Kidblog is not just for kids

I had started using kidblog.org this school year. When I began to learn about using a blog in the classroom I had many concerns. I was not sure about the security of the blog, how I would use the blog, would it take away from the development of their literary skills and/or would the students like using it. These were just some of my concerns, I am sure there were several more but I can’t remember them now because I could not imagine not using a blog within the curriculum.

After researching several blogging platforms to use, I decided to test out kidblog.org. What I decided was that I wanted a blog where students could post their thoughts and learning without feeling like the whole world was reading them. I wanted the environment to be for the students within the course, not public. I also wanted it to be a platform that I could add images, links, video, and be able to embed information if I needed to. The other option I was looking for was for the students to be able to create and edit their own posts. I also wanted to be able to manage the information being posted before it went live. Besides the privacy and management concerns, I also needed a blog platform that did not require an email address from all students. I wanted this because some students may not have email accounts, and/or some parents may not want their students to use their accounts.  

 

This is how kidbolg.org came along for me. The kidblog.org platform allows me to do all of this. I was able to set up the students accounts for them with their first name and they picked their own password. Although I had saved their passwords, by having the students create their own they tend not to forget it. I also am able to insert images, videos, links and more. Kidblog.org provides several templates for you to choose your own look and allows for color changes and font changes to your liking. It is easy and simple to make these changes at any time. I had the students pick which template they would like the class to use. And as a side note, I use kidblog.org in the secondary level although it indicates on its homepage that it is geared for elementary and middle school teaching. Nothing about the blog interface indicates that it is for younger students.

The biggest success I had of understanding if using a blog in the classroom would interest the students was proven to me when I introduced the blog to the students toward the end of one class period. Right after I told them, I had posted a current event article with some questions. I posted this at 2:15. At 3:00 when I got home I checked the blog. All but three students had submitted a post. And by the next time the class met, all students had submitted a post. This showed me the interest the students had with using technology such as a blog. I began using the blog more and more in the class and I foresee that I will continue to use a blog for my future courses.  

Kidblog.org provides management pages, called the dashboard, that allow you to organize and monitor what is going on within the blog. The dashboard is straight forward and easy to navigate through. The dashboard allows you to set up the blog. You can monitor the blog posts before they post for all to read, as opposed to allowing posts to be published immediately. I had monitored the posts from the students at the infancy of the blog, so I could monitor their posts as well as direct them with appropriate language and manners if needed (digital citizenship, to read more about Digital Citizenship). And now I am at the point where the students post are immediately viewed. I got to the point where I feel comfortable that students are following the proper expectations. The dashboard also helps to keep track of who is posting and the time and date the students are posting. This is helpful if you give a deadline time for when the assignment is due. This area also lets you add and delete users, set up new accounts, and/or change passwords.

And kidblog.org is FREE!!!!

If you are worried about literacy skills, students are typing the same information they would in an essay if you set the expectations. Using the same method as you would for grading an essay can be applied to grading their blog posts. Although you cannot make private comments directly to the students and their work, you can copy and paste their posts into a document file and make comments that way. Or into an email and add the comments. Creating writing rubric will aid in this process. Make sure to add in appropriate on-line use and language within the rubric. Peer evaluations can also be incorporated by students replying to other student’s posts. This helps students learn how to give positive feedback to those that may need it. These replies were also monitored at the beginning of using them. Now students in my class post and comment freely. They have developed a respect for the blog as well as for each other.

Can you see using kidblog.org or another blogging tool in your classroom? How would you use it? What are your concerns? Do you use a blog now? What are the benefits of using a blog in class? How else do you see the connection to blogs and literacy skills?

  

Weebly wobble but it stands up strong

For a long time I had been searching for a way for my students to go to one location to access all the information needed to work within our class. The search actually started when I was continuously hearing from students, “I lost it. Do you have another one?” It is not that I did not believe that they did not lose it, it was that they then were waiting until the next class, when the assignment was due, to ask me for the directions to the assignment. The students were expecting to hand in the assignment the following class because they did not know what to do. So, I wanted a location that students could go to and find the information for the assignments. This got me to thinking that I could also post the information for those students that were missing class, posting the PowerPoint or notes for the day for those students who maybe cannot write as fast, or need a visual to comprehend and/or may be having a bad day and can comprehend the information at a later time. I also wanted to create links to the other on-line programs we are using in the class so students only have one location to go to.

Creating a website seemed like the right direction to go. I started working with Weebly.com, which basically is a drag and drop web design platform. The set up and the ease of using it worked great for my busy schedule. I had created websites in the past using Html language, but I had forgotten all of it and I did not have time to go back and relearn everything. And why should I have to when there are sites like Weebly.com that will do it for you.

