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Thing 10

I am so very much into Google Docs to help organize district information. It ranks right up there with chocolate! I have been introducing our staff (and anyone who will put up with me) to the idea of working collaboratively on documents.

For example, we are using the CraftPlus Writing Program. We have ordered a number of Maupin House resources, but as of today, I’m not sure who has what and who needs specific instructional resources. Grade level teachers are now collaborating to document their progress in terms of resources and needs.

I have created a number of spreadsheets and made them available for different purposes; each one is developed for one person or many to edit and/or view. Examples are district textbook inventories, grade level instructional resources, all students with IEPs, test data for planning purposes. Imagine, no more binders on the shelf!

Confidentiality is a huge issue for me and everyone else with access to some of these documents. I like the settings available and the tracking features. The most significant advantage is that no one person is responsible for sharing up-to-date information, even though one person several may have editing access. On top of that, if anyone’s computer goes belly up, all of the information is backed up and safe and sound on Google Docs. The download feature is nice for occasional backups also.

If there is a downside, it would be that I have so many Google Docs, I have to make sure that what I own and what I open is all tucked away in folders. The "all item" list is becoming lengthy. I must look into organization details and recommendations. By the way, the Help area is wonderful!

Thing 9

Here's a short silly little survey I created in Google Docs just to see how it works.
Please answer each question and click the Submit button when you're finished.
I embedded the survey in my blog (hopefully) with I wonder what will happen thoughts running through my mind. I suppose I could get serious about this but at the moment, it’s too late at night. I’ll settle for baby steps.

Thing 8

Social Bookmarking is wonderful! I want to build my del.icio.us bookmarks into something very shareable for others. I had great fun exploring Jim’s and realized just how much he enjoys cartoons and the potential for using them with instructional strategies in mind. I found some fabulous math links by looking through Jim’s favorites!

A good way for me to utilize social bookmarking will be to connect with friends who have the same special interests, for example, teachers who add favorites or bookmark quality links for specific core areas: social studies, writing, math, science, or special needs like specific research, or whatever. What a great timesaver! I like the way you can choose to add or not add specific bookmarks to be shared. I don’t share any links that are only specific to me such as on-line banking links. I also tend to bookmark lots of potentially good links, but I don’t save them to del.icio.us unless they are real keepers.

Thing 7

I have enjoyed many hours reading through blogs from our class and from the list of edubloggers. I find good ideas and suggestions in each one and tend to head off of the main path of our 23 Things toward fascinating new learning experiences. Each time I find an application or link of interest, I become intrigued and become lost in time…and cyberspace!

I am recovering from a severe diversion into Google Docs. I am most likely driving my fellow educators to the edge as they receive numerous Docs from me to view or edit. I’m starting to feel that I am neglecting other important things, like Thing 8, for example, so I’m going to cut this short.

From Gardening 11/7/08 8:14 PM

Thing 6

Just working through Thing 6 was a challenge for me not so much related to the specific assignments, but in exploring all of the new items, information, and links along the way. Even getting the “blog robots” to remove the spam notice from my blog was interesting. I would like to know the word/s I used that prompted a spam warning. This is the first time that I couldn’t contact a human to help me with an issue. I could only deal with robots!!! Today I checked by blog and no spam notice. Nice. So I’ll move ahead with renewed energy. Perseverance pays off in the long run.

Thing 5

For me, having assignments integrated into a blog where students can see each other’s work and learn to participate and share information about any subject is fascinating. I see myself as being just a click away from actually doing it. Joining a classroom from another region or country would also be a wonderful collaborative experience for students. I like the idea of student wikis, and I am anxious to create one myself to organize information linked to my district’s website. Another idea that sounds like good plan to me is a wiki spreadsheet to maintain a curriculum map of topics so that the staff can support each other with ideas and shared resources. The fact that everything can be web based makes it easier not having to deal with specific software complications or differences in computers. How nice to have an application work smoothly when you want to work on a project.

I began to thing about the excuses that you may not hear from students anymore when they have web-based assignments to complete.
“I lost my homework.”
“I don’t have a pencil.”
“I forgot my book.”
“I didn’t get what we were supposed to do.”

I have been thinking that I’m getting comfortable with the concept, the language, and some applications of Web 2.0 until I saw Web 3.0 mentioned.
Hold it, stop, wait a minute, or a day or week! I am trying so hard to catch up!

Thing 4

When I think of the speed of change in the last few years, even months, it boggles my mind. I remember that when my grandmother passed away, it happened just before the Sputnik was launched, and I wished that she would have lived to see something so amazing happen. Now we have the International Space Station.

I remember when my family purchased their first black and white TV. I switched from listening to Dragnet’s Sergeant Joe Friday on the radio to watching Zorro and the Lone Ranger on the new state-of-the-art set. Now we watch educational programs and news from around the world as it happens.

The next big advancement in technology was the electric typewriter, and of course, the white-out cartridge you could plug in to correct mistakes that was ready to go at a moment’s notice during my college years. Now we have computers with software for word processing, and online textbooks.

When men walked on the moon, I thought I was living in the most high tech society anyone could ever imagine. Now we have Google Earth in the classroom. On a side note, I often think how we sent men to the moon and back but still can’t design a stapler that doesn’t jam.

