One Last Thing

* What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I loved it all......... it was so great to push myself into technology, and get a better understanding of the "things" that are out there. So far, I'm loving the idea of blogging, since this course, I've created my classroom blog, that has been such an addition to my classroom and parent-teacher communication; as well as student-teacher communication. I also really like GoogleDoc, it's so great, it almost makes a scanner non-essential.
* How has this program affected your lifelong learning goals?
Just last night, I was sitting and thinking about how I would like to take more technology classes and add to my "bag-o-tricks". I can not wait for the day, when my classroom is technologically where it should be.......... hopefully sooner rather than later.
* Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I was very unaware, of the views and opinions of some of my colleagues. It was nice to see what others' opinions were on some of the issues that are out there regarding technology and the future, in classrooms, social networking etc. I did not dream that I would enjoy it so much, or have so many awesome additions. My Google Reader, will be a definite "habit" that will play a role in my life.
* What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
I can't think of much that would make this easier, I loved that I could work at my own pace, work ahead if I needed, or catch up if I needed. I've always been partial to self-paced learning, when I'm being responsible :)
* If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
I'd love to take more courses similar to this, like 23thingster said..... a Next 23 Things would be AWESOME!!!
* How will what you have learned influence your practice as a teacher or school librarian?
Besides blogging with my students, I will definitely contemplate a Ning for networking with them next year, I'll play this Summer. I also love the idea of using wiki's and blogs for future cooperative learning projects.
* How do you plan to keep up with new developments in web 2.0? Recommend a way that you have found to be useful.
I have fed several 2.0 feeds into my Reader, hopefully these will keep me, near the cutting edge for now. Hopefully, next year, and further in the future, I can take more Web 2.o courses, that will make my teaching more effective and appropriate for the learning styles that our students are now coming to us with.

Thing # 23

Visit 23 Thingsters


I was a bit overwhelmed with Ning, there is so much..... I kept thinking, where do I start!? I think if I play around with it a bit more, I could find some really useful stuff. I was a bit disappointed in that the Science content that was available, seemed to center around middle school and high school, and had little to nothing for our elementary kiddos. I'd love to create a site that our students, from all three of our departmentalized classrooms, could discuss what was going on in class, in an safe, appropriate, social networking place.

thing # 22

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

I think it's important to know how social networking works, because whether we like it or not, the kids are out there using it. If we are familiar with how it should be, we can set the right example. I have had a MySpace account since I was in college, and was very hesitant to start it. Once I did, I became very, quickly, addicted. It was amazing that I could find old friends, people I worked with etc. However, I, also very quickly, noticed the "uh oh's" of MySpace. We can help protect our students and their privacy by "keeping a close eye" on what's going on, and by setting a good example of what appropriate "netiquette" is.

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

Honestly, when we started this class, and I saw that we were discussing social networking, I was surprised. Most of the educators etc. that I know are against social networking. And then there are many I know that use it as well, but they tend to be younger educators, like myself. I think that knowing that it is more widely accepted, helped me realize the importance and impact that we can make, by becoming a part of social networking, WITH our students.

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

I joined Facebook back in January, so I now have the two to compare. MySpace definitely has the "appeal" you can add your own "flavor" to your page etc. However, it tends to draw a younger audience. Since, joining Facebook, I now frequent it more often. I've also noticed, I have a completely different set of "friends" that are on each network. I don't think I would be able to choose one over the other, I wish everyone would just be on one. :) I do think however, Facebook is more educator friendly, and has less chance for the "inappropriate" things you may find on MySpace, if it's not monitored correctly.

4. Which site had the most useful features?

In addition to what I said in Number 3, I love the apps available on Facebook, I play Who Has the Biggest Brain all the time.... even on my iPhone, which I can update to my Facebook......... oh, where would we be sans technology?

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

I definitely do, my first year teaching, the last month of school, I had a few of my students request me on MySpace, I was VERY, VERY hesitant to add them. However, after much deliberation, I decided too..... I'm very careful about personal information that I put out there, so I knew it was safe. It turned out to be such a great idea, I had students messaging and commenting me there, asking questions about our homework etc. I was awed. Now, that the MySpace craze has calmed down, I don't have quite the issue with students "friending" me as often, however, with the originals getting older, and more "grown up" I've deleted many of them because it makes me ill at ease to "hear" some of their conversations. It's a double edged sword I think. I'm looking forward to playing with Ning, and possibly creating a school social network, that is user friendly.

