At the end... Thing 24

Finally... I have come to the end of my first blogging experience. In a way I am sad to see the end, but then again all things must come to end. Then we move onto bigger and better things. I would have to say some of my most favorite experiences were LiveBinders, Animoto,  and Google Drive. I believe these are some great tools I will be able to use in my classroom down the road. I don't think this program has affected my lifetime learning goals. I think that my goals are still the same even after the blog. A take-away from this experience is the ability to write freely what I think more. I have been able to express my opinions openly and not feel afraid to. I know that in my teaching career I will be able to reflect on this experience and the things I have learned and implement them into my classroom. There are many great tools out there and this is a great way to get to explore and understand them. I will be able to show my students what is out there and how they can use it to their advantage. I will be able to keep up with new Web 2.0 tools by keeping up with my various RSS feeds and blogs I have subscribed to.

I don't know if I will continue to use this specific blog, but I am definitely going to consider keeping another blog about my teaching experiences and what my classroom is doing. I have found a great blog to follow about a 5th grade teacher. She is an inspiration in the things she posts and I feel as though I would benefit from writing one about my students and my life. A blog can be a great tool and is definitely something to consider doing. Right now in my life with school full time, part time job, and a family at home, I don't know if a blog is going to be in my daily life, but once I have gotten to where I wanna be, I will be revisiting this experience and using it to share my life.

Thing 23

On the 23 Things main blogging page I was able to find the following credit: "Learning 2.0 - 23 Things for Teachers is based on Learning 2.0 - 23 Things, a staff development program for the Mesquite Independent School District. That program was based on the Learning 2.0 program that was designed by Helene Blowers and adapted by the California School Library Association and others. Content and style for Learning 2.0 - 23 Things for Teachers has been borrowed and duplicated with permission, under a Creative Commons License."

This reference gives credit to the original creators and allows for us to use their ideas underneath the Creative Commons License. Now that I am more aware of what Creative Commons is and how it is used, I am most definitely going to use this within my classroom. I have already created a instructional PowerPoint about Creative Commons to use in my classroom. This will allow the children to understand why it is so important not to copy someone else's work without their permission and how they can avoid getting in trouble for it. Being a future teacher, I know that I will want to share my created works with other teachers. Creative Commons allows me to share my work publicly, but also remain protected. No one else will be able to steal my work and use it as their own without giving me credit for what I have done. I think this is a great tool to allow the world to share their creations and still remain in control of the rights to it.

Thing 22

LiveBinders is a great online storage resource. LiveBinders allows anyone to post links, documents, videos, photos, or anything else they want to share with others. LiveBinders put these into binders which stores them in categories. They can be arranged and organized as you want. The three binders that I created are My 5th Grade Class, Classroom Resources, and Classroom Projects and Experiments.
Here is a link to one of my LiveBinders:

                        Classroom Resources

I think LiveBinders could be a useful tool in the classroom because it allows teachers to store and share various documents, resources, and information with students and parents. When creating the binders you can label them effectively so students will know exactly where to go for and for what. Also, students themselves could use LiveBinders to store information and resources for group work. It allows students to work in the binder then save and share it for the other students to access.

Thing 21

Over The Years


Animoto is a great way to create short, fun videos. I couldn't believe how much fun I had creating this video. The hardest part about it was deciding which pictures I wanted to use. I think I did this whole thing like 3 times before I finally decided I liked it. The website is very user-friendly can contains everything you need except pictures. I think Animoto could be a useful tool in an elementary classroom because it would allow you to create videos for lessons or for fun. These videos could be used in class or posted to the class website. Creating a fun video and putting it on the class website would be beneficial to the parents or guardians. It would allow them to see what their children are doing in class. Although these clips are not very long, it only takes a moment to change a child's life or understanding and this could be one way to do that. I am a believer in using your resources around you as much as you can. This is just one more great tool for teachers.

