Final Thoughts from Chase

I have certainly enjoyed going through the 23 things and learning about some new neat things to use in my classroom. Not only have I been given tools for the classroom, I have been given tools that I can use in my everyday life. Things that are educational, informative and just plain fun! I think that every student should go through the 23 Things. Because, as I said, there are things that everyone can use, not just teachers. I plan to keep up with my blog and as I have new experiences, I will comment about them and those that are following my blog will be able to see new ideas or experieneces that I have had. I have gained tools that will aid me to be an organized teacher and also to give some of those influeneces to my students.

Thing #23

Creative Commons helps you to be able to use other people's work for instruction without violating copyright law. I will certainly have times where I will have to use other people's videos, music, etc. to use in my classroom for instruction. By following the guidelines of Creative Commons, I will be able to use those without getting in trouble. There is public domain stuff that you can use that is able to be used not have to worry about violating copyright laws.

Thing #22

I listened to a history podcast from the Education Podcast Network. I found that this podcast directory was the easiest to use becuase it was easy to navigate through by subject or by student created podcasts. They were split up into subjects and you could go right to your subject and listen in. I will certainly create podcasts for my students. This will aid if a child is out and then they can hear the lecture from the class that they missed by just going online and hearing what was discussed. This way a child will never miss any subject matter that is covered in class. I will most likely subscribe to this History podcast and listen regularly because it covers come interesting topics. You can access the History podcast from Education Podcast Network here: History Podcast

Thing #21

Animoto is by far the most awesome site that I have explored so far. I didn't even know that it existed or i would have been using it for several projects. I played around with it and uploaded a video of some pictures that I took on a canoeing trip with my church a year or so ago. I was able to choose music and save my video. It was only limited to 30 seconds for free users but it was worth it. I will certainly use this in my classroom to create eduactional resources. Here is my video:

Thing #20

YouTube has a plethera of videos at your disposal. People have uploaded instructional videos, informational videos & videos for you to just get a laugh. I chose a video of some teachers getting together to dance at a school talent show and I chose that video because it shows them being able to have just as much fun at work as the students do at school. I have used YouTube for church projects and school projects before and if you need a video of any kind, YouTube is the best first place to look.

Thing #19

I am a member of TeacherPop from APSU, Facebook & MySpace. I took a look at some of the other social networking sites and some of them appeal to me beacase there are ones that go along with some of my interests such as education & music. I will most likely become part of several sites to see what other Teachers are talking about and maybe gain some teaching strategies from more experienced teachers on the education social sites.

Thing #18

Social networking sites are among some of the most popular sties on the internet today. They are a place to express yourself through profile perks, locate friends & family and see their profile pages as well. I have had both a myspace and facebook account for a couple of years now and I would have to say I prefer Facebook over MySpace. Facebook books has more to offer as far as applications, stuff to put on your profile & a few more privacy perks to help protect yourself. I feel that teachers should be aware of the social networking sites and how to use them. But, if a teacher decides to have a Fabook page, for instance, they need to be mindful of what they are posting on them becuase of their students being able to see it and also their parents as well. I think that some applications for Facebook that are geared towards the classroom will come about teachers will be able to utilize these sites in their classroom.

Thing #17

Social bookmarking, a term that my parents have never heard of and I had not until I started doing APSU 23 Things. It is a great tool to keep all those great websites organized that you want to use in teaching. As an up and coming history teacher, I will have several sites dealing with history. I will be able to use a social bookmarking site to tag those by subject, time period or by a person's name in history. This will save time in having to look for a site in a long list of sites on my computer. I will bookmark them and tag them so that I may easily access them.

Thing #16

In the education world, being very organized is key. There are several tolls out there to help you to stay organized and keep up with all that you have to keep up with. I chose to explore with the iGoogle start page. I created an accounta and played around with the many features. I can post my google calendar, google mail account and keep up with to do lists. There are several modules that you can add to the start page that are interesting, keep your organized or are just there for fun. You have the option to make the startup page your hompage, in which everytime you open up your web browser, your iGoogle page will pull up and you have all your organizational tools righ at your fingertips. I would recommend that every teacher create a google calendar account and use that to keep up with appointments and dates. I made iGoogle my homepage and I refer to it as my "central hub" where everything I use on a regular basis such as my calendar is right there when I open my web browser.

Thing #15

Using a wiki was pretty interesting. I see why many people tell you that Wikipedia, for example, is not usually a reliable source for a project because it can be edited. It is a good thing because people are able to contribute their opinions and add content that the original author may have filed to add. In a classroom, you would be able to create a wiki page for the unit that you may be currently teaching and students can access it and comment, add, edit, take away from it and simply express their opinion or concern of the topic in question. Wikis are just another one of those neat tools out there.

