Bookmarks

I tried both the bookmark sites of delicious and diigo. I like the diigo because I could highlight and use sticky notes....something I have been wanting to do since the conception of reading on-line. I am a highlighter and I use sticky notes when I read a book or document and I have been very frustrated when I can not print out a document so I can highlight the document. I have also been frustrated with the loss of my favorite bookmarks when I go from computer to computer. Both of these sites give me the opportunity to save articles to read later or come back to with notes and highlighting.
When I make my school blog site for my project, I am going to include both of these websites so I can access them easily while I am school. I have always found that time is a limiting factor for me, so having certain articles bookmarked and highlighter so I can use them in my class for discussions will be wonderful for me as an educator of multiple subjects.
On a personal note, I have been looking up laws regarding custody issues in ND for my son and his daughter.I sure wished I had played with these sites earlier so I could have highlighted and saved sites as I was reading and searching. Now that I know about these sites and I have signed up for them, I will be using the sites for the legal searches as well.
I also thought of another use for these two sites. I am going to use the highlighter for the standards documents that I so frequently peruse. I know I will be writing curriculum this fall, so the highlighted standards documents will be great for these old eyes. :)
As usual, time disappeared when I was playing on these websites and I was amazed at the novelity of these two sites as well....and this fact seems to ring true every week when I explore. I have learned not to bite off more than I can chew as the class has progressed...and I do not feel so overwhelmed with the lack of a polished product at the end of my exploration process.

Photo placement goof up.

I seemed to have goofed up how I placed the photos, but it was my first successful attempt at uploading photos into the posting of these blogs. Sorry for the confusion. :)

Well, I have been playing with the photo webtools. I seem to like Piknik the best so far. It seems easier for me to figure out without any experience at editing photos. I am going to attempt to upload a picture of my grand-daughter Mali here.



Here is another picture of her making knefla with my son.
I am not sure how these uploaded or the layout of this blog, so I am going to try and post it and see what happens.

Week 5 Reflection

As I have been cruising through the examples of classroom wikis and blogs, I am wondering which is the better avenue to pursue. I am getting the hang of the blog stuff, so I think a classroom blog would be a better alternative for me. I think once I can perfect the Blog then I should venture to a wiki. There are so many avenues to pursue with again, time being the limiting factor.
From what I can discern to have a classroom blog or wiki, I will need administrative and technology support. I am guessing that I will have to have some kind of consent form from my students as well so the material that they post is appropriate.
I do like the fact that students can work on projects from different locations and one student does not carry the burden of the other team member on the project. I am leaning toward having a class blog and using glogster for some digital project postings this year. I am guessing there will be a huge learning curve for myself and my students as there has been for me this summer on this journey of exploring webtools.
On a personal note, out of the ten foster puppies...I have two left with an interested party for one of them. :) If you are an animal lover and you have room to foster, it is very rewarding. You can contact your local shelter or breed rescue for details on how to help your community's animal challenges. :)

On-line Data and Graphs

I have added the links for the on-line data and graphs ( Under the Cool Science Sites Area) as I do propose to have students experiment with data and graphing before I would expect them to create a science poster for Create an Argument. For this exercise to be the most useful to me, I will have to take baby steps and phase each step in through out the first year and build on this type of learning activity.
I have played and played with Google Earth as it fascinates me, but I cannot upload any pictures to this site as the Blog says the pic is corrupt or too big. According to the Google Earth tutorial, it should work. I hoping someone at school this fall will know a little more about the program and will be able to help me upload the Google pics.
Overall,I was in a lesser panic mode this week. I have accepted that I cannot get everything to work, because 1) I have compatibility issues with some of the things I am viewing and attempting to do, 2) I have never worked with this stuff before so I cannot expect to be an expert, and 3) time is a limiting factor for me to truly understand everything. Have a great evening. Cyn

animations.

Good evening everyone. I have had a fun filled few days trying out the animations. The problem that I have been having is that my computer locks up when I try to view them plus it seems like the different sites expect you to download new components which is messing my other stuff up. I spent quite a bit of time yesterday, trying to clean up things that I wasn't using, but I do not think that I did a great job of it.
I cannot figure out how to download the images from Google Earth and I am also wondering why you cannot just copy the regular URL into my blog...sometimes they want you to do another URL.
I have used this interactive periodic table in my classes before....by accident to obtain data on elements. I was overjoyed to see the site in our text.
Chemicool Periodic Table
I am still exploring other sites and trying to get the animations to work, so I will attempt to get something work again in the morning. If anyone has any tips, I would appreciate it. :) Cyn

Glogster

I have to admit, I have spent a lot of time trying to get Glogster to work correctly. I have lost my Glog so many times while I have tried to retrieve things on the internet during this past week, I have lost count.
I have tried to connect video or music, but to heck with that. I also have tried repeatedly to link my Glog to this Blog, but I am doing something wrong there too.
I will keep trying.
Since it is the summer and I usually introduce myself to my students with my summer activities, I made my Glog about pets. I have had a litter of foster pups which has been quite an adventure the link to my Glog if you are an animal lover is as follows:
http://cmisner.glogster.com/glog-6252

I typed in the link and then I tried the link icon...I have no idea if I did the link icon correctly.
I do know that I feel like I am failing at a lot of the tools because I am not getting something quite right....but I am having fun at the same time. Bye for now....