Reflections

My favorite discovery during this project was flickr. I had no idea things like this existed and now I can't get enough of it. This has affected my lifelong learning goals in the sense that I do not feel as afraid of web 2.0 tools as I did before. I think I can tackle new things with a better sense of accomplishment. It was unexpected for me to enjoy this. I went into this thinking I would hate most of it since I did not have a myspace page, blog, or read blogs. I was surprised at how much I do enjoy this, I just wish I had more time to explore the tools more in depth. I would make web 2.0 a class by itself. There is so much material and information to cover, I feel like I have a good starting point to start exploring them on my own. Every aspect of this project will influence how I teach and the resources I will use. I will be more confident when using the web 2.0 tools to create teaching resources. I will also continue to subscribe to an RSS feed and use Google alerts to get the most up to date information on web 2.0 as it changes. This has been a very fun learning experience.

Thing #23

As a teacher I will look for a creative commons license when researching teaching ideas and project ideas. If it is under a creative commons license, I will be able to use it for my classroom and modifiy it to fit the project or assignment I am working on for the class. Examples I found include:
This work is licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Note: This project is loosely based upon the website 43Things (which allows you to set and track personal goals) and the Stephen Abram article titled 43 Things I (or You) might want to do this year (Information Outlook - Feb 2006).

Thing #22

The first directory in the list was the easiest to use. The educational directory sorted the podcasts by subject or grade level. This was very useful. I went to the science section and found a great podcast called Science Made Fun. I listened to a podcast called water by this group. I will definitely subscribe to this site. I will also be making a podcast for another assignment, but I will start making some podcasts now for things I will be able to use in the classroom.
http://sciencemadefun.podbean.com/2008/02/24/water/

Thing 21

Thing #20

I could have spent hours viewing videos on YouTube. This was the first time I have ever been on this site and it was really neat. I spent about an hour watching pet videos! I didn't like how it constantly brought up videos all about the same stuff. I would have liked to keep the same kind of videos up to pick at random. I did find a very interesting video with teachers singing the milkshalk song. I don't know if this was appropriate at times, but it was funny. I picked a science related video to include on my blog since I am going to be a science teacher. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE-Nyt4Bmi8

Thing #19

I have joined myspace and teacherpop through this activity. These are the first two social networks and online communities I have joined. I can see how these networks would be appealing to some, but I do not have the commitment to them that others do. I do not want to spend my spare time at the computer. I would rather be doing things outside or with my family. I really don't see myself using these things very much in the near future.

Thing #18

As a teacher it is important to know how social networks operate. Kids today are using them all the time, and you would be able to get valuable information from them. I did not get any new insights from these sites. I am familiar with them already, but I do not plan on using them. I only set up the account per the assignment. I don't like communicating with close friends via a webpage. I prefer private email or phone call. Call me old fashioned!! Out of the two sites listed, I would use myspace if I was going to use a social networking site. It has more useful features and is easier to navigate. I don't think social networks have a place in the classroom at the elementary level. This is the grade I will be teaching, and I think you would run into privacy and protection issues by pulling a classroom into one of these sites. I am not a fan of either one of these sites. This is the link to my profile http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=423677809

Thing #17

After taking a look around Delicious, I think this tool would be great for teachers. I can do research by using the bookmarks and organize them with the tags. I have always used my favorites and it has become very full over the past year. I will be able to go through those sites and tag them on my delicious page now. The potential in classroom rests with the teacher. I don't think I would use this directly with an elementary classroom, but I would however use this to get the latest information and educational updates. This would be a great way to get lesson ideas and keep it all organized.

Thing #16

I started this activity by picking iGoogle for my start page. I went with this one because I am already familiar with other Google features and I have found them to be the easiest to use when compared with similiar products. It was very easy to set this up and I did not know you could do things like this. I will make this my permanent home page since it contains links to areas of interest for me. I use the online calendars the most out of all these tools. I will use them at school when I begin teaching, and I already use them at home. I went into remember the milk to look at the to do lists and while I am a big fan of lists, this was way too much work for me. I would rather use my pen and paper method when it comes to these lists. I would recommend the calendars and the start page tools to others. The 30 days calendar was very easy to set up.

