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.