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.

Thing #18 Social Networking

Here is my Facebook account: MK May (alias name)

I believe that social networking sites can be beneficial to educators. The main benefit is collaboration! Educators need to stay up-to-date with current ideology, technology, etc. More importantly, it is a great tool to see what teachers out of state are doing. This offers global collaboration and gets educators out old habits/routines. Not only do these sites offer collaborative features, they also offer great support lines.

Dislikes--Home page is really crowded!

Likes--You have the ability to control privacy settings and the advanced search for finding friends

I wouldn't use Facebook in the school setting because it is not advised at my school, and many social networking sites are blocked at my school. However, I do see the benefits of using social networking sites for personal use at home. I believe educators must know how to use these sites professionally or they risk being in dangerous situations. That is why I don't use these particular social networking sites as part of my classroom or school application unless it is community based?

Insight--It was interesting to see how much Facebook has changed in just a few years. I used to have a Facebook account but I deleted it because I wasted too much time on it and couldn't keep up! They have made it more user friendly and the setup was definitely easier this go around.

Thing #16 More Web 2.0 Tools

I chose iGoogle as my start page because I have a Gmail and this one just made sense. I did make it my permanent home page because it has everything that I need: e-mail, news, weather, calendar, and Google search. The online calendar is useful to me because I can set important reminders, look at my month at a glance, plan future events through my Google calendar. I also looked at BackPackit and found this site extremely user friendly because of the sidebar. Also, BackPack incorporates calenders, notes, images and files. The to-do list that I have been using is Remember the Milk and I have found it to be really useful but somewhat time consuming. All you have to do is create tasks, locations, or events and you get an instant reminder. Eventually I would like to get the app for this site and be able to use it on my phone! I think I would use this site more if I had it on my phone and did not have to log in with my computer. Another cool tool that I found handy is the Stickynotes. I'm in love with Post its so this site was instantly attractive to me. The tools that I would recommend for home:

1. iGoogle

2. Backpack

These are the sites I would recommend for school!

3. Remember the Milk

4. stickynotes

Thing #15 Wiki

How might I use a Wikki? Well, I've brainstormed numerous possibilities:

1. Literary Circles?

2. Wikis for unit plans? Maybe you have a great idea but need some materials? Other educators might be willing to share?

3. Wikis for research? Students could create a Wiki Research page instead of the standard research paper. Each group would have a specific section?

4. Book Reviews? This is like the Princeton Book Lover's Wiki

Yes, I'll admit I'm a control freak so the concept of a Wiki is alarming in some ways. However, I think they would be an awesome tool where students use technology to publish ideas, research, etc.

Click Here to see my Wiki: Sophomore Seekers

I created this Wiki for my Sophomore (English II) students. It is a work in progress....Eventually, I would love to post units, literary circles, research projects and other materials!

Thing #14 Go with the Flow

Bubbl was a great tool for me because I found it easier to use than Mindmeister. I used Bubbl to create a brief outline of one of my lesson plans. This would be great to show students as an introduction to the lesson to show them how certain skills build on one another. Also, in this particular unit plan students have to create a graphic organizer. This would be an excellent tool for them to use when designing their graphic organizers because it is very intuitive. Students can even print the organizers when they are finished! I would recommend this site to students because its free and easy to use.

I also explored Gliffy and was able to begin creating documents right away. However, the only negative thing about this site is you only get a 30-day free trial. This site is cool because it creates flowcharts, Venn diagrams, Floor plans, and other interesting diagrams. I can see why they charge you after 30 days because there is so much stuff! I think this would be a great resource for students, but there are other sites (such as Bubbl) that are free.

Character Quiz

Characterization quiz

1.  What draws a reader into a story?

2.  The ______________is the main character of a story.

3.  The ___________ is the character or force the protagonist struggles against and must overcome. 

4.  What kind of characters add depth and complication to the plot?

5.  Static characters grow and change.  True or false?

TWM Quiz 1

Tuesdays with Morrie Quiz #1

1.  Who is MItch?

2.  Who is Morrie?

3.  What does Mitch discover late one night while channel surfing?

4.  What is Mitch's profession?

5.  What is wrong with Morrie?

Bonus:  What is a common name for Morie's illness?  

