Reflection

I really enjoyed this blog assignment, although it was time consuming. I learned a lot from websites i have never heard of. I will implement some the sites in my classroom and others, not so much. I really enjoyed making the short video about camp. I want to use it as a flashback video and I plan on making it longer and sending it to the camp I worked at this past summer. I know that the sites will help my future students achieve more and, myself as a teacher, stay organized. For example, the live binder can be used to organize my lesson plans. The blog has opened my eyes to educational sites to help my future students' parents get involved in the class. I really got annoyed when the campus internet was down because I had to complete some "things" at a later date. I will probably use this blog and reflect on my achievements after my first years of teaching. I think that this class should have a "thing" to do a week, so students in Educational Technology will not get behind. I really hope my blog helped others.

Thing #23

The website I found that shows that the 23 things are based off someone else's work is CLICK ME!!! . This website shows another set of objectives that an education major would go through to be introduced to new technology used in classrooms. The 23 things are different than the ones we do in class. Creative Commons makes us aware of how giving credit to others and having permission to share.

Thing #22

binder!

My live binder is called Mathematics. This site is very practical to a teacher, but not personal use. I would rather use the bookmarks on my computer. This is easy to follow for students and teachers for assignments.

Thing #21

Summer 2011


I really liked this site!! I wish it could have been a longer video. I put the wrong year because maybe the video can be used for a "flash back in the past" video.

Thing #20

I adore YouTube!! It is my go-to site whenever I want to listen to music or just laugh! I love to share videos on I find. YouTube is widely used, from music videos, educational videos to silly songs and how to put on make-up. YouTube has great tutorials on discussions that individuals have questions about.

The video I am posting is a Christmas Carol, Jingle Bells.
Merry Christmas!!

Thing #19

I like to talk and I love to go places. I have a Skype account and Foursquare account. Skype is video calling and Foursquare, you check into places and you can receive discounts. Skype helps me keep in contact with my friends that attend different colleges and live out-of-state. I really enjoy that I can see my friends while I am talking to them.

I have heard of IMDB. It helps me keep up with old movies. The other networks did not appear to me. But, I have a Yelp account and I do like the reviews.

Thing #18

I am pretty positive everyone pretty much has a Facebook. I have a Facebook and a twitter account. I still have a Myspace, that I haven't deleted. Social networking is a big part of the world. The question, "Have you liked us on Facebook," is an everyday thing. For educators, Facebook needs to be set on private because if a school system sees something inappropriate, you could get fired. I do not think it should be used in the classroom, it is too risky.

Thing #17

I have never heard of Delicious. I mean, it was very new to me. I have heard of tagging on Facebook, but that's it. I like that it is accessible everywhere and you don'y have to worry about losing your information. But, I would rather not use it in the classroom because I trust my jump drive A LOT! I feel more safe with my jump drive.

Thing #16

I chose iGoogle because I use Google ALL the time. If I have a question, I use Google. I also have account linked to my Google account. I like how I can customize everything. I will probably stick to Google Chrome because I have everything bookmarked and it shows my most visited sites. 

Online calendars can be very useful for me. I have to organize my days through my two jobs, school, my sorority and my two honor societies. I can use an online calendar to put down the days I work and when my meetings are for my organizations. I can also put the days I can hangout with my friends. 

Hmmm... To-do lists make me very stressed out. It makes me feel like I don't have enough time to finish what needs to be done. I would rather use my planner and write things in my planner. 

I would recommend iGoogle because it has many application and gadgets in one place. I think the tools would benefit at home or school. I would use in more in the classroom rather than my personal life. 

Thing #15

TeacherLibrarian Wiki is definitely my favorite Wiki. You can find the perfect book for any lesson you want to teach.  It is great to be able to turn to a wiki and find supplemental reading material for your lessons and classrooms. This wiki makes going to the library easy and fun.


I uploaded my avatar to the APSU 23 Things Sandbox Wiki. I uploaded it because I hope to be a professional teacher. I really don't care for wiki's unless they are already made. I would use a wiki to help teach lessons in the future and possibly show students how to find things in the library. 

Thing #14

I really enjoyed this activity. It was somewhat fun and interesting and I enjoyed exploring these sites. I chose bubbl.us and mindmeister. These sites were very easy to follow and use. I would definitely use bubbl.us for possibly a "Get to Know" your classmates activity and research papers. Mindmeister would be great to collaborate group ideas. Overall, great websites.