Thing 20

YouTube is a great source of entertainment and education. While every website has its downfalls, YouTube is no different. There is content that is not quite appropriate for young students, but with parental controls should be easy to regulate what your children can or cannot watch. With YouTube, I like that I am able to search almost anything that I want. I was able to search multiple different things and found videos that were interesting for all different ages. I chose the video "I'm Just a Bill" because not only is it a classic that most people have seen at least once, but it is a very educational video that children can learn from. I remember being in elementary school seeing this video for the first time and then seeing it again later in my educational career. It is just a fun way to learn something that can in a sense be so boring. A great feature of YouTube is the ability to share videos. If I had a classroom website or blog, I would be able to post links/videos right to my web page. This would allow the children to have an additional resource of learning. Also with YouTube, I would be able to create my own videos and post them on my class website. This would allow for students who were out of class see the lessons or materials we studied and stay on track with the rest of the children. 

Thing 19

Social media websites can be useful tools when looking for information or wanting to collaborate with others who are into the same things you are. Educators can use these websites to find out information on various topics, find useful projects, and helpful hints. Along with Facebook, and now Twitter, I am also a member of Pinterest. I started following this about a year ago and use this to create DIY craft projects. I have made 2-3 of them so far and they have turned out fairly well. There are many projects and activities posted on Pinterest that would be great for teachers to use. Although I am not an active "member", I do use IMDB a lot to look up various actors and movies. When looking through other various social networks, I have found that many of them are just like one another. For instance, IMDB and Filmcrave as well as GoodReads and Shelfari are about the same things. I currently use other websites that serve the same purpose and personally, I like those other websites better. Of various social media sites that I looked through, I believe that Classroom 2.0 Ning is the most useful one that I would later use. This website talks about using technology in the classroom. This could be very beneficial when wanting to implement new things into your lesson plans.

Thing 18

Twitter is the new and upcoming form of social media. First we started with MySpace, now Facebook, and most recently Twitter. All of these are ways that people communicate to others and develop relationships with those they have things in common with. Until now I have never even been on Twitter. Here is the link to my Twitter page.

Twitter along with Facebook and other various social media websites are important to understand as an educator because this is a part of our students daily lives. For some pages there are age restrictions, but this may not stop some children from getting on them. Social media websites are a prime place for students to get bullied and harassed. As a teacher, we need to understand how these websites can affect our students confidence, personality, and well-being.

After exploring Twitter, I found that it is a face paced and constantly updating. Facebook can be this way as well, but not to the extent from all different feeds. Normally on Facebok you have your friends who will post stuff and that's about it. Twitter is multiple feeds all at once and from all different areas. I found it fairly easy to set up and search for people or pages to follow. The only thing I had no idea on how to go about is searching for specific things such as certain educational sites. The whole hashtag (#) is unknown to me. As far as using Twitter in the classroom or school, I personally do not feel the need for it. Twitter is something that should be allowed to remain an activity outside of school. I feel that if Twitter were allowed in the classrooms there would be an issue with distraction and productivity. Twitter is best left at home or on the go, not in school.

Thing 17

Delicious is a social bookmarking website used my millions of users to tag and link websites to various topics. This website can be a great way to collaborate with others in your same field of study or simply your friends. As a teacher, I can see the potential use of this website. However, I did not find the website very user friendly. When searching for tags, I did not feel all the information I was receiving was related to what I wanted. For the most part it seemed to depend on what I was searching for and how great of results I got. Teachers can take advantage of this website and others like it by posting and tagging subject areas that would benefit other teachers and schools. When you find a good resource you should share it with others who could use it to help students. This website has potential to be very beneficial. :)

Thing 16

After doing some exploring through different resources, I was able to find some pretty cool ways to organize all your apps or news feeds that you follow onto one page. For this "thing", I chose to use to Symbaloo. I have an iPhone that uses tiles like the ones on Symbaloo so this was a very easy start up page for me to use. What I found really cool about it was that there were many apps available to use on the page and plenty of space to arrange all of the ones I wanted. I am a Google fanatic, so having Google search in the middle of the page was an extra bonus on why I chose this web start up page. Although this is a cool way to organize and check all of my various interests, I will not be using it as my homepage. I like having just plain old Google as my opening homepage. I chose to not use this because all of the tiles I put on the start up page I currently have on my phone. This would eliminate the use of my phone for those reasons and the start up page cannot be taken on the go like my phone. It would be pointless to set Symbaloo as my homepage on my phone because I already have the same apps installed.

