Wow -- so much to say, but I will try to be concise. My favorite discoveries were:
Image creators -- I had so much fun with those. Can't wait to introduce my friends to it!
Learning about "readers" and subscribing to several RSS feeds. Right now most of them are purely recreational, but I plan to subscribe to more educational ones as I discover things at work I want more info on.
Finding the educational advantages of YouTube. I've already embedded a couple of videos onto my Facebook profile. I also sent some to one of the science teachers at my school who loved them! It gave him a link to yet another website for more ideas.
Google Docs -- as much trouble as I had trying to create my ideal calender ;-), I eventually figured out a way to do it and am still revising and tweeking it. I think it will be a great organizational tool for my school come August.
I think just about everything from this program was an unexpected outcome. Really, the only thing I knew about of all the Things was MySpace and Facebook. There is so much out there that i knew nothing about. It makes me wonder how much/little my colleagues know, and how much more we could be doing with our students.
I would definitely participate in another course like this. I hope one comes available. I will keep an eye out for it.
I would like to say one final Thank-you to all of you who put this course together and helped us along the way. I greatly appreciate this opportunity.
As with many of the Things, I was overwhelmed by the wealth of information on the Ning and Classroom 2.0 websites. It didn't take me long, though, to find the "Search" bar and narrow my topics.
The first thing I thought of when reading Thing 23 was, "I wonder if there's a group out there that discusses ideas on and about teaching students of another ethnicity [than the teacher's]?" I searched, but didn't really find anything. I'll admit I may not have entered the right phrase (and couldn't find an advanced search option), and that the results were so numerous I couldn't look through all of them. But it seems to me someone has to have something out there about this topic. Given that the vast majority of teachers are white, and a large portion of our students are not, there needs to be some discussion/training on this topic. I believe that the lack of knowledge (and/or appreciation) of other ethnic groups is what causes a great deal of discipline problems in classrooms today.
In my search of "classroom management", I came across this link, in which the Dean of a Bronx middle school is asking for suggestions for several of her teachers that are having difficulties with their classroom discipline. My first thought was, "What ethnicity is she, and what ethnicities are they?" I realize this may sound a bit controversial, but we all tend to view things from our own upbringing and experiences, which, across ethnic groups, are vastly different. If a teacher has no idea "where his/her students are coming from", they have no idea or tools with which to relate to them. This, in turn, increases the "distance" between them and creates an environment in which the students mentally "check out" and no longer care whether or not they learn or get in trouble.
I will now get off of my soapbox and say this: Maybe I'll start a discussion on Classroom 2.0 that deals with this very topic.
For this revisiting of my reader, I decided to check out an article from The Frugal Traveler (Matt Gross), Hunting for Treasure in Paris’s Marchés aux Puces. Matt travels all over, blogging as he goes, and for this particular block of blogs he just so happens to be in Paris and France. His goal is to find the "off-the-beaten-path" activities/hotels/restaurants that will give you the essence of a place, without breaking your budget. This post was his journey through one of Paris's many flea markets, and his search for that special something for just the right price.
I didn't know there was so much out there on Google. Of course I knew it was a search engine, but the other tools available are quite advantageous. I started off with Google Alerts . However, I couldn't think of anything I wanted to be alerted about. I sat there for quite a while, and nothing came to mind. I am sure something will dawn on me eventually, so it's good to know that Google Alerts is available.
My second stop on my tour was Google Notebook . I really just wanted to see what it looked like, but alas, it no longer exists for new users. The website suggested that you use Google Docs
So, on to the next: Google Calendar . I like the idea of being able to share it. However, already having an old-fashioned, paper calendar AND my Outlook calendar, I'm not sure I would use it.
Lastly, in my quest to find something I could use, I decided to stop by iGoogle . I LOVED it. It's like most home pages, but I liked the gadgets and information that was available to use. Of all the tools, I think this one was my favorite, and most useful to me at this point. instead, but stated that current users would still have access to their notebooks.
Aha! Finally, a "Thing" I already know how to do! I have both a MySpace and a Facebook account, although I must admit I like Facebook much more. MySpace seems much more youth-oriented, whereas Facebook appeals more to the more mature audience. Here is my Facebook page, and here is my MySpace page. I'm not sure if those links will work without logging in, though.Honestly, I check my Facebook everyday. I've reconnected with so many friends from high school and college. I hesitated for quite a while about getting an account on either MySpace or Facebook, but I'm so glad now that I did. I even found a student I had my first year of teaching -- he's in med school!I believe all educators should take a look at these sites, whether they set up their own account or not, just so they'll be aware of what students have access to. Also, so they'll understand what kids are talking about. When I set up my MySpace account, I had a former student help me -- the classic "teachers learn from their students" scenario! Seriously, though, they know WAY more than we do when it comes to social networking, and it's like the assignment page for this "Thing" said: ". . . if we don't model productive, responsible uses of social networking tools for our students, how will they learn to be productive, responsible users of these tools?"
Google Docs . . . I was really excited to try this application. The idea of creating something and being able to collaborate with others at my school was really exciting. The very first thing that popped into my head was "SCHOOL CALENDAR"!!! I thought I could create something that everyone could contribute to, then Voila!, everyone would know what was going on all year.
