Final Reflection

Overall, I found this course to be one of the most interesting. There were things that I already knew how to do, but I had forgot about them. I really enjoyed learning about flickr and creating my family website. As for my life long learning goals it only enhances how important it is to keep learning. I am so excited about next year and teaching all the new technologies, I've learned about, to my students. The most surprising thing about this course is how much fun I had with it. I actually started to get behind because I was playing around with everything too much. Now that I'm done I can go back and it explore it more. If you offered another course like this in the future I would definitely take it. In fact I have recommended 23 Things to several of my colleagues. As it is, I want to keep up with the new 2.0 technologies so I have subscribed to several blogs that post things about what is being developed and I intend to try to keep up my blog about the new things I've discovered. I'm also looking into creating a classroom blog for my students so that they can share their experiences as well.

Thing #23

Classroom 2.0 has a lot to offer educators. I found several groups that I thought might be interesting to follow. There was a lot to look at so I am going to go back later and take a look at more of the features and groups that Classroom 2.0 has to offer. My overall impressions of Classroom 2.0 is that at first it looks very overwhelming. There is so much information on just the first page that it is hard to determine where to start. I was surprised that you had to wait to be accepted to Classroom 2.0. I thought that it would be automatic. When I looked at the MISD 23 Things ning it wasn't as overwhelming. I was able to navigate that page more efficiently. I had a little difficulty trying to figure out how to get back to the page I created, but after that it was really easy to add new things to my page.

Overall, social networking is a valuable tool. I can see it being used not only in my professional career, but also in my personal life. In fact I already do a lot of social networking and I've been doing it for a long time. When I first discovered Classmates I was using that as means to finding my old friends. As far as I'm concerned that is a form of social networking as well. Social networking just opens so many opportunities both professionally and personally.

Thing #22

Social networking is starting to play a major role in society. My husband uses his Facebook to help him network with other friends and former co-workers. In fact that is how he is finding about several job openings that he may be interested in. It's also a great way for students to meet other students and to work with each other on assignments. I've heard several of my students talk about how so and so helped them with a math problem over Myspace. As for educators being familiar with these sites, this is a great way to work with our students. Many of my students have asked if I have a Myspace account, since they could contact me that way instead of through e-mail. I think it is a very valuable tool in reaching our students.

On a personal level I just joined Facebook this summer so that I could stay in touch with my family and friends. I like the fact that I can see what is going on with my friends and family on a daily basis without having to call them. Instead, I can just see if something new is posted on my Facebook page. A nice feature about Facebook is that we can control who can see us and who can't. I've already had to do this due to some problems with an extended family member. I like Facebook the most only because I meet more of my friends on this site than on Myspace.

Thing 7B

I found a very interesting blog about "Asking the Right Questions." It discussed an article by Ira David Socol about asking the right questions about Technology. In the article it discusses how chalkboards and slates were once viewed as a form of technology that should not be introduced into the classroom. It really ties into the debate we are having today about whether or not we should start using all of the new technology in the classrooms. Socol made a great argument about how books, pens, chalkboards, and so much more were once considered technological advances for the classroom. Today we take those things for granted and couldn't imagine today's classrooms without those things. They had such a huge impact on education and the new technologies can do the same. I agree with his arguments about the fact that the "traditional" learning in the classroom has not been changed enough to meet the needs of our varying students. Technology can help change the way we teach and it is something we definitely need to pursue.

Thing #21

One of the Google tools I chose to explore was the Google Sites. Since our family is growing, I created a family website. I thought this would be a great way to share with our family and friends what is going on in our lives. Other family members can add to the website as well, which makes it a great way to keep the family updated. Students can also use this to create an informative website about their research projects. I have never had a student create a website for a product before, but I think with Google Sites they could do it fairly easily.

Another Google tool I explored was Picasa. My siblings have already been using Picasa to share pictures of my nieces and nephews with us. Now that we are expecting our own little one I thought it was time to create an account so we can share our pictures as well. Right now it only has our Disney World pictures on it, but I will add more pictures after Elena arrives.

Thing #20

I have already been using Google Docs for my Cohort classes. It was a great way to share our group PowerPoint, especially when all of us were at different campuses. My students could easily work on a group PowerPoint this way. I also had one of my students create her PowerPoint in Google Docs so that she could work on it at school and home. This made it to where she didn't have to keep saving it to a flash drive and it was very easy to load her PowerPoint when it came time for her to present. The other nice thing about saving something to Google Docs is that you don't really have to worry about losing it. I had one of my computers crash and I could have lost some very important things. However, since I had what I needed saved to Google Docs I could still get to it. This is a tool that I use a lot.

