I'm done, and I learned some stuff!!

So after doing 23 Things (for a second time) I was surprised when not only did I finish before the deadline, but that I learned some interesting facts. I thought that when I was going to repeat the 23 things that I wouldn't learn anything, because I had already done them. Well, surprise, just like the technology of today's time, less than a year later and many of the 23 things were totally different! I can honestly say that I learned some crazy easy new organizational tools. I have also decided that when I have free time I may go through and read up on some new technology, because before I know it I will be like my grandma, have a computer and a cell phone that I don't know half of what it is capable of. It is important to keep up with technology, because there are so many advancements being made every day. I will definiely keep up more with technology, because this project has really opened me up to what I missed while I was playing Angry  Birds over the last year.

Thing #23

Now that I know about Creative Commons, I think that I will be able to legally use pictures in my Power Points and on handouts for my students. It wasn't until this class that I realized that just copying and pasting a picture from Google was illegal. But with Creative Commons I can find pictures that I can use, and know exactly what the owner of that picture wants it to be used for. I think that I can also use creative commons in my classroom because I can teach my students to use it, so that they aren't learning that copying and pasting from Google is stealing when they are in college. Creative Commons is a great idea, and I really hope it catches on.

Thing #22

When I set up my Live Binder, the three binders that I have are all about Special Education, one is a crash course in Special Education for subs, other teachers, or students, the second is types of technology that would be useful in a Special Education classroom, and the third is all about ways to teach children with different types of disabilities. I love the idea of Live Binder, because its easy to organize everything, and having easy access to it. I love binders, so having one I don't have to carry around is amazing. Makes everything so much easier.


My Live Binder

Thing #21

I love Animoto! Not enough to pay for it, but it is still a great site. It is really simple, and you can even connect it with Facebook (thats how I got the pictures of my kitten!). It is really the simplest tool I think I have used while doing my 23 Things, its simple just a few clicks and wa-la a video. The one thing that would be nice is if for free you could get a minute of video, but I'm not complaining, free is great. This is a great way to have a short clip in a slide show for class. I love Animoto.

Thing #20

I found this video on the Special Olympics. I love it! I think that Youtube is a great because it is so easy to find videos on almost any topic that you can think of. As a teacher, if you need to find a video clip from the Magic School bus, its there, a funny video clip as a reward for your students its there. Youtube is a great resource for teachers, because its free, you don't need an account and its always there!

Thing #19

I really enjoyed Teacher Pop, I thought that it was a great way to have all the teachers be able to get in touch in one place. While I do love Facebook, I think that a teachers only area is a great idea! This is a way that we teachers (and future teachers) can get together to discuss what is going on in our classrooms, and if we have a problem and need help, we know that there are other teachers out there that can help us. And unlike Facebook, there isn't as much of a chance that a parent will read us asking for help with Johnny and getting him to focus, so its a great resource to discuss with teachers.

Thing #18

I think that social networking in the schools has such a negative connotation, but I think that it can be an amazing tool. Think of the possibilities, if you add all of your student's parents to a group they can see who is in class with their child, you can post homework to the page (no more my mom didn't know). It is a great way to communicate with your parents. Another great way that social networking can be used in the classroom is to get ideas of how to decorate, make new lesson plans, or even have classroom parties. With sites like Pinterest it is now easier than ever for users to share their ideas, because all it takes is posting a picture, and the entire World Wide Web can see and learn about it. Social networking is a great thing, if used properly.

Thing #17

With websites like Pinterest and Delicious it is super easy (even easier than Google, which I never thought would happen) to find all sorts of ideas. And with the way that these websites are designed it is easy to organize. Up until last semester I was worried, how will I ever find fun activities to do with my students, and then along came Pinterest and Delicious, these amazing websites make it easy to find all sorts of activities. I will definitely be using both in my classroom. The nice thing about Delicious is that it is just like the old fashion bookmarking, but better! With this it is as simple as clicking a button, but instead of just having the web page on one computer book marked, any one any where on any computer can see it. Now they also have tagging, which means that if in a year you have bookmarked hundreds of websites, but want to find one that you assigned the tag of '12th grade World Lit' you just click on your lists of tags, and BLAM-O, there it is. The one thing that I didn't like about Delicious (Pinterest has it!) was the pictures that go with your book marks, it makes it simpler to look at a picture, which can help jog memory. Either way, I think that both of these tools will be useful to me as a teacher, and I think that I am definitely going to be using them.

