One Last Thing

Where do I begin? Right now with a sign of relief. These 23 things have been intensive and sometimes frustrating, but in the end, extremely helpful. I think my favorite things are Delicious and the RSS feeds, mainly because I need help in getting organized. I'll have to go back when I have time and fiddle with the image generators more. There's so many to do!  I am already excited about how I am going to use my new tools and knowledge in the classroom. I understand that technology is a huge player in how our children are learning and interacting with the world. I know that as an educator, I must use techniques and strategies and tools that complement their styles of learning. I have already ordered two books from Amazon about Web 2.0 to help me do that. As I mentioned in my very first post, I have difficulty problem solving, and it all has to do with TIME! It is so short...there's not enough of it, so I don't want to spend time figuring something out. I just want it shown to me. So, the 23 things were challenging, but from the posts, I think that is a general feeling. I am happy and proud that I completed them, but with the time crunch, I felt like I was just going through the motions with many of them and not taking the time to really get to know them and enjoy them. Some of the directions were unclear or out-of-date. I found during the course, that it was not wise to click on the link in the thing directions because one, you had a small window, and two, it took your things directions away. So, I learned to open up the link in a new window. Maybe that should be in the instructions. I wonder also if this isn't a bit much, coupled with the other assignments in Livetext. I would rather have done fewer things to a greater degree. I feel like I have skimmed the surface in a lot of the exercises. I am wondering something else. We, as educators, teach a variety of students at different levels of ability and are required to differentiate for them. What about at the college level? Were these things and assignments written to a "middle majority" of abilities? I suspect that there were many exercises that a lot of students may have completed in two hours but took me four or more. Is there a way to differentiate these assignments? Maybe something to consider. I do, however, thank you for the learning opportunity. I am leaving this course much more "connected."

Thing # 22

http://livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit?id=132612

My three binders are:
Oil Spill
Cause and Effect
Singapore math

The binders are helpful for organizing a large amount of information. I decided to make mine more specific; instead of science, I named it Oil Spill. Instead of reading, I named it Cause and Effect. Instead of math, I named it Singapore math. This will allow me to find something I need quickly. I love the easy way you can binder something. I can have students use my binders to do research. For example, we may be doing a research paper on the environmental effects of oil spills. They could go to my binders find information they need. But, isn't this very similar to what I did with Delicious? I really like Delicious, so if I need to use just one, based on what I know now, it would be the big D.

a day in the life

a day in the life

I like Animoto, and unfortunately, I am under a tight time crunch right now, so did a basic video with what they had available on the site. Don't like it very much, though. I thought they video would come right up, so don't know if I shared it correctly either. Would love to come back and do my own show....hope to, but need to get the other "thing" done first. I would like to have other options available, and I may try the pro account. Don't know what else is out there, so have to research that.

Thing # 19

I have joined Teacher Pop, but am waiting for my confirmation e-mail. I'll come back to that when I receive it.

I looked at some of the other social network sites. I am not a member of them, but I think if I was going to choose one, it would be last.fm. I love music...have to have it in my life. I grew up in the sixties, so of course, I am a huge fan of music during that time. I listen to it all the time; in fact I have to remind myself to listen to other genres for some variety. I mean really...look at how that music is still so popular today. Will I join last.fm? I doubt it, because there's a charge for using it to its capacity. Right now, all I have to do is go to youtube and look for videos if I get an itching to hear The Critters. I subscribe to satellite radio, so I get a variety that way. So for now, I'll just stay where I am.

Got my confirmation, but am trying to add my badge.  Can't embed it, can't link it, so I just took a screenshot.  I added a photo to teacherpop and also replied to a discussion started by Dr. Wall on backward design. I think being a member will be very helpful. A great place to get education information.

Thing # 20: Cute marmots waking up from Hybernation - BBC Animals

I'm a little confused. When I click view this post, I see the video. When I click edit this post, I only see this link. I hope everyone is able to see the video. It's just a cute little video on marmot hibernation.

