Thing #8-- RSS this!

no really! :)

I LOVE RSS AND READERS. The main reason is what the first S stands for in RSS.... SIMPLE! Find someone/something you like... and BAM! you're a part of the fan club... instant access and notification to all new postings! It's like having a daily newspaper delivered to your door that is custom tailored to your interests!... sans annoying shrink wrap. Excellent.

I have already used this technology personally for following podcasts and my friends' personal blogs, but its potential professional use is clear. As I have mentioned before, science is such a dynamic field that using RSS to keep up with findings and discoveries is an easy and efficient way to stay current in your field. Additionally, it provides an easier way of finding pertinent information to share with your students. I think this concept also applies to educators in other content areas.

For the purposes of this blog, I subscribed to a few science-related news outlets such as National Geographic and NASA as well as an science education blog. Instead of a link to a public page of my Google Reader... I added a widget to the layout of my blog that updates with the things that I choose to share. It can be found on the right column underneath my blog archive.

Sidenote: I truly love the "sharing" feature of this technology... after all... sharing is caring. :-)

Thing # 7-- A gaggle of google

Growing up in the generation where "google" became an addition to the dictionary, I feel pretty confident in my google tool use. My personal e-mail account is through google or g-mail and since opening it I have utilized a variety of these tools including the iGoogle homepage, calendar, and (most notably) google documents.

The first tool I decided to play with was the Alert mechanism. I decided to use the terms "science" and "education" to be searched once a day with a maximum of 20 results. Here are the first five that were sent to me immediately in an e-mail:

Google News Alert for: science education

Evolution, Life Sciences, Science Education, Human Evolution, and Stuff ScienceBlogs (blog) Such as: The following Wikio Widget gives a 'toplist' of science blog sites. If you feel that any one of these sites is not really a science blog site (a ... See all stories on this topic

CONNECT partners strengthen focus on science New England Business Bulletin The collaborative program was developed to highlight the need for science education throughout the K-12 curriculum and to promote the many camps and ... See all stories on this topic

Pinhead Punk Science: Silly Science Fun for Kids The Daily Planet Pinhead is committed to providing the highest quality of science education available to local youth of all ages. “The Pinhead Institute believes strongly in ... See all stories on this topic

Thoughts From the Interface of Science, Religion, Law and Culture ScienceBlogs (blog) He has written for such publications as The Bard, Skeptic and Reports of the National Center for Science Education, spoken in front of many organizations ... See all stories on this topic

Forced to Hire From Within, Principals Balk Wall Street Journal The department estimates it needs 1000 new special-education teachers this year, and 200 science teachers. Last year, it hired 1200 special-education ... See all stories on this topic

This tool has the potential to be very useful to science teachers as our subject is quite dynamic and although are trusty textbooks are excellent in many ways... they are unable to keep up with the constant ebb and flow of findings in the topics that we cover. An example is Pluto's demotion from planet to dwarf planet... no more "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas. Tragic.

Next, since I had already created a new google account for work, I decided to use Google Documents. I uploaded a previously created rubric for one of my projects this past year. The google version can be accessed here:

Overall, the transition between Microsoft Excel to Google Excel was pretty smooth, though I have had other experiences with Word that did not reflect exactly what I wanted. As an educator, I think the greatest advantages of this tool are A) the ability to be shared and B) an alternative to downloading every document received in e-mail to your hard-drive.

Ok.. I'm all googled out.

Thingr #6 -- Bookr

Ok... so the "mashup" that struck my fancy was Bookr. Just by its description I could see that it could potentially replace some of the paper projects I had assigned this past school year. Well... after working with it I see that there are definitely some limitations such as limited control over the book's appearance, a less-than- comprehensive search engine, and limited space for text. Nonetheless, my attempt is embedded below:


So while it does not possess the capabilities it would need to be a project for one of my classes... it definitely could fit in as another unique way to check for student understanding with visual concepts!

Thing #5-- Flitting on Flickr

I have had a little bit of experience with the Creative Commons of Flickr as we had our kids use it as a source of images for animoto projects they produced last year. I did not, however, know about the ability to create groups. It seems that this component has the potential to be an excellent tool for checking for understanding on topics in science that are harder to grasp without visuals. Our unit on weathering, erosion, and deposition immediately comes to mind as students often struggle with distinguishing the three when attempting to identify the processes in the world around them.

I decided to search for the tag "cell" and selected the following image of a red blood cell from the results:


Flickr, Andrew Mason

Thing #3- Let there be BLOG

Well, I have to admit... this is not my first rodeo. I am ashamed to say that I have tried my hand at blogging in the past, but as I admitted in my previous post, my failure to have the end in sight caused me to give it up again and again.

Luckily, my experience with creating blogs-- not finishing them-- allowed the process of creating this blog to go pretty smoothly. I am not set on the layout yet and hope to find something a little more exciting in future days. I also enjoyed creating my avatar! My young son and dog would be happy to know I have incorporated them into my online persona.

I look forward to the remaining things!

Thing #2

Alright! Let's get this party in a blog started! :)

Concerning the 7.5 habits... I would have to say my weakest habit would be beginning with the end in mind. It's not that I begin projects with no insight into what I want to accomplish... it's more about solidifying EXACTLY what my end product might be.

The habit that I believe I most "have a handle on" is accepting responsibility for my own learning. I am constantly seeking new ways to get involved or be trained... very rarely do I wait for opportunities to present themselves. In fact, I was relieved to see that "Patience" was not one of the habits...