Thing #16

I chose to use the Google tool. I loved the idea of having everything I need right at my fingertips, any where there is an internet connection. Especially with the prominence of Android in today's cell phones, Google is the way to go. With Google, if you enter an important date on your cell phone, it will show up on your homepage the next time that you log onto your computer. I have used this function before with my Mac, and loved it, now I have it on my Droid with Google, and again I love it. If I type a date in while sitting at my computer in my classroom, it updates to my cell phone. This is great for teachers, parents, students, anyone on the go, because no matter where they are when they update their computers and calendars, they have the dates everywhere! I will definitely be using this in my classroom as a way to keep all of my calendars where they need to be, it makes organization super super easy.

Thing #15

I love the idea of a wiki! Like I said in a previous post about Google Docs, this is a great idea for a group project. I know personally, when I am working in a group I get tired of all the emails back and forth, and everyone having a different copy of the document that we are working on. I think that this would be a great way to eliminate all the mess and confusion. Another great way for this to work is at a middle school or high school level the students can use the wiki to edit what they see on the class website. Its a great way to keep everyone updated. The one problem with that would be it would be hard to control what they put, so there would need to be a way to monitor what they are putting online to make sure it is all school appropriate. Overall, I think that wiki's are a great idea though, it eliminates the messiness of group projects, and puts everything in one place.

Thing #14

When I looked at the flow charts and at the mind maps, I made a quick decision, I think that mind maps are a better option (not only for me, but probably most of my students as well). The reason that I like mind maps is the fact that more information can be put into them. When trying to do a flow chart, I didn't think that there was enough room to put all of my information in it. Mind maps are more like the 'old fashion' pen and paper method of brainstorming, which may be another reason that I like the mind map better. If I were to use a computer to have my students brain storm, I would use the mind maps, and I would probably use the website MindMeister. I think that that website let the user create the most natural looking brainstorm (in comparison to what I grew up with in the 90's).

Thing #13

When I signed up for Zoho, I was excited I thought it would be an easy tool to use. But I found it was cluttered, and confusing (for me). I thought that compared to Google Docs, that Zoho was more dated. Part of this may come from where I have used Google Docs before. I think that Google Docs is a great way to do group projects that require a Power Point, because it could include the teacher and all of the students. It would be a great way for the teacher to see which students are carrying the group to a good grade. It also makes for a less cluttered way of working, especially if the group is working on a rolling cart of laptops, it can be hard to make sure that every student gets the right laptop with their work on it. This way, it is in everyone's email, and there are no excuses.

Thing #12

I absolutely love Google!! I feel like it has been the best thing to come out of the internet (even better than Twitter and FaceBook). With Google there are so many possibilities. I love Google Calandars, because I can put something in on my phone, then pull it up on my computer and my calendars are already synced up. I also really enjoyed playing with Google Translate, I downloaded an app on my phone, and I think it would be useful. Especially if you travel, or have a student in your class who does not speak English.

Thing #11

I found that using the Yahoo! Search bar was the most effective. But I again didn't like using the reader. I would rather bookmark the page and have it on a tool bar at the top of my screen, or just click on it. While this isn't the newest and coolest way to do it, for me it works, and I have so much learning to do with computers I'd rather do it for something else that I don't already have a great way to do it figured out. Though on my search I did find some useful teacher blogs and websites, which I bookmarked (and put on my RSS reader, but just for 23 things).

Thing #10

For me personally I find that the RSS is a complicated process. I don't like having to scroll through each of the websites that I visit regularly to find the button to push, I don't like having to create yet ANOTHER account. It seems like if someone were to start browsing the web using one of these it could be useful, but for me personally I don't think it would be helpful. I would just as soon type out the whole URL and bam go to the site I want.

Thing #9

I love the smiley face generator!! This is a great tool to make happy words with smiley faces. Its super easy to use, type a phrase. I used SMILE!! You are here. Super simple, clicked 'fancify your text' and wa-la smiley picture text!!

Thing #8

I really like the idea of a Flickr mashup. I've always seen different pictures in lots of friends and families home that spell out their names, or words that mean something to them. I like that with this, its easy to type in the word, click a button, and bam!! you have a mash up. Super easy, any one can do it!

