CEDO555 Blog Post Three

Oh my, has it been a week! I barely got my artifacts aligned to my standards and in the meantime have been thinking a lot about my project proposal but not actually writing anything down yet, so I really need to tie myself to the computer and not let up until my proposal is done. On a personal note, this weekend was my seven year old daughter's dance recital - so much fun but a big time commitment. My mother came up as well and we were having a great time outlining my proposal as I could bounce ideas off of her. The interesting part was being able to show her some of the tools I'm talking about. For example, I was thinking about how to complete and keep the project information organized and I was debating whether or not I wanted a Ning type network (you all did hear that Ning is going completely pay-for-use right? If you've got info on a Ning, you need to pull the content before it gets dumped...) or a website based tool like Google Sites. So at 11pm Friday night, we're online and I'm showing her these tools and others that we've been using. She wants to be included in the outcome of my project as it will include Web 2.0 tools and how to use them for the "general public". Lots of fun and at 1am we decided to call it a night.
The other part of the class that I'm still working on is the alignment of artifacts to the different classes we took. I have chosen at least one assignment from each of the classes but need to do the footwork and document my reflections and get the links made active. A lot to do, but most of the groundwork is laid and I just need to follow through and see it to the end.

Just for Fun - Sharing How to Embed

This is a little video I created with Animoto to show my students how easy and how much fun it is - now I'm showing them how to embed an artifact! Enjoy...

CEDO555 Blog Post 2

So I've been listening to comments and reflecting some more about the project proposals and I think I've decided on creating all of the training information and support materials in order to phase in e-portfolios and senior exit interviews. So many of our teachers will (hopefully) be excited to see the implementation and use of the myriad of technology tools available. What has influenced my decision is partly because I can see that I may have to do this anyways for the district professional development (I'm the only "teacher" on the committee - the rest are involved in additional projects) but moreover I see this as a way of impacting the most. Not only will this be something the students use, but the teachers will also get a taste of it. I hope that with the appropriate trainings that the teachers will not feel pressured to "do" anything, rather, they can play with the tools and become familiar with helping students use the tools to create. What do you think?
In other areas, I have to say that I really struggled writing my mission and vision but I'm very pleased with the outcome. Then when I was searching for standards that I wanted to use, I discovered that the NETS*T were perfect for accomplishing my mission (gee - maybe this stuff is really sinking in after all!) I feel that I'm on the right track because I feel passionate about what's in my portfolio so far. Now I'm in the midst of organizing all of the artifacts created in the various classes and making sure I have working links. Most of this has been done in my binder with all of my classwork, so my portfolio hasn't seen many changes in the past week but I hope to get that going next week!