Tuesday, June 23, 2009

RIAP

RIAP (READING INSTITUTES for ACADEMIC PREPARATION)

A team of teachers from Alternative Education have joined the RIAP program at Cal State Fullerton. Today we will be learning about Web 2.0 tools (Blogs, WIKI's, and Web Sites).

Sunday, June 15, 2008

edZone



The California K-12 High Speed Network (K12HSN) is offering a comprehensive set of tools to support teaching and learning in California classrooms. This free suite of tools, edZone, currently includes blogging, videoconference scheduling and a file sharing system where educators can upload videos, podcasts, images and documents.


EdZone is an excellent tool to share lesson ideas, upload student learning objects, disseminate best practices, and more! Make sure you take advantage of these free resources provided by the California K-12 High Speed Network and the California Department of Education.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

The New Cartographers

The New Cartographers What does it mean to map everything all the time?
By Jessica Clark
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3524/the_new_cartographers/

“We no longer go to maps to find out where we are. Instead, we tell maps where we are and they form around us on the fly.”

Remember the days when you would buy a Thomas Guide and leave it in your car so you could find your way to a meeting or appointment. In today’s Web2.0 world maps may help us get somewhere, but more often than not they show us where we have been and what we have been doing. They give us perspective, advice, ideas; they show us relationships; help us find jobs and people; they document and decipher; they aggregate and disaggregate. I think they do everything but clean the kitchen sink.

From maps about health trends (Who is Sick?) to 360º city views around the world (360º) to Linkfluence’s Map of the Political Blogosphere and more Jessica Clark tells us how the old ways of mapping is a thing of the past.

Another technology in the world high tech world of mapping and destination seeking is the global positioning systems (GPS). If you want to get somewhere maps are passé, you can much more easily find your destination with a GPS unit from your car, boat, or even on your bicycle. If you look closely at the jogger passing you by at the stop light you may even see a GPS unit on their wrist or in their hand.

I was thoroughly amazed at the number of different ideas that were mapped. Want more about maps? Try the Mapsmania Blog by Mike Pegg http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/ Started in April of 2005, Mike has hundreds and hundreds of maps and ideas to use.

You can even find a LIBRARY near you!
http://www.libraries411.com/ by name or sip code.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

AUHSDteacherLibrarians

As if I don't have enough to do! After this weeks District TL meeting I created a Blog and Wiki for collaboration amoung our district Teacher Librarians. Every one of our TL's will be a contributor - I hope it catches on. What I am finding however is that some of the same information may have crossover from this blog to the district blog - I appologize ahead of time for the duplication.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

The Impact of Library 2.0

Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.
- Greg Anderson

It has been an adventure to take part in the Library 2.0 experience. I have learned a great deal about Web 2.0 and have discovered many new tools to help me become a better teacher, collaborator, and teacher librarian. I thoroughly enjoy these kinds of activities and am a life-long learner at heart. I hope that there will be a Library 2.02 or maybe we will need a Library 3.0 soon.

One of the prompts suggested for this blog is to describe the program in one word or one sentence. I think the best descriptor I can give Library 2.0 is “POWERFUL”. Learning is just that, powerful. I can’t wait to put what I have learned into action and share many of these tools with my students and staff.

I hereby pronounce my completion of the Library 2.0 program, and will move in to the implementation phase of my learning.

I proclaim to:
  • Take the web2.0 skills I have learned and use them in my daily teaching and learning.

  • Provide students with the tools that will support and excite them about learning.

  • Encourage teachers to “take a risk” and step into the land of Web 2.0 where they can learn new technology skill that support student learning.

The important work of moving the world forward
does not wait to be done by perfect men.

- George Eliot (1819 - 1880)

#23 (WEEK 9) Copyright, Creative Commons, and Congratulations!

I love the video, “A Fair(y) Use Tale”. Although it does take some listening to in order to get and understand the message, I think students will enjoy the presentation instead of tuning out the message most commonly presented in a lecture or handout format. The Creative Commons web site and concept is another excellent way to bring home the idea of copyright and allows students to have something that they can use for their own work. I believe it is not until someone takes your intellectual property or other work that you really appreciate the concept behind copyright.

#22 (WEEK 9) Explore eBooks and Audio eBooks

I am an avid Books On Tape/CD/mp3 listener. There are points in my personal and professional life that the only time I have to read a book is while driving (which I find a bit dangerous). I have a personal digital library of well over 200 books on tape and am always looking for places to find good reads. It is also funny that just last week my principal requested the all our core novels be purchased on CD for student use. I will spend some time to see if any of our district core novels are available through the several sites listed in THING 22.

One of the links on the "Best Places to Get Free Books" site - #3 (BookCrossing - Where real books are released into the wild to be found by others - Thanks Engtech) was familiar to me. This is a site that is also advertised on the geocaching.com web site. If you are not a Geocacher and love to walk and discover new places check it out. Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunt activity for anyone of any age using a hand held GPS.