Thing 23!!! (YEA!)

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

I loved making photostories and I loved making my own avatar! It was fun to change the avatar to match my mood, and I loved photostory so much that I made one to send to my sisters in Kentucky!

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
The program has made it easier for me to see myself continuing to learn, especially because I was able to do it all online. I have 3 small children at home, so not having to find a babysitter and go sit in a class to continue my learning is very important to me. It has also taught me that I do have the discipline to learn online, and given me the confidence to begin working on an online degree.

Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
Not really. I guess the most unexpected outcome for me would be the 'things' that gave me difficulty because I have always considered myself pretty computer savvy. I realized that there is still a lot that I can learn.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
Some of the explanations for the different 'things' were not very easy to understand the 1st time that I read them. I found myself rereading several times to gain a good understanding. Otherwise, I thought the program was excellent.

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
I would definitely complete another program. I saw part 2, but I am going to have to wait before I can complete it. I have a 1 week old child, so my time is pretty sparse.

How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities?
In one word, I would say enlightening. In one sentence, I would say This is the most valuable training that I participated in thus far.


I have commented on several different blogs and found some that I begun to follow! This has been a truly great experience!! Thanks!

Thing 22

OMG!!! I love nings! (hope nings is a word) This is the ultimate solution to my problem of how to create a class website. The forum is more specific. The web address is easier. It also seems to be easier for the students to know/monitor when someone else has commented or likes their posts. I think that the students would enjoy it. It is better than a wiki in that the students have individual access and cannot edit or manipulate other students posts or comments. It offers more security for the individual user. The one caution I do have is that the students can upload pictures of themselves and reveal too much of their identity. this could pose a serious safety risk.

Thing 21

I LOVE PHOTOSTORY!! I don't have access to a microphone, so Audacity is something that I will have to check out and play with later. Here is my photostory!

Thing 20

I really liked teacher tube. Some videos are much more intersting than others, but it will be useful. I can add clips to my flipcharts and discussion boards. The video that I watched is below.



I will have to find better videos before I use them in the classroom. Hopefully, videos that are much more engaging. But, at least I learned how to embed the video in my posts! Yea me!

Thing 17

I have created a search roll, but it is not working very well for me. I also cannot seem to link it. Maybe its the exhaustion of having just given birth to a child, but this "thing" is frustrating me to no end. Maybe my husband can explain it to me and I can try again later.

Thing 19

Well my personal favorite of the sites is facebook. I have found it very useful for reconnecting with people that I have lost touch with. It is also easier to communicate with friends that live in other cities, especially since I have 3 little ones at home that make it very difficult to talk on the phone for extended periods of time. However, I have not figured out a way to make it very useful in my classroom. I am not even sure that it is a site that the district allows us to visit. The application I can see myself using daily is PBwiki. I love the site and the freedom that it allows for the students to be able to interact and collaborate. It is very easy to set up, and easy to use.

Thing 18

I really like being able to work on Microsoft without having to open the office suite. It is very productive and convenient when you are working on a MAC. It lets you use the technology that you are familiar with (PC) while still being able to take advantage of all of the WONDERFUL things that a MAC has to offer. It is also convenient when you are somewhere where the Microsoft suite is not installed. For example, when i need to check something at my in-laws house, it is very helpful because they do not have the office suite installed on their computer.

Thing 16

I absolutely love wikis! I used them this past school year with my 4th grade class, and it was wonderful. Now that I am making the transition to middle school, I feel that I will able to do much more with them. I love the idea about using them for group note taking; I think that I will try it when school is back in session. Overall, I think wikis are great tools that are not complicated to implement in the classroom.

Thing 15

I think that transforming libraries is a necessity if we are going to continue to keep our students engaged in the world around them. Often times, students do not explore more in depth about a subject that they are covering in class because they do not want to pick up an encyclopedia to find out more. Library 2.0 gives the students a way to dig deeper while remaining engaged in the subject matter. Transforming our libraries will also help students to use the library more to find out about subjects that are interesting to them: not necessarily just items they are studying in school. This will serve them better, and allow them to become more well rounded learners. It also helps to give them the tools they need to take responsibility for their own learning.

Thing 14

I think that tagging will be useful in creating an online learning community in my classroom. The students will be able to use it to tag their responses to different readings and thoughts that they post on our class blog. It will also enable the students to easily find others that share their thoughts and point of view both in their class period, in different class periods, and throughout the school community. I definitely plan on implementing this technique in my classroom.

Thing 13

Well, I can honestly say that I absolutely HATED thing 13. Delicious was very confusing for me. That is why it has taken me over 2 weeks to complete this 'thing'. I don't have very much to say about thing 13. Maybe it's because I am tired and grouchy and pregnant. I will come back to it after I have the baby and try again.

Thing 12

Well, I will start by saying ALWAYS HIT SAVE DRAFT! I was almost done, went to check on the kids, and came back to find out auto-save was not working. I lost everything! =( Anyway....

