Is it the end or only the beginning??

This has been a long but very informative journey.  Some of my absolute favorite things were using YouTube, making a mash-up, and using Animoto.  These things were fun and very useful.  I plan on using most or possibly all of these tools in my future as a teacher.

I have found some great websites for my future teaching career and I am eager for my classroom to see all the useful things I will have for them to do.  From here, I plan on keeping up with my blog as a teacher.  It will be extremely helpful for my future students because I plan on showing all assignments for them to do during the year to remind them.

It has been a long journey, but I will use these tools for the rest of my life.
Thank you for reading!!!

Thing #23

The idea of 23 Things came from Stephen Abram's 43 Things website.  The other person behind 23 Things is Helen Blowers.  She turned 23 things into a web 2.0 tool
http://www.43things.com/
http://plcmclearning.blogspot.com/

Using Creative Commons will allow teachers to use certain copyrighted information due to it being used for educational purposes.  This will help a lot of teachers out by not making them ask the maker's permission to use their stuff.

Thing #22

The names of my three binders are Language Arts, Hard Times, and Hamlet.  I chose these three binder names because they will pertain to my future subjects when I become a teacher.  

Here is the link to my Langauge Arts binder http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=817563.  These binders will be useful for any teacher because if you click to automatically make a binder using Google, it'll automatically put files in there that pertain to your subject.  This will help all teachers especially since it is not time consuming whatsoever.

Thing #21

Favorite Music
This is my video created on Animoto.  I really enjoyed making this video because it was very easy.  It had pre made backgrounds and music which was great.  Even though it was a short video, I still think it will allow everyone to see what my favorite music is in that short amount of time.

Thing # 20

I absolutely looooove this video.  I think it is so cute and funny and it will brighten anyone's day.  YouTube is such a great website and with it, you can find any video in the world and watch it within seconds.

If the library used YouTube, they could put video tutorials on how to use the library website.  This would be a very convenient thing for students here, considering that it was pretty complicated for me to figure out.

Thing #19

http://www.ingrainedmedia.com/to-ning-or-not-to-ning-9/
I am currently a member of Facebook, Pandora, Instagram, and YouTube.
Some of the social networks listed are very appealing to me.  I've used last.fm and Project Playlist.  I really enjoyed those so I'll probably join those in the near future.

Thing #18

I feel that when a teacher knows how to social network, they can connect with their students more.  If the teacher makes an effort to reach out to a student, the student will feel more comfortable to talk in the classroom.

I use Facebook daily.  It is so convenient to put a message out to everyone using Facebook. I think that school organizations would get a lot of use out of making a Facebook.  If they get one, they could easily set a status about an event that they're having and everyone will be able to see.

Facebook is amazing and I will be using it for many, many years to come:)

Thing #17

This tool was a little difficult for me.  It didn't really cooperate with me whenever I searched for educational technology.  It only brought up a few results but not ones that a lot of people have used.  

I don't really see a lot of potential with this website.  I feel like it is a lot of work for a teacher to do.  Teachers don't really have a lot of free time so when it takes awhile to use a tool, it messes up their schedule.  I feel like the bookmarking aspect is good but other than that, I probably wouldn't use this in my classroom.

Thing #16

When making my customized home page, I used iGoogle.  In one of my other blogs, I gushed about how I absolutely love Google.  It has never failed me before and once again, I had no trouble using a Google site.  It was so simple and easy to make my homepage.  It said that you can make it in less than 30 seconds and I found out quick that it was true.  It literally took less than 30 seconds.

I chose the MSN calendar to make my own calendar.  This will help me remember assignments and other important dates that I wouldn't remember normally.  I didn't like making the to-do list because I would just use the calendar to put the things I need to do.

I will definitely be using the MSN calendar because it will really help me.  I am a very forgetful person so this is a great tool for me.

Thing #15

I LOVE wikis.  Especially Wikipedia.  I think it's great that a website will let its users edit and change the content if they see an error with it.  They are always easy to use.

