LAST THING!!! YIPEE!!!!

WOW, I can't believe that I am FINALLY done!! I have learned so much in this class, and through these 23 things. I loved many of the things that I did. I must admit, that since I had never before been a blogger, I really enjoyed learning how to create a blog, that in itself was one of my favorite things. Another favorite was creating a video. The video was very fun to make, and I think that creating one of these with picture of your class through out the year, and then playing it at the end of the year, would be a very fun thing to do. I also liked creating the signs, and things, that was very fun to me. I also enjoyed making and listening to podcasts. One can find many resourceful things to use in a classroom, with a podcast.
My lifelong learning goals have changed quite a bit since I have started this process, I never new how important using technology in the classroom could be, but it is , and it is something that I must get used to doing.
I did not expect to learn so much in this process. I honestly thought that this was going to be long, boring type of busy work, but I was wrong. I learned many things necessary to teach a technology filled classroom. Most all of the 23 things I found interesting, and not in the least bit boring.
I honestly do not see anything that could be done differently to improve this project.
What I have learned will influence my teaching ability, because I can use technology to my advantage. I can create things that keep my students interested, I can chat with other teachers around the country for in class ideas, or support if I need it, and I have access to many many lesson plans that I can tweak and use for my self. I plan to keep up to date on many of these things by getting online and checking them ever so often, so that I may be able to stay up to date in my classroom.

Thing # 23

One thing that I found that used the creative commons, was a webquest example that we looked at in class. It was a webquest about making ice cream. It had the creative commons symbol on there that stated others could use and tweak the webquest, but the original author had to recieve credit for it.
I can use this in the future as a teacher,by making sure that I do not use any thing in the class room that is not intended to be used by others, and if I do use anything, to use it appropriately according to creative commons. I believe that it is important to teach our children the moral responsibility to not steal or take other peoples work.

Thing # 22

http://www.podcastdirectory.com/podshows/3652614"


I went to podcastdirectory.com, because I found that it was the easiest to use. One can just go to the website, pick a subject, I picked childrens education. I then went to fairy tales, and listened to Emma Bee's "The Emporer's New Clothes."
I think that podcasts are a good thing to use in the classroom, it can allow music and sounds that would make the story or lesson more interesting. I will probably use podcasts in my future elementary school classroom.There are several interesting educational podcast that I might listen to regularly.

Thing # 21

I very much enjoyed this. I made a picture slide show a couple years ago for my wedding, and I wish that I had known about this site then. It was very easy to use, and directed every step that you were to take. I uploaded 10 random pictures of me and my family, picked out a song that was already on the site, and wala I have a video.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Thing #20

I love this website, because you can find pretty much anything that you could want or need to use in your class room.

I chose this video, because it is a creat educational video for small children. It teaches the alphabet, and I believe that the song and pictures would keep the children interested.

Since any type of educational video can be found on youtube, i believe that it would be a greatthing to put in libraries. I believe that it would work very much like google or encyclopedias, only using videos.

Thing #19

This is the first time that i have heard of many of these websites. The only social networks that I am a part of is facebook and myspace.
I found some of these other social networks very interesting. I think that the educational ones were great to use in the school system. Not only the school system, but teachers can use it to exchange ideas with other teachers. Also,while looking through some of these, I found many that were great to use on a personal bases. I found a site on scrapbooking, since I love to scrapbook, I really liked this site, and will use it again. There is also a site where people can exchange recipes, I really liked that one as well.
I will continue to explore some of these sites.

Thing #18

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1160668442#!/?ref=home

This "thing" was an easy one for me, because I have had a myspace and facebook profile for several years now. Social networking is important for teachers to know about, because the entire world is pretty much revolved around social networking, and today's teachers need to be in the loop to stay relevant.Also, teachers can communicate with other teachers from all around the world on social networks, and get advise on many educational things.

I like that on each site you can choose who does or does not see your profile, the privacy control settings are a wonderful thing. What I do not like on facebook is that every one on your friend list can see the conversation you have with someone else on their wall.

I can see using some of these sites for the classroom, because students and teachers can communicate through the social network, about assignments, in class activities, field trips, and other things. It is an excellent way for students and teachers to communicate after school hours, about the assignments that they are given.

