Thing #19

Visit TeacherPop

I am now a member of Teacher POP. I think this will be very useful in the future and I plan to make use of this resource. I am also a member of Facebook.

One Last Thing

I learned so many new things in the Learning 2.0- 23 Things activities that it is hard to choose a favorite between all the good things I learned. The blog will definitely be a good tool which I will use . I think it is a good way for teachers to get parents of their students involved in school activities. I also like the YouTube and podcast activities and I thing students will really enjoy using these tools in education in the classroom.
I must admit that I was challenged at the beginning of the semester with the 23 Things. I thought the first half was the most difficult. I am glad that the more fun activities were toward the end of the semester. I think this was a good idea. The 23 Things was a challenging activity but I learned a lot and I plan to continue to explore the many areas and online learning tools.

Thing 23

I had several favorite activities in the 23 Things activities. Flicker was one of my favorites. I liked the selection of photos I found. I also liked the YouTube and Facebook activities. I learned so much new information in doing the 23 Things. I had never heard of Creative Commons so this was especially useful information. Teachers can really make good use of this resource to find free material to use in their classrooms. The consequences of not getting resources under the proper copyright is so important. I will definitely use what I learned about Creative Commons to be sure the materials I use are approved under the proper copyright laws. I googled the 23 things and found out the details about Learning 2.0 which was created by Helene Blowers and adopted through the California School Library Association. Permission is given under a Creative Commons license. I think Creative Commons is a wonderful idea and will help everyone, students and teachers find and use resources.

Thing 22

News

I chose the CNN News Update for my podcast since I like to listen to the latest news reports daily. I used the Podcast directory which was a good resource for podcasts on a wide variety of topics. I thought it was the easiest directory to use. Podcasts could be used in the classroom for science or history resources even in the elementary grades. This would be especially useful to students who are auditory learners.

Thing 21

I really enjoyed making the video. It was easy to create and add music to the video. I liked the variety of selections they offered. It would be nice to make a video in the future of family photos and share them with my family since we are living in different states.

Thing #20

Germinating Seeds

There are so many good videos on YouTube that it is hard to choose only one for my blog. I chose this one on germinating seeds since I enjoy gardening. Starting your own plants from seeds is a great way to save money on plants for your garden. I also like harvesting seeds from my garden and saving them for the next year's growing season. YouTube videos would also be a great resource for class room use to show students activities for science projects.

Thing 17

The bookmarking tool is a very good way to keep up with websites. This will really help in the classroom to store websites for future use. I really like the idea of sharing resources with other teachers and seeing what they found useful also. Teachers can tag the websites which will help students on class work, for example good extra math practice or science resources. Teachers can see what works for teachers in their own area or across the country.

Thing 18

Loretta

I really enjoyed this activity with Facebook. It is a very user friendly site. This can be a great tool for educators to communicate with other teachers and share resources. Facebook would also be a good way for classmates to communicate with each other or the teacher and work on group projects. I really like the picture sharing feature. I chose Facebok because I am already familiar with this site. I use it to communicate with my two sons who attend colleges in different cities. I also communicate with relatives who live across the country.

Thing #16

I really like the IGoogle calendar. It is a great tool for staying organized. I like getting the latest national news updates. This is a good personal organizer for all of us with such busy lives. I like the Mystickies for keeping a grocery list, since I always seem to forget something at the grocery store. This is a good way to keep up with apointments or deadlines for assignments.

Thing #15

I liked the wiki activity. They are a very good way for a group to communicate with one another. The example of the campers planning their supplies list and camp site destination was a great example of how wikies can be used . The sandbox was a good way to comment with classmates and get quick replies and comments. This would also be a good tool for communication within a school or classroom with students.

Thing #14

I chose to explore gliffy and Bubble.us for the flow chart and the mind map activity. I thought gliffy was a bit complicated to use and to navigate. I prefered Bubble.us much more. I thought it was easy to use and a lot ao fun. It was a nice way to brainstorn and express ideas. I like the way the bubbles expand as you write and colors make it more fun. I think Bubble.us would a good choice for use with students in the classroom. Gliffy is good for teachers to explain rules or consequences and could be a tool for teachers to give alternatives for projects. I can see good uses for each tool in the classroom. The main difference between The flow chart and the mind map was that the flow chart was more structured and the mind map was free flowing and more creative.

Thing #13

It was very easy to sigh up for and use Zoho Writer. I used the site to create a handout I needed for a presentation in another class. It was very nice to be able to store my document here instead of on a flash drive. This will be a useful site for students in the classroom. A student could store documents here and allow classmates to view and even make changes on it if group work was being done. It is good for storing work and eliminates the need for storage on a flash drive.

Thing # 4

The experience of blogging is completely new for me. I have never blogged or kept up with a blog before now. I learned a lot through the readings for this assignment. Commenting is essential for communication between people in the world of blogging. People can interact with each other and exchange ideas on topics of mutual interest or concerns. Through comments received and sent conversations between bloggers can build on-line friendships and even help worthy causes in the community. I think the Ten Commandments of Blog Commenting by Baron Brown was very good advice for all bloggers to follow. I agree with Brown that when blogging meaninful comments should be made. Comments should be polite. There is no excuse for rudeness. There should be no name calling, insults or sarcastic comments in a blog. If you don't understand a comment it is best to ask for further explanation.

The names of the seven blogs I decided to follow are: Shannon Britt, Jonathan Scott, Brianna House, Abbey Durbin and Paulete Mcmahan.