Another thing I am confused on...in our instructions, there were three links to click on:Web 2.0, Did you know Web 2.0, and A vision of students today. I tried all three, but nothing came up. Am I missing out on some important information.

If I have done this correctly, then adding video to a blog is easy, and I could really find that helpful in the classroom. Because of our filtering and blocks, I couldn't show this to my students last year (didn't have a blog...didn't know about blogs).

Thing # 18

I already have a Facebook account, and I like it for what I use it for. I am sure I don't take advantage of all the capabilities it offers. Because I am not real tech-savvy, I am hesitant to "put a lot out there" for people to see. In fact, I am amazed at the personal information shared. For instance, going on vacation or being out of town...there are all kinds of posts sharing that info. That's all someone needs to know nobody is home. Yes, I see that it is a great way to share news, but it's also a great way to share stuff that doesn't need to be shared. Like everything else in life, there are pros and cons. Didn't we sign up for an account on Twitter a few things back? Think we did. I know some people of very few words, and I can see that tweeting can be quick and effective. It's not on my top ten list of tech to use, but when exploring some of the ways it can be used (and on those lists, I didn't see anything specific to education...it was mostly for business or personal use), I did like the fact that I could tweet to my dontforgetthemilk account I set up.

I can't really say there was anything I didn't like about either site. For me, it's just a matter of choosing a few things to help me stay connected and informed. Right now, I prefer Facebook. As of now, I am not seeing the need for using either of these accounts in my classroom. Maybe that's because I teach fourth grade. I think a blog would be more appropriate. If I may, I prefer not to share my Facebook link either, although I guess anyone that wants to find it can...is anything really private anymore? I think not.

Thing # 17

Okay...this is my favorite thing so far. I knew Delicious existed, I knew it would be helpful, but for some reason, I kept putting off looking into it. Shame on me! I looked at my desktop; I had 29 websites saved there!! I was afraid I would lose them, or put them in a folder that I would not remember, so I kept them on my desktop...bad move. I have created a delicious account and have started adding them to my account. Through the cmcss account I saved, I went to a saved website of a colleague and through that came upon a video by CommonCraft (major player in this course) on project based learning which I watched and got info on ANOTHER  website I found fascinating.WHEW! There is the danger of getting lost though. Sometimes I can't remember where I began. I need breadcrumbs to sprinkle along the path I travel so I can find my way home again. Anyway, I subscribed to the APSU23things delicious account, and I am well on my way to becoming more organized for the upcoming school year.

Thing # 16

I had already in another "thing" set up an igoogle page. Pageflake wouldn't load. I tried about 5 times, then moved on. I set up a travel page with Netvibes, and deleted and added some tabs of my own. I added Epicurious, because traveling and eating just go together. I liked Netvibes pretty well. At first, I thought it had too much stuff to look at, but after I played with it for a while, and deleted some things, it was alright. I won't use it as my permanent start page, though. I have a google calendar also, which I expect will be very helpful to me during the school year to keep up with all the meetings and things to do.

I used the dont forget the milk site to start a to do list. As with anything, it takes a few moments to get oriented...alright, for me, maybe more than a few moments. But when I went to my e-mail to confirm my new account, it opened quick start help page, which helped me out a lot. I had already clicked on the FAQ page, and it was very extensive!!! So, I put in a few tasks, assigned a priority to them, put in due dates, and  sorted them between personal, study, work, and inbox categories. There is MUCH more that can be done, and much more I need to learn, but from my initial interaction with the site, I liked it! Yes, I think I will use it. It can be synced to my google calendar, so that will be good. I think there's one more thing I have to do for # 16, so I'll be back.

I looked at Zamzar, and of course, it's limited with free access, but this would be very helpful, I think, as my school computer is Mac, and I have a Dell pc at home, and sometimes I have trouble going back and forth. Converting things to PDFs might prove helpful.

