Challenge 4 and 5
Asynchronous tools from this section I have used to communicate with classmates would be on my blog as well as through the chat folders available in Angel, especially the "I have a Question" folder. These tools come in handy when communication is needed but not urgent. For urgent communication, synchronous communication is needed. Synchronous tools can be as simple as picking up the telephone which we all do everyday, to scheduling a Skype session with a colleague that is too far away to call.
I have found ways to use my smart phone to aid me in this course. I have set up my PLN and my blog to send alerts to my phone when I receive new posts and messages. My PLN is also set up to send me reminders of looming deadlines and important things that need to be completed.
I had to create a blog for a class that I took last semester with DR. Kinney. I am still having a hard time trying to figure all of this out.
ReplyDeleteJanuary 27th: Today I figured out how to connect my blog to my PLN! Yay! I am feeling more tech savvy already!
ReplyDeleteHi! I had to create one for Dr. Kinney last semester as well. Here's the link to mine: http://danjemorris.edublogs.org/
ReplyDeleteI'm still trying to get the gist of all of this! :)
Hey ladies I am new to this as well. Can anyone give me any pointers?
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon all! I feel so incompetent in the area of technology. Hope to figure all this our soon! Can't wait to see how far we have all come at the end of this semester!
ReplyDeleteThanks you for all your comments! I think one thing that is frustrating me the most are the obscure directions. It is taking me forever to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing, then another forever to figure out how to do it, and then still more time to actually do it. Urgggggg.....
ReplyDeleteChallenge #3.
ReplyDeleteFor this challenge we were to review two connecting organizations provided in Chapter 3. I chose the Life 'Round Here and the Pumpkin Seed Count. Posted below are my thoughts on the two websites.
Life Round Here
As an educator I am trying to broaden my students’ view of the world around them. I want them to see more than just the small community we live in. I researched the Life ‘Round Here project because the description in the book made it sound like something that allowed students to see and hear from real students around the world. It is a chance to see what other kids are doing, learning, experiencing, and sharing. I was impressed by the concept. But I did find the website a little uninformative. I wanted to see some samples of work before deciding to join or not and I couldn’t. I tried to view past projects but the pages were deleted. This would be a very good project to get in on but if you are in a system that requires a lot of research and information into a website before it can be utilized, like mine, it will take a lot more searching that just going to the website in the book. When I Googled the project I got redirected to the same website so I did not find out much more.
Pumpkin Seed Count
I was very impressed with this opportunity! What a wonderful way to connect classrooms. Teachers and students all get involved in the same project, which can be anything from recreating a favorite book, celebrating a holiday, or playing with different foods. It started as a pumpkin counting activity where students weighed in on how many seeds they counted in pumpkins. It also provides a Wordle for the day that acts as a warm-up for classes where they use several examples or related words that point to a specific location, vocabulary word, or other thing. As a teacher, this is a website I would use if I taught in younger grade levels, probably K-3. It is an excellent way to get students introduced to technology and get comfortable with using it before they move on to more complicated projects. It also gives teachers the flexibility to embellish on the projects using charts, spreadsheets, graphing, and much more!