Just a thought

It has occurred to me that maybe my mind is trying to go in too many directions at the same time. I am always thinking of new things to get involved in, and loving it. But when all of them come together to demand time it gets fairly impressive. In the long run it's all something to do and I'm having fun, so let the good times roll.

Discouraged, Never

I guess the word I should have used to describe my feelings when the video sites didn't work was annoyed. I am not discouraged, just the opposite. In fact the podcast we are working on seems to be taking to long because I want it to be perfect, will be posted sometime next week, far from perfect, but we'll learn and move on. The is a learning curve for everything and I want it all yesterday. But, Janice you are right, I'm not discouraged about Web 2.0.

Week Five

I just finished listening to a podcast from San Jose State and realized a couple of things. One, there is so much out there that I have never heard of that it makes this mission seemed doomed to failure.
Second, I'm going to keep plugging away at it.
I have used Unitedstreaming in my classroom in past years. I no longer have access to it, but I do have CA streaming. I have not used it as of today. I asked myself why? The best I can come up with is disappointment and familiarity. I was used to US and I liked the way it worked and was excited enough about it to become a Discovery Educator. Then it was gone. So when I watched the Water Buffalo video I was jolted back to the reality of how powerful short clips can be. It is also more work to find suitable short clips than to just show a full video and expect the students to retain all of the information supplied.
Bottom line: Get on CA Streaming and get back to the program I had started and used very successfully.
I tried to access most of the links to other videos and did not have success with most. They either did not recognize my Quicktime or wanted me to download something else and when I tried I got a message that it could not be found. This type of message makes it easy to get discouraged from trying to use their sites.

My Week of Learning

Today I realize that the week is almost gone and very little of what I had planned to accomplish this week has actually happened. One of the thoughts I had was that regardless of how much I am interested and want to do it all, there comes a time in my week when I have to make choices. I hate it when that happens.

Reflections on Past Weeks

As we are ending week four I started looking back on what has happened since I started this class. For one thing, my students are getting their e-mail accounts.
2, I have an idea for a Wiki,
3, I have decided that I really need a classroom blog. My parents want homework on line and our web site is time consuming.
4, My Power Point lesson is over and I'm so ready to move on.
5, Our math study group is trying out Google Docs.
6, And I love it all.

Back to School Night

In a way I got brought back to reality today. At Back to School Night I was telling the parents of my gifted class about all of the neat things I was planning for their children this year. I was telling them about field trips, camping trips, science camp, blogs, podcasts, wikis and how Power Point was not an end point but a starting point. I am very excited about the year I have planned. I asked for questions and one women asked me why I didn't stamp the student's agenda? How did I answer? I told her I didn't do it because I didn't want to take time to check if my students could copy correctly. I also said it was boring and I would rather teach math/science or especially technology. I guess I was reminded that just because I am excited, the rest of the world isn't necessarily so. Oh well, go figure.

Science Books and Technology

I am sitting in a meeting with the Glencoe rep and they are presenting the book and all of the tech tools. As I am watching and listening I am getting a feel for why teachers get freaked by technology. There is so much information and so many discs with access to hundreds of tools. Most of our teachers don't have regular access to computer labs, so all of the student stuff means nothing to them. Most of our teachers are not real comfortable using computers so all of the tools for teachers will be used by only a few teachers. Again, so much stuff it is overwhelming to the teachers. What a shame.

First Step

This is my first step into creating a classroom blog. I'm excited about the possibilities, but am facing the realities of actually getting it done. Sometimes I get ahead of myself and want it all NOW. Janice has told me to do one thing at a time and it will all happen. I try to take that advice but in reality, I'm still jumping ahead in my mind.