1.  As a part-time administrator who collaborates often with others on program documents ( we have been developing a new program), google documents would have saved us all the cumulative pile of emailed attachments and the multiple updated versions of each paper.

2.  As a first grade teacher, I am discovering the power of images.  Slide shows and powerpoints that bring the world to my classroom (through my brand new 50 inch plasma TV in my room) are very powerful teaching tools.  However I can get overwhelmed with all the photos saved to a variety of thumb drives and hard drives.  Saving the presentations to google docs will mean that I can upload pictures from any of the various locations that I have saved my photos.

3.  Spreadsheets.  I co-teach 35 children together with another first grade teacher.  Somehow we have to come up with an easier way of sharing our assessment data on these children.  Google docs could be that way – but we of course have to come up with a format that we can both agree upon first.

There are even more places to gather and share ideas with like-minded professionals – but the big question is, when will I find the time to read, analyze and assimilate all this information?

As an independent school teacher I was very excited to find and join isenet.  This is also a smaller community and may be easier to navigate for a beginner.

And then there is TWITTER!  I have joined twitter several times and probably have several unused ids out there, but this time I was able to really see some of the uses for twitter.  Also, having read some of the articles posted by Shelley on the K12 Learning 2.0 wiki, I realize that by always accessing twitter from my iphone, I am missing out on the great layout of the twitter page on the web.  Seeing my personal learning network laid out before me was the best way of proving to me that twitter is a very worthwhile tool for me to use to connect with other education professionals and their ideas.

Uses for google docs:

1.  Editing documents collaboratively between professional colleagues

2.  Sharing created documents ( don’t reinvent the wheel)

3.  Saving documents to a common server so that I can access working documents wherever I have access, no matter whether or not I have my thumb drive with me ( particularly useful when your professional life is not limited to one physical location).

I love google documents – not having to carry my thumb drive with me everywhere is a huge asset.

Question:

Do your colleagues have to have google email accounts to share documents with you?

1. Blog
2. Wiki
3. Google website
4. Animoto
5. Google maps
6. Backchanneling
7. Twitter
8. Diigo or Delicious
9. Advanced internet searches
10. Podcasts
11. Google docs or Zoho writer (online collaboration)

But Mary Beth to the rescue – still lots of things we can do with technology.  Check out her blog post for details.

I would first like to brag on the wonderful blog byRichard Byrne. I think we are all subscribed to this blog (Free Technology for Teachers) as I believe it was one of the ones that Shelley recommended – but if you aren’t subscribed, you need to be.  Thank you, Mr. Byrne.

I would also like to extol the virtues of having an RSS feed app on my phone.  I hate getting on the computer every day.  I love the computer, but I don’t want to be tied to it.  In steps the wonderful iPhone.  I can check my mail, update my facebook status, and now read my favorite blogs on my iPhone.  Life is so much easier!

The Starry Night Sky Chart is highlighted by Rebeccah Haines in the Instructify blog You can get a picture of how the night sky should look on your own doorstep.  Wonderful!

Another blog that elementary school teachers will love is Organized Chaos.  I cannot take the credit for this – a colleague of mine found it and posted it on her k12learning 20 blog and I started subscribing to it too.  I LOVE IT!  Especially for early childhood teachers (preK- 2). This post howver is for all of us – it  is a very candid look at school culture.

And lo and behold, a site that makes reading recommendations for me.  Check out Your Next Read.  I found this on Mr. Byrne’s wonderful blog. We have come full circle.

However, now I know how to embed videos from Youtube, I can use them all the time in the classroom and not be shocked by the side videos (this happened to me in a 4th grade classroom – had to click out of Youtube very fast!)

I am moving from second language teaching to first grade in the fall, but old habits die hard so I spent a lot of time pulling up authentic dialogues between German and French speakers.  I did not choose one of those for your viewing pleasure here, however, but I did find this very easy video showing the stages of language acquisition for ELLs.  It would have been great to show for inservice at the beginning of the school year.  (Ahh, but the embed capability has been disabled for this video so I will have to choose another.)

So, instead of the above language acquisition lesson, enjoy this video example of experiential learning at Calhoun School.  It looked like a lot of fun and the video presentation is very professionally done.

Download this episode (right click and save)

Well, I just created a podcast and now I am trying to embed it here. The content does not address the meaning of life; it is just another foray into Web 2.0 wonders!

I moved around a lot as a K-12 student, and my final stopping place was a remote part of south-west England.  It is a beautiful place in the world (rugged cliffs, sandy beaches, windswept ancient moorlands) but very isolated intellectually.  BUT with web 2.0 even students in the frozen wastes of Siberia or remote tropical islands can pursue their interests ad infinitem.  It is AMAZING and so exciting.  Our children’s minds can really now follow their passions and discover their true potential – without being limited by geography.  And so can we as adults.

Web 2.0 will create so many more lifelong learners because the resources are so much more accessible.  What a wonderful time for my children to be growing up in.

Please don’t remove my rose-tinted spectacles – I am much too happy right now.

I also think it is going to help me a lot with recommendations for my children’s reading pleasure.  I cannot keep up with them – but Library Thing might be able to.