Flowgram Presentation

My Flowgram page can be found here.

Summary

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey? My favorite exercises through this time of learning would have to be the video and picture creation activities. I am a big photo/video person and love creating different things to go with my pictures. I really enjoyed the other activities as well (there wasn't one I didn't enjoy), but those two were my favorite.

How has this program affected your lifelong learning goals?
I have always thought of myself as a lifelong learner, but these activities have challenged me to step it up a notch and step out into trying more new things. There were so many things I had never heard of, and that means there are still a ton of new adventures waiting to be explored! I hope to continue learning for as long as I can!

Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I really found that I became more interested in some of the applications than I thought I would. When I first read the topics, I was sort of dreading some of the Things, but I really enjoyed each of them. I really didn't expect to see so much that I would really want to incorporate into my every day classroom life. There are so many applications that can be used in the classroom, and I want to begin using those as soon as I can.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
I really enjoyed the concept. I'm not sure of what could be done to improve the format. One of the only things I can think of is pacing - give a little more time to explore the Things. It seems like we did them at such a fast pace that we couldn't really get into them. The other thing is to maybe go a little more in depth with a few of the more complex topics. I would really like to have seem more that I could do with some of the different things, but I didn't know where to go beyond the basics. Maybe if there is something that is beyond the basics that would beneficial, we could go a little deeper into the tool and discover more. Although, I guess that's what lifelong learning is about...how can I learn it if I don't go back and try it again? :)

How will what you have learned influence your practice as a teacher?
I hope to incorporate many of these things into my classroom and instruction. I believe this experience has made me more open to trying things I have been more reluctant to step out and try. It will also make me more willing to try new strategies in the classroom and activities with my students.

How do you plan to keep up with new developments in web 2.0? Recommend a way that you have found to be useful.
I plan to keep up with new developments in web 2.0 by using my RSS feed to check in on blogs that update about what's going on.

Thing #23

2 places on the APSU 23 Things website where another person's work is cited:
1. In the credits on the bottom right corner of the site, it is state that Learning 2.0 - 23 Things for Teachers is based the program for the Mesquite Independent School District. It goes on to give further information about the designer and how it was adapted for others.
2. On the About page, information is given to tell more about where the Learning 2.0-23 Things for Teacher program came from. It even goes into telling about how designer's program was loosely based on Stephen Abram's article about the 43 Things.

Creative Commons is designed to create a more flexible arena for handling copyright issues. It helps us to understand that we can share our work as long as credit is given to the original owner. I think I would use Creative Commons to help my students understand the importance of giving credit where credit is due. The students need to understand that people work hard to produce the things that they do, and we cannot simply take it as our own. Creative Commons encourages users to use something in a way that will fit our own needs as long as credit is given to the creator. I want to try and make sure my students understand when it is ok to use something and when it is not.

Thing #22

I really enjoy listening to podcasts. I found several that I enjoyed listening to, but I think some that I liked the most were ones that I thought, "Oh, my kids would love that!" There are a few podcasts (like the ones from Willowdale Elementary) that I thought would be interesting for my students to listen to. All of the podcasts I listened to by the kids at Willowdale were educational and would be very informative for my students. They shared things they were learning, and I thought that was a really neat way to use podcasting. There are other podcasts by elementary schools/students, but WillowWeb was my favorite.
I found that using PodcastAlley was the easiest way for me to find a podcast I was interested in outside of education. When I was searching for education related podcasts, I really liked using the Educational Podcast Directory. I really liked how I could search for specific topics on PodcastAlley or I could browse by "Podcast Genre." Once the genres were broken down, there were interesting titles to skim through and find something interesting. My fiance listens to a lot of podcasts, but I've always been unsure of how I would like them. I think that, after this assignment, I might be a little more interested and more willing to really try it out. I am more interested, however, in creating podcasts for my class and also allowing them to create podcasts about things they have learned! After listening to WillowWeb, I realized how much my kids would really like this. They would be so much more interested in creating a podcast than simply making a speech or writing a paper. If it is engaging to them, it is well worth it!
I'm not sure I've actually found a podcast to subscribe to just yet. I really liked WillowWeb, but it doesn't appear that they've created anything since the beginning of the year. I plan to continue exploring in order to find more that I am interested in listening to.

