Posting Widgets proved to be very difficult for me. Each time I found a widget and thought I had copied and posted it, it did not show up on my blog! I finally settled for the widget Burger Time, for my brother-in-law Tom, whom I have heard loved playing this game in the 80's! I am hoping I can get it to actually post to my blog! I am definately ready to move on to the next "Thing!"
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Thing 11
I read through many of the blogs and left comments on some of them. It was very interesting to see what other people are blogging about. It was also reassuring to know that I am not alone in having some difficulty with some of the "things!" I enjoyed getting comments on my blog. The comments provided me with validation for the thoughts I expressed on my blog. Leaving comments for other people was a little awkward at first, because I wasn't sure if the blogger really needed or wanted to read my "two cents worth!" However, the more I commented, the more comfortable I became with this task. I can definately see the worth of having a blogging community that is centralized around a common topic or theme, and how important it would be for everyone involved to comment to each other.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Thing 10 - Embedding Videos
Here is a great video with a good description of what a career in speech language pathology might entail:
This is a video by Dr. Barbara Ehren, who is a speech language pathologist that specializes with adolescent language and literacy. You have to fast forward past the first story, which isn't too long, to get to her story. She is an excellent public speaker. I have been to three of her conferences. I can really identify with what she is saying on this video, since I work with adolescents who have receptive and/or expressive language impairments every day.
Here is one more video I wanted to post because it is just so funny! It is a great example of procrastination!
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Thing 9
I love You-Tube! The only problem I see with it, is that I could end up spending way too much time watching the videos. I especially love all of the music videos that are available. I am in a handbell choir at my church, so I really liked looking at all of the different handbell choirs and the variety of music that is available for them. I also play flute, so enjoyed watching a flute duet of The Christmas Song. One of my absolute favorites is the Transiberian Orchestra. They have a wonderful song called the Wizards of Winter. Someone posted a video of their song in time to a beautiful light display. Also, I put in the key words, "speech language pathology," which pulled up some great videos about the field of speech language pathology. I am sure there are other videos about other professions as well, which would be a great tool for high school students to use to research various professions and careers as part of their transition training.
Thing 8
Since I am a speech language pathologist, I wanted to create a motivational poster that had something to do with language, or expression. I liked the idea of using bright colors and decided to use the analogy of using our words as a paintbrush. I almost wrote..."use colorful language," but when I re-read that I realized I might be promoting the wrong kind of language...LOL.
I thought that this lesson was alot of fun, but again, very overwhelming. I also made a movie poster, starring my dog, Buddy! I wanted to use pictures of my son and husband, but they wouldn't let me! My movie poster is also on this page.
I think this a great tool for students to use when expressing themselves for a speech, or when making a power point.
Thing 7
I found Thing 7 to be relatively easy, as compared to some of the other things. The only concern I had was that Flickr is owned by Yahoo...I have had some problems with my Yahoo account recently. Someone hacked into it and sent some inappropriate emails to everyone in my phonebook! I told everyone to ignore these, as one person opened one and it caused a virus. I eliminated all of my contacts in Yahoo, and I don't use that email address anymore. That was the only reason I was hesitate about doing Thing 7.
I was able to post pictures of my dog, Buddy, very quickly on Thing 7. I can see how this would be a useful tool at school. The pictures could be shared amongst my speech & language students and used as stimuli for verbal description exercises and writing exercies. A fun activity for the students might be to have a few pictures uploaded and shown on a screen. I would secretly choose one of the pictures. Then the students would take turns asking "yes,no" questions that I would answer to help them guess which picture I chose, like the game "20 questions."
I was able to post pictures of my dog, Buddy, very quickly on Thing 7. I can see how this would be a useful tool at school. The pictures could be shared amongst my speech & language students and used as stimuli for verbal description exercises and writing exercies. A fun activity for the students might be to have a few pictures uploaded and shown on a screen. I would secretly choose one of the pictures. Then the students would take turns asking "yes,no" questions that I would answer to help them guess which picture I chose, like the game "20 questions."
