The End?

My favorite thing to discover was tadalist.com. I am always carrying around three or four to do lists and now I can keep them all online and they are accessible from any computer with Internet access. I love being able to walk in to work or the library and have everything right in front of me. As far as my learning goals go I think that participating in the 23 things has made me want to keep exploring all the free things out there to help me in my career. One thing that surprised me was that I do enjoy blogging and I enjoy reading other blogs about things that are important to me. Some of the things I have learned will allow me to run a classroom that keeps my students engaged and waiting to see what I am going to do next. I will keep up with some of the different web 2.0 blog sites and information sites we have explored this semester. Thanks to this learning experience I am making a resolution to start a new blog and keep it updated regularly. I want to use this new blog to discuss the life lessons I learn as I hit the real world full speed ahead.

Thing 23

All the pictures above show that the 23 things activity has been created by someone else who allows for modifications. I do not plan to use creative commons much in my classroom. I have enjoyed learning about this subject and I am glad to know there are laws out there to help teachers do their jobs more efficiently.

Thing 22

Games for class

I tried liveBinders and found them annoying. It would take a long time to build up the binders to the magnitude that would make them useful in the classroom. The titles of my binders are Games for class, Musical Theatre History, Stage Make-up. I can see the usefulness of the binders to make things more shareable with my class. I might even use the binders if I needed filler games some days. I just do not have the time to dedicate to making these binders as diverse as I would need to make them a staple in my classroom.

Thing 21

Help me

I loved using animoto.com. I had a blast creating my video clip. I do not really see the educational value of it at this point but I guess it could happen. Anyway, I had a hard time with the audio playing on the computer I created the video on so I went to another computer and it played just fine. I hope that an educational use can be found for this technology but until then I think this is one thing I must file away. I was not able to get the video embedded, all I could do was link it in with the blogger button.

Thing 20

As someone who was homeschooled I found this video funny. I think youtube can be useful in many ways. I will use youtube when it becomes helpful in my classroom. I enjoy looking for videos that make me and others think. I do think that there are some things on youtube that are not worth my time but that is something everyone must decide for themselves. I know that I will use this tool later on in life.

Thing 19

Online communities can be a great place to get to know people as well as a great tool to help you keep up with certain interests. I am a member of several online communities including teacherPoP. I enjoy spending time meeting other people and learning more about things I enjoy doing. I found myself drawn to What's On My Bookshelf. I ended up making an account and I plan to go home and start loading books to for other people to trade. I might find some social network sites useful later but for now I am going to enjoy trying my hand at my new online community.

Thing 18

The link to my Twitter is here. I think it is important for educators to understand social networking sites because it allows teachers to keep up with the social needs of their students. We can even see when our students are being bullied in cyber space. I do not care for twitter because it can get too social because of all the silly updates you can get from celeberties.  I do not see an educational use for twitter. I have a personal facebook that I keep very private but I choose not to share the link to it. I enjoy facebook but I do not think it has any educational value.

Thing 17

I do not like del.icio.us. I found it to be a big waste of time. While anyone can now save bookmarks that can be accessed from anywhere, it is hard to navigate. I I uninstalled the tool bar after just a couple of uses. I had a hard time finding my bookmarks after I saved them. This is not a tool I can see a teacher using in a classroom. I know I will not use it in my classroom. I refuse to use other social bookmarking sites as well.

Thing 16

The start page I choose was Women For Women. This start page spoke to me because of the classes I am taking this semester. I feel that women need to find their voice and use it to help other women find their own voice. I have already made my new start page my home page. I love having it be the first thing I see when I start up the internet. The online calendars would be very useful to keep in an educational setting to help students know about upcoming events in your classroom. These calendars could also be useful for giving you reminders about upcoming events. I enjoyed using Ta-Da List but it was a lot of work. I will however keep my to-do list on my start page. I like having all my needs in one spot. I used lifehacker.com to help me learn how to make my computer more productive. I liked this tool a lot and added it to my google reader.