Online calendars can be useful because you can keep all of your important dates and appointments in one place and with you no matter where you are. Another great feature of online calendars is the ability to share them with whomever you want.

For use in schools, I like the MyStickies app as well as Remember the Milk. These are two great tools to use as a teacher. Not only can you leave yourself notes on the computer, you can have an online calendar as well. This way you won't be losing notes and important appointment times on your desk with all the papers waiting to be graded. Each of the tools out there serves a purpose for one person or another. I would recommend researching what tools work best for you and then share them with someone else.

Thing 15

I have been fortunate enough to have felt with different "wiki" sites before this post. Wiki sites are pretty simple to use and are a great way to stay in communication with fellow students, parents, teachers, and resources. Wiki sites provide different information and some are interactive. Wiki sites are allowed in schools and are a good way for students to work on things together as well as have parents check on their students work. This also allows teacher to see the work when it is completed or is a good way to post homework assignments. I could see myself using this resource in my classroom through different activities. The wiki concept is fun and inviting for students and hopefully will be for schools as a whole. This is a really good way for all teachers to be collaborative and would allow them to see new students work from previous years. Teachers and students need all the help they can get to be successful!

Thing 14

When working on a project, I like to be organized. Flow charts and mind maps are two tools that can help you stay organized. For this post, I explored https://bubbl.us and http://flowchart.com. I created a mind map for a paper that I am going to be writing for one of my other classes. This paper includes many topics that need to be arranged in a certain order and the mind map allowed for great organization. I was able to put things in the order I need them as well as color coordinate the topics and the supporting facts. This was a great tool because I knew exactly which color meant what and I was able to move the  different bubbles around to organize them in the manner that I felt best. Although flow charts are helpful for projects, I felt a mind map was the best for a paper organization. As a teacher theses tools could come in handy when trying to teach students how to organize a paper, steps of the scientific method, and historical events, and so much more. Instead of just telling your students the steps, they will be able to have a visual in front of them to truly understand the information you are giving them.

Thing 13

I had never heard about Google Drive until recently in one of my classes. After exploring the resources it provided, I was surprised at how much I liked the app. It made it much easier to access my documents from anywhere, at anytime. Here is my Google Drive document. I believe that Google Drive would be a great tool to use in the classroom, not only for the students, but for the teachers as well. As a student you know that if you are assigned a group project, all members of the group will be able to access the project and contribute equally. Also, you will be able to know that your documents are accessible for turn in any moment. You will never have the fear of forgetting your homework or not being able to open up the file again. As a teacher, you know that you are able to have all of the students work in one area. This will allow for better organization and less stress.

Here is a sample presentation I put together about the Original Colonies. This is just one thing you can make with Google Drive. After looking into a similar app known as Zoho, I would have to say that I prefer Google Drive 100 times more. For me, Zoho was not as user-friendly. Most of the applications I was looking at on Zoho were more business orientated. It was not easy for me to find where to create a simple document or presentation. If I have a hard time using Zoho, I do not feel it is fair to have my students try and use this website. Google Drive is the winner!

