The world is not flat

I will admit that this 23 Things exercise was frustrating at times.  It did, however, expose me to a plethora of teaching-related tools, resources and ideas while serving to expand my identity as a teacher.  This program has reinforced, several times over, the fact that it is crucial for teachers to stay as current as possible with emerging instructional technologies; our students, will without any doubt.  Exposure to the technology-based tools during my journey through the 23 Things provided me with some additional insight into the resources available for teachers and I aspire to remain a part of this community throughout my career. 

23 and one to go

The answer to part one of the 23^rd Things can be found in the credits portion of the 23 Things Page.  The specific graphic which describes the Creative Commons description is posted here: 

Here is the original description:

Credits

Learning 2.0 - 23 Things for Teachers is based on Learning 2.0 - 23 Things, a staff development program for the Mesquite Independent School District. That program was based on the Learning 2.0 program that was designed by Helene Blowers and adapted by the California School Library Association and others. Content and style for Learning 2.0 - 23 Things for Teachers has been borrowed and duplicated with permission, under a Creative Commons License.

I will be educating my students on Creative Commons licensing by utilizing the power point demonstration that I have previously created in my Instructional Technologies class.  Knowledge of copyright laws is very important considering the massive amount of media available to today’s students. 



22 Binders

I can see the value of maintaining a LiveBinders account, but I did not find the site to be very user friendly and I became frustrated rather quickly while trying to add content to my binders and shelves.  I created three binders:  Personal Teaching Resources, Social Studies, and Historical references.
Here is a link to my binder:  Teaching Resources Binder

Animoto

Service

I really enjoyed this Thing.  I will certainly return here if I ever end up in the dog house again, inevitable of course.  I am sure that my students will be able to use Animoto in a few different ways.  I can see this being used as an initial project for them to complete which will serve as an introduction of themselves or as supporting media for a report on their summer vacations.  Great "Thing". 

Thing #20

To say that YouTube contains a vast amount of informational videos would be a huge understatement.  As a teacher resource, YouTube provides the educator with content that can be used a primary source for teaching as well as educational videos that are great tools for supplementing lesson plans on almost every subject imaginable.  I find myself on this site almost on a daily basis and I doubt that I will ever cease to be amazed by the level and diversity that can be found here. 

I found a very educational video regarding an individual's "thought" on higher education.  Enjoy. 

Thing #19

I like TeacherPop.  I think that sites like these that are comprised of professionals working in a specific field serve as both a good support group and a location to retrieve and share valuable, career-based information and resources.  I am now a proud member of this site and I am sure that I will frequent it on a regular basis. 

Egg on your Face-book

Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, in my humble opinion, provide more opportunities for people to hurt others than help them.  The only reason that I maintain a Facebook page is to keep in touch with some of my family members.  I have a very minimal friends list and it is going to remain minimal.  The subject of Facebook has already been addressed to us students here at the University on more than one occasion and it has been recommended by staff that we privatize our social networking pages to the highest extent possible for our own protection.  If it were not for the fact that I have no other way to communicate with some family members I would not be a Facebook subscriber. 

Deliciousness

Well I am now an official member of Delicious.  I am still not sure how I feel about that yet, but I am working on it.  I can see why some people would want to use this type of page in order to get a feel about certain sites, but I would much rather make those types of determinations on my own.  I was able to rediscover a site called “how stuff works”.  I actually contributed to some of the information found on their site regarding Bradley Fighting Vehicle Systems.  Ahh, the good ole’ days.

Thing #16

I utilized the iGoogle page because I am pretty used to the graphics and layouts associated with Google apps and pages.  The process of creating my customized page was quick and easy which is a good thing considering the fact that it will no longer be available after 01 November.  I also created my to-do list and attached it to my customized page.  The first item on this list is also my last and you can see it in the screen shot below. 

I am out of the sandbox

This exercise did nothing but frustrate the heck out me.  I thought that I left a comment in the sandbox of gloom and pain on several occasions, but at this point I have absolutely no idea.  I aspire to never go through an experience like this again.  I am taking my ball and moving over to thing #16.  Good day. 

Thing #14

I created accounts for both Gliffy and Mindmeister.  Gliffy was much easier to use, and although I am able to accomplish much of what is available in Gliffy by simply using Office tools, having a site dedicated to the creation and editing of flowcharts is pretty handy, especially in a classroom environment.  The tools associated with Mindmeister were much more complicated and I doubt that I would ever utilize them again for myself, let alone for a group of 5^th grade social studies students. 

Lucky 13

 

Had I been aware of ZOHO I might have made the decision not to purchase all of the Microsoft Office products that I currently own.  Having said this; I do find that I am able to work more fluently with Office than I am with these other alternatives.  Perhaps this ease of use has more to do with the fact that I have been using Office tools for such a long time.  After exploring both ZOHO and Google Docs, I prefer ZOHO as it is a bit easier for me to negotiate.  Google Docs, however, could be a more useful classroom tool because it contains a feature that allows for students to collaborate by sharing a document or other work.  Students can work together to edit each other’s documents, along with the teacher, in order to receive real time feedback on their work.