YouTube Video Link About the Importance of Health Education

Here is a great video about the importance of health education. In the video health education is even considered a 21st century skill!




The video is by Taylor Mali.

responsible - Word cloud - WordItOut

responsible - Word cloud - WordItOut

Word cloud made with WordItOut

Thing 23

I'm really glad I was able to finish this on-line professional development experience. When I first started I didn't think I would be able to get it all done or figure it all out on my own. However, I continued to work at it and was able to solve most of the difficulties I encountered. One big change that I notice in myself is that I am not as intimidated. I feel I have adopted more of a "no-fear" approach to exploring the Internet and using web 2.0 tools. I know I am certainly not an expert, but I'm much more aware of what's out there, and how it can benefit my personal and professional life. I'm wiling to give try to use some of these things in school, especially Slideshare, and Screenr and social bookmarking. For students who need an individualized project for health, I'll try to set up a blog and ask them to respond to their assignments electronically. I'd love to give my wiki page activity a try, because I think it might prove to be a challenging and stimulating activity. I hope in the future to use google wave since it is a fabulous tool and we can so easily track student participation. A google wave or wiki activity also might be just the thing I need to use to try to set up an interdisciplinary activity. So as you can see I have big plans for the future. What I need now is the time to get them started and support when problems arise.

I'll continue to look for updates on web 2.0 tools. I am astounded buy the gotoweb20 web site. I clicked around and found something called hellohealth. This is a tool exactly like what I saw on the health careers web site that was depicted as health care in the future. So as the saying goes the future is now. Other things I clicked on were animation sites. Each one allows you to create animated movies within minutes (goanimate, meemovie). This would be a good option for me to use instead of role plays in class. Finally I clicked on schoology and twiducate. These two sites combine social networking, course management and grading. These are all free programs. If they work well, they could represent significant cost savings for districts.

This web 2.0 activity, Newington 23 Things, has left me in awe of what's out there and in awe of the future of teaching and learning. The best "thing" about it is that it is based on sharing. I hope that through sharing and socializing on the web, we as a society will focus more on the many other positive virtues of human nature, such as kindness and respect for others. Thanks Joan and Maureen for facilitating this program. I have learned so much!

Thing 22

For this thing I reviewed different wikis then created my own. See the link below if you want to check it out. I had a lot of trouble with the formatting, so it isn't finished yet, and I'm not really sure how it will work, but it's a start. Overall I'm glad I made one but I'm not comfortable yet. I'm hopeful that it will work well and that it will help kids to apply the skills they learned to some realistic situations that will be generated by same age peers form another class. I also have some questions. How do I give each student permission? Who gives them the password? I think I'll go back to Wiecker's Wicknomics, and review the rubric he used. I think something like that plus more directions would be beneficial to have up towards the front of the site.

Ahealthyexchangewiki

A wiki is different from a blog because a blog operates in a much more controlled way. When blogging, a person expresses their feelings and viewpoints about something, in response to a prompt, or in response to something that's on their mind that they want to share. People can respond to the blog by posting their comments. It seems that often times the comments are short, and supportive of the author. It's easy to see a chronological pattern of responses between the author of the blog and the people who post comments. A wiki invites more participation from a group of people. Wikis are intended to be interactive as the content can be changed or modified to meet the group's needs. The dialogues generated in a wiki can be much more random and spontaneous, depending on how they are set up. Wikis are designed to allow on-line conversation between groups of people, who are working on a particular task.

Thing 21

I was inspired by many of the wikis that I clicked on. Pathfinders looks to be a great place for kids to easily find research materials that they can use and they can do it from home. I liked Weiker's Wikinomics because he spelled out the rules, grading policies, had rubrics course guides textbooks... everything! At Westwood School's wiki I enjoyed seeing how one teacher set up the computer lab schedule and posted an online art album. I also took a look at the wiki created by Magie (the Digital Immigrant) for room 118. I thought this was excellent. She used some YouTube videos to teach some concepts and had some reference materials for kids to access for math etc. I am not sure I can do all this. I'd love to give it a try and have an idea but I am not sure where to start (although I did copy down the address to get started from the Common Craft video). Time to manage the wiki, and ideas on how to think ahead about potential problems and prevent them, would help overcome these hurdles. I searched the educational site for some examples of health education wikis. I found one site that had to do with health careers (HSTE Project). They had an amazing video using a Voki and some interactive software developed by MIT that gives a heads-up into what health care might look like in the future. (See the link if you are interested. Scroll down on the page until you get to the New Media Medicine Video on Vimeo). More PD time scheduled during the school year would also be invaluable to further create, share and modify any attempts I make this summer . Another thing that would be helpful is some sort of chart or something that can help a novice like me decide what web 2.0 tool would be best. A blog, a wave, a doc, or a wiki. They have some things in common. Maybe a chart would help me discriminate what might work best. Or maybe I need more time to sort it out and explore.

