One Last Thing!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have to say that there is no possible way for me to pick only one or two favorite things throughout this process. EVERYTHING we learned and used was helpful in several ways and could be used to enhance my classroom, campus, or profession. I look forward to trying at least a few this semester and even more next semester.

My lifelong learning goals have changed dramatically! I have heard people talk about 23 Things over the past few years and I remember thinking to myself, "What on Earth could they possibly be doing? How hard could it be?" Well, it's not that it's hard, but it requires a lot of focus and understanding. I am so very glad that took this class. I plan on taking at least one technology class each year, possibly two if time allows. I realize now how fast things change and know it is important to stay on top of things for the sake of my students and their learning.

I think the format of this program worked really well. I liked how each "Thing" had a page n the wiki so I could focus on one thing at a time. I always knew where I left off, and it was very easy to pick up from there each time I got back online.

If another discovery program like this was offered in the future I would be first in line to participate. I think having many people organize and facilitate a task this large is a challenge, but it looked seemless from my perspective. Job well done!

The learning gained on 23 Things will impact my classroom from week 1! I can't wait to share and move forward with all the goodies I have in my brain. I hope I will continue to have access to the 23 Things wiki for reference as needed until I am able to remember all of it.

I think the best way for me to keep up with web 2.0 information is to really work on organizing my reader. It is a hugely useful tool. I can add and adjust it as often as I would like. I have to continue checking it. I want to be sure and keep an open mind and also be on the lookout for information "within" other information. One of my favorite blogs was found mentioned in someone else's blog from my reader.

Thing #23 - Beyond Facebook

While looking through ALL of the information (LOL), I came across several helpful forums, groups, videos, and even a few members. I was eager to reach out, but I am still pending approval :-) The most useful one I came across was something called Edmodo. This is similar to a Moodle, but it looks eerily identical to Facebook. I favored it because it wasn't as "busy" as some of the other sites we have visited in these past weeks.

My overall thought was that I was glad the directions were specific and a time frame was given, because once again I spent a good chunk of time just browsing. It really is intriguing. I feel like I do when I go to the book store or library. 3 hours later... my husband calls and asks if I am ok. LOL

Once again, I am really liking the idea of getting a social networking site together for a campus. I really wonder how it could be organized, who would help, what topics we could start with. I think it would benefit not only teachers and students, but administrators as well. The entire campus could collaborate on things like the CIP, tutoring, detention duties, etc... I would never go it alone, but I know there are many people on our campus who would be interested in at least giving it a try with me.

Thing #22 - Social Networking

1. Why is it important that educators know how social networking works?

• There are so many social networking sites now, I can hardly keep up. There is a new one that teacers have signed up for recently through the state called Epsilen. This is going to work wonders. I think a network for teachers and students will be in the near future. This provides the freedom to check and respond to work at anytime. This will help older students who have jobs. This can also be helpful for students and teachers to collaborate with peers about school work.
  

2. What new insights did you gain about these popular sites?

• I have had a Facebook account for a while now and I love having it. I have touched based with many friends from from high-school. Our entire reunion was planned with the help of Facebook. I have also had a MySpace account in the past, but I did not like it at all. It took too long to load and the privacy settings were not high enough for me. I have had students track me down on Facebook, but I don't allow that unless they are out of high school. I started a page called I was in Ms. Kimble's 5th Grade Class. I have several students and parents who have joined.
  

3. What did you like or dislike about each of the sites you explored?

• I like the ability to connect and share. I really DO NOT like the fact that your pictures and information is not a secret as you may initially think. The was it is set up, you have to tell it to be secure. I think it should be the other ay around. When you sign up, everything but your name is secure and you have to tell the site what information you want to be made public. Just Sayin!!!!!
  

4. Which site had the most useful features?

• By far, I would have to say Facebook has the most features that are useful. I know many people like to play games on the site. That really isn't my thing, but I know it is great for so many users. I know there was also something at Seven Eleven with Facebook characters recently.
  

5.Can you see an educational application for any of these sites?

• In time, I can definitely see sites like this being used for educational purposes. It only needs to be monitored pretty regularly. The biggest worry I have is students posting things they shouldn't. However, I think if it is well thought through, it will be very successful :-)
  

Thing #7b - Reader

I recently subscribed to the Common Craft Blog. The videos we had to watch from Common Craft were so interesting to me, I often watched a few extras just to learn something new. There are so many out there!! I actually got an update yesterday about how big/busy the company has gotten and they now have to partner up with another company to make things happen. How awesome for them!! I feel like calling them to say congratulations :-) I will just post a comment! LOL

I have also gotten used to checking my reader on a regular basis. I usually check it twice a day. I think it helps me stay on top of certain things. It only takes a minute, unless I find something I want to read in full.

