Summarizing My 23 Things

Wow! I finished!

But, the "things" I have learned with this program have been fantastic. Utilizing the google tools to the image generators have been quite an experience. With every exercise I was able to think of some way I could personally use that specific tool as a teacher. Some seemed to be geared more towards an elementary age, some seemed almost too perfect, and others just seemed to complicate things a little too much. Overall though, my experience has been phenomenal. I loved the animoto program. I enjoy taking photos and seeing them put to a professional video was exciting. I liked creating my online binder because it is a quick way for me to access any important information I might need. The entire blogging experience has been interesting. I have learned mutliple ways to make a student's learning experience technologically advanced and keeping the classroom interactive while staying up-to-date with the "new" thing. Teachers...if you have not accomplished the "23 Things" it is a must! Yes, it takes time, but it helps!

Thing #23

"Learning 2.0 - 23 Things for Teachers is based on Learning 2.0 - 23 Things. That program is based on the Learning 2.0 program that was designed by Helene Blowers, Technology Director at the Charlotte Mecklenburg County Public Library system, with the support and assitance of several staff. Helene's program was loosely based upon Stephen Abram's article, 43 Things I (or You) might want to do this year (Information Outlook - Feb 2006) and the website 43Things.

The design of this online program was completely built on Web 2.0 technologies that are freely available on the Internet. These sites include: Blogger, Flickr, Odeo, YouTube, PBWiki & Bloglines." 

I feel that learning how to use Creative Commons and knowing what I, as the teacher, will be able to use legally is important. Also, I can teach this to my students which will help them understand what they can and cannot use.

Thing #22

Revolutionary War Binder

The titles of my binders are "Great Depression Binder", "Revolutionary War", "Civil War." I am extremely impressed with this tool. I can definitely see myself using this when I become a teacher. It is a great way to quickly find various lesson plans for a specific subject. That is what I did with these three major topics in US History and it took me a total of 15 minutes. And, I immediately had tons of lesson plan ideas. This is a tool that all teachers need to hear about, because it could save some time. Plus, when you are needing some lesson plan ideas and you turn to google, this website can quickly pick out google websites without you spending time to pick and choose which pages might be relevant to what you are looking for.

Thing #21

Animoto is a really neat site. I thought at first that I would not like it that much, but I can actually see myself possibly purchasing some of the templates and making some videos. This is a tool that would be great for presentations or ceremonies such as awards banquets or graduations. And, working in a high school, it is very likely I could be asked to do these type of thing. Now, I do not know how well the quality of the video will be because downloading it to a post could possibly mess it up a tad. But, you will get the basics of the video. I compiled pictures of my senior high school prom in 2009 and made them into a video. I figured it would be neat to share with my friends I graduated with. I will be honest, I am sort of proud of this.

Thing #20

Youtube is a great way to find educational videos to show to your class. However, you must be careful what pops up including ads or other videos that have been posted. I chose to add a President Reagan famous speech in front of the Berlin Wall. This is just an example of the many opportunities youtube offers teachers to include in their classrooms. Youtube also has movies, music, and almost anything you need to find. I find things such as the speech I posted an exciting free tool to use within my future classroom. And, I do plan on using youtube for educational purposes.

Thing #19

Honestly, I do not like using any other social networks than facebook. If I have three e-mails, two social networks, a twitter account, a flickr account, and more, I find it difficult to check all of them on a regular basis. I can see how TeacherPop could be beneficial for someone not interested in the facebook social world but rather only interested in interacting with other teachers. Also, my approval is still pending after several hours which is sort of annoying because I cannot move forward with this post until I can be approved.

Thing #18

My Facebook

So, facebook is a great way to communicate to other teachers and parents. You can usually tell a lot about a person through their facebook page. I believe that it could be beneficial to be "friends" with parents or fellow teachers because it is an easy means of communication. However, it is important that a teacher (especially in secondary education) maintains a separation between teacher and students. I can see it being helpful in college being friends with your students, but like I said, you must remember the difference in higher education.

It's very important for educators to understand how these social networks work because teachers must inform their students how to be safe on these sites. Often times, students will post something too personal or become friends with a stranger. Or, even give out way to much information on their "info" tab. If teachers know how to use facebook, then they will understand how to inform students.

Personally, I love facebook because I can communicate and stay in touch with friends who live a good distance. Also, it is just an easy way to keep up with friends and their lives. (Even if they live close.) However, for the classroom, I can only see it being useful with parents and other teachers, but never with students. And, I never plan to being facebook friends with my students.

