Podcasts-Finally I know what they are!

I am really excited about this concept. I really did not know what podcast was and I constantly heard my favorite sports talk hosts imploring me to subscribe to their podcast. Well, I just did it. I explored Podcast.com and looked at some truly weird sites and podcasts. I found some which could be useful for teaching and coaching but I must confess I was really more into finding the podcasts I have subscribed to with my bloglines account. I am really looking forward to listening to these at my desk in the locker room while I take care of business at work. I do not even own an Ipod or Mp3 player or any other device besides my computer with which to listen to the podcasts. I guess that is going to have to changel. I have resisted all of these new technologies but I am quickly becoming engrossed with all of the possibilities.

Technorati

Technorati is quite honestly a bit overwhelming for me. It seems like it is so massive in its scope that it would be very difficult to choose what to read and explore. The most popular tags: politics, celebrity news, Iraq, sport, football, music news, Barack Obama, music news, and united states are all contemporary issues which are distinctly fascinating for large segments of society.These tags make sense as the most frequently utilized and they do lead to some creative blogs. I guess if one spent enough time going through this site there are sure to be numerous interesting and enlightening writers expressing their thoughts about a multitude of topics. I wonder who has the time to do this? I also wonder about the people writing the blogs and how much credibility they deserve. Much like many of the new technolical programs and opportunities we have explored I believe this one will make more and more sense for me as I practice with it more extensively.

del.icio.us thoughts

Delicious is a really interesting site. I use different computers at home, friends houses, at my cabin and at school and it is going to be really cool to be able to try this site as a way of finding all of my favorites. This truly could be an extremely useful research tool as fellow students and educators and others could share information and use tags to help identify and organize useful sites. I could see how a teacher could have students join his/her network and have them complete assignments using tags to find specific related sites and then add their own as they discover them. I believe this tool is one of the most intriguing and useful and may really become part of my future technological activity.

You Tube Site Experience

This is actually the first time I have ever gone into You Tube. I had an idea of what it is and have looked over people's shoulder as they viewed videos. I am really amazed with what is on this site. In just a short time I have watched my middle school band perform, watched the video produced by the kids in our video production class, and enjoyed numerous funny and interesting videos. In addition to these casual videos I also found numerous "how to" videos demonstrating many of the skills and sports we teach in class. Specifically I found videos of team handball which are very interesting and would be great to show the kids as we teach that unit. I found videos teaching the triple jump technique and a slow motion breakdown of it that would be really beneficial for my coaches and athletes. The features which I believe would be useful or helpful on school sponsored sites are the tags which help guide the user to a specific sections, the ability to blog on the site, the ability to run contests and organize groups and video selections as well as the ability to share videos.

YouTube Video-Best Wedding Dance Ever

Technologies in current/future careers

The technologies explored thus far in the course have really opened my eyes to possible uses in my current and future careers. In my present position as an athletic director physical education teacher at Savage Middle School in Modesto I am already planning on how to implement some of the concepts which have been presented. Twitter is an interesting technology in that I can see it as a way to improve the communication and unity among the coaches in my program. I would like to encourage all of my coaches to twitter about game results, field conditions, practice plans, transportation issues, and other information which would be good for a selected group of people to view.

Google Docs is another technology which I believe could really improve and streamline the function of the athletic league to which we belong.
http://www.salidamiddleschool.com/mval.htm We are constantly revising and updating documents relevant to our member schools, which if available for multiple users on this site, could expedite and even eliminate some of the time consuming meetings.

In the future I would like to teach or coach or work in the athletic administration at the collegiate level. I believe it could be very useful to operate a blog specific to my school, team, or program and it could provide a forum for anyone interested to keep up with and discuss and evaluate what is going on. The social networking sites like Facebook could be an effective way of networking within a community of people with common interests and connections.

Web 2.0 Award's Site "OODLE"

I chose to explore a few sites from the Web 2.0 Award's list. One that I found to be very useful and fun to play with is a classified/retail site called Oodle. It is a buyers and sellers site with options allowing the user to search wide or narrow areas for general or specific items. I enjoyed checking on available boats similar to the Ski Brendella which I own. My brother and I are avid water enthusiasts and we are always curious to see what our boats are worth and what is out there. These sites really enable a person to explore a wider range in order to locate and purchase private party items. http://www.oodle.com/

Google Docs

This is my test document for Google Docs, yet another online program I have never heard of or used. I just checked and I am now going to attempt to publish this to my blog. If you are reading this on middle school athletics then I was successful. I guess this program, Google Docs, could be really useful for collaborative efforts by many people not in the same area. I have now been at this for more than 30 minutes. I am having trouble posting this to my blog. I have followed the instructions on the help page but at this point I am not getting it to go. Frustration is getting a hold of me and I have so much work to do for this class and the hist/phil class. I will try again to send it through.