Thing #15

It was really neat to see how you can edit wikis. I have always heard that Wikipedia was not a reliable source of information due to the fact that anyone could edit the content, but I did not really understand what that meant until now. I could use a wiki to get good ideas for lessons and neat facts that you might not find on a traditional website. I think it is very interesting that you can add and change information that is on the internet. Anyone around the world can click on it and read what you added to a site. This makes the world seem closer together.

Thing #14

I picked Gliffy for my flowhchart account. The basic package was free and it includes 5 public documents. This is a great option that allows the user to use the product and then decide if they want to purchase the better package. It was very easy to use and the drop down menus made the process simple. There were several different shapes to use in the flow chart. The site seemed a little slow when I was typing information in, but this could have just been my computer!! I then picked Mindmeister for my mind map. This was the only site listed and I was not familiar with other sites for this activity. This also offered the basic free of charge. I like the fact that it offered a tutorial video at the beginning, and it also had shortcuts information on each page. I browsed the site and found a mind map that mapped out a work of literature. This would be a great way to express ideas that could be used for a formal paper. I will try this feature on my next English essay over poetry.

Thing #13

This tool is awesome!!! I had no idea things like this were available to anyone on the internet. I have been held prisoner by Microsoft Office for too long. The options were easier to use and I was able to customize this document faster and easier than in Word.  I really love the emotions feature. Who doesn't like to plug in facial expressions to their written work. The toolbar was very user friendly and it made this experience even more enjoyable.

Thing #12

One of the tools I used was Google alert. I love tracking earthquakes and now I have this alert set up for me. This was a very easy tool to use. It only took an overview of how to use it, and I had my first alert going in about 3 minutes. It can't get much easier than that! You can see my alert at http://www.google.com/alerts/manage?hl=en&gl=. The other tool I was interested in was the Google calendar. I already use the calendar feature in Microsoft and this tool was very similiar. You can see my calendar at . I can use the calendar to create a monthly calendar for my classroom. I can put all deadlines and important assignments and events on each calendar and send a copy home to parents. I might be able to email the calendar out to parents who wanted to share their email. The Google alert feature would be very useful in the classroom. I could set it up to send me alerts about the events I am teaching about in my science class.

Thing #11

The easiest method of finding feeds for me was through Google Reader. I used this previously to subscribe to several feeds that interested me. All you have to do is enter a search word and all the feeds associated with it will pop up. Just click on subscribe and you got it. Out of the search tools listed on 23 things, I think the easiest search tool was Topix.net. It was very easy to follow and move around in. It was in this site that I found Paula Dean's blog page and a blog page all about Erin, TN. This is where I am from and it is a very little town!!! The most confusing search tool for me was Syndic8. It's home page contained multiple lists and I could not get anything from this site to load correctly on my PC. I soon gave up on this one. The most unusual feed I found was from a blog called Damn Interesting. It is full of articles about tiny bits of information that is very interesting stuff. You would never find this by doing a search for the information itself. I was drawn to a post about the seven abandoned cities and places in Asia. This blog contains information about anything and nothing at all. It was great. I also did a search for keywords on Google and once I found a site that looked interesting I checked to see if it had the feed icon. If it didn't I still got to look at something interesting!

Thing #10

Since I am new to this, I went with the newsreader that looked the easiest! Google reader is easy to use and set up. I like the fact that I will now have the latest updates at one location. Before, I had all the sites I visited the most under my favorites and I would have to check each one a couple of times a day to see if anything interesting had been posted. I will enjoy looking at just one site for all the latest news and events. Right now I added sites that are of a personal interest to me. As I begin my teaching career, I will no doubt add sites that will help me stay on top of my game. I will use the RSS feeds to keep up to date with aspects that I will be teaching about. It keeps it interesting to be able to bring events that are happening right now into the classroom and associate them with the lesson being taught.

Thing #9

This was the first image I created using an online image generator. I had fun playing around with this technology. It is very habit forming. I created this through smile maker @http://www.txt2pic.com/comic-strip/smile.htm. It was very easy to do. I picked which smile type I wanted and then I typed in the text and title and that was it.

