Thing #13

Both Zoho writer and Google docs are much like microsoft word. The big difference is you can save your work with these two web based programs and retrieve it from any computer with out having a thumb drive. With Microsoft you either have to save your work to a removable device or email it to yourself to be able to retrieve it from a computer besides the one it was created on. You have the capabilities to share your work and authorize others to make adjustments with Google docs. I was not very successful in sharing my zoho or Google docs document.

Thing #15

It would be neat to use a wiki in the classroom and have the kids work on it throughout the year editing their existing information and adding new material. This would be a good way for them to be able to look back to the beginning of the year and compare where they were to where they are at the end. I was so intimidated about APSU 23 Things wiki. I was making it so much harder then it was. It pays to read instructions. Wow when I went back to or discovery exercise and read it again it took me no time.

Thing #14

The way I think of mind mapping is grouping ideas together, you start with a broad topic and place subcategories around. A flowchart is more of a order, moving from highest to lowest most important to least important. For my frame of thinking like the mind mapping worksbest for me. I would use Bubbl-us, if I want to set up an account I can or I can use it without setting up an account. With needing to wait for an invite with flowchart.com I chose Gliffy for the flowchart. Gliffy was not as easy to use as Bubbl-us.

Is it the end or only the beginning

I have found many tools that I intend to continue to use, but I am so loving the Animoto. Come to think of it as much as I did not want to do this blog I have enjoyed it too. I would like to keep the blog going, but that will be dependent upon time. Livebinders is another good one. It is a good place to organize worksheets, lesson plans for future use. I have full intentions to keep this and use as I finish school and use in the classroom. It was fun to play with YouTube and the mashups. There were so many other fun adventures. I have to admit with the overwhelming work load at times I did not see the purpose in some of the task, but I am glad I pushed my way through them. This has given me so much confidence in technology.

Thing #22

Worksheets
I used my binders for worksheets and lesson plans. This would be a good place to store worksheets for busy work and extra help for students. I will use this system to store lesson plans and worksheets for my class. The file system is a good place to have lesson plans, you can store many plans and build upon them. Students could use livebinders to file resources and references for projects. You could also have them store documents from the web that could be help when they are at home doing their homework. This is a cool system and I like that I can keep them private or share with whom I chose.

Thing #19

Almost 2 years I have been on facebook. I know, I know it took me a long time to get hip with facebook. I enjoy facebook and the fact that I have connected with many people I have not spoke to in years. Other sites that I have recently joined are diigo, twitter,pinterest, and teacher pop, back in the day I had a myspace. There could possibly be more, I just can not recall any other ones at this time. Pinterest is an awesome place to look if you just do not know what to cook tonight for dinner.Other then setting the twitter account up I have not been back on twitter, I prefer my facebook. I am sure I will be frequenting teacher pop.I like the teacher/education social sites, and I am sure as I go further in my education and get closer to the class room I will become a member of many of these sites.

Thing #23

To my understanding our project 23 things was adapted from the website 43 things and 43 things you (or I) might want to do this year.

Already the first place I go when I need images for a project I go to flickr under the creative commons list. I for see me using this for all images. It is too risky to use material that is copyright. I am one who does not like to take risk when it comes to legal issues. Creative commons is an amazing site for ideas. I will use creative commons for ideas with lesson plans and will direct my students to creative commons in their work.

Just a note about Thing #21

Today I went  by to see Dr. Wall and at the time she was not in, but luckily I seen a fellow classmate that is a huge help. Thank you Melissa! 
As you see my video is in the post, yeah! This was super fun and made me smile. I can not say enough good things about Animoto.

Thing #21

Well I have not completed this assignment due to the fact I can not share my video from Animoto I had to embed it instead. Tomorrow I plan on going to Dr. Wall's office and find out what I am doing wrong. Also, I could not get to my flicker account, so I used pictures from my facebook. I am so glad we had to do this assignment, I love this tool. I posted my video to mine and my husbands facebook. I will definitely being using this tool again. Once you upgrade and have the capabilities to do longer videos you can begging taking pictures throughout the school year and at the end of every year put a video together to share with the parents. I thought doing the video would be difficult, but it was simple. The only problem I ran into was with the sharing through blogger, but I will get that figured out tomorrow.
Make your own photo slideshow at Animoto.

