tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39477924938905878432024-02-08T06:02:20.081-08:00EMRs 23 Things BlogCapturing good ideas to continue the fun process of life-long learning.Beth Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16400261796997015446noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947792493890587843.post-24973178225077968352008-03-23T19:39:00.001-07:002008-03-24T18:26:15.044-07:00Thing #23 - The End<span style="font-weight: bold;">What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?</span><br />I really enjoyed learning some new things - like Nings and the image generator. I also enjoyed having an excuse to spend some time searching on tools I already use regularly. I found some cool things on TeacherTube, have been much better about posting on del.icio.us, am tagging more, and am just spending more time envisioning how to incorporate technology into my daily classroom activities.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?</span> <br />This program has encouraged me to use some of my 'home' tools in my 'school' life. It has also shown me that there is more of an interest in and network around technology in school than I knew before now.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?</span><br />I learned that I still don't get Technorati and I don't understand Rollyo. I don't think I'm in a technology rut but I found I was more resistant to searching out new tools than I thought I would be. I tend to work with what I've got, I guess. My husband usually prompts me to try something new.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?</span><br />I can't think of a thing to improve at the moment. I liked the timing, the freedom with guidance and suggestions, and the encouragement. It was very nice to see so many SBISD folks participating. That makes me very hopeful for the future of our students (my kids included).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?</span><br />Absolutely<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities?</span><br /> One sentence: 23Things is a great introduction to the 2.0 Web! One Word: Fun!!<br /><br />One of the things I most enjoyed about this activity was talking about it with my colleagues at school. Quite a few of us are participating and helping each other through the activities. It is one more connection we have and gives us a chance to talk about technology (which I love to talk about).<br /><br />I would like to spend a lot more time looking at the tools and links and communities I've learned about during this activity. Maybe this summer I'll be able to spend some time doing that. Too much to do in the spring. I hope the website stays up so the links are still active.Beth Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16400261796997015446noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947792493890587843.post-5013234315082019492008-03-23T19:24:00.000-07:002008-03-23T19:30:15.977-07:00Thing #22 - NingsWow. What another great resource. I've already posted a few links to del.icio.us and will spend a lot more time exploring some of the nings out there. I saw some great teacher communities. I think this could be a great tool within districts for teachers working from the same curriculum who never get to see each other face to face. I also love the idea of exposing the students to as many people outside our 'neighborhood' as possible. Helping them understand the idea of community as virtual as well as local is huge. I also found a syllabus for a course on 21st Century Skills by <a href="http://www.classroom20.com/profile/rrivers">Randy Rivers</a> at Northeast Junior High School. What a great idea!! He's incorporated lots of really good concepts into one course - technology, personal responsibility for learning, soft skills, etc. I plan to keep up with his reflections on this pilot course.Beth Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16400261796997015446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947792493890587843.post-66816365714843421352008-03-23T18:02:00.000-07:002008-03-23T20:08:25.881-07:00Things #21 - Podcasts / VidcastsPodcasts are a crucial part of how I manage my information gathering and listening. I'd never get to listen to many shows that I like if it wasn't for podcases. A few of my regular podcasts: <a href="http://www.emergentvillage.org/">The Emergent Podcast</a> (if you listen to this one you will hear my darling husband. He is the producer of this podcast), <a href="http://www.npr.org/programs/waitwait/">Wait Wait Don't Tell Me</a> from NPR, and the <a href="http://edtechlive.com/">EdTechLive </a>podcast.<br /><br />I'm also going to add NPR's <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=13">Fresh Air</a> to my list b/c I am frequently being told to go there and listen to something.<br /><br />I think podcasts and vidcasts could be great tools for our students. I am currently teaching an elective on PhotoStory 3.0 and am going to add podcasting the stories as an option for the students. Some of the stories are going to be submitted to the documentary contest we are having this spring. I am pondering how to use podcasts in science class. I think that some students would love to learn via podcasts and some would love to create podcasts / vidcasts about things they know or would like to know more about. This could be a really interesting way to extend learning. Exciting!!