Technology Reflections

Yup – I got an ipod Touch today! it’s soooo freakin cool! I still have my video ipod and I’m going to keep that for a while since it’s 30GB and the touch is only 16. I have a ton of audiobooks, so I kept those in the video ipod (along with everything else) and put music and videos on the touch. The coolest thing about the touch is the wi-fi access! I have a wireless network in my house, so I’ve been playing with that. It’s going to be really cool to not have to pull out the laptop, or lug it around in places with free wi-fi. I’m especially looking forward to using it at FETC in January. Maybe I’ll even do some live blogging. The keyboard is a bit sensitive, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it.

To keep this post somewhat education oriented, I’ll talk about another new toy I’ve been using – Classblogmeister . It’s a great tool to keep kids safe online while allowing them to blog. I used Learnerblogs for the past few years, but all of a sudden last year I couldn’t access them at school. They weren’t being blocked, but the IT guys could not figure out why the pages wouldn’t load. Learnerblogs was cool because of all the different templates, but in order to have security for the kids I had to set up individual accounts for each student using the gmail+name system. That was time consuming. With Classblogmeister I copy and pasted names from my class roster into their system and had classes set up quickly. Classblogmiester doesn’t have many templates to choose from, but my students will live I have been having some issues with Classblogmeister, but I’m forging ahead with it and I’m going to introduce it to my students tomorrow. I just hope that I can actually access it at school……..

I am still a teacher, even though my recent posts have been sports related (GO RED SOX!),  I have a request for you all (all 5 of you who read my blog LOL)

I would like to teach my students how to use Diigo (I need to see if it’s blocked or not, but the IT guys know that I will make sure that it is used properly and they will usually unblock things for me). I think that Diigo will be a great tool for my kids to do some group research on our next unit (The History of Computers). I’m thinking about splitting up the class into generations of computer development and having them do a presentation. I’m even considering Voice Thread for the presentation – again I have to see if I can access it at school.

What I need are tips/tricks to teach my students how to use Diigo. I understand how it works and I can use it, but these are 8th graders and I need to present it well for them. Since I have just started using Diigo today, I was hoping some more seasoned people would reply with their experiences about using the tool.

Thanks!

I’m sitting in the Providence airport waiting for my flight. I have a long wait, too. My friend had to go to work today so she dropped me off at 7:30 am and my flight doesn’t leave until 10:55am (it’s 8:50am now). I bought a tmobile DayPass so that I could at least get online while I wait.

This weekend was a blast. Even though the Red Sox lost horribly in the 11th inning, the game was great up until then and the experience was priceless. The energy at Fenway Park was electric. Everyone was psyched to be there. The weather was actually pretty nice. We dressed for a blast of cold, and when we got to the park I actually took off my turtleneck; I still had long underwear and a sweatshirt on. I was wearing long johns under my jeans and I had wool socks on, too, with all weather work boot type shoes. I also had an ample supply of winter hats, gloves and a scarf in my bag. Around 11pm it got chilly. I went to the ladies room and put a pullover fleece on under the sweatshirt and I was fine. I also had gloves on for a bit, but I was texting with friends and that’s hard to do with gloves on

We did not stay until the bitter end; we left when the score was 9 – 6. By the time we got out of the stadium and around the corner the score was already 13 – 6! We had to take the T back to where we left the car in Quincy and then drive back to RI. We arrived back at the house at 3:10 am! Needless to say we slept in the next morning; I think we got up at about 11:15am. In the afternoon we we watched the Patriots game – at least THEY won!

Here’s a link to my pictures from the game. Enjoy! Red Sox Game