I'm experimenting with different slide show tools; this one is from Animoto.
Here is a presentation by Scott Elias that I found on Slideshare; he demonstrates how to make a presentation that will not put your students to sleep. A few things that he discusses is that you must be passionate about your content, tell stories about the pictures on the screen, and don't fill the screen with text that your students must copy. There are many more tips that will help you avoid the common pitfalls that Powerpoint presenters make; one is that you should design your slide not decorate it; if you view his presentation you'll understand exactly his point. One of my personal peeves is when the presenter reads every word on the slide. I was at a workshop in which the presenter said, "I am not going to read the slides to you; I know you can read." She then proceeded to READ EVERY WORD on each slide; believe me, I was beyond annoyed, irritated - there are harsher words I could use but I'll be professional. To top off her condescending presentational manner she FINALLY got to the last slide; she was SO proud; it contained clip art animation of an arrow hitting a target WITH sound; she played it FIVE times. This was the intro to a mandated summer workshop; I wanted to run out of the room right then, but I decided to keep my job and stayed.
This is my first try with a slide application Smilebox. When you click to play, you are sent to their page, but I think there is a workaround for that.
I read a revealing article about Library 2.0 and communication at Suite 1.0.com. Allan Choi defines Library 2.0 in his article, Library 2.0 and the New Librarianship: New Ways of Understanding Libraries. Choi explains that Library 2.0 represents a new way of performing library services. The following is a list of the tools he believes should be used by libraries; it is interesting to note that all of these tools can enhance communication between the library/librarian and their patrons.
* Instant messaging * Video sharing * Podcasting * Photo sharing * Blogs and wikis * Social networks * Folksonomies and social tagging * RSS feeds * web mashups
Twitter Explained for Librarians, or 10 Ways to use Twitter David Lee King's blog is worth checking out; his three subheadings for his blog are social web, emerging trends, libraries. In this article he explains that twitter is a tool to send web-based messages to your friends and colleagues. Twitter is an application that facilitates communication publicly or privately and facilitates up to the second access to what is happening with technology. King also explains that twitter can be used as a "personal note bucket" where you can "send yourself random thoughts that you don't want to lose." Brenda Branson replied to David's twitter post. "You know, I wish all my teachers would Twitter. So many times I think of something I need to tell them and it’d be so much quicker than a phone call or email." Here's the link to join twitter.
This video from Commoncraft demonstrates how using Twitter can help people communicate. Librarians could use twitter, especially the ones involved in 23Things, to share what they are doing with technology.
The Paradigm Flip chart below illustrates how libraries should evolve to be more in touch with modern technology and the needs of 2.0 learners. The entire article Flip This Library: School Libraries Need a Revolution is written by Christopher Harris. In his article he discusses how blogs can be used to extend discussions. Typically, a discussion about a piece of literature is done within the walls of a classroom; however, with today's technology, students can connect, communicate, and blog about their impressions of a poem, story, or book without being in the same space or even time frame. The writer can even connect with the readers by posting on the blog and then the readers can respond adding their comments to the pool of information. The students can even extend their knowledge by sharing social bookmarking tools such as Del.icio.us; or they can share photos using Flickr, and videos using YouTube or TeacherTube.
Click on the image to read the chart."Redefining the school library is not a response to some inherent failure on the part of the institution. It’s an opportunity for library professionals to engage in some exciting activities that will enable our institutions to remain effective in the midst of fast-moving technological change. It was school libraries, in fact, that led the way in the first wave that brought computers and then the Internet into our classrooms. This is about adapting, once again, to a new, perhaps even more compelling digital revolution, in which powerful new ideas are enhancing the way in which we function in an electronic information environment."
Allan Choi references the opportunities of IM from an article by Wesley Fryer. "A few of the potential benefits of IM in the classroom which should be highlighted in conversations like this include: The case for instant messaging in the classroom. article by Wesley Fryer
1. Opportunity to bring real-world experts into the classroom (who wouldn’t otherwise be able to visit) 2. Opportunity to bring greater levels of interactivity and engagement into classroom lessons for students 3. Opportunity to use real-world tools students will use outside the classroom walls and in real life 4. Opportunity to contextually address and discuss Internet safety issues, appropriate use of IM technologies, etc. 5. Opportunities for students to learn and practice effective digital collaboration techniques."