Thing #21

Animoto is SO much fun! I really enjoyed playing around with the different features, and I made a ton of short videos! The site is easy to use and has a lot to offer. I really like that it added little features to the pictures after I uploaded them. There was something unique about the way each picture came up on the screen. Very cool tool! Check it out at www.animoto.com.

Thing #20

I LOVE YouTube! I have used it many times in the past. I use it mostly to check out music videos, but there are so many other things I have found on there! I really like the ease of navigation. Though there is a lot of inappropriate content (most likely the reason it is banned from our schools), it is not hard to stay away from it. If you use search terms that tell what you're looking for, it's not likely to bring up anything inappropriate.
For my video, I chose to include the speech made by 10 year old Dalton Sherman at the Dallas ISD convocation. This video has been circulating through our school system recently, and I thought it might be inspiration to some others as well.
I think this would be good if applied to a library site if the librarian made their own videos to go on YouTube. That way it would directly relate to whatever is going on at the school. There are, however, some other interesting things out there that would be good for kids to see on their website. I saw several videos of children's books being read. That would be a good way of incorporating videos for smaller kids.

Thing #19

I tend to be the person who stands back from the group to see what is going on. It is very rare that I will actually jump in on a conversation or other part of an online community. I am, however, an active member of the atozteacherstuff online community. It is a discussion forum where teachers discuss most everything from personal to school to national level topics. I actually started using the forum when I was an undergrad. It was part of a project we had to do for Educ 3040 with Dr. Wall. The ability to connect with teachers from many different places persuaded me to stay and participate. I still use the site frequently today. It is so beneficial to be able to talk about school related issues with teachers who are not a part of my "school life." They are not biased because they do not work with me. It's a great community for teachers.
I found that several of the social networks listed were interesting. My absolute favorite site was BakeSpace. I love to bake and this just turned out to be the best site for me. I really like that I can swap recipes with others and chat about things in the forum. I've bookmarked this site for future exploration! :)
I went ahead and bookmarked all the sites (using Del.icio.us) because I found something interesting on each of them. I will keep the education sites in mind because I'm sure I will go back to them often. I liked Classroom 2.0 because of the variety of topics listed. There are many different things going on and it seems like a neat place to interact and discuss with others.

Thing #18

I have both a Facebook and a MySpace account. I have had them both since I was an undergrad. For several years, I worked as a camp staffer and many of the friends (other staff members, adult sponsors, etc.) I made are from different states across the country. I had a friend who moved to Mexico and another who is moving to England in the near future. Those people are the reason I keep accounts with these social networking sites. It is not always easy to catch a person on the telephone these days. I, personally, do not like talking on the phone anyways. It is much easier, for me personally, to keep in touch with others through MySpace and Facebook. Even if I don't get a chance to send / receive a message from my friends, I can still see what's going on in their lives through reading their blogs and keeping up on pictures they post. I keep my page private and only add people that I know.
I feel it is important for educators to know how social networking sites work because it helps to keep us "in the know." If we are at least knowledgeable (and I'm not saying one has to have an account) of how social networking works, we are able to make that much more of a connection with students. There are many things that we can find to talk about with a student, but at least knowing about how this works would give us one more chance to connect. I had a student last year who I had absolutely nothing in common with, but he talked about MySpace and how his parents allowed him to connect with his family from another state. I was able to talk to this child in a new way because I knew what he was talking about. The conversation consisted of more relating rather than him telling me how something worked.
I do not really like either site, but I like to stay connected with my peers, friends, and family. The ability to reach others who I may have lost contact with is a good feature. I don't like that Facebook pushes friends onto you by making friend suggestions. I find that Facebook, however, gives more options on reaching people. I can search by state, school, and by name if I am looking for a particular person. I have recently gotten in touch with several different friends from high school and old church groups by searching for them on Facebook. It's nice to be able to connect with those people again.
No matter how much I may like or dislike one site or the other, this is something I will never use in the classroom or any type of assignment. I find that this is a personal tool that I use but will never recommend to a student. There is too much that a student could get into that I would be held accountable for if I were to allow that student to get on one of the sites. After all, if I recommend something to a student for an assignment and they choose to use it on their own time and get into some trouble (no matter what it may be), a parent is still going to want to know why I recommended it to their child. It is better to play it safe with social networking sites.

