Sunday, March 23, 2014

Thing 24

Well, blog, this has been quite the journey.  It's one that I couldn't be happier to have completed.  When I first heard that we had to blog, I was none too excited to begin.  My first post seems like so long ago.  I quickly found myself falling behind in keeping up with blogging.  Life got in the way and the blog became more of a stress looming over my head than something enjoyable.  Now that I'm done (finally!), it feels great!  Some of the things I remember most are bubbl.us and Animoto.  There were others that I did not enjoy in the least.  But, through it all, I worked towards strengthening my biggest weakness from thing 1: using technology to my advantage.  I feel like I now have a better idea of tools to use in the future.  There are some things we did that I can't see myself ever using again: online todo lists, twitter, and delicious.com to name a few.  There are others, however, that I will undoubtedly use in my future classroom.  I wouldn't say that I completely conquered this habit or made it my strongest of the habits, but I definitely learned some things that make me more technologically savvy than I was just a few short months ago.  I was surprised at how easy almost everything was.  There were a few things that stumped me, but overall, everything was fairly simple and I was able to figure it out with little time or effort wasted.  I like the overall format of this blog.  Each thing is broken down into short exercises.  If any of the things were combined, it could become overwhelming.  Completing one (or more) thing(s) in one sitting was definitely doable and didn't take too much time.   There are definitely tools that I have learned about that I will use in my classroom.  The online calendar is something I can definitely see myself using as a way to communicate with my students' parents.  Livebinder looks extremely useful, but I need to work with it a little more to get a better handle on it.  Web 2.0 is something that is constantly evolving.  Since we started our blogs this semester, things have probably already changed.  Now that I know about things and how things work and what they mean, I can tackle new things with ease as they arise.  Our students, regardless of what grade we end up teaching, will undoubtedly be very familiar with each new technological advance as it develops.  The more we know about technology and feel comfortable with using it, the better we will be able to relate to and appeal to our students.

I've never been much of a fan of resolutions.  They're great in theory, but a few weeks in, the novelty wears off, and old habits persist.  I don't often make New Year's resolutions.  By February, how many people are actually keeping up with their resolutions?  The gyms are so crowded in January, but by March, they're as empty as they were in December.  I feel like making a resolution just sets me up for failure.  In all honesty, I'll probably never touch this blog again.  However, I may create a blog for my future classroom and maintain it as a way to keep in touch with and communicate with my students' parents.  I could use the blog to keep parents informed of upcoming events, projects, tests, field trips, etc.  Parents could refer to the blog to learn about what their children will be learning.  This knowledge could allow them to work with their children on these skills and better assist them with homework.

Well, blog, that's it.  Thing 24.  Done!

Thing 23

Creative Commons is something I have repeatedly heard about in this class, but only now do I understand what it is.  I watched the video that clips different audio from Disney movies together to explain what copyright means.  I'm a sucker for Disney movies.  Even now, I still love Disney movies.  That was a creative, albeit somewhat long, way to explain copyright.

A quick search of "learning 2.0 23 things for teachers" led me to this statement...

The Learning 2.0 - 23 Things program is based on the Learning 2.0program that was designed by Helene Blowers, Technology Director at the Charlotte Mecklenburg County Public Library system, with the support and assitance of several staff. Helene's program was loosely based upon Stephen Abram's article, 43 Things I (or You) might want to do this year (Information Outlook - Feb 2006) and the website43Things.

Creative Commons is a great idea that really allows people to share and use information in a multitude of ways.  There is so much information out there and creative commons licensing offers a way to share and use information without plagiarizing the work of someone else.  I have always been very aware and conscientious about plagiarizing.  I'm working as a teacher assistant at an elementary school now.  Just a few weeks ago, a second grade teacher was talking to her class about plagiarism.  She asked me to tell them about what would happen if you were to plagiarize something in college.   They were writing a paragraph about a famous African American last month and the teacher was trying to teach them how to write without simply copying information from a book.  

Creative Commons really opens the door for collaboration and information.  The possibilities of its use are limitless.  Reinventing the wheel is no longer necessary.  If I find something I like online, as long as I provide the owner with sufficient credit and recognition, I can use it.  This could potentially save me a ton of time as I start teaching.  I will be able to consult the work of veteran teachers for ideas and guidance as I navigate my first few rocky years of teaching.  Creative Commons doesn't mean that you can just take someone else's work and use it as your own.  When using something made or created by someone else, you still have to provide them with credit and use it in the way outlined by them in their permission, but this really opens the door to a wealth of possibilities and information.

Thing 22

Livebinder was something that immediately looked overwhelming.  In fact, before completing Thing 22, I went ahead and completed things 23 and 24.  Once I finally sat down and made myself do it, it wasn't that bad.  I made three binders: continents and oceans, fractions, and expository text.  I picked continents and oceans because those were the standards I had picked for the live text project in this class.  I did fractions because I had to teach a unit on fractions last semester.  I picked expository text because I just did a lesson plan for one of my reading classes about expository text.

Here's the link to my Continents and Oceans binder.  I included some worksheets, lesson ideas, and videos about continents and oceans that would be appropriate for elementary school, specifically 3rd grade.

I still don't feel like I really know how to do everything on Livebinders, but this is something that I could definitely see myself using in the future.  Organization will be key to my success and anything that I can keep track of electronically rather than on paper will undoubtedly make life easier.  This is also something that could be shared with parents.  This could be useful for parents who want to help their children with homework or if their children are struggling, parents could consult the live binder to figure out what their children are learning and then use the resources there to help their children outside of school.  When students are absent, I could post things here for students to complete.  This would be especially beneficial for students who missed multiple days of school at a time.  Ideally, their parents would work with them on the content they missed so that when they came back to school, they wouldn't be too far behind their peers who had not missed those days.