Thing 12

In today's society, Google is a person's best friend. I use google all the time. At first I was a user of yahoo search, but after using google a few times, I found it to be a much better tool. I have google for my email and calendar already, but I have never used google to look for books. Google provides an easy to use search bar for books. This was really cool because it even let me preview one of the books I was interested in. Google+ photos is a really good tool to store and back-up your pictures. I know I am suppose to create a link to my photos, but I really do not wish to share all of my pictures with the public. I don't want my son's face all over google. I think that all that google has to offer can be used inside the classroom. Google translate can be used to introduce new words to students when studying different cultures. Google books can be used to show students different books that would be interesting to read. Google calendar would be a teachers best friend. This tool would allow teachers to remember meetings, lessons, appointments, and anything else they need. This would definitely be better than having a huge calendar laid out all over your desk. To all my future teacher friends, "Let's start Googling!"

Thing 11

Looking for relevant RSS feeds can be a little difficult. The great thing is that there is many tools to help you find the right ones for you. The easiest way to find relevant RSS feeds was through feedly, blog search engine , and Google blog search. For me, Technorati was the most confusing. I felt there was no really good way to search for what you wanted. During my search, I was able to find some feeds that were useful to all elementary school teachers. A good one was Seomra Ranga. This one has many classroom resources. All the ones that I viewed were geared towards fall, which is good because it allows the students to learn more about what is happening outside as well as educational things such as letters, numbers, and vocabulary. I did not find anything unusual during my search, but may in the future once I dig deeper into them. After doing some researching, I was able to find many other resources for finding blogs. A few of them are blog catalog and best of the web blog search. These allow for you to type in your interests and search for what you want. 

Thing 10

RSS feed and newsreaders are a great way to stay up-to-date on things around you. RSS feed is an efficient way to gather many content areas or interests into one place so you are able to access it all at one time without having to go to each page separately. RSS feed is available on any mobile media. This can be helpful in the classroom because you can access it many different ways and bring up news articles, informational posts, pictures, and activities for the students in your classroom. Bringing this into the classroom allows for different and exciting opportunities for the students.

Thing 9

I used image chef to create this cute word mosaic image that says, "Every child is special". Before now, I have never used this web tool. I found it to be fairly easy to use, but also frustrating when it came to saving and coding my picture. It was not clear on how to do that. To create this image I simply chose an image symbol (format for how I wanted it to be shaped), then I wrote what I wanted it to say. From there I changed the font and colors. There are extra features you can add, but I chose not to use those. What I thought was really cool about this generator is that if you kept pushing the preview button it would change the image every single time. It would rearrange the words to make them look different. Lets just say that I had to push it like 15 times before I got this one!

 

http://www.imagechef.com

This tool along with many other web tools of this kind can be used in the classroom for decorations, school newsletters, motivations signs, and posters for events. I think this could tool would be fun to use especially if the students were involved with it. It would be fun to have the children come up with sayings they would like to see around the classroom and make them look good around the room. 

Thing 8

When commenting on other blogs, I noticed a few that contained some cool pictures. I thought these images were fun and exciting. Before this post, I had no idea what many of the web tools out there were. After reading and exploring some of the tools, I realized that the cool pictures were created with Spell with Flickr. This tool allows you to spell out anything with pictures/images that are found on Flickr. The tool was extremely easy to use. All you do is simply type what you want to spell into the box and click "Spell". There was two different size options, I prefer the bigger one because it allows you to see the images better. At the very bottom it had the URL link you would need to upload your image onto the web. I believe that some of the Flickr mashups could be useful in classroom for various things. For younger classrooms, the Spell with Flickr could be used to make labels for things around the room. These labels would make it fun and possibly easier for the children to read. Flickr Color Pickr could be used to gather color images for your lesson plans. These images can not only teach the children different colors, but also it can teach them about the different thing within the pictures. Mappr would be useful tool in many classes. This tool could be used in Social Studies, Music, English, Science, Art, and Reading. This map tool would allow teachers to gather pictures and put them on a map so children can visually see where the places are located that they are talking about or where things come from. For example, in music and art, the teacher could put pictures of the artists or pieces of artwork on the located of where they are from. The other mashup tools I explored, I do not feel are very beneficial to the classroom.

