Thing 10:11.5 Things

I registered myself in Second Life and created a user name. For some reason, I am TT Luv. Not really sure if I like that name...

I've had some trouble logging in. I think it has to do with the SBVPN connection. Like facebook, you cannot access this website being connected through the district's intranet. That would have been nice to know.

So, I'm in and this is the weirdest thing I've ever done!

In the classroom, I would NOT have use for this. I read a lot of bad words, got drunk (well the avatar did) and saw naked avatars. So, what makes this different from porn? I don't think that a 7 / 8 year old needs exposure and would gain anything from this virtual world. In fact, I need to DELETE it off of my teacher computer so that they will not access it by accident! I can only imagine the static I would get from the parents in my community... Also, I felt like I was "cheating" on my husband. Especially when other avatars approached me.

Honestly, how can this be used in education? I think it would seriously have to be on a High School level... being monitored, of course! As far as motivation - I do not see that my students need this type of stimulation to be motivated. They were simply motivated intrinsically.

Thing 9:11.5 Things

Would it be important for students to use Slideshare? If so, why?
I think that Slideshare would have been a wonderful website for me to use before having an ActivBoard. Using the promethian website to download an interactive presentation seems more beneficial to second graders than that of the slideshare website.
If I was a high school student / teacher, this website would be beneficial because it would allow an easy way for one to upload and share powerpoints with anyone! If I was to be a part of "Corporate America", I would find this to be a wonderful website as many of the topics are "business" related.

Thing 8:11.5 Things

Screencast-O-Matic is one of the coolest tools I have played with so far. I can really see how beneficial this could be - espcially if you want to challenge students from a remote location without being present. For example, this past year, I created a "hard" copy of directions (Trading Cards off of www.bighugelabs.coom) for one student to take home and follow. After he felt confident in what he was doing, I then sent small groups to the classroom computers (and sometimes we spilled over to my collegues' computer stations) and had him teach it to his friends. It not only cut down on the amount of time, but it made them proficient all while their self-esteem rose! I am hoping to do this for my team-mates as they want to learn how to create blogs.

Thing 7: 11.5 Things

National Geographic site was very cool!

Hurricane IKE
We all know what happened during the hurricane because we lived through it. However, we do not know what it was like to be on Galveston Island when it hit. I have an old VHS of Hurricane Alicia that my father filmed when I was little. I always like to show what the devastation was like. I wish I had it electronically, because then, I would never have to worry about something happening to it.







With our American Heroes that we are expected to teach, I found that PBS had a documentary on Amelia Earhart. What a great way to share with the kids what Amelia went through to achieve her goals in life. Unfortunately, there was not a way to embed this file - but the link was available.