Thing 21

Well, that was shockingly easy.  I created an account in a matter of seconds.  I downloaded some pictures I already had on Facebook and uploaded them into the video.  In less than a minute, I had created a video.  I used pictures from my year in Europe.  While I was there, I only worked four days a week, so I traveled as much as I could every weekend.  The pictures I put on the video are from Belgium, Sweden, Portugal, Italy, France, England, and various cities in Spain.  I was pleasantly surprised with how easy Animoto was to use.  When I first read the assignment for this "thing", I'll admit that I was in no way looking forward to completing this "thing".  It turns out that my procrastination was all for nothing, because this was one of the easiest "things" I've completed to date.  This could be something that I could see myself using in my future classroom.  I could make short videos to show my students using their pictures or pictures of their work.  This would also be something neat to share with parents.  I could take pictures of student projects and make a quick video for parents to see what their children have been doing at school.  Using students' pictures in the videos would only be okay if permission had been given.  Animoto has a feature that allows you to email the videos you create, so this would be a way for me to share videos I create with my students' parents.   Schools could use this for school-wide assemblies to showcase various things and students that relate to that day's assembly.

Here's my video I created using Animoto.

Thing 20

Oh, YouTube, I have wasted countless hours watching videos on you.  One video can quickly turn into 2 which turns into 3 and so on.  Before I know it, I've lost an hour.  Like anything, I think youtube has its place and time.  Overall, I'd say the benefits outweigh the negatives.  At the school where I work, YouTube is blocked, which really limits the ability of teachers to use it in the classroom without converting the videos to files and saving them.  When I taught English in Spain, I had a class of juniors in high school.  Their English teacher wanted me to use videos about current events to work with them on their listening and comprehension skills.  I only saw each class once a week, but on my day with this class, I would bring a video that I had to convert to a file and save.  I don't think YouTube was blocked in their schools, but it was a poor school and the likelihood of us having a computer in the room, let alone internet, was always iffy at best.  I would type up a transcript of the audio and take out words for them to fill in as they listened.  Then, I would come up with questions to have them answer to ensure they understood what they had just watched.  Then, we would talk about the current event in English.  They really liked this activity and by the end of the year, they were able to only watch the video once or twice to get all the information rather than 5 or 6 times like they needed to at the beginning of the year.  I like YouTube because it is really easy to use.   I have the app on my phone which is what I use more than the actual website.  Whenever I want to hear a new song or check out a video I have heard about, I just type some keywords in the search bar, and any and everything related to my terms pops up and the videos almost always load quickly.  I like that when you watch a video, similar or related videos pop up along the side (though this is also one of the dangers of getting on YouTube as you can waste hours looking through multiple videos).

I used Vodio.  I didn't spend a ton of time exploring it, but from what I noticed, it was very similar to YouTube.  I try not to spend much time on YouTube either though.  It was easy to search and navigate through Vodio.  I wonder if this site is also blocked by schools.  If not, that would be a good way to bring videos into the classroom.  I always loved when we watched videos in school (though back then, it was usually a VHS tape and the teacher spent half of the class trying to figure out how to get it to play), and when DVD players made their way into the classroom, things only got worse.  I think videos can help break up the monotony of instruction and get kids interested.  They're also a great way to appeal to visual learners.  Providing kids, especially younger ones, with a concrete visual example of whatever you're talking about is always a good thing.  Videos can help clear up confusion and misconceptions.  Vodio was easy to search and advertises that it keeps track of what you watch to help make suggestions about other related videos that may be of interest.  I think YouTube does this as well.  This would be a helpful feature.  If you were teaching a topic, you could find a video to share with the class.  Then, more videos that are related may be suggested to you, providing you with more resources to share with your class.

I picked this video from YouTube, "Things Teachers Lie About", because I thought it was funny.  How many of those lies did we hear as students?  The biggest one that stuck out to me in this video was that if you study hard and get good grades, you'll get a good job.  I heard that at school my whole life and what a joke it was.  I was a great student.  I worked hard in high school and college.  I graduated from both with honors and never got below a B.  Ever.  What a waste of effort all of that turned out to be.  I graduated with no job and no direction.  I went to Spain for a year to try to figure things out, and that's how I ended up here.  This is NOT the way I pictured things going in my life.  By this age, I thought I would have things together and already have a decent job.  Boy, was I wrong!



Saturday, March 22, 2014

Thing 19

Ah, more ways to waste time.  As if I needed anymore distractions from getting things done.  Well, now I have them.  I already have a Pinterest account.  I used to have the app on my phone, but had to delete it.  I was wasting FAR too much time.  IMDB is something I have used quite frequently.  When I'm watching tv or a movie and see someone familiar, if I cannot figure out where I have seen them, I immediately head to IMDB in search of an answer.  This can be a rabbit hole as I then find myself looking at other things he/she has starred in if I like him/her.  Then, I find myself reading synopsis after synopsis of television shows or movies to see what I should add to my never-ending list of things to watch.  I have also used yelp on rare occasions to look at reviews of restaurants or businesses.  I have mostly used this when traveling to a new city to find the best places to stay, eat, or visit.

I can't say that I have every thought about the sites listed for completion of thing 19 as being social networking sites.  I have used some of these sites before and never thought of them as being social networking.  To me, social networking sites are sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.  These sites seem less interactive and more impersonal than what I would consider social networking sites to be.  Social networking sites are something that educators will inevitably have to use, regardless of how opposed to them they may be.  Social networking appears to be here to stay, so we may as well embrace it as much as possible.  Using it may also make learning more appealing to students who will inevitably belong to social networking sites at some point or another.

Classroom 2.0 Ning is something I could actually see myself using in the future.  This site has suggestions of how to use web 2.0 tools in the classroom and provides ideas for how teachers can incorporate technology into their classrooms.  Social networking for educators is something that will be essential as I enter the classroom.  Technology is here to stay and will only become more and more integral to the classroom as I enter the classroom and finally begin teaching.  Using social networking can allow educators to connect with other educators around the world to share ideas and learn new things.