RSS Posting

I am still feeling totally overwhelmed by the technology involved in this program. However, I am beginning to become more and more efficient with the tasks and the ideas of how this new knowledge can benefit me are taking shape. The Bloglines account is really an exciting concept which I will truly enjoy. I go through multiple sites each day looking for information which will now be consolidated on one site. It is really quite simple but I had no idea about this service. I have included feeds from classmates blogs and several news and sport information sites. I look forward to discussing this with my colleagues in the coaches office tomorrow.

?kin710?

?kin710?, originally uploaded by richardrobertson92.

Here is photo I took this week of our new strength training equipment at Savage MIddle School in Modesto. We have the 8th graders in here 2 to 3 days a week. They are really enjoying it.

Savage Gym

P1010098, originally uploaded by richardrobertson92.

Here is a shot of our new gymnasium. We are truly lucky.

Social Network Articles Kin 710

These are the articles I examined-

Ferdig, R. E., (Editorial: Examining Social Software in Teacher Education (2007)
Weaver, A. C., & Morrison, B. B., Social Networking (2008)
Bolan, K., Canada, M., & Cullin, R., Web, Library, and Teen Services 2.0


Reading the articles about social media this afternoon has really helped me to understand more about what they really encompass. I am completely overwhelmed when it comes to technology and I have never visited a Facebook or Myspace page other than looking over someone else’s shoulder while they had one open. I found it quite interesting that during the Virginia Tech mass murder university officials and police used conventional radios and telephones as they attempted to manage the incident. Students, however, were quickly e-mailing each other and Facebook was a widely used method for people to let others know what was going on and if they were safe. On another note, I found it quite interesting that legal authorities and school officials have used information on sites such as Facebook as evidence of illegal activities.

Reading about libraries providing video gaming services was a surprise to me. The fact that gaming is considered a literacy activity is not something I fully understand. However, it would appear that something which seems to be extremely inviting for so many young people should be explored as a means of education.

The story about a professor checking a student’s Facebook site and seeing them scantily dressed with multiple people and obviously under the influence of something is exactly the strange and shocking type of occurrence which I believe keeps some people away from exploring the social media available on the web.

Technology Blog KIN 710

Technology has really become part of our program at Savage Middle School in Modesto. Our new school is completely wireless and there are teachers who are really exploring and altering their approach to teaching through the use of technology. We belong to an athletic league called the MVAL (Mid Valley Athletic League) which consists of a group of middle schools who have united to form schedules, agree on seasons, and use common rules for competition in our interscholastic athletic programs. The website maintained by the league director and is used to post information about the league, schedules, contact information, and updated records and standings. The technology of the internet has completely changed the way I complete my responsibilities as an athletic director and with the new technology I am being exposed to in this course I believe we have only scratched the surface.

http://www.salidamiddleschool.com/mval.htm

Track meet

We just hosted our first track meet at our new school. What an effort it takes to prepare a track and line it. We have to do it ourselves. No district maintenance support. Would be nice to have that.

Twitter blog

I am really inexperienced with all of this weeks tech projects but I am finding it truly interesting to play catch up with these new programs. I look forward to using flickr and can really see myself sharing photos with family and friends as I spend the summer at home in Shaver Lake which is 125 miles from where I work in Modesto. The Twitter account is going to be interesting to follow. The limit on characters forces one to be quite to the point with ideas and comments. I can see many benefits to microblogging and photo sharing and look forward to discussing these on the discussion board.

Savage Fitness Center

Savage Fitness Center, originally uploaded by richardrobertson92.

This is a photo of our new strength training equipment purchased with the grant money from the state. Not pictured are the 7 crosstrainers, 6 recumbent bikes, and 4 upright bikes. We have 12 weight lifting machines and can have 17 students on cardiovascular work with another 24 on the strength machines in pairs. In total we can have 41 students working out on equipment and another 9 on exercise balls and or dumbbells for a total of 50 students.

waiting for someone to blog

is there anybody out there?

more practice

How does anyone feel about competitive middle school age athletics?

TEST POSTING

just wanted to see how this works.