Is It the End or Only the Beginning??

My favorite discoveries for this learning journey have been finally learning RSS feeds and Google Docs. These are two things that I have always wanted to learn but never dove into. The discovery exercises were a great way to familiarize and practice with different Web 2.0 features.

I really liked the format of the program. The only thing I would change would be to update it. Web 2.0 sites change dramatically over time. There are many new sites out there that would be very helpful for classrooms.

I plan to incorporate technology and Web 2.0 into my classroom. This exercise has certainly helped me and given me the tools to incorporate technology effectively!

Thing #23 Creative Commons

I googled "23 things" and found the site PLCMC Learning 2.0 which is almost, but not quite, identical to APSU's 23 Things. I noticed the site had a message indicating who to contact if anyone was seeking to duplicate or modify any of the content. I think it is important for teachers to keep Creative Commons and copyrighting in mind when duplicating or modifying anything for their classrooms.

Thing #22 LiveBinders

Special Education

I feel like I say this in every post, but I have never heard of LiveBinders before this Discovery Exercise. My binder featured on this post is my Special Education binder which holds important special education websites. I didn't find it to be the easiest to get around or too user-friendly. But it is by no means difficult to access.

I use another website with similar features to store my papers that I have written over the semesters which is Dropbox. It's extremely easy to use, you just drag and drop! It also places a box on your toolbar to drag and drop documents you would like to store. These are placed in files which can be kept private or shared with certain users.

Thing #21 Animoto Slideshow Fun

Make your own slide show at Animoto.

Animoto is another Web 2.0 feature that I have never used nor heard of. It was SO easy and fast to set up a 30 second slideshow. I chose a small number of Instagram photos I have taken. It was easy to upload my photos and choose a song to make the slideshow.

This would be a fun project to do for your classroom! I plan to use this at the end of a unit plan sometime especially if my students are working on a large hands-on project. It would be fun to play a slideshow to show the progress of their project.

Thing #20 I Also Heart Youtube!

I've been a big fan of Youtube since 2005. It's not only great for entertainment purposes, but also for information on just about anything. I've gone to Youtube for makeup tutorials, crafting tutorials (like above), recipes, to listen to favorite songs, math help (this has helped me immensely), you name it!

Another great video site is the Teaching Channel. I've found a LOT of useful and informative videos on this site for all aspects of teaching and classroom management. Check it out!

Thing #19 Even More Social Networking!

I joined TeacherPop, uploaded my profile pic, and tweeted it! I think this is a great social network site for local APSU preservice and inservice teachers. Another social network that I've been a part of for a while is Goodreads. I love this site! You can keep track of books that you've read as well as add books to your bookshelf to read later. Other features include having friends so you can see what they're reading as well as write and read reviews of books. Highly recommended!

Thing #18 Tweet Tweet!

I love social networking! While I'm not a huge fan of Facebook, I love using Twitter to quickly make an update (usually of a show I'm watching haha). I've been using a personal Twitter account since 2008. For this class, and one I may use during my teaching career, I made a new twitter account. If you have one, follow me here!

While Twitter is a great resource to update information to your class at home, it is important to keep in mind that not all families have internet access or a Twitter account. I have found through my own Twitter that it is a great way to get information about education on the state and national levels. Also, I have found many resources through following other teachers' Twitter accounts. If you don't have a Twitter account, I highly recommend trying it out!

Thing #17 It's Delicious!

While I have been on StumbleUpon a few times, this has been my first time using Delicious.com. I found it very easy to sign up and search for tags. I found some useful links from the educational technology tag to add to my "stack". In order to read the comments left about certain links, you have to click on the number of times that particular site was added to people's stacks. Delicious.com is a very useful site for teachers, particularly if you are linked to other teachers in your content area. I'm always interested to see what other teachers have found to be useful in their own classrooms.

Thing #16 Getting Organized

Which start page did you choose? Why did that one appeal to you? Will you make it your permanent home page?

The start page that I chose was the iGoogle homepage. I have always loved using this as my homepage because it is so customizable and gives easy access to calendar, time, and to-do lists.

How can the online calendars be useful to you?

I chose the 30 Boxes calendar because I have never heard of it before. It was very simple to set up. You can also create a 30 Boxes calendar mash-up by incorporating personal photos into a customizable calendar.