Thing # 14

Try as I might, I could not get a flow chart going on Gliffy. I tried the blank page and a template, but just couldn't figure it out. So, I decided to do a Venn Diagram, which was super easy. I liked the 3-circle diagram, because you can compare/contrast more relationships.

I really liked Bubbl.us! I had a lot of fun creating the web. But, I didn't see any real directions on how to use it, but as you start and move your cursor here and there, you start to pick it up. I could have gone further, but I wanted to see it all. I am going to put my kids on this especially for pre-writing brainstorming. Actually, they could do something similar to what I did for reading stories. Setting and characters are pretty easy for fourth graders to recognize, but plot, and especially theme are very difficult. This would help them sort out their thoughts and ideas, and maybe see the connection between it all. The possibility for use are endless.

Thing # 13

I used Zoho Writer to take "fake" notes at a "fake" meeting of a leadership team meeting that I might attend at school. Being fourth grade team leader, I am responsible for bringing back information to my team members. With the writer, I can send my notes and my team members can add comments, and ask questions, and we all can see what is going on.

With Google Docs, I chose to make a simple spreadsheet. I like the simple format, because I think it would be good to introduce spreadsheets to fourth graders. I loved the "instant" graph it creates. As far as comparing the two, I think I would need to work further with both, but Google Docs is free, and from what I could tell, Zoho is not. I was allowed to sign up for a free trial, with only three people having access to it, so why would I use Zoho? The school would never pay for it, and neither would I.

Thing # 15

I am somewhat familiar with WIKIS because we used them last year at school, but I lagged behind. I believe, however, that they will be pushed more this year, so I am glad to have a chance to work with them a little. Our school WIKI is done by WIKIspaces, so the PBworks was a little different. It seemed a little simpler. If I had not read another student's post first, I wouldn't have known to set up an account on my own. I couldn't do it through 23 things. I had to open a new window and go in that way. I added to the APSU page already there, and I created a page of my own, but I didn't do anything like changing the font or anything. Just wanted to paste my picture there.

Thing # 12

http://www.google.com/ig

I decided to do a homepage with the moon phases because that is a 4th grade standard, and for some reason, the students have trouble remembering the names of the phases and from which direction the light and darkness comes across the moon. I think if we get in the habit of looking at it everyday before we even teach it, then teaching it will be much easier.

I want to add a calendar, so I'll edit my post when I get that done.

 https://www.google.com/calendar/render?gsessionid=OK


I created a calendar because I have a bad habit of trying to remember things, and then I often forget. I should know better. I haven't played around with all the things you can do with your calendar yet, and it's not like I'm some big shot business person whose days are filled with events, so simple is good to start with. I did try to add a couple of gadgets, but they didn't load, so I'll keep trying. I chose not to make this calendar public.

Thing # 11

I am coming to the conclusion that technology and I rub each other wrong. I don't know if anyone else is having the same trouble as I, but it seems that when I try to do something according to the directions, I don't get the expected results. I found Topix.net to be unfriendly. It was too much on the screen for me to look at, and I couldn't find a place where I could put in a search. I was able to add a site through Sydic8.com, but it took a while. I wanted to add the Boing Boing (looks like a bit of everything), but didn't work. I'll try that later. Actually, the easiest thing for me to do was just go to Google Reader and put in a search or paste a URL from I site I know. I did find a feed on STEM, so that should prove to be helpful.

Thing #10

This, I guess, has been the easiest of the Things I have done so far, and probably will be the most helpful to me. I am addicted to websites that I think I will use in the classroom, and my desktop is FILLED with their icons because I am (1) not very organized, not like I used to be and (2) I just want them handy on my desktop. But, now I can start getting them off my desktop. Yay! As I was subscribing to my favorite sites, I went ahead and set up folders; see, I'm already getting myself organized! Being able to get to something in a jiffy when I need to in the classroom instead of hunting around for several minutes will mean I am less stressed and the students will get more instruction time. I have my favs for my personal life too, so again, this will just save me a lot of time. Something that we are all short on!

