One Last Thing

I can't believe the 23 Things is finally over!  I have definitely learned a lot from this experience.  I never ever thought I would have my own blog for one thing.  I also hadn't heard of most of the websites we learned about except for Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube.  I learned about so many different websites that are out there that offer so many cool and fun services.  My favorite thing was learning about all of the websites that offer free flow charts and mind maps.  I will certainly be going to them in the future as a teacher.  The thing I did not like about 23 Things is that I had to sign up for all of these websites.  It just gets so overwhelming and a lot of them I know I will never use.  I am glad that I now know about all of the online calendars and to-do lists online. Although I will probably never use them myself, I think they could come in good use for many people.  To keep up with these emerging resources I can visit teacher's blogs and search for the latest educational resources online.  After completing this project I definitely do not feel so computer illiterate as I did at the beginning of this long journey with 23 Things.  I am glad that I was given this challenge to better myself and my future students through all of this up and coming technology.

Thing # 23

Creative Commons is a great way for teachers to share their own works but still being able to control how it is shared.  I had never heard of Creative Commons until this semester and I think that it would be a great thing for teachers to use for their own work and use to borrow other teachers' works.  An example I found on the Learning 2.0- 23Things for Teachers blog is the Creative Commons license at the bottom of the page that says "Some Rights Reserved."  This license shows that some of the information used was taken from another source so the license is shown at the bottom of the page.  Creative Commons can be used to teach students about copyright and it can be used to find and share information in a legal manner.

Thing # 22

I had never even heard of podcasts until this technology class.  I actually did a podcast for the class just a few weeks ago on acting.  I really liked playing around with Garageband to make it and I think that it would be a good lesson for me to use for auditory learners. For this post I looked through Podcastdirectory.com and Podcastalley.com. I found Podcastdirectory.com to be much easier to navigate and find cool podcasts. The site had many different categories to choose from to look for particular podcasts. I searched under the "TV and Film" section and I found a podcast called LostCast. All of the episodes discuss the show Lost.  I was obsessed with this show while it was on and I was excited to see that there was a podcast on it.  Each episode of the podcast discussed a particular episode of the show and tried to unlock all of the secrets of the show and figure out what would happen to all of the intricate storylines and characters.  I chose to listen to the episode of the podcast that covered the last episode in the series.  Here is a link to this episode. http://www.podcastdirectory.com/podshows/8060679

Thing # 21

I had never heard of Animoto before now.  I absolutely loved playing around with it and making my own video.  The only thing I did not like about it was that the music they offered was not popular music by well-known artists.  The first time I tried to make a video with my own pictures it would not let me for some strange reason.  So I had to just make a video using random pictures I found and some song I found on the site that I liked.  I chose to pick pictures from the travel section and I chose ones that reminded me of my senior trip to California.  I loved using this site and I may use it to make videos of my friends and me.  I just wish we didn't have to pay for the videos over 30 seconds. 

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Thing # 20

I have always loved YouTube ever since I first found out about it!  It is always an adventure to get on there and search for anything and everything I want to find.  I know that if I hear about some controversy on The View or any other show the clip will be on YouTube within hours.  For the video I posted I decided to search for teacher videos and I found this one.  It is a segment on The Late Show with David Letterman that details the top ten things that colleges do not tell you about teaching.  I am not even a big David Letterman fan because I prefer Jay Leno, but I thought this video was too cute!  I hope you all enjoy it.  There is definetly a lot of truth in it.  YouTube could definitely be a useful tool to use when teaching.  I will certainly use this site to search for videos that can enhance the lessons I am teaching to my kids in the future.

Thing # 19

I am not a member of any of the listed social networking sites except for Facebook.  I have never really thought about joining any other ones since none of my friends would be on any of these sites but Facebook.  I did not know there were social networks that were specific to people's interests.  I am obsessed with movies and I loved exploring Flixster.  It is cool to have a community to go to to discuss the latest movies in theaters.  I also liked the ones for discussing books and cooking.  I could use these sites to connect with other people who share the same interests as me.  Teachers could use the teachers social networking sites to gain ideas from each other.  All of these social networking sites are very interesting and could all be a lot of fun!