I look back over all of my years in education and notice many exciting advances in spite of many strong traditions that still remain. A teacher’s instructional flexibility and willingness to learn new techniques, utilize appropriate technologies, and adapt to an ever changing society is what I call basic survival in education today. Instructional resources on quality websites packed with research, best practice recommendations, and instructional strategies are waiting for us to connect and apply. Along with all of the communication tools and technologies evolving, becoming a knowledgeable student, parent and educator is essential for sorting out the good, bad, and ugly. Viruses are continually programmed to harm computers and programs. Cyber safety was no issue years ago. Today, with so many students having access to newer technologies, educators must help students understand the potential and inherent dangers for anyone who uses the Internet.

Now we have students who are far more connected with the outside world than they may be with learning in the classroom. Our job as an educator is to increase our knowledge in order to become a significant link in the education of our students. Imagine if your own instructional environment could be an important and interesting to students as My Space and Facebook. Just think how students would connect and learn with and from and in partnership with teachers who could and would design “global classrooms” to include shared learning experiences with other educators and students from around the world. When I think of the future, it frames my picture of the teachers we will need in education.
In all honesty, I believe the future is now.

Thing 3

Well, I am hooked!

I haven't read or participated in any blogs before. I heard about blogging but never took the time to investigate. I am becoming fascinated with the possibilities for networking and collaborating with others. I have learned so much setting up to move from one thing to the next. This post was challenging because somehow I must have hit the draft button. I wanted to edit the draft, but I computers I use won't allow me to see the publish button. So here I am retyping it into an entire new post.

There is always a way to get something done. I always try to stick by the saying, "Trust but Verify." From here on in, I'll trust that the blogger.com will do what I need it to do, however, I will always develop what I plan to post on a separate word document.

I get carried away looking at the recommended edubloggers entries. I found numerous links and resources that I want to get into and share with others. Being such a novice, I immerse myself in articles such as Seven Habits of Highly Connected People, found on Steven's Web. Then I discovered Search Me, a new graphical search engine on 2 Cents Worth. I like the way Vicki Davis references information from sources by placing the content in special colored boxes. I want to learn how she does that!!

As I read through the blogs, I find myself getting so absorbed in the content that I'm losing all track of time. I even feel like I am on an adventure in a different world; some of the vocabulary is foreign to me. I keep exploring deeper and deeper into unfamiliar territory. This thing is so exciting with so much to explore; the list of edubloggers seems endless.

I need a break!
OK, I'm heading into twitter and flickr.
Cute names for a pair of birds, don't you think?

Something About Me

Working in my backyard garden is one of my favorite activities. I enjoy nature and the beauty that evolves with each season. I just learned to use Picasa Web Album; http://picasaweb.google.com/

Origin of the Puddingstone

Determining what to name my blog began with a little bit of research on the web about puddingstones. Being a Yooper, I was thrilled to find some information at http://www.dayooper.com/Puddingstones.htm

Da Yooper's Guide to

PuddingStones

The Michigan Puddingstone is a conglomerate of primarily quartzite and pebbles of jasper. The pudding stone pebbles vary in color from red to brown and pink to purple. Pudding stones are considered metamorphic and sedimentary. Pudding stone minerals contained within the rock may also vary. In some puddingstones minerals such as chromites, corundum, platinum, diamonds, gold, sapphire, and zircon have been found. Tightly cemented puddingstones make great ornamental stones when cut and polished properly.

Michigan Puddingstones were formed a billion years ago in northeast Canada. Puddingstone is a type of sedimentary rock which first formed in river channels. During the Ice Age, they were pushed down through Eastern Michigan from Ontario Canada by the glaciers. The white is quartz sand which has cemented itself together over millions of years. Mixed with it is a combination of other pebbles and stones of various sizes, shapes and colors. Some may even contain fossils. Another name for puddingstone is quartz conglomerate, meaning sedimentary rock composed of quartz and various other minerals.

Puddingstone is ideal for the hobbyist. It can be tumbled to make wonderful key chains, necklaces and other small items. The larger pieces can be cut, polished and made into book ends, lamp shades, clocks, fountains and just about anything else you can think of.

Hunt for Puddingstones in Michigan on the far Eastern End of the Upper Peninsula and the Northeast part of the Lower Peninsula. In Canada look on St. Joseph's Island and the surrounding areas.

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And then, of course, Wikipedia is another source of information.

The picture of the Hertfordshire puddingstone will serve to represent my adventure into blogging. Each small chunk added to the mix over time can develop into something substantial, not necessarily pretty, but potentially interesting to someone somewhere.

Puddingstone (rock)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Puddingstone, or Pudding stone, is a conglomerate rock made up of a mixture of different, irregular sized grains and pebbles held together by a finer matrix, usually formed from quartz sand. The sedimentary rock is formed in river channels and may contain various minerals such as chromite, corundum, platinum, diamond, gold, sapphire, and zircon. Its name is said to derive from a resemblance to Christmas pudding.^{[1] [2]}

There are different types of puddingstone, with different makeup and geographical distribution. These include:

• Hertfordshire puddingstone, principally found in Hertfordshire, England
• Bearfort Mountain puddingstone, is a purple puddingstone found in northern New Jersey
• Roxbury puddingstone, principally found in and around Boston, Massachusetts
• Plumstead Common has a fine example of puddingstone, probably left behind after the last Ice Age
• St. Joseph Island puddingstone, found in the St. Mary's River area of Northern Ontario contains red and brown pieces of jasper, a kind of quartz.