Thing # 9

I don't think I have done this correctly. I did follow the process as I understood it up to a certain point. I uploaded a picture from my computer and then chose a magazine cover. I could not, however, get the image to save as anything but a "preview." I think...I'm not sure anymore, it's been so long ago...I finally took a screenshot of the image so I could prove that I was at least attempting the assignment. So, here it is, but I can't give a link because the link doesn't work. Maybe this will suffice for the time being, but I will keep working on this.









Does this count? Again, don't think I'm doing things right. I dragged this image after I added my text to my desktop. I'll try something different. Everytime I copy the URL and try to paste here, I get a "NOT FOUND" message.

Thing # 8

1. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sensibles/5848878386/">Beijing: Great Wall of China</a>, 2. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sensibles/5848320355/">Beijing: Great Wall of China</a>, 3. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sensibles/5764178694/">Fujian coastal scenery</a>, 4. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sensibles/5848320685/">Beijing: Great Wall of China</a>, 5. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sensibles/5766737551/">Fujian coastal scenery</a>, 6. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sensibles/5768545868/">fujian (misc)</a>, 7. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sensibles/5768005669/">fujian coastal scenery</a>, 8. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sensibles/5779755487/">Fujian (misc)</a>, 9. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sensibles/5768546788/">fujian coastal scenery</a>, 10. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sensibles/5768546614/">fujian coastal scenery</a>, 11. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sensibles/5768546132/">fujian coastal scenery</a>, 12. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sensibles/5767958648/">Fujian (misc)</a>

I liked the mosaic maker. There are lots of ways that come to mind for using this in the classroom. The first that comes to mind is a mosaic of all the students' pictures as a cover for a class book. It would also be great for documenting a science experiment in which you maybe had to watch changes in something over a period of time. Taking pictures each day and making a mosaic would be nice. In literacy, students could look at the pictures in a mosaic and describe the setting, or a character based on physical features. I plan to use this.

As far as my personal feeling about sharing pictures online, I'm all for it. You can go places you never dreamed of. You can see people whom you can't see in person. You can explore the world.

Thing # 23

This is an example of an attribution stating that the APSU 23Things was based on other works:

Learning 2.0 - 23 Things for Teachers is based on Learning 2.0 - 23 Things. That program is based on the Learning 2.0 program that was designed by Helene Blowers, Technology Director at the Charlotte Mecklenburg County Public Library system, with the support and assitance of several staff. Helene's program was loosely based upon Stephen Abram's article, 43 Things I (or You) might want to do this year (Information Outlook - Feb 2006) and the website 43Things.

This information was in the "About" section under "Getting Started" on the home page of the 23Things.

As for using it in the classroom, it will be indispensable. With technology-based learning, student-guided learning, discovery-learning, and the dozens of ways students use the Internet in the classroom, it is necessary to have a tool that enables the students to choose and use the enormous amount or resources available to them in their learning. Without the Creative Commons allowances, their choices in learning would be so much more narrow. This opens a whole new world to them...and to me also.

Thing #7 again

The picture of the beautiful child would not load. I tried many more pictures, but I did notice that NONE of the URLs of the photos I chose did NOT have have a jpg extension or any other photo type extension. None of the URLs would paste into my blog. After being at this "thing" for more than 2 hours, I have to move on. I am recharging my camera battery, and will try to do the other suggested activity later.

Thing # 7

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36805112@N05/5845403382/

I tried again, but couldn't find the picture I wanted to use yesterday, but this is beautiful also.

Okay, I really liked Flickr. Our three children are all professional photographers, and my hubby is really good at it too, so guess where that leaves me? In the pictures. I don't take a lot of pictures, and I have nev
loaded any to a public site. I guess that is an experience for me in the future. Maybe I'll just give my kids a little competition. I found it quite easy to "explore" the site. I used the popular tags to look for pictures about China. I got quite caught up in that and lost track of time. They were beautiful, I was really stunned by this picture. I love the coastline, especially that of NC. I have gone there for vacations all my life. Yes, this is in Spain, but it is so beautiful...the lighting, the feeling of quiet and solitude, the slowing down of the heartbeat just looking at it. I wonder what is out in the distance.

