Thing #23.5

Although I was familiar with most of the topics covered in this blog, there were some that I was not familiar. Using the tactics and strategies from other sites, it was easier to explore, navigate, and learn about new websites, tools, and ideas. Regardless of my familiarity of the topics, I learned new ways for each tool to use in a classroom setting. Some sites like Flickr, Facebook, and Youtube are generally used for personal reasons; but, through my journey with this blog, I have learned new ways to use these tools. My reflection of this lesson/blog, is that although these tools my be obsolete in a few years, because of the progressing technologies, the skills learned in this blog, can be translated easily to other sites and web tools. I feel like the tools that were selected in this blog gave a wide variety of skills that can be used universally on the web. Even if Flickr becomes less used than another image posting site, or if schools use a different blog for their classrooms, the skills learned can easily be adapted. How has this program affected your lifelong learning goals? I do plan to continue to post to this site and if I learn of new web tools to post my findings here to keep up-to-date and to share with other instructors who may not be as familiar with technology.

Thing #23

Copyright Laws, although it can be confusing, this course has explained it and the ways in which a teacher can use copyrighted materials for class instruction. A teacher can used copyrighted materials for educational purposes, but not entertainment purposes. This means, especially for History and Geography, I can use copyrighted materials if it hold educational value for my students. I plan to use many documentaries and images to supplement my lessons. Also, there is Creative Commons that would be easier and safer to use if I can find comparable materials to supplement lessons. Students can also use public domain and creative commons for assignments or presentations.

Thing #22

Historical Documentaries

Live Binders is a cool website. Being able to collect various websites and documents in an online binder can be very beneficial for class assignments. I created 3 binders; "Clarksville", "Political", and "Historical Documentaries". I embedded a link to the Documentary folder. This is something I can use to supplement my lessons. Students can go to the binder and choose a documentary that they want to evaluate and do a report on.

Thing #21

Make your own slideshow at Animoto.

Animoto is a site that I was not familiar with before this post. It was very easy to create a video using this application. Just by uploading pictures, videos, songs, and text, someone can easily create a professional looking video. This could be useful in the classroom with simple reflection projects or just to get students to be more computer literate.

Thing #20

I am an avid user of Youtube.com. I enjoy that you can search Youtube for any information you can find. It is full of documentaries, opinions, and shows. I do not like that it is saturated with videos that contain no value of knowledge or entertainment. I like that when you view a video, Youtube's servers auto-populate related and recommended videos in the right bar. This helps to find similar or other relevant videos.

Thing #19

Specific Social Networking is great to be a follower. I have many accounts on multiple sites. Recently I joined GoodReads because I have a list of books that I like, but I always have problems finding ones that I want to read. I am not much of a reader, but after joining this site, I have been introduced to books that seem interesting. The world is massive, basic social networking is just as big. By joining specific social networking sites, you are assured that content discussed will be focused on your interests. It helps to create like-mined communities. 

After joining TeacherPop, I found that it was very similar to other sites, but specific to teachers. I browsed the site and found great information, especially on Ms. Wall's page. :) I added the TeacherPop widget to this blog. 

Thing #18

Social Networking! I was wondering if APSU 23 Things was ever going to get to addressing this topic. Sites like Facebook and Twitter are being heavily used by the American public. Almost one in every two people have a Facebook account. Students use these sites heavily. Not only would it be important to include in classroom lessons, but I think the main benefit of instructors having a social networking account is to keep up-to-date on the new technology that is being used by students. Facebook came out after I graduated High School, but before that, many students had MySpace accounts. Instead of using that for instructional purposes, the instructors tried to limit the usage. Understanding that these sites are not make for instructional purpose, a teacher can effectively use them for it.

One way I think a teacher can effectively use Facebook for instruction would be creating a 'group' on the site. This will allow instructors to upload assignments, pictures, videos, or discussions with the students. Most students use social networking religiously and keeping school close to them, even at home, will possibly keep the students more engaged in the classroom. It would also help with keeping teachers to be "cool".

My Facebook

Thing #17

Social Bookmarking is something that I have never really explored before; but, the benefits are innumerable. Social bookmarking has similar benefits as many of the other web tools that we have discovered in APSU 23 Things blog. Collaboration! By collaborating favorite sites, other professionals can benefit. Why reinvent the wheel, or spend extra time trying to find sites when someone else has already found it. Also, I like the aspect that saving sites on one computer will be accessible by any other computer with internet access. My current method of bookmarking is done through Google Chrome, where I can access them on any computer with Google Chrome installed, but not every computer has this. Until recently, when I wanted to do work in the APSU library, I would not have my links that were saved at home. I like social bookmarking and will probably use it more in the future.