My internet blogs to follow are about gardening. One site is Marie's Gardening Blog at http://gardening.about.com/TheButterflyEffect The other blog is about solving problems in the garden using natural subtances.
Weird and wonderful ways to naturally control garden snails and slugs
http://puadigarden.blogspot.com/2009/03/weird-and-wonderful-ways-to-naturally.html

Thing # 12

The Google tools were very user friendly. I chose to use Google Alert to keep track of my son's favorite football team the Miami Dolphins. He follows them very closely and gets as much information about them as possible. I'll be able to share the information I receive from my Google Alert with him. I think it will be a good source of information. I also enjoyed using Google Image Search. I viewed sites I will be visiting in an upcoming trip. There was a very good variety of pictures on every topic I searched. Google Image Search is a great educational tool for the classroom. It would be good for finding pictures for reports and projects. It could also be used to show students sites which are relevant to subjects they are studying.

Thing #11

I spent a lot of time exploring sites with several blog search tools. I found sites with useful information. My favorite search tool was Topix.net. It was the easiest one to use. I liked the fact that it gave me instant local news from the Clarksville area. So much of the local news stations center in on Nashville news but this site was divided into areas of specific interest from Clarksville.The search tool which did not work for me was Feedster. It continued to give me a blank page over and over again and never worked for me.Another good search tool was Google Blog Search. It worked well and provided interesting information.

Thing #10

I had never heard of RSS and newsreaders until now. I really like the idea of getting the latest news automatically posted to my personal account. This service sends only the latest breaking news which you are interested in from preapproved sites. I really like Google Reader. One of the sites which I subscribed to is The Leaf Chronicle. Since I do not have a subscription to this newspaper it will really keep me informed on the local news in Clarksville. This service would be useful to teachers by helping them keep up to date on the latest events which pertain to education. There may be useful information about resources or upcoming educational opportunities in the local community which would make good field trips for their students.

http://www.google.com/reader/shared/15860578239033984394

Thing # 9

http://www.happyfacegenerator.com/
This was a fun task which was easy to create. Most signs are fairly boring and can be easily overlooked by students. These images could be used in the library or classroom to get the student's attention in a fun and colorful way.

Thing # 8

I chose to use the
Flicker mashup Mosaic Maker to make a collection of pictures of popular tourist sites in Egypt. This could be used in the classroom to show students pictures of places they are studying in geography or history classes. It would make these places easier to learn about. In science class you could show students pictures of volcanoes or under water ocean scenes which would really help them in these classroom studies. I believe this would be a very useful tool.

Thing #7

The process to view pictures and post them on my blog was fairly easy. I enjoyed viewing the pictures on the site. In fact there were so many pictures that were avaliable with my tag that it was hard to decide which one to post. I chose to post the picture of the pyramids in Egypt because my mother is in Egypt on a tour. To view more of All-Gizah pictures go to http://liberato.org/2006/11/11/all-gizah-pyramids.

Thing #6

I chose Craig's List as my Web 2.0 site. I really like the way I could select my city to see what is available in my area. It was very easy to use and totally free. It is useful in finding items of interest to purchase. Some postings included pictures which really would help you know if the item is what you are looking for. There were a large variety of categories of interest listed including weight loss partners, social networking , community events , the list was very large. It could be used to find used text books which are needed for up coming classes or to find tutoring for a class. Safety tips were included in ways to remain safe when meeting people for the first time through the site. I know people who have gotten great bargins through this site but this was the first time I have investigated it for myself.


http://clarksville.craigslist.org/lss/

Thing # 5

I think School 2.0 is definitely the wave of the future in education. Children even as young as three and four years old are using internet sites to play educational games and are very familiar with computers. I work part time in a preschool and the children love the games which teach early reading and math skills. They are even learning sign language and Spanish. Technology makes learning so much fun for them. There is an unlimited number of possibilities for School 2.0 to create interactive learning experiences for students of all ages. I think School 2.0 has great possibilities for older students in middle school and high school. They can interact with classmates on school projects or communicate with kids their age who live in distant countries. I think the biggest challenge for educators to use School 2.0 will be to make computers available to all students especially low income students who may not have a computer at home.

Thing #3

I think a Web Log is a very good idea for keeping parents informed on classroom activities. Some parents may not feel involved in the events going on in their child's school. As their teacher, I believe it would be helpful to post upcoming special field trips, topics of study, up future assignments and tests. With the busy lives most parents have, I think a Web Log would help parents feel more connected to their child and would serve as a good source of information.

Thing #2

I used my real name for my posting because I wanted to be easily identified. Creating the blog was challenging because this information was completely new to me. Through the experience I gained more knowledge and a bit more confidence when it was completed. I enjoyed creating the avatar. I liked all the choices in clothing accessories and background settings. That was my favorite part of thing #2.

Thing # 1

The easiest lifelong learning habit for me is Habit 1, Begin with the end in mind. When I attended APSU in the 1970's, I could never decide on a major. This is one reason I quit, I never had a goal in mind. When I decided to return to college, I knew what I wanted to achieve. I want to graduate with a degree in elementary education, and hopefully teach kindergarden or first grade.The hardest lifelong learning habit is Habit 6, Use technology to your advantage. Until I returned to APSU I did not use a computer. I always depended on my husband or children to do any thing that required the computer. So using technology is my biggest challenge. By using the Web 2.0 tools I hope to become more fluent in using technology. I was a bit nervous about setting up the blog and I knew I would need help. So I did the blog with the help of one of my tutors.