Thing #7b

I have really enjoyed my Google Reader. I found an article called Who Are Your Sheep? that I found very interesting. I haven't joined Twitter..... yet, much to the shagrin of many of my friends, but plan to in the future. This article caught my eye. The article discussed an app that you could add to your account that creates a tag cloud of the "professions" of Tweople members that follow you. Take a look at the article, I was amazed by what I found, for him it makes sense, but it made me wonder what a cloud for ALL of Twitter would look like. Hmmmmmmmmm

I also enjoyed a Blue Skunk article about "Geezers online...." that I found very interesting. Looking at it from a Gen Y point of view, I'm amazed at how accurate it is, and how, questionably, sad it makes me. I've lost "touch" with my past, and all I have now is my computer; don't get me wrong, technology saves me in soooo many situations, but do I rely on it too heavily? It reminds me of a picture I've seen before....



Braingle also shared, that keeping your hands and feet warm is a good stress reliever... huh, who would have guessed!?

And finally a quote I liked from Robert Half "Free advice is worth the price."

Thing # 21

I played around a bit with Google alert, Google calendar and iGoogle. I like the Google alert, I'm interested to see what it sends me tomorrow about my terms that I added. I think this would be useful to have students use on specific topics that they are researching etc. Google calendar would be a good way to upload things that are going on in the school, and post it for parents, teachers, the community to see and share. I love the iGooogle, having everything that I "care" about right there at my fingertips, how much easier is that then flipping back and forth, even easier than the tabs :)

Thing # 20

I HEART GoogleDocs, I was introduced to it in my Intel class earlier this year, and have used it almost non-stop since. Every day, almost, I post a blog entry on my site, if we do an assignment or take notes in class, especially if it's teacher created, I upload it to GoogleDocs and then save it to the blog. I can see myself using it professionally, and at home as well. Professionally, it's good for collaborative projects, like the table I've created here.......... I can see it used for sharing notes, like I've done here............ We did that project earlier this year. My classes were broken up into groups and had to "teach" the class certain concepts. It was very interesting. I then typed up the notes that I took, even though they took their own while learning. I uploaded them into my Google Docs, and pasted the link into my Science blog. My parents are loving having access to what we do and write in class. I can even see it for sharing Teacher created quizzes etc. like I've done here..........

On a personal note, I can see my family using this to plan our yearly camping trip. There are so many of us that go, and we each are responsible for food for different days and the different meals, it would be a good way for us all to have a copy of who is cooking/bringing what. Hmmmmmmm....... I wonder if they'd go for it!?!?!?!

Thing # 19

Voicethreads seems to be a very useful topic. I love that you can look at a picture and add your thoughts to it. I can see it being useful for creating a study guide for answering questions. For instance, in number twelve, you are given a picture of buffalo grazing in a field....... what is this picture trying to get you to notice. You should be able to tell that they are herbivores, and they are eating grass....... something along those lines. I could also see it being useful with that one class that always seems to be a bit "rowdy" and can't focus, it would be a good way to get them to do the "fun stuff" without getting off-task. I see lots of possibilities for this. I really enjoyed it.

Here is a voicethread that I could see myself using next year.
http://voicethread.com/share/75228/

Thing # 18

You Tube is very wide-spread, I've had experience with it before, and the kids are very familiar with it, however there is some very "unfriendly" information out there in You Tube land, I was glad to see that there is a "safe" filter, I hadn't ever noticed that before.
Teacher Tube is AWESOME and has some very useful information, I'm in Science Countdown mode and found some awesome stuff that would be good for review. Here are a few examples. I could play on this website forever, but here are some goodies! :)

The Water Cycle Song


A Honda Commercial that would be good when discussing Simple/Compound Machines


A Lunar Eclipse that you can watch


Awesome Weathering and Erosion video that I will be using for sure.

Photosynthesis


HILARIOUS and informative Solids, Liquids and Gases video


I could go on forever, but I digress..........

