Stovall's News

I am finished!!

2009-07-12T17:12:00.000-07:00

Well it has been an amazing journey. As some of you know..the second week of this class I shattered my right forearm and dislocated my elbow. I had to have surgery and they put a plate and screws in. I was down a little over a week. I am pretty technology saavy, but had not done many of the things we were asked to do in this class. Needless to say...with having to use only my left hand to type and navigate, I was more than a little scared that I was not going to complete this class.
The instructions and steps were amazingly easy to follow and great fun to complete! My favorite things were probably playing with the photo programs and Google docs. I have always believed that everyone should become a lifelong learner and this is never more important than with the ever changing technology. I love to use technology with my students and this has given me many more avenues to do that. I would love to take another discovery course like this one! THANKS!!!

Thing 15

2009-07-12T17:08:00.000-07:00

http://misd23things.wikispaces.com/LisaStovall

The directions for this activity were very easy to follow so it made the exercise a very fun one. I would really like to set up my own page for my class and parents and plan on doing this now that /i have practiced with the sand box.

Thing 23

2009-07-11T21:19:00.000-07:00

There is so much to look at and see! On the Ning website I found a third grade teacher group to share ideas and get help with questions. Even though I have taught 3rd grade for 10 years I am always looking for good ideas and need help with questions. This is another great resource for that!

Thing 22

2009-07-11T20:57:00.000-07:00

I have a MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter account. Go figure..I love technology. Of all of these, Facebook is my favorite! I have gotten back in touch with friends that I have not talked to since high school! Myspace is not my favorite because of all the different things on there! I don't think I have really figured out Twitter yet.
Like others have said...like with all online usage you have to be very careful what you do. Unfortunately I have had to turn some friendship requests down because I am not sure what kind of content they will put on their or my Facebook.

Thing 7b

2009-07-11T20:49:00.000-07:00

In my reader NY Times-education section, it discusses Obama trying to get private banks to get out of the student loan process. It discusses how much private banks make off student loans and how it is not benefiting the students or schools. I don't know how to feel about this topic because I don't know enough about it. I do know that I am very much in debt after going to school for my PHD and if there is anyway to help me with those bills, I am all for it!

Thing 21

2009-07-11T20:43:00.000-07:00

This is from Picasa web album. This is the first time I have use this and it is really neat.

I use the google calendar becaue it email me and helps me remember things,

I use Google Earth with my students when we do communities.

Using Google saves teachers a lot of money because many of the things we are tempted to buy, there are templates or applications through Google.

Thing 20

2009-07-11T20:05:00.000-07:00

Our principal introduced us to Google docs this year. She uses it to get info from the staff. I started playing with it a little this year and began looking through the templates. I even used it to invite people and get RSVPs to my summer swim party this year. I can see many uses. I love the calendars. This helps my kids know what is coming up. I just found the attendance book..this is something that I have always purchased and this allows ,e to have it right on the computer! I also like the math quizzes because our principal wants us to do weekly assessments and this is a good format for that.

Animals of the Rainforest What Kind of Vertebrate am I?

2009-07-11T19:25:00.001-07:00

Animals of the Rainforest What Kind of Vertebrate am I?

Shared via AddThis

Thing 19

2009-07-11T19:19:00.000-07:00

My coworkers and I have joked several times that with all the t.v. and video games, we just needed to recorder ourselves teaching the lesson and put it on the t.v. and maybe our kids would learn more. This makes that very possible :) I can really see this being used to reteach a lesson to a small group or even extending a lesson for your gifted and talented.

thing 18

2009-07-11T19:09:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29ofgbTELbQ

I love youtube and have been known to spend way too much time on there. My favorite thins to look up are funny animal acts and tricks. I did find some great websites on rainforest animals (which is a unit my grade-level likes to teach). I also found a good video on how to organize closets. Because we cannot use youtube in the schools, this is not very useful for school use.
TeacherTube can be used in the school and it also has GREAT rainforest animal videos. These will be used in my classroom this year! I will also be looking for videos to support my siocial studies curriculum.