Thing #17

Del.icio.us, as well as the other social bookmarking sites, is quite an interesting tool. As I stated in Thing #7 (I believe that's right), I have had a Del.icio.us account in the past. Before this class I had gotten out of the habit of using it. I just didn't think about it and didn't post any links to it. When we started exploring the different tools in the previous "things," I began using the site a little more again. I have imported all of my bookmarks onto my Del.icio.us page and hope to get back sometime this week to do some tagging and a little more exploration.
I didn't like furl and ma.gnolia as much, but have known others who really like furl. I think this would be a really great tool to use in the classroom. There are so many websites that could be linked for student use. I think it would be very beneficial because I could see what others have tagged and might run across new sites for the students that I didn't even know were there. I think it would also help prepare students for their own use of bookmarking sites later on. We are preparing students for the future even as we teach them in the classroom this week. This is a tool that they might find useful down the road. It might help them to be exposed to it now.
As for teachers using social bookmarking sites, I think this would be an excellent tool for professional development. We are constantly trying to better ourselves in our professions, and what a great way to strengthen ourselves than reading up on and researching new theories, strategies, and anything education related. We often learn more from each other than we do in many professional development seminars, so why not take advantage of the opportunity to learn from someone else by checking out the sites they find are great for pro. development.

Thing #16

Start pages are an interesting concept. I find, however, that I tend to get distracted easily and end up roaming around through the different links on my start page rather than finishing up whatever task it was that had me online in the first place. :) I chose to use iGoogle for this "thing" because it was the most appealing to me. I could change things around to make it just right for me. I really like the different gadgets that can be added to the page, and that once they're added, I can move them around to my liking. Another feature of iGoogle that I consider a "pro" is that I can sign in to the start page or I can choose to stay with the "Classic Home" page. If I find I am in a time crunch, I can choose to bypass iGoogle altogether rather than be distracted by all the little gadgets I have added. I will leave iGoogle as my start page, but will most likely only use it every once in a while.
I chose to take a closer look at the pdf converters, but am still undecided about them. I can convert documents to pdf files from my computer, so I'm not sure that I'd actually use one online. It would be a good thing to use, though, from my school computer when I do not have access to my laptop.
Personally, I am not a big fan of the online calendars and to-do lists. I find that there is too much work involved for me. I would much rather keep my notebook and calendar with me rather than taking the time to put something where it needs to be on a to-do list or online calendar.
I think the tool that I found most useful was the start page. I will use it at home, but most likely not at school. I am better organized with paper and pencil that I am on the world wide web. :) I'd like to use the google start page for personal updates on news and weather.

Thing #15

Creating a Wiki is something that I continue to say that I want to use with my class, but I never can seem to get it all together to actually go through with it. I enjoyed reading through the different ways that wikis are being used. There are so many different uses out there! One of my favorite sites was one that had different book reviews. I have a book review bulletin board in my classroom. Students fill out a short book recommendation form and then place it on the bulletin board. It would be so neat for them to be able to write their reviews on a wiki page. All of the reviews would be recorded and students could go to the genre of their choice and check out the reviews written by other students. They could even edit the reviews other students have left in order to give more information or to add a personal response to the story itself. This has been one of the best ways, so far, that I have found to use a wiki with my 5th graders. I have a group, this year, that loves to read. They would read all day long if they could, and they are always looking for a new story. This would be great for them. I think it is so interesting that one person can begin a page and others can collaborate to change it up, add to it, and make it better.

Thing #14

I didn't really have a preference on which of the four chart programs I chose because I had not heard / used any of them. I chose the middle two (Flowchart and bubbl.us) because I liked the looks of the charts you could create with them. Using the Flowchart site, I created a chart that shows the steps for solving a division problem. This is what we are working on in my class this week (maybe month...haha), so I thought it would be neat to give them a flowchart as part of their notes so they have something to look at and that shows what steps for completing a problem. Giving them something to look at with the steps on it is a big help for them...especially my ELL students. Having it written down helps them understand some of the things they might have missed when I was teaching.
I also tested the mindmap on the bubbl.us site. I am really excited about this site! My students have been doing a lot of brainstorming activities to help come up with ideas for writing, and I really think they would enjoy using this tool. They could get on a computer and make their map for brainstorming without erasing anything. They can just make it as they go. If I had one account for my class, I think it would be neat for the kids to see how the other mindmaps look to give them ideas on how to expand their thinking. I can't wait to use this with my 5th graders!