Thing 20

Thing 20 is about eBooks. I started with the Best Places to Get Free Books. This seems to be a great site to swap eBooks you have collected.

On google books I found a preview of "To Kill a Mockingbird". I want to read this book again this summer due to all the hoopla about its 50th anniversary. I was disappointed that all of the book wasn't there, although the preview was helpful, and it has enticed me to put the book in "My Library". I plan to purchase and read it later this summer, after I have finished reading the Millennium series, and after I have finished my course work.

One neat thing about eBooks is the interactive text ( as exemplified in the British Library Online Gallery site). (This is a fabulous site. I especially enjoyed the book about Mozart, Alice in Wonderland and Medieval times). You can look up a word, get description or hear music depending upon where the link takes you. Another advantage seems to be that you can easily page through them and find what you want. People can enjoy eBooks without spending a lot of money, and it certainly seems to be an environmentally friendly way to read. One disadvantage is that you have to have an electronic device of some kind to be able to enjoy them. Furthermore, computers or readers can fail. A real book won't do that. As long as you hold onto your copy real books can go any where with you.

The NHS site had a lot to offer students and staff. There are several things that I might be able to use with my students. One is the book "Drugs and Society". Students could use this eBook to find information about different drugs. Another helpful book (resource center), is "The Opposing Viewpoint". Last year eighth graders debated which drug is the worst, marijuana or alcohol. This site seems to have plenty of interesting information, and thanks to the summaries relevant ones are easy to identify. There is also a "Family Health Book" that kids could use to look up information about different things. Additionally there is a site called Marshall Cavendish which allows you to see and browse through illustrations, maps, drawings and diagrams and research tools I also noted two other helpful resources. One is World Book online, and the other provides information on alternative medicine (the Gale Virtual Reference Library). I also found a reference book on different cultures. In our building there are students from many different nationalities. I think this site will prove to be useful when we get a new student from a different country. If our password still works I can look it up and find out about where there from and what their cultural background might be like.

Thing 19

I used Screener to create a brief tutorial for students to use just before they log onto a web site we use in health. I asked my husband to type for me so that I only had to concentrate on what I wanted to say. We recorded this once and although it is far from perfect, the job is done and it was easy! The web site has a powerpoint tutorial that can be used with kids, but I think what we made is better because it is simple, and it includes the video of the cursor moving from one point to the other. Check it out!

Thing 18

Which pod-casts did you find interesting? Identify one or two pod-casts and describe how you would use them in your work. (Be sure to include links in your blog entry to the pod casts mentioned.)

I've subscribed to the podcast called The Health Show. It provides information about various health topics each week. The information is presented by experts who are respected in their particular areas. It helps me keep up with the changes in the health field. This week's show, (July 13) is about the HIV epidemic. It started off with President Obama sharing information about the new national strategy, which includes three components; prevention, treatment, and health disparities. He mentioned that everyone needs to do their part. Government, companies and citizens need to accept their responsibilities in limiting the spread of the epidemic. Our country's goal is to reduce the rate of new infections by 25% in 5 years. This will be significant considering the new infection rate has been constant for the last 10 years. A health reporter for the New York Times was also interviewed about HIV in Africa. Some interesting points he shared included that there are now 4 million people being treated there, but 33 million are infected. Two million of those who are infected will die, and 2.7 million will get infected in the next year. He answered the question of why isn't the number of HIV cases in Africa going down, by saying "you can't mop up the floor very well when the water is still spilling". He added some additional insight to by discussing the plight of women. In Africa women are purchased by their husbands. This makes it difficult for them to say "no" and difficult for them to negotiate the use of condoms. Health professionals have used an educational strategy there that has met with some success. It is called the ABC strategy: Abstinence, Be Faithful and use Condoms. Simple mnemonics like that can be used with adolescents too. They are easy to remember and they make sense. This information might be useful to us as we continue to educate students about this disease and it's implications worldwide.