Thing 15

I had a hard time with the APSU23Things sandbox. It was more trouble than it was worth. I am sure wikis can be useful in an educational setting. I might even create one for a presentation I have coming up. This idea is awesome. I would love to see this concept come to fruition and be used in classrooms. I also think that looking at other people's wikis can be helpful even if anyone can edit the information. My only concern with wikis is that since anyone can edit the wiki, you might have someone trying to cause problems or mess up something and you end up with incorrect information. I will try my hand at creating one down the road and I just might come to like it.

Thing 14

The first tool I choose was bubbl.us. This site was so user friendly. I had a blast making my mind map. I had a hard time brain storming an idea to start this off with. I think this tool could be useful for planning for a field trip or even what activities we are gonna do next week. This tool might even be useful for brain storming on a paper. I can see myself using this tool in the future.


The second tool I choose to work with was gliffy.com. I hated this site because there was no real guide to get you through your first use of the site. I felt like I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I wish this site could be more user friendly or have a tutorial. This site does not have any real educational value that I can see.I will not use this site in the future.

Thing 13

I was not a fan of ZOHO. I found that since I could not post my documents directly to my blog, I had to copy and paste my response into blogger. I do not see how this could be useful in the classroom. I refuse to ever use this site again. I guess it might be helpful in you had no word processing program on the computer.

Here are my thoughts on Google Docs

Overall I prefer googledocs because it allows sharing and editing among groups of people. ZOHO is more difficult to use and sharing is not easy to do. I hope that I have some chances for my students to use googledocs in the classroom.

Thing 12

I played around with the calandar feature google has as well as the translator. I did not care for the calendar because it was confusing and it was not friendly to adding school assignments so I  could put in due dates. I loved the translator because it can detect the forign language and translate to english as well as translate back with just the click of a button. Since I have a lot of friends overseas this tool is amazing and makes conversations so much easier. These tools both have educational value. the calendar can be used as the classroom calendar to keep up with show dates and other important assignments and dates. The translator might be useful if I have a student who speaks another language.

Thing 11

I found it easiest to just search for new feeds. I also found google blog search to be the easiest to navigate. I did not care for Syndic8.com. I found this site difficult and frustrating. I found sites like coupon mom and different homeschool sites. I even found a first year teacher blogging about his experience. I found lots of boring things where people were just posting the same thing. I got tired of weeding through all the junk just to find my diamonds.

Thing 10

I set up my RSS feed and I love the idea of being able to see everything at once. I never knew this was even a possibility before this class. I love to follow blogs but I get so tired of going to each blog. This reader makes life so much easier. This technology will be useful in my classroom because my students and I can keep up with other classroom blogs and news that is important to our class. Using this reader will allow us to focus on the information without wasting too much time going from site to site. Teachers can post their own blog to share things they find that work in the classroom and in other areas of education. I know that I will use this to let parents know what is going on in our class.

Thing 9

I made this logo on customsigngeneratore. This was a fun but difficult application to use because the instructions were not as clear as I would have liked them to be. I felt  lost trying to get my custom creation into this blog.

I got this image from imagechef.com. I know that I will use this site to help me down the road. I might even introduce my students to this site so they can use it for presentations.

Thing 8

This first mash-up came from playing around with mosaic maker. I enjoyed using this mash-up and it was easy. The only thing I did not like was that I did not get to choose my pictures from the tag options. I was stuck with whatever pictures the computer randomly choose. This might be a great tool if you had lots of pictures in your own flicker account that could become useful for projects and teaching tools.














This second mash-up came from spell with flicker. I had a hard time with this site because even at the smallest size this image remains huge. This application works best with one word or maybe a short phrase but it seems to leave out the spaces sometimes. This might be a fun tool to use for student projects that allow students to get creative with the spelling and writing on a project. Overall I think Flicker and its mash-ups can be a great addition to the classroom. I also think photo sharing can be a good thing as long as it is done responsibly.

