Tool 3

Wow, I spent lots of time playing with these generators and mashups. I agree with my peers in seeing all kinds of possibilities for word walls with Wordle. I added a Love and Logic one to my blog gadgets. I pulled several photos that tell something about me and may add them to the gadgets later. I've been watching World Cup Soccer so picked something representative of my favorites to add here. I think about the time students could spend on these tools in the classroom and how reluctant we as teachers can be to "waste" time when they need to be reading and doing Math. How about having an after school class where students make books and movies (Animoto) using these tools? These could also be good group projects in class.

Tool 2

I can see lots of value in establishing a PLN especially in our field when we need to be networking with others across the nation. I'm wondering how this could work for our campus when doing a book study. There seems to be some possibilities there. Regarding the tips on commenting, I can attest to the one that says not everyone comments on blogs even though they read them. I've looked through almost all the postings done by teachers on my campus and did not respond to all. Each read was interesting and/or entertaining, but, I'm mindful of the time I have and want to spend on reading blogs. I did post comments to Alfredo, Headiyeh, Pedro, Stephanie Green, and Lisa White. There may have been others, but, can't remember now. I particularly want to reinforce the comment about disagreeing with what others write and criticizing their opinions in a respectful manner. I believe this to be crucial in building relationships and when we teach students to blog, we must also model for them how to disagree while remaining civil to each other.

Tools #1 Blogging

This is fun and almost easy. Navigating the system is time consuming and playing around always takes time. Hopefully, all teachers will use this tool with students in a variety of ways. We can discuss how this can be used in the different grade levels. I'm thinking we could use this tool to send items for discussion or send bulletin announcements.