The end...

My favorite discovery exercises were the ones using Flickr, Live Binders, and the Google suite.  Each of these resources are ones that I will continue to use in both my professional and private life.  I learned quite a bit through the 23 Things program and found some useful web resources.  I will be more committed to finding new web resources and using them now. I really liked some of the blogs I found this semester and plan to use them to keep up with trends in education. I also discovered how easy it is to use a blog and would consider blogging in the future. Overall this program was really helpful, although some of the activities seemed a little redundant and may have covered things too closely.  For instance, most people know how to use the Google suite of products by now.

Thing 23... Finally

The Creative Commons are a great tool.  Since we learned about them in class already, this exercise was just a review.  Under the credits area of the 23 Things for Teachers page, another author is attributed.  Someone else created the original idea and then APSU built on it for its Teacher Education program.

Creative Commons are a great tool for the classroom.  Sometimes, a teacher finds a resource on the internet. If the resource was copyrighted, the teacher could not legally use it without permission.  A Creative Commons license allows a person to make their work available for people to use, and they can even specify how the work will be used.  If I created a great WebQuest, an exceptional PowerPoint, or even an especially moving lecture,  I could use a Creative Commons license to share the material with other history teachers without charging them.  I could even specify the work not be modified and credit must be given to me, which could help maintain the integrity of my original work.

Thing 22

History Binder
The titles of my binders are History, Common Core, and Educational Technology.  Each of these binders contains some resources for each of the topics.  As a teacher Live Binders seems like a great resource, as I could easily organize all my favorite content based on subject.  If I used certain websites often, I could put them in a binder to find the information again and use the site quickly.  As a student, this site is also great.  I could very easily organize on line research or sources for a project.  I could have my students create a binder for a WebQuest or another project.  Each student could contribute to the binder, allowing students to organize their research easily.  Live Binders could also be used by students with technology in the classroom to organize notes and class resrouces.  Instead of just saving notes on a USB drive, students could save them to a cloud (Dropbox, Google Drive, etc) and link that to a binder.  If the class all shared a binder, they could all post their notes in one place.  Live Binders is a great way to get your on line life organized.  I think this may be one of my favorite sites yet!

Thing 21

Copy of Fortner Video

I absolutely loved Animoto... at first. The service was so easy to use.  I created an account and got started in less than 30 seconds.  Animoto automatically uploaded all my photos from Facebook, so I could easily select from hundreds of pictures. However, I struggled a little with actually making a video, as the program kept only letting me add 7 photos.  I eventually found a theme that allowed me to add 8 photos, but that was the best I could do.  I  Although the program has great potential, I think the restrictions on the free version make it almost too difficult to use.    

I do not know that I would ever use this in the classroom.  Although the videos are of excellent quality and have tons of possibilities, I would not use this in the classroom.  I prefer pictures to be in PowerPoint, where I have more control of the formatting and more easily talk about the photo.

Thing 20

American Women in World War II Video

Youtube can be a great tool.  It is extremely easy to find thousands of videos on a topic. Finding this video wasn't too difficult, I just had to sift through quite a few results first.  This is one of the largest problems with Youtube.  The large amount of videos makes it difficult to find educational videos.  If you find a good channel on Youtube, it makes finding videos extremely easy.  The channel I pulled this video from is a personal favorite of mine.  The channel has tons of historical film from various archives.  History teachers often use PBS or History Channel videos in their classroom.  Teachers do not use primary source videos as much as they should though.  Primary source videos are an excellent resource for a teacher, as they allow students to fully immerse themselves in a time period. A primary source video, like the one above could interest students in a topic and make them want to study it more. I would use Youtube videos for this reason in the classroom extensively, especially to introduce a unit.  

I also looked at the website http://www.go2web20.net/site/?a=Glmps.  This is the website that is conncected with the Glmps App.  This app would be great for use in the classroom, as students could easily take photos of a site (or a project) and share it online.  This would be great if I was taking the class on a field trip, or if students vacationed in a historically significant site and shared their photos/videos with the class.  