The next image I created was through Image Chef @ http://www.imagechef.com/. It was very easy also. I picked a template, which was signs, and then I picked the taxi sign to customize. I typed in the text and saved. How easy could this be!!



I could use image generators when creating handouts and other materials for my class. It would add humor and at the same time remind students of deadlines or assignments. I could use the sign maker to remind them of things on tests and insert the image in my document where needed. Again, this is going to be great for creating personal calendars and lists for myself. They won't look so plain anymore.

Thing #8

This image was created using Mosaic Maker. I think Flickr and Flickr mashups can be used in the classroom on an artistic level. They would be excellent tools to use for an art class. Since I hope to be teaching 6th grade science, I could use science related images to supplement my teaching activities. Sometimes it is useful to be able to see the things you are learning about. Students who use the tools could also spice up projects and reports. I can use them in my personal life also. I am a little OCD at times, so it is no surprise that I keep 2 different calendars, weekly and daily checklists, and use an organizer. I will have fun adding images to my lists and calendars at home. I am all for sharing photos online. I don't know if I would share photos of my family, but I would share photos of my pets or random photos taken of nature and wildlife.

Thing #7

Flickr was soo much fun. I did not know there were sites like this out there. I could have spent all day looking through the pictures. I will use this in my classroom as well as in my personal life. I can't wait to start creating things with some of these pictures!! I picked option 1 since I am not that familiar with these things, but now I will be asking for a digital camera for Christmas!!! The image I picked to upload here is near and dear to my heart. It is of a Pembroke Welsh Corgi. I own a male and female of this breed also. This picture reminds me of my male named Vinnie.

This picture was taken by nuena on July 20, 2008 and uploaded on August 21, 2008 to flickr.

https://elearn.apsu.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/view.d2l?tId=9927164&d2l_stateGroups=contentmapsizestategroup&d2l_stateScopes=OrgUnitSession~GridPageNum~Search~PageNum%5EOrgUnitUser~LCS~ContentMapSizeStateGroup%5EUser~Grid~PageSize~HtmlEditor~HPG&d2l_statePageId=487&d2l_state_contentmapsizestategroup=ContentMapSizeHidden~225&ou=582039

Thing #6

I love finding new recipes and learning how to cook certain foods, so I chose a site called Imcooked (http://www.imcooked.com/index.php) to explore. This site contains all video clips of recipes being prepared as well as instructional videos. It does contain several professional chefs but there are clips from everyday people as well. Today there was a clip on the proper way to eat shellfish!! Just in case you didn't already know how. One of the features of this site that I liked was the way it sorts the recipes. There is a channel tab that lists the different groups of recipes. This makes it easy to find what you may be looking for. I easily found a recipe for sangria in just a few seconds. In addition to viewing videos, you can also create your own account. This allows you to create and post your own cooking videos. One feature that I really liked was the ability to flag recipes. When you pull up your account the recipes you have flagged are on a short list for your future reference. Another useful aspect of this site would be the step by step directions for creating and posting a video. After reviewing them quickly, I felt like this was something even I could do! The only dislike I have for the site is the recipes do not appear in text form. I like having the directions in writing also. I think you could use this site as a way of teaching about measurements. It could also be used in a home economics class if any of these still exist today.

Thing #5

After reading several of the links for this activity, I thought the Wikipedia link was very informative. I am not technology savvy, and this site gave me a better understanding of Web 2.0 and most of the tools it offers. The other link I found enjoyable was the Web 2.0: A Guide for Educators. I like the way it stresses that Web 2.0 is not about technology but more about people connecting with each other. As a future educator, I see the importance of using this new way of learning. For me school 2.0 means using the communication tools on the web in the classroom. Never before have educators had soo many resources available to them. We need to change our way of thinking about the classroom. The schools of the future should do away with pencil and paper. Textbooks are an added expense that should also be done away with. The world is moving toward faster and faster technology and as educators we have to keep up and train our students to be able to live in this new world.