K-12 Learning blog

This was not a worthwhile conference. Either the whole video did not load, or it was incomplete. All this one had was an introduction on the topic to be covered, and then it ended.

Embedding was not as hard as I had thought, but I did have my PreK sidekick sitting beside me guiding the way. I found a slideshow of some cute dogs!

View my link

This is a quick and easy way to find every day real life pictures when needed to show my students. Often they are unfamiliar with some of the cartoon-type drawings on worksheets or in stories, and it would be great to use fiickr to show them real life examples. It is also a great site to download and share personal photos.  I was unable to view the help video to insert photo via link, so I put my picture on as a link.

The photo link

Photo by: nyominx

I will enjoy using the CC for images rather than Google for images and clip art. I think the stories that were created with slide shows were wonderful. I think it would be fun to concentrate on a book like The Very Hungry Caterpillarfor a few days with your class, and share the book, and then the slide shows with students. They could vote on the version they liked best. I think they would enjoy the different versions, and would not tire so easily if you were to read and reread the same book for the entire week.

I teach PreK and although they amaze me on the computer, I do not see me using a wiki in the classroom. I could use it for the parents to complete additional activities with their child for enrichment or review.

I can also see wiki’s helping other teachers when teaching a unit. I would love to have a wiki as organized as the Dr. Seuss wiki for other subjects/themes. Wow! What a lot of resources.

The Dr. Seuss wiki was wonderful! I would love to use it if I taught older children (Kindergarten makes a big deal about Dr. Seuss’ b-day at my school, and PreK does not because we don’t want to take away from their celebration.)

Before I read Vicki’s wiki, I was thinking about the many ways wiki’s would be helpful for children when they were studying for a test. I remember copying notes and writing them for myself and others- now it would be easy to share with an entire class vs. one or two. I can see how this would help students prepare for their test or assignment, because as they are typing, they are thinking about the material and reflecting on other students’ ideas. I wish this had been around to help me in middle and high school!

I enjoyed the Kindergarten counting book wiki. That was a great idea. What a great idea to get young children involved. I can see doing something like that in my classroom… I just haven’t figured out what! Some of the pictures were too dark to see- but it was a great idea.

I also liked the thousands Project. It was neat to see who had answered their questions. I can see 5th graders really getting excited about geography when working on this wiki. It was well organized.

Schools in the past was another wiki I viewed. I liked the questions and answers- but it said that they interviewed grandparents- some of the grandparents answers were the same as what mine would have been, and I am not a grandparent. It was not as organized as some of the other wiki sites.

So, I was impressed by what I saw, but I am not convinced that I will use this in my classroom. Maybe by the time I am finished with this course I will figure out something age- appropriate to post.

There was so much in my reader that I had a hard time finding something that I REALLY wanted to read. I did find an article on autism. Parents are convinced that it is linked to vaccines and Doctors are not. I am not convinced that I need to stop vaccinating my child, but I would like some answers as to why some children are getting this when they are vaccinated, and why some are not. What is causing this? As a parent, I would be furious and want answers- but I see many of these children.

Here the link to the article:

 WOW! When I remembered to check my RSS feeds, there were hundreds. I finally figured out how to read them and the computer had to shut down… so I tried again.  I ended up unsubscribing to many feeds because there were really more than I could handle and it was overwhelming!

I did find one article from the NY Times that made me angry. It was about students in San Francisco refusing free lunch because they did not want others to know they were on free lunch.

I do not understand why the students on Free lunch have to go through one line, and the students who pay for their lunch go through the other. It was not that way when I taught in Public School. All students went through the same lunch line and punched in their assigned number on a keypad. There was no way of knowing who paid for their lunch, and who was getting free lunch. We were told that our lunchroom was actually losing money because we did not have enough kids who were on free lunch. We had too many that paid for meals, ad the lunchroom was losing money for each child that paid for their lunch. Our principal said that the lunchroom would not be in debt if all of our student were on free lunch. What a crazy system!

I do understand that kids seem to figure out who has money and who does not as they get older, and to have separate lines and separate food seems unfair. But, turning down a hot meal, especially when it may be their only hot meal of the day, really concerns me, and makes me angry. Someone is paying to feed the children  Is peer pressure such that you starve yourself? I would hope not. It seems that a keypad system, or debit card would solve this issue and take some of the pressure off of the kids who are on free lunch.

Link to article: 

Blogging is writing one’s opinion to subjects that may or may not be of interest to me. It is a reflection where ideas are shared.

To me, blogging is easier to read then say, a novel, because it is one’s thoughts about a particular subject. It is informal. It is the same as other types of writing in that people are very passionate about what they write and how they feel.

Comments may make the writer see a different point of view or side of the subject they have not thought about before.

Blogging is simply another way to read and write in today’s society. 

Some students may enjoy learning through a blog since it is more interesting to them and they can be themselves (and more informal without worrying about a, mechanics, etc.)

I liked the Homework Blog. http://blog.mrmeyer.com/?p=133 I have not taught a grade level that had a great deal of homework, but I do see the kid’s side of the issue. I remember understanding what I learned in class, but when I got home and tried to complete problems on my own, I could not. It was very frustrating. It seems that the examples in the book are always easier than what they want the student to do on their own. I would have felt more confident if I had the time to work problems in class with assistance when needed.

This was all very exciting, but somewhat foreign to me! I would not be able to do this exactly with the age group I teach, but there are several things that I could do.

I think I could provide links for review and enrichment activities for the children through a blog, but guided by the parents. I could also let the children access these activities while in the classroom. I think they could complete activities with little help from me or their parents.  Even 2 and 3 year old children are “digital learners.” They know how to play online games, click and drag, and even operate an iPod.  I think my students would love links to online activities through a blog. Even at 4 and 5 years old, they LOVE to “play” on the computer. This would also be a great way for parents to feel more involved in what their child is learning in school, and see for themselves the progress their child is making.

I also feel that if we, as teachers, shared ideas in this way, we could help each other. I have always heard that teachers are great at stealing ideas- this would be more like sharing ideas. If schools did this across grade levels, the school would become more connected and feel that they really knew what other grade levels were teaching. This would probably work best sharing by divisions (elementary, middle, and high school).

I am impressed with the technology in our school. It is exciting to see what the children in Elementary grades are able to do with computers.

The Habit that will be the most challanging for me will be number 4: Having confidence in yourself as a competent effective learner. I love learning, but sometimes get overwhelmed with the details, and I get frustrated when I don’t “get it” the first time around. I want to be right the first time and get irritated when things do not come easy to me as a learner.

The Habit that will be the easiest for me will be Habit 5. I think it will be simple to make what I learn into a resource notebook and use it whenever possible. Making it will be the easy part, remembering to take out the notebook and apply it will be more difficult.  I love finding new ways to teach my students and get them excited about learning new concepts.

The most important Habit for me will be Habit 3. Since I am easily frustrated, I need to see any problem that may arise (and already has) as a challenge. Hopefully, this will remind me to take a deep breath, and try again later.