ONLY THE BEGINNING!

My favorite discovery was by far the Animoto! I just think this is so cool and useful! I will use this in my classroom and in life! I hate that it isn't free, and I am honestly looking to find a similar FREE website!


This program has taught me not to limit myself in what I know is available on the web! There are SO MANY useful sights available to improve my quality of teaching and life. So many resource that will help me be organized and find activities. I will forever be open to searching for new sites that are useful!


I did not expect to learn as much as I did. I felt that I had a pretty good grasp of things available on the web; but in reality, I did not know about a lot of resources! I am glad I got to learn and explore these sites!


I wish there was some way to allow for more time to explore. I don't really know the best improvement plan for that! Most students are busy trying to get work done and working. It is hard to really explore the sites and use them as much as I wanted!


I think the things I have learned from this site will help me to be a better teacher. I think I will be more organized and more educated on how to find resources to use for my class!


I wish I had a really GREAT plan for keeping up with Web 2.0. I think exploring the web are great ways. I also think word of mouth is good too. I will talk to co-workers about what sites work well for them! I know that teachers and administrators often share sites they use! I can also listen and observe what the students are using to get a little insight into their world!


I hope to keep exploring Web 2.0. I hope to look back through this blog and rediscover things I have learned. I hope to communicate with co-workers and learn new things! I plan to keep researching, looking, and learning!

THING 23!

I discovered that other businesses, educators etc. use the 23 things activity. I found the following 23 things websites:


http://www.23thingskansas.org/
http://23griffinthings.wikispaces.com/
http://tpl23things.wikidot.com/start
http://elearningpractitioners.wikispaces.com/23+Things+for+Educators+and+Trainers


Basically, I will always use Creative Commons when looking up pictures, videos, and resources for the future. I do not want to get in trouble for stealing material! I did not even really know that it was stealing until learning about Creative Commons. Creative Commons is a great site and very useful!

THING 22!

I created 3 different binders. The binders are titled Student Websites, LifeSkills Resources, and Resources.


You can view my binder here: MY LIVE BINDER


This website can be so useful in the classroom! I was a little skeptical at the beginning of this activity; however, I have found this website will be VERY useful in the future. For one, this website is great for personal organization. This website can also be used for students. I could design a lesson that will require students to use specific websites. The students can go to the pre-setup Live Binder and find all the necessary websites. I could share live binders with parents. I can also help students create live binders for research projects. I foresee myself using live binders often in the future. 

THING 21!

I love this site!! It is so awesome and easy to use! BUT I hate that you have to pay to create a video that is more than 30 seconds! :(

I tried to figure out how to upload my video, but it would only let me upload the link.
My Animoto Video

This website is awesome! It could be neat to use in a classroom to make a video of students to share with parents!

I like this site! I just wish that it was free!

THING 20!

I personally think that every teacher should use YouTube as a classroom tool! This video explains why so well! 

I LOVE the opportunities YouTube give for expansion on learning for students. I also love that students love YouTube. Youtube is familiar to students! They will ENJOY using YouTube as a part of class. I LOVE that there is so much available on YouTube.

However, I do not love the weird, boring, and/or inappropriate videos that are on YouTube. Because anyone can post on YouTube, there are several videos you would NEVER EVER even consider sharing with your class. 

BUT....... If you can just be prepared and stay away from those videos, this tool will be WONDERFUL to use when teaching! :)

THING 19!

I created a profile on www.teacherpop.ning.com. You can view my profile by clicking HERE.

I am a member of Pinterest. Beside Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook, I am not a member of any social network sites. Many of the sites are interesting to me. I like the craft sites, teacher sites, and book sites. I thought the sites Good Reads and What's on My Bookshelf? are awesome sites. I joined Good Reads and will use this site in the future! :) I am a big fan of collaboration through social networking and believe it is a very useful tool for teachers!! :)

THING 18!

SOCIAL NETWORKING....


I have had a Facebook account since high school, and I have had a Twitter account for over a year now. 


HERE are the links to MY TWITTER and MY FACEBOOK!


I enjoy using Facebook and Twitter because it keeps me up to date and in contact with people I care about. It is so important that teacher know and understand these sites because students use them OFTEN. They are a large part of the life of students. I like them because they are good for communication and finding out things about others lives. I do not like them because they can cause drama especially in the middle and high school setting. Facebook and Twitter are sites that make bullying so easy. There are times through out the year when schools have to get involved because of a student being bullied through social networking sites. It's important that students are aware of what is bullying on social networking. They need to be aware that they can hurt someone with their words, pictures, videos etc. on these sites. I feel that Twitter is more useful especially in the education world because you can follow tweets that relate to specific subject areas. Teachers could use Twitter to get ideas for the classroom! 