Thing 19

I guess I knew other social networks existed, but I never really explored more than Facebook and Twitter for my personal use.  I already love Pinterest and can easily spend the afternoon pinning various items.  I absolutely loved Pinterest for Teachers!!! It had a ton of great resources and classroom ideas.  I was a little disappointed that their was not a board  for High School History, but the board for Middle School Social Studies was also really useful and had a lot of ideas for the classroom.  There were some lesson plans for teaching Ancient Egypt, which would be a wonderful resource for me, as ancient history is not my specialty area at all.  I followed all the board that were included in Pinterest for Teachers so I would be updated on new resources and could easily find all that information again.  I really liked Bakespace too, but I don't think I would use it much in the classroom (unless I baked for the class!).

Thing 18

Social networking.... We love, We hate, We cannot live without it!  Social networking has become an everyday part of life.  Almost everyone using Facebook now (even my grandparents!).  Twitter has become more popular, most especially for younger people.  Teenagers love Twitter.  Twitter allows them to quickly share their thoughts and pictures.  I have a teenage brother and he loves to tell me Facebook is only for parents and old people now.  Twitter is the new, cool thing.  Educators must understand what their students are doing in life.  This applies not only to their home life but social media.  No one wants to be that teacher who sounds out of touch with reality because you don't have any clue what Twitter is.  I have used Twitter quite a bit, although I still don't use it on a daily basis.  So, I didn't learn much about Twitter in general.  However, I did look at Twitter a little bit differently.  I never thought about using Twitter to find more out about education.  There are links to TONS of educational articles and links to websites that could be helpful.  Its really fast and easy to go through these posts which contain a lot of useful information.  I do not know if I would actually use Facebook or Twitter in the classroom.  I believe the potential for students to be off task is just too much.  Students would chat with friends or catch up on their Twitter feed more than they would do any actual work.

Thing 17

Before this exercise, I knew little to nothing about social bookmarking.  Honestly, I had never even heard of Delicious before.  However, I believe this took could be very useful.  It would make it easier to bookmark sites, especially if you use multiple computers or even multiple browsers.  Losing a bookmark would become almost impossible.  I believe this tool could be used in the classroom.  It would be great for group projects.  A class could even do a webquest together to expand their knowledge.  Student contributions are sometime the most helpful in learning.  Teachers could take advantage of this site and social bookmarking to find new resources.  It would make it easy to see what other teachers are looking at and bookmarking.  It would also me a great tool to use with students in the classroom.  Students could easily share their research and learn from their peers.

Thing 16

Organization is the key to success in not only teaching but in life.  If you are not organized, life will pass you by and you will get nothing done.  I am a very organized person, but in a very low tech manner.  I rely heavily on paper to do list, and lists in general.  Using the Web 2.0 tools discussed in this activity would be a great way to use technology to keep me more organized.  The customized start page is awesome!  I love that they are on line so you can access it anywhere. I hate bringing my lap top to school so I often work on the computers at school.  This tool would be great for helping stay organized when using multiple computers.  I used the netvibes start page.  I really like that you can customize it to suit your interests.  It was extremely easy to set up and, even better, it was free.  I am going to try using it as my permanent start page and see how I like it in the long run.  On line calendars would be a great addition to my organized life.  I prefer to use the Google calendar, as  I already use Google extensively.  On line calendars are great since they can remind you of events.  They are easy to use, and you never have to worry about losing them.  I like the MyStickies application.  Since most of us spend a lot of time on our computers, this would be a great way to remember an event or assignment.  I would recommend this to a friend.

Thing 15

Everyone loves Wikipedia.  You can easily find simply stated information about a topic.  This information is generally up to date, because (as we all know) anyone can change Wikipedia at any time.  In the realm of academic research, this may not be a good thing.  Wikipedia may not always be accurate.  However, the concept of a wiki can be extremely useful in other applications in education.  After exploring exactly what a wiki was (I will be honest, before this learning experience, I could not have told you),  I began thinking of all the creative ways I could use this technology in my classroom.  Wikis would be great for a group project.  Students like to use the excuse that they cannot all get together to work on something, but with a wiki, they can all work together on line.  Since I want to teach history, I loved this website http://resourcesforhistoryteachers.wikispaces.com/.  I could easily see resources and modify them for other teachers.  Wikis would also be a great way to collaborate with a class in another location in this country or anywhere in the world.

