Is It the End or Only the Beginning?

Wow have I learned so many new things. Not only have a learned about some of the most popular tools on the web but I have gained so much more knowledge about technology in general. One of the standouts I have in my mind would be any tool that helped me organize as a person. I love to keep up with things in an orderly fashion so I found great joy in working with the tools that helped me do that. The ones that did not seem to helpful were the pictures and video making. Those seem to be on a personal level and not so much use for the classroom. I felt as if it was a waste of time and not really helpful. Something that I did take away from this project was the fact that the internet has so many options that I had no idea about before this. I have always been familiar with the internet but never knew all the options that were available to new teachers. Being a new teacher is going to be something that is scary at times but having this blog, and other blogs to share one another's problems makes everything a little better. Sharing ideas is something that can ease a new teachers mind and help them understand that they are not alone. This class has no lie been difficult to keep up with but so many new ideas have been taught that it seems like it is worth it in the end.

Thing #23

This video I found talks about Teaching 2.0 and all the aspects it has in the classroom. When I started looking up resources about Web 2.0 and how teachers are teaching with these wonderful new and exciting resources, I found so much! The world is always changing and having these incredible resources is such a great way to expand our teaching skills. There is nothing wrong with the traditional paper and a pen but sometimes students need more. I believe with all of the technologies we have available for us today students can learn even beyond the paper and pen. These 23 things are found in many different businesses and schools around the United States. It can help people become much more familiar with the internet and the ever changing technology of our time. Creative Commons shows us the importance of the internet and how we need to use it to be safe. It is a great resource and will defiantly be in the back of my mind when I begin to teach one day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly5QGZVaQqk&feature=related

Thing #22

I actually started out having a hard time with this site. I could not figure anything out until I got the hang of it. Once I realized how to work the site I loved it. I really like being organized and love the fact that you can have a binder with one set of resources. After you set up each binder you want it is very easy to come back and view your resources. It took me a while to figure out each binder and what I wanted to put in it. My three binders are Miss Rhodes Reading, Lesson Plans Ideas, and Inclusion Tips. Miss Rhodes Reading is full of fun 1st grade activities related to reading. Lesson Plan Ideas is websites referring to new teachers and how to spice up your boring lesson plans. Inclusion Tips was something I wanted to include. That binder is full of inclusion tips for the general education teacher. I defiantly can see myself using these binders and referring a lot back to Live Binders. I will always love my hard back binders for whatever reason but having these electronically is such a big step and I like it!
http://www.livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit?id=366408

*I could NOT figure out how to embed this icon. I just linked the URL to my binder(s). Sorry.

Thing #21

I liked this project. Animoto was very interesting actually. I love to do projects like this when you can personalize your own video with your own pictures and music. I am not sure how much use I would get out of  this in the classroom. I find it more fun on a personal level. I think that the children could collect their own work and maybe create a video sharing all the work they have done throughout the year. However, that idea might be a little too time consuming and not worth it in the end. I did not have a hard time uploading the pictures, it just took a while to put my own music up and to process the whole video. I loved to see my finished project but felt as if it was a little time consuming. In my video I included pictures of my boyfriend, sister, mom, dad, and Daisy, my basset hound. The first picture is of my boyfriend and I when we met in the 7th grade. Hope ya'll enjoy!
My Animoto Video

Thing #20

I love YouTube. Of course, everyone has explored or used YouTube at one point in time. I think YouTube is a great way to use the internet to find a quick video for pretty much anything! As we all know YouTube is not always appropriate, especially for young children. It is just like Google and once you type in something to search who knows what will pop up. This is one, pretty big, negative about YouTube. Other than the inappropriate aspect of YouTube I think that it can be used in the classroom on many different levels. There are many quick easy to find learning tutorials that can be shown in a class. The video I posted is a quick reading of "Cat and the Hat" by Dr. Seuss. My focus for this class was 1st grade Reading and one of our assignments was to study "Cat and the Hat." If I was really teaching this lesson this video would be great to put up after an activity so the students could have a better understanding of the book, and who doesn't love a little cartoon clip?

