Thing 23 -Reflections

Reflecting on my journey~

I have learned so much! Thank you 23 Things and Wayne RESA! This started as a way to get SB-CEU's and turned into a desire to know more "things!"

In the last few months, our school media specialist was talking about Delicious, Wiki's and Podcasts. I didn't know what they there were and without 23 Things, I probably still wouldn't! A part of my problem is that I wouldn't have taken the time. As I worked on each "thing," I began to explore different sites on the Internet. I was amazed at how many people were already at these sites and have been for years! I have a new appreciation of the creativity that is out there! I don't know whether to feel ahead or behind!

What does it all mean? As shown in the last video, we all have to begin to think of things differently. This applies to my job and in my personal life. So many of these tools can enhance our lives and make them easier. What did we do before e-mail? Now, I see that on Wednesdays I get about 15-20 e-mails in planning our weekly "Chinese Night." Yesterday, I thought to myself, "Should we have a Wiki for this?"

I know that so many of my students use the Internet everyday. They can easily navigate it and have done many of the things we've had to learn: blogs, You Tube videos, and played with widgets! They are Web 2.0 participants! I can see that some students are starting to download class novels on their ipods and they're creating their own virtual flashcards online. I knew I needed to incorporate more technology into my teaching and now I have the tools and the desire to make it happen.

How has your thinking changed between Thing 1 and Thing 23? I've started talking about podcasts and wiki's in my everyday life! I am seeing situations and thinking about which of the "things" we've learned would be a good fit. It makes me want to teach my students about podcasts and Wikis before the end of the school year.


How will you continue to learn about Web 2.0 tools?
I haven't Twittered yet!

What are your big "take aways" from this experience?

• I like blogging and want to set up my own personal blog.


• Flicker has become a useful way for me to share pictures with my friends and family. It also makes me want to explore my interest in photography.


• My students are going to gain skills by adding to our class Wiki.


• Bloglines, if I get in the habit of checking it, is my answer becoming more aware of current information in my career, hobbies, and society!


• More of my free time might be spent reading other people's travel blogs and watching their You Tube videos!!

Really, I know I could keep going. I don't think I've had any professional development that has had this kind of impact in both my personal and professional life. Can we do 23 more things?

Thing 22 Creating a Wiki

I've created a Wiki! You can check it out and add to it if you'd like!

Math in Our Life Wiki

Well, this was so easy! I still have to create my users by adding my students and passwords so they can go in and edit. I will need to give them a brief tutorial in Wiki's, but they can do this at home for extra credit! Who knows, I may just open it for the public to view!

I think it would be exciting to see students add new things! I think if it's successful, I'll add other topics such as graphs, decimals, percents, integers, etc. for each unit and change things up a bit. I also think students could be creative and it could go in different directions.

A wiki is different from a blog in that it's not "group collaboration" as indicated in the article we read. My students can login to the wiki and edit it by uploading an example of fractions in their everyday life. They may choose to add a favorite recipe from their grandma that they've scanned. They may make a short video of themselves using fractions in making cookies or make a link to a cooking website. When my friends, Tami or Pam, go to my blog, they can write comments, but they cannot edit my pictures or add a cat widget! ;)

When is one more appropriate to use than the other?
In both cases, people from around the world could login and have discussions.

It seems that since other people can't "edit" my blog, it's more personal and I can make it the way that I want with my own agenda. With a Wiki, it may start out with one intent (like a question) and end up going in a very different direction based on the participants.

Thing 21- Wiki's

Describe a wiki you found that inspires you to create one of your own.
I have traveled with students around the world and really liked the "Comparing Hemispheres" wiki. I love the fact students halfway around the world can collaborate so easily on a document. I have a friend who's an English teacher in Austria. I bet they'd be interested in such a project related to ELA!

I also like the "Wikihow." It made me think about the technical writing assignments that we do and how students could post their "How to" paper at the site and see how it evolves!

