Is it the End or only the Beginning?

Throughout this process by favorite learning activities tackled whiling writing this blog were the use of Animoto and the LiveBinders. I enjoyed these activities because Animoto was very easy and fun, and LiveBinders are a great resource for teachers and students. The use of this blog has helped me learn more ways to implement technology into my future classroom and helped me learn to continue to look for new technologies to continue lifelong learning. I had no idea the vast amount of Web 2.0 tools available for teachers to use to educate themselves and stay organized as well as educate future and present students. I believe requiring blog posts in smaller groups and closer intervals would help with getting meaningful blog posts. The technologies I have learned about and worked with through this process have been bookmarked and will be implemented in my future classroom. I hope to continue searching often for new and updated Web 2.0 tools to discover and explore as time passes. I really enjoyed this experience and journey and am looking forward to continue my growth through technology!

Thing 23

The 23 Things Homepage Blog created by Dr. Wall includes an attribution at the bottom of the page for the 23rd thing that states that the blog is licensed by Creative Commons and some rights are reserved. I believe the use of Creative Commons can be used in many different facets. Teachers can use creative commons and licensing filters to find material that can be shared and used in the classroom. Using these filters and getting a license for work that the teacher wants to use in the classroom makes the use of such material legal and is great for helping teach students on copyrights and the proper use of copyrighted material. This lesson can help implement technology bu requiring discovery activities asking the students to explore the Creative Commons websites and sites that use licensing filters to find material that is appropriate to share and use, modify and even use in commercial ways.

Thing 22

For this post I did a discovery exercise where I created three live-binders. I decided to use these binders to store educational resources for three areas of education. My binder titles are Instructional Strategies Websites, ELL Resources, and Special Education Resources.

Instructional Strategies Websites

The binder I have embedded in this post is the one I created over Instructional Strategies. I included three websites in the binder. Live binders can be implemented in the classroom for assignments that ask students to document resources, like annotated resource folders, or just resource folders in general. Live binders can be kept for ever because they are stored online and use absolutely NO paper which is wonderful and even better for the teacher. They can be shared and viewed online allowing the teacher to grade them and give the student a piece of paper with the grade instead of handing back a large amount of paper and resources.

Thing 21

My Animoto Video

The link above is for a 30 second video I created using Animoto. The pictures and song I chose for the video are of my fiance' and myself and a love type song. This video was very easy to create and the process was step by step and very simple to understand. Animoto requires an upgrade and payment to create videos longer than 30 seconds but I believe this could be a useful tool to implement in the classroom. Students could create a video that documents a group project following the process of the project and the end results. I really enjoyed this discovery exercise, it has been one of my favorites so far. Students could also use this tool to create a short video to introduce themselves to the class and show their likes and their personalities. Websites that provide services like this are absolutely wonderful.

Thing 20

I absolutely love the use of YouTube and the implications it can have in the classroom. Age, content, and school appropriate videos can be used in the classroom to enhance the lessons being taught. The video I chose to include in this post is School House Rock's "Shot Heard Round the World" explaining how the Revolutionary War Started. I chose this video because I hope to one day be an 8th Grade United States History Teacher. This video can be applied in that classroom setting to help entertain the students into being interested in the topics covered. Educational videos are there to help instruct students without completely boring them to tears and allows for teachers to keep attention and make difficult lessons more fun. YouTube has a wealth of videos available to be shown in the classroom and they should be taken advantage of to help improve a lesson's quality. The videos can also be used as review tools for the students to watch at home.

Thing 19

Visit TeacherPop

The above badge is a link to a social networking site for Teachers and Teacher Canidates at Austin Peay State University. This site is similar to other social networking sites but is based for networking between teachers. I, myself, am a member of sites like Facebook and Twitter as well as TeacherPop. These are the only social networking sites I am a member of but I have come across sites I am interested in like Fuzzster, a site for pet lovers, and Craftster because I love crafting. There are sites for all interests and the use of these sites in a educational way can be a great lesson for integrating technology in the classroom and networking with like-minded people. I believe applying these networking sites can be useful especially applying the sites that fit interests and shying away from the more people oriented social networking sites. Getting students interested in networking with other people having the same interests could open up a number of lessons to use in the classroom.