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Thing 6
I chose this photo for several reasons. I was looking for a photo that depicted tranquility. I liked the way the water looks so calm, and how the sun is starting to peek through the clouds. I am not sure if it is the beginning of the day or the end of the day. I also loved the picture of this castle. It almost looks as if the castle is floating on the water! Water has always fascinated me. I love sitting by an ocean, lake or river. I think watching the water is very soothing. I also feel very close to God when I am by water. This is why I chose this picture.
I enjoyed this lesson. I can see how using Flickr will be fun. I can also see the benefit of saving your pictures online so that nothing happens to them. The only downside to this, is that I could spend too much time clicking through all of the beautiful images!
Thing 5
Hurray! I completed thing 5 in less than 30 minutes. I feel as if I am finally making some progress. I am really excited to having the capability of organizing websites that I am interested in in one place, so it is easy to access. Again, I think the amount of information on the Internet is so overwhelming. I can see why many of our students have difficulty staying focused during a class lecture...when they are used to being able to control the speed at which they receive information. If one site is not appealing to them, they can click and instantly be linked to another site. I am sure many of our students wish they could click their teachers and instantly be transformed to another classroom and then go back when they are ready for that information again! I am joking, but I guess that is what an e-classroom might be like. Imagine if teachers could deliver their lessons via the Internet and students could access that information at their own pace. I guess that is what online classes are like; similar to our 23 things course.
Thing 4
Okay, thing 4 about did me in today!! I am home, with my cup of coffee, in my comfy clothes ready to learn. I was thinking I could breeze through at least 3 or 4 things today! Well, here I am finally blogging about thing 4 after about an hour and a half!!! I could not get a confirmation from bloglines on my work email, even after trying several times. I took a break and played scrabble on my computer. When I went back to bloglines, and my work email, I had still not been confirmed. Frustrated, I set up my blogline through my home email address. I got an immediate confirmation, so I could go on. Then, I accidentally signed up for some of the blog line subscriptions before I set up my four folders! I didn't see the 3rd. instructional video until I did that. So I finally saw the last video for thing 4, set up my folders, and am now blogging about it. I really am having difficulty keeping all of my sign ins and passowords straight, even though I write them down. I really hope this all gets easier. Technology is still not second nature to me. Okay, I think that I have vented enough. Now on to Thing 5....
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Thing 3
I have been surfing through the many different blogs that were listed for us, as well as those of my fellow "23 things" classmates. I am amazed at how many different types of blogs there are and how many different ways they can be used. Recently, I saw the movie Julie/Julia, about the person (Julie) who blogs about how she made all of Julia Child's recipes in one year. As someone who likes to write, I was intrigued about how she began her blog, which became a novel, which became a book! I was delighted to see that that was part of this course! As a speech language pathologist at a high school, I would love to use my blog to communicate with some of the students who are seen on a consultative basis. I see most of my students directly, but a few are taking all general education classes, don't have a resource room time, so need to see me on their lunch time. While most of them do come, occasionally, they cannot. A blog would be a great way to keep in touch with those students. It would also be a great way to present a weekly "language lesson," or study skill, memory technique, ect. I am very excited to begin this journey of using blogging!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Thing 1 & Thing 2
I just finished reading the article in thing 1 and watching the video called, "Pay Attention!" Both gave me a lot to ponder. As the mother of an 11 year old boy, I agree that my sons technology experience is very different from that of mine and my husband's experiences! Since we had our son relatively later in life, there is a HUGE technology gap between us and our son. I have a picture of our son sitting in front of a computer playing a Winnie the Pooh game at about age 3! His preschool had computer time built into the porgram. As a speech language pathologist at Canton High School, I am very interested in learning how I can use more technology in my speech/language sessions. I think it would be great to use a podcast of an interesting subject as a jumping off point for discussions. This could also stimulate many language lessons/activities, such as: summarizing, stating the main idea, paraphrasing, comparing/contrasting to written material, news, etc. I am very excited to continue this class! To show just how far I need to go, however, this is the SECOND time I posted my blog....when I tried to edit my original post, I accidentally deleted it! I guess I have a lot to learn!!
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