Thing #17

When playing around with the Podcasts, I previewed several. The Jameston Elementary Project was very interesting. It helped me to see how simple it could be for even the youngest of our learners. I also read, and subscribed to, in iTunes and on GoogleReader, the Tech Teachers. It was interesting to listen to these two teachers talk about the technology that we use in our everyday lives, and how it can help us, and how we can use it, professionally, and personally. I also previewed, and suscribed to Why? The Science Show For Kids. This is a podcast where kids call in and ask questions, and they are answered. I love that it is a question/answer format, it seems that it may be more appealing to my students, however I can also see them, just wanting to watch a demonstration of an experiment on podcast. I can see that being useful, especially on the days we do the "really important" stuff in class, and students are absent. Podcasting can create a bridge between that missed knowledge, and allow them to still make those connections, without us having to "reteach" it. I love the idea. I haven't had any previous use or encounters with podcasting until now, but I look forward to learning more, experimenting, and hopefully implementing one day, soon preferably :)

Thing #16

I can see several uses for this website. I have already been introduced to something similar, and that is Shelfari. My Shelfari bookshelf is already shown on my blog. I found LibraryThing to be very much the same. Personally, I can see myself using both of the two sites, to select books that I'd like to read, either personally, or for my classroom with my students, or for professional growth, towards wanting to be a librarian. I really like looking at the website's Author cloud, it was interesting to see the authors that are added the most frequently etc. I found some authors that I expected to be more popular, and some that were more popular than I had expected.
My library thing.

Thing #15

Delicious......... hmm I was first introduced to this in another technology course that I was taking, and didn't quite utilize it the way that I could/should. Playing around with it for this "thing" was very enlightening. I could find myself thinking of so many professional and personal uses. I can see myself saving all of my links from home to pay bills with, so I could now do that anywhere. I also was able to find some very interesting and useful Science sites to add to my class blog. Tagging is something in it's own. I found myself pondering all sorts of words that I could use to describe one site, I can see how this could be misleading to the wrong information.
I can be found at: http://delicious.com/jandmechols I enjoyed exploring and playing with Delicious, and can really see myself utilizing it more in the future.

Thing 7a

I am loving my Google Reader. It's such a great way to keep up with what's going on. I recently was reading a Techlearning article on a free application for the Iphone and Ipod Touch. I had the joy, of purchasing an iphone last month, and was so excited to see this article. It discussed how Kindle created a free app, that allows you to download complete books and read them from your phone. It even has the ability to link to your on-line Kindle account, if you have one, and update both locations at the same time. I am not currently a Kindle user, but I plan on perusing this application........... probably tonight :) Another article from the same site, involved the Solar System and jigsaw puzzles that students can put together on line. From my Quote of the Day site, I thought I'd share what Vince Lombardi had to say "If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you'll be fired with enthusiasm." Harry S. Truman said "It's amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit."

Then, after writing my above comments, I found another, quite intereting article about Kindle, from BlueSkunk, it provided some food for thought.

Thing #14

WOW, focused play, I had a BLAST. Here's what I did.

I visited 30 boxes and saw how it could have personal applications, it's an on-line calendar. I could see how in my classroom I could use it to post on my blog, to let parents know of upcoming events etc. I also noticed how in a professional use as well, I could see our principal using it to see out events and important dates to our staff. It is a sharable application, that does not allow comments, and can not be rated, but you can ask others to share opinions.

Next, I visited Blabberize. Here's what I created. I was a bit disappointed in the final product. It doesn't look like the one in the demonstration. I would have liked the jaws to move on hinges like in the video. I could see it having personal applications, like in what I created, but not so much professionally. These can be shared, bookmarked, and commented on. They are rated by saying either I liked it, or I object to it. Even though this application utilized a microphone, I liked how it provided options, if you did not have a microphone. This was useful and helpful to me.

On Gliffy I created a thinking map showing a food chain. I can see this having practical and professional used. I can see myself creating several thinking maps for my classroom using this tool, and can even see my students utilizing this as well. It is collaborative and sharable, you can even create a blog on this site. There were times it was a bit hard to use, and restricting, but not impractical.

On Jigzone I created a puzzle using the picture of the food chain that I created in Gliffy. This was a lot of fun. I see myself creating puzzles similar to the one I've created above and using it with my students in the computer lab. I really found this tool useful.

On Letterpop I created a sample newsletter. You can see it by clicking the previous link. My photos come thanks to Creative Commons, Lanuiop and BestFor. Letterpop, I see having a professional use, I wouldn't use it personally, at least not at this point in my life. I do not like how it only has a limited amount of uses, until you have to start paying. However, this does have collaborative features, I see it similiar to GoogleDocs, but more possibilities. I utilize my GoogleDocs almost daily, though.

On mixbook I created a scrapbook of the Solar System, was just playing around a bit. I love to scrapbook, so this was a cool concept to me, but I feel like it was holding back my creativity. I probably wouldn't utilize it often, I enjoy creating my own. I can see this link having personal and professional uses. With parent permission, it would be cool to create a scrapbook with each experiment we do, or field trips, parties, etc. This site is sharable, allows comments and ratings, but is non-collaborative.

