aggravation, then success

Okay, so I thought I was almost done with my web page when I left class last week--big misconception there!  I spent a lot of time figuring out the quirkiness of the software involved.  I wound up with a bunch of lost pages, i put a lot of information in the wrong places, and things i put in the right places didn't show up where they were supposed to be.  Then there were several items that I put on the page, saved on the page, went back to and saw on the page, only to find them disappear at a later date!  Extremely aggravating!  So I think I finally finished it and have everything in place and then comes the concept of actually turning in the assignment.  Good luck with that one!  Despite help from the good Dr. Luongo, I'm still not even sure that she has what she needs.  I copied the "parent letter form" and pasted it in an email to her.  I will keep you posted on the outcome and good luck with the Scholastic Site!

Scholastic Web Page

I couldn't believe how easy the Scholastic site made it to create your own class room website.  The way Mrs. Conrad had her schedule set up, there is no way for anybody to say they weren't ready, or didn't know about, or nobody told them about assignments or what was happening in the class.  This is something that parents must really appreciate.  I know that my high school daughters have not always been "forthright" in their reporting of their status and standing in their classes. (you know, cuz they don't want to lose texting or facebook privileges).  I would love to be able to go on the site and see what they got on tests and what they were doing on homework assignments.  This is a way of communicating with parents and students that was never before possible.  Think about even 5 years ago...you had to wait for parent/teacher conferences or you had to call the school, and wait for a return call back, then schedule a meeting, then meet the teacher.  You want to know why your kid got a "C" its all right there in black and white!

Publish your webquest

Everybody was concerned at last night's class about losing their webquest because their limited enrollment time is about to expire, but you don't have to lose it.  Just sign on to questgarden using your temporary ID and then proceed like you are going to edit your webquest.

At the very bottom of the editing menu is a section called "Tools".  If you click on the link for "Publish" under tools, your webquest will become part of the questgarden domain and always remain available to you and your students.  There are a couple of boxes that you need to check that give permission for them to make it available to the public.  Check those and hit the "Publish" button and your webquest will be saved.  Good luck!

Blogging then and now

Im digging the blogging thing.  While i am learning that blogging can be used as an unbelievable resource for learning and sharing about different educational topics, so far it looks like most of us in the class are only using it to be vocal about assignments and projects in class.  This has to be great feed back to Doc Luongo as she goes through our blogs and sees what students like and dislike.  

I did like edublogger world.  if you think about how powerful of a connection you are able to make as a teacher--that you can chat and get feedback from teachers all around the world--what an incredible resource.  This has to improve education overall, and has to improve your ability to reach your students.  

One thing I dont like about blogging is the fact that we have to blog about certain topics.  I guess it does force us to blog, but i am much more into the blogs that i type when i have something that i am angry about and want to rant on.  It allows me to be more entertaining and free to express myself, than to be forced to formulate an opinion and fumble through it.

Chapter 3 and 4? what am I 11?

Okay that was a little on the ridiculous side!  I read the chapters for this week and actually i can say that i skimmed through them as the information included was at about a 3rd grade level for computer knowledge and understanding.  These chapters were way out of place in a grad school text book.  Do they really need to explain what a mouse and keyboard do when using a computer? Please!  and then it gets a little more advanced in chapter 4 as they tell you what a scanner does. Im here to learn!  ucchhh! 

Kidspiration a little basic

I reviewed all the videos and info for this week on kidspiration and i guess my main question is...what level is this directed to?  I'm sure this would be good for a third grade class sitting on the floor in front of Ms Stubbs and moving proper and normal nouns around on a projected screen, but what can we do for the older kids?  Are there other kidspiration type software packages that a 10th grader would like to play with and learn from?  It seems that even as advanced as this software may be in getting away from the old style school classroom, by using computers and technology, it still seems like it is lacking from an entertainment standpoint.  And that is what we are really trying to do right?  Entertain them while we teach.  It cant just be chalk and slate anymore, but i think these are going the way of the VCR.  they were good until dvd came along, and then obsolete when blue ray stepped in.  I would like to see a fast moving product with a techno/rap music background--something that kids will listen to and pay attention to--Entertain them!