One Last Thing

I have learned so much in the past 23 things that I have done. I would love to continue my journey in life learning ways that technology makes life more meaningful and rich. I found that I am able to figure things on my own. I just need some direction or sparks to light the way. I enjoyed the podcasts. I think I will continue to find some to listen to, because I can always put it on my phone and listen as I drive or walk around the world. I love to learn new things! I liked the Flickr thing too. I was able to find pictures for so many lessons. I also know how to make great graphics. Now, I know how wikis work too! I learned so much and I will always remember these 23 things!!

Thing #23

Ning networking is a good idea. People can come together to share their ideas, points of view and be a part of education. Educators can find people that share their interests and can relate to them. Each posting has the ability to provide information and ideas that will be beneficial to the classroom. In my classroom will give student to build our own type of social networking site through Moodle. I took the Get Your Moodle On class this summer. I had no idea the possibilities. I am able to provide assignments and resources to students online. Then I can monitor their progress and discussions. I am able to make the students accountable for their work and motivate them to find an interest in my classroom. This will build a type of social network in my classroom. This is the future of education and I want to prepare my students.

Thing #22

I had never had an interest in being on any of the social networking sites. I think that maybe educators can gain more acquaintances by being connected to people on Facebook or Myspace. I did create a Facebook account. I hopefully will find time to maintain it. I noticed that you are able to find friends from school, work, or anybody that you may want to keep in contact with without having to call them or see them in person. I like that you are able to find people from all parts of the world. I also like that you put out as much or as little information about yourself as you want. I like that you are able to put pictures and set up you profile. I did not find anything that I did not like. I think I found Face book more appealing and possibly geared toward an older audience, but Myspace also looked interesting. I may be able to communicate with my students for educational purposes. Overall, I hope my interest will grow for Facebook.

Thing #7b

I read a very interesting article about the international rise of online learning. Some online schools are aimed to teach k-12. The blog lists many reasons for online learning. Students are able to have differentiated instruction, self-paced curriculum, and special areas of interest such as technology and science. Students can benefit from the higher level interaction with the material without having to interact with older students. Students will have to be proactive learners and have intrinsic motivation to discover the world of learning online. There are some challenges to online schools for example; cheating and making sure those students are place at the correct level. I think that with the face of education is changing. I will be happy to see the type of students that take the initiative to learn on their own.

Thing #21

I looked at all the Google tools. I made a Picasa album. It was so easy. All I had to do was upload my pictures. Then I edited and made a slideshow. I also made a calendar. I am able to get alerts when an event is coming up. I checked out the Google scholar. I am able to look up the lasted research studies and find the new conclusions in the scholarly world. Google Earth is a neat feature. Students are able to explore the world from their computer. Students can research any geographical feature and search for it on the maps. Every part of the Earth is photographed and students that have never traveled are able to see the world. I also like the Google books tool. Students are able to search for any book and read a bit of it for free. Then they can decide if they want to go look for it at the library, buy it or maybe use what they read for a research project. These tools are great and free for all to use. Many have lots of educational functions.

Thing #20

Googledocs are fun and interactive way to work together on projects. Teachers can team plan by creating a Google word document. One teacher can start the document and invite the other teachers to collaborate and revise the lesson plans.
Students can use any of the documents. The word document can be used to have students write stories and then they can invite other students to revise and edit their work. This is great way to get feedback.
The presentation document can be used to make a group project. Each student can work on their parts of the presentation and the other group members can look at the revised document and make changes, add and share.
I think that this feature of Google is a fabulous way to get people to work together. There is a way for everyone to participate and provide a bit to a group project. I will be able to get students to work together and their progress can be monitored.

Thing #19

Voicethread is a very neat tool. This tool provides ongoing communication. People are able to make a Voicethread and allow others to add or comment to it. We can learn so much and work together better. I teach 4th grade bilingual. I know that my students will learn English better if they are able to hear people speaking it. I will give the students a picture and they can tell me a story from the picture. Depending on the skill that I am focusing on I will let other students provide a comment. This tool can also help with writing. They can read their composition and record it. Then they can have a friend listen and make comments. The uses for Voicethread are endless. I will be able to use it in many ways to help my students and collaborate with my colleagues.