Thing #17

As a personal preference I like to bookmark my link by using my favorites. However, today I was at the store and I wanted to get the ingredients for a candy recipe that I bookmarked in my favorites on my computer at home and had no way to get the recipe and it will have to wait for another day. I do see how bookmarking websites can be handy and useful, but with all the options you feel overwhelmed. Also I do not want to bombarded with other peoples interest. Bookmarks can be helpful in the classroom. Useful websites can be bookmarked under a user name for the classroom and when they are doing classwork or homework and run into problem they can look up bookmarks to that subject and try to figure it out on their own. As for educational uses social bookmarking sites have their benefits, but on personal use I think it is just another bookmarking tool.

Thing #16

I liked PageFlakes, but decided to stay with iGoogle. The only reason I chose iGoogle is because I am familiar with it and already set up a page from an earlier discovery exercise. I plan on keeping iGoogle as my homepage. Before I moved over to Google I was a Yahoo girl, but I was getting tired of the pointless news feeds and this class introduced me to iGoogle. I have my page set up to get the information and stories that I want.

30 Boxes can be added to Google and facebook, which could be helpful for me. I have a calander that I carry everywhere with me to try to stay organized, but to be honest I never open it. With being able to share 30 boxes to Google and facebook I would see my calander everytime I logged on to my computer. 30 Boxes also has a feature to have buddies who you can share your calander with. This could be helpful for the classroom setting. Rather then having to keep up with events on a weekly basis to remind parents of you could publish the calander for them to follow monthly or quarterly.

For the to do list I liked Ta da list. You can email your list or add it to a RSS feed. It can be a helpful tool, but with the calander I do not see why you would want the to do list. Google homepage has a to do list that you can add to your homepage.

30 Boxes could be helpful in the school setting, because you can set up a buddy list of who can see the calander and you can share with other teachers, parents, and administration of the shcool. It is highly effective to have a good calander to help you stay organized.

Thing # 20

YouTube is a very resourceful tool. Mainly when I have went to the site it was to find lyrics or see the video to a song. However, YouTube is so much more. Recently we have viewed videos in YouTube for the backsplash we did in our kitchen and on how to fix our door knob on our door. A word of caution though, as helpful that it may be, it has its down sides. Unfortunately there are videos on there that I do not find appropriate for me to be watching let alone children. Another down side is you can get sucked in and watch clip after clip for hours. I added this video to my blog to serve as a reminder of the impact a teacher can make on a students life. I look forward to touching a childs life, I pray that it is always for the best. As educators we need to remember that our actions establish the positive learning enviroment of the classroom.

Thing #18

I find that it is important for educators to know how social networking works so they can connect with fellow educators, stay in touch with peers that they completed school with for assistance in the classroom. Having sites such as twitter and facebook that allows us the opportunity to communicate with our entire friend list rather then sending an email after we go through our contacts or search for each persons email makes things much quicker and efficient. Not only do you have your friends for a resource, but your friends friends comments on your friends walls are visible to you, by this you even get more insights and views. As I have found in my personal life social network sites also keep you up todate with the slang language of the youth. Being an educator it is beneficial to know what the students are saying and talking about.
Of the two sites twitter and facebook, I like facebook the most. I find facebook to feel more personable. I do not like the limited characters for twitter. I am not fond of the quick what I would consider blurts of what is on your mind. I enjoy sharing pictures on facebook, this would be one of my favorite features. I also like that if I want I can have a private chat with a friend or send a quick private message.
I could see using facebook to set up a time I would be available to answer questions about homework or other questions students might have. The students could post statuses with questions or concerns they might have about what we covered, homework, or what we will be going over the following day. This gives the opportunity for the whole class to answer fellow classmates questions and gain a better understanding through others post.

Thing #6

Since I know and use a lot of the tools on the webware top 100 list I am guessing I am more technologically savvy then I thought. When I started the project I never realized all the web 2.0 tools I use. Never gave the tools I use a second thought. We have become custom to the fact that we have the internet with all its tools of convenience and do not think twice about how far we have come.

