Summarizing My Thoughts!

Wow, I'm not sure that I can even begin to thing about my favorite things about this class. But I'll try! I really enjoyed the Animoto. It was so easy to create and it makes me look like I am really high tech with my friends and family!! I also liked Flickr. I'm so not a scrap booker, but I can create albums online for others to look at. Which is way better than albums sitting on my book shelf! I also enjoyed my Blog. I didn't think that I would like creating one much less "blogging", but I had fun. I can't wait to use it next year with my students.
I have so many goals for next year and the years to come with technology. I really want to do some Podcasts with books for my students and have them do some too. I want a book blog for students to share their favorite books or I could also do a Wiki page.(Don't I sound so techy??)
I was really surprised at how easy it was to create and interact with all of these sites. I was nervous at the beginning, but once I started it was pretty simple. Of course I can say that now that I have completed them! Like I already mentioned I was concerned about setting up my blog and keeping up with it, but now I'm really proud of everything I have done. I didn't think that I would learn so much. I considered myself a high tech person, but I really knew so little about what was out there! I'm still in awe of my google customized page. I love going to it and reading all my favorite subjects at one time. I was also surprised at how much time I spent "playing". I didn't take the warnings seriously!ha
The only thing you could do differently is to let the students know that it will take more than just 15 minutes a day to complete all the assignments! At least it did for me and I know some other people as well.
Of course I would love to take on another class like this!
I am going to do so many things differently than I have in the past. Of course I think that I will take things slow at first! I don't want to overwhelm my students!ha I see so many new ways to reach out to the students in an outlet that many of them enjoy. I'm hoping that more of my students will be willing to join in book discussions and publishing their writing if they are just posting it on a blog and not raising their hand in class. Those are the students that I have problems with meeting their needs because they don't let their needs known. I hope that my new found ideas will help with this problem.
I am going to keep up with the RSS feeds and of course my friends that took this same class. I have learned from other classes that I have taken if I don't use it, I lose it! So I'm going to continue learning and practicing!
Thank you for this experience. I have truly enjoyed it!

Thing #23

Here is the example that I found that shows the Learning 2.0-23Things blog was based on someone else's work and modified from its original.
Learning 2.0 is a discovery learning program created by Helene Blowers and adapted by the California School Library Association and others. Content and style for Learning 2.0 - 23 Things has been borrowed and duplicated with permission, under a Creative Commons License.

Obviously now that I know the rules I will abide by them. I'm happy that there is website like Creative Commons that walks you through the process. The world of copyrighting (is that a word?) can be very confusing!

Thing #22

I visited The Educational Podcast Network and Learn Out Loud. I liked both sites but I liked that EPN was free. Learn Out Loud did have some free Podcasts, but of course the ones that I was interested in all cost money. I did find an interesting Podcast that I added to my RSS feeds. It is a quick book talk. I am linking Dairy of a Wimpy Kid. This is a great book for boys to read that are having problems journaling!
These Podcasts quickly give a summary of books. I think that my students would be interested in these because I am constantly telling them about books and it would be a great way for them to know more about the books before they choose. I'm thinking this would be a great way to start new literacy groups. I call them Book Clubs and the students think they are really grown up!LOL I think it would be great to have my students set up their own podcast over a book they have read or a short story they have written. This would be a great way to have students know they will have an audience for their writing! I'm so excited!!

Thing #21

This is great! It was super easy and I loved being able to pick music to put with the pictures! I am so going to use this for my students' pictures on field trips, PTA performances, projects. The list is endless. I'm so excited!!

Thing #20

I thought this would be a good song for a person named Short Stuff!
YouTube is a great place to spend many hours of laughing. I enjoy looking up the bloopers from newscast!
As far as education wise I would use them as an instructional video. I found some interesting writing videos for teachers.
My only concern is that YouTube has all kinds of inappropriate videos. I had to wait until my children went to bed to do this assignment. Even looking up funny songs with singing animals, there were naked girls gone wild singing funny songs. I'm so not ready to discuss that!!

Thing #19

View my page on 23 Thingsters


OK, so as you can tell I added the Ning badge and widget. I also added some photos and left some comments for people. I looked at some of the other social networks. I have never been a member of one, but I am interested in GoodReads. I was looking at some comments that people were making about books and I have found some more books to buy!