The 2 points that I picked were (1) leaving comments for the sake of leaving a comment and (2) signing your real name vs an alias.

I personally hate when ppl leave comments just for the sake of leaving a comments. For me, I tend to get really excited when I see someone has commented on my blog post; I am then extremely disappointed when I read "this was great" or "how true". It is for this reason that I try to only comment on ppl's blogs when I have something truly meaningful to say.

I sign my comments normally using an alias. This works best for me because I really like to protect my identity. Also, some of my friends and family members are ultra-sensitive, and since we read the same blogs, I would rather not say/write things that can be misinterpreted or that will offend.

Making comments on ppl's blogs was interesting for me (point #1 in this post), so I am still in the process of making 5 comments. So far, I only have 3. I did, however, complete the commenting on other blogs that I read/follow.

Thing 11

The library thing made me realize that I do not read nearly as much as I used to or as I thought I did for that matter! It was very eye-opening in that respect. Overall, it was very easy to use. The account was super easy to set up, and adding the book titles was also a breeze. If I only count recently read books, I only have 2-3 books that I can add to my list. I guess maybe I will have to go back to what I read BEFORE I had kids. The titles that I am most familiar with now, "Ten Tiny Tadpoles" and "Goodnight Moon" didn't seem like they would be appropriate choices to add to my reading list. I am looking forward to the day that I can add 'grown-up' titles to my catalog.

Thing 10

I had 1 more that both my husband and I laughed at hysterically! (We would never actually do this!)

Thing 10

This was sooooooo cool, and lots of fun! Check out my comic... I can really see myself using this tool in the classroom! The comic is supposed to represent me dealing with my kids at home after a long day at school. It's pretty accurate. I am going to make another and post it to my kids web blog and share it with my family!

Thing 9

This task I found more difficult than the others. I was not able to find anything that truly interested me. Overall, searching for something to add to my feed was really, really frustrating. I will attribute the 2nd 'really' to me being 36 weeks pregnant, and extremely ready to deliver this baby! I guess I will continue to play with it over the next week or so, and hopefully I will have better fortune after a couple of good nights of rest!

Thing 8

1) I like the google reader. I love that all of the blogs I am following show up there, and I do not have to go back and forth checking to see if any posts have been made.

2) I can use this in my personal life just about everyday. It would be easy for me to keep up with family and friends back home in Chicago. My students can use this to keep track of each other blogs and also the different blogs that I set up for different class periods.

3) It's a good tool for teachers. We could set up a class reader, and use this tool to communicate with other classrooms outside of the district and even the state of Texas. We could follow their blogs and they could follow ours. We could also follow news and current events.

Thing 7

#1- I really like the google calendar. I am a very time conscious person. I always have doctor's appointments, birthday parties, and other events to attend. Having 2 (almost) 3 kids keeps me pretty busy. I love how easy the calendar is to use. I can set up a calendar that can help my students keep track of assignments that are due, upcoming tests and quizzes, and projects.

#2- I love the iGoogle page. I probably will not personally use it, but again I think that it would be a great tool for my students. For example, if there were a particular news story I wanted them to follow they could add it to their homepage and see new alerts and updates every time they turned on their computers without having to search.

I am not normally a big google user; I usually prefer yahoo. After completing this activity, I am a lot more interested in spending time exploring the many possibilities that google has to offer.

Thing 6

I like the idea of mashups, but they are still a little confusing for me. I think that they would work great during a study of specific literary genre, for example a unit on Shakespeare. We could use the mappr to illustrate the story while still giving the students an idea of where the events occured geographically. I absolutely LOVE the trading cards. Book reports just got alot less boring; character studies, reading responses, the possibilities are endless! I have uploaded my trading card below. It needs some work. (my picture was too large). I am learning and having fun in the process!

Thing 5

I picked this image because of how clear it is to see the animal tracks. When I am teaching my students to track their thinking, I often use animal tracks as a comparison; they show us that the animal has been there. The same way, using post-its to track their thinking shows that the students have read and interacted with the text. Without them leaving tracks of their thinking, no one would ever know they had been there.

Thing 3

The hardest part of this task was not setting up a blog. I have done that before. I took a training in the August staff development that taught me how to do that. The most frustrating part was getting my avatar to show. It kept copying as a link and not as the picture. That was EXTREMELY frustrating. Now that that part is out of the way, hopefully things will go a lot smoother!

Thing 2

The easiest habit for me is beginning with the end in mind. I often sit and down and figure out exactly what my expectation is before I set a new goal. This helps me to stay motivated when I am in the process of completing the goal. It also helps me to decide how rigorous the activity will be, and if it is something I really want to accomplish anyway.

The hardest habit for me is play. It is hard for me to find the time to play with 2 boys under 3 and another that will be here soon. Sometimes, i think that I underestimate the value of play as a means of learning. Hopefully, I will get better at it by the end of this training.