I am playing catch-up for sure. It's been a crazy 2+ weeks of being sick, kids being sick, having relatives come for days (with all the requisite shopping and cooking) and then a long weekend in Philadelphia at an Irish Dance competition (which required several extra practices since October.) It really set me back even farther than I was. I took a lot on this Fall and am not sure that I have been able to do any of it truly well. I will not make that same mistake next semester.
I have been able to think about many of the topics addressed in this class, but not write about them. This post will begin to remedy that, hopefully.
First of all...the Nokia. Ugh. I couldn't get past the frustration. I had such a problem switching between cameras. I took it to the Turtle Back Zoo but missed a lot of shots because I was switching between cameras. I just can't figure out why there were two cameras in that thing. Redundant and confusing. How many times do you need to take a picture of yourself? Seriously. And I had to use the stylus because I couldn't get the touch screen to reliably work for me, I guess I didn't have "the touch." This is ironic to me, because I can use the touch screen fine on my iPod Touch. So I just failed miserably at getting the Nokia to work for me. I just didn't persevere enough. Not intuitive at all.
Next. The Will Richardson book, Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts. I really, really like this guy. I like what he has to say about the future of education. I like how he doesn't treat Web 2.0 tools as "educational technology." It's just education. I like how he's not scared of the future and is making attempts to manage the direction that education and the role that technology plays in education. I follow him on Twitter and very frequently read what he tweets and pass it along or save it for future reference, (using Diigo, which he so succinctly describes in Chapter 6, the Social Web. I have previously posted about my success in sharing about using iPod Touches using Diigo with my colleagues. I felt very smart. Thanks, Will.) Did I mention that I love him?
I did read his comments on Wikis and blogs. I had already been using a Wiki for the World Languages Department in my School District, with mixed results. It's been good for me a few other teachers who are willing to use it, but there was little (useful) training or explanation of use/benefits for my colleagues last year for them to use it with any regularity. And I didn't have the time to proselytize as it was my first year there. Can't be too pushy right out of the gate, kwim? I have found the wiki to be super useful in some respects, as I have gotten some good ideas/comments/resources from the willing colleagues. A fifth grade teacher at my school uses a wiki for her book groups and reading responses with great results. There are uses for a Wiki.
One thing that I will continue to do outside of this class is blog. I like it. I have my son doing a blog for his reading/language arts class. He was thrilled the first time he got a comment from his teacher and wrote right back to her. There you go, writing for an audience! An authentic audience! We have been changing his backrounds with pyzam.com and are on our third holiday template. Although I am not a blogger in the true sense of the word, as there is no real "focus" yet to my posts other than my experiences in using technology in the classroom and beyond, I follow people on Twitter who are prolific and true bloggers. Blogging is a valid and useful resource.
I am looking forward to reading Chapter 9 What it All Means. But right now, I will peruse the podcasting chapter as I have just posted a podcast on podomatic.com. In Garageband, there are so many controls, I don't know what the hell does what. The audio sounds a little tinny and volume levels are inconsistent because I did 5 different poems. I had the best time putting the little Stingers in as transitions. I hope to complete my book excerpt tonight, from Little House in the Big Woods, but the kids are running around making all kinds of noise, which is not the most conducive environment for recording. And man, does your mouth get dry or what when you're reading these long passages? Ok, now I'm going to figure out how to post from Podomatic onto this blog.
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