Thing #18

I love to look up videos on YouTube! I have doing this for a while. I had no idea that TeacherTube existed. I wish I had it last year. I know that I would have used it. I will use it next year.
The first video was looking up math songs and I found Rockin the standards which makes songs for several math concepts. I love the rap for place value. Students love to sing! They will love it.
The next video was from Yourteacher.com I thought that this video was direct and to the point and taught place value well.
I looked How to be a Tech Reviewer and I was surprised. I had no idea that there was a technique to reviewing electronics. The advice was to make the video short and to the point.
I live in Rockwall and I like to look up Rockwall History. I got to see pictures of the early settlers and the first buildings.
On TeacherTube I found a cute Multiplication song to help students learn their facts. I like to play music for the students. I think this will help them learn math in a fun way.

Thing #17

My initial thoughts about podcasting in education were a bit skeptical. I was not very sure that I would sit and listen to people just talk. I found that the talking was very interesting.
I listened to How To Stay Current This Summer from TechPodZone by Mike Dionne. He was saying to go to as many teacher conferences as you want this summer. Listen and learn how you can be an active conference participant from the comfort of your own home.
I think that he brought some very valid points to mind. The summer is a time to recharge for the year, but also you can get ideas and training for the upcoming year. I think that the information he gave was great. We can go online and find podcasts and blogs to follow and find how you can apply the information for your class. Also, he mentioned the use of online seminars or virtual conferences. He called them webinars.
I could use podcasts to learn ideas for my professional growth. I can always use new and innovative ways to teach. I may not always know how to motivate students with my ideas and new fresh ideas may help.
I also listened to the Math Factor Podcast. I found this interesting for me. I enjoy learning about new mathematical theories that are being developed. I was also able to get some puzzles to work on that was fun!

Thing #16

LibraryThing is a place to find books. I am able to search the site for books by typing in a tag. Instead of going to Google to find a book I can go here. I will see the book and find other books that are related. I can find other books that I may be interested in reading.
I can catalog my current books and have a library organized by type, author, and so on. I am able to create a library for my students to use and find different ways to motivate and interest them.
I can to find a community of people that share my interests. This is a way to share and research new books and find reviews. People can share ideas of books and activities. I search lateral thinking books for my classroom. I got an extensive list of books, recommendations, reviews and many more tips about these types of books.

Thing #15

Here is my delicious account. Delicious is a great tool to bookmark sites. This site provides a place to keep all my bookmarks. I can keep them on hand from any computer. I started exploring this site by searching puzzles and teaching resources. When I feel like I need more resources I am able to go to the site and search for sites using tags I created. The tags allow me to categorize and sort the site specifically. I am able to share tags and search other peoples’ bookmarks too. I am able to share my resources with my teammates. They can simply go to my account and look through all the sites I like. I also can add and search my sites from any computer at anytime. Students can also access the sites that I recommend for research and projects. This will be easier than listing the sites and giving them the sites. They will be able to click on sites from any place. I can see this tool being used by both students and teachers.

Thing #7a

I read and interesting article, Who are the Joneses, anyway? The entire summer I have been taking summer classes. I always hear about other campuses. I start to think that my campus should be different. I start to compare and wish for a school like their school. This article points out that no two schools can be alike. I can only be at one school. I have to appreciate what I do have at my school. I should only think that, I can make the school what it can be, not what it should be. Somehow all the pieces of the school make it work and I should enjoy that. Comparing schools does not work, because what works for one school will not work for another. Each school has its own dynamic and the staff, teachers and administrators make the school what it is and they are unique.

Thing #14

I explored writeboard. My experience with whiteboard taught me many new aspects about Web 2.0 tools. Whiteboard is a place where you can type and save a document. You are able to do most basic formatting to the document. Then you save and send your partner the URL and the password to your document. Then students are able to retrieve their work from any computer at any time. So, you are able to share and collaborate with partners on documents. Then they can help revise, share and edit your document. There are many ideas for using this tool to support learning. You can have your students write a story and then the partner can revise the story. Students will not have to hand write their work and then rewrite it when the revisions are finished. I think students will be able to communicate with each other and offer genuine feedback on their work.

Thing #13

1. Luna in denial, ringing out the old Year of the Dog and in the New Year of the White Tiger 2010, 2. Ella the Snow Dog, 3. Dog niemiecki 6 tygodni- Great Dane - 6 weeks puppy, 4. This is either the most boring game of Chicken known to dog or the most improbable "staring game" ever played.

