Thing #10 Maps

Over Spring Break, my wife and I visited the Scottsdale, AZ area as a possibility of an area to retire within. I have shown on a map of the area, focal points for our future home searches. You can access the map that shows where pools were found at http://maps.google.com/maps/user?uid=107758019749017707883&hl=en&gl=us

Thing #9 Learning Networks

Waiting for approval by the Administration in order to proceed.

Thing #10 RSS

I now can see how people can sit around and stare at their Blackberries all day long with newsfeeds and continuous information streaming in. I set up the suggested five newsfeeds sites which included Google - Top Stories, CNN, NPR, Christian Science Monitor and Rueters and also found Rapid Growth to be an excellent source for local information.

Just for fun, I subscribed to Movies, Mind-mapping and Beer sites. There are a whole host of other subscriptions I can see using in order to stay current on education related topics or other personal interest venues. One of the benefits of using Google reader is that I don't have to go after the information; it comes in to me and can be easily categorized and starred for favorite articles.

With more time on my hands, it would be really fun to customize the information coming in to me.

Thing #8 Videos

YouTube has many videos that I have seen over the years that I can use and have used. What an exciting media explosion that must be taken advantage of for learning in the classroom. Students are engaged with video when it is done right. A tremendous asset still at the beginning stages of it's potential.

I have never seen TeacherTube or SchoolTube before and always am interested in new resources. I didn't like the ads with TeacherTube but became aware that they go away if I became a member, so I guess the ads are one way to support themselves encouraging teachers to become members upon frequent use. One of the videos I watched tied the video in with a workbook of some sort but they didn't mention how to reference the workbook.

SchoolTube was great because it can be used by students to learn how to post their own work for viewing by others. I like how they broke things down by categories by had trouble doing a search like I did on TeacherTube. They had some good resource links and allowed users to search as a beginner, intermediate or advanced user.