Thing #18

Well I set up a Face book account. I wasn't very excited about doing this because I really felt like this was more for teenagers or singles. Boy was I wrong! There are a lot of families that have Facebook accounts. Not only that it was really easy to set up. Some of my friends have a MySpace account and they put a lot of work into it. But Facebook is really simple to add things to and I don't have to do a lot of work! That's the important part!
I think it's important that educators know what is going on in the social networking world. We need to understand how our students communicate. I don't think I would feel comfortable letting students join my personal facebook. I think that would lead to trouble down the road.
I think maybe a school could have it's own facebook, but once again would the students be able to handle appropriate behavior?

Thing #17

Wow! I can so see how Del.icio.us would be a great resource for people doing research. It's amazing how much information there is about different topics. In 4th grade we do a Native American research project and I'm thinking how much easier it would be to find information on line for the students. I'm thinking that this would be an amazing site for librarians. They could let us know tag names and we could see what they have found for us!
I started a Del.icio.us account and it was very easy to use. I know that I am constantly looking for new ideas for teaching writing and English. I also am in constant search for good books for my students and my own children to read. found some really good web-sites that are interactive. I also found a web-site where you can read the stories. I can see me using Del.icio.us all the time. It is so much easier to do this type if search and bookmarking. I wish I would have known about this earlier! I think it would be great if MISD teachers could do this for each grade level. Wouldn't it be great to see all the different types of information that other teachers use to teach?

Thing #16

I had already set up my igoogle page. I did some rearrange of the widgets. I have some sites that send me an alert when they update for example wfaa.com. I'm pretty sure that I will keep this as my home page. I love having everything at my fingertips. I can find dinner for tonight, read Calvin and Hobbes, get a brief look at world events, and find out what is going on in the education word. This is great!! At first I didn't think that I would even look at it again when I set it up, but I find myself looking at it more than twice a day. My six year old son wants to set one up for him and I'm thinking that I might do it. He really enjoys reading the comics and watching funny videos clips! I'm going to have to look into how to make sure the video clips are age appropriate!
I love the google calendar! I have been using it since I first started it up. I love that it emails me all the information for the day. In fact I almost forgot about an eye appointment, but it reminded me!!
I tried out the Stikkit, but I think that is a little redundant of what I have going on with my online calendar with google. I think that is what I like about the google calendar that it is sooo easy to use!
Even though I can't use google at school, I can set up the calendar from home and still get the reminders via email at school. Plus I don't have time at school to check my customized page, so I will only be doing that from home. I will so recommend this to other people. I told my husband about it and he responded with, "Uh, I've had one for years!" I don't think I'm going to tell him about the other cool things that I have learned about!

Thing #15

I added some comments about blogging on the misd23things.wikispaces. It was very simple to comment on and I can so see how this would be helpful in the classroom. I could use a wiki for literacy group discussions. I could post questions and the students could comment. Obviously this would be an assignment and I could take a grade and save the environment!!
I really like the idea of the wiki. I could see all kinds of things that I could do with this. I'm in the process of setting up my own wiki. I'll let you know when I get it all set up!

Thing #14

I used bubbl.us to create a bubble map. It was very easy to use. Then I went to Flow Chart.com and tried to create the same flowchart that I did on bubbl.us, but it wasn't near as easy! What I can tell from what I did the mind maps appear to be a lot easier to maneuver than the flow charts. I normally create my own graphic organizers or I use "Thinking Maps". I think that I would be more apt to use bubbl.us because it is very simple to operate and I would not spend a lot of time trying to figure it out. During the school year I don't have time to waste as I'm preparing lessons. Surely I'm not the only one that feels this way? I guess I just need to spend more time "playing" with the flow maps!

Thing #13

I have just set up my Zoho account and have spent some time just looking around. The first thing I noticed was that its tools were a lot like the tools on Google. I saw that many of our classmates thought the same thing.
I am currently typing this in Zoho, so I'm hoping that I will be able to import this into my blog. I guess we will find out. This is actually the second time that I have written this blog. The first time somehow is disappeared and I couldn't find it. I gave up and just started a new one.
I was impressed with the welcome page that helped you through everything. That was nice to have all the tools explained on one page. I also like having every option on the menu right on the page. That is very handy.
But the thing I like the most is that I can work offline and edit my document and then the document with synch back up with my online document.
I think that I have probably only touched the surface of this. I think that I will keep using this just so I can become more familiar with all the tools.