Thing 18

I have resisted Twitter for years, and I am not too pleased that I now have an account.  From what little I know about Twitter, people post their every waking thought for the world to see.  I'm not really interested in reading about what someone did today or what someone ate.  I waste enough time and procrastinate enough.  The last thing I need is something else to make me waste more time.  I have Facebook.  That's enough for me.

I feel like I probably went into this activity with a bad attitude.  I wasn't very open or receptive to learning more about it.  I went into it with a negative attitude.  I looked around a bit at the educational hashtags.  I think social networking (or at least understanding it) is extremely important for today's educators.  Kids are using social networking, so educators may as well take advantage of these sites and appeal to students.  Social networking has advantages and disadvantages and the more educated teachers are about their inner workings, the better prepared they will be to use them.  I had never considered using Twitter to look at educational things.  I didn't love the hashtag search.  Most things seemed so broad and people can put a hashtag on anything, regardless of whether or not the information in the post is actually relevant to the hashtag.  I don't really see me ever using Twitter in the future or in my classroom.  I think there are other social networking sites that would be more useful.  I'm sure there are applications for Twitter in the classroom, but I don't really see me finding them or using it.  Twitter is simply not for me.

As I sat up my Twitter account, I clicked the "skip" button as much as possible, not wanting to find people to "follow".  I will probably delete this account as soon as I can.  I just don't see myself ever using it.   Here's the link to my profile, though there's no point in following me because I have not tweeted anything (nor do I plan to).  I didn't even come up with a creative profile or user name.  I kept the generic suggestion Twitter gave when I created the account.
https://twitter.com/Emily65212302

Thing 17

Tagging was not something I knew anything about outside of tagging photos on Facebook.  I don't often bookmark pages when looking for things because the list of bookmarks can become a bottomless pit that sucks me in and I end up wasting more time looking for something than I do actually using that something.  Delicious.com was extremely easy to use.  The video I watched was very informative and I learned a lot about tagging through watching it.

I could see using this type of tagging website when I become a teacher.  As the video mentioned, you can network with other educators through tagging.  If I found a topic that I was about to teach, I could tag websites I found under that specific topic.  Then, I could search for other people who had tagged websites for the same topic.  This could save me time as I could use someone else's research to get ideas about what to teach or how to teach something.

When I searched "educational technology" on delicious.com, I found http://www.infoplease.com.  This website has an encyclopedia, almanac, atlas, dictionary, thesaurus, etc.  There is up-to-date news information for students to refer to for homework help or researching topics.  There are also links for students to read about study tips and research tips.  This could be useful in an elementary classroom when teaching students how to research topics.  I may teach students how to write their first papers, depending on what grade I teach.  Writing is something that can be scary and intimidating for students.  Providing them with a wealth of information and resources may lessen the anxiety of such a task.  Since this website is geared towards children, the information on this website would likely be more appropriate than other resources and will likely provide students with level-appropriate information to refer to.  I like the idea of delicious.com because whichever sites I bookmark can be accessed from any computer.  I don't have to be at home, on my laptop, to access things.  This would be very useful when I start teaching since my home computer and school computer will be separate.

Thing 16

I created a calendar using 30 Boxes.  It was very easy to use, but it is not something I see myself using in my daily life.  I use my calendar in my phone on basically a daily basis.  I am constantly updating it with reminders and events.  I like having it in my phone because it's always at my fingertips.  I can't see me switching to do the same thing online.  However, I could see using this in my future classroom.  I don't know if there is a feature that allows you to make the calendar public or at least to share it with people.  If there is, a classroom calendar could be created and shared with parents to keep them apprised of upcoming school events, field trips, projects, tests, etc.  I'm not really sure how this is much different from the google calendar we did in one of our earlier postings.

I chose to use Symbaloo.  It was really easy to use and I liked the way it looked.  Also, I have heard of symbaloo prior to now.  I never really understood what it was, but now I do and I see how it could be useful.  I am guilty of wasting a great deal of time on the internet when I get online to do something that needs to be done.  Once I'm online, I suddenly remember every "important" thing I need to do and think of all sorts of things that "must" be read or researched immediately.  Symbaloo might help curtail these bad habits.  Having necessary links compiled into a central location could help me stay on track and ultimately save me time in the future.  I don't think I'll actually make it my homepage simply because I'm a creature of habit.  I don't like change.  I just like things to stay the same, and I'm not really interested in making such a change right now.  Maybe in the future, I will revisit such a change.

I think I would actually use a calendar in my classroom, not for personal use.  I like the idea of creating a to-do list, but I think I'm a little too old-fashioned to have my to-do list online.  I like the act of actually crossing something off of my to-do list when I finish it.  I get a sense of accomplishment from marking through something.  I'm constantly making lists of things I need to do on my phone, but I never feel very accomplished because I can't physically cross them off.  I like the idea of the sticky notes, but I didn't want to download the program to try them.  My old computer had a sticky note application that I used quite often just to remind myself of certain things.  I could see using that in the classroom to remind myself of upcoming events or of things I need to remember to do each day.

Thing 15

I'm a little embarrassed to say that before completing the activities for this post, I didn't really know what wiki meant.  I've heard the term.  I've used wikipedia on multiple occasions.  I really liked the video because it explained everything in simple terms and really simplified everything about wikis, providing a great overview and explanation of what wikis are and how they might be used.

As I explored the wikis mentioned on the homepage, I was introduced to a variety of ways that wikis could be used in my future classroom.  For my post to APSU's sandbox wiki, I wrote about thing 14 and my experience with bubbl.us.  I don't know if this stands out to me because I very recently completed thing 14 or if it stands out because it's something I could definitely see using in my future classroom and is something that the nerd in me wishes I had known about when I was a student.  I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to post on the sandbox wiki.  It took me longer than it should have to figure out how to sign in, but once I was in, it was easy to write up a quick post.

