of 2010. Obviously this is a list of the author's favorite websites. They are all sites recommended for educators and students. Go check it out, you might find something useful for your classroom. This blogger also has a post on Top 10 Sites for Creating Tests and Quizzes.

There's another blog that really interested me. It's not a recent post but the information is timely. It's about Character Education and is written by J. Steve Miller. He provides resources for teachers of life skills and character education, and shouldn't that be all of us to some extent. My plan is to use some of his celebrity stories about character as warm-ups in my classroom. He does offer a complete program with Lesson Plans and worksheets for a small subscription fee.

Thing #14

These are some fun tools that could take up my entire evening. So I limited myself to two tools, Wordle and Blabberize. I think my students would like Wordle because they love to write their name (as long as its not on an assignment) and the names of their friends. This would also be one way to get the students to add words to a word wall.

Blabberize is so much fun. My granddaughter isn't old enough to talk but tonight she told me she's excited about coming to see me. I'm her favorite person!

I plan to create a list of these free sites for my students. They will be fun, learning sites for the "what do I do now?" times.

Thing #13 - Flower Mosaic

Hi! It's been a while but I'm back and I'm going to finish this class. Here's my Flower Mosaic made from my favorite flower pictures on Flickr. This was easy to make and I will use it again. I used Mosaic Maker.

It was as simple as selecting flowers and adding them to my Favorites. Mosaic Maker takes you step-by-step through the process. Upload your own photos and make a mosaic...its fun.

I think my students will enjoy using this website. They could bring their pictures from home or select a subject and locate pictures. I like the fact that Mosaic Maker automatically creates a list of photo credits.

This was created with Image Chef. Select the photo frame and upload your picture. How easy is that!

1. Flowers, 2. Mac Flower 142 Wild tiny flower from Drigg's dunes 02-05-2009, 3. Wild Flowers, 4. Wild Flowers, 5. Wild flower., 6. Neckles Of Wild Flower, 7. FLOWER in NARAN,PAKISTAN, 8. Small yellow wild flower ( Buttercup), 9. wild flowers II, 10. ~ Wild Flowers ~, 11. A mixture of lovely flowers, 12. Flower / Pink Flower / Pink Lotus Flower Macro: IMG_4931, 13. Open for business, 14. White Flower, 15. wild flowers, 16. Pink Flower, Oxalis Weed Macro

Thing #12 - Slideshow

Yeah, I made the slide show. Really, it was very easy. I've made DVD's for family reunions with my mother's old pictures. This was much easier, of course it's a lot shorter too. I took my slide show's name from my Wiki page; Sun, Sand, & Technology. I added Kindles to represent reading and technology and the beach pictures. I hope you enjoy it. The music is a little loud but it fit so perfectly, Summer Sunshine by Amy Powers.

Okay, I'm not too happy with the results. It said the pictures were too small and I think the resolution is wrong because many of the pictures are not clear. Next time I will use a different site.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com

Photo credits:

1. Kindling by andyi.
2. Time for a tour by mode.
3. Young girl on the beach by State Library and Archives of Florida.
4. South Beach Staten Island by U. S. National Archives.
5. Autumn Swell by midlander1231.
6. Reading a Kindle by AGeekMom.
7. What...no surfers! by midlander1231.
8. Stuck together by mode.
9. Time to jump by mode.
10. Friends posing on Kirra Beach by State Library of Queensland, Australia.
11. The Place You Have Come by mode.
12. Sand Key Beach, Clearwater, FL by Vladimir Illich.