Thing #13 Zoho

This is not the first time that I have used Zoho. There are many things that I love about Zoho. For example, one of my students introduced me to this site this year before we started presentations. The day before research projects were due, many students came to me (even though we had exhaustively talked about procrastinating) saying they did not have a printer, or a jump-drive, Internet, etc. Zoho allows students to save all of their work online where they can access it right before giving their presentations. Also, this site is great for those who do not have Microsoft Word or other word processing systems. Zoho has saved me a lot of headache, and I tell my students that now they have no excuses for not turning in their work on time. So, thanks Zoho!

See above TWM Quiz 1 and Character Quiz posts!

Thing #12 Google

Google Calendar--http://www.google.com/calendar/render
I have mixed feelings about this particular feature of Google. It was frustrating at times because I had to read a lot of links to figure out how to use this thing properly. I do think that this would be a great tool to use in the classroom. You could make a class calendar where you could communicate with students and parents because you can make this open to the public. However, if I were to use Google Calendar for my own personal use I would never make my calendar open to the public. I think that would be a little creepy knowing someone could look at what I'm doing for the whole month!

Google Docs--http://docs.google.com/#all

This is great for people who might not have a jump drive when you need to save a presentation, document, etc. It's always great to have a backup plan and a safe place to store your creations. I know that students are not allowed access to their personal email accounts at school, but this would be a great way for them to keep up with their work.

Thing #11 Feeds

For me, Google Blog Search and Technorati were the easiest for finding feeds. I just went to these sites, used the indexes and this helped refined my searches. I thought the Syndic8 was much harder to search for feeds. I found some really good feeds such as The Daily Beast, Todd Finely (he is an English Professor Blogger), and more. These were my favorites. I found a highly unusual feed about Lady Gaga and the Yankees :) I mainly used the tools on the 23 things website. I did do a basic google search for top 50 interesting feeds and found some cool feeds. I was a little overwhelmed at the beginning of this Thing. However, the more tools I researched I was able to find feeds that interested me.

Thing #10 RSS

There are a few things that I like about RSS. 1. I like that everything can be syndicated to one place. Can you imagine subscribing to each of your favorite websites, feeds,etc just so you can keep up? That would be exhausting and annoying. 2. I like how it keeps me organized. With out the user interface I would not be able to keep up with what I've read. 3. I like that I can access this information on my phone.
I would be able to use this in my personal life and in the classroom. I try to stress the importance of keeping up with current events in the classroom. Teachers could use RSS to create unit lesson plans that have "cross curriculum" ideas in mind. Maybe this can be a new way for finding up-to-date research!

Thing #9 Image Generator

ImageChef.com Poetry Blender


I had a hard time uploading these images to my blog!!! I really liked the ImageChef Poetry Blender. This would be an awesome way to present a poem in class! Poetry Blender was really easy to use and I had my creation in about 30 seconds. You can add text and images to the poetry blender. I also used the Happy Face Generator to create another image but had difficulty uploading the image!

Thing #8 Mashups

I explored many of the Flickr mashups and Big Huge Lab was my favorite. I see myself using Big Huge Lab for personal use and in the classroom. I have a couple of projects where students could use BHL's Map Maker, Magazine Maker, and the Writer in group projects. For example, The Map Maker would be great when we study Homer's The Odyssey. I usually let students create a map of Odysseaus' travels, and this would be a perfect tool for this project! These tools allow students to think and write creatively. I also worked with Spell with Flickr and Splashr. I had a little trouble working with Spell with Flickr. I was unable add the image in my blog. I would love to use Big Huge Lab to create documents to send as gifts. See the puzzle above! Isn't it precious?

As previously mentioned in Thing #7, I don't like posting or sharing photos online. I think the main reason I feel this way is because I am a private person and I don't like the idea that I am leaving a digital footprint behind that I might not can get back?

Thing #7 Flickr

In a way I was dreading this particular post because I have never used a photo hosting service before. I am really cautious when it comes to uploading pictures on the web because of safety, privacy, and professional reasons. Even with the privacy settings I still feel a certain vulnerability. However, once I set up my Flickr account I felt more at ease Everything was right in front of me! believe I will continue using Flickr for personal use and hopefully incorporate Flickr into the classroom setting.It would be neat to create a group for each class. This photo above is a picture of a bulletin board in my classroom. I keep this board filled with school-related activities such as athletic events, club scheduling, newsletters, etc.This is just a way to show students you involved and express interest in their school careers and other school-related functions.