Chapter 9: "Social Networks"

From this chapter I could understand the internet technology is great many those reasons. One of them is the social networks, I think that people will say more if they are able to write things out and even do it anonymously. It allows for children to always be involved.        The author said If you want a Facebook like environment to deliver some of your curriculum and teach some social networking skills as well, there is an alternative: Ning.com, including not just students and teachers but parents and community members as well.
Other sites similar to facebook could work. Online social networks can reduce paper and increase socialization in a hypothetical way. I think having a classroom group on Facebook is a great classroom resource to post info, events and projects that can be seen by all or however you invite.
In this chapter you cna find how how show your students how to set up their own member pages and their blog, go over commenting and sharing, talk about acceptable and responsible use, start some discussions and get your community to work.
It can also help emotional and social development. I think having children create their own page to post info and projects can create a great resource for the teacher to assess now and throughout the child’s school years.

Chapter Eight: “Podcasting and Screencasting: Multimedia Publishing for the Masses”

In this opportunity the author explains waht  is podcasting and screencasting. Podcasting is like making a prerecorded radio show for publication on the internet. Screencasting is much the same in that you make a video for publication on the internet. The author suggests that “the best place to start your podcasting indoctrination is to take some time to listen to a few shows” and “the easiest way to understand screencasting is to watch one”.The author presents many sites to download the required software, of course if you download these programs on your school’s computers you will need to make sure that it is okay. What can we use podcasts and screencasts for in the classroom, the author presented some different applications for podcasting in the schools.  They included newscasts done by the students, teachers using a podcast to have students practice second language skills.Podcasting and screencasting are two more ways that students can be used for presenting projects and information to their peers or even to the world.

Chapter Seven: “Fun With Flickr: Creating, Publishing and Using Images Online”

In this chapter we can find what  is Flickr. Flickr is an online web album.  The basic account is free with an e-mail address, you do need to edit your pictures before you put them on Fickr. Flickr allows you to have a comment “pool” for your pictures. The author explains why should we use it in the classroom. Flickr is another way for students to share what they know, Flickr is a way that students can communicate with each other through pictures and students can discover others using the public pictures from Flickr. Flickr can be used to do a picture search.
The author sees Flickr as another way for people to communicate ideas.  Now we are able to broadcast with audio, video, written words and pictures.   Flickr to him is more than just a place to display photos but a place to open a dialogue with other people to explore and discuss photos. 

Chapter Six: “The Social Web: Learning Together”

This chapter is about how do we find and share all the great sites on the web.  We want to share all the great sites that we find on the web.  And we want to easily find the same kinds of sites. The answer is to do some of your own bookmarking.  “RSS lets us read and connect with what other write: now we can read and connect with what others read as well.This chapter says that Bookmarking allows you to make a personal file of those sites you find interesting and the services let you share that site within the service’s community and will share with you the sites found by other members in the community.  The author favored the Furl site as it is one that he uses himself.  Features that he liked included.also the chapter talked about how is this relevant to the classroom and it says that one of the features on a social bookmarking web site is that you can forward a site you found to others.  You can send it to all or just to one. As with other services, students need to be taught how to use these sites and how to keep themselves safe.

Chapter 5:RSS The New Killer App for Educators

It makes more efficient use of your time spent online by using what they call an "aggregator" to keep track of information from multiple sources and compiling that information in one page. It doesn't allow spams or any other distractions. 

 Perhaps most importantly, it can make more efficient use of the internet for professionalsThe applications of RSS in the classroom are from the beginning.  Compiling information on innovations in education so you stay current in the field would be very useful. 

RSS makes surfers more productive and saves time it is not burdened with the problems commonly associated with e-mail and offers a great communication venue.

"Scholastic for "Top 20 Teacher Blogs"

• What is the URL of the blog?  

http://regurgitatedalphabits.blogspot.com/

• What is the title of the blog?

REGURGITATED ALPHA BITS

• Does the title of the blog provide information about its content?

No it doesn't, it's just only a metaphoric title, but there are two lines below the title that explain a litle bit what is the blog about.

• What is the name of the person maintaining the blog?

The name of this person is Edna Lee

• What subjects does the blog author teach?

She's a elementary teacher. she teaches all the subjects.

• What is the main purpose/function/objective of the blog? 

The author of this blog tell daily stories that happen in the school with the students, teachers, parents, etc. She wants to share personal experiences about her job and how much she loves her students. This blog is an example of what happen everyday in the school.

• How does the blog make the learning experience more effective? 

The experience is more effective because you can see and read how is the teacher's life in the school and how she interact with  her students also you can find in this blog many different ideas for the learning process.

