The End of the Program

I went back to read my first post and it described exactly how I felt at the time.  A week later at the end of the course, I find myself so amazed at how much I have learned!  I plan to take what I learned and slowly implement things throughout the year.  As I do I will document it on this blog as a reference for myself and in the hopes of continuing in the spirit of learning the Web 2.0.  Thanks to Library2Play!

Thing #23 Final Summary

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I'm not just saying this, but really every 'thing' I learned was new, fun and exciting to think about how I could use in education.  For example, Flikr, Delicious, blogs, Google reader, 3rd party site...really everything!  



How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
This program has immersed me into the Web 2.0 and by doing this has changed the way I will teach.  A personal goal has been fulfillled by learning all that this course had to offer.  It pretty much brought me into a different era of using the internet.  Although, I still believe that there is such a thing as too much technology :) 

Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I didn't expect so many useful and fun tools out there.  This was very surprising to me.


What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
Great program!  Everything went smoothly. It was well planned. 


If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
Definitely!


How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities?
Amazingly easy.

Thing #22 Nings

Again..totally new to me.  So I checked out Teacher Lingo and will become a member...It's great to connect to other teachers who are passionate about their work with students and see what is working for them.  Of course there is also the social aspect of working in a demanding job.  I can read what is new, what I can work with and what I don't agree with.  I'm actually...maybe....thinking of making a teaching blog for myself to kind of track my own thoughts and reflections on my lessons.  It would be fun as I try out new technology, best practices, and lesson to have a time and place to be able to sort out what is working and what isn't...it would help in the reflection process of teaching.  It would also be a place to keep track of my ideas and not let them go away in idea heaven...instead put most into practice.  Sort of a personal C&I portal......Mmmmm....sounding more like something I would like to do.   

Thing #21 Photostory

Photostory: Wow...that was so easy!  This is so exciting to use for personal photos.  For school, it could be use for many different topics or as a review or culmination activity. 

These are nature pics I took this summer on a two week road trip...Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico, Crossed Arizona to Las Vegas, up to Reno Nevada...Lake Tahoe, Virginia City, Pyramid Lake then last but not least San Franscisco, California.  The landscapes were incredible!

Thing #20 Teacher Tube

Math-Fraction Burger

First of all...never been on Teacher Tube before :( Like I said I read research based books in order to improve my teaching skills...They are on my bedside. But using it wisely, I know I will be able to find new ideas on here. It also searches blogs, photos, channerls...and this I did not know.

For example the video link above: I could show it to my students as an example of a child explaining a math concept. My students could make their own video on several topics that they learn! Then I could use their videos to show my other students within the school....again authentic reasons to do something motivates children (really any of us).

Thing #19: Web 2.0 Awards List

Lulu Self-Publishing:  For authentic teaching purposes, writing in order to really publish a book would the ultimate!  The cost could be covered with grants, the school, fundraiser....that can figured out.  A ten page book would be $4.70.  I would have to actually make one before to learn how.  What is special about this?  My goal is to instill the love of reading...this is the basic building block of all learning.  Even if it's not to read exactly, but what you can get out of reading.  To become the author of a book is an empowering act...including students into the community of readers, thinkers, writers.  So this is a project I will seriously see how it could work out.

I am considering this course as a year long course...coming back and spending more time learning each item...so I will be checking out more of these sites.

Thing #18 Open Office

A disadvantage of using Open Office is that our information is confidential and having it out in cyberspace somewhere is not something that I feel comfortable with.  I would not like to use it for work with information on students.  I would use it for lesson plans and teaching ideas.  But then why switch from Microsoft Office to Open Office?  I don't think I will be doing that for professional reasons.  I'll stick to our district servers. 

For students and their families this is great because it's free! 

Thing #17 Rollyo

http://rollyo.com/zctfe/animals/

This will be very useful!!  This is exactly what I needed!  It is is both more useful and safer for the students.  I did a quick one on Animals, just because that is always an intersting topic for kids when learning to read. 

Another great hit!  I have one day left to finish the course so I must move on....

Thing #15

Reflection on Away on the Icebergs:  This opinion is what has initially avoided my use technology.  He mentions that there is no longer a need to keep books on hand because of the new digital age.  Change is not easy, but one of the things I like to do the most is walk into a public library and check out books.  Of course this is not something that will change in the next couple of decades, but I don't even want to think about the time in the future that books will be an oddity. 

His last point is true that we no longer go to a library as a source of information due to the amount of information on the Web 2.0.  So the libraries are going through a change to keep up with the changes in the world.  Growing up, the library was one of my favorite places to be.  It was the place to learn.  As I have gone through this course, I get the same type of feeling as I did in the library in the sense that I could look up any of my favorite topics and I can learn new things.  Using it as a teaching tool is also exciting.  Coming into the age of technology isn't as bad as I thought if I use it in this fashion. 

Thing #16 Wikis

I thought maybe I'd know something on here, but no!  So now I understand what a wiki is and I would like to start one for my students.  It would create a sort of review of skills learned.  At the same time, they would be learning how to use it and practice using tech.

Just posted two entries into the sandbox.

Thing #14: Technorati and Tags

Technorati's links are currently not available to see the popular blogs list.  But this was my favorite website that we had discovered earlier in the class.  Searching for blogs on google is not very helpful.  This site is a one stop shop for blogs.  Tags make finding photos and blogs easy to find. 

Thing #13

I had skipped Thing #12 and done this one already!  I was one of those people who had hundreds of bookmarks the old fahion way.  It was so great to learn about Delicious!  This is so much easier and helpful.  I will be able to actually find the bookmarks now.  For the staff, it is much easier to share with others the links that we find. 

I am learning so much!