Thing 18

For this post I explored social networking sites I am involved with and the usefulness they can serve to teachers. https://twitter.com/#!/rgrubb1013 This is a link to my twitter account on which I follow several educational profiles that can give links to resources for those involved in all levels of education. I am not going to include a link to my facebook, on which I am friends with teachers, because of privacy issues. I believe it is important for educators to know how to use these sites not only to connect to fellow teachers for advice and help with issues but also to understand the features offered and how their students use the sites to help with bullying prevention. It is not appropriate for teachers to be friends with their students, of course, but by knowing how the sites are used teachers can be helpful when bullying has happened on these sites by helping the proper parties understand the sites. When beginning this exercise I had no idea the amount of educational resources offered by these sites. The first people I followed when creating my twitter account were profiles like educational bloggers, professionals, and national educational "tweeters".  I really liked using twitter for educational purposes better because of the character limit on a tweet to help target the main point and by allowing "tweeters" to attach a link for more useful reading. I do not feel these tools should be used in the classroom because students are so familiar with the technology and would be more apt to check their own profiles instead of participating in the assignment. A useful feature of facebook is the use of groups for similarities and private groups to help communicate more effectively with members. A useful tool for twitter is the ability to write a main point and direct followers to the resource mentioned. Social networking is good for just that and I do not feel I will be using these in my classroom with my students but rather for myself.

Thing 17

I believe social bookmarking is an excellent tool not only for people using the web but in their professions. As a teacher social bookmarking can help teachers find useful lessons, projects, and tools to apply to the classroom. Sites like Diigo, Delicious, and Pintrest are great for keeping track of interesting finds and keeping them organized for later use. Applying tags, or notes about a "bookmark" or like on pintrest adding it a group allows others to search for key words and find items related to their target search instead of browsing through pages of items that are not an appropriate use of keywords or if there is not way to narrow down the search. While exploring these sights I searched for educational technology bookmarks and pins and found the search quite useful. I found items and other sites that give lesson plans, bulletin board designs, projects for classes and ways to integrate technology into the classroom. This tool by far is growing and becoming more widespread between people like social networking sites. I believe the use of these websites will continue to grow and adapt to the needs of those using them.

Thing 16

For this post I used start page tools to create a custom start page for my personal computer. I already had IGoogle as my start page so this was a rather easy task. I love all the features IGoogle has to offer because I can check my emails, post important events to my calendar and make on-line sticky notes that hold my to do lists. By having all these resources open to me when I use my computer makes life a lot easier. I believe customized start pages are an essential tool to staying organized. This technology can be used by teachers to effectively stay on top of things that need to be done, websites that are often visited, and important emails. A customized homepage helps free up time from traveling to many different websites. Teachers can add widgets to these pages that openly show their "bookmarks" of websites often used in the classroom and to look at a glance at what they have to do and who they have to email back. This technology is a great tool for organization and will free up more time for teachers to teach instead of worrying about what they need to do next.

Thing 15

I believe Wiki is a great tool for teachers to collaborate on assignments. My vision for the use of this tool would be for teacher to collaborate with other grade level or subject teachers on how to teach subject matter effectively by pointing out what works and what does not work. Another way Wiki could be used is to have students post work in the sandbox section that parents will be able to log on and to see. This would be an effective way to showcase what is being done in the classroom and would be easy for parents to access. Another would be for administrators to put what they consider to be "star" work on a Wiki page to showcase how well the school is doing. This could be presented at a conference or shown when the school board visits. These are just a few of the ways I believe a Wiki could work for educators. For my post on the 23 things Wiki Sandbox I chose to post again about Thing 8 and the Mosaic Maker. I really enjoyed this tool and felt it could be used in collaboration with Wiki to show how web tools can be utilized in the classroom.

Thing 14

For this post I chose to explore the web tools Gliffy and bubbl.us. These tools are great for creating worksheets like graphic organizers and projects for presentations or as handouts to be used in a classroom. I explored some of the tools offered by Gliffy and one that I found interesting was the Venn Diagram tool. This is a great way to get a pre-made template and customize it the way you want to either give out for an assignment or to use in a presentation or for a resource folder to have and make copies of when needed. I feel that having these tools online allows for easy access from any computer and can be easier than keeping a bunch of worksheets filed and taking up space. bubbl.us is a web tool that allows you to create mind maps , similar to graphic organizers, and I thought it was neat that the chart built off of itself. This tool is great for brainstorming and would be a useful resource to students when given an assignment where they need to brainstorm but contain their thought in an organized manner. I personally favor the use of Gliffy over bubbl.us because it was more user friendly and I feel it offered more tools and uses. I would definitely recommend these web tools to any teachers or people just needing tools for creating a presentation. They are very useful resources.

