Wednesday, October 28, 2009

#18 Wikis

Loved the video by common thread. So easy to understand and process. I went on to view some Educational Wikis for English and they are amazing. Not only do they have discussions, but they also include videoes, updates, photos, news, weekly/monthly tasks etc.

One wiki I viewed also had a rules page, which was really interesting to see. I had a glance through the discussion and it was great to see that students could discuss and reply to specific posts. They could also tag it.

I would love to set up a Wiki in the coming holidays for next year and have students actively use it throughout the year. It need not be topic specific, but as the year progresses, different discussions could take place etc. It would be also great to see the progression of students discussion skills over 4 terms.

A Wiki could be used across KLA's in schools. What a great innovative collaborative website!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

#17 Delicious

What a great way to organise, note and keep track of websites visitied. It was easy to create an account and access, and pretty wasy to naviagate.

As a teacher this would be great to share with other faculty members, especially when designing a new program and the resources for it. Most resources are online nowdays, especially information. It would be great to use Delicious to organise resources (websites) as a facutly, tag them and add notes (what was good, what was used, any other additional information). More websites could be added as the unit progresses. And access is great, as you can access Delicious on any computer anywhere!

With students this could be a great way of organising individual and group research tasks. Most tasks that require research now use the internet. Students regularly find a good website one lesson, but can't remember it for the next lesson. Delicious is a great way for them to be organised. It also can be used as an online bibliography.

#16 Subscribe to some blogs

I subscribed to the blogs listed. Really liked browsing through the Blog "Unshelved". I also subscribed to "The Age News Headlines", and have used this in class on an activity looking at Headlines.

Subscribing to the Blogs is a great way to sift through quickly unwanted information and find what you are looking for. Quick and easy to understand headings provide easy access information.

I also added Cooking recipes - which I enjoy browsing through. So much easier when the recipes are already sorted under headings!

I still feel that, after this course is completed and holidays are here it would be beneficial to go back through and enhance of my understanding in this area.

#15 RSS

RSS is an invaluable tool. I really like that I can customize it to my needs, my likes and dislikes. It helps filter through so much information. It is a great time saver.

In the classroom it would be great to use this application for students blogs. You would be able to read relevant blogs when new posts have been added.

Students would be able to create their own through Google Reader and keep track of key developments and information for projects, assignments and tasks!

Really enjoying this application. Will look at implementing it in the classroom sometime this term!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

#13 MySpace & #14 Facebook

I have to admit that MySpace does not appeal to me in any way. I originally tried to set one up last yar, but struggled with the design and understanding. It seems at the moment that most libraries are American dominated. It is hard to see how this can benefit our school at the moment as access is denied due to student misuse. If it was to be used, students would need instruction on the appropraite use of MySpace.

I have been using Facebook for awhile now. Even in the classroom I use it to show discussions of film directors (M. Night Shyamalan) and radio programs (NXFM - Hamish and Andy). Through careful selection, viewing posts on the wall and discussions can encourage students to think about ideas differently. But even with facebook teachers need to select carefully appropriate material. Facebook can also be subject to misuse. But as I am familair it would be wonderful to set up a class Facebook and have students completed research tasks, discussions and presentations. However, as MySpace facebook is also unable to used by students in school.

I am now off to investigate Twitter. Heard a lot about it, not sure what it is all about. Always hearing about it on T.V and the radio and in Magazines (although I must admit I have not heard students discuss Twitter in class.)

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

#12 Flickr

I really enjoying using and exporing Flickr. The range of pictures/photos and visuals are amazing. I am not sure about putting personal photos up, as I am a person who does not like to place family/friends pictures on the net!

Flickr pictures are great for school presentations in English and in religion. Lots more exploring to do!

Il mare colore del vino


Il mare colore del vino
Originally uploaded by meghimeg
I chose this photo as it is very peaceful and calming. It is from a group title "Beach Photography". I enjoy viewing photos of the beach and at certain times in the day!

P7110098


P7110098
Originally uploaded by Emmy 2107
I am blogginy my puppy! This is my 2 year old puppy Jazzie. She has just been groomed and has a pretty ribbon in her hair hehehe :-P

#11 LibraryThing


Really enjoyed using this site, adding books I have read and adding others to my wishlist. It was great to see interesting discussions on one of the book series I have been reading and the speculation on the release ofthe next book!

This would be a great site to use with students who are avid readers and enjoy sharing, discussing and reading new and different books.
It is great how you can search the site by title, genre, author and topic. Information is easy to access. The recommendation and review sections are a great idea when you are looking for something new to read.

I wish there were enough hours in the day to to properly use this site. I would love to be able to put in all the books I have read/own and take time to browse through new releases and recommendations.

http://www.librarything.com/home/Emmy21

#10 Image Generators

I have had a lot of fun using the different image generators to manipulate images. I particularly liked the idea of turning photo's and other visuals into puzzles. This would be great to use with lower ability classes, you could create out a puzzle out of anything - a text type, visual text, picture book, film review. It helps to make the lessson more fun and engaging - rather than just reading a text - students in groups or as individuals put it together first. The site I turned my photo into a puzzle is http://bighugelabs.com/jigsaw.php

There are also lots of different other options, students can create posters of themselves as movie stars, pop stars, create magazine coves, calenadars etc - the opportunites are endless.

Also I liked using http://www.imagegenerator.org/ It had a lot of different ways to manipulate images with text and photos.

I also played with cool text http://cooltext.com/ and played around with it a bit. Though I feel I need to spend more time with all the links!