Social Bookmarking

I used del.icio.us to bookmark my favorite and most needed websites. The site was easy to locate and post sites onto. I had some trouble at first downloading the buttons onto my home computer but after some free time of playing around I was able to figure it out. I have included links to pages will assist me with my job as well as pages that are of personal interest to me. It was convenient when I went to Colorado last week to be able to find ski resorts quickly by using my social bookmarks. My friends and I were able to check out lift ticket prices and trail maps. After seeing how easy it was to use, my friends also created accounts with del.icio.us. Check out my stuff. http://del.icio.us/kd36836

Screen Capture

Today I was typing up sub plans and wanted to leave directions on how to use United Streaming. I decided to use the directions found on the syllabus for this class to copy the webpage (PrtSc + Alt) and pasting it into a Word document. I was able to type up step-by-step directions and it was so easy.

Reflection and Implementation
The first thing I used the screen capture feature to type up directions for a sub on using United Streaming. The sub loved it and said that it was really easy to understand and follow the directions with pictures on there. The next thing I did was create a tutorial for how to use United Streaming to view and save videos in your folder. I gave to two teachers who absolute love me now. Before they would ask me to assist them everytime they wanted to find a video. They haven't needed my help since I created the tutorial. I will definitely continue to use this feature.

V Cast Music

My cell phone doubles as an MP3 player and until today I did not know how to put music on my phone. Today Jason, my boyfriend, who has always just put it on there for me showed me how to rip CDs, buy music from V Cast, and then install it on my phone. I'm so excited! I have been going through all of my CDs and finding songs to upload. I even bought a new pair of ear phones for my cell phone to listen to music. Jason says that my 1GB card will hold a few hundred songs so I have a long way to go, better get back to jamming.

Springdoo Video

Click on the link below to watch my Springdoo video. I used the software that came with my webcam to record the video. I then uploaded the vidoe to Springdoo. My next quest is to record the video using Springdoo software.
http://www.springdoo.com/M1FAE2A310FD74696F

Web Cam and Springdoo

Well I have successfully recorded a video from my web cam. Last Monday night in class I had problems getting the camera to work but was able to record audio through my microphone. When I started attempting to download the software for my web cam on Wednesday I had exactly the opposite problem. At home the camera worked but not the microphone. I tried a few times after that plugging it into every hole I could find. Nothing worked. On Sunday night I got really frustrated and thought that maybe I had a problem with my computer. Today I brought all of my equipment with me to school. While my kids were busy doing morning work I popped in the installation disk for the web cam. All it took was a couple of clicks every few minutes and I was on my way to internet communication land. While my students were in PE I attempted to make my video, guess what-----you guessed it, the microphone didn't work. Finally I just started playing around with some of the audio settings within the webcam software. That is where I made my break through. I was able to record a video while my students were in music and successfully send it to myself using Springdoo (which I had signed up for earlier last week and was very simple). After that I recorded my class singing a song and planned on e-mailing that to all of you. The file is too big so I've posted it here from my website. I hope you enjoy. Now that I have everything figured out I'm trilled to have this new knowledge but I feel like I have traveled down a long, bumpy road to get here. http://www.catawba.k12.nc.us/SchoolPages/Murray/drum/

TI-15

Our school just received new calculators. They are so cool but really complicated. A represenative from NWRESA came to our school yesterday to train us how to use them. They simplify fractions, change fractions to decimals, etc. Our students are going to love these things once we get familiar enough with them to actually use them. It even has games, I bet my students will probably figure out how to play those before I do. I don't remember needing a special calculator until I was in high school. Boy times are changing! I'll keep you posted on my progress with this sophisticated adding machine.

Gaggle

My school system has a Gaggle account for all our students in the district. Today a technology specialist from the county met with me to introduce me to Gaggle's e-mail. He has offered to come back next week to assist me in training my students how to send and receive e-mail. I feel very fortunate to have someone to help me out. I can't wait to get my students up and going. He also briefly went over the blogging Gaggle. I think I'm going to set one up for both of my reading classes and my homeroom as well. I still feel a little overwhelmed but overall I'm really looking forward to integrating e-mail and blogging into my classroom.

Reflection and Implementation
I have been using Gaggle with my students to allow them to send e-mails back and forth to each other. Occassionally I have sent them e-mails complimenting them on their usuage and sometimes about the book we are reading. I ask them about their library books and they seem to really enjoy writing back. They even created their own profile pages. They think this is really cool! The most useful feature that I've found with Gaggle is the digital locker. Anything that my students start at school they upload to their digital locker so that if they need to access it from home they can. When we were working on a Lost Colony booklet a couple of weeks ago some of my students choose to type their book. Having the access to the digital locker made it possible for them to finish up typing at home. I will definitely continue to use Gaggle in my classroom.

Technology K W L

I used to think I was pretty techno savy until I read the syllabus for this class. Blogs, wikis, podcasts, etc???? When I was little I remember playing games on the computers in the library at school. As I got older I used them more for word processing. I still remember staying after school to type up papers my junior year of high school because I didn't have one in my home yet. That was the first year I can recall assignments having to be typed and not handwritten. Now everything has to be typed. In college is where I really learned how to use programs like PowerPoint, Publisher, and FrontPage. I feel like that is where my eyes were really opened to what was going on in the technological world. Since leaving college I have tried to stay up-to-date but it is hard to do when new technologies are created everyday. I have a class webpage that I use to update parents, post big projects, display student work, and link resources my students may find helpful. Click here to view my webpage. My students use Publisher to create newsletters that correlate with novels being read in class and Social Studies projects. I have been trained to use Inspiration but haven't used it in my classroom yet. My students have also created PowerPoint presentations for animal reports. I can take and upload digital pictures. Right now my students are finishing up a book they wrote about The Cherokee People. They used hyperlinks from my page, Microsoft Word, and scanned illustrations to put the book together. I am looking forward to learning about all of the technology that I'm lagging behind in and implementing some of it in my classroom.