Alas, that did not happen. I found a couple of calendar templates that I really liked, but they were monthly, and I want something that shows six weeks at a time. So then I decided to try and "edit" the existing calendar, and that worked to a point, except that when I tried to change the dates, it wouldn't let me. Whenever I entered a number in the date box and pushed tab, the program/computer/evil cyberspace demons would subtract 1 from it (ex: I put in 17, move to the next cell, and the number would automatically change to 16). Okay . . . I can deal with that . . . I'll just put one MORE than the number I want. This worked, but was just a pain in the backside.
So . . . I decided to export it to Excel and edit it there, where I'm more familiar with the commands and formatting. Nope. Didn't work.
Needless to say, this was a bit of a let-down. I'm pretty sure that it's me and not the program, but it's still frustrating. It did inspire me, however, to create something on Excel, and then import it to Google Docs . Having one centralized calendar for our school would keep everyone updated and in-the-loop. I will succeed . . .
I would also like to create a menu planner for my family. That's in the works, but again, the formatting tools are unfamiliar to me and not as easy to use.
I'm unsure how I would use Voicethread in my professional life, but my first idea is to use it for training purposes. Training teachers for a standardized test is at BEST very, very dry, but what if there was some way for me to create a voicethread for it? Because the idea is new to me, I'm not sure how I would do it, but seriously, this might just be the best thing yet. I could make it comical, relevant, and ONE TIME, and teachers could view it at their convenience. The problem lies in assessing whether or not they did it. A quiz of some sort? Perhaps I'll find something in Thing #20 that would allow me to track their progress . . . I wonder if TEA would approve?
I think a math teacher could use it to explain the steps to a problem so that students could access it at home for homework help, much like Measuring Volume of Weird Objects.
On a personal note, it might be a fun way to digitally scrapbook. I STINK at scrapbooking, and most of my pictures are stashed in a box. I do, however, have a CD, and could upload pictures to the site with comments. The more I think about it, the more I like Voicethread.
I generally avoid YouTube because it tends to mess up my computer. It's a shame, because there are so many great things on it. For this assignment, though, I bit the bullet and found some stuff that was really useful, some stuff that wasn't, and some stuff that was just plain funny. Case in point, the video below, David After Dentist. A friend sent it to me on Facebook some time ago, but I accidentally deleted it. Poor kid, but this is really funny. It's become so popular they're selling T-Shirts for it!
So that you know, I did search for some educational videos. As I don't teach a subject anymore, I decided to look up some science experiments for our science teachers. There were many, but I clicked on Cool Science Experiments from Steve Spangler and How Much Sugar is in a Can of Soda? (WARNING: if you drink soda, you may not want to be enlightened. Also, many fruit juices contain the same amount of sugar as soda. I'll stick to water, thanks!).
I'm glad to have done this assignment, as it made me aware of the educational aspects of YouTube (as many of these "23 Things" are doing :-)). Were I back in the classroom, I'd be looking up this stuff on a constant basis. As it is, I'll be researching and recommending things for the teachers at my school.
In my search of podcasts, I previewed 60 Second Science and History Podcast. I particularly liked 60 Second Science because each podcast was exactly that: 60 seconds. Given the short amount of time a teacher has in any given class period, these short clips are perfect for beginning or summarizing a lesson. Because the speaker speaks a bit quickly, however, the podcast may have to be repeated. What is said on each podcast, is written as a script on the webpage, so there is a reference if students need it. There is a wide range of topics, so a teacher could find something for almost any lesson.
History Podcast was quite interesting as well, along the the same lines as 60 Second Science, although the podcasts are a bit longer. To be quite honest, I couldn't download them, but I did read the scripts of some, and comments (and corrections) left be the listeners. I was impressed by the wide range of topics covered.
I used PodcastDirectory.com to search for other podcasts. I had no idea what to search for (they don't have any podcasts for testing coordination -- perhaps I should start one!), so I just searched for something that was family oriented. I found MommyCast which is run by two moms who give advice on parenting, i.e. vacationing, food and nutrition, time management, etc. As a mom of three, I can never get enough help and tips.
It goes without saying that I have never created a podcast. I do have iTunes on my computer at school, thanks to a tech-savvy colleague.
So, after my "Thing #15" debacle, I was quite relieved and excited about Library Thing. It was so doable, and I love to read, so this was a breath of fresh air.
I don't know how I would use it professionally, as I don't teach in the classroom anymore. If I did, however, what a great tool it would be for my students, especially the ones that can never find anything they want to read. The suggestions given on the search page would help them narrow their choices to a book more suited to what they're "into", and thus possibly make them more interested in reading.
On a personal level, though, I find it fantastic. If you connect with someone out there who's into the same type of books you are and/or has the same taste in authors, you could really benefit from their suggestions. It's like Pandora for books! My best friend and I both love books and reading, and I'm going to introduce her to this site.