I love the entire wiki concept.  Wikis allow people to work together without the constraints of time and space.  If a group of people cannot get together in a room because they live in different states, they can use a wiki to plan a trip or work on a group project for schools.  Wikis have endless possible uses, both in the school and in your everyday life.
 

Thing 14

Everyone learns differently.  Some people need to see a picture, while other require a chart or table.  Flow charts and mind maps are both useful in the classroom to help meet the needs of students and assist the teacher deliver information.  A mind map is an excellent way to outline infomation visually while a flow chart is better for explaining more complex pieces of information.  The following is a mind map I created about slavery in the US for a class I am teaching next semester

This would be an excellent way to help me organize my thoughts prior to lecture.


This is a flow chart I created to deal with World War II.

I chose to use flowchart.com because it was extremely easy to use and contains templates for many different chart types.  I could use a flow chart in the classroom to not only present information but to explain grading.

Thing 13

Google Drive Document

This a form I created in Google.  The event is made up, solely as an example of the possibilities.  This would be a great way to send out information to a mass amount of parents in the classroom and receive a response about an issue.

Google Drive Form

Google Drive allows students to work together on a project easily.  One student could do their part of a group project and share the document with his or her group members.  Each student could do this and complete the project.  The students would not have to worry about having Word, Excel, or PowerPoint.  The Microsoft Office software is quite expensive.  Thus, even if students have access to a computer, they may not have that software.

I much prefer Google Drive to Zoho, but this may be due to the fact that I have been using Google Drive for years and I am comfortable with the software.  I am a loyal Google user and find Drive much simpler to use and easier to access, as Google is almost always open on my computer.

Thing 12

Almighty Google.  Google does it all, from searching the web to providing directions on your phone to translating text.  Although Google has tons of useful products,  I chose to explore Google Scholar and Google Translate.  These two items seem like the ones that will be most useful in my classroom in the future.  Google Scholar is an easy and quick way to search for academic articles.  Teachers need to stay current on research in their field, but it is sometimes difficult if you are not a student with easy access to periodical databases.  Google Scholar is a way to still search for academic material, but it is free for everyone.  Google Scholar is extremely easy to use, as it is identical to Google.  Google Translate also contains endless possibilities for use in the classroom.  This service is also free and quickly translates text into another language.  In our increasingly global culture, Google Translate can help a teacher with ELL students greatly.  If a student speaks and reads only Japanese, it is difficult and unfair to give them a test only in English.  The test is not longer over the content area, but is now a test of the student's English language skills.  With Google Translate, a teacher can translate a test or other material into a student's native language.  Although Google Translate does not always perfectly translate text, it can ease the burden of learning a new language on a student. Google still does it all! There are so many useful (and free!!!) services available on Google that can make someone's life easier, but are also useful in the classroom.

Thing 11

Who know finding blogs could be so easy?!?! I never realized search engines existed solely for the purpose of finding new blogs.  I thought both blogsearchengine.org and technorati.com were especially user friendly and provided comprehensive lists of blogs.   I did not find the Educblog award site very helpful, as I experienced technical difficulties when trying to use the site.  I found some excellent blogs for history teachers.  These were my favorites: http://ushistoryeducatorblog.blogspot.com/, http://worldhistoryeducatorsblog.blogspot.com/, http://teachingunitedstateshistory.blogspot.com/.  These were the most frequently updates and useful blogs.  I could have spent the majority of the day reading these blogs.  I found this website, which allows a person to search for RSS feeds with a specific content, http://ctrlq.org/rss/.  However, I think the easiest way to find RSS feeds is to simply frequent your favorite website and see if they offer the service.  Looking for websites solely to finds one with RSS feeds just to fill a feed up seems pointless.

Thing 10

RSS and newsreaders may be the best thing we have done in this class so far!  Blogs are a great source of information, but with a busy life, it is not possible to sit and read a bunch of blogs each day.  However, with an RSS feed, it is easy to skim the new material on several websites at one time.  When you subscribe to several feeds, you can easily see which sites have new content that is worth reading.  Teachers have busy lives and this tool is great for helping teachers find the time to utilize all the wonderful tools available to help them!  RSS is a great tool for educators (and really anyone).  This tool helps make web 2.0 things more accessible.  The article likened newsfeeds to e mail,  but I see them as more similar to Facebook, a platform almost everyone uses regularly now.  All the new information from your favorite sites are in one location, and you can chose to look at whichever things look interesting or useful to you!

