Thing #24

This experience has flown right by! I can't believe this semester is already over. I've come into contact with so many things I never would have imagined in such a short period of time. This has shown me to always keep an eye out cause you never know when or where you'll find the next useful piece/function of technology! I want to be learning forever and not just get stuck in my old ways with my same old programs and devices. I believe that this program is pretty much just right. There are a few outdated links here and there but it was easy enough figure out. That being said it definitely is not too easy! It gives you the amount of work that you choose to put into it and really that is all you can ask for. How do I plan to keep up with new developments in web 2.0? Well, for one I will check some of those RSS feeds that I signed up for. It is a blessing that I can always just look back at my blog to refresh my memory of what we have gone over. Where do I go from here? Well I have certainly learned of some resources I can use in my classroom. So of course I will want to try and stay informed and try to keep up with new innovative tools that make things even easier! I'm pleased that I was able to actually complete this blog which leads me to believe it actually is not that hard to keep up with blogs! I hope to create and keep up with a blog for my own personal thoughts. It will help me keep my sanity from all the stress I'm sure I'll come into contact with. Like I have mentioned in quite a few of my posts Google and all of its many tools will forever be a part of my life. I love all of them and was excited that I actually got to explore a few that I had never used as a class assignment! I also learned to look outside of the box a little bit. Something that on a glance seems useless can actually be used in different ways that actually benefit me.

Thing #23

When I googled "23 Things for Teachers" I got a whopping 39 MILLION results. This is obviously something that has been adopted widely. I also learned that it is available in a range of different languages in the Netherlands its called 23 Dingen and in Spain La Web 2.0 en 23 Pacos. Just the fact that it is so widespread is enough for me to know that this is an idea taken and changed in many different ways to suit the needs or the people using it. This is a link to one of the other guides to 23 things that is much like our own.

Knowing about creative commons is half the battle. Now that I officially know how it works I can more efficiently seek out things that I want to use. I can narrow things down to the specific sort of CC I need. It also allows me to create my own service and share it with people if I so please. I really like the ability to remix works because you can get many different view points on one basic subject that way. I'm not sure how much I will personally use these in my classroom but at least I will know they exist and are there for me.

Thing #22

Educator Tips

I named my binders: Art Education, Educator Tips, and General Education.
In the art ed. binder I placed things related to art education. For example I added a few museums and art lesson plans as well as art history to it. For the Educator tips binder I added things that were helpful for teachers themselves. Like good time management skills, organization skills, and motivational things to keep you going! In the general education binder I placed things that were not specifically art ed. but things that I found would be useful in the classroom for the students regardless of subject matter.
Live binders can easily be used as a tool in the classroom. You can send students on a guided search basically. You can choose which websites they use for their information by putting them in a binder and then give the students access to that binder and you're set! The lesson possibilities are endless. You could create a scavenger hunt, do a research based project, or even use it for extra help activities for students in need.

Thing #21

Make a video of your own at Animoto.

Wow! That was actually really fun and cool to use. I loved how very simple it was to make. I feel like this would be something fun to use in the future. If it was something I wanted to use often I would probably upgrade so that I could create whatever length I wanted.  Still 30 seconds is enough for younger children to have some fun playing with it and seeing how useful it can potentially be. For mine I chose random images I had on my computer and am surprised on how well they actually went together. I also chose a random song and was very entertained to see that it allows you to choose your own 30seconds from the song. This is cool if you like the middle or the end more than the first 30 seconds. Plus, you can choose something that better matches your videos content!

Thing #20

I found this video humorous because it is so very true! We just swallow all this sometimes useless information just to forget it. It is a real problem in education today. We don't feel the need to hold on to the information we learn and thus we forget it. If we had the self motivation and the more involving lessons we may remember things just a little longer. I really like youtube it is both a boredom curer and a helpful resource. You can basically find a how-to video for anything you can imagine. It would be interesting if an appropriate playlist were created and posted on a library website because it would keep all the information nearby. Some people are visual learners and some are not and you can knock out two birds with one stone using videos. Students have something to watch and something to listen to.

Thing #19

Visit TeacherPop

I commented on this and uploaded a picture, and added the badge widget. :)
I am a member of a few these online communities;
Grooveshark (Fantastic web based music player), Pinterest (Online Pinboard), and Alternativeto (a site that lists alternatives to popular software).
Craftster and Tasty Kitchen interest me. I love doing DIY crafts when I have spare time so I'm constantly looking for ideas. Tasty kitchen interests me simply because who doesn't love food?! Plus, I'm not the best cook and don't know how to make all that many things so anything that has super delicious pictures and recipes on it I'm in!

Thing #18

https://twitter.com/Charmanderish

I don't want to put my facebook information out here for all to see (although it is easy enough to look me up) so I used my old twitter. I don't really use twitter ever. I have not been a fan of it because I just don't see the point. I don't really like all the hashtag phrases because people are using them everywhere when it really doesn't matter on facebook. I don't think either of these websites are good to use in a school setting. It is important to know them and understand the basics but that is all. These are sites that I personally feel like are mostly used for personal things. If I absolutely had to pick one to use in school it would be twitter just because it would be easy to follow the teacher and/or students. Then you can make short statements from time to time addressing them.