What hurdles might stand in the way of your using a wiki? The obvious of things being deleted, intentionally or by mistake. Can you imagine a person deleting your part of the group project? That would be a new excuse, "Someone deleted it!"

What would it take to remove the hurdles? I agree there is some organization that would be involved and additional instruction if it was used with students. I think there are many useful skills that could be taught in addition to the original curriculum objective. It was neat to see one of the wiki's had a podcast, student made slide show, graphs, and a timeline! I think students would be very interested in trying this! Students would just have to make sure they had a hard copy of their original work in case it got deleted!

Thing 20 Finding and Subscribing to Podcasts

After spending some time reviewing different podcasts using EPN, Podcast Alley and iTunes, I subscribed to 3 podcasts, one through EPN and the others through iTunes. I realized quickly that it was true that Podcast Alley does search everything, they seemed to have sex podcasts all over the place! Not good for the school environment or when searching for professional development!

I liked the visuals of iTunes and it was easy to subscribe right there! I would like to search some more to really have a feel for the different types of programs, but there seems to be a bit of everything! I have a mp3 player, but not the ipod brand. It might be easier to just have an ipod for the convenience. Regardless, it's nice considering podcasts, as well as music, can be listened to on the go or better when having to wait at the airport!

I subscribed to the Dave Ramsey show for my personal interest because I used to go to his website and listen to his talks or try to catch him on the radio at his normal time. It's nice to have his talks available to me any time I want and his talks are updated for me through my subscription!

Another site I subscribed to was the X minus One podcast. It's science fiction short stories that started with the old radio show, "X minus One" and then moved to adaptations of new science fiction short stories by respectable writers. I'm interested in hearing some of these to get new ideas of how to possibly use podcasts in our classroom for our science fiction genre study.

Thing 19 Podcasts

Which podcasts did you find interesting?
I enjoyed the History teacher's Study Cast for test review. I know this was one of the first examples from the two Wayne RESA videos, but it really struck me when I think about how my students with special needs (and others) benefit from repetition. I use "think alouds" to help kids understand how I approach a math problem and important questions they should be asking themselves an example would be when reducing a fraction to it's simplest form. I think it would be helpful for students and parents to hear my examples, mnemonics and silly stories or songs to help students remember new information.
http://www.liberty.k12.mo.us/~elanghorst/blog

One question I have is in regards to copyrighting, "Could I do a podcast using the silly stories from a book I purchased to help students learn their multiplication facts?" I tend to think the authors wouldn't like it being made available to the public, but what about if I sited the source? These stories are read each day in my classroom. How cool would it be for a student to go home and hear it again or their parents, "Six is chicks, four is door and it equals a denty floor." This doesn't mean much to parents or anyone else unless they've hear the story...then it would make more sense!

Another podcast that I enjoyed, was the Coleycast produced by students. This is really a cross-curriculum activity that could bridge and ELA class and say a SS or Science class. As indicated, kids obviously had to invest some time prior to the podcast to research, write, and practice what they'd say about a historical figure before they did their podcast. What a motivator! I also like the thought that kids who don't like to get up in front of a class could create a podcast of their project that could be heard by the teacher and/or the other kids in the class.

It's exciting that we just got an updated computer lab in our school that includes microphones to make podcasts. I know some teachers in our building are already utilizing this in their classrooms!
I had the fleeting idea of how useful it might be for a student who was absent to hear the class lecture. In my classroom, there are usually multiple interruptions, so it would probably take a long time to edit!! It would be good for me to get outside my comfort zone and try to create a podcast for my students or by my students by the end of the year!

Thing 18 Slideshare

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Critters

View more presentations from Alesia Kaye.

What did you like about the presentation you embedded?

I liked how it included pictures that Alesia Kaye took. It was peaceful and it looked like something that I could do! Though maybe my pictures wouldn't be so nice!

I made a quick Powerpoint about two years ago from a trip I had taken to Europe and the beaches of Normandy. I showed this to one of our 7th grade Social Studies classes. Using Slideshare, I could have posted it and other teachers and students would have easy access to it. I also like how this was so easy to embed. I wonder if could be embedded into a class webpage?


