Only the Beginning :)

WOW! I never thought I would make it through the 23 things, but i did it, and I learned a LOT!

My favorite things to use would definitely be YouTube, Google, Animoto, and Blogger itself. I really enjoyed having my mind opened up to such a large amount of new technology. Web 2.0 will definitely make a big impact on classrooms in the future. There are so many things students AND teachers can use to make projects, cite them, find secondary sources for things, store things on the web, share things with class mates online, etc. There is a world of endless possibilities out there and I cannot wait to try them out and share them with others during my new career in a few years.

THING 23!!!!!!...All she wrote

My LAST, but NOT least thing!! 

   I still have not figured out how to tell that the 23 things blog was started by someone else, but I am guessing there is a copyright somewhere, because all the things I learned about plagiarism and Creative Commons has gotten me in the habit of looking for that kind of stuff. Why? Because I always used to use pictures and quotes from other books and websites and never thought of it as stealing someone else's work, but that was in fact the case. After all of this, I will always do my best to look out for plagiarism to make sure neither me nor my future students do it, whether intentionally or by accident.

Thing 22...Organized Chaos

The titles of my book shelves are "Book Writeups," "Essays," and "Math 1410."

http://www.livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit?id=628286

This would be a good site for students and teachers to keep their files organized and at their fingertips wherever they are, and for teachers to post lesson plans and assignments for students to have automatic access to them online. Unfortunately for me, I had a lot of trouble with the website working on my computer; not sure what was going on there.

Thing 21...Kodak Moment

http://animoto.com/play/Gh7ii8NCJ2c8lm1LIYdobg

Animoto was extremely fun to use. It's saddening that it costs money to make longer clips, because I would love to use Animoto for projects for school and to share photos on other sites. It was fun getting to choose which photos I wanted to use, and getting to choose from a wide variety of video styles and songs in the background.

Thing 20...YouTubey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbgPl1ryrwg&feature=related


  I like the fact that there is such a wide variety of videos on YouTube. However, because of the number of videos and their titles, it is often hard to find a specific video through typing keywords into the search engine.
    I chose the video that I did because you hear teachers complaining all the time about what they expect from students, but they never stop to listen to what the students have to say in return.
     If used correctly, YouTube could definitely be a helpful tool for library research on how-to's and many other things. The thing I worry about is the students that would abuse that privilege by watching music videos and such.

Thing 19...Ning-a-ling-a-ling

Visit TeacherPop

I am involved in several online communities, but from those listed above, I am only involved in are Goodreads and Playlist.com. I used to use that site all of the time to share music on my MySpace page, but I have not really been on there in the last couple of years. I love Goodreads because I can look up books i have read and rate, review, share them, etc. I can also tag books that appeal to me that I want to read in the future and I can create different bookshelves of the books I have read. One site I am looking forward to joining is BakeSpace, because i LOVE to bake, though I haven't had time to bake much since college started. I can go on there and share recipes or try other peoples' recipes, create an online cookbook, etc.
There is a world of opportunities on the web, and I will never run out of new things to explore.

Thing 18...FaceSpace

https://www.facebook.com/stephie.akabobo

     It is important for educators to know how social networking sites work, so that they can know how to interact with their students and other teachers, and to have knowledge about things that are a big part of the lives of those around them. I already have Facebook and Twitter, therefore there was not much more for me to learn, except the fact that there is a College of Education group on Facebook, which I am now a part of.
     I believe Facebook and Twitter both have important features, and both can be used for schools and classrooms. However, I do think Facebook would be more useful to set up a group page to connect with students, parents, and faculty via the Internet for free, not to mention that students are more likely to check Facebook on a daily basis than a school website or blog.

Thing 17...Tag, You're It

I personally did not have any particular interest in bookmarking, but it would be good for research, especially since it can be accessed form anywhere.  I would like using it to find other sources, similar to finding things in databases by using keywords. Also, as a teacher, this would be an option for my future students to find and share information online for projects through certain keywords pertaining to their topics.

Thing 16...Organized Time

•      I chose iGoogle for my start page because, as I've said before, I use google and many of its component very often. I suppose I could make it my regular home page since I use google so much anyway, and I could have all the little gadgets I want to use right at my fingertips. 
•      The online calendar can be very useful, because I can just pull it up while work on other things on the computer, such as school work, research, etc. It is a fast and easy way to view the things I have to do for that day, and I can also have reminders sent to my email, which goes directly to my iPhone. 
•     While the to-do lists are helpful, they basically serve the same purpose as the online calendars. Therefore, I would probably just stick to my calendar so I do not get confused. 
• I found a good site for creating presentations, called http://www.empressr.com . It is basically a slideshow tool that let's you use multiple audiovisual content (i.e. graphs, picture, videos, etc.). 

Thing 15....Wiki What?

     I was rather pleased by the concept of Wikis. They are a great way to collaborate with others, rather than sending emails, word of mouth, etc. around and resulting in with lots of confusion. For instance, I could post a feed on a wiki site and have my students comment their ideas or change things the way they think they should be.
     Also, I can get my students to use them for group projects. For example, I could put up a wiki for each group with a list of different roles and their requirements. The students can individually go in and edit the page. They can choose which role to take on and list the things they plan on contributing to the group's project/presentations, and then the other group members will have a clear idea of what else needs to be done.