I played with the timeline link, and got quickly frustrated and decided not to play with it any longer, however I do see it's application in a Social Studies classroom. I also decided to skip over Picnik. I decided that seeing as how I already use photobucket, flickr, and rockyou, I really did not want to overdo it and have another photosharing site, I can see myself getting very quickly burnt out that way.

I visited pikistrips and created a comicstrip of the Solar System.

I really enjoyed this site, I can see it having practical use, with fun family pictures, I can see myself using it in the classroom, like above, I could see myself using it on projects, and teaching my students how to use it as well. The website allows sharing, rating, comments, but it is not collaborative.

I did not explore polldaddy or quizlet. I do plan on playing with polldaddy, but I can't think of a poll to create at the moment, however I have a coworker that has played with quizlet, and found some very useful information on there. She's even used it in the computer lab with our kiddos to study Science concepts. YEA for pithythoughts :). I explored toondoo a little bit, but did not create anything, it is similar to pikistrips, but is a bit more userfriendly. It seems something that I could see my students utilizing with more ease. It allows for comments and sharing, wiking and blogging, all in one location. A definite winner with the kiddos. I did not visit weebly, nor writeboard, because I've used that in an earlier thing.

My final "focused play" was with using wordle. I liked this to start with, because it did not require me to create an account of any kind!!! YEA, one less password and account to add to my ever-growing list :) Here's what I created about MOI!!!


I loved that this was creative, didn't require signing in, and it prompted me to make sure that nothing "personal" was included! WOW! I also noticed that it had a CC at the bottom, to show that it was crated under Creative Commons, see I'm learning things. This is completely sharable, but also non-collaborative. Looking through the gallery I saw that some students had created a wordle with their spelling list, HOW CREATIVE, I think I will be trying that soon. : - O

Thing 12

I chose to use Rock You because I have used it before and was familiar with it. I do intend on playing with the others as well.

This slideshow shows us our Galaxy from far away, brings us in for a closer look, and then explores the Moon and it's glory.

Blue marble thanks to Woodleywonderworks
Earth from the moon thanks to The Pug Father
Earth hour thanks to Aussigall
Earth rise thanks to Image Editor
Our Milky Way Galaxy thanks to Sir Mervs (pinoy biyahero)
Mercury_Venus_Earth_Mars thanks to Royalty-free image collection
Jupiter_Saturn_Uranus_Neptune thanks to Royalty-free image collection
Solar_system3 thanks to Royalty-free image collection
Earth rising thanks to forsetius
eclipse 2/20/2008, 8:55PM EST thanks to Paul Keleher
Full Moon! thanks to I'll Never Grow Up
Conjunction over Brisbane thanks to Richard.Fisher

Here's the link to my wiki, where you can also view my slideshow.

Thing #13

Custom image generators are a good way to personalize your 2.0 tools. Even though blogs are already personal, because you are creating the content, it's nice to be able to add your flavor to them as well. :) In my classroom I could see myself using the Bumper Sticker creator on Image Chef to create an inspirational message, or using the Newspaper Headline creator to write one thing stuck out to them today... etc. Personally, I see myself using them on my classroom blog, on this blog, on my wiki, on Facebook/MySpace etc. I love playing with these things. Here are a few personal ones that I created.

St. Patty's Day is a big deal in my husband's family, just thought I'd share the "green love" :)



I created the following images at Image Chef. The process was simple, I clicked on the type of picture that I wanted to create, I added the text, and then copied and pasted the code. Very, very easy, luckily I've done this before, and did the Thing #11 Stretch, so it was pretty easy.

Can you tell I need a break:



This is what I like to be called, I never really felt like a Jennifer, even though I use it professionally. :)



We lost my grandfather last month, and it was difficult coping, so this is just one more little remembrance of him.



A few years back, we made "U rocks" for our kiddos taking the TAKS test, to remind them that they ROCK. The kids loved it, here's your "U rock" :)



My husband and I......

Thing #11 Stretch

">Spell With Flickr


"> Jigsaw Picture

Thing #11

Flickr..............WOW.......... I have spent hours upon hours fishing through all of the available pictures. It's amazing to me the vast majority that are available to use through Creative Commons. I was disappointed at times, when I realized that a photo I had viewed previously was not available to use. I found myself reasoning, why it was okay to still use it. Don't worry, I kept myself from temptation and ended up with some awesome pictures. My topic and theme is Space......... and the things in it. I spent a huge focus on the Earth/Moon relationship as well. Blue Marble is thanks to WoodleyWonderWorks on Flickr.