Thing 17

2009-07-11T18:56:00.000-07:00

Podcasts are amazing...Like I have said before, I am a MAC girl, so I have used podcasts through ITunes, but not in the ways shown to us through this website. I viewed several of the podcasts listed and have learned that I like the ones with video. The GeekEd website just got on my nerves! Too much talking and not enough information. The Jamestown one was good and I can really see my kids getting involved more with the Jamestown unit if I used this. I loved the Inova one and can see me backing up my science curriculum with them. I used podcasts to get my students engaged and their minds moving. I have used it mostly with Science topics.

Thing 16

2009-07-11T18:32:00.000-07:00

This is probably one of my favorites! I love to start all of my lessons with a book. Library Thing makes that so much easier for me. I can put in an idea or topic an find literature that will support that curriculum topic and that I can use to grab the students attention.

Personally...my husband likes to read about past events. This will help me find him more book that will hold his interest!

Thing 14

2009-07-11T18:14:00.000-07:00

The first wiki that I looked at was Schools in the past....While I think this was a great experience for the kids, if I did this with my kids I would want to see their names or initials so I know who posts what.
The next I looked at was Salute to Seuss. This was great! It had a ton of information that was very easy to access.
The last one I looked at was Go West. I loved this one because it was for 3rd grade which is what I teach. I can really see this being used in the classroom. My kids love to use technology, and this would allow for more of that.
Two years ago MISD set up a wiki for CTECs to share information with our campuses. While I don't get to edit it as much as I like, it is a great resource.

Thing 13

2009-07-11T17:51:00.000-07:00

http://delicious.com/lstovall
I can see this being used in the classroom when I do my webquests with my kids. I can tag bookmarks for my kids that I want them to use for their research. This will save a ton of time because most of their time is spent looking for websites! This will just help keep them focused and on task! The tags make it easier to get to the information you need. These are also used by companies to make sure their websites come up when you put in certain key words.
I added misd23things to a couple if my tags, but since my invitation has not been accepted to the wiki yet, they do not show up. I am sure when I am accepted on Monday, they will show up :)

Thing 7a

2009-07-11T17:11:00.000-07:00

I love the readers! It makes it so much easier to keep up with my news :)
I am an Apple girl so one if the readers I subscribed to was Infinite Thinking Machine. This particular blog keeps me up dated on what is happening with different applications. I read today that Google is trying to teach the education world how important it is to teach students how to do effective searches by what they put in the search box. This is an essential school for college courses! It took me a log time to learn how to search appropriately and I stayed up many nights just trying to find information! I hope the education world is listening!

Thing 12

2009-07-11T16:54:00.000-07:00

http://letterpop.com/newsletters/?id=126371-624545

Above is a link to a newsletter I created. This is really great for me because we have to send weekly newsletters to our parents and I like to give my kids newsletters. This gives me a great resource in which to make my newsletters more fun and appealing to the eye.

Thing 11

2009-07-11T16:22:00.001-07:00

The post below is thing 11 :)

2009-07-11T16:18:00.000-07:00

I had a ton of fun playing with these image generators. As you can see the one with my dog needs to be adjusted, but since I broke my right arm and am only working with my left hand, I figured it would be ok :)

Thing 10

2009-07-11T15:39:00.000-07:00

I chose Geo shapes because this is a very difficult concept to teach. I thought this would be a fun way to show geo shapes!

Shapes painted on a wall - Museum For Contemporary Art by Akbar Simonse
Rectangle and spheres - Geometrica by Frames-of-Mind
Cubes - Cluster Of Four Cubes by Kimberlyfaye
Hexagons - Bee Hive by Estherase

Thing 9

2009-07-07T18:21:00.001-07:00

Thing 9 is blog and picture below!