Thing 14, Going with the Flow...Charts

For this section, I visited Gliffy for my flowcharts and Bubbl.us for my mind map.

     I chose Gliffy because it looked more attention-grabbing than Flowchart, and it was easier to sign up for. I first used the "try it now free" art to get a hang of things. This is a fantastic site for making digital diagrams, charts, floor plans, etc. I could definitely use this in the future for numerous things.

     I chose Bubbl.us (I am not going to lie) because I like bubbly stuff and so the title got me interested. This site was also very helpful, because you can map out your work very quickly and easy, and its easily maneuverable and easy to read/understand. I do not know if I would use this site personally, but it is definitely something I can recommend to my future students.    

Thing 13...Zoho

Zoho writer is very helpful, because it's almost like using Microsoft Word processor, but in an online application. Just like a Word document, you can change the format, insert images, URLs, etc. and basically anything else that Microsoft can do (that I know of).

https://writer.zoho.com/index.do?docId=2330814000000013006

Google Docs is a good web application to use, because it works as a word processor, but also sort of an email also. You can share or send your documents, spreadsheets, drawings to anyone with the press of a button. This will be very beneficial when it comes to my classroom, because students can use it to do projects and such and then send/share them with me and their classmates fairly easily.

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1loxKKkKFMaLmOQZPhTZoPgUSnELMMaafGS-PxtgyJog/edit


If I had to choose between Zoho Writer and Google Docs, I would have to choose Google Docs, for a few reasons. My main reason is because I am more familiar with Google, and I have always felt more comfortable with the more familiar. Also, Google Docs makes it easier to share my creations with others through email or links in Facebook, Google+, etc. I understand Zoho does some of these things too, but I know more people are aware of how to use Google applications than other stuff. Before today, I had never heard of Zoho, and I am sure most of the people I would want to send things to have not heard of it either. Why use a new site when you're already familiar with another site that does the same things?

Thing 12...Now a Verb

The first tool I used was Google Calendar, which I never even realized existed. I put my schedule in for what I have to do Saturday, and it's helpful to be able to set alarms and change colors for more important events, etc.This tool will be especially helpful when I get into teaching, to help keep track of my hectic schedule that I cannot fit on a piece of paper.

https://www.google.com/calendar/render?pli=1

The other tool I used is Google Translate. While this is a somewhat helpful tool for every day use and for some school-related purposes, I do not see this as a very reliable tool. Some of the translations are too literal and inaccurate.


http://translate.google.com/#

Thing 11...Blog Hunt

Google Blog Search was definitely the easiest way for me to find the blogs I wanted. Technorati was the most confusing, due to how busy the site was visually, there was way to much going on there. I found a lot of feeds about teaching and about 23 things that will be very beneficial for me to follow. I came upon a feed about weird laws in Tennessee and the most unusual one to me was I Memphis, Tn. "It is illegal to give any pie to fellow diners."...Really?....On another note, I found that you did not even have to go to Google Blog Search, you could find good feeds through the regular Google search engine also. It is so easy to find feeds/blogs that interest you, there's a world of them out there waiting to be read.

Thing 10...Google Reader

     What I like most about this is the fact that it is so easy to subscribe to my favorite blogs on the same site. I can just go in and see all of them in a list instead of having to click around to different sites. It definitely simplifies things a lot. Using this technology in my personal life is a definite possibility, because it makes blog searching and reading so much less complicated. Also, I could definitely incorporate this site into my classroom somehow. I could possibly get my students to use this site for projects to learn about new technologies and search blogs they are interested in, etc. Teachers can also use this to an advantage, in that they can get their students to create blogs and subscribe to all of them in one place or we could use it to connect with other teachers blogs for new ideas to use in the classroom.

Thing 9...Generator-happy

For this image, I went to Image Chef and created an "Award Frame" with an old profile picture I got off of my facebook page. This generator would be a good way to make little awards for students who excel in the classroom. http://www.imagechef.com/ic/word_mosaic/"> This image I created an Image chef also. I created a "word mosaic" with two of my favorite colors and the words to my favorite song, "Smile" by Uncle Kracker. This generator would be a good way to make fun and inspirational posters to hang up in classrooms, at home, anywhere you want. It is also a good way your students could express themselves and they could also use it for a class project. There is a world full of generators out there that are very helpful and can be used for a number of things for not only personal use, but can assist both the students and teacher in classrooms everywhere.

Thing 8...My life In Pieces

Throwback picture of me and my "girl scout sister"

 

 Places I have been.

Using mash-up sites could definitely be beneficial in the classroom. There are so many different varieties of these site that students can use for projects, and teachers can also use them to make effective/attention-grabbing presentations and visuals for every day use in the classroom. As for sharing photos online, I believe it is alright to an extent. If they are extremely personal photos I would not share them. As for photos you do want to share, I suggest copyrighting them in some way to ensure no one else takes credit for them.