Reflection Island

This was an exhausting journey but well worth the effort. I learned a lot!

1. What were your favorite discoveries or excursions on this learning journey?
I especially enjoyed the Skype Author visits and finding kid appropriate videos on YouTube.

2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
I enjoy using technology and keeping current with technology. In this class I got to do both. At the beginning of this class I knew very little about Web 2.0 tools. I have a much better idea of what that term means and how to use these tools.

3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
There are so many things that I learned from the different websites. I didn't know what to expect from this class because I was so unfamiliar with the tools. One surprise was how many ways there are to search the Internet.

4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
I liked the idea of islands and separate ideas to study. I liked using a blog to answer the questions and to share material. I would enjoy having more interaction with the other Island Hoppers.

Thanks for the Journey!

Excursion Island

I read the Horizon Report with great interest. Technology is changing constantly and this report explained technology trends over the next 5 years. One of the most important emerging trends that will influence schools is how students interact with the Internet. Already in Japan 75% of users use mobile devices as their primary interaction with the Internet. This report confirms the idea that we need to find a way to include the use of  mobile devices like mobile phones and tablet computers as well as electronic book readers into the classroom. That doesn't mean we need to get rid of classroom computers or books. We need to have both.

Cool Tools for School was my favorite Web 2.0 tool in the list. I enjoyed the Dogonews, fodder for young minds site. http://www.dogonews.com/ The site had a lot of good articles sorted by topics. It had articles like "Got stinky feet? Mosquitoes will love you!", "J.K. Rowling unveils 'Pottermore'" and "If The World Was A Village Of 100 People...". 

I think the Slide Share tool worked well. I can see administrators and teachers using this tool to show their Powerpoint presentations.

One of the favorite websites we use at the library is Tumblebooks. This site has a lot of books that you can read in the library and students can read at home. We don't have a very large book budget and this is a way we expand our library. It is inexpensive to subscribe to the site and well worth it. http://www.tumblebooks.com/library/asp/customer_login.asp

I had fun making a Tagxedo about the class.

Search Island

Search Island is huge. There are so many resources it can get overwhelming.
These are the sites included in the
ala.org Tool Kit for the Expert Web Search Wiki
http://wikis.ala.org/lita/index.php/Tool_Kit_for_the_Expert_Web_Searcher

What's New - list of latest changes made to ALA search engines
Subject Guides - Searches are by subject, this makes it easier to limit the results. I especially like the ipl2 site.
Search Engines - Google and Bing, I prefer Google but that may be because I am used to it.
News Searching  Yahoo & Google news are sites I already like and use.  Rocket News looks like it includes more international sites for news & business. Alta Vista is new to me. I liked the layout.
Blog Searching - I liked the Blogdigger local option within Yippy. I liked the Word Cloud in Ice Rocket.
Metasearch Engines and Search Engine Collections - Yippy is not as intuitive to use. Ixquick had a large variety of answers in my search which I found useful.
Global Searching - These sites were huge and had so many options it was overwhelming.
Multimedia Searching - I am already familiar with Yahoo, Google and YouTube to search for multimedia, video, and images. New to me was Alta Vista and Blinkx.
Podcast Searching - I found some cute Kids Podcasts on Podcast.com. I found Podcast Alley harder to use.
The Invisible Web  -  The USA.gov site had a lot of useful information. The other sites would not help me much at school.
Search Engine News - I liked the Resource Shelf from this group.

These sites are my favorites. I found them easy to use and got a lot of good information. I will pass them on to the staff at my school.
ipl2 for kid sites, Alta Vista and Ice Rocket.
http://www.ipl2.org/
http://www.altavista.com/
http://www.icerocket.com/
 My bucket is very full.

Skype Island

Skype. I thought of it as a video telephone service. I did not think about how it could be used in the classroom or library. With limited budgets, this would be a great way to bring authors to our schools.
I was excited about the Skype podcast of Mike Artell. He is an author, illustrator and cartoonist from New Orleans. One of his books is "Petite Rouge, The Cajun Red Riding Hood". Our drawing books are some of the most circulated books in the library. To have a visit with an author who draws as well as writes would be awesome.
In order to use Skype, I would need to have it approved by our Librarian, Principals, Technology and Library Services. We would have to think about where we could project it so all the students could see it and participate. The cost for Mike Artell is as follows. A 10 minute presentation would be free. It would cost $250 for a 45 minutes presentation. This is an amount PTO may be willing to pay. I think this author would be most appropriate for 5th and 6th graders. A Skype presentation could also be a cool award for Bluebonnet or A/R reading.
If this becomes available in our district I think many teachers would be interested in having a Skype presentation.
The following is a video that includes part of a Mike Artell Skype presentation.

Libro Island

I am now on Libro Island. I did not know how many Library Sites there are! After looking at more sites than I will ever be able to visit I came across 2 sites that I can easily share with the staff at my school.  Teachers are often looking for Kid Friendly sites that are more than just games. These sites are from the American Library Association. They include everything from Gross Science sites to Cryptokids to the Weatherchannel for kids. I have included the links to the sites below.
http://www.ala.org/greatsites
http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/news/ala/more-great-web-sites-kids-alsc

Technology in the Classroom

The "Teacher's Today" video from Blogger's Island was very interesting. I think most teachers use technology but don't necessarily embrace technology. Learning technology may be out of their comfort zone.  Our students are embracing technology. Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook and texting are a few of the Web 2.0 tools students use in their daily life. Students integrate technology into their everyday life at home and it is important that they also use it at school. In my classroom I use web based programs like Learning.com and Accelerated Reading, as well as free web learning sites like Coolmath.com and Starfall.com.
The teaching ideas I like to embrace are engaging students, instilling curiosity in students and getting students excited about learning. I think if they have a good attitude it makes learning more successful.
The following is a short video about 21st century learning. This video illustrates the world we need to prepare our students to succeed in. This is a good introduction video and you can use it to start a discussion with an audience of administrators, teachers, students or parents.

Setting Sail!

Yeah! My Blog is set up and now I am ready to Set Sail on the Technology Adventure! It was fun making a voki.