<br /><br />Here is my vidcast. It's from my PhotoStory 3 class.<br /><br />Darn. It didn't load. I'll try again later.Beth Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16400261796997015446noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947792493890587843.post-17866998933087237292008-03-21T10:38:00.000-07:002008-03-23T18:01:09.522-07:00Thing #20 - VideosI couldn't get the videos to work on my work PC but they are working just fine on my home PC. We've got to figure out a way that district PCs can keep up with the latest updates to software. Hmmmmmm. . . <br /><br />http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=6f2c2eba77f39993d118<br /><br />Let's try to embed a TeacherTube video here. This is a very interesting video.<br /><br /><embed src="http://www.teachertube.com/skin-p/mediaplayer.swf" width="425" <br />height="350" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" menu="false" flashvars="&file=http://www.teachertube.com/flvideo/3051.flv&image=http://www.teachertube.com/thumb/3051.jpg&location=http://www.teachertube.com/skin-p/mediaplayer.swf&logo=http://www.teachertube.com/images/greylogo.swf&frontcolor=0xffffff&backcolor=0x000000&lightcolor=0xFF0000&screencolor=0xffffff&autostart=false&volume=80&overstretch=fit&link=http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=6f2c2eba77f39993d118&linkfromdisplay=true&recommendations=http://www.teachertube.com/embedplaylist.php?chid=68"></embed><br /><br />______________________________________________________________________________<br /><br />I love this video about the students of today and how we tend to teach. The big disconnect between the two is shown in this video.<br /><br /><embed src="http://www.teachertube.com/skin-p/mediaplayer.swf" width="425" height="350" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" menu="false" flashvars="&file=http://www.teachertube.com/flvideo/9564.flv&image=http://www.teachertube.com/thumb/9564.jpg&location=http://www.teachertube.com/skin-p/mediaplayer.swf&logo=http://www.teachertube.com/images/greylogo.swf&frontcolor=0xffffff&backcolor=0x000000&lightcolor=0xFF0000&screencolor=0xffffff&autostart=false&volume=80&overstretch=fit&link=http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=e0b93b5f334ffb4e4064&linkfromdisplay=true&recommendations=http://www.teachertube.com/embedplaylist.php?chid=56"></embed>Beth Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16400261796997015446noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947792493890587843.post-79451039449284082652008-03-21T10:14:00.000-07:002008-03-21T10:24:35.536-07:00Thing #19 - Web 2.0I liked the awards list. I coud spend a lot of time playing on there. The Onesentence stories were very creative. I would like to find a way to use them in class. I already use some tools from 37 signals but looked at Backpack again today. This could potentially be a good tool for planning for teachers and/or administrators. I can see how this could really be useful across campuses. I posted Wetpaint.com to del.icio.us to remember it. I might use that for a classroom blog. I'm trying to include a very cool SpringWidgets tool here but am having trouble getting it to load. I think the code is broken but it was a cool idea - the lunar phase calendar on your blog. I'm going to explore that site some more later.Beth Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16400261796997015446noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947792493890587843.post-25390728499649227342008-03-20T20:45:00.001-07:002008-03-20T20:51:08.631-07:00Thing #18 - Online productivity toolsOur <a href="http://start.casa-robertson.org/">family website </a>is full of online tools. We use Google calendar to coordinate family calendars, we use ta-da lists for groceries, Target items, etc. and we share documents on Google docs. We've also gotten the high school youth ministry at church to use Google docs to manage our Sunday morning schedules so we don't have to play the 'which version is the latest' game on email. I haven't played with OpenOffice yet but feel like this is certainly the future. Proprietary software is losing it allure for me as I am able to do as much or more with open software than I can with the proprietary software and I can access and share it instantly. That much flexibility will be huge in the future. Come to think of it, it would have been useful to have everything on my computer saved on the web before my hard drive crashed in the fall. Note to self: begin transferring docs to Google docs ASAP.Beth Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16400261796997015446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947792493890587843.post-24450408426373252022008-03-20T20:41:00.001-07:002008-03-20T20:44:07.757-07:00Thing #17 - More wikisI think that I will start by helping my students learn the value of Wikipedia not just the dangers. Group learning can be very productive if it is monitored and guided. Facilitator of the discussion is a valuable role I can play as a teacher.