So I've been taking an online course about Social Networking.  I was familiar with several of the tools explored in this course.  What I have learned is that most people are familiar but due to the vast number of tools available educators are unsure as how to effectively manage the use of these tools.  

My favorite tool that I have gained and have already began using, and found it to be excellent in managing blogs that I frequently visit, is Feedly.  The best things about this tool is that it saves time and it's free. Educators everywhere should line up to sign up for this!

Feedly is a news aggregator application for various Web browsers and mobile devices running iOS and Android, also available as a cloud-based service. It compiles news feeds from a variety of online sources for the user to customize and share with others.

So that is the official definition, in simple terms it puts all the feeds from different blogs on one site or in one app.  I found the app to be most user friendly and fast.  There are tons of educators/administrators out there who run blogs like they run there classrooms and this tool keeps you connected without wasting time going back and forth through bookmarks on your computer.  If you have a smartphone you can download the app and while you are waiting in line at Walmart or at the doctor's office you can look through the sites that are most beneficial to you.

If/when I am an administrator I would encourage my teachers to use this site and even get them to subscribe to different sites that focus on instructional practices we are presently investigating.

So there is my 2cents, but don't take my word for it check it out for yourself.

PBL in Pictures

Whenever I teach a lesson, especially a PBL, I always ask myself this question "will I do this again?"  I can tell you that ABSOLUTELY I will do this again!

I have been asked a few questions, the most asked is if it was a lot of work.  I can tell you that yes, this PBL required work upfront, during and even after.  Once the chickens hatched I had to take care of them for weeks after.  I can tell you that it has been worth every minute!  My students learned even more that I could have imagined.  About a week after our project was finished we had some students from Auburn University come to our school to teach some of the older grades.  They came to visit my kids and had planned to share a few things with them, but they later told my principal that my kids taught them!

If you haven't checked out my previous posts about this PBL check them out for more details.



http://s1172.photobucket.com/user/Stephanie_Bradford-Brooks/story/79861

It's Chick Hatching Time!

DAY 21, EGG HATCHING DAY!!!

Wow, today has been long and exciting! We had one hatch and the kids went crazy, in a good way!  We had classes all over school viewing, plus a few at other schools in our school system. My own child was in PE when the chicken hatched, the PE teacher said she cried.  I asked her about it later and she said it was tears of joy.  While my class was at PE we had several classes take a "field trip" to my room to view the incubator and chick.  I had several great questions from students in other classes. This is why I love PBL's like this, not only the kids in the class learn other kids learn too!

I did have to change the web cam app I was using due to firewall issues.  I changed to ustream, so check out the link below to follow along and check back later to see how many hatch in all.

   

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/cesbrooks

Chick Cam

TECHNOLOGY IS AWESOME!!!

We are on day 20 of the Chicken Haching PBL so we put up a web cam today.  You can actually view live feed by clicking on the link below.  We had some issues with the humidity over the weekend so we will see what effect that had.  My students are super excited and so am I.

We started with 38 eggs.  On Friday I candled the eggs using a homemade candler, thanks to my "egg eggspert".  I had 11 eggs that were basically empty so those were taken out.  We had 27 remaining that I was unsure about so they were all left in.  When we first candled on day 9 (would have done earlier but weekends aren't friendly) we had two eggs that we could actually see them moving!  It was so cool to see!  On day 11 we candled again and the class really got into it.  We had some great journaling that day.

Stay tuned to see the outcome and after the project is wrapped up I will post my PBL plan for you to download.


http://10.25.4.87/video.html

It's Chicken Hatching Time!

     Today my class started a PBL (project based learning) that has us hatching chicken eggs in the classroom.  My students have been anxious to see what the "white box" was in our room.  To introduce this PBL my daughter and I made this video of me at our house.  I have chickens at home and thought it would make for a great tie in.  I will try to post every couple of days showing the progress of the eggs and the work the students are doing to answer the question:

How can we grow chickens to have more eggs to share with Mrs. Brooks' family and friends?

I hope you enjoy the video below and look past my very southern accent!