Thing #24

The End of 23 Things

Here I am at the end of this blog, I am happy to be done with the blog but I have also learned a tremendous amount when it comes to technology in the classroom. I think if this had not been a graded assignment I would have never done it. I never wanted to be on Twitter and I never wanted to Blog  to name a few things but in light of all that I am happy to have done it. I now have a ton of new passwords to remember for all the things that we needed to sign up for. (I'll just add them to the list of all the other passwords we need to remember in this age of technology!) The "things" that stand out to me the most are Animoto, Flickr Mashups- Spell with Flickr and Live Binders. I think I have used Animoto at least ten times since I learned about it. I think it is a fun way to display pictures. At first I was annoyed with Live Binders because I didn't know how to navigate putting different tabs into the binders but once I got a hang of how to work with them, it was easier and I have noticed that some sights ask if you want to put a file in your live binder, which I would have never noticed before and makes Live Binders even easier to use. 

I truly believe that everyone is a life-long learner but you decide what you are going to learn. I know have decided that I will try to start learning more about Webtools so I don't fall so far behind with current technology. I think it is important to stay up to date with technology because certain things can make my life easier and more professional. I feel like I have made the leap from dial-up Internet with the knowledge I have learned in this class. I think that staying current with technology will also help me connect with my students as well. With the need for more authentic teaching, I think using technology is just the way to do it. It gives me the freedom to differentiate my instruction based on the needs of my students. 

I think I will use my blog as a reference tool in the future. I think that this would be a great idea to look back and pick the tools that might be most useful depending on the grade I will teach in the future. I also have a terrible memory and it is nice that I have this to keep and refer back to as needed. I can also show it to my students to show them that if I can do it, then they can do it. As far as continuing to write in this blog... probably not going to happen. Especially now that the weather is getting nicer, I would prefer to do things instead of sit behind a computer and type my thoughts and feelings. I may however when I do become a teacher start a different blog using Blogger for my own classroom. It depends on what grade I am able to teach, it may be for students but it may be just to inform parents about the goings-on in the classroom. 

I am happy to check this off my list of things I have accomplished!

Thing #23

Creative Commons

I was excited to watch "A Fair(y) Use Tale" because I love, love, LOVE Disney movies. I have seen all the movies that were used obviously! I think that it was a creative way to learn what copyright is, although I did a little lost at a few points. Overall a great way to be introduced to creative commons and copy right. 

I simply searched "Learning 2.0 23 Things" never realized how popular this was. Here is what I found from one website:

Learning 2.0 is a discovery learning program was originally created for The Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenberg Countyby Helene Blowers. 

Content and style for this site is a derivative of the idea and have been borrowed and duplicated with permission, under a Creative Commons License.

I was never really a person that worried about copy right, I always thought it was the notice that came up before movies with something about FBI. I never really paid any attention to it. To be honest before thing #23 I never really even looked at the bottom of the Austin Peay 23 Things page to see that our page had the same copyright and creative commons information. I think part of the reason I never really was concerned with copyright growing up is because we didn't have the technology we have today. I remember putting little c with a circle around it on pictures I had drawn growing up but I never really knew what it all meant. 

Now I think that students today need to learn about copyright and creative commons because we are asking students to do a lot more with technology than we have in the past. Students need to be aware of the guidelines and rules that they should follow when creating something using work from others. It is also important for students to know that they can copyright their own work as well. They can have the same protection under creative commons that many others have as well. I think its also important for me as a teacher to be aware as well. I may want to borrow ideas from others to use in my lesson plans and I would hate to do so without permission, I need to set an example for my students as the right way to do things. I kind of wish that this was one of the first things we did instead of the last one. I only hope that I didn't break any copyright or creative commons rules. I am much more conscience of it now and will continue in the future as well. 

Thing #22

Live Binders

When I first read thing #22 I was a little overwhelmed. I like to be organized but doing it with technology is another thing. I like to be hands on when it comes to organizing. I would much prefer a binder in real life than one on the computer. It took me a while to get the hang of it but I finally started to see the usefulness of LiveBinders once I started to put more things in them. I think if I was in an actual classroom that this would be very useful. It is a little difficult to plan a binder out when I don't have a classroom and set resources that I am looking for.

The three Live Binders I created were: Common Core, Mixtures and Solutions, and Literacy Center ideas. The one I chose to share here goes along with the standard I picked for this class. Here is my LiveBinder: Mixtures and Solutions. It took me a little while to figure out how to add tabs within the tabs, otherwise known as sub-tabs. I am not happy with the front of the main tabs, I think if I were to use this for real I would have to adjust them a little but while I am still learning how to use LiveBinders I think its ok to leave it the way it is. 

I think that if I needed a substitute teacher for a day I was going to be absent, that this would be a great resource for the teacher. If lessons for the day were all in one LiveBinder that the substitute could go to, I think it would make it a much smoother day even if I wasn't there. I also think that this would be great for students who finish early. If the LiveBinder was already set up on the computer, the students could choose activities or watch videos that I have already set up for them in the LiveBinder. It is also a great resource to go to for lessons that I have saved that are already on the internet. I think that this tool is best for when I am actually a teacher. 