Thing # 4

Don't your just automatically feel better when you know you are not the only one who is dealing with a personal crisis, or the only one that can't seem to stop eating, or the only one who feels lonely and out of touch? Knowing there are others out there feeling the same things is comforting. Through blogging, it is possible to build that sense of community. It's not so much hoping there are people out there suffering too, but that you are not strange or weird or stupid or inept. It's an affirmation of humanity. Whether the subject matter is of hardship or celebration, that pervasive thread that ties us to like people and conditions becomes a type of lifeline, encouraging us to keep going because what we have to say is worthwhile.

Coolcatteacher warns that we will run into a Darth Commenter. Her words of advice were inspiring, even to the point of using a negative situation to create something positive. Her experience caused her to really reflect on her purpose for blogging, and she emerged from her sabbatical with a clear vision of what she was doing and why. Isn't this one of the 71/2 habits we read about? Accepting and actually embracing setbacks or negatives in our lives as opportunities to learn and grow. One of my goals.

Edublogger etiquette: responding to comments. An interesting article, and interesting comments to go along with it. That is a worry of mine. I am liking the idea of blogging, but I know me, and I am afraid I will not be able to keep up with it. I have trouble keeping in touch with family members, let alone with hundreds, maybe thousands of people. Which is another thing; what if I don't get any comments? How will that make me feel? I already have an inkling...I think this is my sixth or seventh post for this class, and I only have one comment. Of course I am going to wonder why.

Speaking of commenting on posts, I chose to comment on:
(1) Sohn's Steps blog because she sits beside me in class and we have developed an easy relationship. Secondly, she loves language, and so do I. That's not something one usually has in common with a lot of people. My comments addressed our common love of words. It's not a topic of conversation I have often with people.
(2) Tantulus 7 because we both had some difficulty with this thing. We both ran into technical difficulties, but we both skirted our technical difficulties in similar ways. I wanted to see what she had created. I liked them. I still plan to go back (when I have time) and try again.
(3) I commented on Rocks by Wheels post of Thing # 18 because I agreed with him on his comments about using Twitter in the classroom. I, like Rick, don't really see the need to do that. I plan, instead, to have a blog and we already have a WIKI page.
(4) I chose to comment on Sohn's STeps blog about Facebook and Twitter because I agreed with her. I also felt a little uncomfortable putting my facebook link up, so I didn't. I am still learning my way around the social networking labyrinth, and I am going to err on the side of caution....or stupidity, whichever comes first.
(5) I commented on sjohnson's blog about subscribing to RSS feeds. I found, as she did, I had greater success searching for websites on my own rather than using the sites given to us in the exercise.
(6 an 7) I have chosen to follow Coolcat teacher and Kathy Schrock's Kaffeeclatsch. Both are great educational blogs.

Thing # 6

I chose to explore Pandora because I LOVE music! I have to have it in my life! At first, I was disappointed that I couldn't put in a particular song and have THAT song play, but maybe that is not a bad thing. It's kind of nice to have the station pick songs they think you will like based on what you have entered. I liked being able to see my friends' choices of music; a good way to share, and a good way to experience a type of music you may not otherwise experience. Although I like lots of different kinds of music, sometimes I get in a "rut." I think this might be a useful tool to use maybe when you are studying a particular time period such as the 1940s and you want to expose the students to swing-type music.
OK...I tried to create a link, but can't seem to do it. Just go to Pandora.com

