Thing #12

Video Attributes-
Wandering horse Uploaded on February 26, 2005
by slava
Horses Uploaded on June 16, 2007
by cbanck
Sunset Horse Uploaded on March 10, 2009
by Evgeni Dinev
Horses grazing Uploaded on February 20, 2009
by lindsayshaver

Thing #12- Beauty in the Beast

Thing #11- Flickr

I love horses....they are a beautiful animal and if you know me you quickly hear about my passion and love for horses and all that goes along!

From horseback riding to horse races...thorough bred to quarter horses...I love them all!

Flickr has some beautiful images through Creative Commons that I was able to find and enjoy! Flickr is a great source of images through CC as opposed to Getty Images or Google images.

Thing #10- Creative Commons

I understand the idea behind Creative Commons...and am even familiar with some of the users of CC like Google and Wikipedia. I appreciate the support for organizations to come up with more "user friendly" ways to share media, literature, photos without violating copyright rules. My concern is for using information, such as through Wikipedia, that is convenient because of CC but not always recommended in Scholastic Research because of the capability of anyone to edit. Otherwise, CC is a great idea and outlet for those that need access to information that would have otherwise been restricted through copyright.

thing #8- Wiki Wiki Likey Likey

Code Blue and Go West were a few of the Wikis that I visited. I noticed that the Graphics and Organization was more basic, although the information and links was easy to navigate through. It was likely that the basic organization of those wikis helped the students who would be visiting their pages since they are of younger age. My only complaint with Wikis is that they are not as appealing to the "eye". They provide numerous benefits for student/teacher interactions in the classroom. I found it interesting and even became jealous when the teacher blogged about her first experience and success with wikis. Our students are way more capable than we give them credit for to come in and create amazing projects and discussions based on Web 2.0 products. The information they can share and use as resources is of great benefit and I look forward to making this a project in my own own classes. If only I could be so lucky as to find a domain like "study hall"..........

;-)

Thing #7- Cool as a Cucumber Comments

I suppose I have strayed away from commenting on blogs or even getting too involved in Blogs because I have the "Darth Vader" image in my head that all comments come from dumb people that are just unhappy with themselves or unhappy.

I'm glad to have confidence now that my comments can be informative and meaningful....I just wish everyone would criticize or comment with some sort of intelligence!

=)

Thing #5- It seems so easy!!

I just finished teaching Global Warming and I was excited to see how it sparked some debate in my 8th grade classes. It was refreshing to see some student's interest and ability to communicate their thoughts on the matter. There were those that seemed to not care at all about what we are doing to our atmosphere but at least they take a stance somewhere instead of not caring to even discuss at all. I stumbled across this article in the NY Times and after reading it seems so easy to make changes to the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. IF so then I ask why are "we" not doing anything?!?!

I guess I will continue to wait, read, and listen for what's to come...hopefully we won't burn up before then... ;-)

Thing #4- I don't assign homework either!

I was glad to read the blog about why the teacher doesn't assign homework. I was even more excited to learn that his reasons were similar to mine.

In my unofficial research...students that actually do the homework or the ones who usually already understand the content but enjoy the extra practice.

The other students who may need additional practice or are just plain lacking in basic skills, are the ones who don't turn in the homework at all. If the homework is turned in, it's late or copied from a friend. None of those options though reflect the purpose for which homework was created.

Homework is meant to provide additional practice on skills that were learned in class...not to perfect one's skills on copying or leaving assignments at home.

Speaking of at home... if students do happen to take home homework, parents struggle with being able to help them when they have questions.

"At the end of the day"...or should I say class period, If the student's don't understand the Science content that they have just learned, then it is more beneficial for me to go back and reteach or review, rather than leave them in the dust to fend (figure it out) themselves!