BP_14 Dreamweaver Journey Part 3

Okay so I am getting the hang of what this CSS is all about! I actually learned a cool and interesting tool on making links standout with their own little background.  I've always wondered how people were able to do that.  I am hoping in the tutorials to follow it will teach me how to make my background transparent so that I can have a logo as wallpaper and still view the words well.

My attempt after watching the tutorial

I am excited about all the things that CSS can do as opposed to just modifying a page's properties.  What a difference one tutorial makes.  I am looking forward to learning more tools.  Off to my next tutorial.  Hopefully soon I can post a finished website after completing all the tutorials! I love lynda.com wish I would have known about this before!

BP_13 Dreamweaver Journey Part 2

So now I am on to learning about CSS styles this part is a bit more complicated but the beauty of Dreamweaver is that it takes care of the styles for you.  The main issue is how I want to have everything set up so that when i change something in my CSS that it changes across the site.  I might have to look at this chapter a few times to understand what it is exactly.

Next up is how to actually design the pages. I will come back to the CSS a little later. I'll let you know when I am ready to focus on this part.

BP_12 My Journey with Dreamweaver

So for this project the tool I want to learn more about is Dreamweaver.  I think that Dreamweaver can 
be a very useful tool.  This can help me with my business and also with my teaching.   I have learned HTML in the past but haven't become fully proficient in designing websites.  So to start off I am using the tutorial on Lynda.  The first over view lessons are great in helping me plan out and decide what I want my site to look like.  It is very helpful to see this as a brainstorming web.  


My biggest struggle is understanding pixels and making sure that the site is easy to navigate. The Lynda.com tutorial helps break down the components of a page on he site you are trying to build to make sure it's appealing to the eye: Defines where you are, Clear and consistent navigation, hierarchy of info, visually different links and legible body copy that is not too long.

Time to map out my site before moving on to the next set of tutorials.

BP_11 OMM Protagonize

Here is my one minute movie on Protagonize! Enjoy!

BP_10 My Comment on Greg's Blog

Here is the link to read my two cents on Greg's Blog!

BP_9 My comment on Dana's Library Studio

Here is my comment on Dana's Web 2.0 Tool Bookemon

BP8_Protagonize

My week 3 web 2.0 tool is called Protagonize.  I have a a group of boys that hate to write.  Fiction stories, non-fictions stories, How-to, Narratives, you name it if it involves writing they do not want to do it. Part of it is that they don't like the process of writing on paper (but will type all day on their mobile phone) and another part of it is that they never know where to start.  The first couple of step of the writing process is always difficult.  With this in mind I looked on Go2web20 website specifically looking for writing tools and came across Protagonize.  

Protagonize is a tool that helps anyone create stories and work online with a collaborative writing community.  This tool could be very useful in helping struggling writers and just to create a collaborative community of writers within the classroom.  The way it works it you start a story and people on the site add chapters to your story.  people can become fans of your writing to follow what you write and can decide to add to your story or not.  It would be nice to have the students in my program to make profiles and become fans of each other.  They could then write chapters to other people's stories.  This could be very useful in generating ideas and can be used as a brainstorming tool to create a published story for a writing assignment as well.  Also for the student who has trouble getting things on paper starting their writing process on the computer might be helpful to them.  This is a great place to get mentor-texts as well!

They have a group option but you have to get special permission to create a group.  I hope to look into that because that would make it easier to monitor what the students are posting.

BP7_OMM Google Wave

My one minute on Google Wave.

BP6_Comment on Tonneche's Blog

Here is the link to my comment on Schoology via Tonneche's Blog: 21st Century Learning. or
Click on the image below:

BP5_Comment to The Kimberly Chronicles

Here is the link to my comment on Kimberly's Web 2.0 Tool Penzu or click on the image below.

BP4_Google Wave

Google is probably the most useful and convenient web tool.  Everyone knows google, uses google, but I don't think that many are fully embracing google.  I am guilty of this.  I have used many of the features that google has to offer and have always been very satisfied, however there are so many features that google has created that I have failed to use, which brings me to GOOGLE WAVE.

A Wave is a hosted conversation that anyone can contribute to.  It is an online communication and collaboration tool where you can use photos, videos, gadgets, etc.

A few ways that I had in mind on how to use Google Wave is to improve homework completion and to help with brainstorming.

Homework:  

In Google Wave I can have a prompt or a link to a brief article that I want the students to respond to.  Often students have a hard time responding to things or saying, "I didn't know what to say." So one thing that can help with this is making homework more collaborative.  Homework can be more of a discussion and they can build off each other's ideas.  This can also get me involved in the discussion and help them elaborate more on things that they have said.