Thing #19

I joined Teacher Prop because it looked very interesting. I am familiar with most social networking sites but I have never explored anything like Teacher Prop. I love the fact that people can communicate with one another on a different level. This world is no completely technology dependent on many levels. I feel if people have that connection they feel more able to communicate about school related things. I am a member of the basics like Facebook, Twitter, and now Teacher Prop. I feel as if these sites can be very helpful in many ways. I think that the only negative thing about these sites is the fact that there is no limitations. No limits can be a good or a bad thing for students. As teachers we want our students to think outside the box and explore their imagination. However, there might be times when the students need to be reigned in and controlled when it comes to the internet. I believe if the sites are monitored the right way then there is no problem with these social networking sites.

Thing #18

Of course, Facebook is the most popular thing on the Internet these days! This is a great way to stay in touch on so many different levels. I have had a Facebook and Twitter account for awhile now. I love to get on Facebook more because you can catch up with everybody's news, sometimes too much! Twitter is a little bit harder to explore and work with. I mainly just follow the celebrities to see what everyone is doing. I know, who cares, right? Anyways, I believe that Facebook can be a positive thing in the classroom. I just now discovered the APSU College of Education page and joined it. I think that if the school, or even the classroom had a Facebook page where they could go to and share information and also stay in touch for different reasons. would be a great idea. One negative I would have to mention would be students and even teachers personal Facebook pages. I do not see that as a positive thing for the students to be friends with the teachers just because you might be crossing that personal line. It might not be a big deal to others but I would rather have a general page for both teachers and students could visit without having to see what a student did last Friday night. I think that is very important and since Facebook is so big right now that could get the students more involved!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?viewas=100000686899395

Thing #17

Delicious was something new for me. I have never really explored a website like Delicious. One of the only ways I can think of to use in the classroom would be to open it up for the students to have access to. If I was teaching higher grade levels I would use this as a tool to go and bookmark lesson plans and assignments for the students to refer back to if they needed. I love this idea of Delicious but I am not 100% sure it would be useful in my own classroom. I love the fact that you can narrow down your search and bookmark something specific you might need in the future but as far as incorporating that into the classroom I am not sure it would be helpful.

Thing #16

I love this. I love Google in general and love to organize so this is right up my alley! I love the fact that you can add or delete any apps or anything you want on your home page. I have the calendar which I love to use and also my to do list! I have a million to do lists everywhere and I love that I can go to one place and find everything. This is a great tool to use for the classroom because sometimes it is hard to stay organized with 20-25 kids in your classroom. Having this Google homepage available is a great way to keep everyone on task. I just love how easy it is to access and how helpful it would be in the classroom. 

Thing #15

Wow, I had no idea all you could do relating to wikis! I also did not know that you could make your own wiki. That is something that is very cool and helpful in a classroom. After exploring through the different options I actually felt like I learned something. I am familiar with Wikipedia and have visited that site for different reasons but I never knew all the exciting these you could do with it. I also enjoyed having the option to edit and delete one another's ideas! It would be good to have and then the students be able to go in and edit one another to learn what is wrong about the post. I also enjoyed being able to go into APSU 23 Things Sandbox Wiki and see what everyone had posted. It is a great way to stay connected, be able to show creativity, and learn from one another's ideas.  This is a great tool for the classroom and can greatly benefit students in learning together.

Thing #14

I love this! I love to organize and I LOVE flowcharts. I know I sound crazy but I love to use flowcharts when working on projects. However, I have never heard of mind maps. My favorite tool was Gliffy because I found it very easy to use. I like websites and tools that are accessible and easy to use, like Gliffy. I also explored Bubbl.us but that seemed much more difficult to figure out. I highly recommend using flowcharts and mind maps in the classroom. It is such a good way to organize students thoughts for papers and projects. It allows students to open up and explore deeper than just brainstorming out loud. When children have a flowchart in front of them they can see the process and understand the material easier. I love these tools! =]

Thing #13

This was very interesting to work with. I actually enjoyed Google Docs much better than the Zoho. I did not find the Zoho easy to work with. I am very familiar with Google just because I use that for everything. I explored Google Docs a little more than normal and found the drawing application. I found that very fun and interesting to do! I also love the fact that you can share anything you do on Google Docs. This can be very helpful in a classroom because the students can work during a reading time individually and then share with the teacher at a later time. Having the option to share is a great idea for students to work on their own and then share with others in order to learn. I have included a link to my fun, random drawing!

