Thing #10 Creative Commons

I don't think that I've ever seen the Creative Commons logo. Then again, I don't think I ever looked for it either. I do believe that CC will impact our students. CC should simplify what can and cannot be used/edited for our students from the internet. We also need to teach our students about CC and its uses. I haven't used much from internet at this time. Right now everything I do in my class, I make myself so I guess its all mine. I've been searching for things for my classes on the internet, but haven't found what I've been looking for. The information in this "thing" will definitely play a role in what I do use in my classroom.

Thing #9 Play in the wiki sandbox

WOW! This "thing" had a lot to do. It was just like I thought it would be...lots of tools and things to add and play, almost to the point its overwhelming. I enjoyed making my page in the wiki, but I had a hard time with the table of contents. I went and looked at some of the pages to make sure I was doing it right and as far as I could tell I was, but it never worked. The rest of the work was easy, it was just a matter of getting everything pulled together. I believe that this is something that I want to use in my classes, but its got to be well thought out, planned and set up. Its obvious to me that this is not something to just jump in and start using. I guess I know what I'm doing this summer!

Thing #8 What in the world is a wiki?

I've heard a little bit about wiki's and I haven't been real comfortable with their use before, based upon my limited knowledge. After checking out these other educational wikis, I think that I'm starting to lean the other direction. I can definitely see a use for wikis in the classroom.

I think the key in using a wiki is going to be how its set up. The Primary Math wiki to me was set up backwards. The contributing classes blogs were on the main part with the math info in the sidebar. I liked the Holocaust wiki and found it interesting once I figured out where the information was. I liked how the Turn Homeward, Hannalee wiki, in their introduction, directed you where to go for the information.

Overall, I think that wiki does offer some interesting opportunities for the classroom, but I also think some collaboration with peers (in a wiki??) would be help bunches in setting up a wiki for the classroom.

Thing #7 Creating community through commenting

Everything that I read about commenting was right on. It was also a whole bunch of common sense. If you want to dialogue with someone, be polite, let them know how to communicate back with you, etc...pretty much common sense if you want to talk with anyone.

I love the fact that these blogs can develop into some very interesting dialogues. Like I said before, I don't mind sharing my opinion, but I really enjoy hearing others (probably more than hearing my own!)

Thing #6 Feed your Reader

I have used a different reader before because of my Master's work, but it was just for those in the Masters program. I never had a clue on how to look for other blogs that would be interesting to me.

The educational blogs that I found I like because of the opinions of the authors. David Warlick's 2 cents worth is entertaining and offers up opinions that cause me to think.

What I really like (especially this time of year!) is finding different blogs to get insight on my Texas Rangers! If you can't tell, I'm a huge (literally) Texas Rangers fan, and at times I just can't get enough info on my favorite team. Now, I've got some more sources!