I had never heard of CC before.  I don’t recall ever seeing it on a website.  I like many of the other blogs that I read thought if it was on the web it was fair game.  If anything is covered with a copyright  – then do you assume that if it doesn’t have a CC on it that you can’t use it?   This will be something that I want to consider more and do a little more research.  What in google images can I use and what can’t I use?  Things to ponder.

I found out in the social media revolution video that I watched from the wolves den wiki, that wikipedia was more accurate than Encyclopedia Britannica.  And that more of the posts to it are in other languages than English.  I looked at articles on Beta Fish, and Beagles.  There had been no discussions about the posts.  The Beta fish page had a number of revisions correcting types of beta fish that were on the endangered species list.  I have always been a little wary of Wikipedia, but will give it more of a chance in the future.  I found that the articles were very on the surface.  So it is only a place that I would go to get a brief history an maybe a few facts.  I would have thought that it was a little more in-depth than it ended up.

I’m still a little uncertain how the wiki’s work.  I think that they sound incredible for classroom use.  I wish the h.s. used them.  I’m going to try to figure it out a little more and maybe get Addison to start one for some of the classes in the h.s. to study.  Several of the students will post what they use to study as help for other students – on their facebooks.  But you have to be a friend on the facebook.  And some like Addison don’t have a facebook.  So her friends email her the items.  But how wonderful for them to be able to get notes that they missed or parts of notes that they missed.  This works right into an article I read on my googlereader this week:  The Creativity Crisis. Research shows kids are becoming less creative, says Newsweek.    It was about the fact that we are facing a creativity crisis in the U.S. now.  Students in grades 6 and below are showing a marked decrease in their creativity.  The article talks about how creative thinking is a skill that can be taught.  Some are more creative from birth – just like some are natural atheletes, some naturally come by the method that the brain uses to think creativitly.  But according to the article the art of using the way the brain uses to think creatively can be taught.  Unfortunately in the U.S. we have gotten in the bad habit of just cram it down the students throats, we have so much curriculum to cover that we don’t have a lot of time for interactive learning.

I really liked the wiki by Jennifer Barnett, FSH Wolves Den.  From that Wiki you can link to her personal one.  It has many tools.  I liked the “web wardrobe page.” One day I am just going to spend the day looking at the different items that she is linked to on that page.    I watched a video on her wiki – social media revolution.  It was very thought provoking.

I also looked at the chemistry wiki, and the Grazing for digital natives wiki,  I didn’t get a much out of them as the Wolves Den.

One use of the wiki that I might explore is to make one that the teachers and teaching assistants in the elementary school can put “some of their favorite things.”  Many times parents will call and be at starbucks and want to bring the teacher her favorite drink for lunch – and I have no idea.  I don’t feel like it is appropriate for me to interrupt class to gain that information – no matter how much I would like to do so.  But if we had a wiki – each person could post their favorite starbucks, candybar,  restaurant gift certificate, and I could help the parents easily bring a treat for the teacher.

I was looking at my igoogle page and thought I bet I can put a thing on it with my reader feeds, yup!!  Also, put my google doc’s on it, so I can just click to the spreadsheet, so now when something new pops into my reader – I can see it there and I can also mark it all as read if it is only a few things and I glance over them and see that it is nothing that interests me!!!  So next to my you might be a redneck if…., useless knowledge, stupid people (comments made by stupid people, many of the comments are by lawyers in the courtroom), and random fun facts, and gmail window, I have google docs, and google reader.  So if you have an igoogle page you might think about adding some of these things.  Oh the fun we will have!!!!!

One of the feeds – was “Successful Teaching inside and outside the classroom” It had some really cool website – one was called Fit brain.  It seemed to have a lot of cool games for keeping the brain fit – the disappointing thing is that the article didn’t mention that you only get a part of the fit brain website access – to be able to play all of the games you can subscribe for $13.30 a month.  Which I thought was a little pricey.  I’m always looking for computer games and things that would help Andrew develop his brain – at least develop it a little more than addicting games.com  does.  I also signed up for a weight watchers recipe website – it is so cool to see a bunch of recipes come through and just be able to eyeball them and move on if I don’t like the sound.  This tool would keep your email inbox from becoming cluttered with a lot of subscribed emails – at least I think it could.

I love  the RSS feeds.  How cool is that.  I especially liked the article that I read from the NY Times….

Computers at Home: Educational Hope vs. Teenage Reality

it was citing studies both in the US and abroad measuring the change in test scores in low income families when a computer was placed in the home.  My favorite quote from the article was at the end…..

How disappointing to read in the Texas study that “there was no evidence linking technology immersion with student self-directed learning or their general satisfaction with schoolwork.”

When devising ways to beat school policing software, students showed an exemplary capacity for self-directed learning. Too bad that capacity didn’t expand in academic directions, too.

Maybe some thought should be given to developing classes that require the students to use the computer like we are doing in this class.  It would give them tools that they could use later in life.  I have already told my husband (he works for a large CPA firm) that some of the uses in education – could be morphed over into business and that if used correctly could give them a huge advantage in the marketplace.  I’m just learning so it maybe a little while before I have a clear strategy that he could pass along to the IT people – but I see the potential of this for all sorts of learning.

I loved the Why I don’t assign homework.  I wish more teachers would read this….I know that some homework is necessary.  But our kids need to run outside and play and use their imaginations some too.  I loved his point that the kids that need to do the homework either don’t do it or do it halfway.  The kids that don’t need to do it – do it over the top.  I also applaud the points made in How to prevent the next Leonardo Da Vinci.  I know that our teachers work hard to help all students learn – but it is a good reminder of things that I think we can lapse into if we are not careful in trying to get all of the curriculum that we feel that we are supposed to get covered in a year.

I am so behind – summer has really thrown a curve ball – I got a project from work that I was not counting on and it has usurped my time.  But this week I plan to catch up – Addison is having her wisdom teeth out.  Another thing – I hate sharing my feelings – although during the school year I pose as a mind mannered elementary receptionist – I’m really an uptight, wound up, emotional reclusive CPA.  So sharing my feelings will be difficult.  I am excited about learning things that my kids already know how to do and the many applications that can come from this.  Our kids at providence need to join the technology train.  This is very exciting.

Welcome to your brand new blog at Edublogs.

To get started, simply log in, edit or delete this post and check out all the other options available to you.

Also, please consider becoming an Edublogs Pro User – you can remove ads from yours and 50 other student blogs (which also get extra themes and mobile blogging), upload up to 5GB or audio, video and every other sort of content and access great features under your ‘Plugins’ menu.

And you get premium email support and over 30 extra cool themes too.

Pro users are what keeps Edublogs running and providing free blogs for education, so give it a go today

For assistance, visit our comprehensive support site, check out our getting started with Edublogs guide or stop by The Edublogs Forums to chat with other edubloggers.

You can also subscribe to our brilliant free publication, The Edublogger, which is jammed with helpful tips, ideas and more.

And finally, if you like Edublogs but want to be able to simply create, administer, control and manage hundreds of student and teacher blogs at your school or college, check out Edublogs Campus… it’s like Edublogs in a box, all for you.

Thanks again for signing up with Edublogs!