One More Thing.... (Thing 24)

It's the FINAL THING!!! When I first received the assignment for the 23 Things, I was unsure. Before this activity, I had never used a blog or anything like this. I had just stuck to Facebook for social networking. I honestly didn't know what all was out there for me as an educator. I really enjoyed these 23 things. I think that there was such much informative stuff.
I loved making the avatar and blog page. I loved finding out about all of the different techniques that I could use in the classroom. I can definitely see how all of these Things can benefit me to be an effective teacher. This whole activity has made me even more excited to become a teacher. I have so many more great ideas for my classroom and ways to get my students involve through technology. I also know that I will use many of these Things from now on. Especially the blog.
Thanks for reading my blog... I really hope that it has helped someone else to get out and explore the world wide web.

Thing 23

For Thing 23, I stayed on the APSU 23 Things webpage. At the bottom of the webpage, there is information about the creative commons. It states that the information has been borrowed and duplicated. This is what the bottom of the APSU 23 Things states...

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 very glad that I learned about creative commons. Before this class, I had no idea what creative commons was and stood for. Now, I feel much more informed and know how to explain it to others.

You can go to www.creativecommons.org to find out more information about Creative Commons.

Thing 22

For Thing 22, I got to explore and listen to all sorts of podcasts. Podcasts are such a great tool for the classroom. I listened to many podcasts. I listened to alot that deal with technology and computer science. It is so important for students to know about computers and letting them listen to these podcasts that can be more acustom to the increase of technology as years go by. I think children would enjoy listening to podcasts while learning about any subject. Podcasts are great for learners who learn better while listening to something than looking at it.

Thing 21

Thing 21 was so interesting! I really really like it. The Animoto site was so easy to use. It had step by step instructions. One downside to this website is that you can only make a 30 second video without paying for the upgrade. But I can see how the upgrade would be a great investment. This is such a great website because you can customize your slideshow all you want to. It can also attach to your Flickr account that way it makes it simpler to upload pictures. I loved this website and I will definitely consider using it in the future as an educator and probably even a parent or party hostess.

Thing 20

Thing 20 required us to explore YouTube and find a video. The video I found is a review video over the Solar system. It is a great short video for the students to watch to refresh them on the planets. I really like YouTube because it has so much potential in the classroom. It is just unfortunate that there is such much bad stuff on YouTube. Therefore, it is blocked for most school computers.

Thing 19

Visit TeacherPop


For Thing 19, I explored other social network sites. The one I joined is Teacherpop. I originally joined TeacherPop when I was a freshman here at Austin Peay. It was an assignment for our APSU 1000 class. I love TeacherPop mainly because it is for educators. I know that by joining this I will meet and get to know other students, classmates, and fellow future educators. It is great to have a separate teacher community networking instead of using it all on facebook. I really enjoy TeacherPop and am looking forward to continually use this.

Thing 18

I absolutely love social networking. I already have a facebook account so this "thing" was pretty simple. My facebook page: www.facebook.com; search: Katherine Lea Worsham. Facebook is a great way to keep up with family, friends, and people that you haven't seen or spoke to in quite sometime. It is very important to me as an educator to using social networking tools on and offline. There are many groups that you can join to meet other people and to communicate with others. For older students, I would definitely consider using facebook as a communication tool. It can be so helpful to the students and teachers. Most of us are on facebook all the time. Now, we can even get our's and other's updates sent to our cellphones. I did have a myspace when I was in high school but I slowly transferred to facebook because I feel it is easier to use and manage.

Thing 17

Thing 17 was great! Who knew you could tag your favorite sites without using all the space in your Favorites folder. Through "Thing 17" I found out about social bookmarking and tagging. Now, I can use the deli.cio.us account to keep up with my favorites. I can also divide my favorites into separate folders. This makes it very easy to get what I need or want to look at. Not only that but since it is online and not just on my computer, I can look at these websites from any computer anywhere. Another great aspect about this is that others can see your bookmarks and tags also. This is such a great tool that I see this being very beneficial to me in the future as a teacher. Not only that, but this is beneficial to me for bookmarking in the future :)

Thing 16

For this "Thing", we were to use different organizational tools through the web. To do this, I decided to use iGoogle to begin. Since we basically use Google for the main search engine, I decided this would be best. My homepage is very useful. Everything is there and accessible. It is informative and is definitely now my permanent homepage. The to-do lists, I would consider, too much work. For me, it remember things if they are in one central easy to access place. I have a planner that I carry everywhere and use daily. Even though online calendars and to-do lists are useful for some people, it is just easier for me if I have everything in pencil and paper form. Call me old-fashion. However, I do think the internet calendars and planners are a great back-up plan and one tool that I am using now is the post-it notes. Even though I do have the daily planner, I can never have enough reminders.

Thing 15

Wiki is such a neat tool! I think it is great because you can add and edit the content in the wiki. It is also very helpful to add things that you may not know. They can correct any mistakes you make which is very helpful and useful. It is ironic that I have used wiki tools before like wikipedia but I never actually knew what it meant. Know I feel so much more informed. Wiki is so simple and easy to use.

Thing 14

For Thing 14, we were to visit different websites that help one to create a mind map and flowchart. For the mind map, I choose to use MindMeister Mind Mapping Site. It was a very interesting tool. I loved seeing all the different ideas and images after immediately creating this free account. There are some great examples of mind maps to help you get started and on your way with creating. Anything can be created into a Mind Map. This is a great tool to use as an educator because as an educator I know that I will have many ideas and thoughts that I will need to write down and this is a great way for remembering and sharing my thoughts and ideas. For flowcharts, I chose flowchart.com. The reason I chose this site is because it has numerous options for flowcharts. You can customize your own flowchart with your creative eye. With the flowchart, you can also share it. This is great because I will be able to create and share my flowchart with my students. Both of the tools, Mind maps and flowcharts, will definitely help me to become an effective teacher.