Thing #20 - Google Docs

My wife and I shared a document that helped us list what we were going to get for our three kids for Christmas. Since we are both at work all day and don't communicate all the time during the day, this was easy to jot down an idea whenever it came to me. Plus with me sometimes I may think of a gift during the day but forget about it by the time I get home. Now I can just jot it down and my wife can check it anytime. The sharing of documents like this would be great for teachers to collaborate on topics that are being taught.
All subjects could teach about a specific topic with each teacher adding their own twist to make sure it ties into each subject.
The spreadsheet would be extremely helpful in our field house for inventory purposes. All the coaches are assigned to certain equipment, with one main equipment coach. Each coach could check his inventory input it and be done. Instead of having to track down the main equipment coach, give him the inventory, and make him input it into one file that will be saved probably on a personal server. This would help us update the inventory whenever something new comes in or something is issued out. A spreadsheet would also help our Head Coach with trying to order stuff for the coaching staff. He can send it out and everyone reply when they get a chance. Then it puts all the information together for him.
I recently had to give a presentation for my cohort class and having Google docs would have made it easier to do. There was a group of five and we each had a certain part that we had to do. No one really wanted to take extra time to meet and go over what we had so this tool would have really helped. One member of the group created a wiki page but not everyone felt comfortable using it. I believe this is a lot easier and really would have helped out.

Thing #19 - Voicethread

I am once again trying to find as many things as I can for my class, World Geography. I want my students to see everything about the places that they are studying. This along with You Tube and Teacher Tube are awesome ways for me to show my kids places of the world not just read about them. I found this World Geography voicethread that would be great to use. Placeing the pictures with the maps and then adding the audio makes this a great learning tool.

Thing #18

I have already used both You Tube and Teacher Tube in my class. It is a great source for me, I teach World Geography. I can show the students what a country really looks like. The students feel disconnected with places they are studying because all they see is a picture or two in the book and then they have to read about it. Showing them puts them there. For example we are studying Latin America so I found a Discovery Education video on Peru to show them. Also one on Ecuador.
I found a personal how to video showing me how to trade stocks on-line. Don't know if I really trust it but I am going to follow it for a while to see if the guy really knows what he is talking about.

Thing #17

I viewed two different podcasts, The Mayne Event and Coffee Break Spanish, from iTunes. I thought both of them were very good. The Mayne Event is about sports which I am very interested in and Coffee Break Spanish is about learning to speak Spanish. Coffee Break Spanish is for very basic beginners and gives very short lessons and goes very slow. I would like to incorporate podcasts into my classroom and also use it for my personal learning. I do have iTunes and an ipod but have not used podcasting before, I do know now why you would want an ipod with a lot of memory. I am not sure what all my ipod can hold but I am about to find out. This is a great tool that I will use in the future.

Thing #16

LibraryThing is a site where you can find out about books you want to read. I am not much of a reader and it takes me forever to finish a book. I started reading Tony Dungee's book during the summer and finished it only a few weeks ago.

My son loves to read and I think this would be a great tool for him to use. One of the things I like about it is that when you search for a book you have read there are suggestions about what else you might like. That part would be very helpful to me and others like me who don't like to read that much.

Thing #15

I set up my delicious account and went through tons of searches. It was hard for me to decide what to bookmark and what to leave alone. I always think I can find it again later but never can. I see the benefit of putting them all in one place so you can get to them anywhere and I know I will use it more often now that I know what it is.

There are alot of things saved in this site and I know I could never see them all. I searched for geography and maps and spent about an hour looking at them and still had tons to go. Where do so many people find out about sites like this? I never heard of it until now.

Thing #7b

Why do things make it into the news? When this came into my Google Reader I thought it was crazy. Aren't there things happening in the world that are more important than this? Didn't we just have a very important election? I know that these things are reported also but it is a strange world we live in.

Then I read a post by TeacherDude that I thought was funny. As a male in a mostly female occupation it is apparent almost daily the differences between us. Read it and enjoy!