Change?

One of the largest changes in communication is here. Google+
This medium is not described by Google as a social network. In fact, it does have social networking features, but does and will include other useful mediums. One thing to remember when using + is that everything you post or upload to + is open to the world. In fact, in the privacy statement it even says that Google has the right to publish your content royalty-free. So I am reading professional photographers' are not going to upload their photos. Simple, don't upload anything you wish to make money on.
Next, do not post anything to the public stream you do not wish to be public. Share with individuals, or a specific circle instead.

The main feature of + is Circles. This is where one categorizes people. I have a circle for friends, family, GCTs, London GCTs, business contacts, cycling, following, read later, PBS learners, and PBS folks. I could be more creative and create circles for "never respond to these people," "blabbermouths," or "nobody important." The names of the circles are never shared.
If I want to share photos of my trip to Charleston, I share it with my friends and family circles. If I want to share cycling information, I share it with my cycling circle and my friends and family do not have to be bored with it. One may share with one individual, a circle, or any combination of circles.

The next feature I find interesting is hangout.
I see this as useful with group projects, committee work with members in various locations, committee interviews, any sort of collaboration where ideas need to be voiced. How hangout works is this; one person begins the hangout and 9 more may click on the join hangout button. On one's screen, the person speaking will appear in a streaming video. As others join the hangout, they will appear in a smaller video along the bottom of the screen. I experienced a hangout a couple of days ago where 4 time zones were represented (Germany, England, South Carolina, and California). We were all GCTs and were discussing hangout, circles, use of these features for instructional purposes.

Next, I need to figure out how huddle is different from hangout.

If you would like an invitation to Google +, let me know and I will share.

Creative Commons Kiwi

Teach Mom How to Set Up a Google Gmail Account

Google Maps presentation UTC, June 15, 2011

So What Happened to all my Posts?

Clueless...

Opportunities

Registration is open for South Carolina's largest technology conference! People come from all over the state, and from nearby states just to attend this conference. The number of participants may have to be limited this year, so be sure to sign up for this free conference soon. I'll be presenting using Google Maps for lessons, and a couple of other sessions as well. June 14 and 15 are the dates, save them!

Why wouldn't you attend? This conference is for those who wish to find out about how to integrate more technology into classroom activities...go ahead, sign up, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Questions

What do you teach in your classroom? Do you strictly follow the standards, or do you teach what the students need to know? Do you teach standards from previous years that students need in order for them to understand the content they are to learn for the current year? What about motivational lessons, is there time? Are we testing our kids so much that there is no time to teach? Is it better to teach more thoroughly, or to make sure everything is covered? These are all questions that need to be answered as we go about improving our schools.

Teachers are responsible for their students' learning what the state says they need to learn before leaving that grade. What does a teacher do when previous learning does not "stick" with the student? The student gets placed into the next grade even though they are not ready to be there. Still, what does the current teacher do? I say the current teacher does everything humanly possible to help the student learn as much as they can and to help the student retain the information. After all, why do we teach? What good do we do if the learning isn't remembered? If this means teaching the basics, then we should teach basics. If it means helping Johnny learn to read, then we should help Johnny learn to read. Yes, this takes time. Yes, a couple of the indicators for the standard might be missed. Would we rather Johnny understand concepts and be able to answer application questions about them, or to be able to recognize that we covered the concepts in class? Will Johnny be able to get the answers correct on the big important state test? Even more important, what does the state test mean to Johnny?

Collaborative Planning