Technology Applications Teacher Network

Technology Applications Teacher Network (a collaborative project between the twenty Texas Education Service Centers and the Texas Education Agency)
http://www.techappsnetwork.org/

This site helps Texas teachers implement the Technology Applications TEKS in the classroom. It contains resources for integrating the K-8 TEKS in the content area classroom, and it lists resources for the six High School Tech App courses. There are links to state adoptions, certifications, discussion boards, tech events, and training sessions at region service centers. I think the best link is to “Model Classroom Lessons” where teachers can search by subject and grade level to find lesson plans developed by other Texas teachers. I also like the "Concept Cards" link.

Some people may think that having to “join the Technology Applications Teacher Network” to be able to get to certain menu options is a disadvantage of the site. However, the site states that registration is to maintain the integrity of the site.

This site is valuable for 21st Century education because teachers need easy to locate lessons that incorporate technology. These lessons have been tested in the classroom and submitted for use on this site. Teachers can search 545 lessons. One drawback of this site (as with so many sites) is having time to look around at everything the site has to offer.

I definitely recommend this site for teachers who are looking for ways to use technology in their classrooms. It is also useful for administrators to be able to see what type of training is available at the region service centers.

Thing 31 Plaxo and ical

I visited Plaxo and put in some calendar entries as well as a task list. What really surprised me about this site was to see that other people in my hotmail address book are Plaxo users. When I went to ical to find a calendar, I chose the Astros schedule. A couple of times the site could not be found. When I got it to work, I really didn't know what to do with it (where to send it?), so I decided if I need to see the schedule, I'll just go to the Astros website. There are some interesting calendars available - it would be nice to have more time to look around. If a person does follow a certain band, it would be fun to have the schedule.

On the task list, I put Plaxo and then checked it off since I made my account. It disappeared, but there is a tab to keep completed tasks viewable which I like because then you have a sense of accomplishment.

Plaxo has ecards and I sent a couple out (I think it worked) - I'll see if I get a response from the people I sent them to.

Thing 33 Mr. Picassohead and more

This is a fun site. I enjoyed playing around with the person I was "painting" - even tried blue hair. I tried to upload the file to my blog, but it said it was either corrupt or had an unrecognizable format. I will try the snowflake maker for fun next. The snowflake maker is like a kaleidoscope (good thing this has spell check)and the 2D and 3D views would be good to use in the classroom for perspective. I drew with the spin art, but mine looked bad - probably would need some practice.

Thing 30 "The Catz"

I sort of like the one that says, "I sense danger." I'm not sure if the cat or the bird senses danger, but it's a cute picture. Most of them are mindless dribble and a person can really waste a lot of time looking at cats. There seems to be a large following- they must not be in Web 2.1 or they would find lots of other things to look at besides cats.