Thing 10 - Stretch

I played around with OER (Open Educational Resources) a bit. I was amazed at the amount of content that people are so willing to share. It has such a wealth of information. I can't wait to sit with my lessons and "remix" them to contain the new information.

Thing 10

Creative Commons is such an amazing concept. I've noticed on the right hand side of some of my browser's there is a Creative Common's search box. I never knew what it was, nor explored it prior to know. Copyright is such an overshadowing part of our society, always in the back of our minds, especially as teachers. I know how hard it is to want to share something that has that "not for reproduction" or "not for distribution" etc., on the bottom right hand corner of it's pages. I haven't ever noticed the CC logo, but I will be looking for it now. I'm guessing the pages, that bring up the search box I mentioned earlier, are probably, Creative Commons sites. Hmmm................ I think Creative Commons provides us with the opportunity to do so much more for our students, and for them to share, reuse and remix what they and others have created. I use pictures often in my teaching, Science simply can not be taught with out visuals, and I often find myself wondering if the pictures I use are "okay" to use; now I have a place to go to find pictures and KNOW that they are "okay". In Lawrence Lessig's blog he mentioned that certain books that are copyrighted, can not be read aloud!!! OMG!!! My only response to this nonsense, is Why???? I share content quite frequently with my students and their parents on my classroom blog. When reading this "thing", I found myself questioning if the items I was putting on there were okay to share, "Where did I find that picture?" "Can I link to that website?" etc. The videos really helped me to understand the concept behind Creative Commons and how now we have "some rights reserved" versus "all rights reserved".

Thing 9- Stretch

Here's my voki!!!



It's also on my wiki!!

Thing 9

My wiki on our "sandbox" page is JandMEchols. Well, I first started playing with Wikispace for another class that I am taking. I very quickly became frustrated and overwhelmed, and mad at myself for struggling with creating a page. I consider myself to be somewhat savvy, but this had me down for the count. After reading your instructions and creating my page, it was like a breath of fresh air, so much more easy. After creating my wiki, I found myself wanting to go back and change my URL, because I thought it wasn't "creative" enough. Oh well, it is what it is, right!!?? I really enjoyed being able to create the page about me, and getting to see those that others created! I especially enjoyed creating my banner for the top of my page. I also loved learning how to create a Table of Contents on our page. It is so useful. This one "thing" created so many "ah ha" moments for me, it was like the proverbial light turned on. :)

Thing 8- Stretch

I chose to look up the term "softball" on Wikipedia. I originally had searched the term "blogging" which led me to "blog". Though I thought, this information would be interesting and useful to this course, I was upset that there was no discussion. So then I tried searching "softball" this response included information that seems very factual, and is written with very good grammar. However, when looking at the discussion tabs, I only found 2. These provided wikis that you can link to, as well as a post stating that this page was nominated for "good article", and one stating that it did not win. Once, again I felt let down. I think many viewers may be like me, without this class, I was "uninformed". I had no idea what a wiki was, nor that Wikipedia was interactive, especially that you could discuss topics on it. I had heard people talk about how you couldn't trust all of the information, that anyone could change it, but I did not know how. Unit Now!!!! When looking at the history, I learned that this page was created on April 17, 2007 and has not been updated since February 3, 2009.

Thing #8

Wiki teaching seems to be a very useful tool. I love the opportunity that they provide for collaboration in the classroom. While exploring, I visited Go West, a wiki in which the students were broken up into groups, I'm assuming, and the students each reported on different aspects of the Oregon Trail. Some of the information included on the pages I explored were; time lines, explorers, hardships, luxuries, and women. I found this a much more meaningful way to explore the Oregon Trail versus the game I remember playing in the computer lab as an Elementary School student. :) I also visited the Thousands Project. This site was a bit confusing to me, but had such an awesome concept. The teacher/class authoring the Thousands Project posts a new topic of discussion each month. Their goal is to receive 1,000 responses by the end of the month. This would be a good tool to foster communication amongst students and set a basis for acceptance and a gain in knowledge of other cultures. It seems to me however, that this wiki is not maintained quite how it should be, the content seems scattered and incomplete. I'd love to see what the teacher does with the responses, to give the last bit of "meaning" the "why" to why they are doing the projects. Lastly, I chose to visit 1001 Flat World Tales. This wiki provided the opportunity to "share" a writing project. It's an ongoing story/stories, that are edited constantly by different people. I love the premise behind this, however I found the wiki a bit confusing to navigate through. In the Intel class that I am currently taking I created a "sample" wiki that would be a student example of work that would be expected. The process was very eye-opening for me, and I think our students could really benefit from the shared experiences.

