Delicious and Twitter.

I was so excited to get to play on Twitter today.  I used to hate it but then about two years ago, my friends all had it and would plan events through it so I was forced for social reasons to join.  I didn't ever tweet until I had it for a few months.  But now I love it!  Follow me, @kfairwea !


We also got to play around on Delicious.  I had never used it before, and I still don't understand the complete concept of it.  Or the overall point of it other than as a bookmarker.  But I did look at the most popular sites and a hilarious "Love Calculator" came up so we messed with it.  Meg, Jordan, and I played around on it for a while.  This is the outcome of me and my boyfriend.  At least there's a greater than 50% chance of working.

Based on finding this hilarious site, I will be checking back soon to find out if there is anything else worthy on popular sites.

Scavenger Hunt

Today we broke up into groups and did a scavenger hunt based on whatever criteria we wanted.  My group chose to do colors.  Our theme was around UT.  And everything we took pictures of had a meaning for us and UT.

Drum roll....

This week Jordan and I presented on Smilebox. Another team shows us all about Storybird. I love the idea of Smilebox and using it in the classroom. It can be used by the teacher or the students to make presentations or even to make classroom scrapbooks throughout the year. They can be worked on at anytime as long as the same computer is used. Here is my Smilebox creation:

Make a free scrapbook design

And Storybird is a great idea, I think it would be great for mainly younger ages. It is a great way to get the mind thinking and coming up with stories after you have pictures instead of the other way around. Here is my Storybird example. Please ignore how lame the story itself is.

http://storybird.com/books/the-long-neck-of-mr-giraffe/

Slideshow of Vacation pictures

These are all pictures of places I have been recently.

Productive

Today in class, we had a lot of fun (see past 2 posted videos) and we got to play around on Glogster and Picnik.  We messed on both for a while and while using Picnik, Andrew showed me how to "clone."  So the attached picture is originally of me and my brother from his Air Force Basic Training graduation.  It looked like this.  (It is one of my mom's favorite pictures of us.)

Well after cloning... this is what happens....

Hilarious!

My brother would be a terribly ugly girl!
(Yes, I will be sending him the link for this so he can enjoy too!)

More TPTE fun

Dance party in class...  We were testing recording each others computer screen.

Music by Meg's favorite: Ke$ha

TPTE News

In TPTE today, we decided to make a scene for "TPTE News."  We hope to update this regularly.  And also, hopefully next time we are a bit more professional.  According to Jordan, the most interesting news of the day "Chocolate is good for you."

So much fun!  And Meg should be a weather girl if teaching doesn't work out.

Wiki

Wiki is a new concept for me.  I had heard of Wikipedia, and knew that anyone could edit it, but that was about all I knew.  Wikis are so easy to use and so resourceful for the classroom. I really enjoyed learning about them, and even more excited to sign up for one.


I was really excited to use a Wiki for the first time.  I think the idea is great for the classroom.  The teacher could make their wiki for class use, or the students could produce their own Wiki for the class.  Wikis could be produced overtime or they could be used for one particular project.  I think students would really love it.  Especially since it is something that they could contribute to, but they would not feel the pressure of creating a whole website on their own. 

WebQuest

This was my first experience with using WebQuest.  I thought it was a very interesting concept.  I love the idea of integrating technology and internet into a lesson and letting the students "do the driving."  The biggest concern to me was how legitimate some of the WebQuests are.  Some of the sites that I experienced were very strong, and others were very weak.  One site in particular was weak in that it had many spelling errors and the colors were not very visually pleasing.  Others were strong because they are direct and visually appealing for users.

In the classroom, I would use some of these WebQuests that are already made, and I would also consider making my own.  I love the organization of the step-by-step progress.  And each child can work at their own pace.  This would be fantastic in a classroom that has the ability to have many students on the computers at once.

Website Recommendation & Reflection: Web MATH

I would recommend the website called WebMATH to other teachers in the K to 12 grade levels - and possibly beyond into college.  This website is a great resource, especially for students struggling with a specific topic.  The teach could give the student challenge problems and the link to the website to find direction on their work at home.  The site does a great job of breaking down the problems step-by-step for students to understand.  My only concern with this site is that there are a lot of advertisements all over the page.  I understand that this site is brought to us by Discovery, but it is plastered all over the page.  Discovery - WebMATH is something that I used when I was in high school and remember it being helpful then and I imagine it is still a relevant and useful site.  There is the possibility of this site being too advanced for younger elementary students, but it is something that parents or teachers could do with them.

I have never evaluated a website before and I found it interesting all the thought that goes into finding legitimate sites.  As a teacher it is important to make sure you know what students are being fed, even if it is just through the advertisements on the page.   I learned the importance of checking and doubling checking sites as an educator.  There are a lot of sketchy "education" sites and there is such an importance in evaluating it beforehand.

Website Evaluation

I found this website that is a questionnaire about websites.  It provides many questions to go through and ask as you look at a website to see if it seems to be legitimate.  This questionnaire is for elementary students so it is very basic, but the questions are questions that we should also ask ourselves as we look at the internet.

Yes, this was the first evaluator to come up when Googled, but compared to others I clicked this seemed to standard and effective.

Evaluation Form

These are the forms used to evaluate websites for elementary students.

Class Goals

I enjoy using technology.  I think that we should constantly be "up-to-date" with technology as teachers.  Our students will be coming to class with information and questions, and I think we should be informed and willing to learn.  Especially if we expect them to learn, we should do the same.

My personal goal of this class is to be informed.  I want to be informed on what is offered through technology as teachers and I want to know more about the programs I already use.  I want to be able to apply what I am learning to the classroom I will be teaching next year.  Although I am in 2nd grade classroom, I think we could even use something like a class blog to write what we are learning, and each child can write a blog a month.  There are so many options out there; I just think we as teachers need to be willing to understand that technology along with everything else is changing.

Introduction to Kelly

Informal Bio:  Kelly Fairweather

I grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee since I was 4 years old.  So that is where I call home.  I went to UT for my undergraduate degree in Communication Studies and graduated in May 2010.  I started the Elementary Education program this past Spring after taking a semester off and being very unsuccessful at job searching.  I will start my student teaching this August at Lenoir City Elementary.  I knew I wanted to work with children since I was young, but it wasn’t until the summer of 2008 that I knew I wanted to work in a school system.  I worked in Texas at a summer camp called Sky Ranch and I fell in love with working with children.  I really love technology.  I always have my computer and regularly check my email, Twitter, and Facebook.  Other than school and technology, I love spending the rest of my time outside.  This summer, I am not only a full time student but also a full time nanny so I am always going back and forth from tennis courts to campus to pools to greenway, and I love every minute of it!