Thing #16

Organization is one of my weaknesses. I am always forgetting deadlines, things to do, or staying organized. I have a iGoogle (or did, think they discontinued it). When I used it, I had specific things on there that I wanted to see when I first went to my computer. Eventually I moved from that to the new "homepage" when I upgraded to Google Chrome. The new start page has a list of your favorite sites, frequently used sites, and games. I found this to be easier since my internet usage is limited. When I open my browser, the sites I need are right there. I still use Google Calendar.

Google Calendar is extremely useful mostly because of the ease of creating new events. Also with Google Calendar, collaboration is effortless. Many people, my friends, bosses, and clients use Google Calendar and their calendars can integrate into mine. Sometime is gets overwhelming, but with one click I can 'hide' specific calendars. My only problem is remembering to upload event to the calendar. It has been easier since the calendar is on my phone, as well. I am going to include a picture of my Google Calendar here. The color coding makes it easier to read.


Other organizing tools such as to-do list is something that I should use more frequently. When teaching, these tools will be invaluable and I will be convinced to use them more frequently. I can create a new calendar for school or class pertinent events and share just that calendar with students, coworkers, and parents. In addition to having a calendar in the class, students can check the Google Calendar for specific dates. This is similar to other organization tools.

Thing #15

Wikis is an interesting web tool that have been used in many forms. Creating a post to the APSU 23 Things Sandbox Wiki  was interesting for me. Usually technology comes easy for me. I went to edit the Wiki, but then found out that I had to create an account. After doing this I attempted again to edit the Wiki. After working at it for a little while, I noticed the sidebar link saying that I had to be part of the "workspace." Merely clicking that link, I was part of the work space. From then, it was simple to edit and save my portion as a page on the Wiki.

Wikis are interesting and can be very beneficial for schools. It can be used towards working collaboratively between teachers in a department or grade. Teachers can post things to the site and others can view it or edit it. Also a teacher can use it for students. Teachers can upload an assignment and have students upload a page with their responses. This is a great way to teach outside of the classroom.

Thing #14

I am a big fan of Mind Maps. Usually before I do a large paper or a specific task, I will actually create a mind map. By doing this before writing a paper, you can see how many paragraphs you will have, and how much information you have under each topic. It also helps to create good transitions. Usually I use pencil and paper, although it gets messy. I was excited to see Thing #14 post. I created a Mind Map and Flow Chart...

Although the Flow Chart seems cool, I think it would really only be useful for sequential activities. So you can tell some "Did You___? Yes, go here. No, go here." The Mind Map I think I may use in the future. It was very simple to create new idea and to build, split, and add images to ideas. It looks very clean too!

Thing #13

Online word processing, spreadsheets, and other productivity collaboration apps have become very popular. I frequently use Google Docs. I am always enjoying finding new technologies and sites like Zoho. I did test out the site. I saw many things like the CRM and Books on the site that I may look into later but I only tested the word processor. With my frequent use a of Google (Voice, Docs, Mail, App Store, and others) I find that I will probably continue using the site. IN the Thing #13 blog post, it was mentioned that products like Microsoft Office might be extinct when these online apps take over mainstream but I disagree. Although I use Google often, I find my self still preferring Microsoft Word if I know the document I am working on should be finished in one sitting. If I plan to spend a long time on the document, share it with others, or know I will need to email it to myself, I usually just start using Google Docs. One night in the library in my first year at APSU, I was typing a paper (that ended up being 14 something pages). Many class mates were in the library working on this final paper as well. It was about 1 hour before the library closed so students were rushing to finish. Suddenly, the power in the library was interrupted and all the lights and computers shut off. Every student began yelling and cussing because they know their documents were not saved. I pulled my phone out, and continued typing on my paper, within a few minutes, the lights came on along with the computers. I reaccessed the Google Drive, finished my paper and printed it. Many students lost all of their data. However. Before I print a document, I usually have to download it from Google to Microsoft Word, correct the formatting, and print it. I don't like the way documents print from Google or the way they download to Word. Personally I will continue to use Google, but would like to keep Microsoft as well to fine tune the documents.

