Bunker Library Blog

Check out the new Google Squared…a very interesting way to get Google results.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/square-your-search-results-with-google.html

I have really enjoyed this class.  The biggest problem for me was getting sidetracked.  Of course, that is always a problem for me.  (As many of you saw, I really got off track with the photo editing, just ask my youngest son who has been the recipient of my experimenting.) There were many thing I already knew a little about, but this made me take the time to do a little further investigating.

I really am going to work this summer on ways to incorporate technology into the curriculum.  We really need to find ways to combine many benchmarks into single assignments.  Technology can’t be in a little world of its own; there isn’t time.

I would, and have, recommended this class to others.  I would caution them to make sure they are good at keeping on schedule.  I did get behind at the half-way point.  I also think that you need to have a grasp of technology and the web, or have a friend who will be around to help to be able to keep up with the assignments.  Summer would be a perfect time to take this class.  I WOULD CERTAINLY BE INTERESTED IN A 23 MORE THINGS CLASS! I think it would be nice to have an optional get-together some time in the middle of the class.  It might be fun to sit down and talk about the things you’ve worked on with others.

If I could change two things, one would be that I was born twenty years later than I was.  I would love to be eighteen and starting out in the world of technology! The second thing would have been that Apple would have marketed their product better years ago so that so many people and schools wouldn’t have switched from Macs.  Oh to be living in an Apple world! Aaaah.

I created a Bunker School Wiki.  I was originally thinking it would just be about technology.  After further thought, I expanded it to two topics with the idea of adding more as staff see fit.  I started with a technology page and an IB page.  Staff can add ideas, links, questions and any other topics for discussion. I hope that staff will want to add other pages as they become comfortable with the wiki concept. I hope that we can use this as a place to gather ideas.  With summer approaching, it seems like the perfect time to find a spot we can get together virtually!  My wiki can be found at http://bunkerschoolwiki.wikispaces.com/

Wikis

This was the area I really knew the least about and the one that I need to investigate further.  I looked at all of the wikis on the 23 Things blog. I really like the Google Earth wiki.  I like the Web 2.0 Learning Tool Wiki I found on the “Examples of Educational Wikis” site. There are many helpful links.

One thing I wonder about is the lack of discussion on most sites.  Without discussion, many of these wikis could be web pages where useful information is posted. So I think it is really important to decide if your topic is one that you can successfully have collaboration.  Sometimes I get an idea I think is great, but not many others are interested.  That’s the way my crazy mind works!

So, while I was looking at wikis I was thinking about what would be a helpful wiki for me.  My initial thought was to zoom into books and possibly reviews.   Then I began to think about what issues a wiki could help address.  We have a hard time incorporating new technology into our curriculum. Then I stopped to look at other ideas from members of the class.  Steve Schiller had the same idea.  I hope he doesn’t mind me borrowing some of his ideas.  I love that he started with the Common Craft Wiki video. So, I think I will head in that direction.

YouTube

Like so much of the new technology, I love YouTube.  While many of the posts are inappropriate for school, there is a wealth of great material. I loved the videos posted on the 23 Things site.  The laughing baby video really makes your day, especially if you’re feeling down.  I thought the Hugs video was interesting. I watched the Beckoning of Lovely by Amy  and was hooked.  Check out this video I linked to on Amy’s Twitter.

I am really enjoying the book trailers I have been able to find.  Here’s a good one for The Adoration of Jenna Fox. Now if I could only find a way to embed these on my web page. Any help out there?

VoiceThread
I skipped ahead to Thing #20 to try to see how to embed a video, hoping that a VoiceThread would be the same.  I followed all the steps but was not able to get it to embed while I was at school.  I went home and tried it and it worked fine.  Must be something to do with the networking.

