Thing 23

Wow, I can't believe that I am done! I started out very unsure of many online tools and now I am at least familiar with many new things that I can try in both my professional and personal life. Though I definitely wouldn't call myself an expert in the realm of technology, I at least know what a widget is, how to set up a blog, how to subscribe to a podcast, etc... I know that I won't start the school year off utilizing every single thing that I learned, however I will implement a handful of the ones that I do feel comfortable with. For example, I will have a classroom blog and I will be using my Delicious account to find relevant information for my classroom. I also liked the bubbl.us brainstorming website. There are things like podcasts and bloglines that didn't really appeal to me, but at least I am familiar with them, so I can always incorporate them into my classroom. I really enjoyed this class and I liked being exposed to a whole new technology world!

Thing 22

Well, I actually created my own Wiki! You can find it at http://ejm27.wikispaces.com/Trying+Something+New. I was able to insert a picture and a widget, so I am quite happy with how far I have come in regards to technology. It kind of seems that a blog and a wiki are a bit similiar. However, a wiki can be edited by others. I tend to like a blog a bit better, but can see how a wiki can be used in collaboration with the classroom. One thing that I don't like about wikis is that many times students use Wikipedia as their resource to looking up information for a class, and they don't realize that anyone can put information on there and edit it, so it isn't always factual. Overall, I like Wikis and see that in certain settings it would be more appropriate than a blog.

Thing 21

I finally know what a Wiki is! I guess I should have known that it had something to do with Wikipedia, but I of course, I didn't think through it that much. I really like the Comparing Hemispheres Wiki. With a background in counseling, I think that it is really important for children to learn about differences and similiarities, and what a fun way to do such a thing through a Wiki. Obstacles that I see would pose a problem are that many of my students do not have internet access at home, and they lack proper computer experience (other than facebook and music searches). However, we do have a wonderful media center and they need to start using the internet for something other than listening to the new Drake song (being home in the summer, you get to watch a little more tv and unwillingly discover who Drake is). Anyway, I think that it would be a nice tool to use in a classroom.

Thing 20

Okay, I must admit, I am not much of a fan of podcasting. Yes, I think it is a good idea to use if students are creating their own podcasts, but I am really not wow-ed by the search engines out there to find the exact podcast that I am looking for. I thought that the Education Podcast Network would be filled with appropriate podcasts for middle school kids, but there were only a few dozen podcasts. I found that Podcast Alley was just overwhelming. I don't know, I guess I just don't want my students to listen to a podcast just for the sake of listening to one. If one day, I had a brillant idea and searched and found an appropriate podcast, then I guess I would have them listen to one, but I think may stick to having them create a podcast- with monitoring of course. I listened to a podcast from Cranbrook middle school composers and noticed that one of the student's song was titled "Bubbles, Sparkles and Champagne"- plus she described her song as "Sexy". Yeah, I would have to do some teacher editing to her podcast if she were my student... Anyway, I did subscribe to an NPR Health podcast- just to see if I could do it (and I could). Honestly, I don't check my bloglines account, so I probably won't check my NPR podcast subscription, but if I ever have an urge to subscribe to podcasts, I now know how.

Thing 19

I had heard of Podcasting, and kind of understood the concept of it, but really never explored podcasting until today. I think that of the ones that I explored, I like the ones where the students had an opportunity to be creative and share their knowledge in a different form of expression. For example, I liked the podcast called Our City (I guess we are supposed to include the link so here it is: http://learninghand.com/ourcity/index.html). I thought it was a nice idea, having students research the place they live and report on it. The students can also click on other areas of the map and learn about other cities where students who live there have also reported. I think that podcasts are a great way to have the kids share the infomation that they are learning. They are always on the computer and ipods, so I'm sure it would be something that they are excited about. I would like to use podcasts in the classroom, though I still am not quite sure how to find things that exactly fit what you are looking for- though I am hoping that Thing 20 teaches us how to do that.

Thing 18

ACT College Planning

View more presentations from Mike Parent.

Who knew that you had to reinvent the wheel? I found a wonderful College/ACT presentation that I would like to show the students that I am working with this summer. I tried to embed it onto this blog, but when I try to look at it, it just keeps saying "loading". But I do think that it is a pretty neat website and I look forward to exploring more of it. Out of the classroom, I don't know if I would really think to come to slidesharing, but who knows now that I am becoming more tech savvy.