Thing #17

Over all, I love the social bookmarking. There were some things that the podcast talked about, that I am not sure I really understood, but when looking through the site I really liked it. I have so much stuff in my favorites list, and this makes it so much better. Not only will it keep my bookmarks organized through tagging, but I can use it on any computer, not just one, that is awesome to me.
Not only is this a great thing for my own personal use, but it is also a wonderful thing for educators to use, because it is a social bookmark. Not only can you keep your favorite education websites organized, but you can also share them with other teachers. If an educator finds a good website for their class, other teachers can find it and use it. It is a great way to share information to each other. Also, parents could get on this and see what the teachers are using in the classroom. I really love the social bookmarking.

Thing #16

The first thing that I did, was make igoogle my home page. I had already created an igoogle account, but I got on there and added more things. My home page was already just the plain google, so I changed it and made igoogle my home page. I like it, because it has my favorite books listed, the weather, a calendar, and my RSS feed on it.
For my to do list, I created an account in the Ta da website. Although this is a very good way to stay organized, I do not think that I would use it personally, just because it takes to much time and work to get on the website and and look up my list.
I have a calendar on my igoogle and yahoo account, and I think it is a wonderful way for me to stay organized. Since I get on the computer every day, and the igoogle is already my home page, the things that I need to remember are right in front of my face too look at. I also think that it is an excellent thing to use in the classroom. The educator could link it to a blog or their personal website, so that the students and parents could look up the list and see what assignments were due when. It is a wonderful way to keep classroom assignments, and other important events organized, and easy to see.

Thing #15

I must admit, that I did not before know all of the things that one could use wikis for. I looked at several of the wiki websites, that included book lovers wiki, ten reasons wiki, and teacher librarian wiki. I can somewhat see how these websites could be useful. Wikipedia, can be a could place to find information about anything one would want to know. The down side to this, is that anyone can post and say anything, whether the information is correct or not. Educators can use these webaites to share knowledge and information. It is also a very good way to keep things organized, like what is needed on field trips and such. Personally I do not like wikis, because even though there are some good things about them, anyone, can change the information on the site to make it say whatever they want. I do not see my self ever using a wiki.

Thing #14

The first website that I went to was gliffy.com. I really liked it, not only could you use it in your class room to create venn diagrams, flow charts, and graphs, but you could also use it to create floor plans and interior design. This is a great thing to use in the classroom layout project that we have to do for this class. I spent a long time on this website just playing with it, I liked it a lot.
The second website that went to was bubbl.us. I also really liked this site. It was very easy to use, and one could sign up to use it very quickly. This is a wonderful thing to use in the classroom to highlight the important things, and show were each item is related. It is very colorful, and pretty to look at. This mind map is different from the flow chart, because it allows you to brain storm as you go along, where as the flow chart, you had to know where you were going from the beginning. I really liked both of these sites.

Thing #13

I found this to be a very good website. When I first started reading about this, I was not sure that I was going to like it, but when I signed up and started using it, I was surprised at how much I did like it. It was very easy to use, very similiar to microsoft office. There are other sites similiar to this, but you have to pay for them, so the fact that this is a free site is very suprising to me. It is a very convinient thing to use, if you want to share your work quickly. It is also a good thing, because you can save your work on this website with out taking up space on your memory stick. I will use this website again.

Thing #12

Calendar link
http://www.google.com/calendar/render?gsessionid=gl6cu0C2PEMEVAjgeccj9A



Thing number 12 was a really easy thing for me to do. I am fan of google, and already had an acount to igoogle. Igoogle is a really good thing to use, to keep up with the weather, books, and many other things that one might be interested in.you can also watch youtube videos on it. I also just now created a google Calendar. It is a good way to keep yourself organized and not forget important events.
I believe that both of these things are wonderful things to use in the classroom. Igoogle can be used in the class room to look up books and articles that a student might need. It is also a good way to pull up educational videos. The calendar is also an excellent thing to use in the classroom. Important dates, like test dates, field trips and report cards could all be placed on it to keep the parents informed. I would absolutely use some of these things in my future classroom.

igoogle link:
http://www.google.com/ig?hl=en

Thing #11

First I must start out saying that I absolutely hated this. I do not know if I just missed something, but I really do not get it. I could not get the links to work on the blogs that I wanted to look at,but anyways, I just hope that I did this correctly. The google blog finder was the easiest for me to use, it was actually the only one that I figured out how to use. The rest of search tools were confusing for me. So to answer the question of which one was the most confusing for me, ALL OF THEM, minus google.
I did find a blog of a girl from tenneessee who is doing mission work in Africa, and I found that very interesting. I also found a feed from my favorite fictional author Beverly Lewis, I that that was very exciting. It it going to keep me up to date on all of her new book releases, so I do like that. I must admit that I did not discover any other ways to come up with news feeds. Maybe with more practice, I will get better at this.