Thing #21

Animoto

This is by far my favorite thing I have done. I may even consider upgrading to make longer videos. This was so much fun and it really does look like I paid someone to do it. It was simple and easy to do. The tutorial was simple and easy to understand. I really enjoyed making this video. I can see myself using this all this time in my personal life and in the classroom. I think that this would be a great thing for back to school night to showcase the student's and their work, of course that would require to sign up for the full features of Animoto but I think that is fine. I have no problem paying for something that I use and enjoy. I think that the 30 second clips would be great for elementary students to use as well for projects that they are working on. I feel that this would be a very useful tool both inside and outside of the classroom. If I do teach in Clarksville, I think that this would be a great thing share with deployed parents or divorced parents as well. A little 30 second video clip of their child is just that little something extra to show parents who aren't able to see their children on a daily basis, what they are doing in school and can be personalized in a matter of minutes for each student.  

My Video

Thing #20

YouTube and Beyond

When I read thing #20 I knew exactly what I wanted to share on my blog. Although knowing exactly what I was going to post I still spent over an hour watching videos. YouTube is like a bag of potato chips, you can't just watch one! So now that I have totally lost the last hour to watching videos I now can get back to this post. 

The clip I chose is a shortened version of the video I find so motivating and powerful. The video clip is of Dr. Randy Pausch and his "Last Lecture".  I highly suggest that if you have the time that you watch the full video on YouTube. I can not watch this without crying but at the end I also find myself motivated. I will use what Dr. Pausch has said to motivate my own students to do their very best. I only hope that I can do Dr. Pausch justice by motivating my students like he has motivated so many others. I think that this video is a little too much for elementary students but I think it is great for older students especially seniors about to embark on their next journey in life. 

I think that YouTube and TeacherTube are great resources that should be used in the classroom at any grade level. I think short little video clips that reinforce a lesson that is being taught is a great tool. Students love videos and it is a great way to grab their attention in the beginning of a lesson or as a summary to a lesson. I know as a student I was elated when the teacher rolled the TV cart into the classroom! 

I tried GameClassroom as my other video application. I thought this was great for the classroom because it has different grade levels from K-6 to choose from. The website had tabs for videos, worksheets, lessons for math and ELA. It seems like a great resource to be added to any K-6 classroom for independent or pair work on the computer. The only thing I wish it had was tools for science and social studies as well but it looks like it is more geared toward Common Core with Math and ELA. Overall I am impressed with this website and videos for students.

Thing #19

Beyond Facebook

Some of the tips that were given for teachers about social networking sites are kind of "no brainers". I would never put anything up on Facebook that I wouldn't want my 90 year old grandmother to see, because yes at 90 she is loves Facebook. I think the same goes for any other sights. Students today are little tiny sleuths and they will find their teachers on sights. I don't think that this is something to be afraid of and completely swear off social networking sites though. I have found that the teaching community as a whole is very supportive towards each other on these sites. 

I really liked the Classroom 2.0 Ning site where I found a group http://www.classroom20.com/group/elementaryschool20 that I would like to follow. In fact a recent post by someone on the site was talking about Twitter and uses of Twitter in the elementary classroom. No one has posted anything yet but now I have an RSS on that particular topic because I would be interested in how teachers now are integrating Twitter into their classrooms. I feel impressed with myself that I am using that I have learned in this class already to further my own knowledge. 

As a non-teacher social network I liked the Tasty Kitchen site. It is linked to the pioneer woman which I also really like as well. I'm not sure when I came across the pioneer woman but I have found her to be amazing and I think I will enjoy Tasty Kitchen as well. 

I love love LOVE Pinterest! I think I spend more time on Pinterest than I do anything else. I can spend hours just looking at different things. I do need to spend more time organizing my pins though. I also have an Instagram account but I don't use it very often. I'm not sure if it is considered a social networking site but I really enjoy things that teachers put up on teacherspayteachers.com. I have heard many times throughout this program, "Why reinvent the wheel?" This is a great resource for graphic organizers, activities and themes for the classroom that teachers make, some are free and other you have to pay for which I don't mind at all. I think if a teacher spends the time to create something that will help other teachers than, why not get some extra cash for it? We all know that we aren't going into the teaching profession for the paycheck! These are great resources for teachers that I will for sure use when I have my own classroom.

Thing #18

Twitter

I swore to myself that I would never be on Twitter, but then came Thing #18 in this technology class and here I am an official "Twitter-er". I never really cared much about hashtags and I think people go a little off the deep end hashtagging everything, I mean why else would they make an SNL skit about hashtags, with every other word being hashtag. It seems a little crazy to me that people want to tweet every single thing that they are thinking of for their followers to see. I really don't care what famous people are thinking or the nasty comments people tweet back and forth about each other. 

With that being said, to set up an account it was really quite simple. The website took you step by step and had me set up 10 people to follow. I chose teacher sites to follow since this exercise is about using Twitter for educational purposes and not to see what Taylor Swift has to say. I searched Teacher and came up with pretty interesting people/organizations to follow. Part of the reason I never was interested in joining Twitter is I had no idea that it could be used for education. I thought it was just a place that people could talk/complain about their every day comings and goings. I can see after signing up for education purposes that Twitter can be useful for teachers. I think that Twitter can keep teachers updated on information a lot faster with less than 140 characters. I think that it is probably a good thing for teachers to at least know about so there isn't such a gap between teachers and students, more so I think in high school than elementary school. 

I'm not sure if I would really use this in an elementary classroom with students so much. I might use it to keep in communication with parents much like a blog with a classroom specific hashtag that only my student's parents would have such as #mrsSomers3rdgradeclass2014. This way if the students had projects or there was information that I needed to get out to the parents who were followers I would be able to instantly notify them about the happenings in the classroom. As a teacher I think I would try to stay up to date with some of the hashtags for my own learning purposes. Overall not a terrible experience with Twitter, not nearly as painful as I thought it was going to be. 

Here is my twitter account

https://twitter.com/CandicePS813