My favorite on the list is Pandora. A girlfriend of mine turned me onto Pandora about two months ago on my iphone. It is an amazing music tool. I do not know if I could ever get through my workouts without it. One of my favorite things about the website is your choice of music. The channel I listen to the most is Vanilla Ice Radio, oh the memories. The only complaint I have with Pandora is the ads, but you take the good with the bad. The good by far out ways the bad. Another on the webware top 100 list that I have used is Skype. Anyone with a loved one in the military is most likely very familiar with this tool. You have no idea how Skype has brought me to tears, because I was able to finally see an image of my husband in real time that I had not seen in months. Many people use Skype for video conferencing. I have even seen Skype used on Good Morning America. The only down falls I have every encountered with Skype is slow feed and disconnects. I always assumed that the slow feed and disconnects was primarily due to where he is at and the internet he is using.

I think it would be neat to use Skype in the classroom. When I was in third or fourth grade we created pen pals across the world. Mine was in England. I thought it was so cool to correspond with someone in England. Today in our classrooms we could do a type of pen pal via Skype. Due to the time changes I am not sure how well across the world would work, but it could definitely be done across our country.

Thing #5

From my understanding School 2.0 means students learning online. Many of my friends home school and have been doing so for at least three years now. When I asked one of them about it her comment was “ She gets on the computer and does her lessons” I was not sure what she meant, but after reading the up about Web 2.0 I do. One of the radio stations here in town has ran an ad for schooling online. In the ad it says something about people learn in different ways. I completely agree people learn in different ways, but I do not think educating students primarily through the computer is the answer. I am all for technology in the classroom. Teachers and students should be using the latest technology in the classroom. However, in my opinion there should be a classroom where a teacher is there teaching. Most likely computers/internet are going to play a prevalent role in education, students possibly will be required to have a computer or some type of hand held device to bring to class. It will definitely be interesting to see where this goes in the coming years.

Thing #12

These tools were fun to play with. I wish I had more time to play with and personalize iGoogle. Maybe it will be something I can revisit this weekend. I like the Google Calendar, I need all the organization I can get. It never fails when I need to look at my calendar I do not have it with me. My iphone has a calendar on it, but it is so small and more of a hassle to enter the information. Maybe just maybe I can keep up with what I need to do and where I need to be. Another thing about Google Calendar is my husband and I can share the calendar. He can add stuff and check to see what we have going on. There will be no more excuses of you did not tell me, or you have to give me more notice than the day of. Oh Google Calendar please organize this family.

Google Translate is fun to play with too. I was listening to how words and phrases are said in a number of different languages. When I had to take my second year of Spanish I used Google Translate a lot. This tool will be very efficient in the classroom with so many ELL students in the schools. Google Translate could become a computer station for ELL’s to work on their English. It is amazing how all the tools of the web can be used in the classroom.

https://www.google.com/calendar/ical/seebert04%40gmail.com/private-fa6641528cac6c4c526ee7c873401e1c/basic.ics

Thing #11

The search tool that I liked the best was Edublogs’ award winners. The reasons I prefer this website first Edublogs is designed for the educator, second they allow the users to nominate their favorite blogs twitters, or other resource websites to later vote on. By doing this they simplify having to look through blogs, twitter to determine how valuable the material is. For the most part all the search tools were easy to use. My only complaint was that some were appeared to be bogged down with ads. Edublogs and Topix both were filled with useful content. Edublogs for the professional information and Topix for personal use. Topix determines your location and displays feeds for your area. I see now how searching for RSS feeds can become addictive, there is so much information out there I more then likely would have never found on my own. I added what seems like a ton of sites to my news feed. My husband has turned me into a news junky, I added Fox News and CNN news feed. I also added Cool Cat Teacher, Free Technology For Teachers, and a bunch more but right off the top of my head these I listed are the ones I like the most. 

Thing #10

I enjoy the fact that every blog and twitter that I subscribe to are located there in one place. With having all my subscriptions in one place makes it easy to follow daily, hourly, or up to the minute. With the Google Reader I do not have to go into each individual blog or twitter. For my personal use RSS would be a time management tool. The RSS would bring the new post to me and I do not have to go and check each blog or twitter account to see if anything new has been posted. One way teachers could use the tool is, in appropriate grades they can keep up on breaking news and have class discussions. Teachers could also use the search tool on Google reader to locate specific concerns they might be having. The search tool then will bring those post to them. An example would be I am preparing a lesson on relating multiplication to division and I wanted to find new data research based activities, I could type my topic in the search box and it would bring me all the information that is available. The main factor of RSS is the time it saves you. It is a face book updater for all your sites you subscribe to.