Thing #10

For thing number 10, I was to create a RSS account. I chose google reader. I subscribed to the following blogs: Cool Cat Teachers, Fox News, Beverly Lewis, Dangerously Irrevelant, and Christian Schools vs. Public Schools.
I like the RSS reader because you can find pretty much any topic that you are interested in. The RSS reader is very convenient because one does not have to go to the library to find a book or feed, they can just turn on their computer and find it. It also allows one to stay up to date on current ideas and trends.The RSS can be used in the school and in the office, because it is great for presentations, and allows fairly easy access to links that one may need. It would be great for a social studies class, because you can easlily keep up with government and politics.Because of this, I think that the RSS is a wonderful way for teachers to use in the classroom and keep up with technology.

Thing #9

Fake magazine cover

scrap book page


For thing number 9 we were to create some things using generators. I really liked this thing, it was fun to do. Although I made several different things, I posted a magazine cover, with a wedding picture, and a scrapbook page. I went to the following website to do this: http://www.customsigngenerator.com/ I
I also made a funny face with my face in a monkey's body, but for some reason could not get it to upload.
I think that things like this are a great thing to have in the class room. A teacher could make a banner or sign to personalize her class room or give out as a reward to a student who has done outstanding work. A teacher could also create a scrapbook page of her classroom on a memorable trip like a field trip or field day, and hang it in the class room. There are many wonderful things that one can do with these generators.

Thing #8

This was a fun exercise to perform. I created my name out of pictures, and I created a puzzle from one of my wedding photos. I can see how some of these things would be good to use in the classroom. Elementary children could find a phot that they liked and created a puzzle out of it. This is a wonderful way for children to get interested in what they are doing. I could also use this in some of my power points used to teach, that would make it more personal or intersting for the children.
In a world of online social networks and images, I do not see a big deal in posting pictures so that your friends and family can see. I think that privacy settings need to be set to where only the people that you know can see them, but as long as that is done, I do not see anything wrong with it.

Thing #7

My flickr photo!

I for the first time just created a flickr account.I have never created a website for photos only, but I still found that it was very much similar to uploading pictures on myspace or facebook, so it was not very hard for me. I created my own account, and found out that many of my friends have a flickr account.I uploaded two photos, one of me and my cousin, and one that i just took of my living room. I sent one of these to the group apsu23things.
I do not know if I would use flicker in a school or library, but I can see using it personally at my home. It would be a great way to keep up with relatives who do not live close by and old friends. Using flicker would allow one to watch someone elses children grow up, even if you live across the world from each other.
In a world of social networking, and such, I would not be worried about posting pictures online. I think that as long as one uses the privacy correctly, and does not put any information about where they work or live on their profile, it should be ok.

Thing #6

Tons and tons of websites are at our desposal every day, although their were many useful applications in the online webware page, my favorite for a school setting, would have to be answers.com. http://www.answers.com/ is an excellent website dedicated to answer most any question one could ask. You just go to the website, and and at the very top of the screen, there is a box that you can type your question into, I love how easy it was to use. The answers are from an encyclopedia, and stay updated and current.The information given is more reliable than the answer given in a random google search. I typed in several questions, and the answers came right up. I think that this is an excelled website to use in schools and librarys. If a student asks a question that a teachers does not know, this website can be used to find the answer. Students could go to this website and find the answer to anything that they needed to know about. I wish that there had been an application like this, when I was in highschool.