I also explored the Education Podcast Network (EPN) and podcast.com. EPN had some student created pod-casts that were helpful to hear as examples of student work. I tried allowing students to create pod-casts years ago, and think it would be fun to implement this type of activity again. I could ask the instructional specialist for some assistance as I am unsure of what kinds of equipment Newington has to make this work.

Finally I explored the medical minute and medical minutes pod-casts on Podcast.com. (Link takes you to Medical Minute) This site is helpful as it provides brief, simple one minute pod-casts about different health topics. It is an excellent and easy way to bring in a different teaching modality into a lesson.

7/28/10 Links to podcast.com and The Health Show fixed and now appear to be working.

Thing 17

What did you like about the presentation you embedded? How might SlideShare be useful in the classroom? out of the classroom?

I really liked the SlideShare site. I found this great slide show on heart disease. I've only skimmed through it but it seems very visual and easy to understand. What's great about this is it provides materials to help teachers differentiate instruction. You can search the author of the presentation, which allows anyone to check the credentials of the presenter. Some even provide documentation and citations at the end of the show.

Heart Disease

View more presentations from Severus Prime.

Thing 16

Give a review of the tool you explored - what worked, what didn't work, and how might it be used in your personal or professional life.
I checked out a number of the things that are listed. Under google docs I found a checkbook register that would come in handy. I also tried Easybib, what a great tool that is! I could use this in my personal life if I had to write a paper for example, and I could use it in my professional life by teaching kids about it. I'm not sure, but I imagine that it conforms to the format required by our school. I tried the flash cards site (Knowles) but found it was taken down. That's too bad because I could have shared that site with my own kids and with the students and teachers at school. The site did link to the another flash card tool called Study Blue. I set up an account to try it out but I'm still waiting for the email verification. (Which is unusual. These things seem to come pretty fast). I hope it is legitimate because a site like this could be quite useful. I took a quick look at rememberthemilk and google fast clip. But neither looked like it would be something I would really use, although it is helpful to know about them.

Thing 15

With Google docs, other health teachers and I can work on curriculum documents, and parent letters. Everyone can stay current with the latest revision. Miscommunication can be prevented and time can be saved. We can set up a spread sheet that serves to survey other students (even between schools) as you have done for us. Students with an email address can use Google docs as they work on a project together. (Would it be possible for students without email addresses to make them in school?) An issue that comes to mind is monitoring student work. It might be difficult to track who did which task. But some of these issues and concerns can be prevented if we used Google Wave instead. I was able to set up a "wave" using this tool just to try it out, and it was quite impressive. I would love to give this a try with students this year.

Administrators could also use Goggle docs to survey staff about current issues, such as scheduling events or meetings. This way everyone can see what's being planned and what dates need to be avoided.

Thing 14

What did you join? Why?
I joined Last.fm because I wanted to do something simple. I really don't have time to update and manage a Facebook account and don't want to worry about the privacy issues. I liked the articles about managing your privacy with Facebook though. I plan to print two of them and share them with my kids and maybe one of my classes. This topic definitely comes up when we talk about safety and this list makes it sound simple to try to manage some of these concerns.
Has your opinion about social networking changed since working on this Thing?
No, it hasn't. I feel as if I don't have enough time as it is, and to check, manage, and update a Facebook account is overwhelming at this time in my life.
What do you see as the educational possibilities (if any) for social networking? Kids love it and love to talk about it. The topic of safety and controlling your profile should be taught. Maybe Facebook could be used with after school groups such as SADD to share information, ideas and activities. I'm also wondering since kids so often don't use email, if there might be some sort of social networking site for teachers and kids to use to communicate with each other? One final thought I have about Facebook that I'd like to share, is on my Diigo account. I tagged an article as "Facebook in school" and "Newington23". The article was from Teacher.net/gazette, written by Matt Levinson, and had some good ideas about how to weave Facebook use into instructional strategies. I posted a sticky note there about the kinds of activities these new ideas might replace, but I am not sure if you can see it. The thought though came from another educator and had to do with the need to balance new initiatives with tried and true activities that produce results.

Thing 13

Where did you create your account - Diigo or Delicious? Why?
I created my account in Diigo. It seemed easier to use and more adaptable to various purposes. For example, I loved the idea that you could highlight a page and make a comment. When you add the book mark you can preview it easily. And although I won't use all of the features now, maybe I'll want to in the future. It also had an educators upgrade that I want to explore when I have more time.
Reflect on how you think social bookmarking can be used in your teaching.
Maybe I can use social bookmarking to set up a list easily accessed by students to use for research purposes. I can do this from home and don't have to make the document for the Leslie student folder. I imagine there must be some trick to using it at school though. I'll have to think about this some more. Joan also provided us with many ideas for using social bookmarking for teaching. After reading her list I think we might be able to create a list using student suggested sites and to share links to current news items. this might be especially helpful. I know that sometimes my own kids come home with some information that I find hard to believe, or maybe they want me to see something they saw in class. Social bookmarking would provide a means for kids everywhere to locate a resource from school, and share it with their parents.