Thing #?? and Then Some

I received a feed today from TechLearning that discusses Wii's being used in music classes. I was a amazed, TALK ABOUT EDUCATION 2.0. It's a short, but interesting read, just thought I'd share.

Thing #7

I'm partially biased when it comes to commenting. I have to admit I was pulled into the "Myspace" craze and created one of my own a few years back. My experiences there, correlate with the Ten Commandments of Commenting so well!!

It makes sense that we would need Read what's going on before we write to it. Number three reminds us that we need to smile. I think that I would be the most guilty of overusing this one. :) I smile often! I find Commandment 4 very difficult for me, as much as I love to have comments, and feel sad if I don't, I do not do a very good idea of commenting to others. I need to work on this! I agree, I think it's awesome to be funny, when people take themselves too seriously, I find it hard to take them seriously!! Commandment Ten tells us that we should visit frequently, this is something that I can definitely do!! I'm an internet addict! :P

I also really enjoyed the Blue Skunk article called Your Comments? This made me ah-ha. Our comments aren't really our comments. These are for the benefit of our poster, our readers, and then finally ourselves. These articles helped me to realize how important it is to comment on others blogs etc., and to make sure that it's meaningful and contributes to the "conversation."

Happy commenting............ : 0 )

Thing #6

I heart Google Reader, I'm addicted!!! :) Like I said in my last post, I've been feeding my Reader since day 1. I've been Reading quite a bit about Children's books, and it's been very informative in working towards my Master's degree. I'm working towards a Library Information Sciences Degree. This feed keeps me up-to-date on what books are coming out, what reviews are saying, and what books are receiving awards etc. I've also been Reading from Braingle quite often. Braingle updates several times daily. Every day I get a Brain Teaser, a Trivia Question, a Vocabulary Word, A Creativity post and A Memory post. I've gotten the most benefit so far from the Creativity and Memory posts. I've found so many ideas that I have been able to take and find ways to adapt to my classroom!! I'm so excited, they work as good fillers and morning work/bell ringers! For example, on February 1st, and at several times prior to that, they gave the idea of working on familiar family words. It states that we should come up with 26 words (one for each letter of the alphabet) for each of a certain category. Ex. Animals (Ant, Bear, Cat, ....) Jobs (Artist, Baker, ...). I already make an "ABC" book at the end of the year, over what we've learned. But, it's was a refreshing reminder that I can do it quickly, with a small time frame, and a familiar topic as a motivator, or a transition etc. Another, of MANY, idea that I liked was called Superhero. In Superhero, it's all about creativity! You are supossed to pretend that you are in charge of comingup with a new superhero for a comic book. You give the student 5 minutes and come up with as many unique creative names as you can for this superhero. Then tell what their super-power is. The goal is to see who can come up with the most, truly unique. I have also been receiving daily posts about quotations. I love using quotations as inspirational techniques in my classroom, as anecdotes to awkward situations, and as transitions. I've found lots of quotes that I like, but not so many that I can use in my classroom. Rotten Tomatoes has been sending my daily updates, however I'm not too sure if I will be keeping this "feed". Even though, I enjoy my information on movies etc., I've been finding some of what they have to say somewhat annoying. Not the last of my feeds, but the last for today is a feed from Google News that I specified to my "needs". My father's cousin, Dana Rohrabacher, is a representative for the state of California. I subscribed to this feed so that I can stay up to date on what's going on in his life, and give me a better excuse to stay up-to-date on political news. I usually tend to fall behind on what's going on. ........... More to come later!

OMG i'm OCD

So, I just realized exactly how bad my OCD is!! I had to literally stop myself from going back and adding in a Thing #3 because it bothered me that it wasn't there. Scary..................

Thing #5

Wow, I am loving my Google Reader! As soon as this course started, I previewed what we were going to be learning about. Immediately upon opening my Gmail account I started subscribing to feeds for my Reader. I am in love!!! There is no possible way that I could have imagined enjoying this so much, at first I looked at it with the opinion, "oh great, more spam mail." But, on the contrary.............