Thing #5

I have somewhat mixed feelings about the future of education using web 2.0. I absolutely do think that education is headed in this direction. The world in the 21st century is basically all about cyberspace. I personally have no idea what we would do without the internet. Web 2.0 can take one anywhere they want to go, and find anything they want to find. Schools may adapt this, because they would no longer have to pay for books,paper and other items that the classroom currently uses, because it would all be done online. the software and learning programs on web 2.0 are endless, and useable for anyone. Most careers do require some type of internet usage, so using web 2.0 is school systems would make sense to use in preparing children for the real world. Web 2.0 would also allow students to not only work on their studies at school, but also at home, or in the work place.
On the flip side of this, there is a down side. though the majority of American's own and computer with internet, there are still a few who can not afford it. It would not be fair to the students of less means and could not own a computer. they would not be able to work on the work at home, and study.
Over all I do believe that the future of education using web 2.0 would be a good thing.

Thing #4

I have never owned a blog, but I have owned a myspace and facebook, and this is somewhat similar. I must admit that I am one who rarely comments on anything, I just read it and go on my way. However, after reading some of the discovery resources, I see the importance of it, and how it may create a sense of community and interaction. Most everyone I know of all ages are into some type of online social network, and an important part of the social network is commenting. Commenting can be used to catch up with on old friend, get to know some one, and just share personal beliefs and goals. With the internet and social networks being more popular than ever, I can see how commenting can create a sense of community.
I liked the "Drapes Takes" resources, because it taught me how to make my blogs a little more interesting.Like I said earlier, I have never blogged, and I do not think that i am good at it at all. I learned that I needed to to create interesting subjects, if I wanted other people to be interested enough to respond to my blogs. I also liked the "How to comment like a king or queen". On facebook, the only thing that I ever do, is hit the "like" button. I never comment, and tell one why it is that i like the comment. I am a very shy person, and even doing some thing like commenting on a random stranges blog is hard for me.However, now that I know how to properly comment,I now feel better about commenting on someone elses blog.
I commented on Anna Canaan, and Heather Atkins blog because I have been in classes with them prior to this one,and I also commented on Stacey Cox's blog because she sits beside me in class. Since I have had conversatins with them, I am interested in there blogs. The others i chose randomly, I commented on Gena Carters, and Margaret Brewer, because I was interested in what thought about creating blogs and using them in their future classrooms. Outside of our class, I commented on moes space, she had found a picture of a flower on creative commons, since I love flowers, it interested me and I posted about it. i also commented on lrichards blog, because I was interested in reading what she had posted about flicker.
I found blogs that were interesting to me, and I read them. All of the comments that I made were in agreement with the blogger. I do not like controversy, so I only chose the ones that i agreed with, haha. After this project, I will probably continue to make more comments.

Thing #3

A classroom blog could be a wonderful thing for a teacher to use. As many know, sending important papers home with second graders can be a tricky thing, many times parents never receive news letters of important events. Using a class room blog to post information about calendar events, field trips, and other important in class events, is a wonderful way to keep parents and care givers informed.
Using an in class blog would also be a good way of informing the parents of the type of school work that the children are working on. As a teacher, I could post example worksheets of the weeks activities. This would allow the parents to work with their children ahead of time, so that they are prepared for the days lesson.
I could also provide links to online educational games and worksheets that pertained to the in class lessons. This would provide a fun way to study at home.
I believe that an in class blog is a wonderful idea, and an excellent way to keep parents of elementary school children informed.

Thing #2

Today I created a blog for the first time. It was neat, because I was able to design it in a way that fitted my own personal style. I then created an avatar to put on my page.I tried to create it to look somewhat like me, with green eyes, brown hair, and a pink shirt since pink is my favorite color. I then posted my first blog about the discovery exercise. I must say, I enjoyed this "thing" it was fun to do.
When creating my blog name, I just put my name, the class, and 23 things, because I was not sure what I was supposed to name it. However looking at the names that my classmates Have come up with, mine looks pretty dumb, and I might change it. haha

Thing # 1

For my thing number one in Education 3040, I was to complete the discovery exercise. The discovery exercise listed 7 1/2 habits that students have. I was to figure out which one was the easiest for me, and which one was the most difficult for me. Personally, all of these were difficult for me; however, the one that seemed the easiest to me, was beginning with the end in mind. If I can not visualize an end, I would never finish a class. The most difficult thing to me is having confidence in myself as competent. I have never been a straight A student, and an average class that most people seem to do very well in, is hard for me. Any passing grade that I receive, I work VERY hard for. Because of this, i have never had confidence in my own school work. Hopefully by the end of my college career, I will have successfully accomplished some of these habits.