Thing #13

Zoho Writer is a word processing program that can be found online. Documents can be created, shared, and even posted to a blog. As with most word processors, you can include pictures, links to websites, tables, and many other things into the documents. The documents can then be saved and shared online without having to e-mail the documents back and forth. So far, I really like using Zoho Writer to create different documents. It is easy to use and has many features that are beneficial for creating documents. I'm curious to see how I can use this program at school. Many documents I create for my classroom are done on my laptop computer form home, and then I print them from the computer at the school. Our classrooms are running on outdated Macs, and when I send a document through an e-mail, I end up having to change all of the settings in the word processing program to get the document to look as it did on my laptop. Hopefully, this will save me time in moving from one computer to the next. I like that Zoho Writer has many different options on the toolbar at the top of document so I can change a setting with one click of a button. I don't have to search for different settings in menus, but can click once and it's done. This tool is easy to use and could save a lot of time.

**Note: This blog was posted through Zoho Writer.**

Thing #12

GOOGLE CALENDAR & iGOOGLE

For task #12, I played around with the Google Calendar and iGoogle. I really like iGoogle because I can personalize my homepage with whatever I would like to see / read when I open the browser. Even if I am using a friend's computer, I can sign into my Google account and see my iGoogle homepage. I included feeds for news, weather, politics, and a box for my e-mail so I can see if I have any e-mails. Another feature that I like is Google Docs. With this, I have the ability to word process right in my browser. I did not know about Google Docs until I was looking through all the different tools. This would definitely come in handy when I need to send a document in an e-mail but can't because a computer doesn't have the word processing program I need. Google Calendar can be very helpful (if I could ever remember to use it). I, however, have a Palm that I use to keep track of all dates and information, so I have trouble remembering Google has a calendar that would also be helpful. Having a Google Calendar would be especially helpful to older students who need to keep track of when assignments are due, when they have presentations, and when they might have to work. This would probably be the one I would most likely use with my students. The others I found would be good for me personally.

Thing #11

Finding feeds for me Reader has been a pretty easy task to accomplish. As I've gone along, I've added things that I would like to keep up with, and move right on past the ones I don't care to see again. I have done searches for blogs before and haven't really come up with much that I find really useful. I think I spend more time just looking around than when I move to a new site from a blog I already know. When someone is linked to a person I am already reading, I tend to get a little more interested. As it was part of our task for Thing #11, I used the different search options to find some blogs. I found that the easiest method of finding feeds (other than my preferred way) was to use Topix. I like that the information is unique for my location. I spent a while just going through the different links listed on the page. The most confusing tool for me was Bloglines. I think it was confusing because I really didn't like the feed setup and didn't really understand the blog search system. It wasn't as easy (for me) to use Bloglines as the others. (Note: I had a little trouble getting Feedster to load anything. I tried it in a couple of different browsers with no luck.)
I really like that Topix has a blog to go with the site. I added it to my Reader in hopes of keeping up with the great information source they have created. I was not aware of Topix.net before this activity, and I am looking forward to using it in the future.
I ended up looking at the local television news stations to see if they had RSS feeds, and if they did, I wanted to know what was available. The different stations (WSMV, WKRN, and News Channel 5) each had unique additions to their sites in regards to RSS feeds. There are so many differnet topics to choose from. I read through at least one of the news sites each day, but now I can have it sent to my Reader and can catch it when I'm looking through my updates. Sweet!

Thing #10

I have had a Google Reader page for a while now, and I absolutely love it. I have several friends who frequently write on their blogs, and all I have to do is check my Reader to see if there is an update. I like using RSS because I can find the updates on most every page I visit on a regular basis in one place. I don't have to go through my bookmarks and search for different websites, but I can find exactly what I was looking for at any given time. I really like using Google Reader because I can check it from my computers at home, school, or my parents' house. It makes staying connected quite simple. There are many times that I'd like to share something I read on a blog with a friend. All I have to do is share my Reader with them and they can see the blogs and webpages I am being updated on.
I have not used an RSS feed for school, buy I'm sure there are many ways it could be used. It would definitely be handy for keeping up with student updates on their blogs for class. I use it all the time in my personal life. The convenience got me hooked! As it relates to teachers, I think it would be good for tracking updates on blogs/sites where we gain information for professional development. There are several blogs, that are written by teachers just like me, that I learn so much from. Being able to connect with other teachers, and to hear their ideas, helps us become better teachers ourselves. I think it would greatly benefit teachers to take hold of this technology and use it to better themselves as professional educators. Sometimes it seems we learn more from each other than sitting in a professional development training session.

