Flowgram Presentation

Note: Somehow my Flowgram ended up on the sidebar of my log.

This has been the most frustrating module for me so far. I had so much trouble with the Flowgram website. I worked on the presentation for a long time and could not get the narration to work. I finally went to mom's house and used her microphone on her new laptop and it worked on her computer.

The Power Point presentation is on economics spi for 8th grade history about following the steps in making a resource into a product. My presentation is called From Tree to Paper, Step by Step. I had trouble finding pictures that were copyright friendly last week. There are other pictures that I found on a google search that I would have loved to use but they would not have worked.

I love the idea of Flowgram. I just wish that the site was easier to use. I can definitely see possiblities. When I teach, I show PPt's, Websites, and interactive games. I could literally recreate my lessons that students could access from home. I am going to play around with the site until it gets easier for me to navigate. I'm sure it's a great tool, I'm just not good at using it yet.

Thing 23 (Finally)

I have heard of Creative Commons before but I had forgotten all about it. I think that it is a great idea because the original creator still gets the credit, but the work can keep being expanded and perfected through the work of others. As a teacher I will use a creative commons lisence so that other teachers can use my work in their classrooms. Up until this point I had given very little thought to getting pictures from the internet for my presentations. I have saved the sites from the last module so that I can use them to search for pictures.

Thing 22

I love books and I just got to hear a podcast on Learn Out Loud that is an exert from the book Don't Know Much About History. The book is all about how Americans don't know as much about our country's history as we should. In fact, a poll of high school juniors showed that many of them could not identify the Declaration of Independence as the document that marked the separation of the colonies from England. Most of them could not identify when the Civil War occurred. Thanks to this podcast, I will definitely check into reading this book.
I would like to help my students do a podcast eventually, however, I am still feeling very overwhelmed by this stuff. Some of what we have done has been so easy and fun and some of it is still very intimidating to me.

Thing 21

http://animoto.com/play/KdIX5pgClcfgUrjwYbuJiA?autostart=false

This is the easiest and most fun step that I have had to do. I loved doing this video. I call it My Life. The soundtrack is "Stronger Woman" by Jewel who happens to be my favorite recording artist of all time. I have been a huge fan of her's for close to 15 years. The song and the pictures describe what my life is like and has been like for the last 2 years.

I wish all the things that we have done would be this easy and fun. I can definitely see myself using this application again.

Thing 20 Teachers are Like Mirrors

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RPWU30S2HA

I have a video called Teachers Are Like Mirrors. It's a nice reminder that how we see students is how they will see themselves.

Thing 19

I have a confession to make. I actually signed up for TeacherPop back in the summer and then forgot about it. Thankfully I remembered my password. I got on the site again today and added some fellow APSU Alumni to my friends list and left a comment for one of my friends. I won't forget about TeacherPop again. I think that I am going to enjoy keeping in touch and sharing ideas with people that mean a lot to me.

Thing 18

This has been my least favorite step so far. I have toyed with the idea of setting up a MySpace page before, but something has always held me back. I guess that I have heard too many stories where people got into trouble with MySpace. I am going to educate myself about social networking sites like MySpace for two reasons: 1. I would like to be able to keep in touch with my friends and family while still staying safe. 2. I would like to understand these sites better because I have a 15 year old daughter with a MySpace page.

I think that social networking sites can be very useful for teachers because we need a place to meet and share ideas without have to leave our houses. We can network in our bath robes and house shoes. Searching MySpace and Facebook has helped me see that these sites can serve a useful purpose. I can use them to my advantage as long as I use them wisely. Facebook's site really surprised me because a couple years ago I browsed it and got the impression that it was a "Teeny Bopper" site. When I searched for members of the class of 93, I got nothing. Everyone on there seemed like they were ten years younger. FaceBook seems like it has grown up some. I am definitely going to explore social networking further, but I am still feeling cautious.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=420664194