Jamie Hunter’s Blogs

here is a link to my sample podcast http://jhunter628.googlepages.com/mixedmusicpodcast.mp3

 http://del.icio.us/network/jhunter628 At first when we were taught how to use social book marking in class, I didn’t really see the point of it because I thought it was very similar to tools such as Google reader.  I then realized that it has it perks such as being able to search through someone else’s tags that could be relevant to me, especially as a future teacher.   Another social book marking website that I choose to explore was the website: ikeepbookmarks.com.  At first, I thought that this site was somewhat similar in basic overall appearance to del.icio.us.  Then I realized that I found it quite hard to find the correct links I needed to click or buttons to press in order to successfully use this social book marking website.  Although, I may have had this feeling because I was taught how to use del.icio.us step by step and it was a hands on lesson.  Using this other site, I am on my own trying to figure it out…so this may be the reason for my thoughts and opinions on this site.   Also, I felt that ikeepbookmarks.com seemed to have a little bit better organization system in terms of folders and categorizes for all of the tagged pages; but overall I believe I like del.icio.us better, just for the fact that I feel like I already know how to use the basic features!As a teacher, if I were to ever use social book marking, I think I would only use it to find other teachers social book marking sites to find helpful and beneficial websites for teaching lessons or a specific concept.  I do not really think that I would use it for any other reason, because I seem to think that Google reader can pretty much do everything that I need it to.  But like I said, as a teacher, social book marking is handy to have as a teacher, especially when a teacher wants to find some help from another teacher…or that teacher’s favorite resourceful websites. 

Well, somehow I managed to forget to post this.. so here it is now!

I decided to do a search on the phases of the moon. I feel that this is an important science concept to grasp for elementary students, and I have always had a hard time understanding what exactly was happening. I began my search by typing in: phases of the moon. This seemed to bring up several relevant sites, but some too complex for elementary students to understand. I narrowed my search by typing in: “phases of the moon”+elementary. Finally, after much searching I came across the site: http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/Themes/Space/.

I chose this site because it has several activities for both the teacher as well as the student.  It has lessons for the teacher, yet it also has several interactive activities for the students so that they can get hands on experience.  

Several students learn in different ways, and in my classroom I want to be able to reach all learners with a variety of ways.  Using the internet and technology, some students may find this more beneficial than reading from a book.Now, when I search online, I will think about what words are actually important to include, and which are not.  

    It was all completely new to me when we first began learning about feeds in class.  I had no idea what they were nor did I have any clue as to how to use them!  Once we learned how to subscribe to one, I realized how beneficial feeds can be to a person…especially a college student.  As a college student, there are often several different sites that I visit daily to read the news posted for example.  By being able to subscribe to this feed, I am saving an unbelieveable amount of time and steps to get to the part I need on that site.  Basically, feeds are helpful and useful because the information comes to YOU instead of you searching for the information.  Feeds will also help out those who are somewhat “computer illiterate”.  This person could be taught how to set up feeds and then they don’t have to struggle with using the internet, instead there are the feeds available to them so they can get in, get out, and get done only what they need to get done in an efficient manner.

Secondly, feeds can be very useful when teaching in the classroom.  In one aspect, by using feeds I would be able to subscribe to feeds of other fellow bloggers.  For example, I stumbled upon this blog, which was created by an English teacher, that has several great ideas and conversations about students and the classroom.  She appears to be experienced and well knowledgeable about what she is posting about.  So, as an elementary education teacher, I may find her blog titled, “The Open Classroom”, may be helpful: http://theopenclassroom.blogspot.com/

In another aspect, feeds could be beneficial for my students if I wanted them to stay up to date on current events and possibly write about them.  For this, I could have them subscribe, or already have it set up, so that my students could easily access current events through the news.  For this, I would use the feed: http://www.cnn.com/  My only hesitation for this would be that I would only have 5th grade or higher be exposed to this.  Even then, some of the content on this site may be too advanced for 5th graders to write about.
Lastly, in order to stay on top of current education events that are nation wide, I would subscribe to: http://www.nytimes.com/pages/education/index.html.  This is the education section of the New York Times.  This way, I could quickly access the current news about education that is going on in the US.  As a teacher, I feel it is extremely important to be up to date and aware what is going on in our country in terms of education.

I plan on using a blog in my future classroom to provide not only good lines of communication, but also to be a place where all students, parents, and faculty can always find out what is going on in our classroom!  I think that my blog will be a place for all to take part in and contribute to our classroom in several ways.