• Is the blog written in a readable manner--free of grammar or spelling issues, etc? 

Yes,  the writing is very clear and when you read you can realize that is a standard and very familiar language , and this makes possible the reader to understand.

• What can learn from this blog to apply to the creation and maintenance of your own blog? 

The way this blog is organized and also this blog allows the readers to share it in many different social networks like facebook, twitter, and I think that's very important and I can take this as an example of how to create and organize my blog, also it has images. The way she writes is also a good example of how to make the reading easy to understand and makes your experience as a reader enjoyable.

Chapter Four “Wikis: Easy Collaboration for All”

Here we can find all the information about wikis and how we use this in the schools, learning and teaching process.

A wiki is a website where people can come and edit the content of the website.  It can be a public wiki where anyone can edit the content or it can be a private site where only people with passwords can edit the site.

One of the most famous wikis is Wikipedia.  With everyone editing the site you would think that the information could be compromised.  And with most sites it is a good idea to verify the information with other sources.  One concern was that some people would intentionally put in false information.

One important thing in this chapter is the usage of wikis in the classroom . Wikis can be used to publish by teachers and students.  Wikis differ from weblogs in that anyone can edit the page.  With weblogs people coming to the page can leave comments without changing the content of the weblog.    When teaching with wikis  there are skills being taught that students will use in their lives.  “In using wikis, students are not only learning how to publish content; they are also learning how to develop many skills like he ability of correct things.

Chapter Three "Weblogs Get Started"

In this chapter the author make emphasis in how we can implement the weblogs in the classroom and we can also find the steps of how to create a blog.

The author explains all the thing about blog safety and how to make sure that you have all the permission to create a blog.And the most important things let the students know that weblogs is an important educational tool and it can provide them many opportunities for learning and teaching.

When students publish they have a desire to have their work recognized.  Students need to know who the intended audience is and how to keep themselves safe.  Teachers may only use first names or numbers for the students and all references to school or town are not used.  

Chapter Two “Weblogs: Pedagogy and Practice”

This chapter talks about why we have to use weblogs and it explain that writing on the web is easy and there is an audience. Weblogs differ from websites in that blogs engage readers with ideas and questions and links…they ask readers to think and to respond, they demand interaction. A good blog will be one filled with content and links.  Linking connects ideas. A weblog can be used as a class portal.  This is a place where a teacher can post class activities, assignments and even have a link to access worksheets that the students can do.   They can also be used to keep a portfolio of the student’s work.

Weblogs can allow students and teachers to collaborate with people all around the world.  Students can invite authors to interact with them on a weblog site. Also we find ideas of how can we teach using weblogs in school. Blogging like any other writing method can be used across the content areas.Teaching weblogging begins by having students going out to sites that interest them, then having the students become “experts” by creating a weblog on that subject.

BLOGS, WIKIS, PODCASTS, and Other Powerful Web Tools for the Classroom (Chapter One “The Read/Write Web”)

In this chapter we can find that the internet was intended to be a medium where people could not only read information but to share it. At first only those that could write the html code were able to make their information available for others to read.  In the last few years with wikis and blogs, anyone with an internet connection can publish on the web. Most students have grown up with this technology and are “Digital Natives” and most teachers did not grow up with this technology and are “Digital Immigrants”. Fortunately it is easy to learn to use these new tools. These tools include but are not limited to:

•  Weblogs

• Wikis

• Rich Site Summary(RSS)

• Aggregators

• Social Bookmarking

• Online Photo Galleries

• Audio/video-casting

 Also this chapter explain how to teach students what to do when they come across a site that is inappropriate.  It is also a requirement that Parental Permission is given. 

THIS IS ME

HELLO!!! My name is Cynthia Cabeza Caro, I am a student of modern languages at San Buenaventura University. This is my blog about education and technology and how important this two things are in our career as a teachers

This blog is about technology and how this important tool nowadays has influenced the education and teachers. As teaches we need to be updated with the options and tools that the internet offers us. Also we know that nowadays most of the students use the technology at least 90% in their lives, so we must ue this in the learning process of the students.

Here are some quotes about technolpgy and education....

• “There can be infinite uses of the computer and of new age technology, but if teachers themselves are not able to bring it into the classroom and make it work, then it fails.” - Nancy Kassebaum
• Teachers need to integrate technology seamlessly into the curriculum instead of viewing it as an add-on, an afterthought, or an event. – Heidi-Hayes Jacobs
• “We need technology in every classroom and in every student and teacher’s hand, because it is the pen and paper of our time, and it is the lens through which we experience much of our world.” – David Warlick