I was thinking it would be good to put pictures and text from trips I have taken and make them available to friends and family. I guess I'm wondering if Storyboard would be a better tool than a Powerpoint presentation.

I enjoyed looking at other people's Powerpoint presentations! Some of the work is already done if you find what you're looking for. Guess what? They have tags! It's kind of cool to click on other people's tags and see what they have found.

Thing 17 Productivity Tool

I explored "Knowtes" a productivity tool that allows you to make flashcards to quiz yourself or share them! I heard a friend talk about a website that allowed you to make flashcards...I'll have to see if this is the one she meant!

In our co-taught Language Arts class, we have studied prefixes and suffixes most of the year! We have students look up the definition and study for a test that matches the prefixes/suffix with it's meaning. Knowtes would have been a great website to have students join, add prefix or suffix flashcards to the stack and then study from them! These flashcards could be used with all subject matter!

Today we just got an e-mail about how we can have students use some Web 2.0 tools by setting up gmail accounts. A student would need an invitation to set up a Knowtes account. I set up an account that I plan to tell my students about it and they can subscribe and study for tests! The cool thing is they can work in groups on creating the flashcards!

Thing 16 Google Documents

Well, this "thing" didn't go too well. I signed into Google Docs using my gmail account, the same I use for this blog and I didn't have the spreadsheet "23 Things Learners." I am not sure if I changed my e-mail along the way or what was happening? I e-mailed the powers at be at 23 Things to help resolve this.

Thing 16 then said to play around on Google Docs. I tried to upload files and I kept getting the message that it wouldn't accept docx. I'm using Windows Vista and Microsoft 2007. I also tried other doc. and it didn't work. I then tried to e-mail using the long e-mail they provided and sneak it in using an attachment. That worked, but only for the text typed on the e-mail. I couldn't find how to open my attachment. :( More confusing than it needed to be! So, I hope to get a reply so I can know how to fill in that shared spreadsheet!

I can definitely see how Google Documents would be a very helpful tool! I wish we had this when I was in college and we were working on group projects! We've also had students this year work with partners on assignments in Language Arts class where they would've benefited from having the file on the Internet and different people can modify it. It really makes sense! Really this could be used for a lot of things, even a Powerpoint from what I remember! It would be really cool to have family members add photos to a Powerpoint doc that could then be shown at a family reunion!

Thing 15 RSS Revisited

Where has the time gone? I could spend hours doing each one of these Things!! One thing leads to more searching and discovering!

It was nice to revisit Bloglines and learn how to subscribe to tags in Delicious. With Bloglines/RSS it hasn't become a habit for me. I don't choose to make time for it in my life. In my workday, I can't just go online and search.. I think I would use it more if I had a desk job or had any amount of downtime in my day. So, this would have to be done in the evenings where time is precious and divided in many ways.

It was not so easy to subscribe to tags in Delicious...well, not like the video showed so that should be updated. The "tags to watch" button was not there anymore...probably due to updates on the site. I eventually figured it out and then realized I don't have a bookmarklet for Bloglines. I have to go my Favorites. That took time to remember as well. I guess it's because I use Internet Explorer.?

Do you recognize new benefits of this tool?

I like the fact that Delicious subscription items can be on Bloglines. I would need to check them both, but even if I did it once a week, I would be further ahead than I have ever been. I really do want to stay abreast on best practices and developments in my field. I think these tools would help me the most.

Thing 14 Delicious

My Delicious username is: eaglesk13.1



I finally know about Delicious! My school media specialist has completed 23 Things before and has been asking for my Delicious username. I just hadn't got there yet! Now, I see why :).

One question I had, "What's the difference between favorites and bookmarks?" I usually use the favorite button so I didn't think I had bookmarked. I searched and found my answer below.

http://www.worldstart.com/tips/internet-tips/bookmarks-vs-favorites.htm

Now the question I haven't answered is, "How do I embed a link without showing the URL address?" I couldn't get an easy answer and did know this at one point, long ago...