One way I could see using a wiki in a classroom is creating a class supply list for students to consult: we could have a list of what we have and what we need to ensure we don't get 25 boxes of crayons and not a single box of pencils.  Another possible use would be for group assignments.  Groups could use the wiki to communicate with one another about who has done what and what needs to be done.  This would also allow me to monitor each group member's participation and provide input when needed.

Friday, March 21, 2014

Thing 14

For a flowchart, I used Gliffy.  I was immediately unimpressed with the website.  There were numerous popups and download requests.  I didn't create a flowchart.  I looked through the website and I can see how secondary teachers might use flowcharts, but I cannot see using a flowchart often, if ever, with lower elementary school students.  I would like to teach 3rd grade.  I can think of multiple uses for mind maps but none for flow charts.  I prefer the ease and simplicity of mindmaps to flow charts.  Flow charts seem more regimented and complicated whereas mindmaps are more brainstorming activities and allow students to simply jot down ideas as the arise.  I didn't use flowcharts.com simply because I was too impatient to wait around for the invitation.  Gliffy was instantaneous. 
I used bubbl.us and created a mind map.  This website was very easy to use.  It reminded me of high school when we had to complete graphic organizers before writing an essay or research paper.  I always liked them and thought they helped me get my thoughts together and sort of pre-plan what I would write about and how I would do it.  Bubbl.us was really simple to use.  I didn't have any current projects I am working on that I thought I could use with a mindmap, so I used information from a research paper I wrote for another class in a previous semester.  I could use this website and mindmaps in my future elementary school classroom in helping students recognize similarities and differences in animals, texts, etc. (compare and contrast) based on what we were studying at the time.  If students had to write a short story or essay of some sort (like to practice for the TCAP writing assessment), students could use this to help formulate their ideas and learn how to connect details to main ideas. 


 
 
 


Thing 13

I had no prior experience with Google Drive.  I was pleasantly surprised to find how simple it was to use.  I created a short document (quiz) that relates to the standards I chose for my project for this class. 

I think this application of Google could be extremely useful in the classroom.  It makes the need for Microsoft Office products basically obsolete.  It was very user-friendly.  I could see students using this in the classroom to complete quizzes created by the teacher, to look at spreadsheets created by the teacher to complete projects.  Students could even use the document feature to type required papers.  This would be an interactive way to involve students in learning.  Things created by the teacher could be shared with parents of the students to keep parents apprised of what students are learning in the classroom.  Spreadsheets could be created about individual student performance to show parents areas of difficulty for their individual child. 

I also briefly looked at Zoho.  I prefer Google drives, however.   I liked the look of Google Drives better and found it to be a bit more user-friendly.  I'm sure that with a little work and effort, I could figure out Zoho, but Google Drive was immediately easier to use.  I also like that with Google Drives, everything is automatically saved.  Both Zoho and Google Drive seem to be fundamentally similar, I just found Google Drive to be a bit more aesthetically pleasing and easier to navigate. 

Here's the quiz I created using forms on Google Drive:

Continents and Oceans

There are 7 continents. *

 
Which 2 of the following oceans border North America? 

 
Which continent is the only continent that is also a country? 

 
Which of the following countries are found on the continent of Europe? 

 

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Thing 12

Thing 12 only means one thing: halfway done with this blog!  I cannot wait to finish all 24 things. 

I chose to explore the Google Translate function of Google.  I picked this because I majored in Spanish and I wanted to see how accurate this translation service would be.  When I first started learning Spanish over 10 years ago in 7th grade, the teachers told us to never use these types of translation services because they would be able to tell.  And, if we did, we might fail the class.  I have always been hesitant to use these.  I have used different websites to translate a word here and there, but never more than that at once.  There were some obvious errors in the translation as some things translate too literally.  However, I think Google Translate is a good resource to use for translating a word or two.  There is also a voice function that will read the translated information.  This could be very helpful as pronunciations in a foreign language can be difficult.  This is a great tool for getting a point across.  Everything may not be correct, but this is a way to quickly provide something to someone who may not speak any English.  I could see this being useful when I start teaching because today's classrooms are getting more and more diverse.  The school where I work now as a teacher assistant has a full-time Spanish translator.  She is spread so thin that I am occasionally called upon to help out.  I work mostly with third grade and those teachers often ask me to translate letters they send home to parents because I do not require the notice that the translator requires to translate things.  Granted, my translations, I'm sure, are not as accurate as hers, but they are better than nothing for parents who may speak no English.  Google Translate doesn't take the place of speaking a foreign language, but, in a pinch, it can be a useful tool for getting the general idea/point across to someone with limited or no English. 

I also chose to use Google Calendar .  I am forever using the calendar function in my phone to make sure I don't forget anything and to remind myself of things I need to get done.  I like making lists and calendars put my lists into a format so that I know what I need to do each day.  I liked that you can share the calendar you create.  This could be useful when I am a teacher.  I could create a monthly classroom calendar and share it with parents to keep them informed of upcoming tests, projects, field trips, etc.  This would help ensure that their children would come to school as prepared as possible for whatever they would encounter that day.  There is also an option to send out invitations.  This could be used in the classroom to invite parents to serve as chaperones on field trips or to invite them to school assemblies or other school events they may want to attend.  You can also print the calendar which would be useful.  I like to mark things off as I complete them, so this would be great for me.  I tried to share my calendar and make it public, but I'm not sure if it actually worked.  My calendar is pretty boring and I only did it for the next 3 weeks.  I also like the option to sync the calendar with my phone.  This would be useful and make me only have to create one calendar.  Also, if it was on my phone, I could always have it with me, and I could change it at any time if necessary. 