Thing #9

http://www.happyfacegenerator.com/
http://www.imagechef.com/

I browsed around at the image generators that were listed on the blog for 23 things. My favorite one was the Image Chef word mosaic. Fall is my favorite time of year, so I created a leaf and a pumpkin with words of the season. The other site I decided to use was Happy Face Generator. I used Happy Face Generator to create a logo to use as a title. Both of the sites were user friendly. The sites walk you right through the process.

You could use the Image Chef site to create a word search to see who could find the most different words. Another use would be, you could assign the image chef word mosaic as homework where the student creates their own mosaic from spelling words. You could use Happy Face Generator to create a logo for your newsletter or other documents you might want to put a title or logo on.

Thing #8

There would be numerous mashups you could use for the classroom and many benefits from each one. Big Huge Labs offers a jigsaw mashup that would be a good tool to use in the classroom. You could create your own jigsaw puzzles with images of your choice. You could also use the Mappr mashup for your classroom. These are just two of the ones I like best for the classroom. I also liked the mosaic maker from Big Huge Labs also. The mosaic maker could be used in the classroom or for personal use to make a collage of photos of an event or person.

In doing the 23 things exercise I am becoming more comfortable about the public sharing. I have not shared any photos of my kids publicly and do not think I would feel comfortable with doing so until they are older. For the most part with it just being images of things that I have shared I am okay with it.

My creation

My creation, a photo by tammy1010 on Flickr.

Thing #8

Thing #7

Oh how I wish I could say posting the photo to my blog was effortless. I have had a flickr account for sometime now. My brother-in-law shares pictures he has taken of my two boys through Flickr. It was a super beneficial tool while my husband was deployed. This was the first time I have uploaded any photos myself. It was very simple and quite easy to get the hang of uploading. The problem came in when I was trying to post it to my blog. I ended up calling in help and they could not get the picture posted either. For some reason my photos URL do not have the jpeg identifier and the two of us could not figure out how to correct it. For two nights I tried to share through my blog and for some reason that would not work either. But, the minute I tried showing her how it would not even share it with my blog, it worked just fine.

This is something I will be using personally and in the classroom. Being that my husband is in the military and we have lived a few different places I can share family photos with our now distant friends. I can create albums for when my husband deploys again, and with it being digital that is one less thing he has to pack or worry about losing. Flickr can be beneficial in the classroom. You can use it to share class happenings and set it to private where only the parents have access. Also with Flickr you have access to numerous public images that you could use in your classroom in various ways.

Flickr is the only photo sharing site I have used. I am still skeptical about public sites, but the fact Flickr has a private puts me at ease.

There is light!

100_0970, a photo by tammy1010 on Flickr.

Thing #1

I am a firm believer in lifelong learning. One should strive to always learn, you will never be too old or too educated that you can not learn. Although it has kept me up way too late at night, I love that I am relearning mathematical methods for solving math problems. It could be something as simple as helping my son with his homework or learning how to do home improvement projects, it does not bother me that I will toss and turn till I get it figured out and have solved the dilemma before me. An idle mind is a waste. My easiest habit of the 7 1/2 would be #2 accept responsibility for your own learning. It is easy to make excuses and stare at a TV, but the reward of discovering new things by far out ways the time you “veged“ out. I do not like the “I can't” type of attitude. I understand that everyone has his or her own obstacles, but there is no reason to ever discount your self by saying “I can’t”. Say you can and do the best that you can. Habit 6 will be my hardest, I have no problem using a computer to do research or write a paper, but other then that it is not the first tool I consider. I tend to shy away for technology, but I am fully aware as a lifelong learner I need to become comfortable with technology. I am excited to be a lifelong learner and hope to be an example for the students I will teach and that they too will gain the desire to be a lifelong learner from me.