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1q7SaxpmssaiU5VXlJmBserLUtn46DxKJE3CYYwHiYCM/edit

Thing #12

I knew Google had more tools than just the search engine but I have never explored them before. I have worked with Google Alerts before but I had to re visit it to familiarize myself. I decided to do the Google Calendar because I have not heard of that before. I really love calendars because I am very organized. So having an extra calendar I can share with my friends or family is a great idea. This can also come in handy when being a teacher. Having your students and parents on the same page is so important. If you use the Google Calendar you can share with your classroom and everyone can be organized! Here is my calendar for February.

https://www.google.com/calendar/render?gsessionid=OK

Thing #11

This was somewhat frustrating until I explored the Technorati site. Once I found the Technorati I felt more organized. When I research for different things I have to have things very organized in order to get what I need out of the process. I do not like websites and tools that are hard to explore and understand. The Google Blog Search was too many choices for me. I felt like I did not know where to start. So I moved on to Technorati and felt much better! I liked how there were different sections you could go to depending on your personal interests. I really enjoyed the food blogs with recipes and different cooking ideas. That is something I am interested in and I love to see other peoples ideas. I did not find anything unusual other than the fact that people have a lot of random blogs about different things! Other than that I did not find anything weird. This was a very interesting experience but I have learned many new ideas and ways to search for cool and useful blogs.

Thing #10

I love RSS! Wow, I have never been introduced to this before! This is a great way to organize and review your blogs. I love the fact that you can search and find things that you are interested in. This is a great tool for the classroom and many other things in your personal life. I love this tool for many different things in life. One thing that can be very helpful in the classroom is to use it for research papers (for upper grades). Another idea would be to post teacher lesson plans, activities, and ideas. Having these available in such a easy place to find makes it easier to find and share with parents or other teachers. This is a very great tool that can be very useful in many ways! I will definitely use this again soon.

Thing #9

I really had fun with this one. I love the license plates, those were my favorite to play with! I am originally from Texas but have lived most of my life here in Tennessee. I also love baseball. My boyfriend has played his whole life and his number was 48 all throughout high school so that is why I picked that number! This application really can come in handy when working in the classroom and in your personal life. It is really cool to make up funny and random stuff so the kids can get interested in the subject. Having a "Wanted" sign for all the kids could be funny and informational about history and different things. There are tons of possibilities when it comes to apps like these. They can be so much fun! =]
http://www.imagechef.com/

Thing #8

Love. I decided to use the word "love" to represent the Mashup tool. This was very cool to work with. You can use these tools to make puzzles and other fun activities for your classroom. These tools really can come in handy because it is something new and exciting for the children to look forward to rather than just a plain worksheet or activity. This was something new and exciting for me to explore both in the classroom and my personal life.

Thing #7

Whew! I am not sure this is all correct but hey I got some pictures up! This Flickr experience has been very interesting. I really enjoyed exploring Flickr and looking at all the cool photos but actually uploading mine to the blog was a problem. The URL was not correct. After trying a few times I decided to just upload these pictures from my actual computer. The URL was not right and it would not upload the pictures from the Flickr website. Anyways, I uploaded these pictures because these are some of my favorite people, and dog! The first is my basset hound named Daisy. The second is my mother and sister, they are both my best friends! The third picture is of my other best friend and boyfriend of five years, Woody. I can see using Flickr for some things in the classroom but not much. I understand the basic meaning of it and how I could show cool photos relating to the lesson but other than that I am not sure I would use Flickr very often. Especially after all the trouble trying to actually upload the pictures. Anyways, I hope everyone can see these pictures and I did something right. =]

