Thing 8 More RSS Feeds

I looked through the blog finding sites and found some interesting blogs. Quite honestly though I have some of my favorite site that have RSS feeds and it is easier to just sign on to them. I think that I may use a search when we are doing one of our more difficult topics in AP Biology or Honors Chemistry and I want to find out where the current research is. The search sites might facilitate finding blogs of research scientists.
I am planning to have my students in AP Biology blog or wiki next year through our Moodle site. One student will be assigned each day of the week to summarize what we did in class. This will allow for a good review for all students and will be an aid to the students who are absent. I may even try this in my chemistry class....I just have a lot more work to put into their moodle site.

Thing 7 RSS

I've been using RSS for a while since attending a MACUL conference 3 or 4 years ago. I have a Moodle site for my AP Biology students and have an RSS feed from Scientific American on it. I may change it after checking out some of the new feeds that I am finding during this course.
I see these RSS feeds as similar to the podcasts that I subscribe to. It is interesting to have information delivered to me instead of searching for it. Even our comcast homepage opens to the news of the day.
I do have to admit that there are times when I really still enjoy reading a good newspaper, like the NY Times. It may be that I often find myself reading something that I wouldn't have normally thought that I would find interesting.
(It is interesting, however, that I am more agreeable about reading material on the computer screen than many of my students who want to read from a book.)

Thing 6 Copyright

Ok, so this topic got me searching the web for other opinions regarding copyright and fair use. The article cited was interesting and my conclusion from it was that most anything on the internet falls under fair use for educational purposes. Other sites made very different claims. One site was fairly clear about what can be used and how it can be used. http://www.umuc.edu/library/copy.shtml is from the University of Maryland University College and is intended to assist students and faculty members. I'm not certain how much of its information is correct.

I did read from one lawyer's site that the copyright laws were written for printed material (books,etc) and that the internet has turned the copyright world upside down. I've been married to a lawyer for a long time and I know that the law changes with some regularity and that if you ask the same question of two different lawyers you will most probably get two somewhat different answers. It will probably take several years to determine what the case law is for internet copyright and by then the internet will probably have changed dramatically.

I am most comfortable when I give credit to sites and individuals' information that I find on the internet. I hope that covers the copyright laws.

Thing 5

It was interesting to look at all the options available from Flicker. I don't see me using very many of those options in my Chemistry or AP Biology classes. I have so many graphics I already use for showing processes such as photosynthesis and cellular respiration etc. that I don't think that pictures will be a lot of assistance to me.
I really enjoyed this cartoon maker though and I can see me using something like this to creat some short lab directions or homework assignments that might get the students' attention in a bit different way.

Thing 4

It was interesting looking at the Flicker site. I really enjoy taking my own pictures and we've been fortunate to travel to some very beautiful spots. This was a trip to Hawaii and I enjoy using some of my pictures at various times in my AP Biology class.

Thing 3

Lifelong learner

Easiest: Accept Responsibility for your own learning
I'm at the stage in my life when I really know this to be true. I worked in Quality Control out of college for 12 years. Fortunately, my first job taught me about all aspects of QC as it was for a pharmaceutical company which was building a new facility. After the year I worked there I was sure that I could do anything, so upon moving to GR I set up a QC department for a food processing plant (egg products). Of course I knew nothing about the laws regulating the food industry or eggs, etc. so I did a lot of self learning. The last QC job was with a medical device company. Just kept learning......

I spent the next segment of my life raising two sons. I believe that there is a lot to learn about parenting and during these years I took classes, read books and became involved in substance abuse prevention work.

After my sons were both in high school, I began substitute teaching and then working full time when my youngest was a Jr. I had to relearn a lot of science to teach it!

I share how I became an "eggs"pert with my students to both show them the variety of careers there are and also to encourage them to take responsibility for their own learning.

Hardest: Problems are Challenges
I know this is true, but in the classroom I have a real desire for things to go right. When I'm faced with a tech problem or even a problem in my science laboratory I know I should look at it as a learning opportunity. I just feel so pressed for time that problems can become frustrations for me instead of the challenges and learning opportunity they should be.

Thing 2

What makes a good blog?
Unless someone is very interested in the topic I don't think that lengthy paragraphs and long comments are of much interest to others.
We have become a "sound bite" society and we want our information fast and easily usable. I would see bullets as a method of conveying some information.
Honestly, a good blog contains information which interests the reader. Hence, a "good blog" means something different to each person.

How do blogs enhance existing web sites?

• Blogs allow websites to become interactive.
• Depending on the type of site, others can add important information.
• In education, teachers can share different techniques for teaching a variety of topics.
  

Are blogs an easier way for people to self-publish?

This blog was very easy to set up. My older son follows a Harvard Economics Professor's blog (http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/ )and is continually sharing his opinions on the economy with us. His work is obviously current in his blog and if we had to wait to read it until it was a published book the economy would be all recovered (hopefully!). Again, it is so easy to self publish that I think it is really important to teach students about credentials and how to do quality research.

I think that the videos remind me that teaching students information and facts only will not be of much value to them. It is critical that students learn how to think and evaluate information. They must also be able to take some facts and then use them to formulate new ideas. This has been obvious in science since I was in college many years ago. Science changes so rapidly that it is critical that students learn concepts and then how to use those concepts to self teach new knowledge. I am currently teaching material in my AP Biology class that was totally unknown when I was in college. My students often ask questions that we look up and find out that research in being done in those areas as the answers aren't available yet.

23 Things - The First Thing

I hope to learn some new ways to use the computer in my teaching during this course. I know that as I learn new things I can really get distracted and go on to different sites. I am hoping that this will improve my teaching and my students' learning.