I haven't figured out how to make my Google Reader page public, but when I do figure it out I'll be sure to share a link.

Thing #9

I had a lot of fun playing around with the different image generators. The smiley face generator was my absolute favorite! I made myself laugh I don't know how many times at all the different images I made. The one I posted was the last one I saw. Since I recently got engaged, I'd say it is easily my favorite. I sent it to my fiance and he just laughed at me. :)

I think the way that I could use something like this effectively in the classroom would be for giving instructions on different assignments. If I am going to create a test or homework sheet, then I could create one of these images with special instructions and they would know to look for the silly smileys to help them remember what to do. Sometimes my 5th graders need a little something extra when it comes to finishing something on their own. This would help them to pay attention to the directions.

FYI: The image generators I liked the best were Happy Face Generator and Image Chef.

Thing #8

Poochie
Originally uploaded by hba827

I'm not sure of how I could appropriately use some of the Flickr mashups in my classroom, but it's definitely worth taking the time to think about it. I have enjoyed playing around with the different mashup tools to create different things with my photos. I made motivational posters, puzzles (as seen in this post), magazine covers, and a breast cancer awareness poster. There are some others that I used, but these are the ones I played around with the most. I would most likely use this more in my personal life to doctor some of my pictures. The tools make the picture something uniquely different but still show off the goodness of the original picture.
As I stated in the last post, I am mostly ok with posting pictures online but there is a line that has to be drawn (in my opinion) between posting pictures and posting one's entire life story online. If someone can literally find me because they have put together where I am by the different aspects in my pictures, then I have put too much out there. If I consider those boundaries and post carefully, then I am ok with posting pictures.** I think the more I think about it, the more uncomfortable I am becoming with posting personal pictures online.**

Thing #7

In Flight
Originally uploaded by hba827

I added the above picture to my Flickr account to share with the apsu23things group. I had changed to Flickr several years ago when the Yahoo! Photos site I was using no longer accepted pictures, but was replaced by Flickr. I imported all of my photos at that point, yet never used the site again. Today was the first time I actually signed back in to the site to use it. I went ahead and uploaded this picture because it has become one of my favorites. I chose to use one of my photos for this portion of the assignment. However, I started searching using the different tags and realized a while later that I had been looking at pictures for what seemed like forever. There are pictures of just about anything I might need a picture of. For me, I think this site would be good to store pictures that we take in the classroom so that parents could have access at home. I post them to my classroom website (with permission of course), but this would be an excellent way to share them with parents. I would also like to use this site for storing and sharing pictures with family members who live out of town. What an easy way to store and share!
I have not used any other storage sites, so I have nothing to really compare with Flickr. I think it has the potential to be a great site for picture storage...we'll see after I get the opportunity to play around with it more! I do like having the option of making pictures private. It doesn't really bother me that the pictures are public. I would, however, make sure to create a group for sharing pictures (especially for students and parents) so that only the people who need the pictures can get to them. Keep students safe takes precedence over sharing pictures any day.

Thing #6

I have been browsing through the different categories of Web 2.0 tools and believe I have found the one that would benefit me the most...personally. My web browser is completely full of bookmark categories after bookmark folders after scattered bookmarks across the top of the toolbar. In exploring the award winners, I found the del.icio.us tool. When I first started looking at the site, I thought it was only a list of bookmark sites other people had created. What I didn't realize was how much this could benefit me personally. This site has "the biggest bookmark collection in the universe," as quoted from their page. I have found links to many different sites because other people have listed links according to their needs, their interests, and just because they can. The best part about this site is that I can create a del.icio.us link site of my own. I can keep track of the different sites I keep "losing" bookmarks to, share my bookmarks with others, and see what they are bookmarking. The site also has a collection of the most popular bookmarked sites and you can search to find those you are interested in. Now I can sign into my del.icio.us account and import all the bookmarks from my web browser, tag new sites I want to keep track of, and access my del.icio.us list from any computer!
I'm sure I could find a way to incoporate this into a school setting, even if it's just used to link websites I plan to use with my class at some point. This would be a good way to keep track of all the different sites I use with the students at some point throughout the year. When I get ready to show them a new site I have found, all I have to do is visit my del.icio.us site and there are all the links I have tagged. It doesn't matter whether I am using my laptop, the classroom computers, or computers at a totally different school. I still have access to the sites I have saved for them.

