Think Twice Thursday - Educational and Technology Journals

It is amazing how changing jobs provides an opportunity to realize things you have always wanted to do, but never made time for.  I now make time for so many things that a couple of years ago I did not see the value in making time for.  I Tweet, I blog (obviously), I use Digg and Social Bookmarking.  I value my cell phone as a professional, not a personal communication device.  Those are just a few...probably a whole blog post on just that topic alone!

Recently though, I found value in another aspect of education; journals and magazines that discuss topics that are pertinent to my job and education in general.  I have a new respect for learning about what is going on in education, not just in Kentucky, but all over the United States, and in many cases, the world.  I also like to read and follow journals on technology, so that I can keep myself up todate on new and exciting changes in technology that might benefit education (iPad, foldable screens, etc)

So the question then becomes what Educational Journals do you read?  Well, there are tons that you can find on many different subjects and even content specific journals.  What I also like is that so many of them can just be emailed to you and you can have a digital journal.  Makes for storing, saving, and using the resources a lot easier.

First and foremost, I suggest Education Week.  You can also find them on http://twitter.com/educationweek.  They have different subscription offers, and one is free to get a limited amount of articles, but you can still read main articles for free on the front page, as well as some other resources.

Another one that I got a free membership to is THE Journal, Technological Horizons in Education.  They also have free newsletters on different topics related to technology in education.  They are also on Twitter as well @THE_Journal.

If you are looking for some specific journals, you can find some using this list that was compiled by Professor Ross Perkins at Boise State University.  On the lsit you can find links to the journals as well.  There are so many journals on this list, I don't even no where to begin to tell you to focus.  Many I did not know about, and many that don't get a lot of attention, but have great resources.

Think Twice about subscribing to some of these journals and discovering your own education news source.

Wiki Wednesday - Subject Based Wiki's

Recently many of my Wikis post have been focusing on Web 2.0 and software of the such.  Recently I thought it would be great to find Wikis related to different content areas so that teachers in my building and in your buildings could find something that fits their needs for the content they are teaching. 

I came across the Classrooms For the Future Wikis.  They have a Wiki for every Core Subejct plus Tech Ed and Foreign Language.  There is also a Wiki for Students if you have students who want to get involved with collaborating with other students.

The Social Studies Wiki is broken down by ways to get connected and then by topics routinely covered in Social Studies classrooms.  These page provides links to several resources based on the topic of choice.  There is also a new section of Lesson Plans and Activities.  Share your own and get it started.  If you are a Social Studies teacher, see what you can use, and then see what you can add.

The English Wiki has a lot of the same pages and links, but they are of course for English based teachers.  So find the topic that interest you and use or add to it.

The Math Wiki is a great resource by providing links to videos, lessons, and resources broken down by math topics.  See what you can use, and see what you can add.

The Science Wiki offers quite a few resources and links dedicated to the Science content.  See what you can use, and see what you can add.

The Foreign Language Wiki offers resources for Spanish, French, German, and Latin.  You also have the opportunity to add a language of your own if it is not listed.  There are plenty of links and resources for your use.  Remember, see what you can use, and see what you can add.

The final Wiki is the Technology Education Wiki.  There is not much to this one yet, but I think with time, we will see it blossom.  See the links on the main page and see what you can add.

The Student Wiki is a place for students to find an area to collaborate and share the happenings in their school.  It also offers links to resources for students.

Remember, the success of a Wiki is only determined by its visitors and contributors, so help make these successful for others.

Twitter Tuesday - Paper.li - Twitter like a Newspaper

Twitter has become a staple in my professional growth as an educator and I am always looking for new ways to view my Twitter Feed and to use Twitter in my daily routine and life.  Recently while looking at All My Faves, I came across Paper.li which advertises the ability to read Twitter Streams like a daily newspaper.  I was intrigued to say the least, so I checked it out.

