April 14, 2008
E-Journal Entry #10
EDT598
Dear Journal,
I gain more confidence with each class. Last week (April 7), I got a chance to work with Stacey. She is quiet and to herself, by nature, but I’m glad I got a chance to work with her and get to know her some. It did not take me long before I leaned over to her and said, “You really kinda get this stuff, don’t you?” She smiled and shyly said yes. Before long, she was showing me the Webmaster work she and her sister are doing for their church and gave me a glimpse of how to write computer code! Wow! Stacey absolutely blew my mind with what she was doing with computers and technology! I learned much from her quiet confidence. Ellen-Thank you for mixing us up in class!!
I thought the three opening YouTube videos were an excellent introduction to Google Apps and Google Docs online office suite. There are definite advantages in cost savings and user efficiency with these applications. The four sites we visited in Activity #1 were interesting for different reasons. The third site, however, was full of classroom activities for all ages, which I found potentially very useful! Activity #2 was a good hands on lesson! This was new territory for me, so uploading the lesson plan, making changes, and sending the adjusted lesson plan by attached email to Ellen and Stacey was slow going, but I enjoyed the challenge! “DLBF” = Dead Last But Finished!
I did visit the two websites you sent by email for our assignment. The “Zeitgeist” site was very interesting. Search trends, patterns, and surprises is a brilliant idea. I’ll bet the marketing and advertising industry is watching and using this information! The 2007 Year End Zeitgeist shows Pavarotti actually more popular than the Red Sox in October! In Showbiz, Dancing With The Stars had more peak interest than South Park and CSI! This is a great way to be in touch with the latest trends. This could be used as a great starting site for students and teachers looking for relevant subjects and ideas for research topics. Music students could use this tool to create statistics and comparative lists for any musical subject that has ever been Googled. This is another creative tool for students and teachers to be more engaged and enthused about learning!
I did take the Mini Google Notebook Tour. It was very helpful and I understood it! I think this technology tool could truly enhance my professional development. The features are designed to efficiently consolidate your work tools and facilitate the collaboration of your work. This is an excellent open source work station which can now be accessed from your mobile phone! Our Professional Development Plan was a difficult assignment but well worth the effort. It caused me to focus on what I’ve learned about technology and how I will use it in the classroom. I guess that was the whole point of taking the class in the first place! Well, that is all for now! Shawn.