Thing 13

Zoho.com is a neat website designed to allow users to create documents more effectively than using a word processor because Zoho is already a part of the internet it makes it easier to export created work. I explored the website and thought that the Zoho Writer app was a effective tool and the tutorial document made it very easy to get started using the tool. The tools in the Zoho Writer are very similar to Microsoft Office Word Processors and that makes it more user friendly because most people using this tool will be familiar with a word processor. Google Docs is a very similar tool to Zoho.com for people with a Gmail account. It allows you to create papers, presentations, spreadsheets, and tables. Unlike with microsoft office documents created with these tools allow you to access them from any computer with internet instead of having to carry around you laptop, a jump drive, or hard copies. These tools when applied can change the face of word processing for classrooms across the nation.

Thing 12

Google is an amazing tool and has essentially become a lifestyle for people today. I , myself, Google in the verb sense everyday. The two Google tools I decided to explore are Google Calendar and Google Translate. These were the two tools I felt to be most useful to teachers. Google Calendar seeds you updates and can be important for teachers who are always on their computers allowing them to keep their notes for each day marked in one place instead of on sticky notes all over their desks. Google Translate is interesting for teachers with ESL/ELL students because you can translate text, websites, educational materials, anything you need to help communicate with your students on a more personal level by trying to reach them in their language.

Thing 11

Before starting this blog I had never noticed the RSS icon in the corner of my favorite websites. Using the tools provided in the 23 things assignment blog I learned how to pay closer attention to where the icons are located. I enjoyed looking at the Edublogs' award winners because it gives you the links to award winning blogs which of course give very useful information for the world of Education. I decided not to follow any more blogs for the time being because I have not yet found one I want to subscribe to, I did however bookmark the page for later use when I have more time to view several blogs and really pay attention to the information contained in them. I did not find the Google Blog Search very helpful because I could not narrow down my search the way I wanted to and produce good results. This assignment helps immensely with locating good education information from either other teachers or those in the education community making the RSS reader worth while.

Thing 10

I believe RSS readers are an excellent tool. I had no idea I could view all the blogs I am subscribed to in one place without jumping between sites. Tools like these are so amazing to have as a teacher because we can subscribe to many different instructional and educational blogs/webpages/tools and view all the material in one place cutting down on time since as a teacher we are very limited on that. I subscribed to the blogs of my classmates that I have been commenting on and also to Pioneer Woman's blog because her pictures are so interesting. Its so neat to be able to browse through their posts in one place whenever I get the time. These tools should be utilized by all educators.

Thing 9

I used the image generator ImageChef to make the above image. I decided to make a sign for my future classroom that would recognize a student for every week of the year. This is a good instructional strategy for elementary school classrooms. The student of the week would be the classroom helper, line leader, whatever tasks the teacher wants to assign to the title. These tasks make younger children feel important. Websites like ImageChef allow teachers to create a template for signs they want to place around their room. These websites are so great for teachers especially being on a budget to create things students will be engaged by.

Thing 8

I decided to use the MashUp tool Mosaic maker. I found this application neat because you can place similar or different photos together in a tile setup. I could use this tool in my social studies classes by placing historical pictures together as a visual for what my lesson will be over. I believe Flickr and these MashUp tools are great period for educators because there are so many various uses for them. I decided to upload pictures of dogs for this assignment simply because I love them but in class I could place pictures of people being discussed or places. I really enjoyed discovering these tools and actually saved my creation on my computer because it made me so happy to look at.

Thing 7

I decided to create a Flickr account and upload my own interesting photos. I titled the one above "Candle pass" because this photo shows myself with my sorority sisters during my candle pass where I told them I was engaged. This picture is so important to me because it was a wonderful day in my life with my sisters. In most sororities engagements are kept secret until they can be revealed to the sorority. In my case I kept my engagement secret for a month until our recruitment retreat before the fall semester. It was so special to let my sisters be the first to know about my engagement besides mine and my fiance's families. During the candle pass the sisters gather in a circle and pass around a candle that has been decorated by the sister who is newly engaged and we sing three songs, two of which are private to my sorority and the final is going to the chapel on which the candle is blown out to tell you are the one engaged. Ill never forget the moment I got to put on my engagement ring and show it to my sisters which is what the photo shows. I am so happy to share this picture and moment with whoever reads this.

