I had a lot of fun working through the 23Things. I learned about so many resources and was given the chance to actually work with them. I enjoyed the independence of the project. This helped me to work through it at my own pace and to spend more time on the technology that was personally relevant and interesting. This project gave me something to work on alongside what we covered in class. It was a great change from the traditional structure of coursework, and I wish more classes incorporated this kind of self discovery and report. I also feel that writing about the activities in the blog helped to reinforce them for me.
I especially enjoyed the mind maps and flowcharts, feeds and RSS readers, and photo/video sharing sites (Flickr & Youtube). These are the tools that I will be most likely to use in my classroom to improve instruction. Some of the tools will be fun for my students to use (web based applications, image generators, mashups). Other tools were less pertinent to our classroom (social networking sites, organization tools, binders), but I was still thankful for the opportunity to explore them.
Although this program is over, I will continue to use information and resources that it exposed me to. I was introduced me to several things that will help me stay plugged in to relevant information, updates, and new resources. Blogs are probably my biggest takeaway from this program. I will follow my favorite blogs through my RSS reader and can easily search out new blogs when I want to learn about something different or new. I also plan to maintain a classroom blog that will act as a hub of activity, information, and resources for my students and their parents.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Thing # 23 Creative Commons
As an educator, I will probably first turn to a CC search to locate material I wish to use for my class. This rules out having to worry about violating Copyright law by only finding material that is licensed through CC. This is just as simple as a Google search, and yields worry-free results.
Thing # 22 Livebinders
Standard 4.0 Historical and Cultural Relationships
Here is one of the three binders I created using Livebinder. My other two binders are for (5th grade art) Standard 5.0 and Standard 6.0. The binders include tabs for lesson plans, examples, and student work pertaining to each standard. This is an easy way to organize and share web and non-web documents (photos, pdfs, etc.) that may be useful to me while teaching.
I also see my students creating their own binders. When students are surfing the web, they can easily file useful sites into their binders. They can also add other material such as pictures and written assignments. These could be linked back to our class website so that they have access to eachother's finds.
Here is one of the three binders I created using Livebinder. My other two binders are for (5th grade art) Standard 5.0 and Standard 6.0. The binders include tabs for lesson plans, examples, and student work pertaining to each standard. This is an easy way to organize and share web and non-web documents (photos, pdfs, etc.) that may be useful to me while teaching.
I also see my students creating their own binders. When students are surfing the web, they can easily file useful sites into their binders. They can also add other material such as pictures and written assignments. These could be linked back to our class website so that they have access to eachother's finds.
Thing # 21 Animoto
I just created this video slideshow at Animoto. Pretty cool. Videos up to 30 seconds are free. I simply chose a theme (earthy), pictures (from last summer around the garden), and a song (upbeat Iron & Wine) and viola, this video was created for me.
Thing # 20 YouTube
I decided to share this video of a potter throwing a pitcher. This is what I studied in undergraduate school.
Youtube is a very useful site. You can find videos on just about anything. As an art teacher, tutorials, like the one above, may come in handy in my classroom. If I am not an expert in a particular area, there is sure to be someone out there who is.
Also, the videos are super easy to embed into your site. This would come in handy for somebody who is maintaining a school-related website (particularly a library's web site).
Thing # 19 More Social Networking Sites
I sort of cheated with the badge above. I did not know how to embed the it to my blog so instead I took a screenshot, uploaded it here, and linked it back to the appropriate page. There is more than one solution to any given problem, right?
So Teacherpop is a social networking site (hosted by Ning) for current and future educators. Although the site is neat in grouping together like-minded people (teachers), I do not see myself using it very much. There is just so much else out there that I feel will be more helpful to me. I will more likely turn to blogs and favorite websites for ideas and information when it comes to my classroom.
In exploring other social networking sites, I found WhatsOnMyBookshelf. If you like to read, you know that your bookshelves can fill up fast. This site allows users to list their books for trade. Books are valued on a points system based on current sale prices. Once a barter has been made, users just have to cover shipping costs.
Thing # 18 Social Networking
41.6% if the U.S. population has a Facebook account. Talk about getting connected. You can find just about anybody on Facebook, from grade school friends, extended family, to your college professors. Check mine out. If you don't happen to already be my "friend" you actually won't be able to learn very much about me (you'll see a photo of me, a brief lists of my interests, and my list of friends). That is because I have chosen to keep my page private. One of the great aspects of social networking sites like Facebook is your ability to modify privacy settings. My site can only be accessed by people who I have manually added to my friends list. This way I know exactly who is able to view my content and activit.
As a future teacher, I feel that social networking sites like Facebook should be kept separate from my professional life. I do no see a particularly pertinent use for them in the classroom. I think these sites should be reserved for personal social use. This is where privacy controls come into play. It is a good idea for teachers to make their pages private so that students (and even colleagues) are not keeping tags on their social activity via the web. Countless testimony tells how this can lead to entanglements in the workplace. Teachers are professionals, and this entails maintaining a professional demeanor on the web. The rule of thumb is if you don't want something posted on a billboard around town, don't post it to your Facebook. Maintaining a private page automatically ensures this rule of thumb, making Facebook a fun and safe way for people (even teachers) to stay socially connected.
As a future teacher, I feel that social networking sites like Facebook should be kept separate from my professional life. I do no see a particularly pertinent use for them in the classroom. I think these sites should be reserved for personal social use. This is where privacy controls come into play. It is a good idea for teachers to make their pages private so that students (and even colleagues) are not keeping tags on their social activity via the web. Countless testimony tells how this can lead to entanglements in the workplace. Teachers are professionals, and this entails maintaining a professional demeanor on the web. The rule of thumb is if you don't want something posted on a billboard around town, don't post it to your Facebook. Maintaining a private page automatically ensures this rule of thumb, making Facebook a fun and safe way for people (even teachers) to stay socially connected.
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