I would like to be comfortable with using web 2.0 tools. At this point in time I prefer to avoid working with the web 2.0 tools. For me just to learn the basics of what web 2.0 has to offer and be familiar with the tools and have a comfort level where it does not cause me to procrastinate. I would like to be efficient enough to preform beneficial task successfully. If I have to pick one tool it would be bloging. I have been enjoying the blogging and following others blog.

It was not hard to set up the blog. Learning to navigate around blogspot is rather easy. I did have some trouble with the layout, but I was able to complete a blog that I feel is personalized and is pleasing to me.

Thing #4

You can think of a blog as a phone call. You would not just call someone up and expect to only sit and listen and never add to the conversation. Blogs are intended to be interactive exchanges. If people did not comment on blogs there would never be an interactive exchange. The difference between a phone call is, they are limited to our inner circles of people we know. Whereas, blogs connect you to people you have never met, they could be across the country or across the world. By commenting you are giving others another point of view. Blogs allow us the opportunity to interact with people of diverse backgrounds through the commenting interaction of blogging.

I found it interesting when I read it is important to set up the complete profile. This is not something I like to do, but by not doing so people would not know anything about me. It is important to know something about a person you are communicating with to establish some type of relationship. I also believe it is important to follow blogging etiquette with your comments. Before you post you should stop and reevaluate what you are adding. Are you making concise points or are you just rambling to be heard. You also want the post you are commenting on to be something you truly have an opinion about. You want to be able to add to the conversation by showing it in a different light. Comments are a direct reflection of you and who you are to other bloggers. As I have read in others blogs do not comment just to be posting onto others blogs.

The blogs I have chosen to follow are Amy Monson - 23 Things, Andrea's 23 Things, Brown 3040, Education Class, and Melissa O's 23 Things for the education blogs; and Army Blogger Wife, and Erika and Brittany Status for the two of interest. The reason I chose the education blogs that I did was; one of them is my neighbor in class and am interested in reading and learning more about her, the other ones from what I could tell from their blogs they are much like me, a non-traditional student with children. As far as my two blogs of interest I chose Army Blogger Wife due to the fact I am a army wife and they too are at twenty years, but have chosen to retire, so I am interested to read of their transitions that they are embarking on. The Erika and Brittany Status is a blog of health updates on two young girls in Alaska who were involved in an accident. My husband in I lived in Fairbanks from 2001 to 2004 and we went to church with them and their families. I heard of the accident when it happened and they have been in my prayers and heart everyday.

I made comments on Army Blogger Wife, Amy Monson - 23 Things, Andrea's 23 Things, Brown 3040, Education Class. The reason I posted on these was because I felt that I could relate to what they had posted. Army Blogger Wife has to approve my comment first, but I commented how I have enjoyed reading about their transition in to civilian life from the military. This past August Tim (my husband) could have retired, and in some ways I wish he would have. On Amy Monson I posted about School 2.0 and that it has endless possibilities. Andrea's (well she is my niece) and I never had an idea that she was a blogger all along, plus I really like the design of her blog. Education Class I posted about the google tools and how 23 things has made me a fan of google.

Thing #3

Blogs can be used during the teacher education program for peer groups to correspond with one another. We can use our blogs to share our experience and seek guidance when we need a little help. In the classroom a blog could be used to communicate with the parents about homework or up coming events. You can also link helpful study sites to your blog for the parents to use when working with the student at home. In either setting, classroom or during the education program you can share your thoughts and gain incite from viewing others blogs.

Thing #2

I prefer not to use my real first or last name for public viewing on the internet, so I took a combination of my last and first name. I like the way it sounds with the letter t at the end, it gives a strong pronounced sound. Creating the blog was not hard. The only problem I had is my own comfort level. I would consider myself a private person, and I am reluctant to doing a blog. It does not bother me for my thoughts or opinions to be viewed by friends or people I know, but I have always been reluctant to the idea of it being available so publicly. With the internet I think what you post is out there for everyone and anyone to see, and it will always be there.
I created my avatar to favor my idea of me. I consider myself conservative and a modest dresser. That could have something to do with my age, but I can recall back to when I was much younger and I was a modest dresser then too. However, with the avatar I do not feel the hair or eyes favor mine as much as I would have liked. That would be one complaint I would have, is that there was not many options to truly make it as personal as I would have liked.