Thing 6

www.etsy.com is an internet marketplace for people to buy and sell handmade goods. I am extremely familiar with this website because my mother and I started a shop on their to see her knitted baby clothes. This website is neat because it gives people a virtual shop to showcase their talents and goods that they make without having to own a literal shop. This idea changes the concept of a marketplace because you can buy goods from all over the world without leaving your home. This website has many different categoriesfor items to search for from clothing, to accesories to furniture. Another website similar to this is Ebay but what is different about Etsy is that these are all handmade items from individuals. I believe this item could be used in education classes like Ecomonics or business courses because it shows how an individual can own a shop without having a physical location. This is a good example of our everchanging marketplace.

Thing 5

After reading the articles Web 2.0: A Guide for Educators, and Web 2.0 Is the Future of Education I have come to agree with the fact that the internet is the only resource people need anymore. So much information can be accessed from the internet that resources like books, newspapers and such have become obselete in the hard copy form because the information contained in them has been uploaded to the internet. I grew up in the age where computers were first being introduced into schools. I can remember in elementary school playing educational games on them but not being able to do much with the internet because it was not a neccesity yet. As I went further into my schooling the internet grew and by the time I was in middle school we were using the internet for everything. Of course some of my older teachers still required resources such as books and newspapers to be used in our papers but that slowly died out. Children growing up today do not realize how important and how dangerous the internet is. I believe an internet saftey and usage class should be implemented into schools because the internet is every changing and students have a hard time understanding how permanent the information they are uploading is. In the internet is an intelligent tool and has essentially become a community linking the world together. Educators should take advantage of these new global resources and educate their students on the world and not just what is around them, that to me is what School 2.0 means. Schools are going to have to continually change as the internet does to stay on top of what is going on in the world, especially as educators because your students will know the changes before you will if you do not keep up with them. In my 21 years the internet has gone from barely exisiting to being a neccesity for every day life it seems. Who knows how it will evolve in the next 21 years but as Educators we must follow it and educate ourselves on the changes so we can effectively educate our students.

Thing 4

I believe commenting in the blogging world is important because its gives a sense of gratitude for what you have written when it has been commented on and also gives way to discussion on your topic in the blog post. I love how the "10 techniques to get more comments" includes "Be Humble" and "Be Controversial?" These are two completely opposite techniques but are both options I find myself using in every day conversation so why not put them to use in my blog? Although I do not see how I could really be controversial over the 23 things I will be posting about. The seven blogs I am posting consist of these five within my 3040 class, Christina Ray, Kim Messer Things, Chelsea Ninness' Blog, 23 Thing For Teachers (Kendra Donaldson) and 23 Things-Manske. Two Blogs outside of class I have chosen to follow are Tween Teacher, and Nashworld. I have chosen these seven blogs because I found their content interesting and similar to my own beliefs. I really enjoy the Tween Teacher blog because I plan on teaching middle school and this is the age group her blog focuses on. All the comments I have left myself on blogs have been to tell how much I enjoyed their writing and what I agreed with in their post. I've enjoyed learning about the blogging world and getting my feet wet in such a large internet community.

Thing 3

I believe that creating a blog as a teacher is a great choice. The blog could be used for a number of things but what I believe I would use it for is to track my classroom activities. This is a great way to keep up with lessons that worked or even what did not work in your classroom and why. It could also be a tool for parents of your students to see what you are doing in the classroom and potentially get them involved with what their child is doing and carrying the lesson home. Blogging is a vital tool for sharing information and should be utilized by teachers to either gather information from other educators or share your own. Using a blog during my education program at APSU is a great way to gather information on classroom practices and will also be a way to save what I have learned.

Thing 2

Creating this blog for me was somewhat difficult because I had a hard time getting the appropriate email and figuring out the set up and layout for it. I've never been one for blogging but I believe this experience will change my mind on the matter. I named my blog the after what the assignment entails but my blogspot address I named Keeping Up with the Jones as a play on my last name. I also designed my avatar to look as similar to me as I could make it because this blog is a representation of me and how I feel about the 23 things I'll be writing about so I wanted to make this as authentic as possible.

Thing 1

Lifelong learning is extremely important to me. I feel that we learn something if not multiple things each and every day. When watching the video about 7 1/2 habits for lifelong learning I felt that the easiest habit for me to continue is Using technology to your Advantage. I feel this is easiest because technology is always changing and improving itself and as a teacher technology will continue to be an important factor to any classroom. With technology I will be able to learn right along with my students as well as learning from them. The habit I found to be most difficult for me would be having confidence in what I know. This is a good habit to have as a teacher and something I will definitely have to improve upon before I get my own classroom. Lifelong learning to vital to the development of our nation and world and I feel it should never stop.