Thing #5

Reading through the different resources on Web 2.0 listed on the Thing 5 section of APSU's 23 Things blog, I began to feel overwhelmed with the amount of potential found in Web 2.0 for Education. One of the most gripping statements I found in the resources I read through was one that was asking if teachers were going to continue to do things the way they had always been done or begin to step out and do things in a new way, incorporating the read/write web into the things we do. It's interesting to think about the many ways that the different Web 2.0 tools can be used in the classroom on a daily basis. Web 2.0 is making our world a world of collaboration. Writing, publishing, and interacting with content has never been the same and will likely continue to change the world of information for many years to come.
In my opinion, School 2.0 is an atmosphere where teachers take hold of the new technologies and put them into action in their classrooms. Students learn through a more interactive program than sitting in a chair with pencil, paper, and books all day long. The video on Understanding Web 2.0 described a classroom similar to the one listed below, but further back than a time period I am familiar with. If our school has changed that much since the time described, how much more can we expect things to change in the future. We must really begin to know and understand Web 2.0 as they will soon become commonplace within our schools. It may take a while to learn the new programs and technologies, but it will all be for the benefit of our students. I believe schools will change to a more interactive format through the use of Web 2.0 tools. Students will learn to interact with each other in new ways and will help each other in those interactions.

Thing #4

Blogging on the internet creates a very interactive community. This would not be so without comments. Personally, I am a very introverted person and find myself reading many blogs and only commenting on a few. Over the last couple of months, I have started commenting on what others are writing and it opens up many doors to conversation with people all over the country (and even the world). I can converse with others about topics I am interested in, but the conversation only begins when I make a comment on a post someone else has written. If I do not leave a comment, I am choosing to allow the topic to end on my part. Commenting and beginning a conversation with another person can lead to new knowledge gained on various topics of interest.

Over the course of last night and this morning, I read through blogs (written on commenting) posted on the following blogs: Cool Cat Teacher, BlueSkunk, Brown's Thoughts, and ProBlogger. Each blogger posted in their own unique style, but they certainly had similar views on commenting on others' blogs. One of the points I found most interesting was that we should always have good manners when commenting on a blog post. It is really important to agree to disagree. It is ok to disagree with something someone has posted, but they are entitled to have their own opinions without have others attack them. In my opinion, as reflected in some way in the post about comments as well, it is always important to give positive feedback even when disagreeing. Let the blogger know that you hear what they are saying and respond to some of the good points even if you disagree. The second thing I thought was interesting was to make sure you have really read and understand the post made by the blogger before commenting. Don't just skim the post and think you understand. Take a few minutes to make sure you understand before commenting. Then, when you do comment, make sure the comment adds something to the post. Comment to show the reader that what you are reading is worth your time as well as the time and effort they put into it.

I have been reading several blogs throughout the day, and I find that there are many people in our class that have interesting ideas and each person has their own unique way of saying what they think. It's neat to see the thoughts of other people. One of the first posts I responded to was Lynette's post on how to use a blog in the classroom. She had some interesting ideas on how to apply what she has learned about blogs and I really like her style of sharing her thoughts. I will continue to add more as I make comments throughout the semester.

Edit: Blogs I've commented on -
1. Lynette: see above paragraph.
2. Lorrie: I really liked Lorrie's blog on the use of an animoto video. I think it was a great way to help the students get to know one another more! I also wanted to share, with her, a way I had thought we could use it.
3. Stacy: I found Stacy's Summary blog to be very in depth and interesting. She and I had come to some of the same conclusions by the end of the process, so I wanted to let her know that I had read and agreed with her.
4. Shawn: Shawn is not a member of our class, but she is a blogger that I read often. She blogs more on her spiritual journey and the ministries therein. I read a blog about parenting that I thought touched on how I feel about being a "school mom." I am not a mother, but my students sometimes tell me I am their school mom which challenges me to be a good role model and to guide them in my actions and attitudes. I commented on this blog to let Shawn know I was reading (I have not commented on her blog before.) and to let her know how much her insights help me from day to day.
5. Jenna: Jenna is a classmate from High School. I have been reading her blog for a while now, and I thought it was time to comment. Each of her blogs is filled with so much wisdom and encouragement for others. I wanted to let her know how much I appreciate her blog.
6. Elizabeth: I liked Elizabeth's post on Social Networking. She stressed the importance of keeping our students informed. I shared my opinion that it is important to keep ourselves informed in order to keep our students up on what's happening / can happen on these different social networking sites.