Thing 7

Playbills

I am a big theater buff. I love reading old playbills and looking at pictures of old performances. I think that using flickr in a classroom my not always be the best idea but it might give the students a chance to see first hand pictures from places or things they have never seen before. I could see myself using this site to introduce concepts in geography of in social studies. I think that students will get a better understanding of certain concepts if they can see first hand explanations or experiences through flickr.

Thing 6

Exploring Web 2.0 award winners was a lot of fun. I ended up choosing to use Pinterest. This site links you to anyone in the world whole might have something to offer on every topic imaginable. I have created a board strictly for educational ideas that I find while playing around. I can also go and search for activities and crafts for whatever topic I am covering in my class. This site has so many links to other teachers and classrooms around the world that I could find a new activity for every topic if I wanted to. Using this site in my classroom one day will help me plan everything from how to decorate my classroom to new ideas for how to present new concepts each year.

Thing 5

School 2.0 sounds scary if you ask me. I shudder to think that some day our kids will not even go to school. They will just meet over the internet. School 2.0 is a concept that allows teachers to add technology to their classrooms in a new way that is free and can be fun and interactive. Most of the time students already know how to use many of these sites even if we as educators do not. The Web 2.0 is the future of education, is a place that allows for professional development. This article shows you how to use many web 2.0 sites that will be useful to me down the road as a teacher. I also looked at Teachers 2.0. This site had tons of podcasts that were geared towards teachers to help make their classrooms more tech friendly. This website is changing to allow more listener contributions of ideas as well as questions.

As I said earlier in this post, I firmly believe that Web 2.0 will create a learning environment in which our kids do not have to come to school because everything will be available on the web. This is sad because more teachers will be out of work and students will not get the one-on-one time they sometimes need to reinforce concepts. Web 2.0 Will also make things more learner centered meaning students will be more responsible for what they are learning. However I firmly believe that parents and the government will still hold teachers responsible if students refuse to do the work.

Thing 4

I have found commenting to be an important part of the blogging world because it creates a sense of community that allows for open and relaxed conversation between people. Commenting also lets the author know that people are reading their blog. When people comment in a professional manner it can spawn a discussion that allows for multiple view points to be heard and considered. My goal is to one day have a blog where people actually read what I say and then respond just like we are having a conversation. This validates both the writer and the reader.

The first comment I made was:

I understand that playing and having fun can be hard for many of us. I know that for me it is always a struggle between classes and work. I have found that if nothing else, I need about 20 minutes to myself everyday. In order to make this happen I have tried to find a chance to take a nice relaxing bath or read a chapter of a book before I go to bed. While this doesn't seem like play, it allows me to do something for myself that I enjoy.

January 26, 2013 at 2:29 PM - I made this comment to remind the writer to try and take just a little bit of time for herself everyday. I feel that this comment brings in my own life experience and allows me to have a conversation with this writer.

The second comment I made was:

Life of a graduate studentJanuary 26, 2013 at 2:36 PM

I like the idea of posting interesting links for your students in your blog. I am not really sure that this would work too well with younger kids but I think the idea is great and if you have older students who will take things you post and run with them, the concept would be quite effective.

- I think that this comment will spark a discussion that might give me some other ideas on how to use blogs with younger children as well as lets the reader know that I like the ideas they have brought to the table

The third comment I left was:

Life of a graduate studentJanuary 26, 2013 at 2:41 PM

I also lack confidence in myself as a learner. I hate feeling like a question might have already been covered and I just missed something. I do not want other people in class to roll their eyes and be frustrated because I asked a question that they already understand.

This comment allows me to add a personal experience to the conversation while showing the blogger that I understand where they are coming from.

The fourth comment I made was:

Life of a graduate studentJanuary 26, 2013 at 4:48 PM

I also find it easy to take responsibility for my own learning. I was home schooled all the way through (K-12). After I left the once a week class sessions, I was on my own to figure out when I would do my homework and when I would balance all my other school work as well as other extra curricular activities. I learned very quickly that no one would figure all this out for me. I was on my own and learning the material was my responsibility.