Thing #13

I explored Zoho. I used Zoho writer. It basically is the same thing as Microsoft Word. I really did not like it. I will never use it again. I enjoy Microsoft Word way more than Zoho writer.

I really enjoyed Google docs. It is convenient because you can save the documents in your account. It is a great way to make sure your work doesn't get deleted. 

For my future classroom, I would possibly use Google docs because it is a great way to save your work. But, for now I will stick with Microsoft Word. 

Thing #12

Google Calendar
Google Translate

The first tool I used was Google Calendar. I choose this tool because I have a busy schedule. It is hard to manage my time if I am not organized. The Google calendar is very simple. It even lets you edit an event you create. I could use this in a classroom to make a homework calendar for my students. The second tool I used was Google Translate. My grandpa recently moved to Tennessee. He likes to speak Italian. I translated Grandpa into Italian, so I can call my Grandpa, Nonno. A translator can be useful if a student is trying to learn a different language and gets stuck on a word.

Thing #11

I believe that Google Blogs is the easiest to use for searching for RSS feeds. I trust Google. But, you have to know what you are looking for and you have to be specific. The other sites were overwhelming to me. Searching  through RSS feeds using the other sites, I felt as if I did not know where to begin. Google Blogs, highlighted things I searched for education and I chose the one that interested me the most. I rely on Google for everything else, thus I feel more comfortable with it.

Thing #10

I love RSS! I can read my subscriptions through my gmail, as well as Blogger. I never heard of Google Reader. When I subscribed to blogs, it showed up when I open gmail. I love that option. I enjoy that I can see a feed of my favorite blogs instead of researching, and having to go back and forth. It also saves a lot of time. We all know time is valuable. I would be able to use this in school because I can attach it to school related sites and maybe even chat rooms.I would use it in my daily life to keep up with whats going on and to see what all new has been posted to the web! Teachers can use RSS to keep up with other teachers, this could be very helpful when keeping up with colleagues as well. Teachers could see what accomplishments were made in a classroom and help with ideas for new teachers.

Thing #9

I really enjoyed playing around with the different generators. It can be a great, creative way to show your students when assignments are due. It can also be used to decorate your classroom. For example, a welcome sign, to welcome your new students on the first day of school. I chose to make a helper of the week sign. The helper can have a reserved seat in the classroom. In the library, you can use generators to show where fiction and non-fiction books are, etc. I think that generators are a creative useful tool for classrooms.

Thing #8

Flickr mash ups would be a fun and creative way to introduce new topics or ideas in a future classroom. Images like the one above, would be very effective in catching students' attention and introducing a desire to learn about such a cool thing. When assigning vocabulary assignments, or spelling for that matter, sites such as this one would be a unique and entertaining way for students to have fun while they learn.  I feel as though sharing photographs online is a fun and interesting way to allow my friends to follow my social life, even if they are not around to experience it first hand.

Thing #7

I really enjoyed Flicker. The site has really nice images of anything you can imagine. I chose to look up pictures of crayons. Crayons are an essential tool in elementary school. Crayons are used for coloring, assignments and projects. Crayons also help with memorization. I found images by  raisinsawdust. The photo I enjoyed the most was called, "My Daughter's Crayon Holder." It shows which colors her daughter uses the most and which colors she never uses. The image shows that her daughter is expressing her creativity through crayons. The user also had abstract pictures of the crayon holder. I really enjoyed the user's images and thought that the color contrast was excellent.



"My Daughter's Crayon Holder"

Thing #6

The site I discovered was Hulu. I have always heard that Hulu helps individuals catch up on their favorite sitcoms. But, if teachers scrolled through the website for educational purposes, the popular clips and featured videos would be beneficial for educators for unit plans. If the unit was on cell development, the teacher could scroll through videos and find videos to help his or her lesson plans. For example, this link, (Embryonic Stem Development ) is a video on embryonic cells' development. This video would be perfect for a high school biology class. Although, you really have to browse through television shows to find educational videos. This site is really useful for educational videos to help visual learners.

Thing #5

After reading both Web 2.0 is Not About Version Numbers or Betas and The Horizons Report, I believe that the future of education will rely on technology. For instance, more and more schools are putting: grades, assignments, class schedules and newsletters online. Schools and Universities gear towards technology because it is faster and even sometimes reliable. It also saves paper. Although, there are glitches in some cases, technology is grower and becoming more advanced to keep up with the growing world. 