I would like to say that I wasn't too fond of the Suggester. I just found that it gave me a list of books I already knew about. What I did like, however, was using the search page, picking a book, then scrolling down to see the suggestions for similar books. I clicked on the books, then read a few of the reader reviews, and now I have a few more books on my "To Read" list.
Honestly, this might be a short blog because I'm a bit frustrated by my experience in the sandbox. I will take responsibility for a bit of that frustration, though, because I should have looked at the Wiki Spaces Cheat Sheet before trying to actually do the thing. Apparently, the code for table of contents is [[toc]], not [toc]. I spent A LOT of time wondering why [toc] kept appearing on my wiki page. Lesson learned: read the "notes" first.
As I stated in my last blog, wikis are new to me, and I'm trying not to get overwhelmed by them. This activity nearly pushed me over the edge, though. The most frustrating part in all of this is that I've never been "afraid" of technology -- i just play around until I figure stuff out. "Edit-undo is my friend" is my motto. However, I've stumbled into more roadblocks on some of these activities and I'm starting to doubt myself. Not a nice feeling. On to the next . . .
First off, I would just like to say that I FINALLY understand what a "wiki" is. It's a word that's been thrown around a bit in the whole "23 Things" journey. I've always skipped over it because I never really knew what it was. Now, however, I'm coming to understand what a fabulous tool it could be for educators and learners alike. I checked out a few of the recommended sites, and one extra, and (to entertain the concrete-sequential side of me) here's what I found and what I thought of each one, in list format: (I would like to preface this with the statement that I am IN NO WAY qualified to judge a wiki -- these are just the thoughts that came into my head as I explored . . .)
Code Blue The home page listed several websites having to do with body systems, health issues, etc. My initial thought was, "This is a good reference point for the students." However, as I clicked on each one, I was a bit overwhelmed by all that was there. I couldn't really figure out where exactly the "project"was, although I did find a few things in the navigation bar to the left. On the upside, I did find a website, VirtualBody , for my scientifically-inclined 9 year old. Next!
Discovery Utopia This is a bit more what I expected on a "project" wiki". The homepage had an explanation of the project and the different sections were easy to in the navigation bar to the left. What I absolutely LOVED (and will use if I ever do one of these) were the "helper" links at the bottom. If a student had a question about editing, adding, deleting, etc. the wiki, they could contact any of the student helpers linked at the bottom. How freeing that would be as a teacher, how empowering for the students, and what a great way to make it a completely learner-based experience.
Kindergarten Counting Book I appreciated the simplicity of this, as I was starting to get a bit overwhelmed by the sheer volume of links and information on some of the other wikis I visited. It made me realize that wikis don't have to be huge undertakings. They can be incredibly simple while at the same time being incredibly informative and useful.
Primary Math Here is another website that gave me a tool I would use: As you click on one of the categories, all of the pictures popped up, but also on each page they had instructions for editing and how to add pictures. If this is something you want students to contribute to on a regular basis, what a great way to enable them! It makes adding to the wiki that much faster and easier.
The last one I'd like to mention was that was not on the list provided, but that I found while reading Wiki Wiki Teaching by The Cool Cat Teacher Vicki Davis. After doing a few days of lessons on wikis, her last class period created a Study Hall . It's incredible. On the home page students list several classes and what major exams or projects are due that week. On the left students can go to a variety of subjects and see what notes other students have written. Honestly, if I were to do a wiki with a class, this would probably be the first one. And that techno-savvy kid that gets done with all his work first and doesn't have anything to do would be put in charge of updating it! That's a win-win if you ask me. In all seriousness, though, I wish wikis would have been around in my undergrad days. What a benefit they would have been. Not only would I have found some information I might have missed while frantically taking notes, I would have solidified and retained more as I typed up my own notes. I'm going to suggest this to my college-age babysitters.
Final verdict: I like wikis, and will find some way to use them.
Delicious is . . . well . . . a bit bittersweet, although I have a feeling it will age well and quickly be a favorite of mine. Here is my link: Delicious for SKMims .I absolutely love the idea of keeping all of my bookmarks in one place that I can access from ANYWHERE. That whole copy link-paste to an email-email to myself cycle is one that I have used for years. The fact that I can now access all of my favorites from any computer is . . . awesomeness. In fact, I was so excited about this that I actually signed up for an account and imported all of my existing bookmarks before I came to the instructions for those two things. I'm giving myself a pat on the back for that one.
The "bitter" part is the fact that it's a bit overwhelming to the untrained eye. I understand the concept of sharing and all of that, but figuring out how to actually do it was a different story altogether. I never figured out how to Add the 'shared' tag "misd23things", even though I played around with the site for over an hour. Perhaps I did it and it just hasn't shown up on the wiki yet? That's wishful thinking, but time will tell.
I would think that student groups working on a project could benefit from Delicious. As one is searching, they can add links to their shared bookmarks so that all could sort through the various websites.
As with most things, the more I use them, the more familiar they become, and the easier they are for me to understand and utilize. Delicious, I believe, will be no different.
I was born in Hawaii, but raised in Texas and have lived all over this beautiful state.
My day job is data driven and paper-pushing, so I love the freedom and creativity making handmade papergoods allows me. It never gets old, and each creation has its own story.
