Thing 20: Explore YouTube and TeacherTube

YouTube

I GET FIRED UP!

I like motivational messages. They really get me fired up. Here is a short, yet sweet one.




I like to learn new things!

This is how I learned, and had fun, making a Diaper Cake.




TeacherTube

I created this one!

Please forgive me if I am not humble here. This is my first Teacher Tube video that I have submitted and I am feeling really good about having created it.
I will be using this to introduce the Texas Bluebonnet Nominees for 2009-2010 in conjunction with my kids-book-club wiki.



The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Click the above link to hear Suzanne reading an excerpt from chapter 11.


I pulled this clip from Scholastic's web site. I really liked this YA novel and am looking forward to the sequel which will be out September 1st. If you liked the Twilight Saga, you will find The Hunger Games fascinating.



And here is a YouTube video book report someone else created. This is one of the type of projects-video book talks-that I have planned for the upcoming school year.

Thing 18: Online Productivity Tools

Downloaded and explored Open Office. A lot of the same templates are available on Microsoft's template pages. My first question was "is it available for Macs?" It is, but now I wonder if I create documents on Open Office and send them to a PC user, will they be accessible to non-Open Office users? I have encountered such minor snags with Office 2007. I will have to give it a test run. Luckily, I have two separate computers on two separate networks within feet of each other. I simply have to glide across from my school district computer to my university computer.

I have been utilizing Google docs this past year on a project called Early Bird Readers. Each librarian in my school district has editorial rights to an EBR spreadsheet. We update our information when it becomes pertinent. This was at first awkward and we resented having to use a new method, but now I am accustom to it. I do like seeing how the other libraries' numbers change.

I would prefer, and would think a wiki page would work better. A wiki devoted to EBR with one page link set up for a spread sheet to update numbers. Numbers, alone, do not tell the whole story. We need a place to hold discussions and to share ideas. (To find out more about Early Bird Readers, click the pic)

In summary, I might use Open Office on my Mac at home, but will probably stick with what I am using at work. Google Docs has proven useful on many occasions, particularly with university groups and clubs.

Thing 16: I am a Wiki Freak

I am all into Wiki and subscribe to the free and ad-free educational wikis from wikispaces. They are incredibly easy to set up and manipulate. Wikispaces often offers free webinars in real time so you can ask and receive answers from its moderators. They have video tutorials that show step by step methods of creating wikis. The most recent webinar was a cultural education exchange webinar in which an American school collaborated with a school in Hati on a wiki. It was amazing-the learning and sharing that was taking place.

I first used wikispaces a year ago as a way to present at the ME(2) by the SEa Mathematics and Science Conference. I introduced useful mathematics web sites and online games that could serve to help strengthen students math skills by engaging them in fun, but helpful practice. My new wiki is now under construction-a Kids Book Club that I will be using to promoting book discussions, book clubs, book trailers, and book voting.

Wikis are so easy and the possibilities for their uses are practically endless. I am a such a wikifan.