Anyway, at school, we don't really share website information unless it comes from our media specialist. Usually, we are all crazy busy and just trying to keep up with everything. I think having Delicious accounts and sharing usernames, it could easily allow us to share good sites.

At school, I also think I have underused the Internet in my teaching. I know that 23 things has definitely motivated me to branch out and try new things! I feel so behind knowing some people have been using Delicious for years!

Does Delicious seem to be a tool that can enhance your productivity? I see it's use, but as I said above, I don't use the Internet for work that much. I love the fact you can see what others are finding which saves time. I also like the "tag" feature to keep things organized. I still think of it as resources for me personally and professionally.

I'd like to explore the use of a lot of the programs we've been learning about (Blogger, Flickr,etc.) more this summer when I have more time. Then, once I get more comfortable with it, I think I'll use it more. I don't even have a class website!

Thing 13 Tagging

I am a collector by nature. I like to keep things to use "later." This applies to my home, classroom and my computer! I think tagging is a great tool to help packrats like me!

Is tagging a useful way to organize your digital resources and why? Yes. Any way to organize a bunch of information is useful. I see how it can be used as an index to quickly find topics and to connect other areas of interest through other people's tags.

As they indicated in the tagging article: "7 Things You Should Know About Social Bookmarking" http://www.scribd.com/full/2329475?access_key=key-2a1e21h5jb4w9sxl5x8j
knowing what tags to use can make your search more efficient for yourself and others. One example they gave was the key word, "greyhound" and if that was the only tag used, someone looking up information on "dog breeds" would never find it!

Other bits of info I found interesting were: don't put spaces between words, you can connect separate tags with a + sign (intersecting tags) and when in Rome...tag like the others!

Thing 12 Widgets

A dog without the mess! I had a lot of fun checking out the world of widgets!
This has really made me want to create my own blog so I can add more personal touches like, "A bible verse a day" or other things that don't really fit into my educational blog. I hope you play with Silverdore and give him his ball!

Are you getting comfortable with embedding code? I would still have to do this more to say I'm comfortable. Embedding my widget was different than embedding the video in an earlier blog post.

Do you belong to other online communities? Are relationships formed online as meaningful as face-to-face relationships? I don't belong to other online communities. I have this thought that spending too much time on the computer is not good, just like TV. I prefer being active and outdoors. I teach grades 6-8th so I get many e-mails each day at work. It try to catch up on my personal e-mails at home too. I see the merit, as long as the amount of time spent doing it is monitored. I've spend all day online doing various things and wished I hadn't given up my whole day.

I think everyone should be cautious of talking to strangers online and not giving out personal information. Relationships can be formed online, but only to some extent.

Why do you think My Space and other social networking sites are so popular with kids today? It's a way to keep in contact with others, share photos, and meet new "friends." I think there may also be a sense of freedom and doors that open to some kids who may find kids with similar interests outside of their school.

Thing 11

After reading the articles on blogging etiquette, I felt I should be more conscious about what I write. It's very easy to just say a simple, "cool!" There were many comments like this on the widgetbox site. There is credibility when someone adds a new thought or a question. Everyone should know about how to leave good comments to avoid filling up pages with one word responses. I think there should be a balance of both "attaboys" and constructive comments.

I know it made me smile when a comment (positive) was left on my blog. It really does make the "community" real. I can't even fathom all the sites and information that is on the Internet. It amazes me that people take time to leave comments on sites, but I do see how it's valuable.

People with the same interests can really dialog about topics and share examples of work and pictures. I've seen how some comments left at sites ignite lively conversations. The opposite is someone leaving a swear word or a careless comment that just wastes everyone's time. As I say to my students, "Is it helpful or hurtful?"

What might this mean for students who share their writing online? They should be conscious that what they write can be viewed by all and can be commented on by all. They should be given the rules for blogging as well! I don't think this is something their parents are telling them about!

