Social Networking

So much of my time is spent thinking about school and my students, that it is refreshing to know that some parts are completely separate. After much thought on using sites like myspace and facebook in the classroom, I have decided that I don't think social networking should be used that way. I have friends from high school and college that invite me to be their friend. They want to talk to fun-loving Kelly who likes to have drinks on the weekends and shouldn't have to sensor their language or the content just because parents use my page also. I am satisfied by communicating with parents by e-mail, telephone, and in person. My students have started using Gaggle to create profiles online and will soon start to blog. With fourth grade students, I just think using myspace or facebook would not be appropriate. There are too many dangers out there that 9 and 10 year olds should not have to face. I believe that you can discuss the issues and warn children not to talk to strangers online but that doesn't always work. We don't leave them at home by themselves or let them wonder around the mall, therefore, they shouldn't be wondering around myspace by themselves.

Digital Texts

I created a digital storybook using the PowerPoint template that was linked to the class syllabus. I choose to create one about myself that I can hopefully use with younger kids next year if I get to change grade levels. This year I used an idea I got from Dr. Frye's website and wrote a Me Map. I was able to use it to introduce myself my to students and then they wrote one of their own. It was a great way to get to get to know all of my students. Next year I hope to use this one to introduce myself and let my students use the template to create one of their own.
I found the template easy to use and think that children would find it easy also after they are shown how. When trying to decide how best to share my digital text with the world I had some problems. My county's firewall prevents me using badongo to upload my file. I tried convincing the person over technology at the the county office to take down the firewall but she insisted that I use Gaggle's file sharing capabilities to share it. I was able to successfully upload my book onto Gaggle but I don t' know who to share it. I e-mailed the tech guy 3 times and he never got to back to me. He is coming on Monday to do another round of Gaggle with my students so I plan on asking him then. For now I used badongo from home to upload my book. This will work for our purposes but I'm now sure how to share it with students and let them access it from home. I could download it to the county server and post it that way onto my webpage. I guess I will find out on Monday how to share the Gaggle page. Click here to see my digital text.

Reflections and Implementation
I had fun creating my digital text. I hope to allow students to create one before the year is up and after the EOGs. We went on a field trip to Maple Grove and I would like to have my students to create a digital texts about the house, the family, and the artisans we saw outside. Next year I think it would be great to create one about the alphabet, Letterland characters, popular books, and field trips. Without the stress of the EOGs I'm hoping there will be time to do some fun stuff like this.

Webquest

I explored through all of the webquest sites hyperlinked to the syllabus and decided that I did not like any of them. I felt like they limited what I wanted to do and were visually unappealing. I decided to use Microsoft FrontPage to create my webquest, which is hosted by Catawba County Schools, by simply designing new pages. It was much easier for me to start from a blank slate because I can add my own background colors and images. I created one on Animal Diaries. Click here to view it.

I created this webquest because this project is one of the very few that all of our 4th grade teaches use. I wanted to design something that would be available to my colleagues and myself in the future. I was planning on using this next year but since I now know that I'm changing grade levels, I won't be able to try it out. One of my colleagues is interested in using it next year though and is excited to have it all completed. She is not very techno savy and is rather sad to see me go so this will assist her some next year in continuing to use technology in the classroom. I think creating a webquest makes things easier on the teacher and student. Everything is laid out in a neat easy to follow pattern. I think that really helps students. The different sections help to break down the jobs and keep the students on track. I look forward to creating more webquests for my students next year. I think including a Voki or podcast would be helpful to my Kindergarteners since they will not be able to read the directions.

Snap Fish vs. Photobucket

This weekend I have tried two different photo sharing sites, Photo Bucket and Snap Fish. When trying to decide on the best site, I decided to do a Google search and take a look at what was out there. I had used Snap Fish before and actually already had an account from a friend who shared her album with me. While browsing through the other sites, I came upon Photo Bucket and it looked interesting. After creating an account, which was extremely easy, I quickly uploaded my photos from my computer. The only thing I didn't particularly care for were the pop-up adds. Using Photobucket I was able to upload my photos, create a slide show, make a remix including music and captions, create my own avatar, e-mail my photos, and post my album to blogger.com and myspace.com. I was very impressed with this. Snap Fish was also user friendly. I was able to upload my photos from a bulk file but the wait time was a lot longer than Photobucket. Also using Snap Fish I was able to view a slideshow but the option for a colorful background was not there. The only way I have found so far to share your photos using Snap Fish is to e-mail them or copy and paste the URL address. Overall I think I like Photo Bucket the best because of the numerous options for sharing and creating projects with my photos. Check out my album and www.snapfish.com by clicking here.

Slide Show using Photobucket

Colorado 2008

Photobucket Album