Thing # 18

Educators should know how social networking sites work because they are a great way for teachers to keep in contact with each other and network.  I have had a Facebook account for quite a while now.  I did not learn anything I didn't already know.  Even though I have a Facebook I have always liked the format of MySpace better since you can have a background and music on your page when people access it.  My favorite things about Facebook are keeping in touch with friends near and far and all of the quizzes and games available.  I do not know if I would use these social networking sites in my classroom but I would think it would be a good idea for teachers and prinicipals to use them to communicate with each other.  Principals could send reminders to teachers about certain events and announcements since so many people use Facebook these days.  Social networking could make schools more productive and keep teachers in touch with each other.

Thing # 17

Social bookmarking sites create an easy and comprehensive way for teachers to bookmark websites they like and then add tags to group the bookmarks.  I liked Del.icio.us a lot because it was a way to see what other websites people have found that pertain to a particular subject area.  Teachers could search for specific subjects they are covering in class and find websites that are relevant to the subject.  Teachers can take advantage of these sites by adding their own findings on the web and bookmarking and tagging them so other teachers can use their discoveries as well.  I do not think I would actually use these sites though since I could just search for a specific subject through Google.  Del.icio.us would be a good way for teachers to organize their findings and share them with others to enhance the learning process for students.

Thing # 16

I chose the iGoogle start page.  I chose this one because I am already familiar with some of Google's offerings.  I will not keep this as my start page because AOL is my start page and I would rather keep a traditional planner and calendar than having to depend on a computer to check my schedule.  I think online calendars would be useful for teachers or students to stay organized and keep up with everything they need to get done.  I liked the to-do lists because it would be helpful as a student to stay on track with everything I need to do.  However, I would never use the to-do lists because for me it is just easier to make an old fashioned to-do list on a piece of paper.  If I used any of these organizational tools I would use the start page because I liked how I could personalize the page according to my interests and the types of things I would want on my page.  I would recommend the calendar to someone who needs to get organized and who gets on the internet at least everyday.

Thing # 15

It was interesting to see people talking positively about wikis since in college our professors have always been against them.  We have never been able to use Wikipedia as a resource for research papers.  All of my professors have always spoken against these sites because anyone can edit them so the information isn't always accurate.  However, I have always used Wikipedia to search for certain things that I wanted fast information on.  I have always liked the way that Wikipedia is formatted because it makes the information easy to process and it has always been organized well.  Wikis could be used to collaborate with other teachers on specific things.  Teachers can readily share ideas and get advice from each other.  I would not let my students research with wikis however, since someone may add something that is not correct.  I liked the website Library Success.  It was cool to see how librarians are communicating their ideas through wikis.  I think wikis are a great way to get ideas from other educators and share your own.

Thing # 14

These websites for free flow charts and mind maps are very useful resources for teachers and students.  I am glad that I know about these websites so that I can use them for future lessons with my students.  I think that graphic representation of concepts are great teaching tools.  Flow charts are great since they start with a broad topic and then give subsets and details of the topic.  Mind maps start with a topic and then expand on that topic with defferent bubbles expanding from it.  While playing around with the tools I did a flow chart of animal kingdoms and a mind map on the Civil War.  These maps and charts make the concepts easy to remember and understand.  Both flowcharts and mind maps make concepts easy to visualize and break down detailed concepts in an organized way.  These tools online can personalize handouts for students and help them learn difficult concepts and they can cater to the visual learner.

Thing # 13

I had no idea that there were word processing applications online like Microsoft Word.  I guess I could have saved myself some money by not purchasing the Microsoft Office stuff I had to get when I got my laptop for graduation.  I think that these applications online could be a very useful tool for students since it is completely free.  I signed up for Zoho Writer and I found out how cool and easy it is to use.  It was very user-friendly and accessible for somewhat technology-challenged people like myself.  I looked at the other applications available at Zoho and I found the planner to be very useful for me.  It had options for to-do lists, appointments, attachments, favorite web pages, and more.  I can see this tool being very useful for teachers and students.  I also like the calendar application.  The show application could also come in handy for presentations.  Zoho Writer is definitely an interesting and useful tool that can be utilized for both students and teachers.

Thing # 12

I had no idea Google had so much to offer!  I loved learning all of this new stuff about a site that I usually do not explore this in depth.  I created a schedule for myself for this upcoming week with Google Calendar.  I also set up the Google alert.  That will be very handy for me when I want to know about a particular subject and the information will be sent straight to me.  I could use Google Calendar to stay organized in my future classroom and I could also have my students create a schedule with it as well.  This is one of the most interesting and beneficial Things I have done so far on this blog since the calendar will definitely now be an integral part of my day. 

