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 Some of the directions were unclear or out-of-date.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.