Thing #12 Commenting

I thought the point of CoComment was interesting for those who comment on blogs.  I found it interesting that as a commenter, you become part of the the life of the blogger.  And if you to now be shy to contribute...if you have something to say, go ahead. 

I commented on five Library2play blogs...that was easy.

I decided to comment on the first blog I've read and been interested in.  It was really nice to be able to comment to a person that I find inspiration in.  The tips here were helpful in feeling confident to comment finally.  I chose another blog to comment on from her blogroll.  I decided to comment on that one because she is a photographer and I am interested in developing that skill.  Her latest blog was about her trip to San Franscisco and I was just there two weeks ago...it was nice to see familiar places. 

Ok, so I think that this Thing has taken the most thought and time so far.  But has been tremendously helpful to be able to join the online community.

Thing #11 Library Thing

My passion for teaching literacy stems from my own passion for literature and research.  I own over 200 books and always wished that I had an inventory of them.  This is my chance...I could do a few a week.  Even if it's slow, but I would like to be able to find the book I'm looking for easier.  It could also be a good time to say good-by to some books in order to make room for new ones...that's easier said than done :)  Being an avid reader, I'm always looking for the next great book and this is a good site for that.

Thing #10

http://www.dumpr.net/

This is a really cool site too for images...This is a landscape picture I took in New Mexico!  There are many more toys to play with on this site also.  It's pretty unbelievable how many fun ways an image can be manipulated using these sites.  I'm looking forward to using them more with my own pics and showing them to my friends!  Students will have fun too..any image we take that is connected to the curriculum can be modified into something that will be remembered rather vividly.     

Dumpr - Photo Fun

Thing # 10 Have fun

 
http://www.imagechef.com/  This website creates word mosaics.  You type in the words and choose the shape.  There are many other ways you can adjust the image in interesting ways....I'll have to come back play with some more. 

Thing #9 Search for blogs

Wow!!  This is great!  I had searched before for some good education blogs, but found zero.  With search tools, I have found some and am still looking for more like minded people.  This first time I heard about and looked at a blog was from the movie Julie & Julia.  I loved that movie :)  Well, then I was recommended three blogs and those are the only ones I read...now I can find a few more on specific topics with this new info. 

Edublogs Winners and Technorati was the easiest since they are all listed and shows nice thumbnail views. 
Syndic8 I didn't even take a second look at because it's too wordy and not appealing to the eye.  Topix.net wasn't easy to use either. 

Four days left to complete the course.....

Thing # 8: RSS feeds

This is totally new to me..a reader.  These are the questions asked of me after discovering and adding my RSS.

What do you like about RSS and readers?
I like that I my favorite blogs are now on one page!  This will be much easier.


How do you think you might be able to use this technology in your school or personal life?  I put my four of my favorite personal blogs on the reader, but one is a professional one about teaching.  I need to find more professional ones.  Not sure that the kids can use this at the elementary level, depending on their reading levels and if there are any kid news or blogs. 

How can libraries/teachers/administrators use readers or take advantage of this new technology?
As a staff member we can share information easily with each other.

Thing #7 Continued

Google Notebook can work for students writing a report.  They can easily keep links and info. together.  Picassa Web albums could be an alternative to Flikr and used in the same way. I created an alert for myself to keep me updated on new information on Autism. 

Thing #7 Discover Google

So now I am confused...First of all I didn't know Google did so many things.  My confusion is because my springbranch email has turned into a gmail account!?!  And now with the new google educator login on the CIS website...it's like a website within a website??

I'll take a break now and Thing #7 will be continued....

Thing #6

Wow! I can't believe I had done all this!! 
So this is a trading card..I do remember our librarian telling me about it.  How can I use it?  The possibilites are endless...measurement comes to mind first.  The student could take a pic of something that weighs about one pound, then label it, write a short description and now he has a study guide. For reading we could make a trading card for books read throughout the year including a short summary. 

Thing #5 Flikr

I uploaded these photos from Flikr!  Flikr will be very useful tool for vocabulary, background knowledge, reading comprehension and much more.  We can learn about experiences of others through their pictures.  I chose these pics of a fair because I had a student last year ask me as we read a novel. 

Thing #3

Ok...so far I have started a blog and named it 23 Things!  I created an Avatar on Yahoo and imported it into my blog.  Wrote about 4 posts.  So far so good :)  Can't wait to see what is next!

7 1/2 Habits

As part of this course I have to choose which habit is the easiest and which will be the hardest for me.

Accepting Responsibility for my Own Learning will be the easiest...I'm a teacher, I believe in education, and am a natural life long learner.

Use Technology to my Advantage!!  This would be the most difficult, but then this is also my challenge.  We seek pleasure and avoid pain, so naturally I seek out to learn only what is interesting to me.  I avoided learning more about technology partly because I wasn't interested and partly because it seemed difficult.

Uneasy Feeling....

I remember the first good computers I had access to in my 6th grade English class...that was effortless and fun. 4 macs...We used them for the writing process, editing, revising.  To this day I basically use the computer for the same purposes...reports, papers, powerpoints, email, and surf the net...not much.  I am somewhere in the middle of the row technology wise.  Being as young as I am, it may be surprising how little I am comfortable with technology...and how little I know.  So now I guess I am admitting this on an open forum. 

When our school librarian showed off all the new cool equipment last year, my first thought was Yey!  The possibilites seemed endless....But then a frown because the thought of figuring out how to use them gave me a headache.  Now I've made the decision to move out of my comfort zone...for myself and my students.   

My 6th grade English teacher taught me how to use a computer at a time when it was easy for me to learn.  Now I can teach my students at a time when it is effortless and fun for them.  I just have to get through these 23 things....