I like VoiceThread, but the questions I have are about the pricing. Then when I investigated the pricing in a little more depth I see that students can work under my Educator account using the Identities feature. I also think that it will work next year when we set up our students with Google accounts. We want them to have access to Google Docs so they will have Google accounts with email. That should make it easier. I think Voice Thread will be on the agenda for next year. That will also give me some time over the summer to play around with some ideas.

As for the embedding, I might as well do that now as I am already there. This is a trailer for the book Gone. I just finished reading it, and I thought this was a great trailer to get kids interested.

I downloaded the same video. I tried KeepVid first.  I did not have much luck with that.  PWNYoutube, however, was a snap.

I love Web 2.0 and am thrilled by all the applications that pop up every day.  I remember when we first bought computers for school (after the Texas Instrument days) that the biggest decision was how to spend your money wisely on programs.  We pondered over HyperStudio, Mapmaker, and other programs I no longer even recall.  Now there is so much available for free!

I loved PicLits.  I have a teacher working on a poetry unit that would love the site.  I tried Gliffy.  I can see some uses for this site, but I was a little confused by the pricing.  Is it free for educators? I love Blabberize.  In the old version you could email or download the finished product.  Now I can only see a way to embed the picture.  Any ideas?

Copyright and Creative Commons

Copyright is one thing I struggle with every year, with both teachers and students.  Teachers want to show movies for entertainment only, allow students to copy and paste other’s work, and hand in projects without any type of citation.  I am not sure that students ever had much respect for copyright, even when I was a student in the “olden days.”  However, our teachers were very strict about footnotes and bibliographies.  Nowadays it is so much easier to cite sources with the online citation makers.  However, the availablity of materials on the Internet has made it very confusing for teachers and students.

I think Creative Commons is a great tool to teach students the limitations of “fair use.” In school we have had so much leeway to use materials for use in school-related projects. But now that so much student work is being published on the web, we really have an obligation to teach students what they may and may not use in their work.  Not only can we use Creative Commons to give students access to work they may use and build upon, but we can also show them the limitations to use of other’s work.  The explanations on Creative Commons are very easy to understand and perfect teaching vehicles.

Watching the videos made me think about how I might share some of my work. I really like the OER Commons Area.  I am going to spend more time here investigating.  One thing I learned that I really like is the Creative Commons search link with Firefox.  That is a great place to have kids start their search.  I wondered if that was available in Internet Explorer, as we don’t have Firefox loaded at school.  It isn’t there initially, but you can add it on the Google Bar using the “add search type” option.

After all the blog harassment I have done about my youngest son not befriending me on Facebook I have to report that we are now buddies. To commemorate the event I once again turn to photo editing. This was done at http://www.frontpageyou.co.uk. This site is not Mozilla friendly.  I had to use Internet Explorer.

I went to the Education Podcast Network, but I’m a little dismayed by the number of broken links and old posts.  Are people just choosing not to post to this network?  I really like podcasting, but more from the student learning standpoint.  I think when students go through the steps required to podcast their learning increases.  Not only do they have to know the subject, but they have to learn the podcasting process.  So I wonder if that is why less teachers may post to a network such as this, or if they are using other networks to share (like iTunesU.) I did really like the “My Trivia” podcast.

I didn’t spend a lot of time in Podcast Alley just because I found the searching somewhat laborious.

iTunes & iTunesU:  I liked “CNN’s News for Students,” “Meet the Author,” “Beauty with Six Legs” and “Grammar Grater.”  I’m sure my son would love “Beer School.”  Then I found”My Trivia” on iTunes after initially finding it on Educator Podcast Network. As an adult I love “Wait, Wait,” “Car Talk,” “StoryCorps” and “Science Friday.”

When I read other’s blogs I found some good sites.  I liked the “Storynory” podcasts found on Got to Have Grammar’s blog  and “Teachers Teaching Teachers”  on the Sailing Through Technology blog.

Rather than make a new podcast I am posting two podcasts I recorded of friends talking about growing up in Muskegon.  I clearly need one of the breath screens.  I edited these from much longer clips.    Britt      Gary