What about the to-do lists—helpful, too much work…?

I chose the Remember the Milk online to-do list organizer. It was easy to set up and add to your to-do list. I like how you can use this with Google Calendar and can also be used as an app on your iPhone. You can pretty much access your Remember the Milk to-do lists from anywhere which makes this extremely handy for busy teachers!

I like all of the organization tools I tried and would recommend them to anyone. I think my favorite of the three is the Remember the Milk to-do list organizer. I like how it is so easily accessible. Plus, I love lists!

Thing #15 What the Wiki?

I love Wiki when I'm looking up general things that I would like further information about. However, it is always necessary to keep in mind that anyone can edit the content. The aspect of this "open community encyclopedia" is quite unique and should only be used for personal interests, not as a research tool.

I was a little confused when trying to post to the APSU 23 Things Sandbox Wiki. I wasn't quite sure how to post. I signed up for it then edited the page with my Thing #9 about image generators. In all, I think that a collaborative page is a great idea as long as the content is structured and organized and not a mess.

Thing #14 - Going With the Flow

I have to admit that I tried using Gliffy to make a flowchart, but even though I consider myself pretty "techy", I was somewhat frustrated with it. It isn't the most user-friendly tool but it is quite handy for anyone wanting to create a flowchart. After my frustration, I tried out Bubbl.us and I had a much happier experience when I created my mind map. The mind map I created is a useful writing strategy called POW+WWW, What=2, How=2. I will more than likely create more mind maps as well as graphic organizers with Bubbl.us.

Thing #13 - Zoho is convenient-o

After exploring some of the features of Zoho and Google Docs, I have found that both of these apps are extremely convenient for teachers and classrooms. Zoho's document feature, Zoho Writer, has a format that is very similar to Microsoft Word. This provides familiarity and ease of use. Documents can be created and easily edited and saved, as well as shared with the class or submitted directly to the teacher. Zoho Writer also has a chat feature. Students may submit questions to the teacher or collaborate with other classmates on a project. I will definitely incorporate Zoho into my classroom. It's a user-friendly, convenient, and effective tool.

With Google Docs, the user can create document, presentations, spreadsheets, forms, drawings, and tables. All of these can be saved and shared. I explored the drawing tool and made the image above. Teachers can use this tool to make signs for their classroom. All of the features of Google Docs are extremely useful for any teacher. The convenience of this is that documents can be easily accessible from any computer or iPad.

Thing #12 - I Heart Google

Bienvenue sur mon blog! (Welcome to my blog!)

Google is SO much more than a search engine.

Google can help you in so many ways with productivity tools such as:
Help you organize your day, month, and year - Google Calendar
Offers a customizable personal homepage - iGoogle
Seeking information on a certain topic? Google will search it for you. - Google Alerts
Personal image storage with edit features - Picasa
Need to translate? - Google Translate

Here is a snapshot of my iGoogle page. Every aspect of the page is customizable to reflect your interests.

Other productivity tools that Google offers:
Google News
Google Docs - a free data storage service offered by Google.
Google Books
Google Wallet

Thing #11 Feeds

Which method of finding feeds did you find easiest to use?

I have to say that I really like Google Reader and RSS the most. They are both user-friendly and accessible to myself since I use Gmail. Both have tools that recommend additional blogs to follow.

Which Search tool was the easiest for you?

Google Reader was the easiest for me. Some of the others were confusing which leads to the next question...

Which was more confusing?

I looked at Topix.net and Technorati. I had no idea what to do on Topix.net and it looked like a chatboard. I then looked at Technorati and watched the tutorial. This was an "okay" search site but not very appealing. Both of these sites also seemed very dated.

What other tools or ways did you find to locate newsfeeds?

I think Google is the way to go, for myself at least. It's easy for anyone to use and it stays up-to-date.

Thing #10 I Have FINALLY Learned About RSS!

I have been an avid blog reader for some time and when stumbling upon a new one to follow, I would always notice that one way to subscribe was to use an RSS feed. I never knew what that was (until now!)and for some reason I have never looked into it. It's so easy!

What do you like about RSS and newsreaders?