Thing #19

I have never heard of voicethreads before. It would be a great way to share family photo and to be able to talk about them. In fact, I may play around with this when I have more time with our family photos. We have a lot of old pictures that only my grandmother knows about and her health is beginning to fail. However, if we used voicethreads we could have her record something about the pictures, thus preserving it when she is gone. I also liked how the math teacher used it for a warm-up activity. That probably freed him up to take attendance and do other things at the beginning of the class while his students were working on the problem. I can also see using this when I have a substitute. Sometimes it takes too long to write down the instructions. However, using a voicethread could save time and energy of the substitute, teacher, and students.

Thing #18

I found a lot of great stuff on youtube and teachertube. I have used lots of things from both websites in my classroom Also, as I was doing the youtube scavenger hunt I found even more videos that I can use next year. This is a great resource for anyone. I have used it for personal reasons and I've even used it for videos to put in powerpoint presenttions for my college classes.


I used this one in a powerpoint presentation about maintaining classroom awareness.

Scavenger Hunt results:
Classroom use: I can use this with my Interviewing Unit:


Learning Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GslVKfuOPqk (The embedding code had been disabled.)


Fun Video:

This is one of my favorite videos and my niece loves to watch it as well. It's so much fun to watch her face light up and to listen to her giggle.

Thing #17

I think that podcasts are great since they further enhance our students learning through technology. The only issue that I have is that most of the podcasts that I found for ICT were talking about things that my students aren't ready for. They are just starting to go into the job market so most of the stuff in the podcasts would be over their head. However, other curriculum areas have some great stuff to use. I am hoping that as podcasting grows it will offer more for my students. I did manage to find a couple of podcasts that I have subscribed to that is related to my curriculum. The first one was Careercast which I found the The Education Podcast Network. This had at least a few podcasts that I felt might be beneficial to my students. The other podcast I found was Your Hired! Interview Skills and I found that through PodcastAlley. I have several ideas as to how I can use these in the classroom. I may just play them in class or I am going to assign them as homework or extra credit. My only concern about making it a homework assignment is for those students who may not have the equipment to access the podcasts. Podcasts are great for teaching, but until every student has the means to get to them, but I'm still willing to try it out.

Thing #16

I really could have used the Library Thing when I was working on a paper for a Master's level English class. I wound up buying a lot of books that I only used once. If I had known about this I could have borrowed some of the books instead. This is really great for college students. I also like the fact that you can see what other readers have to say about the books. It helps you decided if you want to read them or not. The unpopular books is probably one of the neatest features since it helps you from buying a book you may not want after all. This is a website that I am seriously looking into subscribing to since I am an avid reader. I also love the fact that it only costs $25.

Thing #15

Once I figured out how to actually set up the page, I found it really easy to use. This would be a great way to get my students to add different things to a wiki. I can't wait to experiment with it on my own.

As for problems, I did have a few problems getting some of my things added to the page. It took me a little bit, but I figured out that I could copy the code from my blog and then paste it into Sandbox. The only other issue that I had was trying to get my page added to the 23 Things Sandbox page. It took a little bit to figure out what I was doing wrong, but I eventually got it. It will definitely be much easier next time.

Thing #14

I think Wikis are a great tool. I really liked the Schools in the Past wiki. It shows that any age group can do this. I also like the fact that it helped get the parents and grandparents involved with the project. Even though it was very simplistic, I still learned things about schools in the past that I didn't know and that is what I'm trying to get my students to do as well. Another interesting wiki was the 1001 Flat World Tales. What a great way to get students to write and to help them learn about editing. The only sad thing about it is that it looks like it hasn't been updated since the 2007-2008 school year. The Code Blue wiki was neat as well. I explored several of their links and I love the pictures and information that the students added to the pages. My favorite page was the "Yucky and Cool body systems". I love the fact that students can use the search boxes at the top of the page to find out about snot, vomit, pimples, and so much more. What a fun wiki.

As for my classroom, I had already decided that I want to try to use a wiki next year. The different wikis gave me several ideas that I want to play around with to see what I think will work best for our wiki. I honestly can't wait to see how this wiki turns out.

Thing #13

I took a technology class and during that class we set up a Delicious account. I hadn't used it since then and now I'm wondering why I didn't. It is a great tool for teachers and students to use. I have a teacher website that has a bunch of websites on it for our two research projects and I realized that I could add them to Delicious, so that others can find them as well. I also give my students extra credit for finding new websites that I don't have. They usually had to write them down on paper and give them to me. Now, they can create a Delicious account and just add them there. It's so much easier. Also, using the tags made it very easy for me to find new websites for our Decades project and so I added them to my Delicious account. One of the websites I found was the People's History. It has every Decade that we look at. I also found a neat one that deals with music through out the Decades at Playa Cofi Jukebox. This site actually has the music on the website so that they can listen to the music from their Decade, instead of just reading about it. I will definitely start utilizing my Delicious account more.

