Podcast Subscriptions

I signed up for a free fitness podcast at fitmusic.com. It has all sorts of great songs like:

BunWarmer
BootyMover
LycraLove
&
FatSmack

If I could just get myself to start working out...

3 Stars...

Yipes! Thank goodness my students don't get to fill these out...though I do brush my teeth after my morning coffee. I quite enjoyed the part about the consumer reviews. I never know whether or not to believe these, especially the rants. However, one can usually pick out the crazy and try to ignore it. I also learned a lot about Wikipedia, as I'd heard much about it but never got around to researching its history and relevance.

It shall be interesting to see how social software evolves in the next few years. It's already frightening how much of an effect that Facebook has had on my social circle. I can't believe how old it makes me feel when I have such negative feelings about such sites and dread that they're taking over the world. Adios, good ol' days!

( :

Wednesday

Today was a fun & frustrating day...Photo Peach is amazing, it's just so painful and draining when technology isn't working smoothly. I feel like that's why I've taken Tech Camp so many times, learned so many new things, yet I rarely actually use them in my classroom!

I'm looking forward to finally trying out a slideshow to show at my Curriculum Night. I think parents are very comforted seeing pictures of their kids engaged in various classroom activities. Especially when we don't meet them until nearly a month after school starts. Seeing such a slideshow would reassure them that we're very busy learning and having fun doing it!

Wohoo! Audio-A-Go-Go!

I can't wait to try out some of the things we learned today in my classroom this fall. Yesterday I wasn't quite sure how I was going to be using a wiki or a blog, but the multitude ways we used audio files today seem to be more my style. I think my kids actually used audio files in a project they did with our Media Specialist this past year. I'm looking forward to being able to collaborate with her more this year, since I now have a clue what they're doing!

Most of my students love to share what they're learned in a creative way and I think that using Wordle, Voice Thread, and Garage Band (among others!) will add another dynamic layer to the Academic Choice projects we do every week.

Going back to school in September seems easier with something like this to look forward to!

Whiteboard Article

I read the whiteboard article and found the idea of using wikis as a way to make students "experts" on a topic in a short time. It reminded me of many activities my fourth graders do that involve choosing a sub topic related to what we're studying. After researching together, they then creating a poster or other visual to use in presenting what they've learned to their classmates.

I'm not sure that having all of my students try to do this in wiki form would work, due to lack of computers, space, time, etc. However, it might be worth trying to rotate into the mix once in awhile.

4b