I found this website that talks about how Twitter could be useful for education. I thought it was pretty neat, and I should share.
http://edudemic.com/2011/09/twitter-in-education/

THING 17!

I LOVED the website Delicious!!! This is a great tool that can be used in the classroom or for personal use. This site reminds me of Pinterest. Besides the obvious difference, it is so similar in that you can see a page of websites and links the others like. You can also search and find links that way. You can save the links and follow pages! This is a great tool that I can not wait to use as soon as possible. I will use it in the future as a teacher also!

THING 16!

I created a to-do list on My Stickies. This seems like a really cool website; HOWEVER, it seems more complicated than it is worth to me. Fortunately, my computer has stickies that I use frequently. I will probably "stick" to using the stickies on the computer. The benefit to using the online stickies is that they can be accessed anywhere. Online calendars are very useful because you can store dates in them. You can access them on your computer, phone, or online. I will definitely use online calendars in the future. I think lifehacker is a great tool. It has so much useful information on the site. I will use it in the future! :)

THING 15!

I really like the wiki activity! I did no know much about wiki before today except wikipedia! I learned so much about what wikis can be used for! This would be a neat tool for the classroom or a school. It could be a great stie for teachers to brainstorm ideas together. Students can also create projects within a wiki. I had trouble with the sandbox wiki. I created an account, and I tried to edit to add my post. Every time it would not work! I tried different computers and several other things. I FINALLY figured out that I had to JOIN the wikipage....DUH! Once I figured that out, it was easy! This is a very neat tool that will be useful in the future!

THING 14!

I chose to explore Gliffy and Bubbl.us. This were really neat online flowcharts that would be very useful for teaching. These flowcharts can be used by both teachers and students. I like Bubbl.us because it is easy to use. Students can log in and immediately create a quick and easy study guide or brainstorming chart. This website can be used across the curriculum. Teachers could also use this website to brainstorm ideas or create charts for students to use. I like Gliffy because it has so many options of charts. These could be used to facilitate complex thinking in students. Students can create projects, make study guide, or brainstorm ideas. I will definitely use these sites in the my future classroom.

Thing 13!

I am very impressed with Zoho! This website could be used in collaboration with Microsoft products. When I do an assignment for school, I typically email the assignment to myself. This way I will be able to have the assignments or any material on any computer. I also print assignments when I get to campus. Zoho will allow me to upload my assignments onto the Internet in an organized way; therefore, they are all together. I can also create documents on Zoho which will allow me to type quick notes straight into the account. I could use this website for notes in class. Zoho will also be a great resource for when I am a teacher. I can save everything to this site, and I will always be able to access materials. This is extremely beneficial in case my computer crashes. I could also make to-do lists, create a calendar, and create a list of meetings.

Creating a Google document is very similar to creating a document on Microsoft Word. The program automatically saves documents for you. This is nice because it is very frustrating to lose unsaved work. I have never used this before, but I can definitely see myself using this in future. Students can also use Google documents to write papers and complete assignments. This way they can work from whatever computer is available. This will help eliminate excuses such as: “My computer crashed.” or “The file didn’t save. It’s on my computer at home.” Students can also share the links with their classmates to peer review papers before turning them in. Student's could using Google Drawing to create their own graphic organizer. The options to these tools are limitless. This is a great thing for teachers! :)

Google Document
Google Drawing

THING 12!

I only chose to set up one of these Google tools. Not because I was to lazy to explore the other but because iGoogle is so awesome that it includes the other tools. When setting up iGoogle, YouTube, date and time, weather, and CNN are included on the home screen; however, the user has the options of adding other gadgets. These gadgets include Google Alerts, Google Calendar, Google Translate, and Picasa Web Albums. The user can add all the Google tools to one screen similar to RSS, AND RSS can even be added to the iGoogle account. The iGoogle home page has a place for virtually everything a person may want to regularly access on the web. 

The following are a screenshots of my iGoogle account.

This could be useful for a teacher in many ways....