As far as sharing photos online, I believe that is a personal preference. Many people have Facebook these days or some other sort of media account. With this, it allows you and almost entices you to post pictures. While I do share some photos online, I do not share many. I select which ones I want to and there is a reason for the ones I choose. I believe that as long as the pictures are appropriate, why not share them if you want to.



             

Thing 7

Flickr is something new to me. After using it, I found it very easy to use. This site allows you to search for pictures of almost anything. What I found to be really interesting is that inside the advanced search engine there is a place to select only search creative-commons licensed content. This allowed for me to make sure the artist allowed for use of their photo. Flickr would be a good tool to use in the classroom because it has thousands of photos right at your fingertips. This would be useful because it would allow you to show photos of different countries, cities, people, foods, and so much more. When I started searching I knew exactly what I wanted to find. I am originally from Wisconsin, but currently reside in Kentucky and go to school in Tennessee. I am a somewhat long distance from home and being that I had thousands of pictures at hand, I wanted to bring home a little closer to me. I found a beautiful picture of Wisconsin during the winter.

This photo was taken in Walworth County,Wisconsin on December 25, 2008 by Al Thomas. This photo was labeled "Wisconsin Winter Sunset". What I find particularly cool about this photo is that it was taken really close to my hometown. To be honest, I believe I know the farm that is seen in this photo. I could not believe I was able to find this picture on Flickr and was glad to see that the artist allows for use of his photo. I will definitely be looking more into Flickr and find creative ways to use it in the classroom with my students. 

Thing 6

When exploring Go2Web2.0, I found ToonDoo which is a free website that allows children to make their own cartoons or books.  This website is user-friendly. When creating a book or cartoon, all you have to do is click on the options you want and drag them to the template. I believe that children would be able to get the hang of this tool really quick. What I really liked about the website is not only does it have a lot of options to use, but you are able to add your own as well. This will allow kids to make it even more personal. Another great feature is that after your project is completed you can publish it so others can see or you can keep it private. The only thing I do not like about this app is that sometimes it can take a little too long to load the pages or images, but what then again, what website doesn't have its issues.

This tool would be useful in the classroom or library setting in that it allows children to be creative. ToonDoo could be used within the classroom to make projects or presentations for whatever content area you are teaching. The apps and resources seem to be endless. As teachers we need to use all these resources to our advantage and make learning experiences more fun so that children stay motivated to learn. It all starts with us.

Thing 5

The term "School 2.0" to me means that we have a wide range or resources and technology at hand. Schools used to teach from the standard textbook and whatever other printed materials the teachers could get ahold of. Today, in the 21st century we have the internet, but not just the same internet we had when it was developed. Today we have a more diverse and sophisticated internet. There are many more resources available. School 2.0 allows us as teachers to host distance learning classes, write blogs, use youtube clips, and download useful software/programs. Technology is here to stay and for most students is a huge part of their lives both in and out of the classroom. We as teachers need to use this to our advantage. Many of times I have seen children in classrooms using SMARTboards and interactive programs to learn and understand the material being taught.

What does School 2.0 mean for schools in the future? It means that our students will not only be reading from textbooks, but using online interactive tools to understand and communicate with others. Classrooms are incorporating all types of technology; from SMARTboards and iPads, to iclickers and smart phones. For those schools who are not embracing the technology, soon in the future they will have no choice but to. Businesses everywhere are using all different types of technology in order to communicate and promote their business. In order for our future generations to take care of us when we get old, we have to to take care of them now.

Thing 4

Commenting on someone's blog provides them feedback; this allows them both positive and negative criticism. I believe that commenting provides a sense of community and interaction because it allows many different people to express their opinion and views on a particular topic/issue. Commenting allows everyone to see others points of view and to consider their opinion/knowledge in the future. The blogger needs to establish a safe commenting zone that allows everyone to be involved. This brings everyone closer together because they know they can express their opinion and it will be respected.