For now I'll keep my commenting to the feeds that I have more recently added. A favorite that I subscribed to is the feed 2 cents. In that feed I received an article called 21st Century School Continued. This article was amazing in how David Warlick expresses his ideas on what our 21st Century Schools should be looking like. He refers to the need for a teacher to not be a 'teacher' but to become a 'learning consultant'. This is amazing in concept, scary, yet amazing. In the article Mr. Warlick goes on to quote John Beck in his comparison of a teacher to a 'level boss' that our new gamer generation may view us as. Beck 'suggested that a boss (or teacher) who acts like a boss may not appear so much to be a leader to a video game generation of workers (or learners). He or she may, instead, look more like a barrier. He suggested that the boss (or teacher) might get further by acting like a strategy guide, the book that video gamers buy that publishes strategies and cheats for navigating the game.' This thought really made me have an "aha" moment. WOW!! When I sit and listen to the conversations of my students, they focus on what game is hot at the time, what codes they can use to beat levels etc. What a concept, to approach our teaching in this same way.........

Thing # 4

After starting our blogs last week, I found myself wanting to do it more. I've had some experience on networking sites, but this is so different. It's more reflective then some I've done in the past. I found my self wanting to write so frequently, but stopped myself. Then on our "snow day" yesterday, I wanted to write this blog, but had left my notes on my keyboard at school, should have used my Writeboard. Oh, technology, what would we do without it?

Blog writing in general is so much more informal than any other form of writing we encounter, especially in our life-long learning process. In school, we are taught that the English language has rules, and that these rules must be followed. All sentences, must begin with a capital letter, they can not and should not have contractions, our punctuations should be used sparingly and get our point across. We should not be too concise or too wordy....... etc. Oh yeah, no abbreviations. Now, with blog writing, the process, or should I say ART, of writing has become much more personal. A person can express what they truly have to say. They can be as wordy as they want, or express themselves in one word. Finally! In blogs we can show our emotions with Emoticons :) :( :P or our anger with ALL CAPS. We have even in a new sense created a new language the IM/Text language. LOL! :) As we come into our own process we are expected to follow these same procedures in our own profession, and if that profession is teaching, we then pass on a life-time of rules to these new, young up-and-comers. We then scorn and reprimand them from using the language that they have grown up with. The blog writing/texting/im-ing era is upon us.

I love blog reading, and I especially loved what the article SSR 2.0 had to say. This article made me have an "ah-ha". We have our D.E.A.R. time daily, usually while I'm accelearating a "small" group of kids, but we strive for it. Reading is so integral, I try to instill this in my students, however for some of them, it's difficult, not quite stimulating enough. This article made me realize that it's not the books, or the lack of wanting to read, it's the act of reading. They have one source to keep their attention, that book. In SSR 2.0, the teacher allowed their class to do their reading on-line, in blogs. What a wonderful idea! : - O Where was I on this one? After reading this blog, my mind was racing. Blog reading allows the participant to consume their content, not only create it (SSR 2.0). Consuming content creates a symbiotic realtionship, the reader is learning and personalizing what they are reading, as the writer is sharing their experiences, what a novel idea! But in the same sense, as we are consuming this, we are practicing our much needed skills. We are scanning our text for important pieces of information, we are summarizing to ourselves what we've just read, we are making connections with things we have already read, or with things we could possible read through links. WOW!

The blog How to Prevent Another Leonardo da Vinci scared me to be quite honest. The notes I wrote for myself were... WOW! I couldn't have summed it up any better. To think, that in our trying to "help" our students, we are actually hindering them from becoming everything that they could. WOW! Davinci, one of the greats, and we aren't allowing our kids to get to their creativity, how can we tell our selves that we are truly educating our future? For example, in the blog by a young 5th grade student named Patrick, he states "the main thing I'm passionate about is passing fifth grade. The only reasons are because my brother said I'm going to faill all the grades. I plan to get smarter. So now I am planning to pass every grade..." As educators, our first response is how sad, oh look at his grammar, he's obviously not on grade level. But let's think, by allowing him to post this blog, he's enabling himself, creating self-confidence. His educators are allowing him to see that he can do anything, and creating that drive in him. That educator is also modeling the correct grammar responses through their responses. English is being taught on a computer not out of a book. When reading his responses Patrick can see what verb tense, or pronouns are appropriate where, how to correctly punctuate a sentence etc. What an amazing concept! By commenting on his blog, that instructor showed Patrick, that what he had to say mattered, and it allowed a "teachable moment" without "instruction". Amazing. This punctuates with me like the Why I Don't Assign Homework article did as well. His views are so controversial, but make so much sense. Yes, practice is good, but if it's not perfect practice, it's just a waste of time. We should be using our class time more effectively. For example, not requiring students to create a set number of powerpoint slides, and snowballing them into reading word for word off of them. How amazing of an idea, to sum up as much as possible, in as little words as possible, sort of like blog writing!?

