ONE LAST THING....FINALLY Finished!

I have learned alot by having this blog and doing The 23 Things for my EDUC 3040 Technology class.

Before this class I had no idea what a podcast was. Let alone how to use or integrate it into my future classroom!

I feel like I will take alot from this class and we are only halfway over. I can only imagine what is left to learn in here. I have enjoyed Ms Castleberry and Dr Wall for their creativity in this class. I am really looking forward to graduating and getting my own classroom!
Still looking forward to being Mrs Morgan Kindergarten Teacher!

Thing #23

APSU 23 Things is copied off of another's work. Dr Wall gives the original author credit on one of the pages. It is a link of  43Things. I think that is rather cool. I like how I have learned to link things up. It has become second nature to me.

I will definately use creative commons as a teacher. I also will share it with my students. I feel like the more practice you have the better you will become aquainted with whatever it is that you are using. If I start my younger students with creative commons by the time they get to high school they will be pros at it!

As a teacher I also will continue to use creative commons so that I can make sure I am using things legally and setting a good example for my students!

Thing # 22

I can not believe that the word "podcast" was word of the year in 2005. It is now 2010 and I had no idea what a podcast was until I had to make one for my Educ 3040 Technology Class. All I can say is WOW! I am really liking the podcast thing! I will definately use it when I start teaching. I feel like it is a good way to get my students attention. I will use a podcast and then asign a worksheet with it. (This makes it beneficial for the students to pay attention.)
Ok so on to finish thing #22!

Well I clicked on several different podcasts and I tried all 3 of the links that Dr Wall put up here. There was only one that actually worked. And It was pretty stupid so I am not gonna say what it was or connect the link to my blog. I dont want to offend anyone and I surely dont want to be associated with listening to something like that! LOL I know I am weird!.
I did create my own podcast. I read a book "Why do leaves change colors?" by Dr. Marian Jacobs. I also created a worksheet to be used with my podcast.

Thing #21

Making my own video was very fun! I am loving this! I can make one for free it is limited to a 30 second video! We will see how it turns out. It is processing while I am typing into my blog. It really was easy and like Dr. Wall said you really dont have to be Steven Spielburg! That was very easy and alot of fun! I chose to do a video of our family Vacation to Texas last August! I had some really great pics showing how out going and funny my kiddos are! They are the love of my life!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Thing #20

While exploring you tube, I thought about something my EDUC 2100 professor taught me. We live in a Global economy. She was absolutely correct, it is because the internet reaches all over the world! While in that class we watched a video about civil rights. I was going through Youtube and I found something that really caught my eye. I would love to share it with everyone that comes into contact with my blog!

I have wanted to be a teacher for many years. I have driven education into my childrens brain. My whole household takes education very serious and I have always been involved and communicated with their teachers and their education. I do "down and dirty" they keep absolutely no secrets from me or their dad. I know this because we DO NOT give them the opportunity to "hide" anything from us. Without further ado here is the video that caught my attention.

Thing #19

I selected Teacher Pop! I am awaiting to be accepted by the administrator! I will come back and blog about this a little later.

So it is now a little later! lol

I set up my page and it really reminds me of myspace! I added a picture to my profile. It is very user friendly and I connected it with my facebook. I think this is going to be a really good networking site for me as an upcoming teacher! I am going to continue to use this site!

I think this is my badge:

Visit TeacherPop

Thing #18

I already have a myspace and a facebook. Myspace is really old and I never log into it anymore. My facebook is something I log into often. (It actually depends on how much homework I have.)

This is my facebook. I dont know if you can view it cause it is private! I have like 200 friends and I am nto wanting to add anymore! lol....it is enough to keep up with.

I think it is beneficial for educators to know how to social network, it is one of the best ways to stay up to date with what is going on with your students (this applies to older students really). The one thing that I do not like about the sites is having to share your personal information. That is the one thing about today's society that really bothers me. You should not put anything on the web that is truly private. There are so many ways that your stuff can be hacked into even with a virus protector!
I do not think that this should be used especially if minors are involved, we have to be especially careful when we are doing things with other's children.