Thing 17

Once again, I am learning about things that I didn't know existed on the internet. A few of the options that I explored, I would definitely use in the classroom. I really liked the bubbl.us site. Since I teach study skills, this would help study with their brainstorming and organizing their idea. I really wanted to set up an account with Knowtes, since I think that virtual flashcards would also be helpful to my students, however Knowtes wouldn't let me set up an account (or maybe they would, but I just couldn't figure it out). The Remember the Milk site would be helpful for both my personal and professional life- I like that the site can send you reminders on your t-mobile account. All in all, interesting sites in Thing 17.

Thing 16

Wow, I never knew that something like Google Docs existed, but I guess I never gave it much thought. That is a pretty neat thing that students or co-worker could work on editing together. At our school, we do have a shared drive which all the teachers can get on, however you can only access it when you are at school. Actually, this week I ran into an issue because I need some of the information on the shared drive, so now I have to drive a half hour to my school to use the shared drive. Google Docs would have come in handy! I thought editing and uploading documents was a breeze. Some issues that I foresee would be making sure that everyone has access to the account. For example, some teachers might think that it would be a pain to have a Google Doc account when we have a shared drive. The same might go for my friends, who might just want to email a document around to edit or share it. I do see maybe getting all the students an account might be time-consuming, but I think it would be worth it.

Thing 15

Yeah, I really haven't warmed up to the whole RSS thing. Honestly, I hadn't checked my blogline since I set it up. It isn't one of the "Things" that really stood out to me, so I guess I kinda forgot about it. It is nice to have all of those feeds together in one spot, but if you are like me and forget about checking it, it is a bit overwhelming when you finally do and have 200 postings to read. So to answer the question, using RSS is definitely not a habit. As for Delicious, I really do see myself using that more often. It was easy to subscribe to tags that interest me.

Thing 14

Delicious registration and navigation went smoothly. My user id is ejm27, so feel free to view my picks. I actually found it even more helpful to do educational searches on the Delicious website than on Google or Yahoo. Since teachers probably use the website, my searches were not bogged down with thousands of results that I didn't want, like on Yahoo. I can see myself using this and I can't wait to show my husband, who is also a teacher (he is learning just as much as me). I already found some great websites that I can use in my classroom and I look forward to using Delicious for my upcoming school year.

Thing 13

I like the idea of using Delicious. I a few months ago, I saw another teacher using Delicious and it seemed helpful. Now, I am looking forward to setting up an account and using Delicious. I think that the main advantage would be that you can view other teachers bookmarks and get ideas and vice versa. I could see that a disadvantage would be people not tagging their sites correctly like they talked about in the readings. Other than that, I am excited to get started...

Thing 12

I'm glad that installing this calorie calculator widget worked. I think that I am getting the hang of this embedding code thing. I went with the calorie calculator widget just because I stumbled upon it and it look cute, yet helpful. And since it has been a summer of barbeques, wine, and pizza, the calorie calculator could probably be useful to me and maybe others. In regards to online communities, no I don't belong to any of those facebook/myspace type communities. I just haven't gotten into the idea of posting my random thoughts for all to see (well, I guess I'm doing that now). I just like to stick to a specific email or text message to people who I need to contact. Personally, I sometimes think that posting something for all to see sometimes lacks that personal connection that I like. A perfect example, my cousin posted on Facebook something about my pregnancy (even though I hadn't had a chance to tell everyone yet), so a bunch of my friends and family found out I was pregnant via Facebook. That wasn't exactly how I would have liked to tell them. So, I guess the free-for-all release of information is what bothers me about those online communities. I know that sometimes students are so used to posting things on their Myspace page that they might not realize that the information isn't for all to see. Another example is that my sister-in-law is a Human Resource administrator for an advertising agency and many times she bypasses a resume because she will go onto Facebook or Myspace and look up the aplicant's name and she sees postings on his/her page that makes my sister-in-law think twice about calling them for an interview. I think that students need to remember that you never know who will see what you are posting.

Thing 11

Well, Thing 11 was a piece of cake compared to other Things. Reading other people's blogs and commenting on them was fun and inspiring. Checking out other people's blogs lets you see what they are doing differently from you. It inspires you to try new things and it also lets you see that others are struggling in the areas where you struggled. Being a shy person, I do sometimes find it difficult to post a comment on a blog. That may sound stupid, but I sometimes think twice about posting something on someone's blog. But I posted a few posts and all is well.