<br /><br />I am also thinking of other ways to use wikis in the classroom. I'm going to read some of the other 23 things blogs to get some more ideas.Beth Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16400261796997015446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947792493890587843.post-33115792013138250332008-03-20T20:22:00.000-07:002008-03-20T20:29:19.523-07:00Thing #16 - WikisA few years ago I was working on a project for church and we used a wiki to build a set of procedures for starting a new church. We included information on all aspects of starting a church - admnistrative, financial, childcare, legal, as well as spiritual. The wiki worked great because it allowed people to work on their part of the 'manual' on their own time and from their own computers. As far as I know, the wiki is still in use. At least I hope it is. I'm still paying for it every month on editme.com.<br /><br />School wikis - I think wikis could be a great tool for school. Students could collaborate on note taking, research, studying, and homework. I started a blog for our new 8th grade science curriculum this year but not everyone knew how to use RSS feeds so it didn't get used very much. I think a wiki would have been much more useful b/c we could have easily attached documents and kept track of how we were using them. Hmm. Something to think about for the rest of the year. Definitely for next year.Beth Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16400261796997015446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947792493890587843.post-42291996520793580722008-03-03T20:24:00.001-08:002008-03-03T20:31:11.457-08:00Thing #15 - Library 2.0Some of my favorite librarians are K at RCE and T at BHE. I greatly admire the way they have both embraced technology in the name of engaging the students in learning. I am continually impressed with their abilities to apply technology tools to the world of elementary learning. My two girls love their time in the library whether doing research, PGP activities, or just learning about a topic from Ms. Holley and her Smartboard. <br /><br />In middle school, I am continually impressed by the proficiency of the students with technology. They just know this stuff. I'm more convinced than ever that one of our primary jobs as educators (whether teachers or librarians) is to help students learn to use the web successfully - tell good content from bad, how to build healthy networks, and to facilitate and ask good questions as we let them explore all that is at their fingertips. <br /><br />I love that video from KSU. It's the real world for our students. Let's stop talking to them.Beth Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16400261796997015446noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947792493890587843.post-78628474252204015992008-03-03T20:06:00.000-08:002008-03-03T20:14:36.903-08:00Thing #14 - Technorati and taggingTechnorati scares me. I could get lost in the web and not emerge for about 3.5 weeks if I get too far into Technorati. Even just losing a few hours at this point is too much. I love tags and feel like they are a great resource for organizing my own items. Using other people's tags leads to a lot of looking and a little bit of finding for me, in my experience. That said, it's way fun to search tags and then link from those blogs/sites/etc. and see where you end up. Fascinating stuff.<br /><br />I found 1,188 blog posts for school library learning 2.0 and only 9 hits in tags. <br /><br />In the main part of Technorati - yuck - too much celebrity gossip and sports nonsense. Who cares?????? I'd heard of Technorati because of the ranking system. Some people pay way too much attention to their ranking. But if they are trying to support themselves through their blogs, I guess that matters.Beth Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16400261796997015446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947792493890587843.post-1550045456876572692008-03-03T19:55:00.000-08:002008-03-03T20:00:28.694-08:00Thing #13 - del.icio.usMy husband turned me on to del.icio.us quite a while ago. He and I bookmark articles and blog posts for each other. I primarily use del.icio.us to keep track of blog posts that I really like and think I might use again. I've saved many great posts about technology in schools as well as some about cool science discoveries or sites. From looking at my list of tags, I also have quite a few religion/philosophy/theology tags. Tells you what I've been reading about.