...an RSS feed linking to other blogs

...News reports to keep the classroom update on current events

...YouTube videos that could be used in lessons

...quotes of the day could be used for journal topics

... inspirational quotes may be necessary for keep sane :)

...the weather to know how your class might be effected

...to do list to keep up with tasks

...Google calendar for keeping up with appointments

...Google translator for looking up language information 

...Google alerts for necessary reminders

...AND many, many others

This is an awesome, resourceful tool that I am glad to have discovered! :)

THING 11!

I found that Google Blog Search is probably the easiest to use. It is basically a keyword search. We are all generally accustomed to using google search; so, blog specific google search is basically the same. I think it is safe to say that Google Blog Search is the easiest to use. I found Technorati to be a little more confusing. This search tool was a little more complex; however, I found the site very beneficial. 

The following are some really neat sites from these search engines:

English Free Style

Professional Learning Board

One Literature Nut

I found this blog very interesting/unusual....

English Teacher X

I found these blog search engines useful.

Blog-Search

Blog Search Engine

Blog-Discovery is a great post on 10 different blog search sites!

Just a side note I LOVED this.....

"The next best thing to be wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are." CS Lewis

I believe the great men and women of history would look upon us with envy as we now have the greatest opportunity in human history to immerse ourselves in a circle of the wise.

....from Cool Cat Teacher.

THING 10!

I love that RSS shows all the updates from the blogs you follow at the click of a button. It is so easy to see any updates by simply going to one website as opposed to wasting time looking up each one individually. This technology would be awesome for school because I can keep up with all the educational blogs I follow in a time-saving way. I know when I am a teacher I will have a lot to look up and worry about, and checking for blog updates might not seem like a high priority. This way I can easily stay connected and generate ideas from awesome blogs.  Teachers can also follow co-workers' blogs or even the school's blog. This is an awesome, stress-free way to keep updated!

THING 9!

These generators were really easy to make and kind of fun! I just googled online generators and click on a few. The first two images are from http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/comic/index.html.

This website allows you to create comic strips. The comic strips can also be printed when finish. This could be used in all classrooms to illustrate the content that has been taught. I found the signs from Red Kid. This website allows anyone to create many different types of signs. I thought these would be neat for displaying information or reminders. For example, the iphone remind to leave phones at home is a creative way to publish a rule. It also helps relay information in a way that is familiar to students. 

THING 8!

I used http://bighugelabs.com/ to create a motivator poster that I would use to hang in my classroom. I would use photos of my students in order to make the posters more personal. Many mash-up applications can be used in a classroom. For example, I could use Mappr to create a map of pictures related to what we are studying in the classroom. I could put a picture of the authors or literary work that we have studied on the map. I could use Splashr to create visually appealing presentations for my class. I could use Mosaic maker to create a mosaic that would serve the purpose of familiarizing students with pictures of content specific photos. The possibilities for using mash-up applications are really endless in a classroom. They are relatively easy to use, but look incredibly creative. :)

THING 7!

I have never used Flickr before today. I looked at online sights to add pictures before, but never this one. This is probably the best one I have seen! It is a great resource for the Web 2.0 generation because virtually everything is now digitalized including pictures. Flickr is also very easy to use, and it's free! :) That is always good news! It is also neat that you can browse Flickr by keywords. Some people have added wonderful pictures to Flickr.

Here are a couple I liked by CubaGallery:

You can view more of his photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/cubagallery/.

This could be useful for teachers because it is possible to search for content related material to use in class.

For example, below is a picture of Mark Twain's house by Dylan Kinnett.

I really enjoyed learning about Flickr and will definitely use this website in the future!

THING 6!

The web 2.0 tool that I selected was Remember the Milk. This websites allows you to create to-do lists. The user can select to view the list through email, Skype, and/or mobile headsets. You can also download the free app. This website allows you to add separate to-do lists. You can create due dates and prioritize the lists. You can also put the list into three separate categories personal, work, and study. This website is handy because it can send you reminder emails. This website is great for busy teachers. A teacher can use this website to organize his or her personal and work life in a neat, organized manner. I create a remember the milk account, and I think I will give it a try!

THING 5!