Thing #6

I picked to explore Hulu! I love Hulu for many different reasons. First off, Hulu is very helpful when you miss your favorite TV show. That has happened to me more than a few times and I go straight to Hulu to catch up on all my favorites. Having Hulu available in the classroom can be great for TV show clips that could be relevant to a story that we have discussed in class. It also can be a good place for students to go and see a movie that my have been a book for Reading or English class. There are many tools out there that can be very exciting and useful for the classroom.
Check it out:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13546_109-10237704-29.html?tag=mncol
 http://www.hulu.com/

Thing #5

After looking around and learning more about Web 2.0 I have decided that technology is completely relevant for our future. I looked at Web 2.0 A Guide for Educators and learned a lot of new good stuff! One of them being about the Podcast. I am not familiar with podcast and how to use them in the classroom but after reading up about the use of technology in the class I know there are many ways to use it in a positive way! School 2.0 means that our future as educators will be full with endless possibilities to use technology in out instruction. With our world constantly changing and growing technology will only get better with time as we grow and teach our children. That is why we have to feel comfortable using all these new ideas in order to teach our children using new technology.

Thing #4

Commenting on one another's post can be very helpful to everyone involved! It gives the sense of community because everyone is leaving their opinions and suggestions so it turns into one big conversation. When looking and commenting on other's blogs I saw the Cool Cat Teacher Blog and noticed something I liked. She mentioned leaving something about your own blog to get others to visit your own site and learn new things. This is a great idea not only are you leaving your opinion your referring them back to your site to learn more about your insight. This is a great idea that helps everyone learn and grow in their own way. I commented on Melanine Perry, Alyssa Kniffen, Tammie Smith, Sarah Hammontree, and Morgan Garton's blog. When commenting I mostly agreed with everything they had mentioned. It is a great way to understand where that person is coming from and see something with their point of view. After doing that it is great to let them know you agree or you do not. It is a awesome to communicate and learn from one another.

Thing #3

     There are many ways to use blogging when it comes to the teaching world! A blog can be a great spot for teachers to gather and share ideas with one another. It is a great spot to share and swap lessons and activities that worked or didn't work in the classroom. It can be a place teachers go to share each others stories and issues brought up throughout the school and find ways to fix them. Teachers can also post children's work in order to share with others on how the children learned from that particular lesson. There are many different ways to utilize a blog with teachers. It is a great way to stay in touch with one another and learn from different ideas!

Thing #2

     When we began this process I was actually pretty nervous. I was not sure how everything was going to work out and I did not know if I would understand everything. I have never blogged before but now that I am getting use to it it seems like a neat way to express your feelings and concerns. I posted my last name Rhodes as my blogger name because I did not want my full name in the title. When creating my avatar I made it to look as similar to me as I could. Setting up the blog was not as hard as I thought it was going to be but the avatar seemed more difficult for me. Making the actual avatar was no problem is was trying to figure out how to post it to my personal blog. After a few questions and help from fellow classmates I manged to upload the avatar!
     I do not think blogging is hard, it is something new for me and it will take time to really work with it and feel comfortable. I love the idea of having all classmates involved in these projects. It pushes us out of our comfort zone and makes us work with tools we may or may not have been able to work with. It will take time but I am sure I will gain many new ideas from blogging and using many other tools.

Thing #1

      After reading the 7 1/2 habits I realized that the "Begin with the end in mind" is something that comes very easily to me. I am a planner and I plan ahead. I always have the future in mind and make sure everything I do will positively effect my future. Another habit that stuck out was "Teach and mentor others," as long as I am prepared and know the material I feel confident enough to help teach others. Becoming a teacher you need to have that confidence in order to help others learn. I have to say that confidence does not always come as easy as I would like and that leads me to my next habit.
      "Having confidence that you are an effective learner," this is something that I have struggled with throughout my years as a student. "View problems as challenges" also is hard for me to understand. I feel defeated if I can not overcome the problem and move on. In order for me to learn from my problems I need to look at them as challenges and how they will make be a better learner and teacher one day!