My Calendar

Thing # 11

I found the Google Blog Search the easiest to use and also Technorati was pretty straight forward too.  I did not like the Syndic8.com site at all because of its presentation.  It looked overwhelming and harder to use than the others so I did not want to use it to find any feeds.  I found several useful feeds while I was searching.  I found some interesting blogs in Technorati that were about current films.  I am a huge movie buff and so these sites are of great interest to me personally.  I found some useful blogs about current events that could be beneficial for students to read in my future classroom.  Finding these feeds and having them handy will benefit me for sure in the future as a teacher.

Thing # 10

RSS could be very beneficial for teachers to use.  It makes anything that is interesting to you more accessible and easier to find since it comes to you.  I think that teachers could use this to stay informed about specific topics they should know about.  I could use this in my classroom by having the students subscribe to specific sites I want them to visit often and that are relevant to the topics we are covering at the time.  It is a much faster and more efficient way of keeping up with any information I am interested in.  It keeps the information instead of constantly having to search for certain topics.  RSS is extremely useful and relevant for all teachers. 

Thing # 9

I decided to make a glittery sign for this Thing.  I decided to use my nickname for my image that I created.  I used http://www.glitterizer.com/ to make this image.  It was very interesting going through all of the different glittery effects that I could make.  I also went to a site where you could place one of your pictures on a magazine cover.  I wanted to do that one at first but for some reason it did not work so I did this instead.  For a class I could use this image generator for PowerPoint presentations since the images could serve as an attention getter and are interesting and cute.  I could also show my students how to use these sites and they could then make their own creations.  I could personally use these image generator sites to make cards or other art projects for various occasions. 

Thing #8

Well I finally placed my lovely Joan on my page.  I loved this Thing!!!  I greatly enjoyed the Big Huge Labs site and using the pop art feature on this picture.  It looks so quirky and cool and I can say I did it. :)  I could use these types of sites for art projects in my class or for PowerPoints that I use in my future classroom.  I think that these sites are important for educators to know about since most kids are comfortable using computers and like to be creative.  These types of activities could greatly encourage students to become more familiar with technology and all of the cool things that are out there to nourish out creativity.

Thing #7



Lemon Tree

So Flickr is not my best friend.  I had a very difficult time trying to figure out how to put a picture on this blog.  Anything I would search for would say "All rights reserved" and I could not use it due to copyright.  I finally found one that I could use.  It is just a lemon tree.  Even though it is pretty, I had originally searched for Joan Crawford pictures because she is my all time favorite actress and I wanted her to grace my page.  Oh well, the lemons are cute too I guess.  The picture was from the MrsWoman group.   I could use Flickr in my classroom by showing the class any pictures that illustrate a specific topic we are covering in class.  I would however never use Flickr in my personal time.  I did not have much fun using this site and I would not want to put my personal pictures on the site. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrswoman/4730986920/sizes/s/in/photostream/

Thing # 6

I decided to explore Stardoll.  I loved this website very much.  The site has dolls which are sometimes celebrities that little girls can dress up and create outfits for.  Stardoll also had several games on it too.  I played around on the site and I absolutely enjoyed every minute of it!  It made me think back to the good ole days when I used to play with Barbie Fashion Designer all the time.  The site was easy to use.  I chose a doll to dress up and I was then taken to her closet where I chose which clothes to put on her.  The site could be used in a classroom as an incentive for little girls.  I could allow them to play on the site as a reward for good behavior or when they finish their work.  The site was very kid-friendly and little girls would definitely love all of the cool clothes they have to pick from when dressing up their doll.  I will definitely show this site to all of the little girls in my future classroom!
http://www.stardoll.com/en/

Thing # 5

I chose to read the articles Web 2.0: A Guide for Educators and Web 2.0 is the Future of Education.  From these articles I have a better understanding of what Web 2.0 is.  Web 2.0 is a movement to create more technological advances in schools since the world is becoming more and more technology based.  Web 2.0: A Guide for Education mentioned that most students are already familiar with technology and it is only practical to apply their knowledge of the Internet and technology in the classroom.  Using more technologically based curriculum in the classroom will have great implications on education and it will have an overall positive impact on students.  Classrooms in the future will inevitably become more and more technological and teachers will use all of the resources on the Internet that are available to teachers to better their students' learning experiences.  I will try to use more technology in my classroom but I will not rely on it completely.  I am kind of old fashioned and I would honestly rather read a book or physically write a paper rather than using a computer.  I do see the value in technology though and I think that it should be incorporated in some way into all classrooms.

