WOW!! This Site is Way Cool!

I was just surfing and exploring as I usually do, trying to find sites that might be useful for you or me and came across this one called Back to School With the Class of Web 2.0. The author. Brian Benzinger, has done a great job of gathering up a lot of interesting information and links to sites that fit in with the "Back to School" idea and also with "Integrating Technology" into the curriculum with Web 2.0 tools.

There are three parts to the site, but if you are like me, you might get caught up and spend a lot of your time just reading and exploring the first site.

There are some really nice links listed that you might want to explore and then share with your students. Under Organizers there is a link to a site called Gradefix that is billed as a homework management system. There are two "versions" - the free one and one that is $5 a month. The only difference is the number of tasks opened.

I hope you find this site as interesting as I did. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Is Your Inbox Full?

If you are like me, every once in a while, you get that pesky little message that says, "Your Webmail Inbox is full. Please delete some messages to make room." Well what should you do? What gets deleted? Won't I need that later?

Don't panic. First start with the oldest messages first. Delete anything that is really outdated. That message informing you that there will be a faculty meeting after school - but it is dated November, 1999. I don't think you will need to be reminded about that any more so get rid of it. If there is a message that you would like to keep a copy of, there are some choices. You can print a copy and keep the hard copy in a notebook for safe keeping. You could also copy and paste everything into a Word document - copy the heading section first and then the body of the message. Create a folder on your flash drive and/or your hard drive to store all of these new documents so that you will be able to find them later. Maybe create folders inside the folders to organize them by year or subject.

Don't forget to go back and delete the deleted messages from your deleted messages folder. Remember all we get is 100 megabytes of space to use on the district server, so use it wisely.

Doing What Works!

Doing What Works is a wonderful Web site sponsored by the U. S. Department of Education. There is a wealth of information for teachers here no matter if you have been teaching for 30 + years or you are just beginning. They have videos to watch that teach and illustrate concepts, templates to download, links to other information, etc. I have spent quite a long time there already and haven't seen it all yet.

Google Accounts

Google Accounts are easy to create. All you really need is an existing email account. You can even use your school email. That's what they told us we could use at the training that I went to, so I am sure that it is legit. Google does not spam you or share your email with anyone - at least they haven't done so with me. If you click on the comment page to create an account it takes you to a page that really helps you set up your own blog site - which is great. But some of you might not be quite ready for that just yet. So if you click on the link below, it will take you to a different page to sign up for a plain, old Google account. Hope to see your comments soon!

Create an account

Just a comment about comments

When you view the comments of others, you can post a comment in reference to or answer to theirs. Did that make sense? Just say something like:

Susie asked if anyone knew how to do a test in PowerPoint...

And then go on with your answer or maybe a link to a site or further information. If you recognize the person you might send them an email response but I would not recommend posting your email address in the comment. If you start your own blog you might take up the gauntlet and address the topic there. (Is that a challenge???)

Oh, by the way, if your team wants to start a blog, you can all be co-authors. If you want to know how, just ask.

Something New - Video!

Wow! Did you know that you can even add video to your blog? What a cool way to share a lesson idea with parents and students. Maybe you find something really great on You Tube or Teacher Tube - well, you can add it to your blog page. That's what I did here.



This is a video from Teacher Tube that explains blogs "In Plain English." Enjoy.

Creating a Google Account

If you want to make a comment, and I hope you try, you will go to a screen that asks you to create a Google Account. There isn't anything diabolical about this. It is very simple. If you have an existing email account that is all it takes. Any email account. Then you will be creating a password and I think a "screen name" - wheee! Don't you love those screen names "Diamond Jim from Jax", "Duval Daffy Dame", etc. You can be creative like that or just use your name - mine is Richard.

The other reason that I am asking for you to create a Google account is because if you should decide to create a blog (and it seems likely that many of us will be needing to do this in some way - like as a team or something), it will make the process much simpler. Oh, and a big selling point - IT'S FREE!!!

So go ahead and leave me, or us, the faculty, a comment. Give it a try - don't be shy.

Links to Blog Information

Okay, all of this is new to you, I know. So I will be including links to some Web sites that give you more insight and ideas.

A really simple site that has a lot of information is Classroom Blogging- The Definitive Site for Blogging With Children .
Some other good sites to explore are listed below:

Blogs in Education

Cool Cat Teacher Blog

Classroom Blogs and Wikis

This is a link to one of the blogs of a teacher at Chet's Creek Elementary School
You can see how versatile and interesting they can be.

I usually have a blog associated with my class Web page http://www.jwjcomputers.org/ but I have not started it for this year. I use it many times just to get feedback about assignments and things that are going on in class.

Let me know what you think.

Hey, Hey, Hey - This is the NEW Way!!!

This is the first post of the new JWJ Way faculty blog site. Hopefully we will all become familiar with blogging and many of you will become intrigued and begin using blogs with your classes and students, too.

I will be hosting mini-sessions, maybe during Lunch and Learn.

Blogging is a very good way of using a less formal way of using technology to communicate with your students and their parents. There are ways for you to post a comment, a reflection, a poem, a journal prompt, etc. and then invite the students to post a comment. Don't worry, there are ways for you, as the moderator, to pre-read all of the comments before you allow them to be posted for others to view.

For those dare devil types that may want to jump right in you might want to go to http://www.blogger.com You will have to create a Google account but that is really easy. As always, if you need help, just let me know.