2009-07-07T17:13:00.000-07:00

MUSEUM FOR CONTEMPORARY ART

Uploaded on February 7, 2007
by Akbar Simonse

I learned so much about Flickr! I have used picture upload sites,but nothing like Flicker! I am so excited! I picked this picture and many more like it because Geo shapes are so hard to teach. I plan on making a Promethean lesson with these pictures where the students have to label the different shapes and their parts. Pictures can teach so much more when they are real life. I can see Flickr becoming a huge part of my curriculum.

Thing 8

2009-07-07T11:55:00.000-07:00

To be honest, after reading about creative commons I will feel like I have so much more to pull from. I am so afraid of copyright that I very rarely pull anything from the internet. I keep myself restricted because I don't want to pull from anything I am not suppose to. I am writing my dissertation at this moment and the college drills you with copyright issues, so that has made me a little afraid of what I use.

Thing 7

2009-06-21T13:57:00.001-07:00

It is important to comment for many reasons, but I like for others to comment because I like for others to give me comments or ideas on what I written. I like to comment on posts because I like to encourage or share ideas that I have. If there are no comments made to posts the author sometimes loses interest and no loger posts.

I am doing well in this class. I am learning a ton and having a great time reading about what others are learning! :)

Thing 6

2009-06-21T13:38:00.001-07:00

I am really enjoying the reader. It allows me to follow items that I would have to search every time. This makes it easier which means I am more willing to follow. The one blog that I find very interesting is

BBGeekcast: June 19, 2009 - Episode 69

from BB Geeks by Joe

This blog allows me to keep up with some things that will upgrade and improve my blackberry. I do almost everything from my blackberry so finding enhancements will makemy life easier. I also am very interested in what others think about the blackberry vs iphone.

Thing 4

2009-06-20T16:35:00.000-07:00

Blog writing can be anything from sharing ideas about your profession, discussing topics that are in the news all the way to just discussing your life. Blogs are different for each person and each blog. People can choose to read only the blogs that interest them. You can comment on anyones blog and this makes it unique because you don't have to have access or even know the author to comment. Blogging can be used in the classroom to encourage students to write or to work on a certain topic. If they can respond on the computer, they are usually more willing to do it.

One blog that I found that peaked my interest was

Why I Don’t Assign Homework

March 7th, 2007 by Dan Meyer

I also do not assign homework because of some of the same reasons that Dan discussed. This was reassuring to hear someone else have the same thoughts.

Thing #5

2009-06-16T16:20:00.000-07:00

Wow..this is amazing! The feed that I decided to read today was about teachers taking a year off from their school to teach abroad. This is something that I have thought about doing many times! I would really like to share what I know with kid who do not have the same opportunities that our kids do. I am sure when the good Lord feels that it is time for me to do this he will make it happen. Until then, I can read about the great things that others are doing.

http://www.infinitethinking.org/2009/06/teachers-without-borders-off-to-africa.html

Teachers Without Borders off to Africa

Monday, June 08, 2009
Posted by Lucie deLaBruere

Thing #2

2009-06-08T08:03:00.000-07:00

Lets face it...Our kids are in the technology world and to keep their interest we must incorporate this into our curriculum!! I try to incorporate something new in my class every year. This year we blogged about our favorite authors. My children gave me much more than they would have with pencil and paper and they LOVED doing it. The only problem I faced was they do not have email addresses, so we blogged under my email. We also use IPods to help with reading..this is a technology that I think will become more computer based so our kids will have more access to this. Times are changing and so must the classroom. Our kids are using technology at home and are going to want to use this information in the classroom!!

Thing #1

2009-06-08T07:53:00.000-07:00

Reflections on Lifelong Learning:

I personally think that once you stop learning, your life has come to an end. The world never stops and neither should we. As a teacher, I feel it is my responsibility to keep learning. If I am asking my students to learn something new, then I too should be learning something new. I consider myself pretty techno saavy, but know there are still many things I can learn. I want to set up a webpage for my business and hope that this class will help with that. Many things stand in my way including time and knowledge. I plan to overcome those by taking this class and forcing myself to learn new technologies.