Wow, that was a good idea.

At a recent professional development opportunity I sat and listened to David Warlick (http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/) while he spoke about engaging digitally native youth of today.  One of the quick videos he showed was about how technology and information is constantly dynamic.  I thought this was ingenious.



After showing my husband he said, "Whoever made that up is going to be really rich."

Why couldn't I come up with that?!  Damn!  My ideas aren't that great....

But then, as if to calm my fears of my own mediocrity, I watched another video. 



Hopefully one day I will have an idea that someone else finds genius.  It's settled: it's on the bucket list.

Is information Hoarding on Web-MD?

There is a reason that I should not join hockey pools.  It's not for the obvious reason that I never win hockey pools.  In fact, I have never even joined a hockey pool until this year.  I'm also quite capable at picking players even if I did entrust most decisions to my brother through text message at the draft (Shhh).  So then, what is my reason?

I am a sucker for information.  I'm following much more information than I could possibly keep up with thanks to twitter (@ckingman10) and blogging.  Not to mention the amount of information that can be randomly found on the web - check out the website GOOD for an example. 

So enter "hockey pool" to my life.  13 players to keep track of - and yes, I'm aware that the computer will keep track for me, but it is my disease for information hoarding that makes me check my Score app every twenty minutes when one of my players is playing.  The amount of my time it has taken up in my life is just ridiculous.  I've already tried to quit with failed results.  It's a good thing I never took up smoking, because I'm feeling like I have an addictive personality.  Are you happy now hockey pool?!

What's worse is that we are only 7...8 games into the 80ish game season.  All I can say is that I had better win.  Heck, even if I do end up winning I will think twice about joining a hockey pool ever again. 

Oh hey....never give up. That is all.

Technology Today

Ha.
Thats all.

Be innovative with PicLit

Interesting site that takes motivational posters to a new level.

Create your own!

Tagxedo is Cooler!!

Okay - cooler than Wordle because you can actually specify a shape for the words to go into. This Tagxedo is based on my blog so far :)

Enjoy creating your own!!

Wordle is Cool

"Life in Eugene"

What did we do B.G.?

Before Google is a different time. Going to the library, asking a friend, teacher, or even your parents for information that was on your mind. If they didn't know the answer, you didn't know. Today, there is a seemingly endless amount of information available to us and Google is finding new ways to help us store this information and use it in our daily lives. Documents that can be updated by multiple collaborators, shared calendars, surveys, and tools that help connect us all can not only be used in our daily lives, but also in education. In a digital age where kids as young as six have a cell phone, why not teach them in ways that are new as well?

Depending on the Google tool that you use, you can cover multiple learning styles. If giving students a choice of assignment or proficiency is the new way of learning, then Google tools is the way to go. Reading a book and demonstrating your knowledge can now happen in multiple ways.
Blog your responses and include relevant pictures or video using Blogger.
Map out and give points of interest about the characters using Google Maps.
Find news from when the characters were living and make a newspaper that one of the characters would have read using Google News.
Create a class wide editable document where students can post ideas and comments about the book using Google Documents.
They can even preview books before choosing what book to do their report on in Google Books before any of this happens!

You can potentially cover all of the National Education Technology Standards for Students using Google tools. Research and Fluency comes into play with Google News, while Digital Citizenship is important when dealing with a class wide Google document. If you're giving students a choice, then representation is built right in, and students can express their creativity in ways where they are most comfortable. Because we are dealing with so many applications, it would be impossible to describe here where each tool fits into the NETS and UDLs. The key is that Google tools allows multiple representations for students.

What did we do before Google? How about what will we do with Google?

My View of Technology in Education

My View of Technology in Education on Prezi

Technology in Education should create a system of collaboration and innovation for everyone involved!

A lesson in patience from Space

Space is amazing if you have the patience to wait for it.  The video link above proves it.  Its expansiveness is really mind blowing.  If I had sent a space probe out in the universe and it actually landed on Saturns moon, Titan, I would have gotten goosebumps too.  It's unfortunate that the space program has ended it's shuttle era.  But when most people now become upset when their internet (which goes to Space!!) takes longer than 10 seconds to connect, the space program is bound to lose interest.  Space is big.  Instant gratification and space don't go hand in hand.    

But lets be honest, this video showed a few pretty cool things:
- Titans surface features are somewhat Earth-like, even if it's substituting methane for water.
- The fact that methane is behaving similar to water is very cool - condensing in the atmosphere and liquid at the surface.

Could organisms survive on Titan??  


Hopefully in the next 10 years the space program will come back with some even cooler ideas that will mark a new era in space exploration.  If we can have the patience for Space, I'm sure it will deliver some really cool and amazing discoveries.