School 2.0 is exactly what it says. I believe that School 2.0 is school, but in a different form. It is school using technology. With this being said, technology means new ideas and opportunities to educate students. I mean some things will always require pencil and paper, but with School 2.0, you have the option of an ebook or paperback book. I believe that School 2.0 is helpful and will assist teachers in the future for their students. But, I still enjoy paper and pencil activities.

Thing #4

Commenting helps create a sense of community and interaction because it allows you to interact with other individuals. Not everyone has a blog, thus it is a community of interaction discussing topics or keeping up with close friends' lives or getting tips on a topic of your choose. I really enjoy reading people's comments and posts. It really educates me on my weak areas and it gives me helpful tips. Commenting is very beneficial for a successful future and successful blog.

I chose to comment on Robert Gallowitz thing three. He discussed what ways a blog could be beneficial to a classroom. I really enjoyed reading that he can track his students' progress and the parents' can see their progress. I really enjoyed his idea of posting a response to a reading assignments on his blog.

Bretlea Appleton's thing three post was very beneficial to read. She thinks that a blog is a way a student can get their work if they missed a day of school. That was an idea that I did not think of. I am really glad that blogs can help collaborate fantastic ideas.

Kayla Copeland's thing three discussed that if the students had journals to write, she could use her blog as a discussion board. This is a wonderful idea because it came prepare them for the future because many colleges have assignments that are discussion boards.

I chose CBrooks' thing two to comment. It discusses that making a blog was a painless experience. In this post, we have to discuss what our avatar represents. Her avatar represents her inner child, Beauty and the Beast. It is a very creative avatar.

I chose Jessica Patterson's thing three to comment. She thinks a blog can give her improvement on her classroom by letting her collagues post comments. I never thought of that. It is a great way for improvement.

One of the blogs that I chose to comment on of my choice is my roommate, Sarah Rimkus. her blog is called "Home, let me come home." She studies in France and decided to study abroad at Austin Peay State University. Her blog shows what she has been doing in America and at Austin Peay. It helps her family know she is having a great experience.

I really enjoyed reading through "For the Love of Cooking," blog. It shows delicious recipes. I really enjoy cooking, so I chose to comment on this blog. It shows some easy recipes that I will cook in my spare time.

I made encouraging comments. I believe that if you use constructive criticism comments it will not come across as negative, but as a way to improve. Although, my comments were encouraging, I learned new ideas that I can use in my future for my career. I also learned some great new recipes.

Thing # 3

I believe that a blog will be very useful to my teacher education program. For example, it is a wonderful reflection and I can document my ideas/comments to help me in the program. I can also help other students in the program by giving my helpful hints. Blogging helps with what we resources we can utilize in the future. It is a perfect way to document what ideas worked and what did not. I think a blog will be very useful in my future classroom. For example, I can give the students' parents/guardians the link to the blog for newsletters, homework assignments and upcoming events. I can post my students' wonderful works they have accomplished. It would be a great way for the whole classroom with the parent involvement to reflect on their learning.

Thing #2

I have never had a blog. This is a new experience for me. I enjoy reading other students' posts because I can relate to my peers. The posts are a great reflection and helps me become a better understanding of how people learn, from Thing # 1. I decided to post my name on my blog because I feel as if I had a pretend name, it would not be as professional and my peers could not search my blog that well. My experience creating this blog was somewhat challenging. As I stated before, this is a new experience for me. But, I am rather enjoying it. I created an avatar that reflects myself in the future. My avatar reflects myself as a professional and striving educator. I know I have a couple years until I become an educator, but I am really excited to learn about more beneficial tools for my future classroom and students.

Thing # 1

After watching, "7 1/2 Habits for Highly Successful Learners," I concluded what my strongest point and what my weakest point are. My strongest point and which I have think I have mastered is habit two. Habit two is accept responsibility for your own learning. I strongly believe that I accomplish that habit because I participate in class and study on my spare time. I also believe I am a model student.  I believe my weakest point is is habit three. Habit three is view problems as challenges. I tend to get overwhelmed when I have a lot of assignments and projects that need to be completed at the same time. I would like to work and master my weakness by having a positive outlook on the situation.