When putting my content into the APSU 23 Things Sandbox Wiki, I had no difficulty whatsoever.  That is the best thing about wikis.  Anyone can use them without having any difficulty.

I would use wikis in the classroom by allowing my students to make one for an in-class project.  This would be good because if they had some wrong content then I could just go in and write comments on what to change.  These would be great for any classroom.

Thing #14

The two websites I chose for this blog are http://www.mindmeister.com and http://www.gliffy.com.  I chose these because they looked like the websites that could make the flowcharts/mind maps more fun.  For the classroom, I would be able to use both flowcharts and mind maps.

When using flowchart, I would use it for showing the lectures and expanding on each topic. The mind map would be used for me to show the different assignments throughout the year and would expand on what each assignment requires the student to do.

I will definitely be using these tools in my classroom because it would make lectures and syllabi a lot easier to make.

Thing #13

Personally, I prefer Google Docs.  I am a big Google fan and Google has never failed me before.  I feel that it is much more reliable than any other website because it is such a popular website on the internet. Students would be able to collaborate a lot easier using Google Docs because when you are signed into Google, everything is there to use like, Docs, Gmail, Blogger, etc.  I love Google and I feel that the students would love it, too.

Thing #12

Google search is obviously one of the most popular websites in the history of the internet.  Search isn't the only thing that Google is good for though.  Google translate is also a very good tool that Google has came up with.  I personally have used it a lot since I am trying to learn German.  It helps a lot to check my work and make sure I am saying and writing it correctly.  Another Google tool that I enjoyed was Google Alerts.  This notifies you as soon as news updates happen.  This is a great way of getting news to you as soon as possible.  This would also give you a chance to show your students the new news updates daily for a starter of the day.  These are great tools for the classroom!

Thing #11

For this exercise, I had a difficult time trying to figure out which one to use.  I thought all of the options were so helpful and pertained very much to the topic.  I decided to go with Topix because you can find blogs from people around your area.  This makes getting to know people around your town so much easier.  I didn't have a difficult time with any of the search tools.  They were all pretty straight forward.  I found a lot of feeds about teaching methods like how to make classroom activities more fun.  That will be very useful for me in the future.  I never found any unusual feeds.  I just found people with opinions different than me which I guess could be considered unusual to me.  I will definitely be using Topix again!

Thing #10

RSS is an amazing thing.  It makes finding out all the new news so much easier.  Whenever an update on a blog comes up, it automatically lets you know through Google Reader.  The blogs that I subscribed to were Cool Cat Teacher, Ina Garten, Fun Teaching Methods for Teachers, How Can Teachers Use Technology in the Classroom, and Tobuscus-Know Your Meme.  I could use RSS whenever I needed to know any updates on the blogs that I have subscribed to.  Teachers could use this to their advantage by being able to show their students the blogs for their class every day considering that it shows the updates every day.

Thing #9

http://www.imagechef.com/ic/make.jsp?tid=Fireworks+Text

This exercise was really fun for me.  I used Image Chef to pick which one I wanted to use.  It had so many templates to choose from.  It was interesting looking at all the different templates and choosing which one I wanted to show to everyone.  I chose this one because fireworks always get everyone's attention and as you can see by the text, I really enjoyed making this haha.  All of the different generators could really show a child's creativity and help make any classroom activity more fun.

Thing #8

These mashups were so much fun to look through.  All of them were so tempting to use in my blog but my favorite one was the Jigsaw one (http://bighugelabs.com/jigsaw.php).  I loved making a puzzle out of my favorite band's cd cover.  It was really interesting.  In the future, you could use the mashups for future classroom photos, just to make them a little more interesting.  I think that sharing photos online is perfectly fine.  The only thing I have against it is how people think it's okay to put inappropriate pictures up for everyone to see.  Other than that, I think it is a great way to show people how you really are as a person.

Thing #7

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pagedooley/2494191157/

On Flickr, I discovered this photo by Kevin Dooley.  I loved it because it was very artistic but still extremely simple.  The fact that there are two shadows intrigues me.  The contrast in lighting is also very beautiful to me. Kevin did a very good job at taking this picture and I just had to make my blog about this one.  Flickr is an extremely easy way to browse photos that pertain to any subject you want.

