Thing 14: Google Forms and Spreadsheets

Love all things Google!  Have I said lately that I would so love to attend a Google Academy?

For Thing 14...here are are few ways in which I have utilized forms and spreadsheets:

1. My students check out books from our class library via a form:  Cafe 16 Library.
2. Please check here for forms requesting student emails and such.

Once the students complete the forms, the data enters into a spreadsheet...all gathered in one place.  Very nice.  Very organized.

As for spreadsheets...here's my latest use of those:  just this week, I uploaded two Excel spreadsheets containing yearbook info and shared them with a peer is helping me with the bookkeeping of raising, thus far, over $24,000 to pay for this historical collection that we call a yearbook. 

Thank you, Ms. Nina, and thank you, Google, for de-stressing my life so much!

Thing 13: Presenting Google-Style!

An invaluable tool, Google consistently decreases stress within my classroom as my students now realize the power of the tool.

For my classes, I have utilized Google Docs and Google Presentation:

• Groups share documents with each other, writing one essay as a group.
• The whole class contributes to a Google Presentation as each adds his/her assigned vocabulary for all to view.

Until this post, though, I had never embedded a Presentation.  I like!

Hopefully, others within our PLN will add to this Presentation.  How will we know?  Right now the Presentation consists of two slides.  Check the number below the box...




This represents why I appreciate being a part of this group.  I just learned/self-taught myself something that will enhance my classes and, hopefully, assist my students.  Yes, I like!

Thing 20: My Friend Twitter

Twitter is a very powerful tool...if one has the time. Often I Twitter for just a few minutes, always accessing interesting links.

For example tonight, I clicked this link Think Before You Speak, posted by author Jodi Picoult and immediately began contemplating how I might use this sight when we journey through my next unit on anti-bullying.

As a result of Twitter, our 21 CLC group "met" author Suzie Boss via Skype due to our initial contact through Twitter last summer when I posted about our group and she responded.  Cool!  (I blogged here on my personal blog Treasure Chest of Thoughts about that experience.)

My Twitter account equates to a very reliable PLN, but to have that, I only "friend" those who will enhance the professional growth I experience there.  I currently follow 171 people, most of whom are directly involved in education, technology, writing, hobbies.  Please feel free to browse those I follow and add them to your list.

Not until you develop your list will you truly appreciate the value of this PLN that we call Twitter. Enjoy!

Thing 6: Nings

My thoughts on Nings...

• a place with LOTS of information, thus, they can be very time consuming, unless one goes there with a focus.
• another Personal Learning Network.
• a voice for our profession (for I join those that pertain to my interests).

I enjoy the following Nings:

1. English Companion
2. Classroom 2.0
3. NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English
4. Teach AP
5. ACTELA (Arkansas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts)

Since Nings will no longer be free, teachers may not utilize this tool as much. Since I appreciate those that I follow, I would be glad to be financially supportive of their hard work, for I glean, borrow, use much from the great minds that visit these sites.

What are your favorite Nings? Know of one that I should visit/join? Please share!

Thing 12: Delicious

Delicious is a social-bookmarking tool, one we use with our students, (one that, although I use it....shhhhhhh....I actually prefer Diigo). With that said, now let me jump-even-more-on-board and encourage your use of this tech tool (or your using such a tool...some prefer Digg...and others!).

REASONS I LIKE Delicious:

1. My Network: I enjoy checking in on my network to see who is tagging what. Yes, this a great way to quickly access the the very latest of what my professional peers are reading. Cool.
2. Tags: By tagging my sources, I am, basically, in "old-fashion" terms, placing my links into a folder. Once I click on a tag, then on one page, are displayed all the links on that particular topic. Please click here to access my tags for Web 2.0 Tools.

Delicious remains a tool for encouraging students (and teachers alike) to be more organized, while serving as a place for links for papers, projects, and personal interests.

Hungry for ways to be more organized with all the vast amounts of online information? Then Delicious is the snack for you. Enjoy!

Year 2 Begins!

Year two begins with a new focus...on project-based learning. Always a proponent of projects, I am now embracing this new focus with even more enthusiasm...and apprehension.

Enthusiasm for the student engagement that I know this endeavor will bring.

Apprehension for the lack of understanding of the big picture.

Enthusiasm for the confidence that having completed one year in a 1:1 classroom. will bring to this new focus.

Apprehension as I modify my definition of project.

Enthusiasm for how little I will actually have to teach to ensure they learn. Cool, uh?

Yes, cool.

Thing 11: My Friend Google Docs

I blogged on this topic earlier here, here, here, here, here, and here on my first personal blog Treasure Chest of Thoughts, yet I have only begun to touch the tip of the this glorious ice burg.

For Thing 11, I would like to share the following:

1. A collaborative document that I shared with my 21 CLC team as we reflect on our favorite "thing" about this PLN.
2. A collaborative Google Presentation from one of my English classes. They each signed up for literary terms and posted examples.
3. Cafe 16 Library: this consists of a form that I created in Google Forms, which feeds information into a Google spreadsheet that has helped me keep with who has what checked out of my classroom library.