Thing #14

I explored with bubbl.us which is a free way to brainstorm online. Bubbl.us is an example of a mind map. Again, this is a great FREE tool to use online for creating brainstorm charts and to express your ideas on line. Once you have finished your brainstorm map, you are able to save it as an image, print it out to show your class or colleagues, or even email it to someone. I also experimented with gliffy.com which allows you to make flow charts that you can use in your class. But beware, that the account that you sign up for is only a Trial, after thirty days, you will have to pay for an upgrade. But in that time, you are able to make flow charts, print them out or even save them as well. These are two great tools to use in your classroom or for meetings.

Thing #13

I played around with the Zoho writer and was amazed at how similar it was to Microsoft Word. It contained most of the same features and perks that you would get in Word. It was easy to use and very user friendly. This program would come in handy if you did not have access to Microsoft Word in your classroom or on your home computer. It allows for easy printing and saving on the internet so it does not take up space on your computer. Did I mention that it's FREE!

Thing #12

I have been a long-time user of Google products. For a while now, Google Calendar has kept track of my appointments & class schedule. I receive alerts on my cell phone when I set up an important event on my calendar. That way I make sure not to forget the small stuff. I am able to print out calendar pages for my notebook as well as print out an agenda page for the week to see what I have going on. Another Google product that I use is iGoogle. Its like a personal Google page where I can check email, see music charts, see a bible verse for the day & even see movie times at the theatre. These are great tools to help keep you organized in your everyday life. Neither of these tools are public or able to be shared. They are for personal use and they are great personal tools at that.

Thing #11

Finding blogs can be a challenge but I found that using Technorati was one of the easier to use for blog search. You searched by subject and some of those subjects were split into sub-topics. Then they would list several RSS feeds that you could subscribe to. I enjoy music and was able to locate music feeds to keep up with the artist and hear about new songs in the different genre's that I enjoy listening to.

Thing #10

I like the fact that all the interesting news sites, top music charts, movie information & daily bible verses can be in one place for me to see. It keeps me from having to go to all the different sites and read the newest post and then proceeding to the next site. Organization is key with Bloglines or Google Reader. As a social studies major (History, Government, etc.) I could use this in my classroom to keep up with current events and use it as a teaching tool. Not only could I use it but other teachers could as well. There are several topics and newsfeeds to choose from. I have posted a link for my Bloglines page below.

This is the the link to my Bloglines page so you can see what I subscribe to:
Chase's Bloglines Page

Thing #9

I used Image Chef to create the above picture. I did not choose it for any particular reason other than just to have fun and create something neat. I thought "Let's Go Peay" would be good to write in the sand seeing as we are at Austin Peay.

 

I also used Image Chef for this one. That particular site seemed to be the one that I liked the most. I could certianly sit here and make stuff all day long. These Generator sites are certainly just to have fun with.

Thing #8

"Spell with Flickr" is a very cool site that lets you spell words using pictures from Flickr. You simply enter the word you want to have spelled in cool letters and let it do the work for you. This tool could be used in your personal life by creating a unique way of showing your name, as I did, or use for your personal webpage as a cool title. Sharing photos online is also neat, beause you can allow family to see pictures of you and your family. I would suggest limit the people that can see your photos. If they are on a social networking site, then I would suggest only allowing friends to see them.

Thing #7

Looking around Flickr, I chose to use the keywork "Myrtle Beach", which was my favorite vacation spot of all time. I found a gorgeous picture of the morning sunrise on the beachline. Here it is:

I love using Flickr because it lets me see photos that other people have taken and since I did not get to take many photos in Myrtle Beach, it gives me the opportunity to see my favorite vacation spot. With the tag I used you were able to get thousands of photos of beaches, not just Myrtle Beach. Great site for obtaining photos and photo sharing, just make sure you credit the author of the photos. Enjoy!

Thing #6

Google Documents is a great tool for students and teachers. You are able to create a FREE google account and store documents on the internet. You are then able to add other users from your class to share documents with and a teacher could upload files and assignments for their students to access when they are not in class or if they lose a paper that is handed out. All the documents are stored in an "online filing cabinet" and they are accessible to those you choose. Not only can you store word documents but you can store excel spreadsheets as well. Google Documents is an awesome tool, that I use regularly. You can access it from here: Google Documents

Thing #5

Web 2.0 includes many of the newer things on the internet today such as wikis and social networking sites. There are so many resources to use out there that can improve the future of education. Learning the differences between Web 1.0 which was in the earlier years of the internet & Web 2.0 which is the most recent years of the internet was very interesting to read about. There are so many tools and sites out there that teachers can use for their students and to improve communication among their students.

Thing #4

I learned many things about commenting on blogs. It certainly creates a sense of community and you are able to present a topic and get people to talk about it. I learned to not be afraid to blog and to make sure to leave meaningful comments. If you have something to say about it, do not be afraid to express that but be mindful of the meaningful comment rule and not to say something mean. I chose to comment on the following:
1. Lisa Elliott & Billie Albert: Their comments about facebook were ones that I could relate to because I am regular Facbook user.
2. Rachel Morris & Cady Denton on their flickr becuase their photos appealed to me.
3. Matt Nickerson: Pandora.com is a wonderful on demand music site. I love to listen to it when I am at work or doing school work.