A Sharing Habbit

I have definitely created a reading habit, but I have also created a sharing habit. Whenever my reader helps me find a gem of an idea to use or that one of my colleagues can use, I share it. I probably email at least one person a day from my reader to share with them a blog or a website or an idea that the reader has found for me. I get a lot of thank yous for doing this, but what I would really like is for someone to actually use one of the things I send them and then let me see the results. A lot of the items I email are the types of sites and programs that as a math teacher I will never get a chance to use. For instance, I sent a student teacher at our school who is teaching about mythology a web version of a Myth and Legend Story Maker. It sounded like she liked the idea, but I haven't heard anything since. I sent our Scope teacher, who I knew was doing some project which involved picture taking and collages a link to Photovisi. Again, found by the reader. I haven't received any negative feedback, but a little more positive feedback would be nice.

Thing 5

I have really enjoyed finding this new way to get so much information. I never new there was such a thing as an RSS. I have even found stuff and shared them with other teachers around our school. For instance, next week is Read Across America for Dr. Seuss's birthday and one of the blogs entered into my reader sent me essentially a version of Read Across the Planet. So, I sent that to our librarian because she does a lot with Read Across America. Then, my reader found a Young Scientist Challenge and I emailed that to two science teachers who I thought would use it.

My favorite blog that I have found using my reader is Kim's Ventures in Educational Technology. I don't think it is so much how she writes, but what her topic choices are. Her topics that I have read include:

• What is your six word inagural address? - I thought this would be a great assignment to see what stuents would write. I would have them write their 6 word address and then write an essay about why they chose those words.
• Teacher Uses Webcam to Deliver Lessons - This is something I would love to be able to do. Plus, our county has been planning in case of an flu epidemic. Using a Webcam would be a great way to deliver the lessons.
  

Thing 4

Up To My Eyeballs in Feeds!!!

I've been working on Thing 4 and Thing 5 a little at a time over the past two weeks or so, and boy do I have feeds. This "Thing" is so cool!!! Love it! I get the news I want and not the news I don't want. Since I currently have 25 subscriptions, I'll probably wind up getting rid of some. This is still so neet.

I don't have a "reading habit;" I have a reading addiction and it has almost decimated my previous addiction to World of Warcraft.

Scribe Posting/SSR Posting

There were two blogs that I thought had absolutely inspired ideas for uses of Web 2.0 in the classroom. Both had educational value and made classroom management easier. SP-817 Math Blog: "Scribe Post" and Mark’s Edtech Blog: Is this SSR 2.0?.

The Scribe Post idea goes hand and hand with Chuck Neuschafer does on his classroom website. He has his lecture videoed and then linked onto his web page. If you don't have the video recording capabilities, you could always use the Scribe Post idea to accomplish the same thing. Scribe posting is exactly what it sounds like...a person who is a scribe posts things onto the blog about what happened in class that day. This isn't just a "he said, she said;" it is a well thought through summary of the lesson with examples, diagrams, and pictures. Making a scribe post have two fold benefits:

1. The students who missed class or need extra help will have an online version of the lecture, notes, and information to complete assignments.
2. The student who is the scribe has their learning reinforced by reviewing it well enough to teach or explain the material.

The SSR Posting idea is equally as beneficial. SSR, Silent Sustained Reading, is a part of our everyday life at Winder-Barrow Middle School. Each grade level has an assigned 10 minute frame of time each day that students are to read. It doesn't matter wether they are in Social Studies, Science, Language Arts, or Math. Though we (the adults, the teachers in the room) see the benefit and need of this reading time, the students are still reluctant to get started reading and to do so quietly. Having an SSR blog is a great idea to motivate students. Once they read they can then take turns adding to the blog, discussing what they are reading, what they like to read, and other topics related to SSR.