Personal+Growth+(PLN)

Personal Growth While I had heard of most of these tools I really didn’t have much experience with them. Some of them were very easy to work with but others took a lot more work. Wikis and Blogs will probably be used on a regular basis to getting information to parents and students. When I first read the description for blogs and wikis, I was worried about who had access, who could edit, and what types of comments/posts could be left. I like that we can control all of these things and has made me very comfortable is using them.

Google Earth/Sky was great to learn and I can see some application for it. When it comes to science I think this would be more helpful in an Earth Science class (I teach Physical Science). However, it is a fun application and I would like to practice with it in my spare time. I think it is a useful tool to know but putting in the markers and having them show up on the tour was a little difficult to figure out.

Photo albums and voicethreads are two things I’m very excited about teaching to the kids. They both seemed pretty straight forward to put together. This will be a great way to combine both art and science. I would like to learn more features and experiment with different types of online photo albums. This way I can troubleshoot any problems that students may run across.

The bookmarking sites will probably be more as an as needed basis. I will continue to update my pages and if anyone needs to see it I will share it with them. I will also be bringing up the sites in my curriculum meeting to see if there is any interest. I will be frequenting Teacher Tube on a more regular basis. I didn’t realize how much was on there. I also thought it was fun to make and upload a video. I know there are several videos with students in them but I don’t know how comfortable I am posting a students video even with a waiver at the middle school level. This is something I need to discuss with my team.

Skyping, while I can see the application, will probably be for personal use right now. I found out that I have other friends with Skype addresses. I am trying to convince family member to do the same but they are not too comfortable with technology. I think that Google Docs is going to be the most useful for my team. My LA teacher is already getting familiar with its uses. This will be a huge paper and time saver. It will also allow students to work at home and not lose their work or leave it at home. I like that they are all formatted like the usual Word docs we are used to.

With all of these tools, I would like to take time to become more familiar with their features. And with some of them I would need to keep working with them so I don’t forget how to do things. While I have talked with my team about most of the tools, not all of them are on board. Most of them think the tools are helpful, they are not too interested in doing the work. Unfortunately, since some don’t use different computer applications, they don’t really see how they will save you time and make things easier. I am hoping that when they see the rest of us using the applications they will want in. We’ll have to wait and see.

Overall this was a great class and I can't wait to try what I've learned and see how much of my team I can get to do the same.