THING 13

As an older citizen, I'm accustomed to the traditional method of scrapbooks and photo albums. I am always telling my young adult children to print out their pictures for future generations. They always tell me the Internet will be there forever.

I love the idea of editing the pictures on Picknic and then saving them for publishing, either at Walgreen's or on the web. I have seen family post pictures on Flickr and think it's a great idea for sharing. I feel Flickr is a safe method of sharing with students in the classroom since there is the private setting. It would be great to post pictures of daily activities for families to see.

In my classroom, since I take a huge amount of pictures throughout the year, I can see myself editing the pictures more often and possibly setting up a lengthy photo journal to share with families (to accompany our classroom website)

A humpback whale slapping the surface with its tail.

A humpback whale slapping the surface with its tail.
Originally uploaded by gobears1976

THING ll Additional Comment

Oh yeah, one or two other thoughts. The slide show is a great learning tool because the classroom can talk about what they are seeing,especially with younger children where we want to encourage language development.

I was amazed that when I embedded the code for the slide show, the slide show was on my blog instead of all of the codes. Too cool!

THING ll

Again, how easy it is with the right instructions! This is definitely an amazing tool to enhance any blog! The amount of information a teacher can provide for families is completely unlimited! I maintain an annual classroom photo album and am thrilled at the thoughts of downloading a slide show for parents to look at and share with friends and relatives. What a great school to home connection, along with fabulous public relations and enticing future enrollment. The one concern that comes to mind, after the initial elation, is again putting private information (student pictures) online. The slide show would have to be generic without any private information. We don't want to share anything with the world, only with our families and friends!

Yellowstone National Park Slide Show

Amazing The Yellowstone National Park

View more presentations from Dinisha .

THING l0

Creating a place for document viewing/interaction is quite simple. Google Docs will allow me to post several types of information online. It would make a great media for family reunion feedback or ideas, classroom volunteering or surveying, gathering any type of information from colleagues, or just a general document editing format. I think the most helpful use for me is for document editing. The staff in our building usually meet on plan day to develop and edit forms for family distribution and this could be done much easier on Google Docs, allowing each staff member to see the revisions as they occur. The work could be done at the teacher's convenience and not always on the run during a meeting. This is definitely one part of technology I plan to take advantage of, even before school begins.

THING 8

Using a social bookmarking system only makes sense in education. Teachers survive in their daily classroom by sharing information , teaching methods, and materials. This system allows easy access to so many types of information for everyone involved.

I can see this being used as a school to home connection tool where the teacher could list sites for child development, improving academic skills, or presenting fun family activities. Families could access the site and read all the information the teacher would like to share with them or they could post materials for the teacher or other families in the classroom or building.

Teachers can save time by viewing the sites when their schedule allows instead of discussing the materials with each other at lunch or quickly in the hallway. New ideas can be utilized and available with a keystroke. I have seen many occasions where I've been in my classroom and wishing I had a certain website listed on my home computer favorites.

I think it's a great organizational tool and everyone knows that good teachers have to be organized!