Thing #3

WOW! There are so many uses for a blog in the classroom. I'll just share a few of my favorites.

In my classroom, I like to use a blog linked to our classroom website to keep parents up-to-date on the happenings in our classroom. I send out a weekly newsletter, but also make the same information (presented on the blog by a student helper) available on a blog. I haven't actually gotten this started this year, but I have used it successfully in the past. Even if parents do not get a hard copy of the newsletter, they are still able to get the information. Many are appreciative of the extra effort made to keep them in the loop.

One way that I would like to use a blog in the future would be to present some of the ideas I have for the classroom. There are so many things that we can do for each of the very different areas of the classroom (instruction, materials, storage, etc.). I think it is very important, as teachers, to share our ideas and help others as much as we can. There is always a chance we might stumble across something that might be extremely helpful for us as well!

My favorite way to use a blog in the classroom is for writing. My students are really excited about getting to write blogs for their writing assignments. In the beginning this just means they are taking the stories they have written and are posting them, but then they realize that others have posted and they can read what has been written. Further into the process, we will take the stories and work on editing our writing. Students can work with partners and proofread, edit, and offer new ideas for writing pieces. I find it's a great way for students to share their writing. The best part for them is that they can read them at home if they don't get the chance to at school!

Thing #2

Creating the blog was not a difficult experience. As I mentioned in the previous post, there are a couple of other blogs I have created and frequently post on. I enjoy connecting with other people, and having a blog seems to be a great way to do that. I chose the title that I did because I think this learning experience is truly going to be a journey. Some of these things will be new for me. A journey is an experience in which much learning takes place, so I felt the name was fitting.
My avatar is not designed to look like me. It looks more like my personality than my "real self." I would much rather people know me by my personality than by the way I look. That means they really know me. What's on the outside does not always reflect what is on the inside. I am a really laid back kind of girl and like to go with the flow. I also love the fall so I added that in the background. :)

Thing #1

Going through the 7 and 1/2 Habits activity was quite the interesting experience. I found that there were a couple that I thought I was especially good at doing, but one that really stood out to me as one I have a very hard time doing. One of the hardest habits for me is looking at problems as challenges. All to often, I opt to freak out rather than find a creative way to solve the problem / let the problem be solved. In fact, I have a very BAD habit of freaking out when facing a problem (something that will change the way things are going in a major way). That was very obvious this week when my dear fiance and I had some awful car trouble. Insurace decided they didn't want to do anything about it and I immediately freaked out because of the amount of money I knew we'd be expected to pay to repair his (dear fiance's) car. Turns out, the insurace company made a huge mistake and everything will be taken care of. I could have relaxed, but freaked out as soon as I was faced with the issue. This is, however, not the case for all problems of which I am faced. It seems that when I am faced with "problems" related to my career in education / the classroom, I am better prepared to view them as challenges. This bad habit is more of a personal life issue.
I have found that one of the better habits I have is using technology to my advantage. I have always enjoyed learning and try to learn something new every day. Since I am not able to make it to the library/a lecture on a topic every day, I turn to the internet as a learning environment. I consistently participate in mail groups and teacher boards, read news sites and personal / professional blogs, and e-mail with "pen pals" across the nation for the purpose of increasing my knowledge base. I believe this is one of the easier habits for me because I am so interested in technology and the internet. I enjoy searching for new information and reading about things I have never heard of before. Personally, this is definitely using the internet for my advantage.
One of the things that I would really like to learn when exploring the Web 2.0 tools is how to take what I am learning and apply it to my every day [classroom] life. Many of the Web 2.0 tools would be highly beneficial in the classroom, and I would like to be prepared to use them as effectively as I possibly can.
Setting up this blog was not really a difficult task. I have 2 different personal blogs that I frequently write on, so this is just another to add to my list. :) I did enjoy creating something new and learning about myself as a lifelong learner.