Trailfire - Its HOT!

Somehow I discovered Trailfire this weekend. I even noticed it was a presentation at the K12 Online Conference. I have been using Google Notebook for about a year and a half. I was using it as a bookmark because I could write notes. I am someone who would use My Favorites but forget why I saved a web page. I saw Google Notebook as a great way to save, annotate, and share my favorite websites.

I have created quite a list of websites, tools, and notes. At least I have the notes. This, however, makes it quite frustrating to sift through to find anything. I have resisted creating several notebooks.

So, I have been looking for some way to catalogue my favorites or bookmarks. Along came Trail fire. Trailfire is an online collection of web pages. You can create your own private trails or share them. You can even make trails on the web that can be edited by others. A trail is made by marking websites and saving that mark. All marks saved under the same name make up your trail.

You can go to Trailfire and search for my user name mdionne. Choose mdionne under Match Users. This will take you to my list of trails. I have created 13 trails or categories with 213 marks. I spent most of the weekend transferring my Google Notebook notes, phew. Here is a list of my Trails:

Blogs & Blogging

Podcasting
Everything photos

Publishing Tools
Misc. Web 2.0

Slide Show Creators
Must see videos

Social Networks
Online Conferencing

Tagging
Online Video

Teacher Article Resources
Wikis

Hope you find something you like.

I believe there are several ways you can use this with your students. You can set up a trail of sites that will guide them through their search. You can have students work independently searching while they create marks for a collaborative trail. This is called a wiki trail. You can keep archives of class research from class to class.

Trailfire will work for me right now. Until the next best tool comes along. Happy trails to you. If you start humming that tune you are dating yourself!

Let me know if you would like to add to any of my trails. I can make them a wiki trail!

Leave me a comment about Trailfire and my trails if you would, please!

Web 2.0 Workshop ResultsI

I was able to discuss reasons for teachers to adopt a web 2.o pedagogy with our staff. I shared several videos and tools used by so many today. This is a short summary of what I think they walked away with.

Some agreed with me about students and ahow they have changed. Others were compelled to try at least one of these tools. Still another just needed some encouragement.

I even have my first in class project. Our middle school social studies teacher will be using class blogmeister for her next project. I will be guiding her and her students throughout the project. I am looking forward to this project.

It's a beginning. Maybe the start that we need.

In Roads

I just gave my first presentation to our staff on Web 2.0 tools. Even though I have been sharing, discussing, and presenting the tools for over a year now, it was my first time I could package and deliver the whole as pedagogy.

My approach was to use the web 2.0 tools to deliver the message. I stressed two points. I wanted teachers to consider building their own personal learning network and to consider trying one web 2.0 tool that would help them to do that. The second point was to consider trying at least one tool that would help their students to create their own personal learning network.

I had some very capable co-presenters. The K12 Online Conference presenters were there to help out. I used several of the videos and had some great discussion. I'll be back here to share with you any in roads that I make.

I especially liked Drew Murphy's 10 essential skills video. It made sense to my teachers and gave them a starting point. So check out the K12 Online Conference.

K12 OnLine Conference Response!

I missed the live version of David Warlick's Fireside Chat. I won't miss the next one live. Even so, the recorded version is great. It has compelled me to chime in on question asked.

How do teachers use these new tools.

People learn best when they have a reason, when it is relevant, when it becomes personal. In a previous life I was a shop teacher. Shop teachers have always known that hands on project oriented learning is very successful. I can create a list a mile long with names of students over the past 27 years who succeeded in my classrooms, shop or technology, when they completely failed in other traditional settings.

This is an undercurrent in my mind as I learn about and implement the web 2.0 tools. I don't mean it to sound arrogant in anyway. The new twist on it all for me is the social aspect of most of these tools. You must not underestimate the power of the larger audience.

One of the projects my students complete is a podcast review. You can check them out here. Within the first few hours of our first post of a review, we were contacted by the hosts of the podcast. They had all kinds of questions for us. This made it very real for the student who reviewed the podcast. You should have seen this student scramble to see what he wrote in his review. The hosts ended up discussing the experience in a podcast. This was a moment they won't forget. This made it real. They were held accountable and I didn't have to say a word.

I believe you need to tap into this new form of accountability. Students will rise to the occasion. Make them the expert. Most activities I do, gives them the chance to share their knowledge with others.

ToolsI use are podcasting, wikis, classblogmeister, slide, google notebook, voicethread, and motionbox. The class is media, a senior english elective.

k12online07

Professional Development!

We had a great discussion in the middle of all the humor at the TechPodZone this past week. It made me think about so many of our schools' mission statements and/or goals. I made a statement in the show about many teachers being hypocritical about creating life long learners. Many of these teachers are not life long learners themselves. They come to school, deliver their lessons, and go home.

I believe connecting to other educators with similar passions for their classroom can spark that original love for teaching. I have learned so much from my connections through podcasting and other online events. I do love to learn and look forward to listening to the new podcasts and checking my bloglines everyday.

One of the tools I love most are podcasts of conferences where the presenter is leading discussions. It makes you feel like you are right there. That is why I am looking forward to this year's K12 Online Conference. I hope to share this event with as many educators as possible.

Hope to see you there! I'll be the one sitting in the recliner couch with his feet up!

Got to get back into it!

It's been hard to get back into the blogs and podcasts this year. I don't know why. I guess I need to just start. I have a few tools to share with you. Of course you can hear all about these over at the TechPodzone.

If you are using a PC to display information on a screen then you need ZoomIt. It is free software that can zoom you in and around the screen. It's great for older staff! You can use it to draw with as well.

I also started to use Slide. It is another online slide show creator. I like this because it is easy to use and you can embed it in your wiki. Wikispaces has been upgraded and Slide is a choice for embedding. They make it so easy.

Check out our classroom wiki and our teacher in service wiki. I use these tools everyday now to share with our staff all of the great tools out there. Don't be shy, let me know what you think or what you use.

First Day of a New School Year!

Today we sat there just like every other year. Listening to the different school constituents pump us up for another year. At first I kept thinking about the past 26 times I sat here and how much each year seemed the same.

Then I started thinking about all of the new teachers and what it must be like for them. The sense of not knowing what to expect from this day and being nervous about tomorrow.

I was fortunate to be able to work directly with all of the new teachers last week. I spent a whole day giving them laptops, resources, and encouragement. I also took the opportunity to discuss the new web 2.0 resources and mindset with them.

I realized that I had a lot of work to do! When I asked them if they had ever heard of a wiki not a one raised their hand. We had a mixture of new and veteran teachers.

We will get them!

This year I look forward to my classroom wiki. We will be wiki centric! Check it out and follow along as my class begins another wiki year!