Thing 11

Since creating this blog for class is my only experience with blogging, I'm pretty much just learning as I go and winging it.  So far, it has been pretty easy and straight forward.  I'll admit that I am still not regularly looking at any blogs of any sort besides my own as I try not to fall too far behind and drown in the never-ending sea of schoolwork that seems ever-present.  When I read http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/, I felt like the blogger articulated my reasons for never having had any interest in blogs or blogging.  I am not interested in reading someone's soapbox rants, or as she calls them egotists.  I also don't want to read things people are writing just for the sake of writing.  I want to read things of substance and things that I can trust.  The internet has created a population of people, who regardless of knowledge level, proclaim themselves experts and preach their "knowledge" to anyone who will listen.  Anyone can post anything, so you have to be somewhat skeptical of things you may encounter. 
First, I tried the Google blog search tool.  One thing I thought was odd, was that when I typed in education, the links I was presented with were not what I have previously thought of as being blogs.  I typed in "education".  The first "hit" on the search page was for the U.S. Department of Education.  As I scrolled down the page, I found more links to other state departments of education (Virginia and California).  I was expecting to find links to blogs like http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/
The Technorati  site was a little too busy for my liking.  There were a lot of different things going on.  Pop ups kept appearing.  I exited this site as quickly as possible after searching "education".  The results that appeared here were more what I was expecting, unlike the Google search.  I also tried Blogsearchengine.org.  I liked this one as well.  It worked similar to the Google one.  It was very straightforward and took me to a list of results that looked like actual blogs after I searched "education".  After looking at these three ways to search blogs, I think the easiest is Blogsearchengine.org and my least favorite is Technorati.  Using these types of sites introduced me to a whole new world of information that I never even knew existed.  Now that I know how much is out there, I will be able to better take advantage of what the internet has to offer.  This exercise also showed me that my preconceived notion of blogs may have been too narrow.  Blogs, apparently, can encompass a much broader scope of information than I previously thought.  The  results from the Google blog search showed me many different types of websites that I had never considered to be actual blogs. 

Thing 10

RSS feeds are something that I knew absolutely nothing about prior to doing the activities for thing 10.  I'll admit that I was a bit intimidated when I first started reading about it because it seemed like things were written in another language, but once I watched the YouTube video, I felt like I understood it more.  Then, when I used Feedly, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to use.  Now that I sort of understand it, I can see how useful it would be.  All the information comes to one place.  No longer do you have to check each individual site or blog for updates, instead, updates all come to one centralized location.  I like the idea of the time this could save.  I could get updates faster and not waste time exploring each individual site (which could lead me down a rabbit hole of distractions- wasting even more time and not doing what I need to do).
I could see how this would be useful for a teacher.  There are so many educational blogs out there, and if I found one I particularly liked, I could follow it and receive regular updates.  I wouldn't have to worry about remembering which site I liked and try to return to those websites regularly, instead, all updates from multiple places would be sent to one centralized place, allowing me to be updated on multiple things at once.  When I become a teacher, hopefully I will remember to use this and keep up with the educational blogs I have found while completing the things for this blog.  Blogs are full of great ideas and tips for things to do in the classroom.  Getting regular updates could bring great things to my classroom.  I probably don't see me using this in other areas of my life.  It seems useful and easy enough to use, but I probably won't simply because I waste enough time online and do not need to waste more. 

Friday, February 21, 2014

Thing 9

I chose to use ImageChef for this posting.  I chose to use a picture of my dog for this one.  Since she is a husky, when I saw the "snow" picture, I immediately chose it.  We don't get much snow, but when we do, she is in heaven!


For this photo, I also used ImageChef with another picture of my dog.  This time, I included text, her name, Minka.

I was pleasantly surprised with how easy this website was to use.  All I had to do was upload a picture from my computer, put it in the image template, email it to myself, and save it before uploading it to my blog.  The one thing I didn't like was that I had to create an account.  The only problem that I have with this is that I have too many accounts with various usernames and passwords and it becomes difficult to remember what username/password goes with which account.  

As for future use with this website (and others like it), I could see using this to put images of my students on and printing it out for them to use in projects.  The website with the fake magazine covers would be a fun addition to a writing exercise in which students write a newspaper article.  Their picture could go on the cover of their magazine and they could put it all together like a real magazine.  Creating these types of images would be fun things to incorporate into the classroom, and they could possibly make students more excited about learning.  With the fake magazines, students could create an imaginary travel journal and compile their entries for a travel magazine, complete with researched information about a given geographic location.  The cover of the magazine could include a picture or pictures of the places discussed in their imagined travels.  This type of visual might make the students' creations feel more personal.  This website was so easy to use that I'm sure I'll use it again.

Thing 8

I chose to use the puzzle mashup because this was one of the easiest ways I could see incorporating one of these apps into the classroom.  Actual puzzles can be ordered from the website.  The pictures on the puzzles could relate to what is currently being studied or have a picture of students from the class (if permission was given for minors to be in the pictures).  These puzzles could be part of different work stations- in lower elementary grades (K-1), this could help students develop fine motor skills.  In upper elementary grades (2-4), these could be used at indoor recess or for group activities.  What kid wouldn't like to see their face on a puzzle?  This could be used as an incentive to get students to try harder or progress through levels or something like that.  Students could be more motivated to work for this type of reward.  Teachers could also share this website with parents, who may want to purchase puzzles with pictures from school on them for home or the classroom.  This would give the parents another way to know about what is going on in the classroom.  The pictures on the puzzles could be specifically chosen to relate to the curriculum, which would provide students with a more hands-on and fun way to get involved in what they are learning.  If students are learning about the Great Wall of China, for example, they could complete a puzzle with an actual picture of it.



This is a personal picture that I chose from Portugal.  I picked it because it was one of the most surprising places I went.  This city was chosen at the last minute.  My friend and I found a bus, rode a few hours, and spent the day here.  A picture like this could be used in science or social studies when talking about geography, climate, maps, etc.  

