Journal #8 - Google Earth

Google earth is a fascinating website with a free downloadable virtual globe program that allows you to plot and view any location in the world! Three-dimensional images obtained via satellite can be viewed from your computer, at any time or any place. You simply point to a destination and zoom anywhere you like. This tool allows us to explore the world around us and to see it as we've never seen it before.

I downloaded the program, which took approximately 3-4 minutes. The opening page provides start-up tips and takes you directly into the site, showing an image of the earth. To get to a destination, you can type an exact location or just click directly on the globe. As you watch with a birds-eye view, you are taken to your destination as if you are flying. Navigation is fun and user-friendly. A variety of options at the top of the screen allow you to add place marks, path, and image overlays; record towns; show historical imagery; or even show sunlight across a landscape. A plus/minus indicator bar allows you to zoom in or out to view the location closer or further away. Various blue squares indicate landmarks, and when you click one, a still photo of the location pops up on your screen.

Google Earth is a great tool that can be used to integrate technology into the classroom, especially with math, science, and geography. Teachers are currently using this site to assist with lessons on latitude, longitude, polyhedrons, and line patterns, to name a few. Another great online resource for math teachers is Real World Math, which incorporates Google Earth in the curriculum. The site provides lesson ideas in four specific categories, geared for 5th grade and up. Both sites give teachers tremendous technology tools to provide interesting and active learning exercises for the classroom.

Journal #7 - Mining for Gold

Bigenho, Chris (2009, March/April). Mining for Gold. Learning & Leading with Technology, Retrieved March 7, 2009, from http://www.learningandleading-ditigal.com/learning_leading/200904/ templates/pageviewer...

This is another interesting and informative article on RSS feeds. RSS feeds allow internet users to control the information they receive through subscriptions, and give seemingly unlimited capabilities in accessing data. The best part…this data can be individually tailored to your current interests, topics, and educational needs. Feeds can be created fairly simply, and they are a great tool for teachers. “Mining for Gold” suggests subscribing to student blogs and social bookmarks, as well as feeding content onto HTML pages as ways to incorporate this technology into classroom.

1. Why is creating a custom feed beneficial?

Creating a custom feed has many advantages. The most obvious is that it is tailored to suit you and your individual preferences, whether it is for personal interests or for classroom data. It is available to access on one page, and is easy to navigate. It also has the ability to make information available on a school’s Learning Management System (LMS), to benefit both teacher and student regarding relevant study topics.

2. How do I bring this tool into the classroom?

Regardless of subject matter taught, this tool can be utilized by most any teacher or classroom. By setting up an RSS feed for your middle school math class, you give students access to specific resources related to the curriculum. Bookmarks in the LMS might include links to specific topics, such as fractions, ratios, probabilities under the category of Geometry concepts. For your history or English class, a bookmark might link directly to reference sites for historical data or novels the class will read.

Journal #6 - Grow Your Personal Learning Network

Warlick, David (2009, March/April). Grow Your Personal Learning Network. Learning & Leading with Technology, Retrieved March 7, 2009, from http://www.iste.org

Personal Learning Networks (PLN’s) utilize data from a vast array of online resources and provide users with relevant information almost instantly. PLN’s help to validate the collaboration that takes place online – what better way to gather information, decipher it, and share it! Staying connected and being able to manage this information are the most obvious benefits to having a PLN. As teachers and educators, we become living examples of what to model in the classroom so that we can inspire lifelong learning. Being able to share this ability in teaching technology will not only keep us abreast of the latest information available, but it will also enhance our curriculum potential.

1. When creating your first PLN, what are some guidelines to follow?

Think small when starting out, as keeping things simple and manageable is important – one or two blog subscriptions are a good rule of thumb. Organizing your topics into folders along time references is also helpful as some folders will not be accessed as often as others. Expanding the PLN will come with time and experience, and it can be as broad or as simple as you need it to be but starting out small is key.

2. How does teachertube.com assist educators?

Teacher tube is a site designed for educators. Whether you are looking for videos to view or have videos to share, teacher tube is an invaluable resource. Thousands of videos are managed and arranged by topic, and designed specifically for the classroom. This site can be added to your PLN as an aid in planning lessons, sharing your teaching experiences and expanding your peer network. The website also contains links to relevant education sites as well as Face book and Twitter.

PowerPoint - NETS (1, 2, 3)

This is a professional presentation I created using PowerPoint, showing lesson samples.

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

id="__ss_1134682">N E T S PowerPoint

View more presentations from Bethann.

Journal #5 - Collaboration in a Web 2.0 Environment

Bull, Glen. "Collaboration in a Web 2.0 Environment." Learning & Leading with Technology Apr 2006 26 Feb 2009

Syndication allows users to interact simultaneously within sites. Collaborative writing sites such as Gaia Role Play and Wikipedia have recently become popular syndication sites. The sites allow unlimited creative outlets in a collaborative environment. In the classroom, there are many advantages to posting assignments and information on a blog. Creating and maintaining a blog-based curriculum makes communication between peers simple in a supportive atmosphere and gives teachers an easy and organized avenue for keeping track of assignments. Thunderbird and Firefox are two of the newest technologies available that utilize sites with RSS feeds. Most teenagers use some sort of online blogging mechanism as a way to keep in touch with each other, so incorporating blogs into the classroom is not unfamiliar.

Question #1: What are the advantages of using blog lines to students and teachers?

Blogs allow the information to be organized in one area on a website. Easy navigation and downloads allow both student and teacher to complete tasks quickly and efficiently. Paper savings is evident as information is transferred and stored electronically.

Question #2: What is the easiest way to introduce blog lines to students?

Creating a simple project or assignment is a good start. It is best to begin with a site such as blogger.com to create the initial blog. As each student learns to navigate the site, they will become familiar enough to preview other blogs and eventually post comments to provide feedback to their peers.