Saturday, May 30, 2009

Who Am I, Why Am I Blogging

This summer one of my goals is to start blogging more seriously.  What do I mean by seriously, well until now I have published content on my blog that is mostly related to new resources I have come across.  i realize that this niche is well covered.  I intend to start to share more of my voice, more of my opinions and insights on the world of technology, teaching, learning and leading. 

What makes me qualified to do such a thing?  Not much I guess. Here are some basic facts:

  • I have taught grades: 3, 4, and 5 in my six years of teaching.  I typically “loop” with my 4th graders to fifth the following year. 
  • My undergrad was completed in K-6 elementary education from Taylor University, and I recently finished getting my Masters in Educational Administration from Ball State University. 
  • I am a tech enthusiast and an advocate for 21st century learning.
  • I have a passion for literacy 2.0, deep thinking, and critical reading.
  • I teach in a high performing district where the majority of families are online.   In my opinion, teachers in this district are enthusiastic about learning and truly have a passion for what they do, but like many places we do not have a 1:1 imitative started

20090523-IMG_1512 So be prepared for some new thoughts and ideas from me being added to the blogosphere, and please subscribe to my feed.  I will look to publish a fresh new post in a few weeks.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Want to play a Youtube video minus…

Want to play a Youtube video minus the inappropriate adds that surround the video?  Try http://quietube.com/.  This fantastic service allows you to place a bookmarklet in your browser’s toolbar that will subtract those ads when you open up the video on Youtube then click the bookmarklet.  Follow these steps to ad freedom today:

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Before:

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After Quiettube:

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Thursday, April 23, 2009

Getting Started Guides for Google Docs

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Are you using Google Docs yet?  This is a great free service with some awesome features.  Here are three new guides to using Google docs: spreadsheets, presentations, and documents

Friday, April 17, 2009

Using Wordle in the Classroom

Wordle is a sweet word and wiring visualizing tool.  www.Wordle.net has the ability to analyze the most frequent words used in a text (can be pasted in, weblinked, or typed in) and then creates a visual representation of those.  Here is a slideshow, I came across while reading Mike Fisher’s blog http://digigogy.blogspot.com/; in it uses for Wordle in the classroom are shared.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

50 States!

A great resource for studying the fifty states!

http://www.history.com/states.do

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Monday, March 30, 2009

Literacy and Technology –CMS- Follow Up

Thanks so much for coming yesterday! I know I threw a lot at you, but my hope is that you found a few tools you feel like you could use in the classroom with students. I would be happy to help get you started in using any of the tools you think would help you better engage students in authentic literacy experiences.  Maybe even try giving Etherpad and Glogster a try before you start.  Find tutorials and more on the Wiki, just click the pic below!

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You can check out our Etherpads from today here:

http://etherpad.com/litandtech

http://etherpad.com/litandtech2

POWER POINT (Links Included)

 

 

STUDENT ACCOUNT CONTROL AND CREATION:

The question was asked, what do we do to get students signed up for some of these tools that require logins, and have control over it?  Check this blog post out on how to do this.  I have used this trick many times!

http://macteech.edublogs.org/2008/06/15/rename-gmail-hack/

Please contact me if you would like assistance getting started or if you have any questions!

Catkinso@ccs.k12.in.us

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Many Voices, Few Voices, Many Voices