I feel like, as with most things on the internet, sharing pictures has its time and place and should be done in moderation.  One thing to keep in mind when sharing photos is that once a photo is online, it is there forever.  People are too quick (in my opinion) to publish their every waking thought and picture.  Some things should remain private.  If you wouldn't want your grandmother to see it, you probably shouldn't post it.  However, I think sharing photos can be a wonderful tool.  They can be used to show students actual places being studied without the financial and logistical crises involved in taking students on field trips.  With the click of a mouse, students can be transported to nearly any time and place in the world.  Students can see what they are learning about, which makes things more relevant to their lives and may make them more interested and motivated to learn.  Personally, when I was abroad, sharing photos was a great way for me to stay in touch with family and friends at home.  I posted all of my photos on Facebook.  My parents were appreciative of this because it kept them updated of my whereabouts since I couldn't call home very often.  Photos I have seen online shared by others have often inspired me to want to visit faraway places and explore new cultures and places. One thing to keep in mind when it comes to sharing photos as a teacher is that you have to remain professional and make your settings more private so as not to have your personal life on display for all to see.  Also, posting photos of students may violate privacy laws, so permission would need to be granted to ensure that it was indeed okay for photos with students who were minors to be posted.  

Thing 7


I have no prior experience with Flikr.  I have heard of it, but I have never used it.  I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to navigate.  I wasn’t sure what I wanted to look for as far as a picture to write about in this post.  I typed in “Spain”.  I was immediately taken back to my year there through a barrage of wonderful images.  The one I chose was from the city where I studied abroad in during college.  Santander is located on Spain’s northern coast, and it is a beautiful city.  I immediately recognized the place in the photo, along the bay, in the heart of the city.  My roommate and I spent a great deal of time in this downtown area of the city because it was so close to our host family's apartment.  I had a bit of trouble uploading the photo.  It took a few tries to finally get it on my blog.  

I picked this photo because it brought back so many wonderful memories of my time abroad.  I think the possibilities that photo sharing websites offer in the field of education are endless.  Imagine learning about a place and getting to see actual pictures from there.  Children may have a difficult time conceptualizing the idea that our country could be so similar to another country.  However, pictures like these show students how similar places around the world actually are.  Providing students with these types of photos can make learning more meaningful.  Perhaps seeing photos of other places and cultures will inspire young children to learn new languages and dream of traveling to those faraway places one day. 

Using this type of website could be useful in the classroom to show parents what their students are doing in the classroom, on field trips, etc.  However, this would have to be approved by the district or school since the posts would involve pictures of minors  Sharing classroom happenings with parents may give them the feeling that they are more involved and aware of what their children are learning, in turn, making them be more hands-on with their children’s learning at home. 

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Thing 6


I was overwhelmed at first when I started searching for a website to explore for this post.  When I went on go2web20.net, I was surprised to find so many options.  There were so many tags and I had never heard of most of them.  I was relieved to find that there was a search option.  Since I want to teach elementary school, I searched kids which led me to www.gameclassroom.com.

This website provides students with interactive games to practice various skills in math and language arts.  The skills and activities are divided into grade levels k-6.  Each grade level has interactive games to practice level-appropriate skills.  This website was created by educators and teachers, so the activities found and presented on this website have been approved by educators.  I explored the third grade math section.  I looked specifically at multiplication facts.  In this section, there was an explanation, links to other websites students could explore to gain more practice, and practice problems for students to complete.  This website touts itself as being a tool for students to use in homework help.  This website seems easy to use and appears to have a great deal of resources.  

The one thing I do not like about this website is that it links you to other websites for the actual games.  When I first found this website, I thought that the games were actually on this website, but this website is merely a platform from which to launch onto other websites for the interactive games.  There are, however, worksheets and explanations available on this website which may be great tools for parents and students alike.  The explanations provided may explain things to students in a way that is different than how the teacher presented information, which may help a student understand something that was previously confusing.  I also like the availability of practice problems for math.  The more you practice a skill, like multiplication, the better you will be at that skill. 


As for classroom use, I could see using this in a classroom to provide students with the opportunity to practice more with new skills.  A teacher could also assign activities from this website for students to complete at home for extra practice.  Students could print out the activities they complete to turn in for a grade, which would allow the teacher to monitor their progress in certain skills. 
 

Thing 5


To me, school 2.0 is a sign of the quickly changing times.  Technology, now more than ever, dominates every facet of our lives.  Some may say it is to the detriment of our society, but I tend to think that technology has done more to help us than to hurt us.  But, like anything, technology should be used in moderation.  School 2.0 is the idea that schools are incorporating technology.  There is no escaping technology.  It is everywhere.  Technology has so much to offer students.  Gone are the days of researching topics in the library.  Any and all information students need about nearly every topic imaginable is at the tip of our fingers.  And, to top it off, most information out there is free.  School 2.0 will hopefully prepare the next generation of students to be better consumers of information.  There is so much information out there (some good, some bad) and students should know what to believe and what to dismiss.
I’m working as a teacher assistant with special education.  Some of the kids I work with can hardly read, but if you hand them an iPad, they can navigate and find anything they want.  Kids today know way more about technology than I did at their age.  Next week, 3rd grade has some required assessment in which they have to type 2 essays on a computer.  These are 3rd graders.  I definitely couldn’t type in 3rd grade.  I’m pretty sure I wasn’t analyzing any passages and writing about them until I was well into high school.  I definitely wasn’t typing my work in elementary school.  This is a sign of the changes of school 2.0.  The face of school today is drastically different than it was even 10 years ago.  Another thing that stuck out to me was the idea that commenting and posting is a give and take and connects people from all over the world.  It is amazing that with the click of a button, you can email someone thousands of miles away and they will receive it almost instantaneously.  School 2.0, to me, is the idea that schools keep up with (and try to stay ahead of) the ever-changing technological landscape of today and incorporate these changes into the classroom. 