Weebly.com is free to sign up and there is an upgrade package for a fee. The free version has a variety of features to begin a website that will allow you to create an appealing site. Both versions will allow you to load images, create a variety of pages, and insert assignment pages, contact forms, slideshow, photo gallery and more. The free version does not allow you to insert video and/or embed documents.

Weebly.com education version provides the same features but also has a protected environment where you can have your students create a website. As a teacher you are able to manage and can password protect your entire student’s websites. You are allowed up to 40 sites. For each additional 10 students there is a $10 charge. The platform also provides a blogging feature which is great to post assignments, class information, and/or news for students and parents. You are also able to buy your domain name if it is available. The weebly.com extension will not be on your URL address.

Creating websites for your class or having your students create websites on a topic can be a powerful tool for learning. Students are able to be creative with design as well as how they present their information. Weebly.com allows students to work at an idividual level or they are able to collaborate with one other or several students. The wonderful part about using a web 2.0 tool is that students do not have to be in one location. They can be from other classes within the school, within the state, country and/or world.

For teachers you can create a site for the course, on a topic, or for a specific assignment such as for a web quest. Weebly.com can also be used to create a portfolio of your work or for your curriculum vitae.

Here are some great examples of how weebly.com web creator are being used –

http://33359123.nhd.weebly.com/  - this site was created by a 6^th grade student for a project

http://depaolawebquest.weebly.com/  - a webquest created for elementary school but can be adapted for any grade level

http://www.merciermagic.com/ - an teacher that is using it for her class where there are an abundant of information located within this site. Notice how she had embedded the use of other technology tools within her site.

http://jenniferfariello.weebly.com/index.html  and http://www.michaellahammond.com/index.html   both have created their educational portfolios.

And here is the website ecbacon.weebly.com that I have created and use in my class.

I have enjoyed using weebly.com for a central location for my students to go to. They are able to go to our class site find information about assignments, notes from class, Power Points, due dates, contact information, as well as links to other tools we are using such as kidblog.com , voki.com and to our class wiki page. The only negative I have found was the formatting tools are temperamental at times. There are times when I copy and paste and have to spend time adjusting the formatting. This is typical with any web-based program, and it does depend on your computer and internet speed, but I have found it to happen more often than not. That being said, it is nothing that would deter me from continuing to use weebly.com.

And the other great thing about creating a website is that it continues to be a never ending work in progress.

Just remember when you are signing up for this free website creator tool (weebly.com) that you click on the education version which is located on the top blue tool bar.

Can you think how you would use weebly.com in your class? What lesson do you have now that the students could create a website rather than using another tool? What are your concerns about using a website creator? If you already use weebly.com, can you share your experience with us, good and bad? What do you think about using weebly.com?

Digital Story - Myths about Childhood

I hope you enjoy my digital story of Myths about Childhood. This digital story will be used in my classroom to introduce the realities of childhood. The story may seem dark and depressing at times but the intent is to expose students to the realities that many children face in today’s world; hungry, homeless, abuse, etc.

When I was deciding what to choose I tried to find some topic that I could use to teach the students. I was looking at several ideas that would help enhance what they were learning. I remembered that we introduce Myths of Childhood briefly at the beginning of the semester. This usually is a one day lesson with some quick activities. That is always what the intention is but the lesson always seems to take up a lot of time for something that was to be just a brief discussion. Using the PowerPoint presentation to discuss the topic took up a lot of time. Our department had talked about taking this out of the curriculum but I argued that it is important for students to understand that there are real issues going on with children outside of their immediate understanding of the world. And the activities after the PowerPoint bring home the understanding that these facts are happening right outside their door. This is how I came to choose Myths of Childhood as my digital story project. I am pleased with the outcome of the project but realize that I can work to enhance it as I become more familiar with iMovie. I am also very pleased that what would have taken me 20 to 25 minutes as a lesson, now will take less than 4 minutes. Not only will the digital story have a stronger impact on the students understanding, it will also engage the students toward the learning as opposed to them having to listen to me talk about it.  

What do you think? If you were a student in my class, would this digital story help you to understand Myths about Childhood? What message do you take from watching this video?

Digital Story Draft

Digital Story about Childhood Myths

Here is my draft of my digital story. It is a definite work in progress. This has taken me longer then expected. This is mostly due to learning how to use iMovie. I am so use to using a PC that it has taken many hours just to get this. I still have to do a lot of fixes to it. Let me know what you think. I know I have issues right now with how it looks and the graphics. I need to figure them out. My voiceover may need some help also. Any tips on the voiceover. 

