Resource Pages
My resource page (http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/teachers/apyle/links) is constantly growing and changing as we explore new curriculum. I think as more families obtain home access to the Internet a resource page will become even more valuable. I use it as a parent reference, a student reference and as an organizational tool for myself.
Student reference: My students are seven and eight years old and can not type accurately. I definitely do not want them typing addresses into the computer. It is too easy to make an error and open an unwanted website. I bookmark the sites that they are to use and then they just need to click on the bookmark. Each morning when they use the computers, they check the direction sheet and click on the appropriate bookmark.
When we complete beginning research projects, I also bookmark appropriate sites for the students to use. This not only keeps them from visiting unwanted sites, but also helps to focus them and saves them from hours of searching through unhelpful material.
Parent reference: I add links to our class web page for parents to explore with their children. These links help with reviewing concepts or extend activities that we complete in class. For example, the students need to be able to complete 100 addition problems in five minutes. This is very difficult for some students. The web page has several links for practicing math facts. We are also studying the moon currently. I added a link to the web page that explains the phases of the moon and another link that shows pictures of how the moon should appear each night in the sky.
Teacher reference: This resource page also helps me to organize the useful sites that I have found. I don’t have to find that scrap of paper or search through my bookmarks for the great website address that I remember from last year. It also helps other teachers in my building to find good websites without spending the search time. I also look at other second grade teachers’ resource pages to “borrow” great sites from them!
I can’t imagine using the Internet effectively without some sort of resource page. I could continue to bookmark sites, but I find the resource page more friendly and easy to use. When the resource page is a web page, it is convenient to share with other teachers saving some time searching for appropriate sites. It also becomes accessible by my students’ families at home. This helps to build that home-school connection that is a great asset to student success.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Monday, November 06, 2006
Web 2.0 Applications
Wow! I certainly had no idea of the many Web 2.0 applications that are available for use on the Internet. I began by reading Ben Hunt’s article, The future web2.0 social experience. (http://www.webdesignfrom scratch.com/future-social-web-experience.cfm) Instead of giving me answers, I think it actually made me more confused. I read the article, Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications and then skipped down to Dion Hinchcliffe’s Web 2.0 Blog. (http://web2.wsj2.com/the_best_web_20_software_of_2005.htm ) This article was very easy to read and offered many applications to try.
I began with Writely.com and soon discovered that it has been obtained by Google and is now called Google: Docs & Spreadsheets (http://docs.google.com ) It also doesn’t work yet with Safari, but I switched to FireFox and it worked fine. I am interested in this application because any person with access to the Internet could use this program and have a common word processor. It would make editing and collaboration easier, especially when the document is also stored on the Internet. I learned that documents that I create can be sent directly to my blog which could be handy. I don’t plan to use this particular application with my second graders, but I do see great uses for it with the teachers in my building. It would make sharing documents and spreadsheets much easier. If I had older students and several computers with access to the Internet, I could teach one word processor instead of several versions used by different computers in my room. I like the options that this program offers.
I also experimented with Doodle, an online polling application. (http://www.doodle.ch ) This program allows the user to create polls with a title, description, date and times. It could be really useful for scheduling meetings. The following is a screenshot of the example poll.
Each participant can log in and mark times that they are available to meet. I thought that this would be great for voting in the classroom and set up a poll for voting for the Illinois Governor on election day. The only drawback is that every participant can see the other results. This is great if you are setting up a meeting, but not so good if you want an anonymous poll. If they would add the option to see results or hide results, I could easily set up one computer station and rotate students through to collect data.
Hipcal (http://www.hipcal.com ) was my next adventure. This application allows the user to create an online calendar that can be shared with others. It also uses the calendar events to create a to - do list and can send alerts so you will not forget anything. It seemed very similar to iCal, a calendar program on my iBook. It allows you to view the calendar by day, week or month. Settings will allow you to add categories and subcategories and to color code each. All categories can be viewed or hidden as desired. For example, I listed school, church and work activities but could easily hide any of the three. There is a memo option for notes and an alert option for reminders. This calendar might be good for posting a school calendar or creating a printable calendar with due dates for a project.