Thing 10 Solving Basic Equation Video

This video could be used for students at home that would like some extra support. They could pause and replay the steps as needed. This is also an opportunity for kids who been out sick to get caught up. I wouldn't actually show this video in class, as I could do this myself.

This was very easy to do! I did have difficulty using KeepVid, but I think it was the actual video clips and not the program. I tried it a few times and then went to PWNY YouTube and this worked.

Thing 9 Online Video

What do you like or dislike about YouTube? Did you find videos that would be useful for teaching and learning? Is YouTube restricted in your building?

Sad to say, but I haven't had much experience with YouTube. The times I have used it, it's been to look at funny clips or music videos. It was new for me to use it from an educational perspective.

When looking up math concepts, I found it interesting how many videos just had teachers working out a problem. I give them credit for creating the video and posting it, but it wasn't interesting to me. I guess I felt like it should be more entertaining and creative. At one site, kids had posted comments like, "Thank you, you explained it so much better than my teacher." This shows they use it for educational purposes too. I wanted to leave some comments at some of these sites, but it wasn't enabled. It actually took me a few more videos to watch before I found something interesting and was able to post.

Just like any website, I'd caution students on the accuracy and credibility of what is in the video. On the flip side, kids learn from each other and they may be interested what one of their peers have to say. Also, some videos like "Public School House Rock" look like the familiar School House Rock, but it was a parody from Mad TV. This would be something parents should be cautious about.

One of my teaching partner's got around issue of YouTube being blocked by our district by having her own laptop with her own wireless Internet provider access. She used YouTube to show a video of a Shakespeare theatre during our drama unit. It was a quick clip that added to the lesson. When the kids saw that she could get onto YouTube, they didn't think it was fair that they couldn't use it at school. I know a lot of them use it at home.

Thing 8 Getting Creative with Flickr

In the same post in which you placed your creation, briefly describe your experience completing Thing 8. Which of these tools intrigues you and why? Was it easy, frustrating, time-consuming, fun? Share some of your ideas for using the images you can create.

Cool things! I'm glad we were able to spend some time trying out the new tools. It seemed easy to start the tool, but transferring it over to this blog wasn't so easy. The "G" above is from the Spell with Flicker. It would have been nice to be able to cut and paste your whole word vs. letter by letter.

At Big Huge Labs, I created the puzzle above, but I didn't see an easy way to save it to my blog and have it be interactive. It would be fun to move the pieces right now!

As I was searching around, I was intrigued by software toys that were created by Jim Bumgardner. When I was at the FlickrColr Pickr, I noticed his Fun & Games heading. At this site there are a bunch of fun things to do such as Flickr Chia Pet and the Whitney Music Box to name a few. I have no idea how this man created these things!

Thing 7 Flickr Picture Posting

Think of ways you may be able to use Flickr in the classroom or in your work and share your ideas. What issues might you face?

For many visual learners, seeing an object or place is very helpful. Just spending a few minutes looking up different tags, I realized I could spend hours looking at pictures that have been posted.

I think there are endless ways of using Flickr such as an elementary class doing a photobook on the seasons (some very beautiful pictures) to free pictures students could use for their Powerpoint presentations. In math class, the obvious is pictures of symmetry and different geometric shapes. In the past, I've used photos as a writing prompt like the one I've posted above. I think the photos would be great for a foreign language or world studies class. You can see images of many places around the world and get a feel for their culture through photos of food, entertainment, architecture, etc.

There is always the fear of having photos of inappropriate things that kids may find in their search. Good or bad, many times kids let us know and just move on...worrying they'll get in trouble more than the content of the picture. The picture below was on the home page when I logged in. Like many things, the good outway the bad.

Thing 6- Flickr Photo

Why did you choose a particular photo?
In my sixth grade resource room math class, we study fractions. I'm always looking for ways to show a concept we're talking about as it's used in real life (outside of the classroom). In Flickr, I typed in "fractions" and many examples came up. I chose the "thumbnail" view to search quickly and found this photo.