This may seem a little depressing. The unfortunate thing is that with Child Development you sometimes have to talk about the depressing things related to children. This digital story is about the myths of childhood. Students are very colored with the idea that childhood is bliss for all. The media paints a pretty picture for them which they tend to believe. They also have the notion that things happen to other people in other far away lands, not to them and those within their communities. This digital story is for part of a three part intro of the course. Students will view this video and then break off into work groups. There are four areas where activities for each of the myths are discussed. This video will make it easier for me because I will not have to spend a lot of time telling them the information which will allow them to have more time to work on the activities. 

We are all just floating in a CLOUD

Lately I have been hearing the term “The Cloud” used more often. At first I was not sure what that meant. What was this cloud? Was it a specific program, software, or some term that the internet world had created? And then I was asking myself, do I need to know what this “cloud” is? Is this something I will have to get or use in order to maintain everything I am doing on-line? Well the answer is; I was already using “The Cloud” without knowing it.

“The Cloud” is space out in the unknown of your computer. When you use programs such as Google or  DropBox – you are using “The Cloud.” What is happening is that you no longer need to have flash drives, thumb drives, your physical computer – you can access all your files from any location throughout the world. For instance I can create and save a file from a computer in one location, walk away from that computer, drive 3000 miles across country, and finish working on that file in another location on another computer. Incredible!

What is really happening is that the sites, such as DropBox (same concept as Google Docs if you are using that), are providing the storage somewhere out in cyberland for your files to live. You do not need to carry any devices with you or take up any space on your hard drives. Those large files you may want to save, you can now save without having to wait long for them to download as well as for them to take up all your space.

For a teacher something like DropBox is an incredible tool to use. I access my DropBox account at home, correct, update, and/or change a file, then access it at school through my account. No forgetting flash drives at home, no forgetting copies at home; it works out great. I have all my students using DropBox also. They have expressed how it has made things easier for them.

“The Cloud” is something you are probably using already. It is just another term used to describe the cyber space that we are all now connected to.

Boy, we have come a long way since 8 track tapes

How would you describe “The Cloud”? Are you using “The Cloud”? How do you feel about using “The Cloud”? Do your students use it? How are you feeling about all these quick changes in technology?

Diigo - Orgainze me Please!!!

Social Bookmarking is a way for you to save, organize, monitor, and access on-line resources. Social bookmarking is a tool that is available to any on-line user. You are able to save the URL or a screenshot of the first page of a website for future access. If you are like me, I come across several dozen sites that provide me with information that I am currently using or want to use in the future. And I don’t want to have to remember how I searched for these particular sites or write down the URLs and then try to remember where I wrote it. Prior to learning about social bookmarking tools, I would save the sites in my favorites. And although it worked out well with creating files for the variety of topics I was interested in, it did not help me to organize and access them as quickly and as conveniently as an on-line social bookmarking tool. Yes I admit I have become that person that expects technology to provide things for me immediately. I don’t want to wait, look, or spend the time looking when something can do it for me quicker.

How do we choose what social bookmarker to use? Well, this answer is up to you and your preferences. There are many social bookmarkers out there but for the purpose of not overwhelming us, I will briefly discuss Diigo. Other bookmarking tools to check out are LiveBinder, and Sqworl. All three of these bookmarking tools are easy to set up and easy to use.

Diigo has been around for awhile. After the bookmarking tool Delicious (2003) popularized the use of on-line book marking tools, Diigo (2006) followed in its footsteps with its popularity.

Diigo allows you to save the URL from a site, make annotated comments about what the site is, how you would use it, what you would use it for, and/or any other information that you may want to remember why you wanted to save the site.

Diigo also allows you to use tags to help organize your resources. Tags come in handy because you can really get carried away with saving sites and then when you have to go back and think about what site is it you know you saw the information on, you can click on the tag of interests to find all the sites within that category.

Diigo also has a bookmarklet tool. What a bookmarklet tool does is it provides you with just one-click to do many functions. For instance, when you find yourself on a site that is of interest to you and you want to save this site you just click on the Diigolet icon on your toolbar (you have to load the Diigolet icon onto your computers toolbar by following the directions provided by the Diigo website.) Once you have this loaded, you are able to use many of the tools provided.  Within the Diigolet, the bookmark tool allows you to save the sites URL by capturing the title of the website, your annotated information about the site, create tags or use the tags they provide, and also allows you to share you findings with other groups.

There is also the highlight tool that allows you to highlight information of importance to you on the site so that when you go back to the site you will notice only the information of importance to you or if you are sharing the site, the information that you want others to see, is highlighted.

