Week 3, #7 Anything Technology Related

This past summer, I have gone to some great training sessions on SMART Boards and on Scholastic's Read 180 program, which our school will have this year. The SMART Board is an object based technology and can be used to create and/or improve any lesson at any grade level. I was able to create a lesson on the new MLA citation changes and hope to use this lesson in the coming year. I now want to integrate some SMART Board features into my library orientation. The visual and interactive components of the SMART Board technology should make it very attractive to our students.

The Read 180 training impressed me with the ability of the technology to zero in on the real needs and/or deficiencies of students in their reading abilities. There is no way that a teacher can give each student such individual attention. This is especially important now, with class sizes increasing. In addition, the visual and interactive aspects of the program will appeal to struggling students. Their attention will be kept and they can work on their weaknesses in private. This might even improve their behavior, as this reader will no longer have to act out or speak out to compensate for his/her inability to read well. Wouldn't that be great???

Week 3, #6

Flickr Fun - I have looked at the various Flickr sites, toys, and other possible applications using Flickr and have thought about student projects that could utilize these tools. For example, an entire travel unit could be created using the mappr application in a history, geography, and/or ESL class. Students could map out a trade route, an exploration route, or a vacation route for themselves, and create a travel diary or journal to go along with the visuals.

The Montagr application also has much potential for student projects. Instead of the conventional book report, students could use this tool to create a book cover which could be used for a book talk for their classes. In addition, the Montagr application can be used by the student(s) acting as illustrator in Literature Circles.

The only drawback I see in using the above applications is the amount of time it would take to train myself, the classroom teachers, and the students to use them. However, many students might already be familiar with these tools.

Week 3, #5

//www.flickr.com/photos/flaviocb/3028776624/

I have been investigating Flicker, and have created an account. I have learned this is a great site for pictures of all types - nature, places, people, etc., which can be searched easily by tags. I was interested in the "bird" photos, as I am spending my vacation in the place where I grew up. When I go to a different location, I am always interested in the various birds I see. Growing up, we always heard owls at night, so I am linking to a photo of burrowing owls. These are not the type of owls we usually see here, as the ones I am familiar with live in tree nests.



I read in the photo guidelines about the need to obtain the photographer's permission to download photos of persons. Does this apply to all photos, including those of animals, landscapes, places, etc.?

Week 2 - Avatar Accomplished

I am back, plugging away and juggling all of these passwords, etc., but I successfully created an avatar, dressed in tennis attire and standing in the midst of stacks of library books. I hope she doesn't look too out of place. Next step is to register my blog with the library learning 2.0 staff.

Week 1, Create a Blog

I actually created this blog yesterday, but I created two blogs and deleted the one that I posted a message to. It will take me a while to get acclimated to this environment and to its' vocabulary. Hopefully, I will not have too slow of a learning curve.