Thing # 4

I decided to read Coolcat Teacher Blogger's "How to comment like a king (or queen!)" and the Problogger's "10 Techniques to Get More Comments on Your Blog" posts.  After reading these blog posts I can see that commenting on other people's posts is very important in the blogging community.  Commenting creates a sense of community and allows bloggers to feel that people are actually listening to them and they are not just randomly posting their thoughts online.  I think it is essential especially for teachers to comment on each other's blogs since teaching is a collaborative process.  For instance, I know that grade levels have to have meetings about curriculum and how they will successfully teach the material.  Teachers could use blogging to put out ideas they have on teaching particular lessons.  I found what the Coolcat blogger said about the "Darth Commenter" very true and at the same time quite funny.  I think that anytime we write and put our thoughts out there we fear the judgement of others.  It is a shame that there are people out there who would resort to curse words and hurtful language just because they either do not agree on a topic or because they have fun putting others down.  Problogger's idea about being humble and admitting failures and weaknesses also resonated with me.  I think that it is an extremely courageous act when people can admit their mistakes and I think in any situation, not only blogging, it makes you more accessible to others and they feel they can open up to you.  For the rest of the semester, I have decided to follow the blogs of Kristyn King, Anna Hall, Skylar Riley, Katharine Green, and Lindsey Cotton.  I chose these five people because they are in my class and I thought their blogs would be interesting to read.  For the two blogs from the blogosphere at large I have decided to comment on The Drama Teacher and Drama Teacher's Diary.  One of the blogs is by a current drama teacher and the other is written by a retired drama teacher.  I chose to follow these because I think that I one day want to be a theatre teacher.  I am a strong believer in arts education and I think that more often than not the arts are forgotten about in the public school community.

Thing # 3

I have never really thought about it until now, but using a blog could be beneficial for teachers to use.  I could include a blog in my classroom to post assignments and important dates for the class.  The students could use a blog to communicate their homework questions to other students in the class and discuss topics covered in class.  Teachers could use a blog to communicate with parents.  Pictures of classroom activites and projects could be put on the blog for students and parents to look at.  I could post exceptional work on the blog as an incentive for students to create their best work products.  The blog could also be used to summarize the week's lessons so students will know what to expect in a particular week. I could use a classroom blog for my students to post journal entries or reflections for the day.  It could also be used to discuss literature or any readings the class may have to do.  Teachers could post ideas for lessons on their blog to communicate with other teachers in the school.  Blogs could help in a teacher education program by preparing teacher candidates on how to set them up and use them.  Teacher candidates would also become more familiar with using technology and their writing skills.  There are a myriad of ways in which blogs could benefit the modern classroom and teacher.

Thing # 2

It was much easier creating my blog than I thought it would be.  I have never created a blog until now and now I know that it is simple to do.  I decided to title my blog "The Words of Wilson" because I thought it was a catchy name.  I enjoyed making my avatar.  She has a surprised look on her face and she has short and cute pigtails.  She has a cat because I have four cats at my house and she is in the country because I like to be outside around nature.  My avatar somewhat looks like me.  I have brown hair but it is long and layered.  I wanted my avatar to look a little like me but I wanted to do different hair on her.  I look forward to working more on my blog.

Thing #1

After watching the tutorial on lifelong learners, I think that the easiest habit for me is play.  I have always had fun and been imaginative since I was a child.  My best friend and I always write songs and plays, and make movies just for fun.  We also create characters various characters just to be silly.  Another habit that is easy for me is to teach/mentor to others.  Anytime I learn something that intrigues me I always tell my family and friends all about it.  I have learned many things about theatre since I have been in college and I always talk about the specific things I have learned to others.  The hardest habit for me is using technology to my advantage.  I do not always realize how much information there is available online to help me learn.  I realize that technology is an integral part into learning in today's world and I need to incorporate it into my learning experiences much more.  I hope that with Web 2.0 tools I can learn how to use technology to my advantage.  I think that technology is very important to use in the classroom and I hope to become more comfortable with technology with this project.  I thought it was easy to set up the blog and it did not give me any problems.