<br /><br />The ed tech tags will be very useful as I get even more comfortable in my teaching role and learn more about how technology is useful in the classroom. I'm looking forward to applying technology a lot more next year.Beth Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16400261796997015446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947792493890587843.post-35485356562123619812008-02-17T19:42:00.000-08:002008-02-17T19:45:59.827-08:00Thing #12 - RollyoI'm having a hard time figuring out how I would use Rollyo. I have all of my favorite sites, blogs, and podcasts set up on RSS feeds. I also just search using the engines I like the best. I'll have to play with it some more to see if I can find some personal or school use for it. Right now, I'm not likely to add it to my repertoire.Beth Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16400261796997015446noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947792493890587843.post-15516542107964649582008-02-09T22:05:00.000-08:002008-03-24T18:04:28.539-07:00Thing#11 - Library ThingI signed up for Library Thing ages ago but haven't really used it. I'm getting book recommendations from my husband, the students at school and friends.<br /><br />I've added a few books that have been meaningful to me over the last couple of years as well as the latest books I've read to my own kids. I also joined the book discussion group at my school's library (Hi, Sue!!) and just completed Project Mulberry so I added that as well.Beth Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16400261796997015446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947792493890587843.post-35668747651082266982008-02-09T21:20:00.000-08:002008-02-09T21:22:29.744-08:00Thing #10 - Image GeneratorI've been stuck on this one for a while. Just couldn't get into it. But I've finally done my image (a sign) and have posted it here. <br /><br />Too many choices. <br /><br /><a href="http://img176.imageshack.us/my.php?image=11202780ro5.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/3944/11202780ro5.th.png" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>Beth Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16400261796997015446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947792493890587843.post-56792877317217629152008-01-04T20:19:00.000-08:002008-01-04T21:04:20.253-08:00Thing 9 - RSS Search toolsWhich method of finding feeds did you find easiest to use?<br /><ul><li>I love the EduBlog awards as a jumping-off place. I've found several good feeds that I am now subscribing to from those awards.</li><li>I find most of my feeds as links from feeds I already subscribe to<br /></li></ul>Which Search tool was the easiest for you?<br /><ul><li>Feedster was down when I went there so it was pretty easy to use (ha)</li><li>Discovery Education is a great, easy-to-use resource<br /></li></ul>Which was more confusing?<br /><ul><li>Bloglines returned so many options that I could have gotten lost for hours with only one search. I need to learn how to be more specific, I think, if that is going to be a useful tool for me.</li><li>Technorati is also great for finding lots of info. I know a lot of folks use the Technorati rankings to determine how they are doing in the blog world<br /></li></ul>What kind of useful feeds did you find in your travels? Or what kind of unusual ones did you find?<br /><ul><li>I found a couple of feeds with book recommendations. I can see that Amazon.com giftcard going to use very quickly<br /></li></ul>What other tools or ways did you find to locate newsfeeds?<br /><ul><li>I like the NYTimes, Slate, and the Chronicle feeds</li><li>My husband and I regularly send interesting feeds/posts to each other or post them for each other on del.icio.us<br /></li></ul>Beth Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16400261796997015446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947792493890587843.post-4035813934438968882007-12-22T22:36:00.000-08:002007-12-22T22:47:22.178-08:00RSS readers - how to stay on top of everythingI am a huge fan of RSS readers. I've been using RSS Bandit for a couple of years and still like it a lot. I'm thinking about switching to Google reader so I can access it from school. That may or may not be a good idea. During baseball season, I might forget about the students and just keep up with the Astros.<br /><br />I subscribe to feeds from the <a href="http://www.chron.com">Chronicle </a>and the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/pages/national/index.html?partner=rssnyt">NYTimes </a>as well as <a href="http://www.slate.com/">Slate</a> magazine. I also subscribe to a couple of great ed tech blogs -<a href="http://borderland.northernattitude.org/"> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Borderland</span></a><a href="http://borderland.northernattitude.org/"></a>, <a href="http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/">Cool Cat Teacher blog</a>, and <a href="http://weblogg-ed.com/">weblogg-ed</a>.<br />I read a lot of blogs about the emerging church, I subscribe to the <a href="http://oldhousemyhouse.thisoldhouse.com/">This Old House</a> blog about their current project, and some parenting blogs. My current new favorite blog is <a href="http://unclutterer.com/">Unclutterer</a>.<br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span>Beth Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16400261796997015446noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947792493890587843.post-84589506551307042942007-12-22T21:58:00.000-08:002007-12-22T22:34:19.070-08:00Thing #7 - Google rocks!!Google is becoming a more important tool in my life. My family has a <a href="http://partnerpage.google.com/casa-robertson.org">home page</a> that we use to coordinate our calendars, grocery and project lists, and provide quick access to our Flickr photos and the lovely Houston weather forecast. I also use that site to read my home email from school, if I'm expecting something important.