Thing #12

I never knew that google had so many other options. I wish MISD wouldn't block google! I used the google calendar to set up my summer calendar. It was so easy to setup! I really enjoyed that it emails me reminders of my upcoming appointments. That is very helpful!
I love the igoogle tool. I was amazed at how easy it was to set up custom homepage. A click of the mouse and I have everything I need to know! Even ideas for dinner!! This is great! I'm sure I'm not the only one that wants MISD to drop that block!

Thing #11

I added some more feeds that are about children's book http://planetesme.blogspot.com/ and a writing blog that gives ideas for children when they are writing stories http://writing-for-children.blogspot.com/
I teach reading and writing and these really are interesting blogs.
I found that Blogline's Search tool was the easiest for me to use. I tried Feedster but it took so long to load that I finally gave up! I really didn't like the lay out of Syndic8. I guess maybe because it wasn't aesthetically pleasing! I really liked the way Topix was set up. It was quick and easy to find news blogs that were an interest to me.
I'm really trying to get into reading other people's blogs, but honestly I would rather read a book! I hope I'm not the only one that feels that way!

Thing # 10

I just set up my RSS feeds on Bloglines. It was very simple to do. I put websites on mine that I go to every day to read and find out new information. I'm sure that this would save time for teachers and anyone that has several blogs that they keep up with all the time. I know that I do not have time during the school day to check my email, let alone keep up with the minute to minute news or keep track of new information for teachers. I can see this being helpful for me to have so during those few minutes I do get to look at the computer it will be time well spent and not wasted time searching.

Thing #9

Made with free image tools @ TXT2PIC.com

This was fun to explore. My only problem was that I couldn't decide which images to use! I can see me using this in my classroom by posting assignments, making comments about students' responses to questions, and just to make the kids laugh!

I used to make my cartoon!

Thing #8

My Presentation

This is our vacation in Branson, Missouri.

I can see how this can become addictive! I spent hours just creating things! I made a Post Card interactive photo album and then a Mosaic.
This would be a great way to show parents what the students are doing in your classroom! I can't wait to do this next year!!

Branson Vacation
Originally uploaded by rachel.prewitt

Here is a Mosaic of our Branson vacation!

Thing #7

As you can tell I figured out how to use Flickr!! At first I was really worried about figuring out how to do this, but it really wasn't as hard as what I originally thought. Now if I didn't do it right, then I guess it was harder than I thought!
I can see me using Flickr in the classroom to display projects that the students have completed. I could also use it to take pictures how what I expect the projects to look like. Obviously if I were to have pictures with the students in it I would have to have permission. I could always make the pictures private and just add it to my blog. I will definitely start using this for my personal use. I am not a scrap booker, but I could do this and share my photos with my family!
I have never used anything like this before, but I will now!
I am apprehensive about making my pictures public, but I did enjoy looking at other people's pictures. I even posted a few comments! ( I so would have never done that before this class!)

AHHHHH!

P6190124
Originally uploaded by rachel.prewitt

I'm sure that you can guess which one of my children is aspiring to be in the movies!

Proud Moment

FH000023
Originally uploaded by rachel.prewitt

If you look real close you will see the fish my son caught with his Kung Fu Panda fishing rod!

Drama Queen

This would be Aynsley's choice of accessories every day!

Thing #6

Holy Cow! I just went to LuLu which allows one to publish a book and then sell it on their web-site. I checked out the Kid Creations section and I was blown away! There is a section for "Aspiring Authors" that allows walks the students through the writing process as they write their own book. Then when they have finished LuLu will publish it and send you a "FREE" printed copy! This would be wonderful for my fourth grade students. This would get so many of my students excited about writing. I already filled out the information and they said they would be contacting me soon! I'm so excited!!
The one thing I don't like is that there are hidden fees. The more you dive into the web-site the more you find out how much is really not free. I am anxious to find out if the students can really publish books for free. I do like that they have their own blog, forum, groups, and their own newsletter. When I went to find a community for teachers that teach how to write I mostly found people trying to sell their own book. That wasn't really helpful! The more I look through the site the more hesitant I become about signing up! I'm going to keep investigating!

