Online Store

I won a gift certificate last year for TeacherStorehouse.com and never used it. I recently found it and used it to buy a few books as resources for next year. If you are looking for things that you haven't found at a teacher supply store try this out!

http://www.teacherstorehouse.com/teacheradvantage.asp?k=88359

It ships from the largest teacher product warehouse in the nation, with about 30,000 teacher products in stock.  It also offers free shipping, cash back on every order, and they pay your sales tax.

Enjoy!
 

One Last Thing!

Where to begin, where to begin? First off, I must say that this course was very engaging and informative. If I was forced to name my favorite discovery, it would probably be LibraryThing. I am and have always been an avid reader and lover of novels. Now that I have a way to keep up with ALL the books I have read (well the ones I can remember) and will read, I will never buy a book twice (it is so embarrassing to return a book back to bookstores for this reason). This program was right up my alley because I love to learn about new things and will always consider myself a lifelong learner. Participating in this class has given me a newfound awareness for Web 2.0 and its countless applications in the classroom. One way this class could be better is by making sure that all the links needed work properly and are attached to the wiki with the instructions. It would also be more enticing if more hours were offered for it because it does feel as if I spent more than 24 hours working on this course. If there were another discovery course offered, I would definitely take it, because I definitely enjoyed this one to the fullest. This blog will now become an online journal, that will also help me keep up with the things that I will continue to find on the web as well as my thoughts about how to use them in the classroom. I have already resolved to share my blog with other educators and have told anyone who will listen about what I have learned in this class.

Thing #23

Ning is a website that reminds me of a social wiki. I like the fact that people can create groups that are related to their interests as well as create professional groups. I am not sure if I will actually pay for a membership, though, because there are still other social networking sites that are free. I enjoyed poking around the Classroom 2.0 and MISD 23 Things sites and felt that they could really help me keep in touch with new ways to incorporate technology online. I joined both so that I would have a reminder to always keep my eye out for new (and hopefully free) websites that will allow me to incorporate lots of technology. I found the Learning 2.1 RSS feed on the MISD 23 Things site and automatically added it to my Reader. Overall, I feel that I will use these sites to broaden my horizons and integrate some variety in teaching methods. (I am also proud of my badge to the right because I put a lot of work into being a 23 Thingster.)

Thing #22

This was probably the easiest thing I've done in this class because I grew up in the Facebook and MySpace generations. Prior to this class, I had explored both of them and my personal preference is Facebook. I enjoy Facebook because of its new privacy settings (where my students can't find and add me) as well as the number of my friends and family that are connected. I use Facebook to keep up with all the people it would be tiring to call or e-mail all the time. It is important that teachers know how social networking works because it will help them keep in touch with professional friends in other districts. They also need to know how to work the privacy settings because many teachers have gotten fired over content that was on their Facebook or MySpace page. I did not really gain much insight because using Facebook regularly is what I do and I learn about the new things as they are added. I did learn that the MySpace account I created years ago is visible through Google searches, but the content is so old that it has me living in a totally different city. I will probably never use it again, unless Facebook starts charging. I have used facebook for educational purposes, by finding colleagues and collaborating with them. The colleagues I have used in the past are all ones that I knew personally, but eventually I would like to branch out and find teachers I don't know that teach the same subjects I do so that I can collaborate across the globe.

Thing #7b

I have found many interesting things on my Reader. The most interesting and important to me was the WikiPremed post from Free Technology 4 Teachers. My major was Biology with a focus on Premed and eventually I plan to go back to medical school, which will require me to retake the MCAT. When I went to the WikiPremed site, I fell in love and immediately began browsing. I found that they had all kinds of study tools including Physics flashcards (which will help me while I am teaching Physics this year) and Physiology Crosswords (which will really make reviewing fun). Of course I could also give this website as a reference to my students that have interest in Premedicine as a major, but I will be honest: my primary focus for vewing and bookmarking this website was for purely personal (and selfish) reasons.
Another interesting thing I found in my Reader was a short blog about Creating screencasts from Tech Learning. It simply listed the Top 10 programs that could be used to do so, but it was awesome in its simplicity because it compiled this list so that I could refer to it and find my favorite from the list. I will be using screencasts to explain directions for foldables so that I will not miss a step and all my classes will get the same demo.

Thing #21

Google has so much to offer educators that I don't know where to begin. Google calenders can be used to let students and parents know what will be coming up in class as well as to let them know what has been missed during absences. I also learned that it could be embedded into a webpage, which means it could be embedded into my moodle as well as their classroom wiki review as a reminder of the test dates. 

Google Talk can be used to have video or audio parent conferences when the parent is unable to meet face-t0 face. Google SketchUp can be used to make a virtual 3D rollercoaster which will be an interesting activity because it teaches students to learn how to make plans in a virtual environment. Another great resource that Google has provided is Google Translator which translates the content of any webpage to another language. The translator will not only translate the site, but any links that are a part of it as well. The value of this to ELL students is beyond anything else I can ever do. The translator will also show them the content in English so they can compare the 2 languages side- by- side. I am definitely attaching a link to this to my moodle. I will even have a quick before or after school tutorial to show them how to use it if they don't already know. I believe this will allow their English to really grow because it shows them the equivalent information in their native tongue, so that they are not only learning English, but they are also learning the content as well.

Thing #20

Google Docs can be used for many things. I created a spreadsheet to track my Professional Development classes taken this summer. I also plan on using a spreadsheet to track my students progress on their wiki project, much like the progress tracker that was used for this class. I also foresee the use of Google Docs to share the responsibility for presentations and handouts to the students. Often, when teachers create something new to use in class, they either make a mistake or forget something important. However, if Google Docs is used, then more people will work on the item being prepared which will cut down on the errors made. I am also thinking about using Google Docs as a method to turn in presentations. My students could either create the presentation in Google Docs or create it using the software on their computer and then uploading it to Google Docs. Either way, they would send me the link as a viewer and it would be a very simple way to get rid of the excuses (My partner/ I lost it, left it at home, the mongoose ate it, etc.)