I've been talking about wikis for ... a long time.. but I don't hear of many/any teachers in the area who are using them. Perhaps the reason is that they don't feel comfortable enough with the process of wiki'ing (look THAT one up in your Funk and Wagnall!).  Well, this may be just what you need in order to get you started.

http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=38

 

This is one of the four presentations from yesterday's k12onlineconference in which Vicki Davis tells how she uses a wiki (a Free wiki from wikispaces) with her classes. Give this a listen and see if it doesn't get you interested in starting one of your own. I can guarantee that you won't be disappointed in the results.

 

Today's agenda includes the following topics: "Blog if You Love Learning", "Who's Teaching Who? Are We Ready?", "Using Web 2.0 Tools in a Grade One Classroom", "All About Internet Audio" (advanced level), and "TIGed Basics: A Beginners Guide to Social Networking in the Classroom." I encourage you to check them out. Some are very good. Others... aren't. Visit http://k12onlineconference.org/ to get started.

 

That link is to a page that was created by one of PA's Keystones teachers. A tip a day, all archived and easily accessible. Check it out. He did an excellent job, and the tips are easy to follow.

 

I hope you had a chance to view the presentation yesterday on using a wiki with first graders. Catch her excitement and enthusiasm. Don't forget, wikispaces.com is still giving away free wikis to educators. You should grab one now before too many other teachers catch on to this wiki idea and the free wikis are gone.

 

What's on today's agenda? "RSS - A Four Part Series" (by some guys you might know), "Publish Your Podcast in Less Than 5 Minutes using Taking It Global.", "Two Way Teaching: An Overview of the Read/Write Web in Education", and "Second Nature - Extending Dialogue in the Blogosphere."

 

Remember, all these sessions are archived and be accessed long after this conference is over. http://k12onlineconference.org/

 

Oh... a word to the wise... the file sizes on those movies on RSS are large so be patient as they download. And don't even bother if you're on dialup. I think they may get modified for dialup users sometime soon, though. Don't you think, Kurt? ;-)

The latest issue of Bits n Bytes, the newsletter for Tech Services of the CAIU, is now online. I encourage you to check it out. The article on Internet2 is especially good, I think. And then there's my column, of course. :-)

 

 

Here's a fun thing to get started with your students. Get a list of their birthdays. On the given day send that student to a computer in the library and have him or her visit this site: http://www.paulsadowski.org/BirthDay.asp. (Thanks Barry) There they will enter the date of their birthday and get back all sorts of things that happened on that day. Try it yourself - unless you don't want to be reminded that Eisenhour was President, that is. :-)

- - - k12 update - -

On the agenda today:

“Listening to the voices: student empowerment through collaborative learning projects beyond the school walls”, "RSS for Educators (Advanced)", "Getting to Know FLickr", and this one with the great title, "iPods- iSpeak- iSing- iListen- iLearn”

If you do the RSS one, don't forget to watch the 4 part series from yesterday. ;-)

http://k12onlineconference.org

I was under the mistaken impression that there were no more new sessions today. Turns out that there are, and there are some more good titles. Basic/Advanced Training - “Wiki While You Work (Basic)”, “Globally Literate”, “Hardy’s Wessex:

video editing and learning online”, and “Moodling Around: A Virtual Tour (Basic)”. YES!!! One on Moodle!!

Check 'em out

 

This is the third in the series of "don't-miss" articles about how the new web 2.0 tools are impacting - or COULD BE impacting - our schools. If you missed the previous two parts, the links to those are along the right side.

 

Consider this professional development and read all three parts.

 

- - k12OnlineConference Update - - -

The two threads this week are "Professional Development" and "Overcoming Obstacles". Check out this week's offereings at http://k12onlineconference.org

 

BOO!

 

Oh... sorry. Didn't really mean to scare you. :-) But hey.. 'tis the season, no?

 

Speaking of the season, this tip is a reminder about an oldie but a goodie for Halloween clipart. http://www.halloween-clipart.com has to be the BEST clipart site for this kind of stuff EVER. Great little animations, backgrounds, signs... much more. When viewing them, but sure to notice the Next button under the table containing the images or you'll miss most of them.

 

Then there's this site: http://www.villafanestudios.com/pumpkins.htm  I've sent out sites before that had great pumpkin carvings, but I think this one tops them all. Amazing! What talented people there are in the world.

 

- - - http://k12onlineconference.org/ update - - -

Today's topics include: "Not Just for Kids: Using Social Software to Create Community among Teachers and Provide Sustained Professional Development",
"Its a Small World After All!", "No Teacher Left Behind - The Urgency Of Web 2.0?, "Glow: Lighting Up Learning in Scotland"

 

 

 

 

I almost forgot about this one. ANother truly amazing collection of pumpkin carvings.