Got all of the BUGS out, hopefully.

I hope that all of the issues that were observed with my Wikispace have been resolved. I just have to go into YouTube and make my video public (which was not what I wanted to do with the pictures of me during my time of illness). However, it is my understanding that others will not be able to view without it. I'll just open it up today, and after the Gallery Walk, set it back to private again. Hopefully that will do the trick. Other than that, and having to try many different fonts to be able to enter my standards and reflections, I'm finally finished. This week was supposed to be for tuning the website up a little. Unfortunately, I had to spend my time problem solving. From trying to get banners larger and centered, to trying to center my projects once embedded. That's when I had problems. Anyway, many lessons learned. Maybe I'll get the rest of the secrets in Year 2.

Finishing Up!

Oh, how I would love to say that I was totally finished putting everything on my Wiki space. However, I am still trying to get the text to look like I want. Add banners to be centered or get larger. However, over the last few weeks, everything I have attempted to do has not worked out well.

On a more positive note, the anonymous Voice Thread turned out very nice. I can see using it as a tool to evaluate what you've done over a unit or a quarter or even a year. It will save plenty of space and I will not have to shuffle through 300 papers.

Satisfied

I do have to say that being in the STEP program was very satisfying! I have learned a lot of technology that I didn't expect to learn when I started this school year. It is also technology that I can use not just at school! Not only can I use the Elmo in my classroom with the students, but I can also use it to blow up pictures and to make home-made posters! Using Photostory I can put my pictures into a slideshow as a memory keepsake! I love free websites, and I also gained a lot of knowledge about websites I can use that cost me nothing! That's great, especially in this economy.

Even though I did feel satsified with the STEP program, I also felt it was a lot of work. As I have said before, the projects themselves weren't the problem...it was the Wikkispace that was soo sensitive to everything we did on it. With teaching Kindergarten, I feel I have advantages over the other STEP members, because my projects (as a whole) were more simple than theirs! If I were teaching an older grade, I do not know if I would be so happy with the outcome of this program, because I would feel like it was a lot of work for the stuff we learned how to use!

Overall, I'm very happy with the STEP program and what I learned from it this year! Can't wait to see what this Gallery Walk is all about.

Wikki Spaces, and Podcasting

So I have decided that if I ever want to keep some sort of online portfolio with my technology uses, or projects I have created I will be looking for a new website to do so. Wikkispaces is good for being free, but can be very complicated. When I finished my projects, I was so happy to be finished. I enjoyed doing the actual projects, but definitely dreaded when I needed to publish them. Using wikki spaces alone cost me at least 2 hours for each project. There has to be some easier way to post projects online! I will be hunting for an easy to use online portfolio!

On a different note, I had an idea. Not too sure about how it will all work - but I'm thinking I might do a Podcast through Voicethread to see how the kids and parents felt about this school year! I have to collect some thoughts before I do so, but the last week of school I do not have much going on, so I might create some project for the kids to work on in class, and have the parents and kids respond to it at home! It might be really neat to see how the parents felt about the school year, and maybe ask for pros and cons....just an idea that popped up into my head just today!

Kindergarten Photostory

I have finished with my photostory for the end of the year. It turned out quite a bit longer than I expected, but I figure...if it's too long, I'll see that this year, and I'll adjust my ideas for next year! I picked really fun songs that will hopefully make the kids smile as they see their pictures from this year. I have included things in the photostory such as their zoo trip, fun art projects they completed, to even just silly pictures we took in class!

Having the knowledge of how to create a photostory is really nice! Now, not only can I compile pictures all in one place, but I can also keep them off my computer, which will save room on my computer!

New VoiceThread Project

OK. I have to come up with a new project to use for the STEP Wiki that can be completed prior to the June 2nd deadline. I am going to put something together where everyone can comment. I'll give it as either a class or a homework assignment. Hoping the technology fairy is nice to me over the next few days. LOL!!!!!!!!!! Trying to keep it light with a positive attitude attached.

May have to abandon the project

I've been out of the office this week. Been pretty much out-of-commision since last Saturday. That makes me well behind my timeline for both the Online Music Careers Portfolio and the Speaking with the Instrumentalist project, both using Voice Thread. I am trying to load the videos to the Voicethread site but have been unsuccessful today. I don't know if it is the computer (using the PGCPS laptop). Just a word to the STEP Program administrators, we really need items that are able to get the work done. I've had to use my personal computer to accomplish most of my work, especially those things that require a lot of space to be used for pictures or video. If you are going to successfully get all of the projects done as well as actively use the equipment and ideas in your classroom, you need more memory and faster machines. Again, just an idea. It would keep the participants from getting so frustrated and give better quality projects instead of settling for things that take up less space.