web 2.0 learning

I think this is a neat idea.  But, I did not find a lot for Health Education and Phys Ed.  Most posts were old.  I thought it was interesting that there were some job postings.  I am not big on Internet networking.  I have a pretty strong network with those I work and coach with.  In some ways, I feel that I have surrounded myself with educated people who are at the top of their area.  If I can not learn from them, then who can I learn from?

I also do not text, so Twitter is probably a little out of my reach.  I agree with Jim Randolph in “Teachers Take to Twitter”, that it is not practical at my school as well.  Phones do not get reception in our buildings.  I also believe this service is blocked.

I do like what Dr. Rankin did in her university classroom of 90 students.  She had students Twitter their thoughts in her Political Science class.  There is not enough time for everyone to give their input verbally during class, but by using Twitter, the students could read each other’s thoughts during class and then go back later to review.  It also provides an avenue for those who are less likely to speak up, the ability to do so without speaking.  I also liked that the teacher could paticipate in class, even when away by reading their thoughts and interjecting her own from anywhere in the world.

I do not see how I can use this in my classroom at the present time, but someday, I think we will have the technology to do so.

I am beginning to like this reader thing.  I missed a blog in my email.  I look at my reader and there it is.  Pretty amazing.  “The Soccer Coach as the Facilitator” has some interesting points about helping develop players technically, tactically, psychologically, and emotionally at all ages.  It is important to use age appropriate games, but sometimes it is the same game that we change the name to for a different age, that enhances a player psychologically.  It is just as important for the young players as well as the more mature teenagers.

Our school has switched over from First Class to Google Apps.   I was not a big fan because I was comfortable with First Class.  I liked some of the features that Goggle does not have.

But, I do like Goggle docs.  It is practical in so many ways.  I like the fact that any document can be modified at any time from anywhere.  This is extremely important with scheduling and practice changes.  I never have to worry about another coach changing something and forgetting to put the new date on it.  I also do not have to worry if a mistake is done, because one can revert back to the old, saved documents.

The forms are neat.  I will definitely use it to do surveys in my health class.  I like the fact that I do not have to tally anything, and that they are anonymous.

I also like the fact that I can email or invite someone to share the document at anytime and from any place.

It is amazing what you can find on YouTube- owe how much I did not want to find.  It was good to learn about the safety mode.  I did not know it was there.  I was able to find some teaching tools for the weight room fairly fast.  I could load these onto a wiki page, and have the student view them over the weekend for extra credit.  I did not like TeacherTube, because of the advertisements.  I want to search for videos and not have to watch the ads, it really slowed me down.  I do not think I will go there again, unless someone gives me something specific.

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WOW!  How simple was that?  This is going to be great tool for my kids to play with.  I cannot wait to share it with them.  Educationally, I think this could be a great way to communicate projects to the students, especially if they are at home sick or miss school.  They could log on and listen to an explanation of the written instructions that you include on the the same site.  So many times, students say they do not understand when they read an instruction, but when I tell them verbally, it seems to connect.

Podcasting is a great way resource for the classroom.  You can play anything form your computer, or from an Ipod/mP3 player.  All you need is a set of speakers.

The first subscription was easy to find, because I have used it before (although I had no idea it was on iTunes).  I subscribed to my churches podcast, because I often miss a Sunday when coaching soccer at tournaments.  It is a great way for me to keep up with what is going on when I am away.  It also allows me to discuss with my family what was taught.

The educational one took a little more work.  It is like most things, having to show through the good with the bad.  Trying to find age appropriateness and good ideas that are relevant.  I finally found Love & Logic – Solutions for Parents and Teachers by Dr. Charles Fay and Jim Fay.  Topics on internet cautions and is your teen ready to drive caught my eye.  They were short an to the point.  Something I could pass on to teachers or students.  Setting up a link on a wiki or blog page.

I do not use pod casts myself, but my son and wife do.  It is great to have free items to listen to on the Ipod.  They get their fill.  I also enjoying taking advantage of them.

It is amazing what you can do on the Internet.  I had no idea that people logged on to a site and recorded what they read.  I think it is great for those who like to read (my wife would love this) and want to discuss or hear what others say about a book.  It is like a book reading club online.

I liked the feature of seeing the sites of those who have read books that I have read.  It was neat to see what other books might be of interest to me.  I did not care for the UnSuggestor.   It seemed to pick books that came from a totally different lifestyle, not necessarily based on the type of literature.

I am not sure how I would use it professionally.  I do a lot of current events in the classroom.  I rarely use books and use a lot of periodicals.

This is great!  I use a number of computers as I am in 3-5 different classrooms each year.  I often cannot find a website that I use frequently because I am not at my office computer.  This will make my life a lot easier with access to my bookmarks from any computer.  It is going to take some time to set up each bookmark, but I think it will be worth it.

In class, this would be a great way for students to search through sites.  It would also enable me to potentially search other educator’s sites that are relevant to my unit of study.

My delicious sight is http://delicious.com/henryt01.

So many to sort through in my reader!  I have to cancel some of these.  I do like that I get updates that I use to have to search for.  Now that I have gone through World Cup withdrawals and have a life again (a few days at the beach and gearing up for school to start back in only 10 days!), I found the article “Is It “Diving” or Vuvuzela Pain?” interesting.  What is a vuvuzela?  See picture below by Nicholas Erwin.

South Africa World Cup 2010 Vuvuzela

It is hard to believe that a stadium  full of these horns can reach 131 decibels.  The writer remarked that all the dives that the soccer players were taking were because of the deafening sound produced from these horns.  Although the horns did not cause the dives, I wonder how many people had significant hearing loss after attending the games this summer?

First, I went to BeFunky.com.  It had some cool applications for digital prints.   I am not sure how I would use this in the classroom other than letting students know it is there and it is simple to use.  One could take ordinary pictures of people you know and distort them with this sites applications so no one would know who they images were.  This would be helpful in unit areas in Health where one would not want to be identified, i.e., teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, etc.  The picture below is of my 3 daughters at the beach.

Daughters at the Beach

I also checked out Slide Share.  I looked at this because it enables one to embed a PowerPoint that is already put together.  I found it simple to use and it converted the file quickly.  I think this would be good for those students with an IEP that allows them to get a copy of my notes.  They could have access to my lectures any time and refer to them whenever needed.