Brainstorming:

In English class when it comes to writing a lot of my kids struggle with the Brainstorming part.  It takes them forever to think of what to write.  Some ways that Google Wave can be used is to help the students generate ideas from one another.  They can post their thoughts help each other come up with ideas, etc.  Also any student that is struggling with what to write about can express it here and people can assist them.  This is just another way for students to collaborate and communicate with each other online.


The thing that I like with google wave is that anyone can access it you don't have to have an special flash player or plug-ins, you can easily access it even through your phone. I plan on having the kids sign up with gmail accounts so this makes it more convenient for them as well.

BP3_VoiceThread

VOICETHREAD 

                                       

VoiceThread is a Web 2.0 Tool that I have been dying to use. It  is a place where people can have group conversations about an image, video, documents, etc.  You can embed it to other sites or export or even email.  You can create a free account or there is also a school licensing subscription that is $60 a year.  This allows you to keep it private and gives the teacher access to passwords, comment moderation, etc. I first heard about VoiceThread last year during a professional development seminar that I attended.  I am starting a program within my school next year that is for under credited over age students.  The number one thing that I want to focus on is keeping them motivated and engaged because this has been a problem for them throughout their schooling.  

One way that I want to use VoiceThread in my Humanities class (English and History) is by having them use VoiceThread to create discussion.  This would be very useful for homework assignments.  For example, if I have some images that I want them to look at they can go to VoiceThread and view the images and then comment.  This would be more appealing to them than giving them a packet of images and having them respond to them.  This way if they are struggling with what to say they can comment on someone else's comment.  They can do this by writing a comment or by using voice.   It would also be useful for kids that are absent on a day where video clips or images were shown they can go to VoiceThread and still see the images.

There are many other ways that VoiceThread can be used to create dialogue.  The examples above are just some ways in which I want to specifically dedicate time to in my classroom this year.

Here is a short clip of me uploading a picture and using voice to comment on that picture.

Hope this was useful to you!

BP2_iGoogle Screen Shots

Home Screen

FSO

ARC/CBL

ETC

BP1_Google Reader

I am a High School teacher and have recently created a program within my school called the Accelerated Academic Program.  This Program is designed to help overage under credited students get the credits that they need to graduate.  A big core of the program is to incorporate innovative hands-on curriculum that will keep them engaged and renew that buy in towards their education. The following websites are crucial to the development of my curriculum as well as my own professional development.


COMPUTER USING EDUCATORS (CUE)
http://www.cue.org/
feed://www.cue.org/xml/rss.xml

This website, as you can tell from the name, is a corporation that is dedicated to enhancing learning through technology.  They provide free webinars and latest news on how to use different forms of technology in the classroom including the latest tools and apps from apple.  This helps me think of different strategies on how to use technology in the classroom.



VOICE THREAD FOR EDUCATORS
http://voicethread.ning.com/

Voice thread is a safe and controlled way to incorporate what the kids love to use, twitter and facebook, into the classroom.  This particular website helps educators troubleshoot, get ideas and ask questions of other educators that are using, will use, have used voice thread in their classrooms.  Last year I wanted to use voice thread in my classroom after hearing about it at a professional development seminar but never got around to it.  This website helps me figure out many different ways to use voice thread and is a nice tool to have if I have any questions or concerns about using this with a particular unit or just in general.

PUBLICOLOR
http://publicolor.org/

The kids that are in my program for next year are currently participating in this Publicolor Summer program.  This organization teaches kids the skill of painting by taking them around the city and painting schools, precincts, churches, etc. Through this program the kids are able to learn a skill and get credits towards the school that they attend.  In the morning they take an environmental science class for two hours and then spend the rest of the day painting.  This will help my kids have something productive to do over the summer, teach them a skill they can use in the future and motivate them to finish school.  I am overseeing them at this program and checking in with them periodically. This website keeps me up to date with all of the new
 and interesting programs Publicolor has to offer.

NOBLE DESKTOP
http://www.nobledesktop.com/index.html

I want to become proficient in using software such as Final Cut and Adobe Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Fireworks, etc. I would like to eventually incorporate this into my teaching.  This website has free seminars online as well as information for classes that you can go to in person in NYC.


PBS
http://www.pbs.org/
http://www.youtube.com/user/PBS
http://www.pbs.org/podcasts/



PBS has great resources! Video clips, Audio clips, suggested curriculum for different issues.  I don't use PBS enough because I often forget that it is such a great resource.  I have added this to my reader so that I can push myself to use them more for when I am developing my curriculum.  I added their podcasts, youtube page and the main site.  The twitter pages are useful as well especially the twitter.com/pbsteachers page which is also a useful tool where teachers can communicate with each other about different resources and strategies.