Thing 9

You knew a school assignment could end up being so much fun....

Discovery of the day--I love image generators!  I had so much fun playing around with these sites today.

 Who wouldn't want a cute flower sign to direct them to their history class?!?!


Or you could make a custom jersey for a special athlete....

The photos above were both created at imagechef.com, a site suggusted in the instuctions.

However, there are many more image generators.  The next image is an example of a photo collage, created at http://www.fotor.com/.  This site is free and allows you to make a photo collage, using your own photos.

 Image generators have a multitude of uses, both in the classroom and in everyday use. 


I plan on using these in my classroom to create cute signs to liven up the often boring white walls of a school.  I could use a photo collage to creatively present several pictures in a PowerPoint.  I plan on using these types of sites in my everyday life to spruce up my social media and to just be more creative in general.

Thing 8

I had so much fun with Flickr the first time, I looked forward to this "thing." The amount of apps using Flickr shocked me.  Some of these apps let you create something while others simple help you use Flickr.  One of the most interesting things I found belonged to the second group.  This site, http://www.whatsthatpicture.com/flickr/commons-map.php, allows the user to view a world map and see where different pictures from Flickr were taken.  All these pictures are from the Commons, so they are something I could use in the classroom.  This site is very useful.  For example if you wanted to find a picture taken of something in Ireland, you can zoom in on that country and see all the pictures from the Commons from Ireland.  The site mashed Google Earth and the Commons to provide the map.  It is important to note that this map is still in the process of being created so their are still some kinks and things to be desired.  The site also has a very interesting page called on this day where you can select a date and they will provide a picture from that day in history. 

Other sites allow the user to create various objects.  Some of these seem less academic to me, but can be fun for use in my personal life.  For instance, I created this using a picture of some penguins.

This website, http://bighugelabs.com/, has a variety of tools for use with Flickr.  You can put captions of pictures, which could be quite useful in creating presentations.

This further exploration into Flickr has changed my mind on the site.  I now plan on using it in my classroom for finding pictures from history and using them in my lectures.

Thing 7

I have never really used Flickr before.  Honestly, I thought it was just kinda a site for teenager girls to use to show off their newest Miley Cyrus impersonation outfit.  When I saw that exploring Flickr was one of our assignments, I knew I must have been mistaken!  After looking around Flickr some, I realized the site is actually really cool.  You can look at a world map and see where people are posting pictures around the world.  When I clicked on a picture someone posted from Dublin, Ireland, I found the picture below.  The picture was posted by the National Library of Ireland and was taken around 1900.  The caption invites viewers to debate on what exactly is seen in the picture.  Is the giant cross an ornate mail box or something more?  I thought this picture was both gorgeous and intriguing.  It made me think a little bit about what exactly I was seeing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47290943@N03/9682531809

Photographer: Robert French

The amount of historical pictures on Flickr shocked me.  As a historian and future history teacher, this is an excellent resource.  As the overly cliched saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.  Although this is  true in the more commonly accepted meaning of this saying, a picture can be worth countless words in the classroom.  Displaying a picture on the projector is a great way to transition topics and spark discussion with students.  A lesson like this forces students to think about a topic and immerse themselves in histroy

The Commons area on Flikr is the most useful part of the website to my future classroom.  The Commons is an effort to digitize photo archives and make them available for public use.  Several large institutions partipicate in the project.  This project would be a great tool in the classroom because the teacher can trust the image since it comes from a reputatable institution.  The captions are reliable, whereas if an image is just found on Google it may not be.