This comment allows me to take and offer my own experience as well as tell the blogger that I am in the same situation they are in.

My fifth class comment was:

Life of a graduate studentJanuary 26, 2013 at 4:52 PM

I have a tough time beginning with an end in mind. I always want to jump right in and get started. I have a hard time thinking about what I want something to look like when it is finished and I am terrible at making plans to get things done. I would much rather wing it then plan. I hate making lists and goals and I dislike too much structure in my own life. I like structure in the classroom but I love things to be kind of crazy in my own life.

This comment gives me the chance to provide a different point of view to the blogger and allows for me to express my own struggle with this area.

The first outside comment I left was:

http://orgjunkie.com/2013/01/5-steps-to-organize-anything.html#comment-88198 I choose this blog because I have been looking for ways to make cleaning and organizing my house easier.

I really need to get my house cleaned up and organized. I am tired of all the piles of clutter that bulid up because I never take the time to clean and put things away. Thank you for putting the process into just a few steps that make sense and keep me from losing my mind. - I left this comment because I wanted to let the author know that they made a difference in the way I will clean up my house.

The second outside comment I left was:

http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/01/my-best-couponing-tipfrom-former-coupon.html#comment-74749  I choose to comment on this blog because we are both couponers that have busy lives and we are trying to save as much money as possible.

Thank you for providing me a way to stock up on products I need without having to spend hours clipping coupons. I just don’t have enough hours to clip coupons and search for all the best deals. I like that you have brought everything into one place and made this so easy that anyone can really pick up and start doing this. - I left this comment because I feel like she has given me an option that is doable without spending hours clipping coupons. Between school and work I just don't have time to clip and search and shop like I used to. This has been an eye opener for me and I plan to take this info into my life as I move forward.

Thing 3

One great way to use my blog when I start teaching is to have a class blog that allows us to blog with other classes around the world. This kind of interaction with different cultures and schools is great for kids because it allows for students to be reminded that the world is a lot bigger than what they see on a daily basis. Another great way to use a blog in the classroom is for it to be a means of communication between the teacher and the parents. Students can find any missing assignments if they are out sick and they can keep up with what is going on in the room. If I need volunteers for a field trip or the class needs some extra supplies, the parents can be made aware of the needs and help fulfill them if possible.

Thing 2

• What previous experiences do you have with blogs, reading or writing?
• How did you decide on your posting name and the name of your blog?
• What was your experience in creating the blog? Was it hard for you or easy? Why?
• How does your avatar reflect your personality? Did you create an avatar that looks like your real self or someone totally different? Why?

Most of my experience with blogs comes from reading other peoples blogs on subjects that interest me. I have written a blog before but I always let it fall apart when my life gets busy. I decided to make naming this blog really simple. I call it My23Things because that is what I am working on. I have no interest in being super creative with the title for this blog because after this class I don't plan to ever use it again. Creating this blog was super easy because I have made a couple blogs before. I am used to the set up process and the manner in which I can put things into my blog. My avatar looks a little like me but not a lot. I just went in and selected things that I thought looked good together, I enjoy hiding behind this toon for my face.

Thing 1

Well I think the the easiest habit for me is to use technology to my advantage. I am always using either my phone or the computer or some other form of technology to make school easier for me. I find that using technology comes pretty easy for me. I think the hardest habit for me is to have fun because I tend to push myself so hard to succeed that I forget that I need to do fun things as well as get lost in my school work. I am working hard at becoming a life long learner and I hope that I never stop learning.

I found setting up my blog to be a wonderful and gratifying experience. I did not have a tough time setting it up because this is not the first time I have set up a blog. I enjoy the interaction that a blog allows. I am looking forward to playing with all the Web2.0 tools that we will get to play with and explore.