First thought; how in the world do I view this?  I saw some featured sections, and I saw some current "Curators."  I noticed Education under the feature section, so I clicked.  I scrolled down and found Web 2.0 in Education.  What I found were Tweets by people I was following, links that they were sharing showed up in a pop-up window without leaving the webpage.  If there were videos that were shared, you could watch it right there in the newspaper, same goes for Photos.  There was even a section dedicated to #edchat and a Feed as well.  They also broke down the Tweets based on sections, such as politics, business, entertainment, living, etc.  Next to each section is a number so that you can view all the "articles" (Tweets) related to that section.  You can also view all the articles in list format if you want too.

You can also create your own newspaper.  So I created my own newspaper for what goes through my Twitter Feed, how cool!  What is really neat is that it will automitcally create a new edition every 24 hours based one what is shared!

What I did not like were all the ads within the "newspaper," but they have to make money some how.

Must See Monday - You Tell You

You Tell You claims to be a place for digital story telling, and it is, but not in the way that we as educators are used to creating digital stories.  You Tell You creates an online magazine, but not a digital magazine.  You can write paragraphs separate from the pictures, such as an introduction or conclution,  as well as captions for your photos. 

The digital stories are also available for viewing and are broken down by categories.  The great thing is (well depending on how look at it) that there are currently no digital stories under the Politics and History, Science and Tech, Breaking News, and Music.  So what does that mean?  It means an opportunity for your students to be the first to add to these categories.

Signing up requires all the usual information, and no verification of your email address is required which is great for teachers.  When creating a "magazine" you can provide the date and time, a title, a summary (Which will always be at the top), choose a category, provides tags, and even include a Geotag. 

You can add photos from your computer (.jpg only and it took about a minute for 7 photos), Facebook, Flickr, or SmugMug.  You can also email pictures directly from your phone.  Pictures are organized into sections.  This is where you can determine the location of your pictures and organizing your "magazine."  Below is an image of the sections.

The site overall seems to be more geared towards present day, but with a History category, it obviously does not limit itself to that.  It would be great to share things happening in your classroom or sporting events.  Great way to log events for a yearbook.  An education catergory would be great as well.  They also do not have to be published. Students can create them and then in class, present in preview mode.  Either way, I think that You Tell You offers another options for using picturs to tell a story. 

Friday Focus - Cool Stuff!!

Ahh, Spring Break, one of those wonderful perks of teaching.  I enjoyed the time of relaxation and a break from everything and being semi-unplugged for a few days.  While I was taking a break I received some interesting websites that I want to share.  Most are subject based, some or broad.  Hope you find some that you like.

The Story of Bottled Water - I came across this interesting video that tells the story of how bottled water was developed.  It talks about Manufactured Demand (Great for an economics lesson...what other products were created because of manufactured demand?) and the false perception of bottled water.  You could also use the video as an introductory lesson in Science for students to develop their own experiment on the preference of bottled water and tap water.  Marketing classes could also use the website to discuss how bottled water is marketed to make it appear it is fresh from the mountains, when in reality it is just purified tap water.  The Story of Bottled Water comes from the website, The Story of Stuff Project.  There is also a video about Cap and Trade, and a video in the future about the Story of Electronics.  The site, videos, and books are the work of Annie Leonard.

What Happened In My Birth Year is an interesting site because of how it tells what happened your birth year.  What Happened In My Birth Year types out what happened like a typewriter.  As I was visiting the site, I realized it was taking to long, so I closed it.  When I attempted to close it, it prompted me to finish because it was moving to slow.  The site discusses books, movies, current events, etc.  Be neat to share with your students.

For you elementary teachers I came across a site called Write4Kids.com which can help you write your own children's book.  If you are someone interested in writing your own book, then Write4Kids.com would be a great starting point that provides tips and help for writing a book.

From the National Parks Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior is a great website that helps students learn more about Alcatraz Island and the multimedia that is available to learn about Alcatraz.  Could be a neat lesson for local California teachers (if they were not pink slipped)

Peter Lourie is a present day explorer/archeologist who has his own website talking about his adventures.  He also has a teachers page where he shares many of his lessons as well as experiences visiting and talking with students.  This would be an excellent resource for elementary teachers to look at for a while.  The man has been TONS of places that we all study in Elementary and Middle School.

South Pole Quest is a great site for learning about the South Pole.  It also has links for education and offered students the opportunity to ask questions about life at the South Pole.  Definitely worth looking into for a great geography lesson.