Go, Google Docs!

Thing 10: Creating a Slideshow

First, let me thank Mrs. Ballard for her recommending PhotoPeach. On a couple of occasions I had spent some time looking at possible slideshow sites but never took the time to find and upload the photos I needed to create a slideshow I could use, for if I am going to spend the time creating one, it should be one that I can utilize in the near feature.

Based on Mrs. Ballard's review, I, too, chose PhotoPeach and quickly uploaded pictures, inserted photos, captions, and music, and then reviewed my show...in a matter of just minutes. This I like!

For my topic, I chose a preview of topics for a research paper each of my English 11 classes is going to write after Spring Break as background for our reading The Great Gatsby. Each student will be responsible for researching and writing one Roman numeral of this research paper; then, upon our merging all their documents into one Google document, the class, as a whole, via Etherpad, will write the introduction/conclusion

Now for embedding my show. Let me first, apologize for the picture quality. We have Hughes Internet at home, which happily shuts us down if we go over our daily download allocation. Thus, when I have the time at school, I will re-upload this pictures at a much higher quality.


The Rip Roarin' '20's Research Time! on PhotoPeach

Click here to see a list of the photo credits included within this slideshow.

You may also view this slideshow here where you may preview an awesome Flickr Photostream of the 1920's via print material...as in magazine covers. Coolness!

While I still prefer PowerPoint (shhh...), this Flickr Photostream was a great find. This must be what an antique junkie feels like upon discovering a rare piece. Surfing for Web 2.0 is much like that. So many of the tools are not for me, holds little value, but then I come across something that I can use within my classroom with a passion.

What "rare" Web 2.0 tools have you found? What ones work for you?

Thing 9: Flickr...Say Cheese!

I have had a Flickr account for some time but have not utilized it as I should. Oh, yes...oh, time, where art thou?

For Writer's Notebook topics, I might use these photos...Unfortunately, at this time, I cannot determine how to post these pics here! Here are my links, though:

1. Snow Train Express Winter (photo by Mieke Photos): Discuss what the color red might symbolize in this picture.
2. Snow Cap (photo by Ivly): Discuss the pun intended and create one using the word cap or another word of choice.
3. King of the Mountain (photo by em'n'm): What is personified in this photo? To speak directly to this king would be an example of an apostrophe. Create an apostrophe with using the punctuation mark called the apostrophe!
4. What theme do you see being repeated in these three photos?

STREEEETCH:

• While roaming around, I created two groups: Classroom Redesign and BSD 21 Things.
• Please join and share photos related to these BSD projects...live action projects, created thanks to Lisa Huff and Debbie Miller!

Thing 8: Creative Commons...and Stretch!

What does Creative Commons mean to me?

1. A sense of accomplishment.
2. Credit where credit is due.
3. Validation.

But yet...I have yet to use it, for, honestly?

• Much of what I create is simply "borrowed" ideas.
• Or at the time, I did NOT have the time to think through the process. Yes, oh, time, where art thou?

Thanks to Thing 8...maybe, just maybe...yes! I now have a Creative Commons "plugin" on my class wiki (or what I refer to as my online filing cabinet: Mrs. Gillmore's Info Page). Please check it out...click on previous link...and scroll down...

Now to stretch even a little more...

I viewed two sites (all great ones for English teachers, in particular) and could find no Creative Commons link/button...hummm...

• Huff English
• The English Companion

Then I searched Creative Commons for "grammar" and found this site Guide to Grammar and Writing (to obtain this link I had to "copy shortcut" as there was no link to the site on the page...other than this: http://search.creativecommons.org/# ... or at least one that I could quickly find. Please share if you have the answer to this dilemma!).

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!

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.

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:

• Cafe Pre-AP
• Cafe English 11
• Cafe Newspaper
• Cafe Methods (Lyon College Secondary English Methods)

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!

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!

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."

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?

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

• Diana Gabaldon - author of The Outlander series
• Margo Lanagan
• William P. Young - author of The Shack
• David Macinnis Gill
• Jay Asher - author of Thirteen Reason Why...powerful novel
• Lisa Schroeder
• Lois Lowry
• Hals Anderson
• Marsha Altman

Book Reviews/Reading

• Bookgirl's Nightstand
• Free Book Friday Teens
• Reading Group Guides
• The Big Read

Education

• Edumacation
• So You Want to Teach?
• ADE Briefs
• ASCD

English 11 Lesson Plans

• Siegmund's English Weblog
  

Hobbies

• The Martha Blog
• Creative with Julia (scrapbooking)

Literacy

• Enhanced English Teacher - this lady is from Arkansas!
• Huff English
• Jane Austen's World
• NCTE Secondary Blog
• The English Teacher's Companion Poetry
  

Poetry

• Poem of the Day

Portfolios

• Dr. Helen Barrett's Blog
  

Technology

• 2 Cents
• Dangerously Irrelevant
• Sue Waters Blog
• The Edublogger
• Weblogg-ed

Podcasts

• CBC Radio

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...

