Portable Educational Game System

I'm going to do a little more research on educational game systems to determine the system best suitable for the classroom and financially reasonable. After reading an article, entitled Game On! , about the benefits to "Digital Game-Based Learning" I began thinking of incorporating one into my classroom. The article lays out the many benefits to gaming in the classroom. A major importance is that the students know what they are learning while they are playing. I see use in center time and at other assigned times during the day. There are a few students in class that could really benefit by attaching use to work completed in class. Unfortunately, the price of many systems the students use at home are too high. There is also the problem with appropriate games. It seems to be coming down to Leapster. If anyone has any experiences let me know. Otherwise, I'll let you know how it goes.

Pay Attention

Technology is at the door, let it in!

iTunes

I have started to create a catalog of professional development podcasts through iTunes store. It's free and after a quick download I was ready to enter the world of podcasts. A few of the podcasts I have started listening to include the following: SMARTBoard Lessons, Tech Chicks, and Grammar Girl. Most people go for the music option at the iTunes store, but the podcast section has a wealth of topics and interests. Just click on the tab for Podcasts on the left side and just below that is a section called categories. One of the categories is education and after clicking on education there are four more subscategories that appear including educational technology and K-12 podcasts. If you are looking for something different pick another category that interests you and a screen appears with many different titles to podcasts. The top 25 podcasts appear on the right side of the screen for the category picked and a tab labeled See All allows you to do just that. Once you have selected a podcast that looks good, which is funny since you listen to them, click on it and the screen will split between an overview of the podcast creator selected at the top and a table of all the podcasts created by that person on the bottom. There is a choice to subscribe to the podcasts or if you want to test out an episode, just click on the Get Episode button in the table. The podcast will download and all that is left is for you to click on the Podcast tab on the left side of the screen. Next to the Podcast Tab is the number of podcasts you have downloaded. A new screen appears when you've clicked that shows the podcasts you have downloaded. Double click on the podcast you want to hear and it will start playing for you. Now there shouldn't be anything stopping you from downloading some podcasts to help in your teaching or learn a new language. Most are free, but some podcasts require a payment.

Flickr Celebration

Here's an example of what I did at my Flickr site. You're more than welcome to write about the prompt I've included.




There are celebrations for many reasons. This cake with lit candles all over it is how many people celebrate their birthday in the United States. Think of your favorite celebration and write about it. What makes that celebration your favorite? Be specific. Why did you pick this celebration out of all the possibilities? Remember to write in complete sentences - capitalization, punctuation, who or what and action. Include interesting, colorful words and descriptive words to make the writing come to life. Vary your sentences to make sure I'm not saying aye, aye, aye or wi, wi, wi all the home when I read your published piece. Think of the possible audience of thousands (okay, I'd be happy with a dozen) that may read your online authoring. Add those details, exmaples, thoughts, and feelings to make your writing one that people want to read again and again.

Flickr

I created a Flickr account a while back and uploaded my first photos to the site a couple weeks back. It's free and easy if you have a Yahoo account, and even if you don't you just need to take a little more time to set up the Yahoo account and Flickr can be yours too. Let me tell you a little more about Flickr before I move onto the first way I will use Flickr with my class. I was very interested in learning about the photo sharing website that is free or for a price with added perks. A quick sign-up and millions of photos can be searched. If you find one you want to use, just Flickrmail the photographer to find out about using it. The site does not disappoint with easy ways to upload your digital pictures and share them. Especially helpful ideas from a podcast by Alan Levine that was under Help at the bottom of the screen, click on the Tools tab to download the Flickr Uploadr. This makes it even easier to upload photos to Flickr. Pictures you upload can have notes added to photos, so students could make captions, add insight into the photo taken, or even write poetry about the picture. Another use would be much better pictures for clip art or assessments. You can also comment on and have other people comment on your photos if you choose to have them public instead of private. A final exciting function in Flickr is the Map tab. Photos can be placed on the map and added to a growing number of other photos all over the world. This would be a way to set up a tour of a community thousands of miles away.
Now onto my use for Flickr. With each of the photos I uploaded I wrote story starters and guides to help my students or anyone else who would like to write about the pictures I posted. My idea is to have students access the site at home, with the help of their parents, to have time for extra practice with the writing process and typing. I'll be interested to see if my students take to it. I have included a link to the site under my links tab.

Podcasting

I'm about to embark on my podcasting experience all by my lonesome. My CED 534 group created a podcast, Podcast 534 and now I have a Gcast account to have a place to put them. So look forward to hearing my songs about Root Words, months of the year, and the Water Cycle.