Thing #17

Del.icio.us is a good website. It has alot of things on it and I found the best way to search for things is in the search bar! I think that social tagging or bookmarking is a very good idea for teachers! I think that a group of educators can see what is going on, follow the feeds, and give ideas to other educators! I really like the ability to social network in the same area. I feel like this opens the door for many other ways to succeed as a teacher.

Thing #16

I am a google nerd! So of course Google is already my homepage. I simply created my own unique "Google homepage!" It was easy and fun! I attached all my RSS feeds on there that we signed up for earlier in the 23 things blog. I added a calender on there and put when my upcoming tests and homework that is do for my classes. I have to say I am in love with this new homepage! It has me wrote all over it! I am going to keep it as my permanent homepage! This was very fun for me! I think the calenders will be very helpful. I also can use this when I start teaching to track my conferences! How exciting!! I dont really know what I think about the to do lists. I will have to see how that pans out!

Thing # 15

So I never figured this out! I am so frustrated that I could not figure this one out! I like to think that I am pretty technology inclined, but I am so lost on this. I enabled my account and logged in. Could not figure out though how to make it work. I closed everything out and then tried to log back in and it said I had to enable cookies! All I can say is GRRRRRRRRR!

Thing #14

You see the mind map created in mindmeister! It was not that easy to work with. I really did not care much for the program. I like alot more colors and things are that user friendly. I found this to be frustrating to me. I chose mndmeister because it did seem easy and I could work on my blog and complete the 14th thing right away.

The next thing I worked on was a flowchart. I chose Gliffy to make my flowchart! I found this website to be user friendly, and I love the capabilities to use colors and arrows efficiently and effectly! I have to say this one is my favorite! The one thing that I can not figure out is how to post it to my blog. I will continue to work on it until I figure it out.

ok, so as you can see I fugured it out. It really did not take too long about 10 minutes! You go to share, and a window pops up. You then click on "use these handy links" and another window pops up. It is your flowchart. I right clicked on it and saved picture as... and saved it to my PC and then I simply inserted the image into my blog!



Thing #13

It has been a while since I was on here. Mid-terms are now over with! WHEW! I am glad that week is over! So it is back to the grindstone to finish up this semester.

I am now on thing 13 as you can see. It is online apps, and I went with Zoho Writer! I created my account (which was very easy, I just hope I can remember all my passwords for all the different websites). LOL

I created and played in Zoho Writer. I really love it! I will continue to use this online application for years to come. I created a cheesy page where I was just playing around with it. I am going to put it here in my blog!

Well first attempt was..../fail! lol.....Let me see if I can figure this out!
  My Zoho Writer

2nd Attempt was a success. I will share with you how I figured it out! I clicked on: "share" and then I clicked on  "post to blog"  I then went to my blog and clicked on link and named it and entered the link address and
Waa Laa! It worked!! YAY!!

Thing #12

How cool google is in the dictionary! WOW! I had no idea about this until I read the article in wikepedia this is what I found...."On October 25, 2006, Google sent a plea to the public requesting that "you should please only use 'Google' when you’re actually referring to Google Inc. and our services."  

That is crazy to me!

I chose Google calender....I really found this to be a good product. I can use this to keep track of teacher/parent conferences, any conferences that I need to attend as a teacher, any events in general from both business and personal. I also already knew about Picasa I have that as my picture file on my computer. I do photo projects and store my photos on there. I really love picasa I think it is one of the best picture programs out there as of right now. Technology changes so fast, Google makes it easier to keep up with the latest. That is why I love Google!

This is what I made with my picasa!