Thing #17

I can definitely see the benefits of Social Bookmarking. A "favorites list" often times gets so crowded with personal and occupational websites mixed together. If one has a del.icio.us account then any educational videos could be separated from personal use. But, not just that, the sites can also be divided into further categories. As a teacher, I could have various folders, for example: a WWI folder, WWII folder, Civil War folder, and even an American Revolution folder. This would be so easy to use. And, when a teacher needed to pull up any site he/she found at some point that would go along with that specific lesson, it would be easy. Plus, a cool thing is that it is public. This could be helpful seeing other teacher's lists that teach the same subject as you. Overall, I feel as though this could be an extremely beneficial tool for teachers.

Thing #16

So, I first customized my google account home page. I changed it to a Green Bay Packers background, which is very cool. It makes me enjoy seeing that page. I can see me using this when I become a teacher, because I will need one convenient place for all of my things. And, a home page that can be pulled up anywhere on any computer is awesome. I can have my needed information available to me any time I am near a computer.

Also, I made a calendar which is easier to use than I thought. I figured it was going to be a waste of time and be somewhat difficult to use. However, it was just the opposite. You just have to type in any of your meetings, due dates, and even birthdays at the correct slot and you're ready to go. The neat thing is though, I placed my calendar on my home page. So, now I can see everything I have to do that day in one specific place.

Plus, another great tool is that you can use the weather application that is on a google home page. I can see the forecast for the week as I check e-mail, my calendar, the date, and even listen to music on youtube. This is just all around a very efficient and easy way to do most everything.

Thing #15

Using a wiki is interesting. I can see some teachers using it for students to share valuable information they might find about a specific topic. It could be used as a way for a class to get to know one another before the school year begins. Or, teachers could give students a message through a wiki regarding homework, projects, or tests. I do not see myself using a wiki in my classroom, because it seems somewhat difficult to use; however, I can see the benefits of it once a person can become fluent navigating about the site. This was my wiki upload, just click here.

Thing #14

My mind map

Making the mind map was easy and fun. You can use it for a variety of projects. I can definitely see the benefits of students using them for math, history, and English. It could even come in handy with science. I found it easy to make basically any type of chart you want. Now, using flowchart.com was extremely cool.

My flow chart

I thought personally using the flow chart was better than the mind map. They offered templates, clip art, various letter styles, and much more. It was just as easy to use as the mind map, but offered more. I used this flow chart to simply show the breakdown of the three branches of government. And, if I was going to teach it, I could create one large flow chart stating the branch but also the jobs of each branch. It is a neat way to teach using a visualization tool.

Thing #13

ZOHO Writer has several features that are similar to Microsoft Word; however, it has a new look about the site that makes it seem somewhat easier to use. It has tabs that are explicit making it easy to find what you need quickly even if you are not familiar with the site.

My trial with ZOHO Presentation

My trial with Google Docs Presentation

Out of the two, I found ZOHO easier to work with. Plus, it had many more designs uploaded which make for a well done presentation. I was sort of disappointed with Google Docs because you basically had to upload a lot to be able to make anything.

I can definitely see a class using this if Microsoft Powerpoint is not available. To me, it seems as though these two presentation tools work just the same as Microsoft. However, there are certain tools that Google Docs provides that could be beneficial to students like the drawing, but I did find that tool to be difficult to use.

Thing #12

The different tools that Google offers are really neat. I have used Picasa for a few years now with my pictures. It is a free and easy way to "spice" up any photos with special effects, cropping, fixing red eye, and even making albums. Also, I currently use the google calendar for an organization I am in. We all have access to it, and officers post meetings and activity dates on the calendar. It comes in handy. I knew about these tools; however, I did not know about the google translator, http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=EN. This is an easy way to translate languages. It has several languages you can choose from, and it translates quickly and on the spot.

All of these tools mentioned can easily be used in a classroom. Any type of photo project students might be doing, they can use Picasa. A teacher needing to organize one's personal life, work life, and classroom could definitely use the Google Calendar. And, there are always projects that need translating, so that tool can be implemented within a classroom with no problem.These tools are great. My favorite thing about them though is that they are so easy to use, anybody can do it! So, try them out!

Thing #11

These search tools to find RSS Feeds are a helpful tool. It makes it much easier to navigate around the blog world. As I was looking up various blogs, I found the Google Blog Search easiest. It was much like the simple Google Search. I also liked the Technorati because it was set up to easily navigate about the site. I did not like Topix.net because it seemed to be a little more difficult to use. It did not explicitly state the ways to move around the site. These search engines could be extremely useful in a classroom for not only me as the teacher to research information to teach on, but also to teach students to use them for specific research assignments. The blog world is a great way for people to post information about personal lives but also about current important issues.