Thing 12

Tagging is a useful way to organize digital resources because it should save me time. There have been many occasions when I have been at work and have thought about a site that is bookmarked at home that I wish I could remember. Now I can access favorite sites from anywhere. Plus they have made it easy. I'll add the widget to my toolbar and simply have to click on it to connect with the delicious site. A disadvantage is the way I might tag the site. If I'm not careful, it won't be easy to locate the site or to share it.
What is important to think about before assigning tags to bookmarks or other Internet content? The article "Thirteen Tips for Effective Tagging", by Alexandra Samuel was helpful. Some of the tips that I thought were especially good were not to use uppercase letters, look to see how others have tagged, avoid dashes, spaces, underscores and commas,remember that tags can be edited, and coordinate efforts. Perhaps it would be helpful to have another PD for the purpose of holding a dialogue about tagging and some of the other things on Newington's 23 things.

Thing 11c

I created a Voki that I could use as a means to start the class, while I am tending to questions, late passes etc, but it will not paste in correctly. I've tried different computers and created different Vokis and have tried multiple times copying the code over and over again. I am using a brand new Mac and can't figure this out. I also tried looking through a forum to see if there was a question and answer section on doing this with a Mac but there was one question and no answer. Please let me know if there is anywhere else I can look or anything else I can do.

Thing 11b

Thing 11a

Review the widget you selected.

I selected the PBS teachers activity boxes for health. I had a hard time getting this blog page to accept more than one widget, so I created multiple pages to finish this task. There were two PBS activity boxes that appeared useful with links to lesson plans and activities which can provide me with current information and new activities related to health content and skills. Below is the first one, and on the next pages marked 11b and 11c are other widgets and a Voki that I created.

Thing 10

What is the value of Twitter? From what I've read, the value of Twitter seems to be that you can keep more closely connected to other people that you know by sharing what is going on in daily live. It also gives a format for people to contact platforms such as NPR's "Where We Live" to provide feedback about programming or to ask a question.

I've tried at least five times to establish an account tonight, but all I get is a page that says something is technically wrong. So I haven't been able to sign up.

What did you like or dislike about the web site tool? I liked both of them. Time's was a simple list of what they feel are the top 50 sites. I appreciated the summaries they provided so I didn't have to click on each site to find out what they were about. What I liked about Seomoz's Best of the Web 2008, was the 1st, 2nd, and then 3rd choices organized by categories. I clicked on a few links and found some related to health. One was iMedix. In class we spend time talking about the quantity of unreliable health information on the internet and that this type of information needs to be screened carefully. On the iMedix site you pose a question and other members respond. This might be helpful to see if you are experiencing similar health conditions or symptoms. But it might lead to misleading information. We teach kids to look for the author's credentials. I'm not certain, but it seems that on this site, you don't need to be an expert to inform others about health problems.

Update: I tried again later tonight to create an account. I was able to start it, but then the server connection failed. I'll try again later.

PS I was able to finally establish a Twitter account and I sent out a Tweet as requested. I'm following tweets from NPRhealth.

Thing 9

How do you see teaching and learning changing as a result of Web 2.0?
I think it adds another dimension to obtain information, another way to learn. As I waded through the information in this web site I thought of the different ways the material was presented. First the Disney video was choppy but engaging. It caught my attention and I had to focus to really understand the dialogue, and of course it tapped into my emotions as I saw some of my favorite Disney characters bringing me new information in a memorable way. Then the Youtube video which was clear and easy to understand then the Horizon report. The report was somewhat dry yet very informative. I leaned about some of the up and coming technologies and have a better understanding of mash-ups and data. I think this will be a fabulous tool for teachers as they chart or display data that their students collect along the way. I agree with ARTeP's comment that perhaps technology could also be a tool for teachers to reduce isolation and facilitate collaboration to improve their skills related to their content and in terms of student management. Maybe data regarding teachers and student progress is already being mashed -up and directing educational goals for our state and nation.

What opportunities do you see emerging?
I see opportunities for interdisciplinary projects. If we were all linked and had the same equipment projects could be seen as more relevant especially if students were able to see how their work in one area effects another.

