Thing #6

Wow--I am in awe of the cool things that can be done with Flickr Mash-Ups. These applications are a dream come true for teachers. They offer students and teachers one more way to integrate technology into the classroom. One project that my language arts classes do every year is create movie posters based on the novel that they've read. Big Huge Labs has a fantastic application for doing just that.

One thing that I was planning on doing next year was create badges for my student aides. I think that it will give them a sense of formality about the job that they are doing as well as help them be in compliance with school policy. I used the badge maker on the Big Huge Labs website to create a preliminary template for badges next year (I used my blog profile photo in lieu of a student's).

I really enjoyed playing around with these sites. I am very excited about sharing them with my learning community next school year.

Thing #5

I have never used Flickr before today--what a fabulous resource! When searching for pictures online, I always use the "image" function of the major search engines; one problem with these, however, is their copyright status. I love how Flickr has a separate site for Creative Commons licensed materials--now I can be confident that the images I use (and direct my students towards using) are within copyright guidelines. I also appreciate the quality of the images; there are some really amazing photographs.

I've posted a photograph of the gates of Auschwitz that I got from Flickr. I chose this image because my eighth graders come into the library to research the Holocaust as part of an instructional unit. I was curious as to what kinds of historical photographs Flickr had to offer and was pleased to discover that they have a huge bank to pull from.