I have few subscriptions that don't have anything new day-to-day, while others have 15+ everytime I look :-) That is why it's important to check each day.

Thing #21 - More Google

Who knew!?!? I have had an iGoogle for a while, but I haven't used it for a long time. I was really happy to see how it all ties together. I can have access to my gmail, reader, docs, etc... all in one location for the most part :-) How convenient!!

Google Earth has to be one of my absolute favorites. I could play on that thing all day long. Just trying to find different locations. You can even look for shipwrecks! Neato! I used Google Docs for a class last summer, but haven't used it since. I realize now what I have been missing out on... and I will definitely not make the same mistake twice. I have moved some of my most used and most important documents to it so I will have access to them at all times. No more will I have to go to my sent folder in my email looking for a document I email to myself. Don't laugh... You know you've done that before!!! LOL

I plan on having my students use Google Earth to see different locations for settlements, battles, wars, and distances traveled for other events. I think the interactive feature on Google Earth will keep them interested and willing to try new things. I am ure by the end of the lesson, at least one of them will have something new to teach me :-) It always happens that way! Kids have no fear so they will try anything.

I tried to download the Google Sketch-up, but I couldn't get it to work. It sounded really cool. If anyone has played with it, let me know :-) I thought it might be something fun for the kids to create an invention to go with the lesson on the Industrial Revolution. Maybe I will try it again on one of my school computers.

Happy Googling!!!

Thing #20 - Google Docs

I think Google Docs would be a fabulous way for grade-level teams to collaborate with lesson plans. You could create a template for everyone to use and when the document is done for the week, you could print and copy enough for everyone. This could work for so many different campus and classroom collaboratives. I could see this benefitting students who have to work in groups. This would be a great way for them to organize their ideas before coming together to work on the project itself.

I also think it could be used for ongoing tutoring if teacher share students. It could be a place to jot down notes on each student so all teachers know what material they have covered recently in tutoring.

I cant wait to use the forms to create a survey for students, parents, co-workers, or other to use for so many different reasons! I just know I am going to forget about so many of these 2.0 tools, but I will definitely use Google Docs :-) The rest will come to me as I need it!!

Thing #19 - VoiceThreads

Ooooooo!! I really like this! It reminds me of a PowerPoint, but one that talks!! LOL

I had a lot of thoughts going through my mind as I wandered through the website. I came across a VoiceThread entitled Weather that was identical to an idea I had in my head. This makes me eager to have my students work on an assignment with science processes such as weathering, erosion, and deposition. Students could work in groups to create pictures or use Creative Commons photos and then use VoiceThread to explain or tell the "story" of the science process that can be seen in the picture.

Thing #18 - You Tube

Creating videos for educational use can be very rewarding for students and teachers alike :-) I have done a few before for virtual field trips. They can be lots of fun once you realize how to get everything organized. The work is great when all goes well... however, that may not always be the case :-) Students can make videos recreating scenes from stories or history. They can do a newscast or a how-to for science or math. There are lots of different ideas, but I am sure the kids would come up with the best on their own.

I found a few pretty good videos on Physical science. I enjoyed watching them since they were fairly short, compared to full-length videos. I also found a video explaining how to fold a t-shirt in 2 seconds... seriously!! I tried it and it worked! But favorite video of all was this one:

Thing #17 - Podcasts

I have to say, even though this is not my first time being exposed to podcasts, I always try to go into it with an open mind. I really do, but I just can't get into it. I guess it just isn't my thing, you know... It reminds me so much of "talk radio" which I just can't stand!! I found one that tells historical of stories about Colonial Williamsburg and I actually enjoyed it :-) Of course, I had listened to nearly 15 others first. I guess there is a little luck to finding good ones. Until you really get into it, there is just the sense of unfamiliarity. I am sure there is the possibility that some of the blogs I have subscribed to have favorite podcasts, so I may want to investigate the option.

I am sure that my students would love the idea of podcaasting. I could really see this being a great tool in the classroom to use with several different subjects. Students could read their writings for English, hold mock interviews for social studies, explain math problems, and describe science processes during an experiment or observation. There are many possibilities to using podcasts in the classroom.