Thing #12

Google is a website that I live by. If I can do it with Google, I usually am. I started off as an avid user of Google search back in the day when they were still growing. From that point forward, I have been using many of the services they offer. I use Google search, Google translate, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Voice, Gchat, Google Drive, Play, Google Maps, Google+ and others. I never used alerts, but one of my friends has and uses it for following things that happen with this work. I created two alerts; one for Austin Peay State University and one for my job. Also, I use Google Calendar and have found many useful features on it. I think both of these services could be useful for teachers because creating alerts and staying up-to-date on topics is important for teachers. Also, I definitely see myself using Google Calendar for my job in the future, especially if I am a teacher. I can create events (such as assignment due date, meetings, special class activities) and invite parents and other teachers to view the event on their calendar. That is very beneficial.

Thing #11

For Thing #11, I went to both sites, Edublogawards.com

edublog.org

and topix.net. Although my preferred method is to subscribe to blogs and sites that I find my self viewing willingly, I think expanding your circle with blog-gathering-sites can be beneficial. I went to Edublogawards.com and found many of the blogs that I have already subscribed to because of Thing #10. When I went to topix.net, I immediately felt confused.
Although I a am fairly tech-savvy, I despise sites who have 50% or more

politix.com

of their page covered by advertisements. I understand a site needing to profit to pay for the hosting and domain costs, but when a site has that many advertisements, it usually means the owner is making a little profit from annoying me and other website goers. I did find http://politix.topix.com/ through this site, but only because the colorful map caught my attention on the top of the homepage before I closed out of the window.

Thing #10

from squidoo.com

RSS feeds are very cool and fun to use. Prior to this class, my friend actually made me create a Google Reader and subscribe to his favorite sites. I have never used it since creating it because I had no reason to follow the sites that he likes. Since doing this Thing post, I cleaned out the sites that I do not want to follow and added a few that I like. I created a folder for "News" where I have sites like CNN, TIME, New York Times, BBC, and France 24 (the last two are my favorite international sites who do not always take a favorable view of America, but it is interesting to see the news that we make in other countries because they do not usually make our news.) Then I created a folder for "Education" where I subscribed to a few blogs, some that were listed in the activity description. Just for the fun of it, I also subscribed to my own 23 Things blog. 

Some things I like about RSS feeds is that you do not have to go to each and every website to check for new news updates. For example, I may not be interested in everything that the New York Times posts about, but if I check my feed every morning or twice a day, I can quickly scroll through it and see everything that all of these sites posted. If something interests me, I can open it in a new tab and continue scrolling. My friend would check his feed every morning and would open no less than about 20 new windows with articles that he wanted to read. 

I never thought about using it for class, but I could have an RSS feed in my class and at the beginning of each class, a different student could be assigned to check the feed and choose a news article that seems pertinent to class (or some variation of that). With my plan to teach US Government/History I think there would be many ways I could use RSS feeds. Also I think that if teachers in a school are blogging, then each teacher needs to have an RSS feed and subscribe to every teacher in the school so they are in the loop about what is being told to parents, what teachers are doing, and what is happening around the school.

Thing #9

For Thing #9, I was having fun creating various different images, but I decided to settle with something a little cute and fun. A big problem that I have heard teachers of high school say was an issue with the students at that grade level is citation and plagiarism so I created this image. It is something that I can put on assignments or even as another poster in my room just to remind students that they have to cite their work. There were others that I created with the danger sign, but I think this little dog is cute and could be more benefitial than a "Stop" or "Danger" sign. I want to keep my classroom friendly and inviting, but this puppy's spike collar will not stand for plagiarism.

Thing #8

For Thing#8, I chose the "Motivational Poster Creator" at http://bighugelabs.com/motivator.php. I created the one on this post because I wanted to see if I could create something geared towards the students that I plan to teach. The United Nations is a great example of collaboration and teamwork. This is also a quality that will be needed in the classroom.

I think this site will be beneficial because, as an instructor, I would be able to create my own posters and possibly decorate my room with class related posters like this one. I might even be able to have students create one towards the beginning or end of the year to help them stay motivated to continue to explore information about the US Government.

Thing #7

Flickr: For this post, I am choosing option 1: I am going to find an image through Flickr Explore and blog about it.

This is the image I selected 

Although I can not post an image, I could ask the author if they would allow me to use the image (but I would rather those who read this blog, follow the link to the image so they get more views).

