My favorite Web 2.0 tools

Web 2.0 is WEB BASED and does not require that you be logged on to any particular computer. The information and websites exist on the web which can be accessed from any computer. I love the idea of Web 2.0 tools for teaching because students will be able to interact and collaborate with each other, and also be able to do homework at the library or at home without needing the computer that they used at school. A couple of the web tools that I found particularlly interesting were "Dabbleboard" and "Screen Toaster"
Dabbleboard was so fun to discover, and I think that with more training and practice I could find really creative ways to use this great feature. I love that it is 'live' drawing, the first idea that came to mind was if I was teaching a class on different types of stages in the theater, all of my students could be a part of creating the online whiteboard image of different stages (ie: theatre in the round, thrust, proscenium). The students could take turns drawing where the audience sits and where the stage is, where the actors enter and exit-the possibilities are endless with thsi web 2.0 tool! Someone did raise I good argument that it was just like a whitboard except it was online, and I thought about it and recalled my highschool middle high years and don't have any record of what went on the whitboards because they were all erased at the end of the lesson! This virtual whiteboard is just another product that can be saved and catalogued for future use!
Screen Toaster has been such a fun toll to mess around with. The other night after I got home from class I was skyping with my dad and we got around to talking about hoe he needed a gmail account. I wanted him to see my gmail screen and how you could jump to google documents as well as the calendar feature. So, instead of having to tell him step by step I toasted my screen for him! Not only did he love it it also made it much easier for him to understnad what may have taken a lot longer to explain. This same route could be used in a classroom if I wanted to show a powerpoint or have students screen toast for homewrok and use that as proof of what they searched while online.

Delicious discovery

Screencasts and videos online

I love delicious. Hearing that a site like this existed made me joyfull. I take a lot of care to organize my favorites toolbar and I would love to be able to access that anywhere, because I am always finding new sites to add to my favorites. I also LOVE that I could share this with friends, this feature is huge because I want to know what my friends are using, especially since I know a couple of my friends spend a lot of time online.

About me

Hi! I forgot to do this particular posting and want to give everyone a quick play of who am and how I got here. I grew up in Seattle WA until the age of 11 when my family relocated to Melbourne Australia. I lived there until I was 14 and then moved back to Seattle where I started my feshman year of highschool. I discovered a love for theater and continued on that path through my college career. I moved to Salem last year with my boyfriend to work for Americorps. I decided that I would work towards my MAT degree. Thats how I ended up here!

Fun and healthy eating

1.) Grade level: 7th Subject Matter: Food
2.) topic: healthy eating
3.)
As a way to introduce students to healthier eating habits, over the next semester we will be collecting recipes from the students in an effort to create a class cookbook focused on balanced diets and fun ways to integrate them.
Objective #1: research food groups, and local org. which work towards teaching kids about healthy fun eating-possibly have a representative from one of these groups come speak to the students
Objective #2:Each week the recipe submissions from the class will be voted on for the most creative, interesting, and well balanced and the winner will receive
Objective #3: Once all the recipes all collected the students will take part in the creation, format, design, marketing, and distribution of the cookbook. Each student will cook one of the meals and use their own words to write the step by step directions and any alterations they make to the original recipe. The money raised from the sale of the cookbook will be put towards continued health and cooking education for the 2nd semester.

4.Identify appropriate technologies that can be implemented to increase the effectiveness of the lesson
- Once each recipe is decided upon a student will be selected to make it as an at home project. A video camera will be sent along with the student and the assignment will include that the process be filmed, as would a prime time cooking show eg: 30 min meals with Rachel Ray. Each video clip will be edited by the students and submitted onto You tube. As a pre-requisite to this portion of the project we will watch, in class, a short collection of cooking show clips so that the students will understand what makes a recipe exciting and unique on camera.
-As part of the cookbook their will a supplemental portion which will include various links to websites focused on healthy eating with kids in mind, as well as any other which we feel would compliment the selection. As a class we will write summaries of all the websites, including age range, information quality, and ease.

Describe varied strategies one could use to teach the lesson
-Talk to the kids about what the food pyramid is and how they truly use that in their everyday lives. Open up discussion about their relationship with food and what role it plays in their lives.
-Have them locate a number of recipes that they love and find ways to keep them the same by slightly altering some of the ingredients to up the health factor.
-This is not a health class-this is a class teaching kids about the art of cooking, the goal is to increase their focus on foods with greater health benefits.