What is it about the photo that you found interesting? I chose this picture not only because it has a sign that is in fraction form and was found in the Creative Commons, but I don't know what it's used for.
I think it leaves the viewer asking questions, which is perfect to have the kids discover or predict. Even knowing it was taken in England and has a tag: railroad, I don't know much about railroads to figure it out. I'll have to look it up too!

Kids are motivated by photos and videos. The fact that there are areas like "Creative Commons" and the Library of Congress within Flickr, it makes it easier to search for photos that we can actually use and our students too without worrying about the copyright.

Thing 5- Adding Blogs

After adding some initial blogs, it really has opened a new world to me. I've had very little experience blogging before 23 Things. I'm so amazed there are millions of people with thousands of topics interacting in a way I wasn't. It feels weird to just realize there is a Google Blog Search!

There are things at the blogs like "digg this" or "clip/blog this" that I'll have to explore to see what they mean. So, not only is blogging and RSS new to me, but also the jargon that goes along with them.

I can see how this will all be helpful in keeping me updated on new things related to many areas in teaching for example: learning disabilities and RTI. There is information right at my fingertips. It's going to be a matter of finding time, because really it's not that I don't have access to updated information in my field; just that I don't make time to read it!

Depending on what my purpose is when blogging, I could see how I'd want a more reliable source for news ex. at CNN vs. Joe's political babble. I also like the idea that I could get feedback on a topic from an online community of people with similar interests, personal and professional.

Thing 4 Managing Information Overload

Anything that gives me more time! If RSS sends the information to me that I'm interested in, without me going out and searching-great! I noticed at the bloglines page they listed the top requested items on the right. There were many things that I had no idea what they were. I am interested checking them out.

Just spending time checking out some of the blogs of James Gates, I found a tool with Venn diagrams with factors and multiples that I could use in my classroom. I am sure once I find some good educational blogs, I will not only like some of their blog links, but also like their writing style and information that I'd want to read their updates.

Thing 3 Teacher Blogs

I've been blessed to just start co-teaching second semester, due to a mid-year retirement, with a teacher who is finishing up a Master's degree in Technology in Education. Each day, I have been impressed by how she's incorporating technology into our classroom. She has already set up a blog spot on her website, but I haven't spent much time looking to see if kids have posted anything. I know they are more motivated and their grades have gone up! I feel like I'll be able to talk with her more about using blogs, and other things, because I'll have had some training. Now I really want to see if the kids have posted anything to her site about our classes!

I also teach two resource room math classes. I think it's time I set up a website of my own that includes an opportunity for the students to blog. I think it would be helpful if they were working on problems and they have a question-another student could help them out, if I don't get there first! It could also open opportunities for extra credit, if they forget what problems they have to work on, or just talk about math! Is that wishful thinking?

One concern I have is that some of my students don't have Internet at home. I don't know how many of them will go to the library or use a friend's computer to access some of the things I will be developing through 23 things. I will have to see if there are ways they can have greater access at school to blog spots, etc. I was concerned at first about students writing inappropriate things, but after watching the video clip and looking in settings, I like the feature that lets you filter comments before they are posted to your site.

Thing 1 and Thing 2

Reading about the article Web 2.o, I feel really outdated about my teaching and technology skills and a bit overwhelmed. It's funny to imagine I am feeling insecure about not using more technology in my math class when my dad doesn't use a computer at work and still doesn't really know how to use one...but that will be changing soon too. What matters is that I am here learning. I'm participating so I can be a better teacher, motivate my students to learn and connect with them on a different level. As the video indicated, students are using so much technology each day anyway, it's time for me to use more of it in my classroom.

So, I'm glad to be "stepping" in the right direction and hope to be eventually be "running." I can say I have a blog page-it was easy to set up.

I'm beginning to think about how there are so many places that I could be checking each day for posts, e-mail (professional and personal),Study Island, etc. This doesn't include my own searching and reading. All these things take time! Right off the bat I think, "How do I manage all this and not be tied to my computer?"