A few things about this photo. The link above takes you to the "light box" version of the photo. I like to view photos in this format because it is usually the largest format and it blocks out the surrounding light from one's computer so that the viewer can see the details in a photo. If you close out of the "Light box," You can still see the image, and below the image are the comments. The interesting part is the right side of the page.  On the right side, you see the basic information: Name, poster, views, "likes" or favorites, and comments. but below that you can see the "Album" that it is a part of so if you wanted to see more similar images, you could browse them there. The next part "Tags" is what makes Flickr special. The tags for this photo are BW, Tokyo, Pentax, K-5lls, Japan, Black, and White.  Seeing these tags can let someone know more information about the picture but also, aids when a user is searching for specific photos. If I want to see more photos with the tag "K-5lls" I can click on that tag and it brings up more photos with the same tag. (ooh cool pictures).

Also on the right side of the page is "Additional info" which happens to describe the settings of the camera, and "Licence" information. I decided to view pictures in the "Commons" and searched for Gettysburg Address. I found a very cool photo and below the image, it has a "Persistent URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1813.001/60r" If you follow this link it takes you to the original image. Using Flickr this way for schools or teaching a lesson about the coins, presidential candidates, or other historical information could be aided with photos from Flickr. For the second photo, there are many more tags, but because this one was found in the "Commons" if has " No known copyright restrictions."

There are many academic uses for Flickr if an instructor wants to teach with many visual aids.

Thing #6

For my Thing #6 post, I chose Smore.com (sorry I am currently hungry). There is a cool video they use to introduce you to the website. Basically it is a interactive new-age "flier".



As president of a few organizations on campus, this seems cool to me. On the opening page (after I signed in with my Facebook account) They have a few template options...

Smore.com - New Flier

 For this I am going to create an Event Flier... I clicked on event and it gave me the option of creating on for a Facebook (or other social media) sites. Actually, the event I wanted to
create a flier for is on facebook. It automatically incorporated those events and I chose the correct one.





After choosing it, Smore.com complied all of the information correctly in to the correct modules. I can edit the information and modules them selves... I can move the map and directions to the bottom.

 

 This seems to be a very useful tool for advertising events, sending and updating newsletters, and other various class aspects as you can see from the first image on this posting. When I finished with my flier, which really only took about 10 minutes - with taking intermediate screen captures-, I was able to share it on Facebook and other social media sites. It even gave me an embedded code ...




  This is a great Web2.0 tool that I can see myself using more often in the future!

Thing #5

This posting actually interested me. As a aspiring future teacher, and I am sure everyone else that is an aspiring teacher, I have a thought that I will change education and have students excited about learning. I have always despised the current system of schooling. Throughout my educational classes, I have always thought of ways to reorganize classrooms to make it not the 6 by 6 classroom cell. I think sitting behind someone and having people behind you is not a good way to educate students. Personally, I have issues with people sitting behind me whether it is in a classroom, restaurant, or library, I can not concentrate if I know people are behind me. When I was in school, I either sat in the back where I could not see or I sat near the front and was constantly distracted knowing people were behind me.

After reading the Thing #5 posting, I decided to read the articles and event take on further research. To me, School 2.0 is more than just connecting students with Web 2.0 and technology, but rather, creating an environment where teachers can be more versatile in their teaching. I saw a YouTube video that addresses this. Creating a commons where students minds are constantly being engaged, where teachers can move around the students, students can sit where they can concentrate, and the harsh overhead lights are take over by the natural light from the windows can increase the versatility of teachers. Many years ago, in the days of Alexandria, the schools the helped educate some the brightest minds were not Cell and Bell schools. They were miniature lecture rooms off the side of a street. I think this video is the definition of School 2.0.

Thing #4

Commenting is very important in the online community. Even while in college, in my online classes, we have to comment on discussion posts made by other students. I find it bothersome when people do not comment in a method that shows that they understand or 'hear' the other students post. We are not commenting just to comment, we need to agree, reinforce, disagree or argue with a blog posting. For this posting, I commented on seven blogs to include:

Emily Sehi:
Emily discussed commenting in her Thing #4 post. I commented on her post because her blog is very inviting and easy to follow because of her use of screenshots, pictures, and links.

Rachel Funderburk:
I commented on Rachel's posting for Thing #3 because she agreed with many things I had posted in my own blog. I love how she is planning to bring blogging into her classroom. I also enjoy the background of her blog, it seems very academic.

Amber Law:
With the very cool background image and use of transparency modules, Amber's blog connected with me before I ever started to read her posts. I initially went to her blog because she had commented on mine, showing the importance of commenting. I commented on her Thing #3 post because of her inviting first paragraph. She had a very good message in the posting, but with the first paragraph, she hooked the reader.