Box.net

Box.Net provides a way to backup files, share them, and even collaborate with others (collaboration comes with a price). Almost any type of file can be saved. You could create one Box.net account for every email account you have and end up with one gig to store music and another gig to store photos. This is an online service and access is available from anywhere you can connect to the Internet. Another part that's beneficial is being able to post files right to a website and if you decide to make the file public it is given a website address. There are no advertisements seen and the site prides itself on that. One gigabyte of space is free. Upload any type of file and multiple files at one time. The drag and drop function for adding files is handy or just upload through the browse and upload method. For those teachers that don't have access to their school files from home, this would be a great way to keep files, update them, and print them. Very secure and constantly backs up the files to provide redundancy. There is even phone support for paying members.
A weakness is that in order to join you need to include an email address. The only way to collaborate is to buy the professional account. File size is limited to 10 MB for the free service.
The price is hard to beat for 1 GB, free. It's $79.95 a year for 5 GB and $199.95 a year for the 15 GB. The most expensive plan also comes with 20 subaccounts to allow for sharing and collaboration.
A great application to the classroom is called the widget. It allows for pictures, video and audio to all be put within the widget, or box that holds it all. The widget can then be added to a website, blog, or wiki. It would be great to accumulate a few resources for students to use and place them within the widget to be used at a website, without having to add in all the code for each individual item or go back onto Box.net to retrieve them. This is a free way to backup files without having to buy a jump drive and access those files from home. This is more for the teacher to keep work safe and be able to access the work anywhere, which could lead to better preparation and better teaching.

Gliffy

Gliffy is a diagramming program that is a more advanced version of Inspiration. The web based program features drag and drop use with the vast symbol library. Once the diagram is finished it can be made public or private. Chris Kohlhardt and Clint Dickson founded this San Francisco based company.
Gliffy is web based so access is available anywhere there is hardware connnected to the World Wide Web. Another strength is being able to share diagrams with other collaborators who are able to make changes, deletions, or additions. If the creator does not like the revisions a revision history button lets the creation be switched back to an earlier version. There is a large assortment of symbols in each of the categories. Symbols in the Tab section at the top of the page enable the creator or collaborators the ability to create, modify, and view. Work on Gliffy can be added to a website or wiki.
It is possible to upload images to include in the diagrams, but only up to 2000 Kilobytes for a free account. An email address is needed to access the website, making it less student friendly. I am having difficulty receiving my confirmation email from Gliffy that will allow me to collaborate. Gliffy could be hard for younger students to use.
As with many other applications on the web, this site is free for all the diagrams made public, but only 3 private diagrams are possible. The premium service is $30 for one year or $45 for two years allows unlimited private diagrams along with more options and abilities.
Just like Inspiration, Gliffy can be used as a prewriting organizer. It can also be used to plan out a report or presentation, brainstorm, create flowcharts, and floor plans. I see using this with students working on aerial views of maps. The existing object pictures show students the way to think about furniture, and more importantly windows and doors.

Wikispaces

Wikispaces is a simple website creator that is in the process of giving away 100,000 free, advertisement free accounts for teachers. You can use wikispaces just like a school website, it's very easy to add information and format the page. What makes it even better than a website is that other people can add information to the site and collaborate on it. Invite those you want to collaborate or just create a public account. Just click the Edit This Page button and type all you want. Since it is online, teachers are able to work on it anywhere they have an Internet connection. Pages can be added quickly and then those pages can be connected together with hyperlinks between pages. With the same hyperlink button, links to websites can be included on the page. Easily edited and navigated. No advertisements on the free teacher pages. Informative video podcasts take you through the step-by-step process of starting a page, adding information and links. Another feature I really found useful is that pictures, Word, and Excel documents can be uploaded very easily. Then take the thumbnail picture of the file and place it on the page where you want it. Other people can then open those files or images. The colors and layout can be changed under the Manage Space link. Recent changes can be seen and all it takes to make a New Page is to click on New Page. I even have an RSS feed showing me all the changes that have occurred to my Wikispaces site on my Bloglines account.
Sometimes symbols, font type and spaces will make the layout of the page change from the way you want it to look. There can be problems with symbols affecting the HTML code. Math problems do not line up well. Like I said before there are free accounts and if you sign up for an educator account there will be no advertisements - even though the ads are very subtle.
Students would be able to create pages of information on topics they are covering in class. Teachers can list websites for students to use. Add a homework page that lists the assignments for each day of the week and update them daily. It's a great way to put all resources, strategies, and ideas into one place. Use it just like a school website. Also, any Word documents used in the class can be uploaded onto the page to create accesible study guides, worksheets, rubrics, or any other Word or Excel documents. Wikispaces is a terrific site that on plan on using in the future. I'm even thinking of using a Wikispaces page next year as the second grade site, instead of the school Website, I should probably check with my IT coordiantor about that first. Come and check out my updates to my wikispaces site.

The Water Cycle Song

I have been meaning to add yet another song to my ever growing list (of 3). A parent of former students was in my building a few months back and asked me if I still sang the song because her kids still remembered it. This is after five years for the older of the two children. So here comes the third installment to the tune of Oh My Darling Clementine.

Evaporation (do the reverse of raindrops coming down with your fingers like you would do in Itsy Bitsy Spider)
Condensation (curve both arms over your head meeting to together to form a cloud, which might look like an egg or o to some students)
Percipitation on my mind (here's where the raindrops can come down)
It's the water cycle, it's the water cycle and it's happening all the time (have the students rotate their arm around in a circle as if doing the backstroke)

Now you have the tune and the motions that allowed my second graders to learn the vocabulary of the water cycle. Just in case you need a visual here is the water cycle, thanks to the public photo area of Flickr.