Finally, I examined a movie site and a restaurant site. The movie site (http://www.criteo.com) allows the user to critique movies and find other users that enjoy the same movies thus creating suggestions for new movies. The restaurant guide (http://www.toeat.com ) is in the process of being created. Like Ben Hunt’s vision for Web 2.0, it requires users to participate by adding favorite restaurants and offering reviews of the food. Many people need to become involved in adding restaurants and reviewing them and then soon the site will include a plethora of restaurant information.
Although, I have not found many applications to use directly with my second graders. I have learned about some applications that could be useful to the organization of my classroom and the collaboration and sharing of information with peers which will affect the way I teach and how my students learn. Gaining this knowledge also made me more aware of using the Internet in new ways.
Wow! I certainly had no idea of the many Web 2.0 applications that are available for use on the Internet. I began by reading Ben Hunt’s article, The future web2.0 social experience. (http://www.webdesignfrom scratch.com/future-social-web-experience.cfm) Instead of giving me answers, I think it actually made me more confused. I read the article, Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications and then skipped down to Dion Hinchcliffe’s Web 2.0 Blog. (http://web2.wsj2.com/the_best_web_20_software_of_2005.htm ) This article was very easy to read and offered many applications to try.
I began with Writely.com and soon discovered that it has been obtained by Google and is now called Google: Docs & Spreadsheets (http://docs.google.com ) It also doesn’t work yet with Safari, but I switched to FireFox and it worked fine. I am interested in this application because any person with access to the Internet could use this program and have a common word processor. It would make editing and collaboration easier, especially when the document is also stored on the Internet. I learned that documents that I create can be sent directly to my blog which could be handy. I don’t plan to use this particular application with my second graders, but I do see great uses for it with the teachers in my building. It would make sharing documents and spreadsheets much easier. If I had older students and several computers with access to the Internet, I could teach one word processor instead of several versions used by different computers in my room. I like the options that this program offers.
I also experimented with Doodle, an online polling application. (http://www.doodle.ch ) This program allows the user to create polls with a title, description, date and times. It could be really useful for scheduling meetings. The following is a screenshot of the example poll.
Each participant can log in and mark times that they are available to meet. I thought that this would be great for voting in the classroom and set up a poll for voting for the Illinois Governor on election day. The only drawback is that every participant can see the other results. This is great if you are setting up a meeting, but not so good if you want an anonymous poll. If they would add the option to see results or hide results, I could easily set up one computer station and rotate students through to collect data.
Hipcal (http://www.hipcal.com ) was my next adventure. This application allows the user to create an online calendar that can be shared with others. It also uses the calendar events to create a to - do list and can send alerts so you will not forget anything. It seemed very similar to iCal, a calendar program on my iBook. It allows you to view the calendar by day, week or month. Settings will allow you to add categories and subcategories and to color code each. All categories can be viewed or hidden as desired. For example, I listed school, church and work activities but could easily hide any of the three. There is a memo option for notes and an alert option for reminders. This calendar might be good for posting a school calendar or creating a printable calendar with due dates for a project.
Finally, I examined a movie site and a restaurant site. The movie site (http://www.criteo.com) allows the user to critique movies and find other users that enjoy the same movies thus creating suggestions for new movies. The restaurant guide (http://www.toeat.com ) is in the process of being created. Like Ben Hunt’s vision for Web 2.0, it requires users to participate by adding favorite restaurants and offering reviews of the food. Many people need to become involved in adding restaurants and reviewing them and then soon the site will include a plethora of restaurant information.
Although, I have not found many applications to use directly with my second graders. I have learned about some applications that could be useful to the organization of my classroom and the collaboration and sharing of information with peers which will affect the way I teach and how my students learn. Gaining this knowledge also made me more aware of using the Internet in new ways.
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