Thing #6

http://www.go2web20.net/site/?a=Powtoon
The website that I chose for this blog is called Powtoon.  This website lets you create animated power points for your classroom.  I feel this is a very good way to get your students interested.  Students always get bored during lectures but if you had animations to go with it, I feel it would keep their attention to the lecture so much better.  The best feature about this site is definitely the fact that you can create video presentations.  This feature will keep any student's attention.  I had absolutely no dislikes for this website.  I feel it would be a very helpful tool in the classroom.

Thing #5

Reading the different perspectives of how people define Web 2.0 is always refreshing to me.  I enjoy seeing how other people see how technology is good or bad.  In Steve Hargadon's blog, he shows 10 different trends on what makes Web 2.0 good.  I completely agree with all of them.  I feel that Web 2.0 is the way to get classrooms more active and organized.  To me, School 2.0 means that any student can learn anything and everything through the power of technology.  Learning doesn't stop in the classroom.  In the future, using technology will give students better computer skills and allow them to learn wherever and whenever they want.

Thing #4

Commenting on posts is extremely important.  It lets the blogger know what other people like about their posts and how they can possibly improve on their blog.  In The Blue Skunk Blog reading, it says that writers like knowing when they're being read.  I think this is so important because it lets the writer know whether they should continue writing or not.  Another important point by The Cool Cat Teacher Blog is to make sure you leave your name with your comment.  Without your name, the blogger loses the importance and authenticity of their comment.

5 Blogs from our group:
Rachel Lichtenberger(http://licht3040.blogspot.com/)
Elizabeth Howell(http://elihowell.blogspot.com/)
Markesha McCombs(http://markeshamccombs.blogspot.com/)
Lauren Williams(http://laurenkaycee.blogspot.com/)
Calla Carpenter(http://carpenter3040.blogspot.com/)

2 Blogs from outside of group:
Brown Eyed Baker(http://www.browneyedbaker.com/)
Toby Turner-Toblog(http://tobyturner.com/blog)

I chose all of these blogs to comment on because they all had a point that I completely agreed with. And their blogs were all neat to look at haha:) Great job to all of y'all!!

Thing #3

Using a blog can be very useful. If I use a blog for my education program, I will use it often. I will put notes up to help my students if they didn't write all of them down during class. I will also put up ideas to help with certain subjects, such as if they need analysis training for English. Blogs can also be good for notifying the students in the case that I ever get sick. I will also post make-up assignments and extra credit opportunities, as well. By using a blog, I will be able to allow my students to have all the information they need, right on their home computer.

Thing #2

I had never used a blog before this class. Choosing the title for my blog was easy enough because I wanted everyone to know that it was my personal blog. Creating the blog was very easy and fun for me. I had absolutely no problems with making it. It had easy instructions on how to make it, which helped a lot. I created my avatar to look a lot like me because I really wanted to show who I really am in my blog. I chose a big smile because I love to laugh and smile. Hopefully through my blog, people will be able to see the real me - inside and out.

Thing #1

My first blog. Ever. Creating this blog was very easy for me. I'm pretty good with technology so I felt confident in doing the simple task of making a blog. I actually enjoyed making it, especially when I created my avatar. I like to personalize things so when I got to choose my background and my fonts, I knew that this was going to be a fun activity. When using the Web 2.0 tools, I am really looking forward to being able to put my thoughts and feelings into a blog. It's like another Facebook.

On the subject of the 7 1/2 Habits of Lifelong Learners, I had completely forgotten what lifelong learning was. I'm glad this tutorial reminded me of what they were. I think the easiest one for me was point 7 1/2. Playing is always easy for a child and when I played games that helped me on a subject, I learned a lot more.  The hardest one for me was viewing problems as challenges. Whenever I couldn't figure out a problem on a subject, I would get frustrated and give up. I never was good with challenges. I always wanted to know how to solve a problem right then and there.