The other tool that works well is the sticky-note tool. This works just like a post-it note. Click on this and a note page appears. You can type in a reminder, information, a question, or anything that you want to make a note about for the site and/or page.  

The read-later tool is great for those sites you may not want to save but want to read at a later time. The tool will save the site for you to access it later to read.

Where these tools can be used with any browsers, Diigo also provides other tools such as screenshot (allows you to save a visual of the site) and quick-note tools, that can only be used with specific browsers.

Sharing your Diigo bookmarks or creating a shared bookmark group, is a great tool to use in the classroom for your students or among your colleagues. For you students you can create a group that allows them to access certain sites on particular topics. And for your colleagues you can create a shared bookmark group that houses sites that are related to issues related to teaching, content area topics, and/or tools for teaching. Creating shared groups is easy to do. Using the highlight tool or the sticky-note tool can became a positive benefit for any shared group. These tools take away from the time it may take to read a site and also allows for collaboration on both levels. 

Make sure you create lists for all your bookmarks. List help you further organize your sites. Create different lists for your different areas of interest and/or for you classroom. Lists allow you to create a list on your topic of study and share it with your students. . On the main library page, go to the “My List” section. Click on edit and here is where you can title your lists, give a description of your list, as well as make your list public or private. Your list will show up on your left side toolbar within your library.

Think about using Diigo in your classroom. By creating groups and lists, you can organize your topics so that students can easily access the information they need. You can also create an group and have your students do the research on the topic and add the sites for other students to use.

Check out this video on how to incorporate Diigo in the classroom. 

Don't forget to visit the Community tab within Diigo. to find sites that others have bookmarked to share. I do not know how Diigo has this set up, but it seems to target bookmarks that are of interest to most of my bookmarks. Diigo mysterious!!

At first I did not like Diigo. I thought it was too simplistic and “wordy.” To me it just looked like a list of sites with words attached to them. And although all the sites of interest were in the same spot, I had a difficult time finding what I needed without reading all the titles or using the tabs and then reading all the titles. After playing around with all the settings I was able to organize even further with the use of the “My Lists” feature. Now, like when I saved my sites in my favorites, I was able to organize them into groups that I can easily access and find. And although this sounds like it was doing me a service, I still was not completely pleased with the site. I started looking at other sites because I am a visual person. What this means when using a social booking marking tool is that I don’t always remember the name of the site or the tab I could have put it under, but I can tell you some features that the pages of the site consisted of. I find things quicker on a visual level. It is like when that person comes up to you and starts talking to you as if you are great friends, you know the face but for the life of you, you can’t remember the name. Diigo must have heard my cries because they now have a screenshot feature. This allows you to bookmark the site by saving the screen you are looking at. You can capture the first page of the site or any other page within the site. The only downfall is that you have to be using  Google Chrome, Mozilla FireFox, or Apple Safari browsers. This is not a downfall if you already use them or are willing to use them, which I have done.

Here is my Diigo Library. I say it is a work in progress. Enjoy and feel free to save any sites into your Diigo account.

What social bookmarking tool do you use? Do you use Diigo? What do you think? What neat feature do you use with Diigo? What challenges have you encountered with Diigo? How do you use it in your classroom? Would you use it in your classroom?  

Are you Smart with your SMART Board?

Being new to teaching I am excited about using technology in the classroom to connect with my students. Last semester was my first time teaching my "own" class. I had begun to integrate technology into my classroom. And let me tell you, not only did the kids have fun, but I had fun also. How incredible to be able to play with great technology tools and then benefit from the learning experiences of the kids. I am so excited about integrating technology into their learning as much as possible, and to continue to have a fun time doing it. 

One of my technology goals this year is to work on using the SMART Board the smart way. Currently I am using it mainly to view PowerPoint presentations, show websites, and/or  show VHS/DVD videos, to name a few. I mainly use it as I would a projector. I have been using some of the tools such as the slides, pens, and highlighter. I also have had the students brainstorming or writing on the board. Although I feel that this is a good start to using the SMART Board, I would rather find ways to use in as an interactive tool.

I have begun to research how to use the SMART Board as an interactive tool within the secondary level. The activities that I have come across have been mainly for elementary level students.

I watched this video to get more information on how to use the SMART Board on an advanced level. The video gives some great ways to use the tools as long as you have the activity tool kit.

How have you been using your SMART Board in your class? What tools have you been using? What interactive activities have you created? What have you noticed about the engagement of students in the classroom?

If you have not used the SMART board, what other technology have you been using? If you do not have a SMART Board do you think you would or would not use one in your classroom? How would you see yourself using it.

Looking forward to hearing your answers and learning from each other.