SCHOOL 2.0
In my opinion, school 2.0 is the new generational idea of integrating technology into the classroom. I particularly like the article TechLearning: Web 2.0 A Guide for Educators. I especially liked the part that stated, "Results of a 2007 national survey conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project show that 55 percent of all online American young people between the ages of 12 and 17 use social networking sites for communicating about everything from school-related issues to where the next party is taking place." I am sure that five years later the 55% has increased significantly and will soon be 100% if it is not already. I think that technology is a huge part of the lives of students, and they learn well from technology. Not to mention, technology creates several different instructional techniques that are easily accessed to benefit all types of learners. I think that in the future technology will become a major part of the teaching and learning process. Teachers can use technology to more effectively present concepts in creative ways. Indirect teaching will be much more assessable at the click of a button. All learning types can be easily taught in one class period through the use of PowerPoint, videos, online activities, and much more. This will open up doors of opportunity for many students and teachers. 

I used this video for a presentation in my EDUC 5501 class. It reminds me of school 2.0; so, I thought I would share. Enjoy! :)

THING 4!

Commenting helps create a sense of community because it makes a blog more of a conversation that just posts. It helps readers to feel appreciated. As a blogger, it is nice to know that people are actually reading your blog! Comments make you feel good! What a better way to build community than positive interaction! It is also good to comment to get yourself noticed. How would anyone know your blog exists if you do not interact?

I thought an important rule in commenting is to invite others to comment. I know that I personally have not usually commented on blogs unless invited too. I'm not sure why this is! It just triggers a little "Oh! I would like to express my opinion!" I need to remember this in future blogging! I also think adding hyperlinks is a great aspect to blogging! It is a great way to interact and share your blog or others blogs to a community of bloggers!


Blogs I commented on:
Stefanie Tate's 23 things
Abbey Thompson's 23
kwyatt5
Tiffany's 23 things
akearns88

Ron Edmondson
loveinleon

The comments I made were simply encouraging and self expression. I like to tell people when I agree and tell them why. I took that approach when commenting because that is most natural to me. I also like to be encouraging because encouragement is a great thing! :) We all need it!

On a side note, I really enjoyed this activity! Nerdy pleasure! I think it was very insightful! Seriously.

:)

THING 3!

I think that blogging is great for the educational environment. A school, a grade, a team, or a group of teachers could create a blog in order to communicate and share ideas. It is possible to create a private blog that only a specific group of teachers can look at. I personally would love to use my blog to communicate with parents about what is going on in the classroom! I could update the blog weekly or even daily on what is going on! I can include daily objectives, assignments, class projects etc. I could also include links for extra practice for what we are learning in the classroom. If I am teaching high school, I could have a blog for students to use to keep up with assignments, extra practice, extra credit, reminders, and updates. It is also possible to set up a subscribe to blog by email; therefore, parents or students can receive my blog updates through email. That way they won't have to worry about checking the class blog along with their email.

This image was uploaded from this website via google images.

The link provided for ideas for classroom blogging was very good! I am adding it for easy access in the future.

THING 2!

I enjoy blogging and actually have a blog on blog spot already; therefore, setting up the blog was easy for me. You can check my blog out by clicking here. I named my 23 things blog 23thingskaw because it is easy for me to remember. It is also the name of the blog plus my initials. I liked creating the avatar. I think she looks like me. On a casual day, I like to wear leggings and a big t-shirt. Even though it is a still that is often criticized and poked fun at, I still think it is a comfy outfit! I usually do not wear my hair in pigtails, but it thought it was a fun look! Here is a picture of me so you can compare! :)

I think she looks like me! What do you think?

Oh and in the picture is my very loved puppy, Kannon! :)

THING 1!

I really enjoyed the 7 1/2 Habits of Lifelong Learning! I think that the habits are great and essential to all people--especially educators. I think the most challenging habit for me is "have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner." I am not an overall unconfident person; however, I can be easily intimidated when learning new things. I start off strong and excited but get easily frustrated if I do not learn something easily. I also get intimidated by others that know much about the subject area because I feel that I will never be able to learn all that they know. I am learning that everyone has to start somewhere. The least challenging is "use technology to your advantage." I am a avid fan of modern technology. Technology makes learning so accessible! It is easy to access resources online or buy computer programs to learn about any topic. Computers, iphones, ipads, and other similar technology makes learn constantly right at my fingertips. I hope to implement all 7 and 1/2 habits into my life. Learning is good for the mind, and I hope to take part in it for a lifetime!


7 1/2 Habits
1. Begin with the end in mind.
2. Accept responsibility for your own learning.
3. View problems as challenges.
4. Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner.
5. Create your own learning toolbox.
6. Use technology to your advantage.
7. Teach/mentor others.
1/2. Play