Thing #7A

As I was looking through my Google Reader, I saw some directions on documenting sources for a Wiki. I am planning on having my students use a Wiki during a couple of their research projects and I want to make sure that they document their sources. It is important that my students learn the correct way to do this and I found this very helpful. It gives great examples in case the students don't understand what it is saying. It also gives a link to another website where the students can type in their source information and have it give the correct format. Then all they need to do is copy and paste it into the wiki, using the instructions. It is amazing how technology has improved. I can't wait to use this with my students. I think this may make note taking even easier for my students and I can have more time to look over to make sure they are getting the right information for my projects.

Thing #12

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I used the JigZone website and thought it was really neat that you could upload your own images. The only problem I ran into is that most of my pictures are not in JPEG form. My Avatar was one of the few JPEG files I have and it worked really well. I was also able to add one of their premade puzzles to my site. This is just a neat website.

The website that I found to be very useful was 30 Boxes it allowed me to add all kinds of things to my personal calendar. I also like the fact that you can choose to make it public or share it with people. I can use this in my classroom when we are doing a research project. I like to give my students a calendar with all of the due dates so that there are no surprises. I can also use this personally because my family is always asking what my school calendar is like. I could very easily add all that information and then send it to them. The calendar can also be added to an RSS feed. That way if I make any changes if my friends and family have it in their RSS they can see the changes I've made.

Thing #11

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I used the Mosaic Maker to create a mosaic of our trip to Disney World. I did learn though, that if you want to use your own images you have to create an account with Mosaic Maker. It was free so it wasn't a real problem. The only other thing I had to figure out was which photo number went with which tile in the Mosaic. I had a specific one that I wanted to use in the center tile so it took me a couple of tries to get it into the center tile. The nice thing is that it had an option to start over so I could quickly redo it until I got it the way I wanted it. To create the word Disney I used Spell with flickr It was fairly simple. The only problems I had with it is that you couldn't change the font size and it does not seem to allow spaces in between words.Overall, I found this to be a lot of fun. My husband saw what I did with the mosaic and wants me to do a bigger one with the rest of our Disney pictures. We are also looking at doing this with the pictures of my nieces and nephew. It will also be great for me to create one for when our own baby is born in December.

Thing #10

Create Your Own

Each year my students do a research project on Decades. I would like them to use more technology in their visual products and I think this would be a great way to get them to do that. I used pictures from the 1950s to show how easily my kids could make a slide show. I didn't use the captions, but my students could easily put in information that could add to their presentations. I also love the fact that they can customize it so that all of the slide shows won't necessarily be the same. I can't wait to use this in my classroom next year.

Photo Credits:
Retro Radio 1950's by hiro008
Early 1950's Television by gbaku
1950's Kitchen by Paul-W
1950's Camera by Paul-W
1950's Dolls by Trevira
Triumph 3 Speed Bicycle by elevhem
1950's Graflex Speed Graphic by cromacom
Oscar Mayer Weiner Mobile Circa 1950s by GeoffLivingston
Sandee in 1950s Kitchen by misterbisson
Marconi Portable Radio 1950s/60s by JohnBurke
Flex-Straw by Roadsidepictures
Spartan AM Clock & Vibroplex Keyer by Whiskeygonebad

Thing #9

I found that once you could figure out a good tag to help you find pictures it was fairly simple. I also liked the fact that Flickr gives you suggestions for other tags you could use. I can see several uses for Flickr in my classroom and personally. I decided to see if my students could use Flickr in their Decades Research project. I chose one of the decades (1950s) to see what I could find that may be useful in their products. I actually found a lot and could easily see how it would enhance my student's projects. It also offers a new way for them to find pictures faster than having to go through a lot of websites to find acceptable pictures. I can only imagine how far my
students could take this. I see so much potential for
all kinds of projects using Flickr.

Oscar Mayer Wiener Mobile Circa 1950's
by Geoff Livingston
http://www.flickr.com/photos/geoliv/2753764063/sizes/o/

Thing #8

I've never noticed the CC on any websites, but that is because I didn't know to look for it. It is definitely something I will look for now. I can see how Creative Commons could be helpful to students on their projects, but the biggest problem I see is that they have to know about it first. I never knew that anything we create is copyrighted. I've used a lot of videos, pictures, and other things in my teaching and I'm now wondering how was it protected. I think that I used them correctly under the copyright laws, but now I'm not so sure. I think that the Creative Commons would definitely put people's minds at ease if they knew it wasn't so restricted as under the traditional copyright laws. However, the biggest downside of Creative Commons is that you have to know it exists. I have never heard of it before so I could never take advantage of it. This goes for our students as well, they can't use it unless someone tells them about it.