Thing # 11

I added thejounrnal.com and education week to my RSS feeds.  The hardest thing was looking for something that I would be interested in. The easiest method I found for finding feeds was google. Which is my favorite search engine. I typed in "school learning library 2.0" and found the journal and googled "education" to find education week, they even have an edition for teachers! When i went to add the journal to my feeds it asked me which one did I want to add?  There were several to choose from, it was confusing to me at first, so I just scanned through them to find the education articles and that is what I added. I think these two feeds will be useful to me as a future teacher! It will keep me updated on currect events in the education department. I did find out that there is a file search engine for your computer. I did not know that anything like that existed, you dowmload it to your computer and it searches your computer like it searches the web! I found that to be pretty unusual. All in all i have to say that I learned alot from thing number 11! I never realized how much stuff about education is out there in cyberspace! I love to learn new things!

Thing # 10

WOW, that was so easy!!!!!! The cool thing was I was going to choose google reader (because I am a google nerd...lol) and I googled it and it came up and it was already set up. The people that I am connected with on apsu 23 things was already on there and it showed them. I did not have to do anything. It was like my computer read my mind! lol     How awesome is that? Well so thing number 10 is complete easy as microwave mac and cheese!!

Thing #9

Well I have to say another hobby! I love image generators. I have done this before when I had myspace! FUN FUN FUN!
 I looked for one that was kid friendly and I made a sign for my pretend Kindergarten classroom door!
First, I  found a template that I liked, and added my text. Second, I played with the coordinates until it was centered on the page. Then to copy it I just right clicked on my mouse (pc) and saved as classroom sign. It was very easy and I enjoyed it!

http://www.imagegenerator.org/

Thing #8

Flickr fun with mashup! I have never heard of mashups before. I did read the article in wikipedia. I still really don't understand. I am gonna play with the website and see what I can come up with!

ok so I am off topic but I found this and wanted to share! I am very proud of my country and this made me cry when I was working on my Mappr.  I love the words that she attached to her picture! I don't know her but would love too!  Her screen name is RandomSandy.....She is an amazing U.S. citizen!  http://www.flickr.com/photos/ntxpeach68/281021538/

Ok so now on to my Flickr! lol...
 This was so easy and lots of fun....I think I have a new hobby just like she warned on the list....  :)
This is a mosic I made of my family!
"http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4105/5009877916_3f1fcdc5bd.jpg"

I think Flickr could be used in the classroom to help me create "fun" projects for the students, will still be able to teach them what it is that we may be learning!
I am really starting to enjoy this whole blogging thing! I am learning so much.

Thing # 7

Well, I guess I should have read ahead on my "23 Things," I first used Flickr on my thing #6 and added a photo and uploaded one of my dogs. So I am gonna do this again and try to make it repetative! haha.

Here goes... I uploaded 2 more pictures, tagged them, which was very easy for me. I tag on facebook all the time! I also added the group apsu23things, this was a little harder because I wasnt paying attention to detail and I seperated the words, which in fact is all one word. Finding the html code was a little harder then what i thought it would be,  but I finally got it!

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4154/5009584410_1a01bc24ff.jpg"

This is a picure of me and my hubby before he left in March!

This is the first time, I have used a photo hosting site, unless facebook counts?
My facebook is private though.  I don't  feel  very secure just having my personal pictures out there for everyone to see.

I think it would be so much fun, to use flickr in the classroom, I could take pictures and share them with my student's parents' another line of communication! However, when doing this I would have to be careful since they are minors!

Thing #6

Upon exploring web 2.0, I always google everything, if someone tells me something and I don't know or I think that it might not be true I go home and google it. Sometimes even in conversation someone might ask me a question and I don't know the answer to it I say "google it!" lol I know it is something that I have become very dependant on for information. The one thing that I make sure of is the connecting website is a  dot org or a reputable website.

 I used to think that Wikipedia was reputable however I have learned that those pages can be "edited," so some of the information may not be accurate. Also, some of my professors have stated directly in their instructions not to use wikipedia.

For this section of the "23 things" I chose: Flickr, I was surprised to learn that flickr was a yahoo website or program. I use yahoo all the time, I simply signed into my yahoo and I created a screen name, this was very simple for me to use since I was a yahoo user already! The hardest thing was trying to find my pictures of my dogs to upload. I finally found one: Here is a picture of my Beau (8 years) and my Cristal (7 years). I have had Beau (white) since he was 5 weeks old and Cristal since she was 1 year old. I love my babies!

