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!