I think, in the future, technology will only have an increasing presence in our lives.  Classrooms ten years from now will probably be unrecognizable.  Technology is changing and if schools are to prepare students for future success, they will have to keep up with the times and incorporate these changes into their classrooms.  When I was reading about the open classes at MIT, it made me think that today’s face-to-face classes at universities may soon be a thing of the past.  With technology, higher education may soon become widely available and affordable to more people.  One point that stuck out to me in the posts I read was that the only way to control the amount of information out there is to contribute more.  This seems like an ironic statement.  I think it means that the more you contribute, the more educated you become.  If you are more educated on a subject, you will be a better consumer of information and may be able to help others know what information is false and what is to be trusted.  I think that today’s children are using technology more than any other generation.  School 2.0 can help ensure that they get the most out of what they are doing and ensure that they know what they are doing. 

Thing 4


Commenting is important in the blogging world, or so I learned in reading the suggested posts about why it is important.  I have never been a blogger or blog reader.  The few times I have read blogs, it has never really even occurred to me to comment.  I’m not much of a commenter in general.  I keep my thoughts to myself.  After reading the postings about why commenting is important I can now see why I should consider leaving comments in the future.  I think I have always been turned off of commenting because of “Darth Vader” commenters.  There are always overly negative and critical people who never think twice about leaving a rude word.  When I lived in Europe and would search for hostels to stay in while traveling, I would look at comments to help me decide if the places I was looking at would be good or not.  The comments were terrible to read.  People would rate places badly because it rained when they were there or because they had noisy neighbors or other reasons that had nothing to do with the actual hostel.  If you’re paying $10 a night to stay somewhere, chances are, you need to lower your expectations- you’re not going to get Four Seasons accommodations at that price.  You get what you pay for, so keep your unnecessarily rude comments to yourself. 

That said, I can see how commenting creates a sense of community.  And, if comments are good, who doesn’t like praise?  Everyone likes to hear something good about something they have done.  If commenters have a positive word to share, it may encourage the writer to continue. 

Another thing I found important was the idea of bloggers responding to comments they receive.  By acknowledging comments received, a blogger is acknowledging and recognizing his/her readers.  If a commenter receives a response, it may serve as incentive for him/her to continue reading said blog.  It is like getting good customer service somewhere.  If I go somewhere and the customer service is good, chances are, I’ll return.  On the other hand, if customer service is bad, I’m probably never going back. 

Something else that stood out to me was the idea that comments should be meaningful and relevant.  A “good job” or “nice,” while they may boost the writer’s ego, do little else.  Comments like that provide no substance and contribute nothing to the conversation.  Comments don’t need to be dissertations, but they should have a purpose.  Tell the writer what they did well, specifically.  This is the same thing we have been taught in our education classes about how to provide feedback to students.  I remember teachers who would give bad grades (and good ones) with no explanation.  Those grades were meaningless and may as well have been arbitrarily assigned to students because there were no comments about what to change or continue doing.    
I chose to comment on the following blogs from our class:
 
 
Esther:
I commented on Esther because we had things in common: weak in technology, taught English abroad.  She taught English in Korea and my grandmother is Korean. 
Candice: I commented on Candice because she commented on mine and mentioned that she wanted to teach 3rd grade as well, so I would like to see how she uses this blog to possibly get ideas for what I can do in my future classroom.  Also, her facebook comment in thing 1 made me laugh.
Joshua: I liked how he started his post on thing 1.  He wrote like he was resigned to the fact that he had no choice about blogging and had just accepted that it had to be done.  I like how he ends each entry by "checking" it off and moving on to the next one.
Delma: She had commented on my blog and mentioned that we had a great deal in common.  When I read her thing 1, it was interesting to see our similarities.  It was nice to read about someone else who didn't set out to teach, but ended up here just like me. 
Riley: Riley commented on my blog and mentioned our similar struggles with technology.  I was interested to see how someone from a field with which I have no experience, theater, would approach various topics.  I thought that following this blog might help with my lacking creativity.
 
I chose to comment on a blog entitled “Plain Chicken”.  This is a blog I have seen on Pinterest before and gotten recipes from and they turned out well.  I’m a very picky eater and so is the blogger.  She posts recipes that appeal to me and she always includes pictures.  Every Monday, she does “Meow Monday” and posts funny pictures of her cats.  She has one that looks a lot like my own cat.  They always look disinterested and unamused in the pictures posted, which is so characteristic of cats in general.  Mine looks the same in pictures.   I posted on a recipe for something that sounded good to me.  I wrote that it was a great recipe and something I wouldn’t have thought of on my own.  It combined sweet and savory which I enjoy.  I also posted on “Eric Kim Street Photography”.  He had a post about “25 Things I Have Learned While Backpacking in Europe”.  I chose to read this because I traveled around Europe quite a bit during the year I lived in Spain.  The traveling was unbelievably cheap.  I miss it so much.  I loved reading his 25 things because they took me right back to my travels.  I commented about how cheap air travel was and about how surprisingly kind locals were regardless of language barriers.  My friend and I went to Prague and took a bus to a nearby smaller city to see a hockey game.  We got off the bus and didn’t have a map or any clue where the arena was.  We walked for a while, but it started getting dark.  We went into a little shop and asked in English where the arena was.  After some miming and laughing, the woman working in the store came outside with us pointing and gesturing in the direction we needed to go.  I think she even drew us a little map to get us there.  I was met by unbelievably kind people like this woman almost everywhere I went.   
 
 
 
 
 
 

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Thing 3

        I am getting certified in K-6.  Ideally, I would like to teach third grade.  Since I will be teaching such young students, using a blog will take a different form than it would in a high school classroom.  My students’ reading and writing abilities, not to mention typing abilities, will be much more limited than those of high school students.  Likely using a blog at this young of an age would not include posting and commenting by students.  In fact, I’m not sure of how exactly I would have such young students directly use a blog.  Instead, I think I would consult blogs and they would indirectly reap the rewards of what I learned from reading various blogs.  
I think I will more likely use blogs of other people than actually creating my own.  There are countless blogs on the internet that offer ideas from teachers from all over.  These blogs provide a way for teachers to learn new things and find new and different activities to incorporate into their classrooms.  Blogs may also offer insight into what has and has not worked in various scenarios in different classrooms.  Blogs provide a way to connect to other people and learn from their advice and experiences.  I feel sure that throughout this class, I will consult numerous blogs for ideas as I attempt to complete the 23 things.  Through the internet, information is now, more than ever, at our fingertips and consulting blogs that already exist may save me a great deal of time and effort and provide my students with the most enriching opportunities possible.  

