Reflection 2 - Del.icio.us IS Delicious

Wow! I have been using del.icio.us everyday. I am using it to keep all of the resources that I find as I am researching my Seeing America theme. It finally hit me as I was writing yet another web address down on yet another scrap piece of paper that all I had to do was hit the tag button. What a great idea this social bookmarking is!
I was thinking that I can create a class del.icio.us account for websites that I would like the children to be able to access independently, such as educational games, informational sites, blogs or wikkis of other people we are connecting with.
I am telling all of my friends about it as well. By visiting other friend's pages I am finding even more great sites. I am really enjoying this one!!

First Blogs, Now Wikis!

I understand the literal difference between a blog and a wiki, but it is not real life for me yet. When would you use a blog instead of a wiki? A wiki seems to be a blog, but it is interactive for the user. Any feedback would be much appreciated.

I am glad that I never created a classroom web page, now that I have learned about Wikis. It adds another demension home/school communication. There are always questions that you are asked by several people. Now you can provide your response to everyone at one time. I love the idea Terri shared about the teacher who puts his newletter on his blog as a podcast. How easy for teachers to share and parents to hear. What should we do about those without a computer?

I love the Village Wiki. The fact that the students are learning, creating and publishing for a real audience that exists outside of the classroom means that we have a real opportunity to create authentic learning for students. Motivation and good work habits are built into the process. This is very powerful.

In terms of my Traveling Across America project, I am thinking that a wiki would allow students to connect with people in other parts of the country and work together to create acurate information about each place.

Exploring Four Video Sharing Sites

I found Wesley Fryer's podcast to be very intriguing. The creators of VISTA were thoughtful of the needs of the teachers and the students. I appreciate that the video clips are reviewed before they can be accessed. The amount of material available is certainly small right now.

Teacher Tube had more of a selection available. I was pleased that I could see other teachers illustrate lessons and teaching strategies through this . Staff development is just a click away. I think Teacher Tube is a bit more difficult to navigate through.

You Tube and Clip Blast are too cumbersome for me. Too much of the material is not useful and timeconsuming to wade through. I also would not feel comfortable having children exposed to a site that could potentially allow them to see footage of subject matter that is inappropriate for a young viewing audience.

As I think about my theme of "Traveling Across America" for next year, VISTA and Teacher Tube could provide my students with an upclose and personal view of different places and different people that they may otherwise not have the opportunity to experience. It also would allow for them to create a video sharing their community with others, as they make personal choices on what makes their community unique. The fact that students can create video to demonstrate their learning is a powerful tool. I am questioning why the Global Views' Collection on VISTA is noted as being "made by and for teenagers". Is this a requirement?

Blogging with Young Children!?!

As I began this assignment, I searched the internet looking for blogs created by teachers of young children. I had a hard time finding any. Then I tried looking for blogs that were created for young children to use. Again, I found very little. Most of the blogs I found were created for students in upper elementary grades or teachers of these children. I can honestly say that I spent over 4 hours looking at many, many blogs. The experience gave me a much better understanding of blogs. I found blogs that review children's literature (mainly for young adults), character education, safety for children using the internet, poetry blogs, literature response blogs, family activities, home schooling, children with special needs, and so on. I realize that the using blogs with young children (grades k and 1) is an untapped resource.

I will be looping with my kindergarten class next year. I have been thinking about the idea of traveling across the United States as a central theme for my first graders. I will be using read-alouds as a way to bring these places into our classroom. I believe blogs will be a useful tool as well. Creating pen pals across the country will provide them with first hand information about each destination. Pictures and podcasts can personalize the experiences and interactions. Does anyone else have other ideas for how I can use the blog to support this theme? How could I connect with students from different places? I look forward to comments on this. I am very excited to use blogs next year. It is as if I am exploring a new frontier.

I Did It!

I created my blog. I called it Technology for Thinking and Learning because it is my hope that I will improve thinking and learning of students using this new technology! Thanks for this great opportunity!