Jing

http://www.screencast.com/users/mhallen/folders/Jing/media/8c7a919d-0d79-419b-af0c-953daa2e2558

I really enjoyed this program. At first I found it a little awkward and hard to use, but then after playing with it a few minutes, it became easier. I was able to do a tutorial on making a digital book. It is neat to hear me giving the directions and having my mouse go over the powerpoint page to give step by step instructions. I would highly recommend using this program to create a tutorial to introduce activities using technology or non technology. Saving and retrieving so I could post the link took longer than I realized but with patience, it is not bad. The downside is downloading Jing and saving the program to use the link because it is time comsuming.

I will use this program to introduce digital books to another class at the end of the year. I plan on having my students be the "experts" to help while the other class in the lab but I will begin with the tutorial I made with Jing. Also the tech asst. wants to use Jing to create tutorials this summer to help with teaching how to use different programs that our school has available.

My student's first digital books

http://www.badongo.com/file/8431358
This is Caleb's digital book.
http://www.badongo.com/file/8431190
This is Noah's digital book.
http://www.badongo.com/file/8431213
This is Christian's digital book.
http://www.badongo.com/file/8431250
This is Alsey's digital book.
http://www.badongo.com/file/8431294
This is Garren's digital book.
http://www.badongo.com/file/8431416
This is Kalei's digital book.

They had a great time putting these books together. It took about 5 weeks of working on it. We only had 1 day each week to work, but I used 90 minute blocks, usually with the help of 1-2 parents, an assistant, and a one-on-one. I plan on doing this one more time this year and complete my web quest on poetry. Now that the students have an understanding of powerpoint, downloading pictures, and resizing pictures, I think it will not take as long. Also the computer lab assistant said she can help me so that would give my students 1 more hour a week to work on the project.

Why social network??!!

I have had an account with facebook with for about a year. Until tonight I really didn't take the time to explore it. As I was watching some of my younger classmates explore, I realized that this is more for people 35 and younger for now. I think as time goes on people older than 35 will start discovering it. It is really neat to be able to find old friends. I have discovered old students who are now in high school and college. It is neat to see them at this age. I haven't really
discovered how this is better than emailing, but I will continue to look through and play with the site to see what it can open up to me. Dave suggested it would be a good way to chat with parents without having to check email and opening.

KWL

I thought I knew quite a bit about technology. I still am somewhat literate, however, I realized that there is so much I need to learn. I have definitely learned that technology is something that needs to be updated often. Just as I think I know how to do something and up on the latest, technology begins to change again. I have begun to learn that I need to keep abreast of the information available.
I have my kwl chart in microsoft word. I have had a hard time posting it and maintaining it in the chart format. I have uploaded it to badango to link it to this post.

badango post of kwl chart
http://www.badongo.com/file/8302765

Zunal

I just finished using Zunal.com to complete my webquest. I did not find zunal to be the easiest or the most fluid site to use. I am aware to save often but with just the wrong button pressed, zunal would take you me out of the update page and put me on the regular page and I would lose everything I had just written. I think it would have been easier to use a different site or to put the webquest in powerpoint. Zunal was good to use as a guideline.

Badongo

I tried to use Badongo in class but it took forever to upload my digital book so I could post it on my blog. I think it was the timing. I felt like more people would be trying to use Badongo at 7 pm. I know that several people in class were using it. At first I was very frustrated and would not have recommended using this site. Now I would. I decided to try once again at home. This time I tried around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. I figured less people trying upload while they were at work. I was able to upload in less than 2-3 minutes and post to my blog. It was an easy experience. I think that many times some people especially me, want instant gradification with high speed internet and forget that it is very similar to an interstate. It is a great way to travel during the off hours but can be quite frustrating and annoying during rushhour. I know I need to remember that patience is a virtue.

I love using badango. It is so easy. I use it all the time when I can't get something to upload to the blog the way I want it to. It is very quick if you are not trying to use it all the same time as the rest of your class. I have used it to post my movie maker video, digital text, and webquests.

My students using digital cameras to create a digital book.

I had my students take out digital cameras during recess a few weeks ago (yes, we have recess daily); P. They took pictures themselves and their friends playing and goofing around. Afterwards I uploaded the pictures as well as field trip pictures to a file on our computer system at school. I taught the kids how to use powerpoint making buttons, transitions, and sounds. They each made 5 pages. They inserted pictures from the file and them wrote text to tell about the pictures that were chosen. At first the kids did not write in completed sentences instead would write "me and my bff". When I started seeing the text, I had a mini lesson on complete sentences using capital letters, punctuation, and having a completed thought. We are not quite finished with them yet, but when I have a few early finishers, I will post them here.