<br /><br />Educational uses? Hmmm. I haven't set up my teacher webpage yet because I am trying to reconcile use of the classroom portal with my own webpage. That is one of my goals for the new year - to figure out how to use the district's tools as well as other tools to make sure the students have access to the info they need to be successful. I don't have my mind around all of that at the moment so I haven't used anything besides our school portal. Many changes to come, however.Beth Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16400261796997015446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947792493890587843.post-42348658878710901092007-12-14T21:52:00.000-08:002007-12-14T22:02:44.406-08:00Thing #6 - Mashups and add-ons, oh myWow. I knew that lots of folks were using Flickr's open source API to generate new applications but I had no idea there were so many cool tools available.<br /><br />I'd love to make trading cards of all the teachers and students at our school. Somehow, we could use them as prizes or to generate teamwork. "The first class to find Mrs. So-and-So this week and bring her to the office wins a prize." Or the first group to build a set of all of the 7th graders wins something. (Middle schoolers love to win food).<br /><br />The mosaics seem like fun too. I'm a scrapbooker and am always looking for new ideas. I'm trying to get into digital scrapbooking but am finding it hard to decide to take the time to learn it.<br /><br />fd's Flickr toys seems like a great site. I've posted that link to my del.icio.us.<br /><br />I could use some new motivational posters in my class. I've got a few ideas and may try one to see how it turns out. I'm thinking about "T-H-I-N-K before you speak".<br /><br />Mosaic maker, jigsaw, Warholizer, and billboard are also inspiring a bunch of ideas. Lots to ponder from this Thing.Beth Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16400261796997015446noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947792493890587843.post-89547877750878953602007-12-14T21:37:00.000-08:002007-12-14T21:38:10.639-08:00Thing #5 - FlickrI love Flickr. Our family Flickr site is <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/Casa-Robertson">here. </a>We post every picture we take to Flickr.<br /><br />Tags are a wonderful thing. They make it so easy to find pictures from previous years or related to a certain topic. It's been helpful to find pics of my kids to make an 'all about me' collage for school. I'm not currently a member of any groups but have used groups to find images. Maybe there is a science teacher's group??? I'll go and look.Beth Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16400261796997015446noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947792493890587843.post-55649977848862422382007-12-14T21:19:00.000-08:002007-12-14T21:37:52.025-08:00Thing #4 - RegisterI'm registered. Hello to all my Cornerstone friends out there in the www.Beth Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16400261796997015446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947792493890587843.post-6055992544126919772007-12-11T20:03:00.000-08:002007-12-11T20:10:53.962-08:00Thing #3 - Not my first blogSetting up and posting to this blog using Blogger is easy!!! I've never created an avatar before so that was pretty fun. A little overwhelming b/c there are so many options. And I thought picking out my clothes for school was difficult. We are big into the farmer's market at <a href="http://www.tafia.com/">t'afia restaurant</a> these days so I chose that as my first background.<br /><br />I currently have a couple of blogs. One is my personal blog (sporadic posting), one is for the SBISD 8th grade science teachers (lots of good ideas, not much posting), and one is my family's Christmas present tracking blog which is currently getting a lot of use.<br /><br />I read a lot of blogs everyday. In fact, there are a few I want to catch up on before I go to sleep. 'night.Beth Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16400261796997015446noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947792493890587843.post-38092011367105931392007-12-11T19:00:00.001-08:002007-12-11T20:03:48.565-08:00Thing #2 - Comment on HabitsI humbly admit that I am addicted to learning. As far as the <a href="http://www.plcmc.org/public/learning/player.html">7.5 habits</a> go, I am pretty good at<br />Habits 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 7.5. I have problems with 'beginning with the end in mind'. I just like to learn but often am not focused on one thing. I have a great technology toolbox but, as a first-year teacher, am just learning how to apply that in the classroom. So my learning right now is mostly related to classroom management and content acquisition.<br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 5pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p>Beth Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16400261796997015446noreply@blogger.com0