RSS Feeds

http://www.bloglines.com/public/tomger@madawaskaschools.org

This is the link to my RSS feeds. Wishing all of you fathers a happy fathers day and a great summer. Tom

Linkedln & Plaxo Account

Both accounts were easy to set up and at this point in this course I believe that it has become obvious that there are multiple ways of communicating and dispensing information. These last two accounts, linkedln & plaxo are similiar to the other social networking accounts and at some point you would need to choose one site and make that your primary source of communication. These last two sites are also a way to manage your personal and public business by linking to all the other social networks available. Many of these sites would be excellent social networking sites for regional organizations and as resources for business people who travel the world, I believe the digital portfolio page is a great tool, these are tools, for people to provide potential employers, students and business clients with important information. In terms of my business, high school education, the primary source at this point is still basic email, but the future is fast approaching and these tools give me insight into potential methods to improve communication and thus education.

Digital Portfolio

Greetings to all my classmates in Kin 710. Today was the last student day at my school and tomorrow is the last teacher day for this school year! This was a tough year with a group of students that tested me every day. The great thing about teaching is you try and make a difference and every year you get new students. Anyways, enough ranting on such a beautiful day, my digital portfolio site is listed below. Once I got going and watched the videos a couple of times it wasn't half bad. Hope your quest goes as well. Best Regards, Tom

http://sites.google.com/site/tgerardfpukin710/

NY Times

The following link may be of interest to some of you and the article on pickle juice is tasty!
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/phys-ed-can-pickle-juice-stop-muscle-cramps/

Image generator

I believe on this issue I am becoming technology impaired! I have tried several versions but get stuck at various points in the process-especially when they start asking for pay pal! I can see how someone could use this technology for entertainment purposes but I usually use either a clip art download or some of my own pictures to entertain the students. I do not believe that this is something I would use on a regular basis but if properly trained, using one site might be as easy as copy and paste is in regular word documents.

LibraryThing-2

Discussed the use of this technology with our school librarian yesterday. She was aware of it but questioned whether or not this is something that she would use in our school. The enormity of the task of re-listing all the books is the issue.

I am attempting to embed the link to library-thing and that explains the above link. This is based on the section of library thing that allows for a chicklet.

LibraryThing

Interesting site for people who enjoy reading and also a great site for professional organizations. Nice to see that it was created right here in Portland, Maine. The search procedure is really simple and it allows you to look at what other people are reading and possibly help you pick out your future reads. This is the link to my site for your info http://www.librarything.com/home/TomGerard
I have forwarded this link to our schools English department for their review and possible use. Once again, there is much wonderful technology out on the Internet.

Final Warm-up Match Ahead for U.S. Soccer

podcasting search site

Truly addictive, you could virtually never leave your chair if food was delivered to you. As I imagined, there is no limit to the material available and in this podcast search engine this is also the case. Since I like sports I first went to this genre and explored and then I typed in fly fishing which directed me to a totally different world. Rather than download to watch the video, I used my new found skills to link an Orvis pod cast site to my RSS feed bloglines. Good stuff. I believe I will now order a pizza and continue my quest after I listen to a couple of flyfishing podcasts. Heck, I may never have to lecture again in health class-I'll just keep playing podcasts!

Armando Galarraga's perfect game ruined on the last out

Ump: 'I Missed It'

You tube

http://www.restlessgroove.com/Restless_Groove_Website/Video.html

This is the web site for my son's band Restless Groove and their you tube video's. Hope you enjoy it.
In my school we can use You tube but our censor filter will not allow our students to visit this site. Teachers use appropriate sites for lessons but screening and auditing is required. Our students know far more about you tube than we do!

Ps. My son Peter is the lead guitarist!

library 2.0

This reminds me of an Alfred Hitchcock movie I saw once where the librarian was considered obsolete and therefore needed to be "eliminated"! I can imagine that librarians, who manage books are wondering where how and when on this one. E-books, Kindle and more. Even the wikipedia discussion of library 2.0 is lacking in depth and yes a blogger coined the phrase library 2.0! This may not be the next greatest thing!

Technorati

Overwhelming amount of information and sources of information from all over the world. Now that I am over that shock. Using their search features I was able to find a blog site from a previous student in this class and read his blog about this site. Interestingly, I share some of his thoughts. This site, Technorati, has endless possibilities and as a friend of mine used to say, the rabbit paths it takes you down may get you lost! This site is not as user friendly as other sites that we have explored but much of it may have to do with the design. It fits into a nice user world that is looking for quick ways to grab the reader. This site if managed and explored to its fullest would probably be a very valuable tool. No one has tagged kinesology in the past few months. The top 100 blogs and the Technorati authority is useful. They have taken all the homework out of our searches and verify the validity of these blogs. That is always good stuff.

Del.icio.us

You have to admire the creativity of the creators of this site. Just the name alone makes it easy to remember. That being the case, many a time I have been at my home site and wished I had access to material at school so I could work on it from the privacy of my house. Having access to sites that I have preselected our using the time of others who have surfed the web for information is a great idea. So for private use, yes, I can see how this site has much to offer.
In regards, to my use of this site as a teaching site or reference site for my students, I could foresee using this option to select sites for research that I have previously audited that would provide them with good information. This would be an easier method than writing web addresses on the board or sending them emails with approved sites. The only constraint becomes setting up the site and maintaining it as the teaching world like many jobs requires plenty of hands on and the time left is very finite. I like the concept but realistically, am not sure how often or to what degree I would use it for teaching purposes. As stated previously, for my own personal use I can see the effectiveness.