Thursday, April 1, 2010

Glogster

Glogster was really fun. There are so many options to choose from when creating it! This would be fun for students to use also, I think they would like all of the options as well. I can see it being used for school or personal use.

Glogster

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Delicious

http://delicious.com/jennybeck12
I found delicious to very helpful in bookmarking the sites I visit often for school. Another thing about delicious is that you can see the most popular sites or the ones bookmarked the most by other people. It is also interesting to see what other sites people visit. Another feature about delicious is that it doesn't matter if I am at home, school, or on another computer, all I have to do is log on and I will always have my bookmarks available to me! I like this concept.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Podcast Subscribing

The first podcast I subscribed to was Wired Science by geek dad. This podcast illustrates and discusses simple science based projects. This particular blog covered creating a soda bottle rocket. It showed and explained in detail how to create the project yourself.
This would be a useful resource in the classroom on related science topics the class is learning about. The blog would be a great tool to use prior to the experiment or even creating the experiment along with the blog. This could also be used as a suggested blog for families to watch and perform together at home.
This blog was very appealing, easy to listen to, and I think students would be very interested in watching these science experiments.


The second podcast I subscribed to was Very Vocabulary: Learn English Vocabulary Words. This podcast was all verbal which I think would be more appropriate for an older student audience. As the speaker even states, it may take 8-10 times of working with the words given to remember them. The object of this podcast is to introduce intermediate vocabulary words. It last around 10 minutes, giving around 8 words. The podcasts are arranged by providing words in alphabetical order, for example the first podcast provides words beginning with A. The speaker states a word, spells it, gives a definition, and uses it in a sentence. He would include several words and then at the end would present the “nerd” word and the “slang” word of the podcast. The speaker at times got off track and spoke of personal topics or opinions in which would not be useful or related for learning. The overall idea of this podcast is great, the content needs to be focused more strictly to just providing the word, definition, and example sentence leaving out any personal thoughts. I can see this podcast being used for older students who are looking for a variety of words to use when writing, or even students preparing for a spelling contest.

Final Proposal

Purpose of Podcast
The purpose of this podcast is to reinforce objectives of topics learned in class. Examples of topics include for science: solids, liquids, and gases; weather; plants for social studies: community helpers, safety,
Podcast Description
The intended audience for this podcast is students, parents, and others.
The broadcast will be weekly or monthly depending on how long the topic is being covered in class.
I will begin the podcast eventually leading into students leading and talking about things they have learned about a topic in class.
The length of the show can vary anywhere from 3-5 minutes depending on the amount of information learned from the objectives.
The format of the show will be sharing of information learned using pictures of the topic.
Detailed Description
After completing a unit in science or social studies select students will share information learned, focusing on the learning objectives of that topic, weekly or monthly depending on the length of the unit for that topic.
Pictures will be used to emphasize what students have learned on that topic. For example if a project has been made for the topic, such as growing a plant, those pictures of the growing process may be used in the podcast.
State / Local objectives
Will vary depending on the topic being podcasted that week or month.

Saturday, March 20, 2010