I would love what other people have to say about this. I really don't want to dismiss podcasting because I don't like it... maybe I just haven't been exposed to it in the right way???? Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated :-)

Thing #16 - Library Thing

The Library Thing is really cool!! I Think it would be a great way to organize my classroom library. I realize it would take a while to organize, but it would be well worth it :-) I really can't wait to start on it. The kids can decide what books to read by searching through the website library.

I have already started organizing my home library. It is actually quite easy. I also love that I can get recommendations for other books that may interest me. I find lately that I go through books like crazy and have a hard time finding good ones to get into when I am ready to move on. Now, at least I have a place to start. :-)

Being able to get lists of books from my favorite authors is also a plus. I like to read books in a series. This may be a great way for me to find a good series to read. Having the Library Thing will be a huge benefit for my children too. They can list their favorite books to help them start organizing their own library.

Thing #15 - Delicious

What a new experience!! I had tons of fun with this... I had never heard of online bookmarks before. This is , for lack of a better work, ingenious! Visit my Delicious page to see the beginnings of my bookmarks.

I may have messed up the "misd23things" tag, because I tagged the wiki that way, which was not necessary... but I think I may have fixed it. Maybe. I can't wait to use it for all sorts of things. My husband will love it to. He can never remember the names of websites and he sometimes struggles with the whole "no spaces" in a web address idea. This should make it much easier. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the fact that it is always there, wherever I go. I can even access it on my cell if need be...

This would be almost more beneficial way to network with colleagues that a wiki or blog in some ways. If your main goal is to share websites, then you could be sure to tag each with a subject (reading, math, science, etc.) to give you colleagues easy access to those sites. You wouldn't have to worry about linking to each page separately!!

I was wondering if it would be a good idea to have a couple different delicious accounts? One for personal and one for professional/education purposes? Any idea on that??? I am sure that in no time at all, I will have more tags that I know what to do with :-)

Thing #7a - Reader

Tech Learning has come through again! I read a recent post and found it quite interesting... NASA never disappoints :-) This site should be used by teachers to share information about our Solar System with their students in a fun and interactive way.

ENJOY!!!

Thing #14 - Web 2.0 Tools

I created this with Blabberize, which was actually quite easy and FUN!! Choose a picture with a visible mouth, follow the simple steps, and voila! You must sign up for the site. No biggie. You also need to be able to record your voice on your computer, bt if you can't you have the option of calling in and recording your message there. That's what I had to do , and it was very simple and fast. Students could use this to create an "All About Me" description. Parent consent forms would have to be filled out, but you do have the option of marking things private. This would be very entertaining for the students.

I could also see the students creating pictures with characters and using those pictures to "blabberize" the characters to tell their tale. This would work well with historical biographies, story characters, and writing short story characters. I actually can't wait to try this :-)

Thing #13 - Image Generators

Okay, another 2 hours used up :-) I am having so much fun!!

My kids keep coming over asking to use the computer, and I keep telling them no, because I am doing "homework" and they say that I'm not... I'm just playing around!! LOL I guess I am! :-)

I am hoping this will stick in the front of my mid so I will remember to use it for differnt projects throughout the year with my students. I have several ideas, but it is so hard to think of things during the middle of the summer...

Smiley Comic Strip and Comic Strip Generator could be used to have students tell short stories or use the Photo Mosaic to they could create a small collection of photos taken during a project they worked on. Groups could use many different generators to combine bits of information collected about a topic (jigsaw activity). The Smiley Generator could be used to title a story or other work.

Photo Mosaic

This was very time-consuming because it took forever to upload each photo. Other than that, I really loved this! There were things I was thinking of doing with it for school and for personal use. I could have a lot of fun with this generator. I like that I can display many photos at one time.

Created using Mosaic Maker

Smile!!

