The End Already??

23 things was an interesting experience most of the tools we discovered throughout the course of this project were new to me and I had no idea they were out there. I would have to say my favorite were the image chef site and the Animoto activity. I can definitely see myself using some of these tools to enhance or modify lessons that I will teach in the classroom. I think that the 23 things could be incorporated into the Livetext portion of the class. I think the best way to keep up with web 2.0 changes and improvements would be to find a blog to follow or a site to subscribe to that gives the latest updates on new and useful applications.

Thing 23

So what I found that shows 23 things was adapted from something else was a site called 43 things bloggers do. It looks like this is where the initial idea came from and was then adapted to fit the needs of our 3040 Instructional Technology class. I would imagine in order to use the 43 things idea permission would need to have been gained from that sites creator.

As a teacher I think creative commons licensing will come in handy if our classroom has a project or an idea that we are working with online. It will be important for us to register that in order to prevent anyone from copying it and then benefitting from it down the road. It is also very important for our students to understand and know how copyright laws work as they will have to follow them their whole lives.

Thing 21

The Beach  is the title of the video clip I made using pictures of our trip to Florida last summer. This was a quick and very easy to use application. I could see using this in my classroom to make videos for our class to share with other classes, or their families. Very fun Very interactive.

Thing 22

The three binders I created around education are, strategies, supplements, and games. This way I have a binder that I can have teaching strategies in, along with lesson plan ideas. In the supplement binder I have different worksheets, and extra work that I can incorporate into my lessons. The games binder is just different sites that have educational games for the students to play to enhance their learning experience.


http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=847048

I think that livebinders would be a great tool to use in the classroom. It will help you keep and catalog all of your sources.  It can be a great tool for older students to use when they begin to write resource papers so that they have all of their sources in one place.

Thing 19

So for this exercise I joined The Teacher Pop sire and left a comment. I also added the Teacher Pop badge to my blog but for some reason it isn't displaying anything on the badge so I must have done something wrong when making it. I'm not sure.

I am a big movie and TV buff I love to watch movies and I have a pretty good memory about faces so if I see someone in something and recognize them I always want to try and remember what I have seen them in before and if I can't the first place I go is IMDB.com I love that site. It has so much great information to explore not only about movies and TV but about the actors as well!

Thing 20

The video above is a clip from a TED conference. This is a video of Sir Ken Robinson expressing the importance of making some changes to our current educational practices. Obviously somethings we are dong now are not the best and he thinks that if we can individualize education more for each student, then the students will have not only a better quality education but a much more well rounded education as well. I love to listen to some of the ideas that he has put out there at the TED conferences and there are several Youtube videos of his speeches.

There are so many different ways to incorporate Youtube videos into the classroom. They can help enhance you lessons and be a fun way for children to see the information.

Thing 18

I have had a Facebook page for a few years now and I think it is great to keep in touch with people that you may not see on a regular basis and may not have time to pick up the phone and call. My page is located here Rachel Funderburk I am not as hardcore of a user as some of my friends but I use it pretty frequently.

I think it is important to know how social networking works because as it becomes more common practice we may at some point be using it in our classrooms. Or we may have students using it in our classrooms. As teachers we may want to use it as a tool to stay in touch with parents or colleagues. I do have a twitter account but I do not really use it for tweeting, I do follow some people and it is a good way to gather information and ideas as well.  I think I could see myself using Facebook in the classroom more so than twitter. I could set up a class page for our classroom and invite the parents and students to join so tat they can keep up on the daily happenings in our class and it would be an easy way for them to stay in contact with me with any questions or concerns they may have.

Thing 17

I think that the practice of social tagging and book marking is becoming much more common. I had not heard of any of these sites however I do like the delicious site after searching for educational technology so many different things came up and you get to not only see the sites but see other users reviews of the sites so you can differentiate what has been effective and what hasn't.

I think another site like this that has gained in popularity would be Pinterest, I use that site a lot and it very similar except you can bookmark and tag or "pin" and they say so much more than just websites you can pin almost anything you can think of. I have used it in the past to gather ideas for writing lesson plans, I think it will be a great site to be able to use as a future educator because there are some many ideas on there that fellow educators have shared, lesson plans, activities, worksheets, just so much that can be helpful in the classroom.

Thing 16

I used igoogle for my home page. I use Google for almost everything else so I just figured it would be the easiest to use for this activity as well. I like that it really only took like 10 second to get a homepage up and running and then I could change it to make it the way that I wanted it after that.

For the online calendar I choose to use 30 boxes. That was easy enough to set up but I don't think I would every really use it. I have a calendar set up in my email that I use that is already right there in my email that I check many times a day and to have to go to a separate location to check my calendar only seems like an unnecessary step.