James Harris:
I also commented on James' blog with his Thing #2 post. I commented on it because, although similar to others, I liked how he modeled his avatar after himself. His avatar has a coffee cup, which seems like I am notorious for when I am on campus. Also, with his blog, he reminded me that even though we have the ability to use various colors, backgrounds, transparent variations, and pictures, sometimes black font on white background is best and easiest to read.

Megan Singleton:
With a similar academic background as Rachel's, I also initially went to Megan's blog because she commented on mine first. I commented on her Thing #4 post. She had a easy to follow posting that contained a lot of information so I am using that style for this posting. Also in Megan's posting, she mentioned commenting on her cousin's blog and that lead me to my next comment.

Andrea Brewster Photography:
After following Megan's comments, I found my self on Andrea's photography page. I was caught up by the talent evident in her photography. I think it is important to let artist know that what they do is appreciated. Sometimes artist do work for no compensation and encouraging the ones that connect with you (similar to blogging) will give them the motivation to keep doing the good work.

Politics by Justin:
Finally I found Justin's blog page (actually I found it before doing this assignment earlier this week) and his blogs really connect with me. He has strong political beliefs as do I. I had read his postings before but because of this assignment, I decided to go back to his blog and actually comment on something. I then noticed how the comments that Justin gets on his blog are both negative and positive. However, I also noticed that he replies to many of his commentators. He has over 3,000 followers on facebook but on a posting, he only had about 5 commentators. More people should comment on blogs that they like or disagree with.

Thing #3

How can I use blogs in my future classroom? I would assume the possibilities are unlimited but I could only think of a few. One way, I could use it to bring the classroom to the parents. Although not all parents are always there for their child's education, I want to make sure I make it easy for the ones that want to be involved to do so. When I was in High School (private school) there were many parents that wanted to be involved in the students education and I think a Teacher's Blog forum would have been very nice. For myself, I would think blogging daily or a few times a week regarding the 'goings-on' of the classroom would help to keep parents involved. Also, another thought that I had, would be to use a blog to supplement the classroom lesson. I think, since my subject would probably be History or Government, that after specific lessons, to have links to videos or websites regarding today's government or laws and have students comment on those. I think students would be more apt to go home and watch a Youtube.com video about a topic and to write a short blog on it than to answer 50 questions from the end of the chapter. Either way, there are lots of good educational stuff on the web that we may not be able to show (Youtube.com videos for example) during class that can be used as homework. Instead of using 15 or 20 minutes of class time on a video, spend that time with the students doing peer-to-peer activities and have them watch the video at home. Technology has come a long way and there are many ways we can use it to benefit the children of the classroom.

Thing #2

Creating this blog and Avatar was a simple task for me. I know how to read and write. Blogging is something that I experimented with but, because I have difficulty sounding professional or creating coherent ideas on paper, when I blog it usually became a fruitless effort. In non-professional settings, I did usually blog on Myspace.com and other social sites where friends and acquaintances would read and comment. Regarding the naming of my blog, I, for the most part, am a very basic person; therefore, when I create new things, I usually create the most basic and simple title. My experience with creating this blog was not hard. I found it to be easy. Although I have not used the updated "Blogger" site, most websites work similarly. I found that I was helping other students more with the site than I thought I would have for a class at this level. My avatar was suppose to look similar to me. My hair is usually short, except when I have a really busy month, and most of the time I am listening to music with my big headphones. If there was an 'extra accessory' it would definitely be a coffee or Starbucks cup.

Thing #1

Learning about the "7 1/2 Habits for Lifelong Learners" was interesting for me. Although I had some difficulty with the link in the original blog, I explored on my own to find out more information about this topic.Many of these habits, I now notice that I, personally, do without thinking about it. One of these that seems to be easy for me is Habit 6 - Use Technology to your advantage. Growing up in the quickly growing technological age, I had to learn about technology at an early age. Technology has always been on of my strengths and I use the internet, documentaries, and other technologies to try to broaden my knowledge about things that interest me. I think technology will be a very valuable resource in the classroom when I begin to start teaching. One of the habits that I found to be the hardest to follow is probably Habit 1 - Begin with an end in mind. Usually when I begin to research a topic or take the time to learn about something new, I do not usually have a purpose for doing so unless it was required by classwork. Most of the time I am watching documentaries, reading encyclopedias, or looking up information on the internet just because I can. When I start teaching, I will need to learn that having 'an end in mind' will not only help myself in the learning process, but will also be valuable habit for the students.