BLOGS!? Hmm.......

Thing #2

After watching the provided You Tube videos on Web 2.0, I was filled with possibilities and doubts. I have had the privilege of getting to see the Shift Happens video once before, and it moved me to tears, both times. I can see myself utilizing Web 2.0 in the future, not because I want to, not because I have to, but because I need to, and my students need me to. Web 2.0 is full of all sorts of possibilities. Yes, there are so many chances for misuse by our students, but that just requires us, as professionals, to stay on top of what our goal for ourselves and our students is. Yet, on the same note, how can we, or our district, even define what "misuse" is, or what an unauthorized site its. Yes, we may not always necessarily agree with ALL of the content being offered on that site, or it's appropriateness, but what about the useful and helpful content, why should we then filter that? I think that in a perfect, economy where teachers were given and provided everything that we needed, Web 2.0 would be THE way of learning, however that simply is not the case. We as teachers need to find avenues and ways of utilizing what we already have, to provide those same opportunities to our students. The videos do an amazing job of showing us that books simply aren't the way of learning for most kids these days, they don't go to the library and find a book to check out and research a topic, they Google pictures, they look on Wikipedia for information. We NEED to be providing those same opportunities in our classrooms. Just today, my husband and I wanted to rent movies, but didn't want to drive to Blockbuster and not find something we wanted, so we "Googled" new releases and found movies we wanted, BEFORE we went. We had our "end in mind" (Habit #1), we researched it ourselves (Habit #2), we responded to the problem of wasted time, and solved it (Habit #3), we had confidence in ourselves (we were sitting at the dinner table, and I jumped up, "I'll Google New Releases", Michael looked at me crazy, and "You do that. (with doubt)" was my response. 10 minutes later we are checking out with our movies. Habit #4) I used my toolbox: internet, paper, car (Habit #5) we used our computer to our advantage (Habit #6) and now, I'm sharing with you (Habit #7). All in 15 minutes time. Isn't it amazing how technology is affecting our learning!?

So is the case with our students, they know what they want, and need to learn, and how they need to learn, without our pushing. They are inquisitive in their own nature. It is in our, and our student's benefit to 2.0 teach to our students. Our world is changing, they will be provided and will use these technologies when out in the real-world, why not start with them now? Let's make them knowledgeable, inquisitive, and technologically savvy now!! Isn't education our job? We should educate them in all aspects of leaning, not just BOOKS!

Thing #1

Reflections on Lifelong Learning

When watching a video on Lifelong Learning I could not help but notice the irony that at that moment, we were lifelong learning :). I have always focused on the belief that learning is important for everyone, everywhere, everyday. I push this issue quite frequently with my students. I even believe it so much, I have made it a "permanent" part of my life. Those that know me, know what I mean. :) Maybe through time, I can explain that more in-depth, as we grow and get to know each other.

I believe strongly in on-line courses, and feel that they better suit my learning needs. I love taking class on-line and am thoroughly enjoying this so far; however I can't break myself of the note-taking habit. I do it all the time, and to be completely honest, more than I should. Technology is such a necessity, but as someone whom technology has failed multiple times, often resort to keeping a "hard copy" of everything as well.

Of the 7 and 1/2 habits, I believe that I will find #3 the most challenging for me, again an irony, I know. Habit #3 of lifelong learners focuses on the importance of finding problems as challenges. Often times, it's so easy to find a misfortune a problem, get frustrated and shut down. I need to focus on the notion that I have been given a challenge and that I can only grow and get stronger. Something along the way to help me is Phil. 4:13. I know that I can handle all things in time, I can learn from all things and I need to get over the fact that it's hard at the moment, but know that it will all be worth it in the end.

I think that Habit #6 will be the easiest for me. Using technology to my advantage is something I do on a daily basis. Technology has become part of daily life for all of us. I talk about this a bit more in my next Post :)

I think habits #1 and #7 1/2 will be the most beneficial while working through this course. I believe it will serve me best to remember the whole time that I'm working, that I need to find ways to apply this to my classroom and the needs of my students. I also need to remind myself, which shouldn't be difficult, to play on the internet. To utilize the new "things" that I am learning.

Okay, I'm computered out for the moment, my eyes are dry and my wrists hurt, I'll be back in a few hours I'm sure! :P