My Computer History

     Let me think..... it seems like 1,000s of years have passed since I first touched a computer.  My school had Apple IIe computers with the really cool amber screens.  I even convinced my parents to get on for home, with a green screen, that we used mostly for games.  I never really got into the programing aspect.
     In college, I used computers for email and accessing the ISCA BBS.  If you don't know what a BBS is, think of an all text-based FaceBook with forums and instant messaging.   Ah.... those were the days. Oh...and I also used them for typing up papers for class. For me, word processing made my life a lot easier since I had bad handwriting and didn't like to write things by hand.
     When I moved to Japan, I used my computer to keep in touch with friends and create activities for my students.  It was during this time that I started dabbling with making webpages.  A friend of mine showed me some basic HTML and I started coding my own pages by hand and had a website.
     After moving back from Japan to start graduate school,  I continued to use my computer for word processing and the internet.  I also started a small internet store.  When I first started my store, I was still writing code until I discovered un time I was still hand coding until I discovered DreamWeaver.  Wow... that was an awesome discovery!  It made my life sooooo much easier.
     During graduate school, my whole Japanese department used Macs, so I ended up getting one as well out of necessity.  At this time I wasn't the rabid Mac fan that I am now.  
     After moving to Wisconsin to start my teaching of Japanese, I continued to use my PC to create learning activities for my students and do various things on the Internet.  Then, about 4 years ago, I attended the WAFLT conference where I saw a great presentation on various things that the newer Macs can do.  It blew me away, but I was still skeptical.  So I borrowed a coworkers Mac laptop for a couple of days to play with it.    Been a convert ever since.  I got my own Mac the following fall.

Since then,  I've used my Mac(s) everyday to create new things and have found some really cool programs to run on it.  I use it to make crosswords (using Crossword Forge), flashcards (iFlash), podcasts/listening activities (Garage Band) and "comics" using Comic LIfe.

I dabble with WordPress and ZenCart as well.  I don't know what I would do without my technology.  I incorporate it into my work, hobbies and free time.

Indocturnating the Unknowing

So, I have been using Google docs for awhile now.  This past week some colleagues and I were working on a list of students we needed to see for conferences.  The original idea was to send out an email to all of the 7th grade teachers and have them check  the names of the kids they wanted to see.   Not wanting to put whomever was going to be compiling all the data under the gun and behind about 20 different emails, all with different answers, said that I'd compile the list on Google docs and then we could all edit it there.
 So I made the list and send out the link.   Well, it worked out really slick I got some really good feedback about how it worked.  On teacher who isn't really tech savvy said that, "Even I could use it.  It was really easy."   So, hopefully with this success, I will slowly begin to convert some people over for when we have to do collaborative documents.

I was also talking to another teacher who lost their jump drive this week about Google docs and online storage ideas.  I do feel terrible for her because she lost the only copy of some of her homework she is doing for some classes she is taking.  Not cool.   But she did say she had a Google account and would be looking into all of the stuff I had showed her.

Class #2: What can I take to my classroom?

       Yesterday's  class had lots of things that I found would be useful for my student and for my classes.  Right now I am re-assessing what I've been doing in the classroom in general and already making notes for what I would like to do differently, and hopefully better, next year.  I want to get myself organized so I can start the year off using introducing technology I think is the most useful.
     At the beginning of the year, I had them all make Google accounts so that they could use Google docs.  Unfortunately,  most of them have forgotten their passwords.  I really believe Google docs is the way to go for them.  The problem is that we have to use so much time to set it up, or in this case, set it up again. But, again, if I spend more time at the beginning of the year doing this, by this time next year it won't be an issue.

    I also actually applied for a Diigo educator's account yesterday after reading a forum reply some one had written.  Then, after hearing people talk highly of it last night, I am sure that will be another thing I will incorporate along with re-discovering my Delicious account.
    Another thing I think would be useful is fur.ly (http://fur.ly) because it allows you to take several websites and create one, really short (but not very memorable) URL.  This could be used if you have several websites that you are related that you want your kids to go to. A great use, I think, would be to use it for web quests and making one for all of the sites they need to go to.