Created using Smiley Generator

I had a lot of fun with this. There were many options: Logos, Comics, Signs, and Cartoon strips. I was cracking up at some of the pictures! Quite hilarious :-)

Thing #12 - Slideshow

Photo credits:
shiprock erosion by teofilo
edmonton dirt erosion by EgoAnt
streambank erosion by SoilScience.info
sheet erosion by SoilScience.info
french organs erosion by david.nikonvscanon
riverstone surface erosion by Horia Varlan
patterned sand erosion by visulogik


I found this to be quite tedious, but not in creating the slideshow. Deciding on pictures was difficult... I also had problems with the blog telling me something was wrong with my HTML. ??? Whatever that means ??? LOL I just published the post from my post listings page instead and that seemed to take care of the problem ;-)

Aside from the difficulties, I found the sites interesting and all were fairly simple to use. I like how they were all different and unique in their own way. I am sure there are many out there just waiting to be used! Any and all of these would be great for students to use for presentations about themselves or even for an assignments in class. They could take pictures of geometric shapes for Math, pictures of steps for a "How To" paper in Writing, and even use it to show the process of a project they worked on for social studies... The possibilities keep on coming!

Spell with Flickr

Thing #11 - Photosharing with Flickr

I spent over two hours browsing the site because so many photos caught my eye. Then I would find a photographer whose work was interesting and I would look at all of their photos before I had to get back on track :-) Hmmmmm, I found that I was VERY interested in the photos of "nature", specifically geological photos... I wonder why that is?!?!? LOL

I decided my topic would be erosion because I am always looking for great pictures to share with my students on a variety of weathering, erosion, and deposition... which all commonly get lumped into a single category - erosion. What I found astounded me! There were hundreds of photos in the Creative Commons section that I could find related to "erosion" in some way. I like that I found pictures from all over the world. Students need to realize that the process of erosion happens everyday right in their backyard and all around the globe, never-ending.

I thought about having my students use the Flickr site to create a short slideshow on a specific topic or even just on things they find interesting. I also like the idea that they are able to learn how to correctly give credit to the owner of the photo. I realize now how very important it is for me to teach my students about this.

Here is one of the photos I found on the Flickr site under the topic of erosion. I think it so VERY COOL because I try to replicate this in class, but it is actually hard to do. There is an example on a Bill Nye video that the kids like to do with a penny, but it just isn't the same. This is just perfect!!

I hope to use many of the pictures as examples, but also as "appetizers" for my students. Each picture of erosion tells a story. I love to hear what my students think happened to get the result they see before them... it is always satisfying to hear them use their vocabulary to describe what they think happened :-)

Picture on Flickr-
username: SoilScience.info
direct link to photo here

Thing #10 - Creative Commons

Such a simple idea... I kind of got a little nervous when I watched the videos and read about copyrights. I felt like looking behind me hoping the copyright people were not coming to take me away. I am sure at some point, I have made a copyright "boo boo" and technically broken the law... I sure hope not, but there is no way for me to know for sure. From this point forward, I definitely know how and where to look for Creative Commons materials. I can sleep easy now, knowing I am in the clear.

I have seen the "cc" symbol on many websites before, and always thought it meant "closed captioned"... which didn't ever make sense to me. Now it does!

Teaching my students how to best utilize Creative Commons will benefit them greatly! They still want to find a website click copy and then paste an image in a piece of their own work. They can never tell me where they found the image. This will be a much better way for me to ensure they know the correct way to use images without having to worry about copyright infringements. I also can't wait to share this with my co-workers. Many of us creat lessons or other educational material which gets used capus- or district-wide. This is one way to do that safely.

Thing #9 - Playin' in the Sandbox

So much is going through my head!!! I feel like the possibilities are endless :-) I hope that is not an incorrect assumption...

I have to say I was utterly CONFUSED when I first started. I have had very limited exposure to wikiing (word?) in the past. Mostly I have just read wikis. Jan Wilson tried to get a group of us to use one last summer, but none of us had ever had the experience, so it was lost in the mix of things.

NOW... I love this experience! I named my sandbox page Yeppers because it's a fun word to say. I had a lot of fun playing around with it once I figured out what to do. I finally got the Table of Contents to appear after reading the instructions for it for the 37th time!! LOL... but at least I got it! I kept putting only one set of brackets even though it said to put two in bold print! That was really my only frustration. I kept saving to see what it would look like and the hitting the edit button to make adjustments. I actually enjoyed myself. I can't wait to add stuff to Section 4. That seems like it will make the sandbox page more my own.

Moving on... I am slowly starting to see a narrow bit of light way far in the distance that may indicate the light at the end of my 23 Things tunnel. We will see!!

Thing #8 - Wiki Wiki

I could definitely see a wiki in my future :-) I have a lot of ideas, but it would be very difficult to figure out where to start... I guess looking at several of the other wikis gives me lots of ideas of how to go about starting one.