After reading a few articles about commenting on others blogs, I found it important to keep in mind that some bloggers respond to comments posted through private email. This allows for a more personal relationship between the reader and writer. Also, I think it is important to write a meaningful comment in response to what someone has posted on their blog. Just writing things like "nice post", "I agree", and "wow I didn't know that" are unacceptable comments. The writer has put the time into writing the post, now as reader, put the time into reading and commenting back.

I chose to read and comment on two blogs that pertain to my career field of elementary education and my love for social studies. These blogs are: http://4theloveofteaching.blogspot.com and
http://historyiselementary.blogspot.com. As far as commenting on student blogs, I chose to comment on students from another class to see what they had to say. Those blogs include: Amanda Hensley, Debra Tolladay, Lorraine Houliston, Callie Davis, and Laura Cooper. I chose to comment on these individuals because they were from a different section and I was not able to get to know them in class, so this was a good way to get to know them. Also, I commented on these particular ones because I found what they had to say was interesting.

Thing 3

After doing this blog, I think that a blog can be a useful classroom tool, maybe not so much for the students, but for the parents. When I become a teacher and have my own classroom, I believe that a blog would be a useful tool to communicate to parents on what is going on in the classroom. At the end of every week I would post a summary of the week's activities and, if appropriate, post pictures of the activities or experiments we did. This blog would allow parents and other family members that are not able to be with their student, access to inside the classroom. This blog would give them a chance to find out what their student is actually doing, not just the short version they get from their kids.

I think another useful way to use this blog inside the classroom is to post homework assignments. This way if a child forgets their homework or tells their parents they don't have any when in fact they do, get it done. Parents can make sure their child's homework is completed on time and correctly.

Also, I would be able to post online resource links within the blog for students and parents to use at home.

Thing 2

Before this blog, I had never written or even seen a blog. Of course through TV shows and other sources of media I have heard about blogs, but never had the interest in following or writing one.

When setting up the name of my blog, I wanted everyone to know that this was my first attempt at anything like this and that if it doesn't turn out very good that they know why :)  Deciding on my posting name was easy... I wanted everyone to know who I was, so I used my real name.

Setting up the blog was a lot easier than I initially thought it would be. My teacher had me terrified about this blogging assignment, but after doing it, it turns out it's a lot simpler than I had a imagined.

I am a pretty simple person and my avatar reflects exactly who I am, well sort of. These cartoon-like characters always make us look a little... "funny". I'm pretty sure that my head isn't that big in real life, but hey maybe it will make me look smarter on this blog.

Thing 1

I believe that everyone is a lifelong learner. Everyday there is something new to be learned. Learning does not always involve a classroom. Learning can be done by sitting on a park bench or in a mall food court watching the world move around you.

After watching the 7 1/2 Habits of Lifelong Learners Tutorial, I would say that Habit 6, "Use technology to your advantage", is the easiest for me. I have always been interested in technology and how it works. In the military I was a Signal Support Systems Specialist. This job showed me a little bit about many communication systems the Army uses. I am technology savvy and at one time in my life wanted to have a career in the IT world. I wanted to fix computers and install them at large companies. Since then as you can see my interests and passions have changed. When I become a teacher, I know that inside my classroom I will be able to teach my children how to use technology to their advantage and show them the many resources out there that can help them succeed.

I believe Habit 4, "Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner", is the hardest for me. Whenever I am in class and the teacher poses a question to the class, I am hesitant to answer because I do not feel confident in my answer or my ability to portray what I mean to everyone, even though the next person said the exact same thing I was going to. This is something that I need to work harder on because as a soon to be teacher I cannot have the mentality of not being a good learner and then expect my children to not have that same mindset.

This is the first time I have used Web 2.0 tools. Setting up the blog was fairly easy, just had to figure out where to go for what. The only time I was frustrated was when I wanted to set up and view my posts. I hope that throughout this class I can learn more using Web 2.0 tools.

Identifying your strengths and most importantly your weaknesses makes you a better person and ultimately a better teacher for all children.  You have to be willing to admit when you are wrong and be willing to change your habits.