Thing 3: Native...or Not?

Today, in a meeting of one of my PLN's, my 21 CLC team at my school, we spent some time reviewing several blog posts on our "21 Things" site. One in particular, a post by Chris Betcher "The Myth of the Digital Native," especially caught my attention.


I appreciate this insight for two reasons:

1. Thematically, my juniors are continuing a unit entitled A Pioneer Never Quits, in which we will spend a couple of days reading several Native American myths and reviewing a piece of Native American art (via Voice Thread), and, yes, native is one of our vocabulary terms. This is an excellent time, in my 1:1 classroom, to further discuss their roles as digital natives. I suspect, at this point, my students are quickly learning that the more they know about Web 2.0, the more they need to learn! That is where I am! The question is, then, will any of us ever be natives since the digital world is ever-changing. Can we keep up with this change?


2. I agree that our digital natives are NOT nearly as adept as we assume they might be. I have noticed that several are very stressed when asked to work with more than one tab/site. Many of them are, again, like myself. I learn the tools as I need them...you know, on a need-to-know basis. They are adept at Facebook, text-messaging, Googling topics on which they want to learn more. They are comfortable with those, yet when faced with a new tool, many become frustrated, for they have left their comfort zones.

This week's assignment actually asked me, upon reviewing above mentioned linked blog posts, to ponder on the following questions:

• What do you notice about the genre of blog writing in general?
  Insightful, in a journalist style, blogs allow me to "lurk" or to be an active participant...all the while learning...and then learning some more.


• How is blog reading different from other types of reading? How is it similar?
  This genre is all written in the first-person point of view, providing an open window into the minds of those interested in the same topics about which I want to learn more.


• How is blog writing different from other types of writing? How is it similar?
  A blogger is essentially an editorialist; the majority give opinions hyperlinked with the best of the best resources to validate their thoughts and opinions. Should we be careful of hyperlinks? That's right a hyperlink does not necessarily validate an entry!


• How does commenting contribute to the writing and meaning-making?
  Commenting allows ownership, a concept so important to many of us. Commenting also encourages social responsibility and increases one's digital outreach. All of a sudden, our world is not nearly so large!


• How can blogging facilitate learning?
  Blogging validates learning through the reflection this tool encourages. Blogging has been one of my best personal professional development "classes." Through this process, I am learning, even more, what I value, what I respect, and what I expect from myself and from others, as well.

This completes Thing 3...on to the next challenge!

Thing 2: My Web 2.0 Outlook

Lisa Huff's introducing me to more of Web 2.0 has revolutionized my teaching. With her assistance, I created my first blog in April 2008, and I now maintain over ten blogs, several wikis, and over three pages of logins/passwords to many Web 2.0 tools (had to put them on paper...little ironic, maybe?...to be able to remember them!)

From those three pages of accounts, I have learned one important lesson: one cannot "master" all of them. Last year, I chose to utilize blogs and wikis; this year, I am adding three, maybe five, more. Yes, therein lies my advice to you: select those tools that work for you and dedicate yourself to really using your selected honorees.

Daily, these tools go with me into the classroom, often becoming the teacher, at the very least, resulting in a motivating factor for many of my students. As we concluded in Pre-AP English 10 this week, life would be very difficult if one were to loose one's mini-laptop privilege, for we are so dependent upon them for every facet of class. Great to able to play (Habit 7 1/2 was my favorite!) in class every day.

If a downfall exists to this situation, time is it, for I have to be more prepared for class than ever. At this point, "winging" it is a near impossibility, for I must complete my work outside of class or too much time is wasted (and having now spent this day in a workshop for the End-of-Level 11th Grade Reading Stat Review, I am even more convinced that we have no time to waste to prepare our students to achieve that still attainable goal of "proficiency.")

Why do I want to use digital tools to engage our digital learners? The answer is simple: to prepare them for their futures, whether that future is scoring proficient on the EOL Literacy Exam, making money by scoring high on the ACT, or preparing them for life after BHS (college or work...or should I say outsourcing?). To not do all that we can do to prepare these momma and daddy's babies for their futures is to set them up for failure. Thus, if I cannot make that commitment, then, I need to get out of education. Yesterday.

Just glad I have tomorrow. Better get busy planning, for tomorrow our information data base will have grown, and my babies need to know how to access that new data.

What Are Your Thoughts?

Where are all the blog posts from my team?

Where, oh, where are you tonight?
Why did you leave me here all alone?
I searched the Internet over, and I thought I'd find a post from you.
But you got distracted, and PTHHP! you left me alone!

You just got to love Hee Haw!

Congratulations to Mrs. Barnett upon her growing family! Babies are so much fun!