What I love about RSS is that instead of subscribing to blogs with my email address (like I used to do), I can subscribe through RSS and have all of the blogs I follow under my Google Reader account. This way, new blog posts are not taking up room in my email and all of the new posts are in one place for me to read at my convenience.

How do you think you might be able to use this technology in your school or personal life?

For my personal and professional life, I will be able to use RSS to subscribe to blogs that will help and enhance my classroom and personal life. RSS conveniently keeps all of my subscriptions in one place and is easily accessible.

How can teachers use RSS or take advantage of this new technology?

Teachers can subscribe to readers or blogs that give useful information for their classroom conveniently through RSS. Teachers may also set up a classroom blog and offer RSS as a subscription service.

Thing #9 Fun Image Generators

There are quite a number of free image generators out there. Image generators are fun to make signs for your classroom or to put on your classroom blog. For the above image, I used an arcade games generator. I love classic video games and my favorite one is Galaga. There are numerous options for making an image generator such as cartoons, famous people, smileys, or even upload your own image.

Thing #8 - Travel with Flickr!

I've never really thought of mashups before reading this article about it by Wikipedia. I learned that a mashup is a remix of digital data. Flickr does this by incorporating Google Maps with the location of the images on the site. I thought this would be a great way to explore different areas of the world with my class. If we are studying say, Ireland, we could search "Ireland" on Flickr to bring up images from that area as well as learn exactly where in Ireland the image is from. This would give the students a more realistic look into life in that area than just looking at a map.

I do not mind sharing photos online as long as they are appropriate and not too personal. I read a lot of "teacher" blogs and I have noticed that they do not show the faces of their students for privacy reasons.

Thing #7 Flickr

Clouds, a photo by StephanieWphotos on Flickr.

I explored Flickr numerous times for this post and finally chose a picture of a Northern Pygmy Owl (I have a new, weird fascination with them for some reason). I know what you're thinking..this isn't a picture of a pygmy owl. This is because I tried and TRIED to upload the picture using the photo link on Blogger and it just would not work for me. Then I thought it would be cooler to have my own Flickr account anyway, so I did just that. I love taking pictures with my iPhone. I took this picture of clouds with my phone and I really like it so I thought I would share it!

Thing #6 Discovering Web 2.0 Tools - Flickr

While there were many sites that I'm familiar with and used on Web 2.0, I've never taken the opportunity to explore Flickr. Flickr is a photo sharing website where you can upload and share photos as well as videos. You can also explore photos uploaded by other people all around the world. Photos may be shared from Flickr to Facebook, Twitter, blogs, emails, and more.

What did you like or dislike about the tool?

The features I love: photo sharing, the option to have your photos private, the great photography from others. As for now, since I'm so new to the site, there is not a feature that I dislike.

What were the site’s useful features?

The site's useful features are the photo sharing features. Flickr makes it easy to post photos to Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites as well as emails.

Could you see any applications for its use in a school or library setting?

Flickr is a great tool for teachers to store photos for presentations as well as visual representations of different elements of content.

Thing #5 Web 2.0/School 2.0 What Does This Mean for the Future of Education?

I remember when I purchased our first computer for my husband and I in 1994. He was returning from a peacekeeping mission in the Sinai Peninsula and I wanted to surprise him with a welcome home gift. We were also newlyweds at the time. To date, that computer is the most expensive one we've ever purchased (they were quite expensive back then). It took a while to get used to, but I loved everything about it! It helped me research for school, it helped me budget, it helped me with time organization and record keeping and a variety of other resources. It made my life a little simpler and who doesn't love that?

Since then, computers and technology has changed so rapidly its almost hard to keep up with the latest tech trends. Today, technology can help me in so many more ways than it did back in 1994. I call my iPhone my lifeline. With my iPhone I'm just a text or call away from my husband and children, my calender keeps up with all of my appointments, I can twitter, I can facebook, and I can access my email from anywhere. I love it!

What does "School 2.0" mean to you?

If technology can help me so much with my personal life, it can definitely help in the classroom. As a future special education teacher, I would love to work with different assistive technologies with my students. I have witnessed an elementary CDC classroom where the iPad was a very useful tool for teaching literacy. The internet is definitely the most useful technology tool in schools today. Information is so accessible on the internet and can be easily found and used by any teacher.

