Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Thing 7: Extension...on my part

Thing 7 involved multiple steps...actually this one is quite complex. Good luck!

As a result of Thing 7, though, I created another digital page! Please go here to check out Gillmore Cafe: A Web 2.0 Treasure Chest. This is just my page on the BSD 21 Things Wiki.

Since then I have created another wiki for our BHS Book Study of Strategies That Work...visit us here at BHS Reads ~ Sweet Stakes: Teachers Claiming Ownership.

ADVERTISEMENT: You may still join our book study! Mrs. Moran's husband is cooking chili for us, and I will bring the cheesecake of choice...yes, in honor of the season...Pumpkin Cheesecake!
  • Your homework assignment: Read chapters 1-5 and bring your appetite!

Back to my wiki discussion...on the BHS Reads wiki, teachers will be posting lessons created as a result of this book study. Eventually, discussions will be held here...so check in often!

Posted by Mrs. Gillmore at 2:15 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Thing 6 Stretch: Wikipedia in Our Futures

While I will not allow Wikipedia as a source in an assignment requiring research, I quite often (shhhhh!) start here when researching most any topic. Maybe this is because when conducting a search, the wikipedia result excels at the top of the list?


For the sake of this post I researched alzheimer's disease, an afliction that my mother endures. Maybe I should clarify that...my mother's family endures this disease, this very sad disease.


Back to my topic...


I had actually not ever investigated the discussion button until this post. I appreciated the flow of validation of some information that had been submitted.


Do I allow my students to use Wikipedia...yes...and no. Yes, this is a great site to obtain an overview and is a great way to teach validity of sources, for although a source may "sound" oh so good and true, one must always hold the authors to high standards.

Will Wikipedia one day be "reliable" source? For the answer to that question, let's ask Wikipedia: Please be advised that nothing found here has necessarily been reviewed by people with the expertise required to provide you with complete, accurate or reliable information.

In the meantime, though, Wikipedia will continue to be my friend, the source I turn to when needing a quick overview of a topic.
Posted by Mrs. Gillmore at 7:46 PM 0 comments

Thing 6: All Things Wiki

I never seize to be amazed by the varied purposes of the wikis I review.
  • FHS Wolves Den: This one initially caught my attention because of the grade-level focus and the multi-academic areas (English and history). Wouldn't that be interesting to host a wiki for cross-curricular classes....for example English and history classes collaborating on National History Day projects?
  • Flat Classroom Project: This I might be interested in! Imagine communicating, collaborating with other classes across the country, across the continents! This one I will investigate more before the January 2009 deadline.
  • Holocaust Wiki Project: Intriguing. It looks like a "real" wikipedia page. This, I think, would interest the students, for one might see this as an opportunity to be read by "real" people. Good idea.

Wikis are a central part of my classes. Mrs. G Info serves as our class filing cabinet. I love this wiki! Metaphorically, this wiki is my pacifier! It comforts me, soothes me. This wiki is housed by pbworks...the wiki of my choice.

Wikispaces (this one is prettier...but not quite as friendly) hosts my individual class wikis:

This fall in the methods class I promoted wikis and asked the class participants to create a wiki in which to house their portfolio for this class (and to begin their own online file cabinet). One chose pbworks; the other chose wikispaces. I thought that was interesting; this just reiterates that one should choose what works best for him/her. No one method is THE best, for a method is only as good as the energy behind the person using it. Maybe?

Have to say "thanks" again to Lisa Huff, who introduced me to wikis some time ago. This tool has completely changed how I organize my classes. Very cool!

Posted by Mrs. Gillmore at 6:55 PM 0 comments

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Thing 6 (Part 1): Using a Wiki


Please check out this post at Treasure Chest of Thoughts to view how my students are using our class wikispace...it just might "quack" you up!


Thanks!
Posted by Mrs. Gillmore at 5:55 AM 0 comments

Monday, October 19, 2009

Thing 5: So Proud of Our Own ADE!

Some time ago, I subscribed to the Arkansas Department of Education's blog ADE Briefs and continue to develop an appreciation for their regular updates on happenings at the state level.

They are also diligent to remind of us important events at the national level. For example, this week is Teen Read Week, hosted by the "Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), the fastest-growing division of the American Library Association."

What can we do to celebrate this national event? One thing I am going to do is add this event to my Holiday Hits on my Mrs. G Info Page so that, maybe, next year this one will not slip up...or nearly slip by...me as this one nearly has!

As you will discover when you visit my info page, the Young Adult Library Services Association has its own recommended list of reads, of which I only have four in my classroom library. I will start with book talks of those four, though, and hand out the already created (and did I mention free?!) bookmarks to my students.

Thanks, ADE, for the gentle reminder! You, too, oh, reader-of-mine, may follow this blog by subscribing to ADE Briefs in your Google Reader...for being informed, in the words of Martha Stewart (who also blogs!), really is "a good thing."
Posted by Mrs. Gillmore at 9:08 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Thing 4 ~ Stretch: It's in the News!

My news feed, which is picking up stories about instructional technology and educational technology and instructional design, thus far has simply served as a reminder of the goal of the secondary world: to better prepare our students for the real world.

Most of the stories' topics contain the latest news from institutions of higher learning and from the workforce. Few, if any, dealt with these topics on my level...the minds of the future.

Uhmm...now what can I do about that in my building?

What are you thoughts on this topic?
Posted by Mrs. Gillmore at 9:14 AM 1 comments

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Thing 4: My Plump Google Reader

Last week, I deleted 1000+ feeds in my Google Reader. That is thanks to my 285...yes, 285...subscriptions. Too many you ask? Probably.

For the past 1 1/2 year, I have read blogs, explored blog rolls, and fed my Google Reader. She is definitely not going hungry! A few weeks ago, I blogged here about my RSS feeds; then I did the deed and deleted that 1000+ and began anew! This actually felt good, and I did not hurt one blogger's feelings, for...shhhh...they do not know I deleted their very awesome thoughts and many links that help me grow professionally.

Just checked...I have 61 posts to read. Uh, oh...none are from my BSD 21 PLN. Please check here for a song I adapted to this situation. Please post! I really like reading your thoughts, exploring your minds!

My subscriptions are divided into folders. For example, here is a partial list of some of my folders: authors, BSD PLN, educational topics, hobbies, literacy, podcasts, technology, tech tools, writing.

Listed below are a few of my favorites, a list I recently shared with my Secondary English Methods (Lyon College) students:

Authors

Book Reviews/Reading

Education

English 11 Lesson Plans

Hobbies

Literacy

Poetry

Portfolios

Technology

Podcasts

This list and the other 200 subscriptions are thanks to our leader Lisa Huff at 21 Things and Just Read and various other places, who inspired and mentored me back in the winter of 2008-09. Please check out my blogs here!

Now, to create a Custom News Feed...

Posted by Mrs. Gillmore at 8:19 PM 1 comments
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)