I looked at seven of the wikis. I tended to favor the ones for elementary for the most part. I guess that's a good thing since I teach 5th grade. There were three in particular that peaked my interest. All for different reasons of course. Odd how that happens :-)

The one that I could "see and hear" student input the most was the wiki entitled Go West. This wiki is by a group of 3rd graders learning about the Oregon Trail. I can tell this was students led because of the wording and information provided. As picky as I am, I really appreciated how the teacher let the student aspect come through with minimal correction. The students were very thorough by providing a variety of information including recipes - incomplete ones, but recipes all the same! The teacher also did a good job teaching the students how to embed photos while correctly citing the source. Each page was a delight to read and I began thinking about my students working on a similar project this year.

Another wiki I enjoyed was called Code Blue by a group of 6th grade students learning about the human body. This was rather ingenious. Each group of kids had a "hospital" they named and each student was a different type of specialist at their hospital. The students had to learn about their field of specialty. It reminded me of a jigsaw activity, just on a higher level. The teacher also had the kids discus their medical education. I liked this aspect, because students who may be interested in going into the medical field really got some valuable information. There were also "patients" who had some pretty serious injuries. The students got very creative with this. All injuries were explained, but with a twist... students were taught why it is good to avoid drinking, what anorexia is, how to cope with diabetes... very educational. I liked this blog quite a bit.

Schools in the Past was an interesting read. I really liked the information it had to offer, but that is about all I enjoyed. I don't feel the teacher took full advantage of the wiki possibilities. There was only one page that I could find. I also thought the information was poorly organized. Instead of having all of the information on one page, there could have been pages added for each. I also wanted to know the time frame each statement was about; the 50's, 60's, 70's, etc. This wiki had a lot of possibilities that were just not followed through.

I have SO MANY questions!!!! I really want to do a wiki, but I want to be fully prepared before I begin :-) If you can shed some light on any of the following questions I have, please share!

Is one wiki enough for a class? Can each project have it's own page or does each need a separate wiki? What about next school year? Do I have to make a new page for each school year? Would I be able to designate different school years to different parts of the wiki, or would that just make the page confusing? HELP!!

Thing #6 - Feed Your Reader

Ahhh.... Reader, Reader, Reader... How addictive are you?!?!? I can see now that I will really have to discipline myself when it comes to my Reader. I have been neglecting my Facebook, and we just can't have that!! :-)

So far, my favorite subscription has been Techlearning. It is so FULL of information, I spend a lot of time just browsing the site. I still haven't seen it all, but of course that is where my Reader comes in as a huge help. If I don't have the time to spend browsing, I can just check the Reader and go from there. The most interesting and cool bit of information BY FAR has been from a blog post via the Techlearning site called TL Advisor Blog. This particular post shared the Top 10 Sites for Creating Digital Music. The #1 site is called Myna. A short demo is more than enough to convince anyone to play with it! To launch the program, just click on the yellow arrow. It is total fun!!!

Thing #7 - Creating Community Through Commenting

Thanks Vickie for your concern!! Yes, I am still hanging in there :-) I had classes for the past 2 weeks and my brain needed a rest! I am now back on track.

Comments, comments, comments!!! It's all about the comments! I found commenting hard at first. Trying to find something just for the sake of commenting was a bit boring. However, once I found something I had an opinion on, it was easy to write something.

My two favorite things about comments:

1. I LOVE having think time while commenting. I can walk away and come back if necessary. I can open a new tab to double-check something before sharing information. I can go to another website and copy the address to share if I need to... Think time rocks!

2. I LOVE getting comments on my blog, so why on Earth would I not want to provide that kinda of enjoyment for others????

Commenting is getting easier. I found that my thoughts can just be a confirmation of what was said in the original post, they can be comments on other comments, or they can provide discussion opportunities by agreeing or disagreeing with the post... So many ways to go!!

Thing #5 - RSS feeds

I can see why RSS feeds can be extremely addicting. Some people may spend half their day just perusing the RSS feeds on their Reader. I have already found some aspects of it enjoyable and other parts a little taxing. One part I found taxing was looking through all the Podcasts for one of relevance. However, I was rewarded after all my scanning to find an enjoyable Podcast on Food. I like the fact that is is fairly short, yet full of info. None of the Podcasts that I listened to were more than 4 minutes long. There are lots of good ideas and general info about food. This can be useful for any and all cooks.

Here is a Podcast on who has the better chicken recipe. Listening to this makes me want to try both recipes and judge for myself :-)