While the to-do list seems like it would be a great helpful tool and it may be for some to me I just think it is more unnecessary work. I think it would take me longer to create the to-do list than it would to actually just go do the items on my to-do list.

The tool that I like the most and would probably continue to use is the igoogle home page because I can customize it and make it my own, I can have the information that is important and relevant to me and eliminate all of the other clutter from the page.

Thing 15

To be honest I didn't really care for this activity. While wikis may be great for some people to use I just don't really care for them. I am not a very big tech person so I was a bit confused by just adding something to the APSU sandbox wiki thing and I am still not sure I did that right. I can't imagine having to try and create and manage one to use in a class. Wiki is not for me except maybe to read through and gather information and ideas.

Thing 14

The two sites I looked at were the Gliffy.com and mindmeister.com. I actually liked both sites on Gliffy I looked at the flow charts and on mindmeister the mind map. Both sites were easy to navigate and use, however mindmeister was more interactive and gave more on screen tips as far as how to proceed and create the mind map. It was a bit more user friendly.

I can see myself using both programs in my classroom though, but for different reasons. The flowcharts would be great to use when explaining consequence and rewards to students If they do this then an arrow to what happens. It makes it easy for them to follow it and see what to do. I can see one specifically for classwork If i finish then follow an arrow to what to do next, if I don not finish follow the arrow on instructions to see if its homework or work for later.

The mind map I loved and could see us using it to help with comprehension and expanding on what we are learning that is a great graphoc organizer to use for children to gove them a visual of the material we are using.

Both great tools and will come in handy!

Thing 13

I have never tried to use any of these web based apps before so this was a new concept to me and I was a bit intimidated by the idea of trying something new after having used Microsoft products for 15 years now. I am one that thinks if it isn't broken why fix it.

 I was actually surprised by the Zoho docs site. For the most part the documents, spreadsheets, and the presentations all seemed very similar and just as easy to use as the Microsoft programs. While they may not have all of the same bells and whistles for me and what I use them for they would be sufficient. I also liked that all of your items no matter the type are all together in one easy to navigate folder. You don't have to search you entire computer looking for one thing they are all together in one place.

Going forward this may be a program I will continue to use especially for school. Not having to transfer documents from one computer to another or worrying about where my flash-drive is will eliminate hassle and stress.

Thing 12

Google tools are great! I actually used to work for the Internet company called kgb where people could text in questions and get a text message answer back in return; we used google translate often. We would get questions asking how to say a certain word or phrase in another language and with google translate you could just type it in and get an instant translation of what you were looking for. It works great you can translate to or from lots of languages and it is simple to use!

I am also a sports fan I follow the Minnesota Vikings and Minnesota Twins so I have Google alerts set up so that I can keep track of my teams on a regular basis. It is great for baseball they play so many games and I can't always check the scores so I get an alert about the game. I also love getting alerts about the Vikings to keep up with team news so that I know the latest about trades, or player information.

Thing 11

For me the easiest way to find a blog that pertains to the topic I am interested in is to just Google it or Bing search it. While the other sites that were listed may be great they were kind of foreign to me, so it was easiest to just stick with what I already knew.

Google Blogs was the easiest search tool to use all you have to do is type in the topic you are interested in and then skim through the listings until you find one you are interested in reading further. The Technorati search tool was the most confusing to navigate, they had a lot going on on their main page that were distracting and it made it harder to search for what you were looking for.

Some of the useful bogs that I found pertained to teaching, there are a lot of blogs with great information and ideas in them about things to do in your classroom, decorating tips, activities, management techniques. Other blogs I found interesting are parenting blogs, I have three children each different in their own ways and so it is always easy to do a google search and find a blog that relates to what is going on with them. It is nice to see that there are others out there with the same things going on and to get their perspective on the situation.

Thing 10

I have never heard of the RRS reader program and I think it is a great way to streamline all of the different pages I look at on a daily basis into one accessible place with the most up to date content.  The 5 sites I chose to add to my reader were Fox News, Fox Sports, Entertainment Weekly, The Leaf Chronicle, and Clarksvillenow.com. I love to stay current on my news, worldwide and local, and I am a big sports fan so it will be a great way to get all of the latest information.

This would be a great tool for teachers to use to stay connected to all of the latest teaching sites, they can link the ones they like and have all of the current information right there in one easy to locate place. If they made their page public they could also share all of their favorite sites with fellow teachers and even parents if they are interested.

Thing 9

For this activity I used the ImageChef site to create the above image. I explored some of the other sites but this one seemed the most user friendly. They had lots of different categories of images that you could look through and select from. I saw the above image and added the Learning Zone to the sign I thought that would be a fun image to hang on a classroom door or somewhere in the classroom. This was very easy to create, after you look through the images and select the one you want all you have to do is type your text into the text box. This would be a fun creative activity for kids to do in class if and when it can be tied into a lesson or they could do it during free time, to display in class or take home.