Thing #5

School 2.0 means to me that we have the world at our fingertips! Literally students can find anything and everything they want to know about a subject in just a short amount of time. I can remember during a research paper in middle school and using the encyclopedia. I mean the set of books that you actually open! I remember reading that information and thinking that it was already outdated(possibly because my parents had the 1976 set for me to use!)
After reading some of these perspectives about Web 2.0 I really am amazed at how much information is accessible to me and my students.Of course that means that it is up to teachers and parents to show children how to understand all the knowledge that is out there for them. I think that Will Richardson said it best,"We are at times teachers and at times learners. Our roles shift with each interaction." I am amazed at how my six year old son is able to use the internet. He is now teaching me how to do things! I think the same can be said for our students. That is why we must be a step ahead of them. (If that is even possible!)
I believe that if the education world is going to continue to "catch" the child's attention we are going to have to prove to the students that we have the knowledge to use and teach technology. We also have to make sure that our students have the skills to survive in the "real" world.
I am very excited to start teaching my students how to be participants and not just consumers. This means that schools are going to have to spend the money on updating computers and servers. It is great that we have computers that we can use in the classroom, but if only two computers can work online at a time this is not going to be helpful to the other twenty students. I think the look of the schools are really going to change. The future may bring a more business like look to schools.
My only concern is will the students of the future have social skills?

Thing #4

Commenting helps create a sense of community because you are discussing the same topic with a group of people. Just like when you are with a group of people and discussing a topic. You feel like part of the group when you put your two cents in. Constant commenting also lets people get to know who you are. The more people see your name, the more likely they are to respond to you. Who doesn't like seeing comments on their blog? Of course that makes you feel like you belong! I know some people that have a better online community than they do a face to face community!
"The 10 commandments of blog commenting" I thought was pretty much comment sense, but I guess there are "those people" that are going to be rude or try and start a "flame war". I did like the comment to always :) when leaving a comment. I think that is a really good idea. That's like in the education world you can say something to a child that "just doesn't get it" if you preface it with "Bless your heart..."
The blog about the 10 techniques to get more comments on your blog was interesting. The one idea that I thought was really good was to invite comments or ask questions. I also agree with the guy... if you have to log in to make a comment it probably makes people less likely to comment.

I commented on several of our classmates blogs because the topic really caught my attention. 23 Things by Miss Williams held the same idea on humorous comments that I did, Ms Brownie's Blog made me post the question if we should be concerned about people having more virtual friends than face to face friends. I agreed with amisteacher's concern for our students having access to these tools outside of the classroom. Crickets Corner gave me a great web-site to visit and I gave redrivera a question to ponder over. Then I so went out of my comfort zone(I'm so not a virtual type of friend!) and I visited some blogs about Mamma Mia! and found some people that I can sing with during the movie!
Then I posted some blogs about good place to visit after taking a vacation to Branson, Missouri. (And no, it's not just a place for retired people! It is now a great family place to visit!!)

Thing #3

I would love for my students to be able to use blogging in my Language Arts class. The only problem is that most of my students don't have Internet access at home. I could set up a time in the mornings before school starts for the students to come into the computer lab and access my blog.
I would love to have a book club blog! I looked at the EduBlog and I really like the idea of putting examples to work that I have assigned on my blog. That would be very helpful to all students and parents! I know that many of my parents have access to a computer at work, so I could have information about school and assignments. Really the ideas are limitless! I'm so excited about blogging!

Thing #2

There are several things that I want to learn from this class. Obviously, I want to learn about blogging. I want to be able to have my students blog about books they have read next year.
I should just say that everything I am learning in this class is new to me! Apparently there is a whole new world out here!!
Setting up a blog for me was a little confusing! My friend and I did it together over the phone. This may have been why I was confused!ha
I'm still not sure I did everything right!
The avatars were a lot of fun! My two kids were helping me choose one that was right for me. Of course I didn't take all their suggestions!

Thing #1

So, here it goes! I just finished the slide show and the easiest habit for me is to accept responsibility for my own learning. The hardest habit is to view problems as challenges. For me a problem is just that- a problem that needs to be solved!