I love that I am able to make any image that I may ever need. I will be able to use these tools in my classroom to make pictures. I can also motivate students to use their creativity. I use the Mosaic Maker to make a collage of pictures of dogs. I love dogs. It was so much easier than I thought it would be. I found pictures on Flickr. I have listed the links to the pictures. My students will be able to show me their ability to tell a story with the mosaics. They can look for pictures to describe the events in their story and then build a beautiful product to present. I also spelled the word “create”, because it came to my mind. I used Spell with Flickr to make the image. This website is also very easy to use. I can invite students to spell their spelling words using images. Sometimes I hesitate to try websites like these, because they seem too hard. Now, I know that I can use them easily. I am confident that I will be able to implement these tools.

Thing #12

This was not a very hard thing to do! I feel confident that I will be able to use a slideshow similar to this for my class room. My slideshow is about happiness. I tried to find pictures that depicted a happy thing. I found a picture of a black dog from Kopfjäger. No name was given to the picture. This dog looked happy. Then I found the picture of a smiley face taken by Lel4nd called “Remember to Smile”. This can brighten anyone’s day if seen bouncing around. I found the picture of the cutest dog ever. The photographer is Jelene and she titled her picture “Smiling Lacey”. The slide show makes me feel happy and I smile looking at it.
These are the pictures I used:
1. Black dog by Kopfjäger No name given
2. Smiley face by Lel4nd Remember to Smile
3. Cute Dog by Jelene Smiling Lacey

Thing #11

I had no idea that Flickr existed. I am learning so much about what is out on the internet. Flickr has so many pictures and themes to choose from that I was not sure where to start. It provides a place where people can come together to share and communicate their experiences. I searched the words smiling, happy, content and excitement. I got many pictures. I liked the picture of animals that are smiling especially dogs. I liked this picture from the photographer Jelene. I believe the story that I could tell with pictures could depict anything that makes happiness. I found some pictures living and nonliving things; for example, a picture of a smiley face, animals smiling and people smiling. I think this is a great idea to teach vocabulary. I could use pictures that ask you to feel a certain way, to teach emotion and description in writing. Students can see the picture and give descriptive words that come to mind when they see the picture. This will help their vocabulary development of synonyms. They can relate to an image and visualize it to convey their feelings. I will use pictures to make lessons more meaningful to my students.

Thing #10

CC seams to give us the liberty to get information and be able use it to fit our needs. I had never noticed the CC on websites before. I always knew that everything had a copyright. I will be able to teach students how they can add more value to what they find on the internet as they do research. I can invite them to use information and give it a new use also. I have not used anything from the web in fear that I was infringing on the copyright. I do not share information on the web, but I may start. Everything that I use to teach is property of the school. I cannot think of any negatives to CC. I know that this information will help me use more web information in the future.

Thing #9

Foxpage is complete! I did it! I was able to make a sandbox page. I had to work at it for hours. I am not very tech savvy. I amazed at how much I still do not know how to do. I started by logging into the wikispace. I had no idea how to do that. Then I gave my new page a name, Foxpage. I made my table of contents. At first the toc was actually on the page, but I managed to fix it. Then I gave each of the headings name. I had to go to the cheat sheet to get the information about headings. After that I made my favorites list. My question is the never ending- What came first the chicken or the egg. I love the discussion. I added a picture. That took me a while, but I did it. I make a Voki!
I am so proud of myself. I was able to figure everything out by trial and error. It is a wonderful thing to find answers while learning to do something. Now, I feel so confident that I can figure anything out. I still do not know where the Our Sandbox Page, but I will find it.

Thing #8

After reading Read Vicki Davis' blog post Wiki Wiki Teaching I do feel that I will be using a wiki to create a sense of community, accountability and ownership in my students. I think that I give students the possibility to use wikis to learn from each other and be more interested in creating their own learning. I would like to use a wiki to build an online books where students can write and exchange stories.

1001 Flat World Tales is such an amazing idea. I do not think that I would have never thought of anything like it. These wiki gives students the opportunity peer edit and revise their work. They will write stories that their classmates can draft and revise until the King or three or four of classmates judge the story as good enough to allow to survival. If survival is allowed to a bad story teller the Kings will be graded accordingly. This project is able to hold students accountable and they can see others work as it progresses and get better.

Code Blue wiki is used for students to learn about the human body by opening their own online "medical clinic." This is good idea. I like that the students work together in the same clinic; however, I was not able to see the growth and collaborative work that I was hoping for in a wiki. The students were all working in groups of clinics, but I was not able to understand how this was an ongoing exchange of ideas and progression in learning.