Thing 8 Taylor Mali video

This is one of the videos I talked about in blog 7.

Thing 7

I like You-tube for some things. I use it in school for a few different projects. In one class we look first at the lyrics and then the video for the song titled "Where is the Love" by the Black Eye Peas. We use it as a springboard for a discussion on advocacy and ways to get a message across to others. This class then writes their own rap, poem or song with an anti drug use message. Sometimes they use Youtube to search for instrumental music to play in the background to further grab the attention of their audience. In another grade level I have shown Taylor Mali's, "Speak with Conviction". It helps us discuss the importance of saying what you believe in. We discuss how speaking with conviction helps a person encourage another person to do the right thing.

Thing 6

Uploading photos to Flickr from my documents is easy. However, I need an upgrade to upload photos from iphoto. I enjoyed looking at the pictures collected under Newington23, and under Newington 23 things. Sherry is an amazing photographer. There is a great shot of Hammonasset beach in Madison CT that others should check out. I enjoyed creating a montage, and it was easy. We could use Flickr after a field trip. It would be fun to create a montage of the ROPE field trips and then maybe have a poster made. I bet this would be an interesting tool for students to use. An issue that could come up would be concerns related to permission for using photos of students. It might be nice though, for parents to be able to select a photo of their child and print it. It would be an easy way to share the photos of kids taken on the field trips, if appropriate permission can be obtained.

Thing 5

I just completed thing 5 and selected two pictures. The first one is a picture that someone took at the National Seashore on Cape Cod. I selected this one because it matches my beach theme avatar, and because we traveled there earlier this summer (right after school got out). It is interesting to me because it shows a typical view from the dunes, which sometimes give you a feeling like you are on top of the world (although this isn't really shown in this photo). I selected another picture because I've spent a lot of time in my backyard lately, weeding and tending to several gardens. I've seen many butterflies and I am always amazed at their grace and beauty. However, I couldn't get it to upload to this blog because the file was corrupted or in the wrong format. I tried several times but for whatever reason it wouldn't work.

Thing 4

I completed thing four and created a home-page on igoogle. I chose this one because we are using goggle for our email addresses and I thought that it would keep things simple and easy. It was easy to set up the page, but I feel frustrated because I have been trying to organize the page the way I want it, but it keeps resetting itself somehow. I can see how this might be useful however. It gives you a place to put things you use frequently or want to check often. In terms of instruction, it could be useful in school so that if you wanted to use the fact of the day or art of the day it could be readily accessible for you or students to locate. You can organize/post RSS feeds (which I haven't done yet) that can help you keep up to date on selected topic. I chose the usual widgets of weather, news, mail, dictionary, WebMD, you-tube, and a to-do list. I would like to know if we can add our Microsoft Outlook accounts here (that would be convenient) and if we will be able to access all of this from school.

Thing 3

One of the ideas that I read about that I liked that could work for me was the narration of stories (in my room we write role plays and skits using different communication skills). Another idea I liked was blogging to review children's books. Sometimes I have students read a novel as an alternative assignment and this would provide me with an easy way to assess a student's progress. We could also use blogs as a way to record memorable learning moments from our field trips. Or we could use them to interview family members about topics we are discussing in school.

One particular site I found listed on the "blogs related to education link" was the Electronic Pencil. This blog site gave me some ideas about how to manage blogging with students; there is a spot that outlines the rules that the kids have to follow. I really appreciate this kind of information because it is so practical. The site also had some animated videos created by students that explained topics that they were discussing in class. It looks like there are links to some free software on the side bar. When I have some extra time I might check this out!

Thing 1 and Thing 2

I had many thought as I read the article and watched the video. Many of them were conflicting. I am excited to learn more about technology and feel I can come up with some very practical applications for students, but I feel constrained by the time that I have available to create these opportunities. When I think ahead to next year, I wonder about the computer lab. Will the things I want to do be easy or difficult to apply there? I'd love to harness the power of technology but don't want to be overwhelmed by it.

I am aware (and sometimes envious) of how kids multitask in a technology driven world. I hope however, that they still will learn to enjoy the intimate experience a good book and a face to face conversation can provide.

I appreciated the practical applications and prompts that were provided at the end of the Blogging article. Some things I would like to further explore are the use of student surveys, the book discussion blogging idea, pod-casting student work, and the use of persuasion to advocate for health. I hope you provide more details about these things in a different session and am looking forward to what you have in store for us.