Thing #10

I see the benefits in using RSS Feeds because I can easily look at all the information that I need at one time. It is a way to stay updated with blogs and various other websites in a time efficient manner. For my personal life, I can see myelf using this with all my different e-mails, so I can check them all quickly. Also, I could use this in my classroom by adding certain history research websites to the feed and being able to stay updated on the new discoveries. Overall, this is an interesting tool, and could be useful.

Thing #9

Within this blog, I have discovered that an image generator is a cool tool to use. I can definitely see elementary teachers using this in their classrooms. It seems as though every elementary teacher asks their students to write about what they want to be when they grow up. This would be a neat way to put a picture with their writing piece on the wall. You could simply take head shots of all your students, then upload them in the image generator and get to work. I always wanted to be the President of the United States, thus the picture. Here's the link I used: http://www.bodyswitcher.com/. There are several different images you can upload a photo to. So, enjoy and get to work!

Thing #8

I have posted my matchup on my blog page because I liked it alot. I wanted it to be at the top of my page. There are many ways to make this a useful tool, espcially in a history classroom. For example, you can make a map and place pictures of various places on the map. This would be a great way for me to show my future students landscapes, architecture, or simply people from areas across the world. It is a visual aid tool that can be used to greatly benefit each student.

Now, for my personal use, I probably would not use this tool. I might use my Flickr account to look up a picture for a presentation or something, but other than that it will not be used much. I am not a huge fan of posting pictures for the world to see. I understand that you can set your pictures to private only, which is good. But, when I post a picture, say on Facebook, I do it only to allow my friends to see what's going on in my life. I do not like to share extremely personal things over the internet, but Flickr is defnitely a neat webstie for photographers to get their art work out there.

Thing #7

Well, I have explored http://www.flickr.com/ and it was interesting. The pictures that people post are often times humorous to me. What I find interesting is that anybody can post pictures of basically anything. This can be good in some cases and disturbing in others. But, I decided to simply type in the search bar "teacher." The following picture popped up: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cctwebteam/943677949/in/photostream/. I thought this was funny. Pay close attention to the things on the chalk board. For example, the last thing written... a four leaf clover divided by two equals sale! This caught my attention because of my last post regarding http://www.amazon.com/. Teachers are always looking for sales, and this picture depicted that perfectly.

I am going to try to upload a picture of my brother and me. But, I do not know how it will work. The link that tells me to "add images" is not pulling up, so let's see if I can figure out another way...

Thing #6

There are several sites on the internet that are beneficial to many people. Out of the Web 2.0 Awards List, my favorite site is probably http://www.amazon.com/. This saves me money, time, and allows me to buy the things that I want or need at a reasonable price. Amazon has reviews from customers on just about everything they sell which can give a person the answer to whether they want to purchase the item or not. Could it be useful in the classroom? I do not think that a lesson plan could be based around http://www.amazon.com/, but a teacher could definitely find deals on certain items that are needed for his or her classroom. With the tight budget of a teacher, it is important to spend money on a classroom wisely, and http://www.amazon.com/ allows each teacher to do so.

Thing #5

Technology is becoming an important aspect in today's society. People communicate through blogs, e-mail, facebook, skype, twitter, and the list can go on and on. Students are using these methods of communication more than anyone else. If students are using this technology, then should it not be used in classrooms? Of course it should! I feel that it is important that teachers continue using hard-text books, white boards, and some of the essential items to make learning hands-on, but we must integrate all of this new technology in the classroom as well. If teachers use School 2.0, the attention of students will most likely increase. Using technology in classrooms always gets students excited. And, using technology that they use on a daily basis at home will help each student not only their attention span, but they will have the opportunity to learn techonology skills that they did not already know and implement them in their future occupation.

What are we going to do today, is a question that all students need to be able to wonder. School 2.0 gives teachers the ability to make students ask themselves this question. I will not lie, completely relying on techonology in a classroom makes me nervous. Most of the time, something will go wrong. But, the job of the teacher is to integrate the technology and be ready for when something fails. Make the lesson worthwhile. School 2.0 will help in this! That is what it means to me...giving the teacher the ability to make his or her classroom a great learning environment!