"http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4144/5004681424_78dcddec7d.jpg"

Thing #5

WOW! That video was amazing!

School 2.0 means a broader knowledge of the world around us. Being able to open doors, that have not been available to children of the past. Enhancing our lives with a foundation for "modern learning" in a "modern classroom." 

Even though I am not a true "treehugger" it means less paper and waste.

I believe for schools of the future, it means alot less expense, eventually it could cancel out having to buy textbooks, all together....everyone will just bring their labtops into school, use the internet to access the textbook, and classwork could be emailed to the teacher, once graded it could be emailed back to the student and the parents. What a way to bridge the gap in communication! Giving us the ability to teach students to their full potential! With better tehnological advances like that, image how it would help the economy, if every child graduated college and schools spent less money in order to educate those children!
That's a beginning to help stop poverty in America!

Thing #4

I always thought that blogging was not that interesting and felt that I did not have the time to be reading other peoples comments let alone make a comment on something I might have read. I guess you can call me one of those "lurkers"  Not that I meant to be, just that I never had the time to set up an account., so I would just read what it was that I needed the answer too and continue what I was doing. I now understand that you can learn alot from blogging, from statistical information to what is going on in your community. It opens a broad spectrum of learning. You can pick someones brain right from your own home!

I have chosen three people to follow and comment on in my class: Ms Joan's blog, Brittany Menee's blog and Matthew Ciezki's blog.
First of all, I sit beside Ms Joan in class, and I feel like I can learn alot from her. Also, when reading her blog I can relate to what she is saying, that makes it much easier to read and follow.
When reading Brittany's blog I have to say that I felt the same way she does about how blogging ( I had no idea really what it was like) when in fact it is like having a diary.
Matthew's blog caught my eye because of his title, when I got to reading I realized that we have a few things in common. One of the most important is communication between educators and parents!
I chose Kristyn because we took Educ 2100 together, and now have Math 1410 together, I really enjoy her. She is a sweet girl! I have located 2 more Lacey Chaney, she is in my class and we worked as a team today to figure out and accomplish the flickr photo issue! and Last but not least, I chose Heather Goodman, she is also in my class period and sits behind me in class. She and I have a lot of the same "fears" and we seem to think about the same way.

As I continue in this class I will find 2 more..hopefully! Now this is done!

1. Joan Ryan
2. Brittany Menees
3.Matthew Ciezki
4.Kristyn King
5.Lacey Chaney
6. Heather Goodman

Thing #3

I registered my blog today, I am hoping to try to catch up. I had fallen behind, now I am playing catchup!

I think blogging is a good way to be able to communicate with parents of elementary students. Communication is the key for success! I also believe that success begins at home. I can use my blog to update the parents as to what the class has accomplished, what is currently being taught, and the future objectives needing met. Together we can teach the child to achieve his full potential!

As teachers we learn how to reflect, I can use my blog for that as well.

Thing #2

During the process of making my blog I found it to be extremely easy. I am pretty current with technology, and that always helps! The directions for making my avatar were easy and it has step by step for adding it to the blog.

I am a mother of two wonderful kids...a girl 17 and boy 14! They are the love of my life. I have been married to my best friend for almost 15 years!

I created my blog name in reference to what I was using this blog for.... my education as a future educator! I am really excited about becoming a teacher! I have always loved kiddos and I like to teach people things they do not know...

Thing #1

When watching the video for lifelong learners, I come to realize  some of the things are easy for me. One is making and achieving my goals. I have always viewed problems as challenges, and I always use technology to my advantage. I love to teach others, when my children were small I taught them to read by the age of two. The things that I did not realize was: I am afraid of asking questions; I am always worried that I will mess up and people will think I am stupid! Also, I dont have alot of confidence in myself as a effective learner. I started  college when I was 34 years old and my parents told me I was too old. I almost changed my mind, my husband and children encouraged me to do so, and here I am 2 years later. I will be the first one EVER to achieve a college education in my family.