Interesting Quote...

The challenge for every teacher is to ask themselves, 'Is there anything I'm doing or teaching that can't be found in Google?' This pedagogic shift means more independence for learners, less dependence on memorised facts and answers to most questions, 24/7 for free.

I found this from this blog: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2011/12/more-pedagogic-change-in-last-10-years.html

It really makes me think and rethink about what I'm teaching in the classroom.  It needs to be more than basic facts, because if a student can google it in a second (and that "google" has become a verb) why should they be in the classroom with me!

Diigo with the WHOLE class

From the success that I saw last year, I'm going to try to use Diigo with the whole 8th grade to help keep track of their resources.  I really liked how I could monitor students progress AND students can share resources through this process.
Creating student accounts is easy, but I had issues because I didn't quite read directions carefully.  In order to import pre-made accounts, it has to be in a CVS file.  It will not import Excel files and it gives you an error message.
I'm hoping that the students find this as a useful tool as we begin to research our animals after break.

Science Resources...

Here is a compilation of some of my web highlights -- some goodies that I love and some that I use to get inspiration for my teaching.  Maybe you will find something inspiring too!

From ITEC 2011 --
username - just
password - visiting
http://plus.sqooltools.com/moodle/login/index.php

Collaborative sharing site for science teachers
http://scido.wikispaces.com/

itsi-su - online labs set-up to utilize probeware
http://itsisu.portal.concord.org

Conversations in hot science topics -- it's kind of like a PLC of science educators
http://scido.wikispaces.com/

Blog Post focusing interactive science resources from the #ASEChat
http://www.whiteboardblog.co.uk/2011/12/the-asechat-interactive-science-links-summary/

Interactive game-like activities to help expand and extend knowledge of science concepts --search for topics
http://www.succeedingwithscience.com/

Interactive Science Dictionary - links science concepts broken down into 9 week chunks, has videos to explain concepts
http://interactivesciencedictionary.weebly.com/index.html

Online labs - a catalog of different online labs in different areas of science
http://onlinelabs.in/

10 free online science focused resources
http://mashable.com/2010/12/16/science-teacher-resources/

6 different virtual tours of the human body
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-virtual-tours-human-body-free-interactive-anatomy-lessons/

Generally - just an awesome resource of web tools!
http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1qb82/TheSuperBookofWebToo/resources/index.htm

Flipped Classroom

Some things I've learned about from my pilot class:

1. QR Reader - who knew kids would like these so much!  Free app to be able to download to iPod touch or smart phone
2. Make videos downloadable - put the videos on a flash drive that could be checked out or DVD to have them able to watch at home

Still figuring out how to reach or make students accountable --  

Some ideas:

1. Make a google doc/quiz/feedback form that students would fill out after watching the video
2. Senteo quiz check in

Using Diigo with students

I do have a love of Diigo for my own personal use.  But the last two weeks I have offered student accounts to any students willing to give it a shot.  This is hands-down the most fantastic use of technology for students and for teachers that I have seen!!! As a teacher, you can create free student accounts (that doesn't require student email address).  Also, (and this is the best part) I can check in on all of my students to see their progress.  The bonus for students - it gives them a place to keep track of their resources and it keeps a log of when they accessed their websites, which helps them later to create their easybib.  Also, my students figured out that using the note feature they can even keep their notes on Diigo as well!  Next year, I think I'm going to require all of my students to use this and hope that we can download the diigo toolbar to our school computers!
Overall, two thumbs up from me!

One of my favorites...

I love using Titanpad with classes!  Titanpad allows students to work on the same document at the same time.  It doesn't even require users to have login, which as a teacher I love.  I created an account for myself using my classroom as my source.  Having an account allows me to create as many Titanpads as I want!  Plus I can control the security of them by making them public, but requiring a password that I set.  Then, I share the link and password with my students to allow them to work together on one document.
The only downfall is that there is a chat feature on the side.  My students LOVE using the chat feature to write about ridiculous things.  My creating titanpads for smaller groups, rather than the whole class, it eliminates some of this.  Also, by setting guidelines about what can be chatted about helps as well - give them a purpose to focus their chats on.
Another feature I love is the export feature to a word document.  It makes it super easy to use and save!  They are super fast to set up and in just a few minutes you can be up and running with the document.

Wikis in Action...

So we are off and running with wikis so far!
The students seem to like it and we've had only one override issue, but with the student accounts we can go back and look to see if the student actually posted and then see how it got overridden.  Fantastic!
One student commented that they thought it was like facebook, but for education.  I'm not sure if I completely agree with that, but they have been eager to try and use the wiki.  I think I will continue the use of the wiki for the rest of the year and see how it goes!  I definitely like the option of not having a stack of papers to lug back and for with me and that I can see everything from my laptop!