Thing #7

I'll admit that sometimes commenting on a blog is difficult. It is hard to put your thoughts into words. However, with some of the blogs and sites I've been following I have learned that it is getting much easier. I'm also enjoying reading and responding to my own comments that I leave. I think the biggest thing I learned in this Thing is that I need to make sure that I check the comments on my personal blog and to see if I need to respond to them. I think commenting is just one of those things that you have to practice. I've definitely left more comments than I have ever done before and I'm having fun doing it.

Thing #6

I love the RSS reader because I can go through the content on some of my favorite sites quickly. One of sites I subscribed to is for expecting mothers. I am a part of three groups and this allows me to keep up with all of them. I've quickly learned that the December 1st time Mom's group is probably not the best one for me, although I am due on December 1st. There haven't been a lot of posts here and I am realizing, by the posts, that I am further along in my pregnancy than the rest of the group. I can answer their questions, since I seem to be a few weeks ahead, but they can't really answer mine. The other two groups, November 2009 and the November 2009 Turkey babies are more helpful. They seem to either be ahead of me or right where I am at in my pregnancy. There is also a lot more response on these two blogs so I like the fact that the RSS reader let's me skim them instead of clicking through everything. This has become a great personal tool and I have used it every day to see what is going on with the other expecting mothers.

On a professional level it also lets me skim through the pieces on the various blogs that I'm interested in. I love the fact that we don't have to visit those sites every day. I skipped over a lot of the pieces and focused on the ones I really wanted to take the time and read. For example, I love Cool Cat Teacher Blog's article on getting rid of traditional textbooks. Since I teach a class that doesn't have a textbook I have seen the best of both worlds. I sometimes long for a textbook for my class, but I love the idea of having textbooks online so that they can constantly be updated, especially history and science books. Besides, we are trying use more technology in the classroom and this would be a great way. I can't wait to see where all of this goes and I found this article something that everyone should read. I'm just glad I had my RSS reader to help me find this article quickly.

Thing #5

As I was looking through my Google Reader, the post that I found the most interesting was the one about Teachers Without Borders Off To Africa. I found it interesting since another teacher that teaches ICT (Information Communications Technology) is a part of the group going to Africa. I love what they are doing and it makes me want to keep track of what they are doing. I'm also interested in finding how I can help out with what they are trying to do.

Thing #4

It is amazing how much blogging has grown. I was actually surprised that one of the blogs I read was from a 5th grader in 2005. I loved looking at this. There were so many great comments that encouraged anyone who struggles in school to keep working. I could see how blogging could be used to encourage our students. School counselors could use this as a way of working with students, since sometimes hearing from another student, instead of an adult, can have a bigger impact. I also like the fact that blogging gives our students the opportunity to use technology. There are so many practical uses for it. As I was looking over the blogs I found one I could use for creative writing. The teacher used the blog to allow her students to communicate with an actual author. What a fantastic idea!

Some of the other blogs I looked at I just found very interesting. I typically don't assign homework so the first blog I looked at was about why a teacher had decided not to assign homework. I agree with almost everything he said and it looked like lots of others agree as well. I found Vicki Davis' blog a little frighting, but very true. I have heard many stories about students using their cell phones to record things in class and it's not always for a good cause. I loved where she talks about the fact that teachers are going to need to start teaching ethics about devices in the classroom. How else are our students going to learn?

Overall, I find blogging very interesting. Especially with the fact that I can see so many different ways to use it in my classroom. I'm actually looking forward to next year when I try this out with my own classes.

Thing #2

I think the the Web 2.0 technologies are great. I have looked at several technologies and I am working on how I can integrate them into my curriculum. Next year I want to see if I can use a Wiki instead of having my students write a traditional research paper. I've also used some of the 2.0 technologies in my personal education. I have a blog (http://jfernandez0013.blogspot.com/) that I use for my cohort class. I also have an e-portfolio (http://sites.google.com/site/mrsfernandezsportfolio/?pli=1) that shows all the work I have done towards my Masters degree so far. As a part of my curriculum we have our students create a portfolio. I am hoping that this year I can have them create one online as well as one they can hand to future employers. With technology becoming such a major factor in the job market I want my students to have something, they can show their potential employers, about their technology skills. Web 2.0 is what our World is coming to and it is important that we keep up with the changes.

Thing #1

I believe that we never should stop learning. I talk to my students about why education is so important. I try to set an example by sharing all the things that I am still learning while I am working to my Masters degree. I'm taking 23 Things so that I can learn new technologies and techniques that I can use in my own learning and to share with my students. I'm really looking forward to see what I can use in my classroom. I think the biggest challenge I will have though, is to remember that I need to have more fun when I'm learning something new. Sometimes I get so focused on what I'm learning that I don't get any real enjoyment out of it.