Hopefully this class will enlighten me to some of the best blogs available so I can take full advantage of them as I graduate from this program and begin teaching.  As I’ve already said, I’m not a very creative person.  By consulting blogs, hopefully I will get ideas of how to incorporate more creative and fun things into my classroom.  I hope to take full advantage of the invaluable resource that blogs can be to me as I become a teacher.  If I did end up creating my own blog as a teacher, it could serve as a good resource to keep parents involved by providing them with up to date information about the happenings in my classroom and keep them alerted to important upcoming dates regarding school functions, tests, field trips, etc.  

Thing 2

        I have no prior experience with blogging.  When I lived abroad, I considered doing a blog for friends and family at home.  I never ended up actually doing one though.  Instead, I just emailed and posted pictures on facebook.  I have never really read blogs regularly.  I have occasionally stumbled onto blogs on the internet.  
My posting name is just my actual name.  I don’t consider myself to be overly creative, so my name seemed like the easiest thing to do.  The same thought was used in naming my blog.  “Emily’s 23 Things” seemed like the most straight forward thing I could title my blog.  Since I didn’t know much about this project, I didn’t think of anything more creative since I wasn’t really sure what I would be doing.  I’m a pretty private person and the thought of someone I might actually encounter reading this blog is not something I am looking forward to happening.  I’m sure that will inevitably happen as part of this project, but I can’t say that it is something I am eager to have happen.  
So far, I have been surprised with how easy it was to create this blog.  Had I known how easy it was before, I probably would have done one when I was in Spain.  I haven’t really had any problems thus far.  I had a small problem when I was trying to get my avatar to post, but that was because I didn’t read the directions very well.  Once I reread them, the problem was fixed and my avatar posted.  

I don’t really know that my avatar reflects my personality.  She doesn’t really look like me.  I got tired of looking through the hairstyles and settled on the one I chose.  She has on a blue shirt.  Blue is my favorite color and one I wear often.  Beyond that, I don’t really see any similarities in us.  I tried to make the avatar look like me.  I guess I don’t really have a good reason for doing so.  I just thought that since I had used my name (I hadn’t realized it was an option not to until I had already done thing 1) I would go ahead and make my avatar resemble me at least somewhat.  Like I said earlier, I’m not very creative, so I didn’t want to create one that looked completely different from me.  It was easiest to try to make her look like me, so that’s what I did.  I got tired of going through the clothing and hairstyles fairly quickly so what I settled on may not have been the best choice, but it is similar enough to me.  The background I chose was the beach (though I’m not sure that the background actually posted to my blog).  I chose this background because I love to travel and the beach is one of my favorite places to go.  

Thing 1


                Well, here goes nothing.  I have never blogged, and I have to admit that I am approaching this project with a bit of trepidation.  As I read through the 7 ½ habits, I found that habit one: begin with the end in mind was the easiest of the habits for me and one that I see in my daily life.  I have always been a very goal-oriented person.  I like to make lists and feel accomplished when I am able to cross things off of my lists.  It makes me uncomfortable when I do not have a goal or some sort of sense of direction.  I do not like the unknown.  I have always set high goals for myself and held myself to high standards.  When I graduated from college with what I learned was a useless bachelor’s degree, I found myself without a goal for the first time in my life.  It was a hard time, and I felt like I was floundering a bit without having any sense of direction.  I decided to take a year off from everything to take some time to think, so I moved to Spain for a year to teach English.  I had previously studied abroad for a semester and was hoping to find a way to go back for a longer period of time to improve my Spanish and travel more.  This year abroad afforded me the opportunity to improve my Spanish, travel extensively throughout Europe, and open my eyes to my future profession: teaching.  I had always resisted the idea of teaching and took this job more because of location than what the job actually was.  The job was merely a way to get me back to Europe so I could travel more.  When I came home from Spain, it was like that year had never happened: I still couldn’t find a job and still wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do.  What I did know was that I needed to figure it out and I needed to do so quickly.  I needed a goal as soon as possible.  I had really enjoyed my year abroad.  I found that I enjoyed teaching much more than I thought I would.  Finally, I decided to go back to school and I had an attainable goal once again. 
                I think the hardest of the habits for me would be habit six: use technology to your advantage.  I’m no technological genius.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m in no way computer illiterate, but I don’t know or care to know how to do everything on a computer.  In middle school, when MySpace was all the rage, I resisted getting one.   I finally caved in college and got Facebook.  I’ve since resisted Twitter and Instagram simply because I don’t care to read anyone’s running stream of consciousness and I don’t need any more distractions keeping me from doing what I need to do.  I’m sure these things have a lot to offer, but I haven’t found them yet.  I think this is a habit I need to work on to ensure that my future students’ experiences with technology in the classroom are not as limited as mine were.  Technology in my classrooms as a student consisted of the teacher rolling in a cart with a tv and vcr on it.  The teacher would then spend about half of the class period trying to get a video to play while the students continued to grow more and more frustrated and restless.  When I was a student, I remember enjoying anytime we used technology in the classroom.  When I was in Spain, the students loved whenever we would watch videos or listen to music or anything else involving technology.  I think technology has so much to offer and can provide a memorable way for students to really connect with what they are learning.  There are so many ways technology can be incorporated into the classroom, and I hope to learn to better use it in my future classroom.  I’m currently working in an elementary school.  Since I’m younger than all of the teachers, any time they have a technological issue, they come to me.  Usually I can fix it through trial and error, but I’d like to learn more so I knew what I was doing instead of just jiggling wires and pressing buttons.  Hopefully this class will improve my technological abilities.