My Media Specialist, Nancy Murrey introduced vokis to me. You can create one that is male or female, animal or cartoon. You can also type in the text with an accent or phone in your recording. You can get your own voki for your blog at http://www.voki.com.
Obama's "appreciation of the magic of language and ardent love of reading have not only endowed him with a rare ability to communicate his ideas to millions of Americans while contextualizing complex ideas about race and religion, they have also shaped his sense of who he is and his apprehension of the world". --New York Times
This Read sign was created courtesy of the ALA American Library Association. You need to have a picture that is centered so that it is not cut off in the frame. Most of Obama's pictures I tried from flickr.com were framedcorrectly, that is with his head 1/3 from the top of the frame. I selected Obama as the subject of this Read poster because he supports education and the use of technology to prepare our students to be successful citizens of America.
Here's my avator warholizerized; a free image manipulator at Big Huge Labs using a technique patterned after Andy Warhole. You can refresh your image until it looks the way you like. Click warholize to manipulate your image.
My avatar photo using Bead Art another application that works with flickr images or images from your computer. "Turn your photo into super-cool bead art. Choose photographs with strong colors and funky patterns for the most striking results."
According to IQ Content, mash-ups are "web application hybrids that combine two or more web-based information sources to create something new. In this they show the potential of the Web 2.0 technologies and approaches". At Trading Card you can "honor and immortalize someone you love" by turning them into a trading card! Here's one I created of of Gloria Savannah Rose on our deck. Click on Gloria's picture to view larger.
Here's a mosaic I created using images of my bichon's at Mosaic Maker. You can "make a mosaic from a photoset, favorites, tags, or individual digital photographs or images. It's a whole world of creative photo possibilities".
I have used flickr to get pictures for my website but have gone no further with this application. Today I uploaded a photo to the group- bichon frise. Here is the picture of my youngest girl Penny Pinwheel; she has a dirty face and needs a bath. I had to join the bichon frise group to upload my photo of Penny there; I also found some helpful info about tear stains and excessive licking.
I use Pageflakes to RSS all the blogs that I read frequently so that they are all on one page for me to scan and read easily. It is a web-based free application which also has thousands of flakes that can be added, e.g. wikipedia flake, calendar, bookmarks, and so on. Here's a screen shot of my pageflake page to show you what it looks like. Click on the image to read.
I usually go to NPR for online news; I listen to NPR on the radio every day and this way I can view/listen to articles I've missed. I've just recently begun to use Technorati as a blog directory; it has the top 100 blogs by authority and most viewed. It also has What's Popular in videos, music, games, DVD's and books.
I viewed the video of Stephen Abram as he kicked off 23 Things at Murdoch University Library in Australia. He made some excellent points about why librarians need to keep up with technology in order to engage learners in modern libraries; the web site at Murdoch University was also very helpful; they record their progress as their librarians complete their 23 things and have links to all their blogs.
I would like to share how our Media Specialist, Nancy Murrey, at Stanton uses web 2.0 tools to engage our students and teachers in using technology in their use of the library. This year she is experimenting with Google docs and encouraging teachers to use different tools Google has available. She has also helped teachers use wikis within their classes for collaboration. She helped me personally by teaching me about PhotoStory 3 which I used with my students to create multimedia projects last year. Right now we are working together to create podcasts on books students like to read to share with others giving them ideas about books they might like to use also. Besides these specific endeavors, she is always ready to help and supports her teachers when they need any help in learning themselves or teaching their students
Welcome to my blog where I will post my discoveries, explorations, and applications of Web 2.0 technologies for education. I look forward to investigating the 23 things listed in our goals and sharing what we learn together in this blogging community. Special thanks to Nancy Murrey, Stanton's Media Specialist, for asking me to join her in this exciting learning journey.
Here's the website I have created for my English Honors II class for Language Arts related curriculum and links. Click on the image to read.
I also have a blog for my English Honors II students where they write and share original poetry, reflect on the literature we read in class, and evaluate their own writing after reading my feedback and their peer reviews. Click on the image to read.
My students use a wiki for vocabulary collaboration; student insert a graphic to illustrate their vocabulary word and write a sentence using the word in context. Click on the image to read.
I have a site at quia for interactive games and quizzes. I encourage you to visit quia.com if you are interested in creating activities for your students like hangman, battleship etc. Click on the image to read.
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