The tags feature is also really nice, allowing a user to find photos with similar tags.  I looked at photos with the tag libraryofcongress.  All these photos were uploaded from the United States Library of Congress.  Below are some photos with this tag that I thought were interesting.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8623220@N02/9733702037/in/photolist-fQ8LuV-fQ8NVk-fQ8Mup-fQ8Mkt-fQqnyq-fQ8Nst-fQqn6b-fQqmxh-fQ8Mcp-fQ8LaZ-fQ8Nha-fQ8PqP-fQqo6W-fQ8N4Z-fQ8Mqt-fQ8N2M-fQqkSw-fQ8Nd8-fQ8Myx-fQ8PcH-fQ8M2t-fQ8NKi-fQqjXS-fQ8MW4-fQ8KQe-fQqnm9-fQ8KXz-fQqosy-fQ8Phr-fQ8KVv-fQ8Mhk-fQ8N6R-fQqnMU-fQ8Pwa-fQqmqN-fQqo4s-fQqkaq-fQ8LDK-fQ8Mar-fQ8M8r-fQqnY5-fQqksC-fQqkhU-fQqk7Y-fQqjDd-fQ8PDp-fKKBot-fL3jr5-fL3kto-fKKKfi-fKKHkB

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8623220@N02/9574727213/in/photolist-fA5YPF-fA5Zu8-fA5YD4-fAkjPN-fAkk3A-fA61PF-fA5ZTB-fA5Z5M-fAkjyE-fAkkuy-fA61jn-fAkhEo-fAkhxL-fA5YKr-fA5ZDB-fAkhch-fAkkL7-fAkj8Q-fAkjGs-fAkicm-fAki4J-fA613M-fAkm4L-fA61WF-fAkkyE-fA5ZdB-fA5Yft-fA61rr-fAkhAU-fA5Y4D-fAkkny-fuUq7X-fuUsSZ-fv9Lg5-fuUswi-fuUqtD-fuUs2K-fuUqHz-fuUrrn-fuUrUH-fuUsLa-fuUqzM-fuUsZx-fuUriD-fuUsaM-fuUr4c-fuUqWr-fuUpKR-fv9HSd-fuUpT6-fv9Jro

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8623220@N02/9473050638/in/photolist-fr6RVh-fr6S6o-fr6ToE-fr6Rzw-fr6SR5-fqRA5z-fqRByH-fqRC7M-fqRzLa-fqRzsx-fr6QLs-fqRCwZ-fr6Ua9-fqRzTi-fr6SYE-fr6ReL-fqRBVt-fr6T7w-fqRAXk-fr6QGw-fqRzDi-fr6SCU-fr6Snq-fqRzvK-fqRCEg-fr6RMy-fmsYDe-fmsYvx-fmHa3L-fmsY1z-fmsYnB-fmH9ML-fmsYzr-fmH9Fd-fmHaTf-fmsYLe-fmHb7d-fmsYQ6-fmHaaL-fmsZ28-fmsYiP-fmH9QJ-fmGRxb-fmGQ6J-fmsDCp-fmGTdC-fmsExz-fmsD4F-fmsG32-fmGRJY-fmGQTE

After this experience with Fickr, I learned that the sight is easy to use and a great tool in the classroom (and an even better way to spend some free time!).

Thing 6

TV watching has become the new national past time.  I am as guilty as anyone else.  I turn the TV on after dinner and spend the evening watching it instead of doing something mentally engaging or productive to society.  However, the television is not going anywhere.  But maybe life would be easier if there was an easy way to watch all your shows on line without worrying about being home for a show or even remembering to set the DVR? (Side note--I am a little concerned about the fact that is this a problem for people--including myself-- in the first place.)


While trying to find a website for this activity I started out looking for something strictly tied to the classroom, but I found this quite difficult.  Every educationally related site I found either charged for use, was not as cool as it first seemed, or was in another language.  However, when  I expanded my search and just looked for websites I personally found useful or interesting.  I ended up finding this handy site that links users to locations where they can watch shows on line.  This site, http://www.tv.com/, does not link users to illegal streaming sites, but rather directs them to legal methods of watching the video.  At first, I just thought this was a nice site that I could use in my free time, but then I explored the site further and found some great educational videos including lectures on Ancient Egypt and a movie about the Hidenburg disaster, and an entire series made by the National Archives.  Sometimes, videos accurately depict a historical event and cane be extremely useful in a classroom.  I am so glad that I found this website that I can use in both my free time and in the classroom!

