Summary :)

I am finished with the 23 things, but that does not mean I am finished exploring Web 2.0 tools. I really think this is just the beginning of a new phase in my teaching career. I have learned so much and I excited to apply this knowledge in my own classroom. Also, I feel like I can take this newly acquired knowledge back to my school to share with other teachers. I realize that I am beginning my teaching career in a 21st century technological boom. I want to use these tools to enhance student learning and participation. Students use these Web 2.0 tools everyday and I think it is ridiculous if we don't use this medium to reach children.
Things #13-18 were my favorite on this journey. I feel like I learned the most from these things because I have always had a fear of social networking and sharing my work with others. Now I see that there are educational networks out there that can help me in my personal and professional career. My administrators really stressed the importance of collaboration this year. Educators need to team up and support each other because it will benefit the students. It's our job to provide the best learning environment for our students.
I like that the 23 things were designed like an independent study. I learned so much because I was had to practice, practice and practice. The only dislike I have about this program is the level of interactivity among students. I didn't get as involved as I would have liked to in the commenting process. I wish I would have done more than that. Maybe comments should be set up where each student must comment at least ten times during the week because this is a shorter session. I felt like I was so busy with my standards I forget about this important process.
Lastly, I will continue using and researching Web 2.0 tools for personal and educational purposes. I plan to create a classroom wiki for each class section that I teach. Also, I will create a blog for my classes. I have a lot of work to do before the summer ends.
~Kat

Thing #23 Creative Commons

As you can see, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommerical-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Teachers and students must be familiar with copyright laws and Creative Commons makes this easy. I can not believe that I did not know about Creative Commons before this class. Now, I know exactly what to look for. It is important that educators teach students about Creative Commons so they are not in violation of these laws. I really like how you can search for images in Creative Commons. That way you know exactly what type of licenses you are looking for and there is no ambiguity. Creative Commons will be a tool that I use in my classrooms because we have major discussions about plaigiarism and the penalties that are associated with this crime. Students need to be aware of these penalties and how this is an issue not to be taken lightly.

Thing #22 Podcasts

The podcast that I listened to was Just Vocabulary from the Education Podcast network. This podcast helps build your vocabulary and provides two words a day for you to practice. I have to take the GRE very soon and thought this would be a great podcast to help me prepare. I found Learn out Loud and the EPN very easy to work with. I will start using podcast in my classroom because it is a great tool for mixing up instruction. You are always trying to find new and inventive teaching strategies and I believe student response would be great. I found a couple of podcast for educational and personal use. I really will enjoy the Learn out Loud because I can get audio books. I could listen to a book instead of ads on the radio.

Thing #21 Animoto

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

This was so much fun! I just made my first video. Animoto was easy to use and I would use this in my classroom for sure. The only thing that disappointed me was the music. I wanted some music without vocals and my only choice was classical. I made this video in about ten minutes. I didn't take long for it to upload either which was great. I had ten pictures of my dog, Rudy, so I used him as my mini project. Isn't he cute? I really enjoyed creating this video and plan to use Animoto in the classroom setting. Students would really enjoy using this site as well....

Thing #20 Youtube

Youtube....is anyone else a Youtube junkie at times? I picked this video because it is a great Motivational clip to show to students when they are lacking motivation or say the famous "I can't" line. I always tell my students "Dream bigger than you know you can achieve" and that they can be anything they want to be in life. Youtube is blocked at my school but there are ways to get around this. All you have to do is download the videos onto a flash drive. I am glad that Youtube is blocked at school because students would become easily distracted by this site. I would not want to be held responsible if one of my students went to inappropriate videos. I have used TeacherTube and this is a great site to use where students can watch videos or create their own videos. I love the Youtube Edu and will use this in my classroom. The only thing that I dislike about Youtube are the ugly, sometimes nasty comments.

Thing #19 TeacherPop-Ning

Wow, this has been one of my favorite 23 things. I have always been skeptical about social networking sites and I am not exactly sure why? Anyway, this "thing" opened my eyes because I wasn't aware of all the social networking sites. I just automatically think of Facebook or Myspace. I have really enjoyed setting up my TeacherPop and can not wait to make some friends and maybe mentors along the way. I think it is important for educators to have mentors or someone you can go to for certain advice. TeacherPop will give me that opportunity. I also checked out the Goodreads site. Reading is one of my hobbies so I decided to check out Goodreads and I spent way too much time on this site. I think I might be addicted! I also would recommend the Fuzzster if you are crazy about your pet. I have a Yorkie and I have not been able to find any local breeders. I thought this might be a good way to find breeders and make some money :) haha ..Also, Craftster is really amazing.

Thing #17 Social Networking

Educators and students should take advantage of social networking/bookmarking sites. I always save my useful sites in the standard bookmarking fashion, and when I really need a my URLs I never have them with me. Social bookmarking sites such as Del.icio.us, Furl and Ma. gnolia allow us to forget the hassle of creating hundreds of separate folders. You just simply use the tool bar to organize bookmarks. However, these sites are more than just great organizers. Educators could create, research, publish, and have a way to collaborate with other users world wide. Educators could share their great ideas with others, and the beginning teachers would have another source for gathering new materials. More importantly, staying organized with your research is a huge bonus. This is where students could create bookmarks and add tags to share with other students and their research projects. Using these sites might also create a sense of unity among peers that would encourage others to open up and share their ideas with the class.