Thing 8

I thought these mashup sites were great!I love that there were som many different effects that you could use to change or enhance the pictures. It gives you so many different choices that you don't normally have to make something unique with your pictures. The site I used for the above picture was the puzzle  site. My kids love to do puzzles at home so I think this would be a really fun site to use at home and in the classroom. It would be fun to take a picture of the class or of individual students and have puzzles made for them to have as an activity in class, or give them to the students at Christmas or the end of the year. It would be a great personalized thing for them to have.

Thing 7

The above is a picture of my three year old Ainsley on our vacation this summer to the beach. I love this picture and chose to upload it to Flickr.

I have not used Flickr before so it was interesting trying to fugure out how to navigate the sight. I like being able to explore and look at other peoples galleries, but as far as using the sight for uploading personal photos for sharing I don't think it is a site I would like to use. Since I started using digital years ago I have actually always used Walmart.com's photo services for storing, sharing, and ordering prints. For me most of the photos I take of our family and children so I do not like having them out there for the public to see and I know you can make it private but I like Walmart because I can pick and choose the people I give access too. That way my family that lives out of state can go look ag pictures and even order prints of them if they choose to.

 I don't think I would use Flickr in the classroom, except maybe to explore pictures that are already available on the site. The one possible thing I could see myself using it for would be to share photos of what is going on in our classroom, like when we have parties or special activities. Those pictures could then be shared on Flickr and parents could go to the site to view them.

Thing 6

The Web 2.0 tool site that I chose to navigate and discover was called KIDO'Z. It is a downloadable program that can be used on a computer, cell phone, or tablet. KIDO'Z is an app that had lots of pre-loaded safe content for children to use but it also allows children to explore and navigate while filtering out inappropriate content and sites. The program automatically updates itself with new programs as they become available.

I think this would be  a great tool to have in the classroom to make sure that the children have a safe fun way to navigate the web, watch videos, and play games while making sure they are not viewing inappropriate content.

It is easy to use all you have to do is download it and begin using. I like that it has advanced parental controls that allow you to monitor the programs that or on it and what the children are doing. You can even set a time limit for use so that children are not spending too much time on the computer. It also has an app blocker and ad blocker so that there are not unexpected ads popping up while the child is trying to navigate his/her way through the programs.

Thing 5

For Thing 5 the first article I read was the discovery Education page that explained what Web 2.0 tools are. I had no idea I had never even heard that phrase until this class. Like I have said before I can work my way around a computer but I am still learning new techniques and tools everyday. After looking at the 5 different categories that the Discovery Education site shared I was kind of surprised to know that I have used some of these tools not even knowing they were Web 2.0 tools. I guess I am further along in the game than I thought! I use some presentation tools, I use mobile tools, and community tools almost everyday so those will not be hard to learn how to integrate into the classroom setting.

To me the phrase School 2.0 means an integration of the Web 2.0 tools into our daily school activities. Combining the traditional teaching methods with the new technological advances to create a hybrid teaching method of sorts. Using technology to the teachers advantage in school, using it in lessons, for communication, and streamlining the learning process.

I read the post Web 2.0 Is the Future of Education and thought that it was spot on there are so many changes taking place and all of these new tools being developed and used now will only help to make our classrooms a better more productive place. There were 10 different trends that were mentioned and I really like the one about social learning becoming more popular if you think about the way the internet has changed social learning has really come to the fore front. It was also discussed that the Web 2.0 tools will help to build a new playbook for the teacher I totally agree they will no longer have to just stand up at a whiteboard or overhead projector and lecture to their students by incorporating new technologies they can make their lessons more interesting, interactive, and accommodating to the different types of learners. 

I look forward to seeing many more changes to come and who knows what we will be doing by the time I get my own classroom!

Thing 4

I feel that blogging as well as commenting on someones blog helps create a sense of community because you are building a dialogue with people around a shared topic of interest. If someone posts a meaningful comment that is a more than just a few words you feel like that person really read what you were saying and got some meaning out of it. They took the time to not only read your blog but interact with you their thoughts and experiences as well. In the same respect posting negative or harmful comments can be disrespectful and close people off from meanigful conversations.

One big point that I came across and totally agreed with is that if you are going to comment on someones post don't just give them a "wow" or an "I agree" explain why you feel that way why you agree with them be a little more in depth with your response it just add that bit of a personal touch and makes people feel that you cared about what you read. The second thing I read that I found interesting was that it is important as a blogger to validate the comments that people are sharing with you. People may be looking for further feedback in their comments and you as a blogger, should follow up on them.