Thing 5

I am from a small town in a rural area.  Technology was non existent in my high school.  The only computers available for student use were located in a classroom and reserved solely for the Information Technology classes (typing, document creation, etc.).  I also attended a small liberal arts school.  Although more technology was available at this school, things were still pretty low key.  Thus, technology was never part of my education.  Until I attended Murray State, I was much more comfortable with a book than a computer.  It was only after several trips to the library that I became comfortable with internet research.  School 2.0 is a completely different type of education than the one I am familiar with from experience.  The multitude of resources available for educators is astounding.  It is possible (and not even difficult) to assign students a project entailing them creating an animated video online.  This could provide a great opportunity for students to learn in a unique manner.  I believe school 2.0 is a chance for students to move past the knowledge level of learning.  No longer do students of ANY subjects need to be assigned the memorization of facts solely.  Teachers have thousands of resources available to them that that help engage students in lessons and help them more fully learn the material.  Future schools may look very different.  As technology becomes more affordable (and practical for schools) teachers will adapt their lessons and use different tools more regularly.  Technology is not only changing the way we communicate with family, but also the way we learn and teach.

Thing 4

I love to read cooking blogs. Whenever I can't think of something to make for dinner, off I go to my favorite blog.  I regularly read comments to see how different recipes worked out for people, but I never comment myself.  I have never even thought about commenting myself though.  Commenting is so important to the blogging process.  The various pieces about commenting reminded me how valuable commenting is.  Positive reinforcement helps encourage bloggers and comments can help guide a blogger in developing new ideas.  Commenting creates a sense of community.  A blog is not a private diary.  Rather, people read your posts and comment, fostering a deeper sense of togetherness.  For the purpose of this class, I have chosen to follow and comment on the following blogs: Alexa Aguilar, Catherine Ericson, Stephanie Freeman, Tonya Van Winkle, and Natasha Long.  Other blogs I want to follow this semester are The History Teacher's Attic (a blog for history teachers) and Speaking of History. Since I love history (and want to teach it) I hope these blogs will both help me learn something and become a better teacher.  My comments all try to identify with the comments and encourage the blogger.  I believe optimism is a great quality and encouragement goes a long way when someone takes the time to put their writing in a public sphere.

Thing 3

Since I have little experience blogging, I struggled thinking of ways to use this practice in my education and later my classroom.  However, after spending some time blogging for class, I learned the potential usefulness of this tool.  Hopefully, I will be teaching high school history.  Blogging could be very useful when requiring students to do any form of research.  Students could post their research search and receive a quick response to their work.  A blog would also provide a wonderful forum for students to exchange ideas and discuss topics.  Blogging provides another way to facilitate discussion and debate between students while encouraging critical thinking.  Discussion of a topic requires a deeper level of understanding, rather than simply memorizing dates and re-writing them on a test.

Blogging not only provides students a method of discussion, but also allows the same opportunities to teachers.  A blog could provide sample activities, lesson plan ideas, or just some encouragement after a rough day.  Blogging is quick and simple enough for almost anyone to do, making it a great tool for teachers in any subject.

Thing 2

Since I have zero experience with creating a blog or an avatar, this experience was a little stressful.  I couldn't find the things I needed at first, but eventually I figured it all out.  I just named my blog after me.... it seemed like the simplest thing to do. It was not really hard to create the blog, rather it was a simple process once I figured out the website.  My avatar looks like me.  I made her have a stack of books because I love to read, and with school I feel like I am always buried under a stack of books and homework.

Thing 1

This is my first experience with blogging, so here goes nothing! Technology has never really been my thing.  However, with this class I will be learning some new things so maybe I can be more comfortable with technology!  I was surprised how easy it was to set this blog up.  In just a few minutes, everything was done.  I was a little anxious at first, but then I was quite comfortable with it.

The slideshow on lifelong learning was something I was much more comfortable with since I have been in school constantly for the last 20 years.  Learning and education are more natural to me than most things in life.  However, I still struggle with some things.  The habit I have the most trouble with is habit 3.  I get frustrated easily and since I am so detail oriented I get bogged down and buried in work easily.  While at Murray State pursuing my Master's degree in history, this was a huge problem because of the heavy workload.  Making it through that program did a lot to show me that I can achieve what I set my mind too. I still struggle with seeing problems as challenges and not getting aggravated though.

The easiest habit for me is habit one.  I am a very goal oriented person; thus, I always keep the end result in mind, rather it be a good grade in a course, obtaining a degree, or even just learning something new for fun.