Diigo

I set up my Diigo account. I downloaded the Diigo toolbar on my computer at home. I "applied" to join the 21st century group, and am waiting to be accepted. That was six hours ago. I would have liked to have had this done today; this is a little frustrating. To be continued...

Just checked to see if I've been accepted... Nope. Still waiting. It's been 24 hours now.

I have been accepted by the group! My self-esteem has been restored. Highlighting and adding sticky notes was easy. I can definitley see how Diigo would help students who are working together on a research project. It would also be great for a teacher to see documented evidence that students are in fact doing research.

Diigo kind of reminds me of buying used books in college. Used books were not only nice because they were cheaper, they were also nice because they had been previously highlighted. Diigo can save you from having to read an entire web page if somebody before you had highlighted, and placed sticky notes already. It is a very useful too.

Digital Storytelling

I used Animoto to create the embedded video below. I had a lot of fun doing this. There was a bit of a learning curve, but it was worthwhile. I'm honestly having a difficult time thinking of how I could use this in my math class, without it taking a lot of time away from teaching Ohio Academic Content standards. I can definitely see how it would be beneficial in other subjects that require students to give presentations. I think it would be cool for L.A. students to create a "movie trailer" type presentation for summarizing a novel. Social Studies students could prepare a video presentation on a historical figure. The possibilities are truly endless. Students would no doubt enjoy using this for school purposes.

Wiki Assignment

I created a Wiki for an upcoming kayak trip in June. The video tutorial inspired me to do so. The video mentioned problems that I've ran into trying to communicate via email and by phone. I created a page for listing items that we need and have (much like the video), one for a list of possible supplies, one for directions, and internet links to a river map, camground, and the outfitters. So I made a Wiki and invited the five guys I'll be going with. They'll probably make fun of me, and call me names for getting geeky, but it might save us some trouble.

I honestly can't remember what Google Docs was like; much like this I think. I imagine more people already have Google accounts, than one for this Wiki site. Though, setting up an account was not that hard. I remember that Google Docs allowed you to upload files directly into it. I don't think a Wiki page will do that. I had to copy and paste one of my files into the Wiki. Google Docs also allowed you to draw; I don't think you could do that in Wiki?

I think this would be a good site to post a problem of the week, and give students a place to discuss it. It might also be a good place for students to help each other with homework. Students could use it as a place to gather survey data for a project. I'm sure there are lots of other math applications out there. Cool site!

Google Reader

Just finished creating my Google Reader account. It was easy to set up; the video tutorial was very helpful. This is nice in that you don't have to go searching for updated information when instead, it's all "delivered" to you. I used Google's News and Sports pre-made bundles, and also subscribed to Ohio Department of Ed., National Council for Teachers of Mathematics, and Ohio Council for Teachers of Mathematics. I subscribed to the latter because I will get updated info. on creative ideas for lessons, and get info. on upcoming conferences and workshops. Great idea!

itunes

Just finished checking out itunes. Found a really cool Pre-Algebra download made by the Florida Department of Education. I downloaded it and am going to use it (Pythagoream Theorem) on the Monday we return from break. I'm also going to encourage students to search it because it's all free! Great find! Thanks!