The first classmate blog that I commented on belonged to Clara Brainard. I enjoyed her Thing 3 post especially when it came to some of the ideas she listed in regards to using a blog in the classroom. I thought she had a great idea about using a blog for a daily writing prompt and having students comment on the blog with their response to the prompt.

The second blog I read was Houston Thiel's Thing one post. he had mentioned he was familiar with web2.0 tools but not necessarily how to use them in an education setting. I agree with his statement and told him it would be a great to learn how to use them that way so we can use them to our advantage in the future.

The third blog I read and commented on was Thing 2 by Jared Morris. He stated that he was grateful for the instructors detailed instructions, which I could not agree more. I am capable with technology but am by no means a master of it.

Next I commented on Brittany Lowen's Thing 5 post about the future of education using the Web2.0 tools and how they have changed the way we teach and the way we communicate with other teachers, our students, and parents.

The final classmate blog that I commented on belonged to Chassity Haplin's thing 4 post. She brought up a point that she read in one of the blogging articles that stated you should be kind when criticizing someones blog you want to create a community in you blog between readers and commenter's and being negative or angry only shuts the door on further conversations.

One of the outside blogs that I read related to my car I have a GMC Yukon and it has been burning oil so I had researched to see if others were having the same problem and found a GM forum where many people were having the same issue. I commented on acarrera's post and told him I was glad for the information he passed on. I was unaware that having an E85 engine could  cause the car to burn through oil differently than a standard gasoline engine.

The second outside blog read was titled Deafness in sports. I have a hearing impaired child and am always researching things that we can expect to encounter as she get older. I commented on the writer's blog that I loved his research and found it interesting that while he thought teams sports were positive deaf people are more comfortable competing in sports as an individual. I think it is important for my child to be apart of a team and asked for him to share a bit more of his experience participating in team sports.

Thing 3

When I was a student I would have never imagined a teacher using a blog as a form of communication in the classroom, however the way communication options have changed in just the last ten years alone I really see it as a viable and easy tool to use.

As a soon to be teacher, I could see myself using a blog in a few different ways. The first way I can think to use it would be as an effective tool to communicate with parents that have the technology to do so. I would keep a weekly blog that would detail the activities that will be taking place the upcoming week, in order to give parents an idea of what is going on in the classroom that week and what types of things they can expect to help with on homework. I can use it to post the assignments that we will be doing, along with due dates so that parents and children can keep up with their work. Parents will also be able to comment on the blog and have an effective means of communication with the teacher.

The other idea I have to incorporate a blog into the classroom would be to have it set up for students to access (this would be middle school or high school age) in order to keep up with what is going on in class. I would again do it on a weekly basis and have the upcoming weeks agenda listed in the blog so that students will know what we will be doing in class, they will be able to keep track of what assignments we are working on and when they are due. Students will also be able to comment and ask questions if they need extra help. It could also be a good place for them to interact not only with the teacher but fellow classmates to make sure that everyone is a successful as possible in class.

Thing 2

This is going to be an interesting experience!! I have read blogs before when researching different topics, but I have never written one. I just never really got into the whole bloggo-sphere I would just rather tell someone my experience than type it out for the world to see. I am interested to see how this experience goes and will use it to decide if blogging is something I would like to continue.

I named my blog 23 Things simply because that was the name of the project. No mystery there and I am not a very creative thinker so my imagination didn't take it any farther than that! I am capable when it comes to computers bu I am by no means a tech savvy person. I thought it was easy enough to create the actual blog and the avatar but I ran into trouble when it came to adding the avatar to my blog. I followed the directions to the letter but hit a certain point where my blog page did not match the directions and was stuck. I had to ask for help, we finally figured out how to fix the problem. My blog was set on dynamic view and not simple view so it was not showing all of the available tool bars, once that was fixed I was back on track!

Again not a creative person so I stayed inside the box when it came to creating my avatar I tried to make it look like myself as much as possible but there are only so many choices! I think it adequately depicts me and it will do the job.

Thing 1

I found the 7 1/2 habits presentation very interesting and agree that all of the habits mentioned are goods ones to have to be successful in learning. I would have to say the hardest habit for me to follow was habit 4, having confidence in myself as a competent, effective learner. I see the way other people learn and study and motivate themselves and I am so different when it comes to studying, I often find myself questioning the way I do things, and doubting myself, but in the end my way is what works for me.

The habit the I enjoy the most was habit 2 accepting responsibility for my own learning. I am a firm believer that you get what you earn when it comes to grades. This is one reason that I don't really like group work when it is not graded on an individual basis, I do not like to have to rely on someone else for my grade. I like to know that the grade I got is the one that I worked hard for and earned.

This is my first blog and I have to say it was much easier to set up than I would have imagined. I am looking forward to posting throughout the semester hopefully I will have something substantial to say each time!