Thing #7

I really enjoy Flickr. You can always find different things there. I found these two pictures, I'm really into Rainbow (if I have a little girl one of her birthday parties WILL be rainbow). So when I found these pictures I fell in love. The cake looks complicated to make, but it is actually really easy (I've made one similar before). Though these nails would be complicated. Flickr is a great place to share photos (besides traditional places like Facebook) because it doesn't cost anything to share the photos, and anyone anywhere with an internet connection can view them (even across the world in tomorrow!)

Thing #6

For me, the best tool on this list was Skype. This is because Skype is free (you can pay for it, but all the good stuff on it is free) and it allows you to see people that are across the country and all you need is a computer (or laptop) and a webcam. Also, now after Skype has been live for a few years, its also possible with cellphones that have front facing cameras. I love Skype because it can help you to connect with family across the country. Its also nice because you can set up a Skype account and be online from say 6-8 in the evening, that way if a student has a question, they can message you, or video chat with them. Its a great idea because it takes the having to wait till the next day to ask for a teachers  help. You can get their help almost instantly, all that is needed is an internet connection.

Thing #5

School 2.0 means schools of the future. To me School 2.0 is a school that is based around technology. All the classrooms have SmartBoards, all the students would have some sort of technology to help them with their studies. While sometimes a computer can be a distraction, I feel that for the most part all students should have access to the internet to help them with their school work. I went to a high school that had a 1:1 ratio of MacBooks to students, and while at first it was a novelty for all the students to have a laptop, after a while, it became the most useful tool I think I have ever used. It was nice because as opposed to having to sign up to use the computer lab to type a paper or research a paper we could just open our backpacks up, and bam!! we had a computer lab right in our classroom. The nice thing about our laptops was that the teachers always knew what we were doing, because they had a special application on their computers that allowed them to see what we were doing.

For schools of the future this means that students won't have to wait as long for technology in the classroom. When I was younger in elementary school and middle school I always noticed that the teachers would tell us about a project that we would be doing next week, but that we had to wait for a time to be open in the computer lab. I think that schools need to offer more technology to the students, because with the open availability of a piece of technology they are more likely to learn all the time. Especially if there is some way the kids can take it home with them.

Thing # 4

Commenting on blogs is a great way to show people they aren't the only ones who have a certain thought process. It is also a great way to ask for help, you see someone who posts a recipe on their blog, but you know that baking the cake at 350 degrees instead of 400 will make it moister? By commenting, you can help others (sometimes lots of others) learn, not just the blogger whose blog you commented on.

The five people whose blogs I chose to comment on are: Jared Sexton, April Bumpus, Ashton Kearns, Janelle Ferrier, and Myleah.

I commented on a blog about Bullying of Children with Disabilities. The title of the blog is Special Education Law. I think this is a great blog, because it tells any one who reads it in simple easy to understand English about different laws that affect children with disabilities that are in a Special Education program.

The second blog that I commented on was from a teacher who works with students with multiple disabilities, and I thought her blog SMD Teacher was a great blog, because its based off of what she is doing in the classroom at that moment, not just what she thinks will work.

Thing #3

I think that blogging is a great way to stay connected with your students and parents. In the classroom you could use a blog to take pictures and post what the kids are doing every day (or even just on certain days). This way the parents would feel like they are a part of the students education, even if they are at work, or overseas, they can see what their child did. At the middle school/high school you can even use the blogs as a way to journal for your class. They can each have their own blogs connected to yours (much like ours are connected to Dr. Wall's). They can write about books they are reading, or the lab they did in chemistry class. Blogs are a great way to get what your students are doing out there for everyone to see, plus its a great way to incorporate technology into all different subjects, technology isn't just for typing papers.

Thing #2

The name for my blog is straight forward (Natalie's 23 Things). I chose this name because it got the point across of what I am doing here, which is the 23 things. For me creating this blog was quite easy, the hard part was for another class I have to have another blog, and trying to figure out how to create a second blog. My avatar looks just like me, blonde hair and all. I chose to create an avatar that looks like me because I feel that sometimes people create fake personas on the internet, and I didn't want to fall into that category. 

Thing 1

For me there was one habit that was both the easiest and the hardest. Technology. For me having a computer in front of me while I am doing homework can be distracting, I end up on Facebook, email, anything to keep me from reading. But, at the same time (its like a double edged sword) technology is the easiest thing to help me. With my computer I can crank out papers faster (I type faster than I write), if I have a question I can email who ever I need about it, whether its teachers, or other students.