Thing # 5

What does School 2.0 mean to me? First and foremost, it means I need to get on the ball. I will be going into my third year of teaching. During my first year, technology was encouraged, but not emphasized. Last year, there was much more of an emphasis on it, especially the WEB 2.0 aspect, of which I was really not understanding of. I know that this year there will be an even greater emphasis put on the interactive, collaborative, social-learning technologies that are so prevalent in society. I am very thankful I am taking this course; it is pointing me in the right direction. When I envision School 2.0, I see a busy, active, talkative classroom with students working together and working globally at the same time. The teacher still plays a pivotal role, but not as a dictator but rather as a facilitator. Students are more accountable for their learning, as much of it is self-directed. It is dynamic, opening up worlds for many whom would never experience much beyond their own backyards. I do, however, think that it could be easy to lose the personal connectedness to students. Much of the interaction might be through cyberspace rather than personal space. Nothing takes the place of seeing the awe and interest in a student's eyes as you read a gripping tale of suspense to a room full of 9-year-olds. I feel I must preserve those precious moments.

As for the future, I believe there will need to be a stronger collaboration with industry and business to help serve public education. Learning with technology will require substantial funding to provide classrooms and teachers with the tools to do it well. Funding will be critical, and new partnerships will need to be forged, innovative ideas explored, and a shift in thinking about how things are done will need to occur. This is a natural place to put the engineering design process into effect. The question is: How will school systems equip themselves with the technology and other resources needed to effectively educate our children in light of the new information age? We need to imagine all kinds of possibilities, put our heads together to plan, implement our best plans, and reflect on what has taken place to see where we can improve. Sound simple? I believe it will be a huge challenge, but one that has to be undertaken.

Thing # 3

I need to learn to look ahead. In my post for #2 I said that I really didn't know what teachers were using blogs for, and as I read a little further down, there is a link to a teacher blog to give us ideas on what we can do with a blog in our classrooms. I think it is a great place to post reminders about important events coming up such as Open House, Art and Author Night, PTO fundraisers, progress report and report card dates, no school dates, etc. The more ways such information can be communicated, the better. It is also a great place to have links to websites for interactive learning, webcams, museums, etc. I was investigating a teacher's blog, and she had very personal notes on there to the students. For instance, she let the students know that one of their classmates had broken her arm during recess that day and asked the students to be thinking about how they could help her out when she came back to school. Talk about building a caring community...I love that. I also love the idea of a classroom blog as a place for students to "journal" their feelings, thoughts, ideas, perspectives, concerns, and Ah-Ha moments. There are hundreds (maybe thousands) of ways to use a blog in the classroom. I would like to try a few and have them be meaningful learning experiences.

Thing 2

Ok, I'm pretty proud of myself. My dog jumped when I shrieked with joy upon seeing my avatar on my blog. My blog.....that has a strange sound to it. This wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I'm thinking ahead to the new school year and wondering what I can do with a blog. I know teachers have them, just haven't investigated before what they do with them. When designing my avatar, I dressed myself simply, as I am not a "formal" type person. I also chose a city background because someday I would like to live in a big city for a year, in a plush apartment, just steps from the theatre, symphony, museums, and fine restaurants where I can eat food that excites me.

Thing 1

Lifelong learning...it's an everyday experience, sometimes sought after, sometimes not. Don't we learn even when we don't want to? Sometimes we have to learn to handle disappointment or even heartbreak. We may have to learn how to keep our mouths shut and our eyes open when what we really want to do is hide and scream. I agree with the tutorial that learning takes place out of the formal setting, as well within it. As for the lifelong habits, I hate to admit it (but I am learning something here by doing so), but I don't often see problems as challenges. I often see them as disruptions to my carefully planned lesson, day, week, party, vacation, or whatever it is that I have so carefully planned. I would like to change that about myself, and I am working on that. The easiest habit for me would probably be #7, because I get great satisfaction from helping people. I also like to play, # 7 1/2. It's difficult for me to pinpoint right now what I want to learn from playing with Web 2.O tools, because I don't know enough about it yet to say, so I just want to learn. Setting up the blog was easy, but I am a little nervous. I am not savvy enough with technology to know when I have done something wrong. Also, I was a bit confused about the directions: one 2.0 tip said not to use our real name or address in the title or blog address, yet another instruction asked us to put our last name somewhere in the title. Makes me nervous.