What does it mean for schools of the future?

I believe that School 2.0 is just the beginning of the future of technology in schools. I also believe that the traditional "lecture taught" class with students sitting in desks for the majority of the day will not be so common in the future. A technology driven curriculum does not mean students will be sitting at a computer all day. Technology assists learning for those who may be out of school due to injuries or illness (virtual school). Technology allows more interaction between the curriculum and the student, which engages them and gives a new concept to learning.

Thing #4 Why Commenting Is So Important

Why does commenting helps create a sense of community and interaction?

I really enjoyed the article from the Cool Cat Teacher Blog about commenting. Everyone who blogs LOVES to receive any number of comments (even if it's just one!) because it is so exciting for someone to stumble across your blog and read your thoughts. The author also suggests hyperlinking your posts (as I hyperlinked the blog and article I am discussing) to anything information you are blogging about. This gives the readers a reference to what and where you found your information, which is what a lot of blogs are about - sharing information! Also, replying to comments that your readers have left you gives them a sense that they are heard and friendships may be formed.
 
Any other points about commenting?

Accepting comments on your blog opens an invitation for conversation and shared information. It is important to keep an open mind but also be gracious and not rude. Opinions may differ, which is to be expected, but always keep comments polite and always be polite when replying to a comment. Problogger's 10 Techniques to Get More Comments on Your Blog is an informative post about commenting with great tips!

Name some blogs you are currently following.

I have found some education blogs that I absolutely love to read!

Extra Special Teaching
Little Literacy Learners
 Ready 2 Read
What the Teacher Wants



Discuss the comments that you chose to make and why you made them.

I commented on:

Leslie Midlick's blog about how I loved how she signed her posts. She had fun and unique closings for each post.

Luanne Milam's blog about Thing #6. She found that Etsy.com has vendors that sell educational items. I'm thrilled about that because I love Etsy!

Naomi Williamson's blog about Thing #21 - Animoto. I commented mainly because I have known Naomi since I started the MAT program and it was great to finally see her family!

Thing #3 - Registering My Blog

Registering my blog with the class was very simple and I cannot wait to browse my classmates blogs! I definitely plan to have an active blog for my classroom when I begin teaching. I believe that strong communication with your students and their parents is crucial to a successful school year. For my classroom blog, I plan to have weekly newsletters, an overview of the week's unit, as well as any other school news. I would also love to publish a podcast involving my students every now and then about our classroom.

Thing #2 - Setting Up My Blog

Question:  How did you decide on your posting name and the name of your blog?

I named my blog Stephanie’s 23 Things Blog because this is the theme of my blog, answering these 23 things to help me become more experienced with blogging. I’m posting under my first and last name so my classmates and professor can easily identify me without saying “ok, who is this again?”.

Question: What was your experience in creating the blog? Was it hard for you or easy? Why?

I’ve always wanted to be a blogger because I enjoy writing and I love reading other people’s blogs. I have attempted many blogs in the past and I find myself struggling to stay consistent with it. I’m fairly experienced in setting up a blog, but when making this one I was confused with Blogger’s new format so I may need to switch it to the old format.

Question: How does your avatar reflect your personality? Did you create an avatar that looks like your real self or someone totally different? Why?

I tried to make my avatar look like myself as much as possible and I believe it’s a fairly good representation of myself.  I couldn’t do without the Starbucks cup, I absolutely LOVE their Chai Lattes!

Thing #1 - Lifelong Learning

Thing #1 – Lifelong Learning

I’ve always approached new situations in my life as learning experiences. Whether it is meeting new people, starting a new job, even starting back to school; in the end we learn a lot from our environment. Learning is an ongoing experience. However, I admit that sometimes I don’t approach learning as positively as I should.  Of the 7 ½ Learning Habits, Habit #3 – View problems as challenges – is actually my hardest.  I sometimes don’t see problems as challenges but as just problems.  I tend to over-analyze and over-think things instead of approaching the problem positively. 

I believe that my strongest (or easiest) learning habit is Habit #7 – Teach/mentor others.  In every job that I’ve had, I have been appointed as a mentor or trainer.  I’m very detail-oriented and have (I’ve been told) very good inter-personal skills. I like to teach and discover how people learn best and how to help them succeed at their highest level.