Thing #4

Commenting is extremely important to any Blogger's world. It is a means of communication, a way to speak your mind, and a way to express your feelings toward another blogger's opinion. These are all excellent skills that each individual needs to work to obtain, and what better way to do that than through a blog? When someone blogs, you begin to feel as though you know that person, like they are your next-door neighbor. You form a community and interaction within the community, because you can talk to one another about the various topics that each blogger writes about.

Two topics I found important in the reading were to write a meaningful comment and when you comment on someone's blog it brings attention to yours. There's much to these two topics. A meaningful comment is something that will be thought provoking and can often times tell someone alot about yourself. When you comment on a person's blog, many times, they will go look at your blog. But, these two go hand-in-hand. If you do not write a very good comment, then do you think a person is going to look at your blog? Probably not. So, make sure when you comment, you say something worth while.

For my classmates I chose to follow http://tplummer1.blogspot.com/, http://misssmokeybarn.blogspot.com/, http://kbearden.blogspot.com/, http://wgottsblog.blogspot.com/, and http://jorgejimenezcano.blogspot.com/. I had no exact reason as to why I decided to follow them, I just picked five people and decided to look at their blogs. Now, for my personal interest blogs to follow, I will choose those at a later date when I learn that in Things 10 and 11.

Thing #3

A blog is a great way for a student to express what they might be going through at home, school, or work. It is important for every teacher to get to know their students, because that is how a teacher gains respect and learns how to push each individual student toward success. Yes, of course a teacher should know how they do in the school arena, but what about the 16 hours they spend outside of school. These 16 hours are a large chunk of the development of a child, teenager, and in some cases adults. If I were to have my students blog on a daily basis, like a journal, think of the skills they could learn. Proper grammar and different writing styles would definitely be incorporated within the lesson. Plus, I would be learning about each student individually which would help with the class cohesion and the relationship between teacher and student.

Not only would I be able to allow the students to use blogging as a journal, but I could post various assignments on my blog. Or, they could post and ask their classmates a question about the homework. There are endless possibilities that could be beneficial for all students and teachers if blogging was implemented in the classrooms. These are just a few that I have thought of. I find it interesting to think about the different ways teachers can use up-to-date technology like blogging in a classroom. It will gain the students attention and immediately you have a captive audience which in an eleventh grade US history classroom is exactly what you need.

Thing #2

Well, this blogging experience is interesting. I am finding it quite easy to navigate about the site because of how self-explanatory it is. Through blogging, it seems as though I am expressing my thoughts to the world (Ha. Ha.) which is a bit intimidating but at the same time fun. As far as my blogging name goes, it is not unique in the least. I figured I would try to keep my username on more of a professional basis just in case I use this with my future classroom. Once I get used to blogging, I think it might be a cool method of communication and expressing yourself within a classroom. Plus, making the avatar was a neat way to express yourself as well. I tried to make mine resemble just a happy guy, because I am. I am thankful for what I have been blessed with, and I hope that I can always smile no matter what is thrown my way. But, one thing is for sure, my avatar will be smiling even if I drop the ball.

Thing #1

Lifelong learning is something that is vital for each educator to master. A person must have the 7 1/2 Habits that were listed in the online tutorial to be a successful individual.  I have always been a hard worker, and I have enjoyed learning since I remember. Learning and growing in knowledge, skills, and personally is no easy feat, but it must be done if you want to succeed. As I read the habits and applied them to myself, I found that several of these habits I already use in my everyday life.

However, habit one was definitely my strongest. As I plan my day, week, or life for that matter, I always have the end in mind. It is important for an individual to set personal goals; if one does not, then what will one ever accomplish in life? Have you ever walked into a gas station and spent several minutes just trying to pick out the perfect candy bar? This is on a much smaller scale, but making the right decision is important. And, whatever you do now, you will either reap the benefits or later wish you had never made that decision. I am the type of person that wants to do the "right" thing and make sure that every step I take is something that will not only be smart and beneficial to me but to society as well. I know where I want to be in five years, ten years, and twenty years. Is this a bad thing? No, as long as you do not take it to an extreme. Some will do anything to accomplish their goals, but I understand that due to certain circumstances anything can change. If I stick to my goals I know everything will turn out okay.

As far as my weakest habit among the 7 1/2... I could probably work on using technology to my advantage. Often times I end up toiling with a technological problem and simply decide to go about the situation differently. I know there are several technology programs that could help me in various aspects of my life, but I just do not know or understand how to use them. I am a willing learner and plan to do better using technology. But, it takes time. I have set goals for myself within different technology skills I hope to eventually obtain, and I plan to accomplish each one of them.