Three* favorite websites: Chris Ausprung

It is football time again! And for me, that means fantasy football time! One of my favorite sites is http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/ This site is where I am a part of a public fantasy football league. It allows me to compete with people from all over the country. I’m not a fanatic, but I love being part of fantasy football. It gives me an interest in every football game. My wife hates that, but I love it.

O.k. I should throw in an education site, right? One of my favorites is www.unitedstreaming.com I started going there to find video clips to show to my class. I am now also using it to find pictures and lesson ideas, and to create online lessons/units. I joined the Discovery Educator Network through united streaming and am proud to be a part of this network of teachers who are interested in incorporating technology into their classrooms.

Another favorite of mine is http://schoolcenter.mpsd.k12.wi.us/education/staff/staff.php?sectionid=448 This is the address for my school center web page. I use my website to communicate with parents. I have my newsletter there, an explanation of what we are doing in each subject, and a daily update of the assignment notebook. I also have a “Useful links” page. I use this in the computer lab. My class no longer has to copy long confusing web addresses off of the board. Now they just go to my bookmarked page, click on “useful links,” and click on the appropriate link. This save a ton of time and headaches! There is also a calendar, scrapbook, and many other page ideas available.

*A close fourth is www.iTunes.com I got an iPod for Christmas, and this site can be very addicting! I’ll never again have to pay $14.99 for a C.D. in which I only like one or two songs. You can also download music videos and episodes of several T.V. shows.

Cool things on the web

I think the coolest thing I found this summer was Google Earth. I had read about it before, but was unable to download it onto my computer until recently. If you haven't seen or heard about it, you have got to! It can be downloaded as part of a "Google Pack" from the google home page. Google Earth takes Mapquest to a whole new level. In fact, it's not even fair to compare them. On Google Earth you can actually get a satellite image of your neighborhood (you must live in a fairly large city). Can you find your house? Go from one city to another, and Google Earth will "fly" you there. It is one of the neatest things I've ever seen on the computer (my wife wasn't quite as impressed as I). It is amazing the things you can do on a computer!

Also included in this pack is "Picaso"( a media program), "Google desktop", several free virus protection programs, among other things. It is a useful pack. I recommend giving it a try!

Time

How much time do I spend on the internet? My wife would say way too much. At least in this case, it's for a good reason. I felt really good coming out of the first class, and wanted to get right to work. Therefore, I went into school on August 8th and spent a good 6 hours going through the assignments. At that time, I thought that I was just about done. However, I checked back at the modules and assignments we were given, and realized that I still had some work to do. Over the past month, I have spent on average an hour a day online. I'll admit all of it isn't for class (iTunes is addictive and Fantasy Football has begun!) However, I do spend time searching teacher friendly sites for ideas and news sites for articles of interest to me. I love the ease of google news. I was especially interested in reading about the great Pluto debate. I teach the solar system in fourth grade and now much is changing. I plan on spending another couple of hours online to finish my assignments, and maybe another couple of hours to finalize my project. Happy surfing! I hope your google gets you to where you want/need to be.