    Lastly is the issue of online storage.  Right now, I don't currently use or teach anything about these.  Google docs takes care of the majority of my storage needs.

   The one thing I don't like about all of this is that students (and teachers) will have more passwords and IDs to remember.  I really wish more places would use the "Open ID" or something that allows you to do more with out having to keep creating more things you need to remember.  That being said, putting all of your eggs in one basket could be bad if your master identity is stolen. That being said, that won't stop me from using any of this in my classroom.

What the Flock!?!

     Yesterday my group and I "got together" on TokBox and had a blast.  While the technology was a bit quirky at times, it more more than sufficient for our needs. We had a blast talking about the different browsers that we looked into.  We were all sort of surprised that Google's Chrome wasn't one of the ones we were asked to review.  I came away from that assignment with a new favorite browser, Opera. 
     One thing I thought of while we were talking and having grand ol' time is that taking this course online has HUGE advantages over the "traditional" students in the classroom.  Now, I don't know for sure how they do their classwork, but I can say with all of my classmates being far away, we definitely benefit from having to use the technology.  I'm sure they use it in the regular classes as well, but the need to use it isn't there.  I feel like I'm getting a better education for the same price.  Kinda like buying a pop from a machine and having two come out. 

Websites Worth Checking Out

The internet has a lot of stuff on it.  I would argue that a large percentage is irrelevant (to me) or is worthless.   However, amongst all of that stuff lie some real gems.

Here are some websites and programs I like and the reasons why.

http://quia.com   This site is great because it contains tons of teacher created online activities.  You don't need an account to use anything that has already been created. But if you get a membership, then it's extra cool. One of the features is the ability to copy an activity someone else has made over to your account. Once you've done that, you can edit and change it any way.  Plus, you can create classes and keep track of what your students are doing along with online quizzes and surveys.  It really is a cool site.  I fell in love with it during my 30-day free trial.  I suggest you give it a whirl!

http://spelllingcity.com  This is a site which has really cool spelling games that students can use online.  For free, you can create and save spelling lists for your students to use.  Some of the activities even have a print option, making worksheets.  How cool is that.   You can join the site and pay a fee... but I'm not sure what the benefits are as I've been happy with all of the free stuff.

Crosswordforge    This is a program that allows you to make crosswords and word searches.  I LOVE this program.  They have a free demo you can download.   For its price, it's a bargain.  I've had it for about two years now and use it all the time.

http://Bighugelabs.com  This website allows you to use your own photos to make motivatinal posters, trading cards, puzzles and more.  Check it out.

http://aviary.com   This site I haven't used much, but it is an online suite of photo/picture editing software.  There are some amazing things you can do here.  Just see what people have done.

This is all for now.

First Class on 3-3-2010

This was a fun class. It was quite the coincidence that I had a colleague who had just come back from a technology conference and told us about the Ning site today before class. Now that I've gotten a chance to see it, it definitely has a lot of potential.

Actually, a lot of the technology I have seen in general has lots of potential. The problem is being overwhelmed with it. Just because it's there, doesn't mean you have to use it.

An example of this for me would have to me Ning. While I think it has potential for use with study groups and other smaller organizations, I can't help but think, "Why not just use Facebook?" There are sooo many cool websites with cool stuff on them that if we joined them all, we would have a million IDs and passwords and no time to use them. Plus, the middle schoolers I work with already have Myspace accounts and I don't see them utilizing this feature as much as their other online accounts. I don't see this as being something I can immediately use at this time.

On the other hand, things like Googledocs are mana from the heavens for students. I know some of my students can never seem to keep anything for more than 24 hours without losing it. That even includes reports, essays and projects. They end up restarting multiple times. Going to this sort of document storage and word processing would definitely be a benefit to those kids. Also, the ability to work on their work from home if they have a computer, or access to one, is also huge. Unfortunately, the reality of my district is we are over a 50% poverty rate and not all students have access to technology from home.

So I definitely think as we go through this class, and more importantly, how we integrate that we need to keep in mind that all of these things we are learning about are cool tools, but that's all they are... tools. You don't need every tool for every job. Some tools may sit in the bottom of your toolbox and never be used.