Discovery Utopias wiki students answer "all of the great questions" of society and move toward to a mutual agreement about social order. This wiki is well organized. I was able to see the projects. The students had a specific order to their society. They were able to see others progression of ideas and gain information and justification for their projects.

I love the idea of using a wiki to give students the tools needed to be in charge of their discovery.

Thing #7

I had never commented on a blog before. I have always been the reader. I would have thoughts and opinions, but I would keep them to myself. Now, I know that bloggers want to know what the community that follows their blogs thinks. I understand that they write with the purpose to share and compare opinions and information. As I was commenting I was trying to make sure that I was positive and provided a valid opinion about their subject. I was a little nervous about my responses. It took me some time to think about what I was going to say and how I wanted to say it. I am still working on my commenting, but I know that it is an important part of blogging and the community that it builds.

Thing #6

The RRS is a wonderful tool to use, because the possibilities are endless. I sure hope that I am able to learn how to use it to the best of my abilities and to its fullest potential. I found so many blogs to follow.
The first blog I am following is The Fischbowl. This blog follows an algebra teacher. One of his posts includes his thoughts of course expectations. I also agree with his points and find them to be very valid. I also think that if you have set expectations students will know what to do and how to conduct. Also, all expectations should follow the mantra “Do what’s right.” Let your students know that you hope they will always follow those expectations instead of making a list of don’ts or no’s.
The second blog is students 2.0. I found this blog to have interesting perspective on art. What is creativity? Art is the list of skills with expectations to follow. Is it a novel way to use the skills? I think this blog is reflective of the artistic angst that most people have. I find myself question my definition of art and creativity.
I also added several fun blogs to my reader. I added the weather channel to my reader. I like the up to date weather information. I also have the World cup blog. I think that witnessing sports history is quite significant to me. I also enjoy films and am following a movie blog. I like to know the new movies and their actors.

Thing #5

I agree! Technology makes a big difference in the lives of our students. The three most important pieces of equipment that you need in a classroom are a computer with internet, a projector connected to the computer and a set of speakers. The computer should be fast and capable to keep up with speed. The projector will allow students to see everything from the computer at the same time. The speakers will provide students to the multimedia world. These items will foster 21st century teaching and learning. This is what should we be focusing on purchasing. This may not change instruction, however technology is essential. The world can be placed in a student’s hand and open up access to videos and other visuals. I also believe that my time is also limited, but with these tools I will take advantage to develop our instructional practices. We will motivate students to learn.

Thing #4

Blog writing seems to be very free. The people that have created blogs are writing to those that support them, share their ideas or even oppose them. However, the blogs reflect personality and individuality. Blogs are read with great ease; almost as if you were listening to someone speak. Blogs are full of emotion and convey an interest. The writing is relaxed and directed to a specific audience. When someone leaves a comment it creates a link between the reader and the writer. At that point the commenter may agree or disagree and this is where the different viewpoints are establish and discussed. Blogging is a different type of literature since there is exchange of ideas. Now, in blogging people write to share and contribute to a community of learners that share similar ideas. Blogging promotes learning, because questions may be asked and then the community responds with answers, solutions and creativity.

Thing #2

Web 2.0 is a term that I had never heard until I registered for this course. I know that my students are being raised in a time of shift and change. As a teacher I know that I have to reach the students in their own language to engage and motivate them to think. Things have changed from writing at a desk to typing, blogging and interacting at a computer. I must change also. In college I had a few classes that provided some online interaction, but nothing compared to what the students are doing now. I can provide lessons with sound, images and interaction to invite them to think with me. I want to make learning meaningful to students. I know that in their future and mine we will be using technology to learn and interact. I will be able to communicate and learn from others that share my similar interests.

Thing #1

I think that each of 7 1/2 Habits of Lifelong Learners are qualities that I believe I have! I may not show all the habits at all times, but I am aware that they make a difference in my life. These habits are lifelong truths that should guide my life. I may not always think of the tools that I could be adding to my toolbox. That is so hard for me! Sometimes I want to set a goal and immediately achieve it without stepping back and realizing the ultimate possibilities and how I can add it to previous information. I always think that problems are challenges that will teach me something new or teach me to look at it differently. I believe myself to be lifelong learner with a positive attitude. I think the most important habit to me is attitude. I will always try my best and know that I will look at every situation in a positive way. These habits will help me achieve my goal of feeling confident in my technology skills.