Homework Calendar

Thursday, June 30, 2011

11 Tools-Tool #5

So far I have tried Stupefix Video. I'm embedding the one I made for a card table and chair set that I am looking to sell. It was pretty easy to do, but it really helped to have viewed the SBISD tutorial video clip first. I can see how this could easily be used in all subject areas from doing a character trait video within a book club to how to use a Math manipulative to how to conduct a Science experiment or sharing information about a famous Texan.
http://studio.stupeflix.com/v/8SJmAKAR2f/

I made a trading card of Stanley Marcus using information from a website and from the 4th grade Social Studies curriculum on Forethought. It was pretty easy too. I bit challenging figuring out how to save it to use again. Not sure I did that, but we'll see. This could be used to show information learned in all subject areas-again a character trading card for a novel, a Science tool and how it was used in an experiment and of course for famous people in Social Studies.

I made a Glogster Poster for my card table and chair set. Although the Glogster and the Stupeflix videos do not use curriculum material, I think I can use what I made to show my students how to use them with curriculum topics. Glogster was ok to use. Not as easy as some of the other programs. It's a big difficult to manipulate the pictures etc and scroll up and down. I would like the ability to see my Glog all on the screen so I can see how it looks whole. But overall, I can see how students would love this program and have great fun with it.

Ok, so this is it for tool #5. I would like to explore Story Jumper too, which I will probably do. It was recommended by a friend to be useful in writing. So far, this was the most enjoyable part of the 11 tools. No where near as frustrating and difficult as the previous 4 tools! I sure hope tool #6 is just as easy!

Friday, June 17, 2011

11 Tools-Tool #4

I created a Google Doc and shared it with 3 other teachers. It seemed pretty simple. Although I had to ask for help to convert it to a jpg file and upload it to the blog.


This is a cool way to work on documents at the same time with others. I have used them before with limited success so I am looking forward to trying it again with my students. I am sure they will be excited to use Google Docs as they work on projects together.


I created a form in Goggle Docs for use during Book Club and emailed it to two team mates. I am waiting for their replies.


11 Tools-Tool #3

I looked through YouTube and Discovery Education. I found a great video on Literature Circles from a teacher in NYC on Discovery Education. Although it's designed for teachers, I think students could watch it and gleam important information about participating in Literature Circles. I also tried Blinx to search for videos and ViewPure to help the video run more smoothly.
I found that it was very difficult to watch any of these videos due to buffering. I found, what I think is a great video on place value on Blinx, which linked me to TeacherTube, but the video couldn't run because it stopped every 2 or 3 seconds to buffer.
I am hoping that when my computer is reimaged next week, that I can ask the tech specialist about this problem. Maybe there is a simple solution!
Literature Circle Video:
http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=CB1F5BFD-2F9A-4DF4-A1E4-3CDAE28F3E68&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US
Place Value Rap Video:
http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=215659&title=Place_Value_Rap__subtitle_

Fair Use/Copyright:
I was pretty familiar with copyright law, but I didn't know that as long as you are using it in an educational setting and as long as you don't use the whole thing, almost anything goes. I thought it was more stringent than that. The video was great and I can see how student will like it and will easily understand copyright rules.

Picasa: I found the Picasa website and searched for pictures of Butterflies. I then used the remix filter to filter the 10,000 or so pictures down to a manageable number of 300 or so. I was surprised to learn that I could filter for pictures taken with a specific camera. I'm sure this will come in handy with my students and their projects.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

11 Tools-Tool #2

I visited Jimmie O'Quinn's blog, Theresa Trevino's blog, Stacye Foster's blog, Linda Kleb's blog, and Amie Graves blog. I commented on Jimmie's blog and Amie's blog.
Commenting on someone else's blog is fine. I hope that they will comment back to me and then we can engage in an on-line conversation.
I certainly enjoyed seeing the YouTube video about Glogster. I will try that with my new students. Sharing my thoughts publicly was fun. It was definitely different than having a conversation with a teammate. This is much  more public, but it also lets more people comment on my thinking.
The website that I thought I would like to try with my class is http://www.glogster.com/. It is a website that creates virtual posters. As we learn about Texas History in Social Studies, this would be a fun way for kids to share what they learn.
And...today, I created an account on Google Reader. I have added my 3 favorite blogs to keep track of. It will definitely make it easier to find what I need!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Welcome to my Blog!

Hello All...welcome to my new blog! I am so very excited to a part of the MDE staff!
I am a graduate of TCU and have been teaching for the past 25 years in Spring Branch ISD. I have taught 4th grade and 3rd grade and, most recently, have been the literacy coach at Rummel Creek Elementary. I earned my MEd. from HBU in Curriculum & Instruction in 2000 and have been working with students and teachers in literacy ever since.
The most important thing to know about me is that I love dogs! I have a 3 year old Westhighland Terrier named Annabel, who is a such a hoot! She makes me laugh every day!
I am really looking forward to having a class of MDE students! It's going to be a great year!