Thing 23- Summarize Your Thoughts about This Program

1. Favorite Exercises:

• Podcasts and Videocasts
• Rollyo
• Online Image Creator
• RSS Feeds and Reads
• Google
• Flickr
• Web 2.0 Awards List
  

2. One of my lifelong learning goals is to always stay on top of new technology. This class has opened my eyes to a vast variety of new teaching tools. Most of these tools I had never even heard of, before taking this course. Even though, I gained a great deal of new information on tools I already had previous knowledge on.

3. I feel that all the information that was discussed in this course was a takeaway. I gained a lot of new information on familiar and unfamiliar topics. This was a great course, jammed packed with useful information. I would not call anything a surprise, though.

4. I, honestly, could not ask for anything else. Everything was straightforward, step-by-step and interesting/useful. The interaction and hands-on aspect of this course, kept my interest throughout.

5. I would love to participate in another discovery program like this in the future.

6. INTERESTING, INFORMATIONAL AND VERY USER-FRIENDLY

Thing 22- Nings

The Nings were very interesting and user friendly. Although they are very user friendly, they are almost too plain. I am used to using the more complex social networks like Facebook and Myspace. Student's in today's society are very technologically sound, so Nings might be a little too simple for them and they might get bored using this social network. I could use a Ning to network with other teachers and discuss issues/topics with other teachers. As a teaching tool, I could use a Ning to interact with my students/athletes about classwork or athletics, when outside the classroom.

Thing 21- Podcasts and Videocasts

I had a fun time working with Photostory. This type of technology gives me another option from just using PowerPoint slides. I believe using podcasts and videocasts will enhance student learning and participation in assignments because they will enjoy and take pride in their work.

Thing 20- YouTube, TeacherTube and Zamzar

Before this school year, I was unaware of all the different media resources and had only used YouTube. I have been using YouTube for a few years now. Having access to several media resources is key. There were several times, this school year, where I tried to view or download a particular video for my class and couldn't. A majority of the time this problem was solved by my technology specialist giving me a URL from TeacherTube or another media resource that allowed me to access the same video, but actually get it to play.

Since I am the ISS teacher at my campus I chose to embed a video on Classroom Discipline.

Thing 19- Web 2.0 Awards List

The Awards List is a great tool because it gives you a variety of top rated websites and blogs to use when conducting a search on a topic. All you have to do is choose a category from which your topic falls under, then see which sites have been chosen by other users as top-rated, credible sites to use for your search. Normally, when conducting a search on a topic using Google or Yahoo, you will get all kinds of sites, in which, you can use to conduct your research. This site helps eliminate a great deal of these sites and lets you hone in on useful, top-rated sites. The Awards List can help teachers set parameters for the sites used in their students research. This will help the students quickly find relevant information from quality and useful websites.

Thing 18- Online Productivity Tools

From what I can tell, Open Office is a great free-online tool. A "great free-online tool" is its major advantage. If someone does not have Microsoft Office on their computer, they can access Open Office for FREE. After playing around with Open Office, I can see that it gives you a similar look and feel to Microsoft Office. Open Office is also compatible with several different computer hardware and operating systems. The only drawback, I can see, is if the user does not have the Internet to access/download the application. Although I like the idea of Open Office, I don't see any need to use the online tool if you already have Microsoft Office on your computer.

Thing 17- Rollyo

Wow. Rollyo is yet another great application that can save individuals a great deal of time during their research. This is a great tool for teachers to use when assigning a topic for their students to research. I really like Rollyo because the teacher can some what be in control and set limits for students during their research. For my personal use, I created a Rollyo for my sport searches. Here is the link (http://rollyo.com/65andre65/sports/). I like this because it will only search for topics found within the perameters that I have already setup.

Thing 16- Wikis

Before working on this assignment, I had only used one version of the wiki, Wikipedia. Now that I have played around with different wiki's I have a better understanding of its purpose and its effectiveness. I wish I would have known about these types of resources when I was working on my undergraduate and graduate studies. I can see myself using wiki for student research topics and personal research. Wikis can help students with group think, brainstorming and research projects, by letting them keep an ongoing list of ideas that can be edited by others in their group.

Thing 15-Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the Future of Libraries

I like the idea of Library 2.0. Society as a whole needs to realize that you can't resist change but embrace it instead. The world has evolved into a technological based system and so have the students of world. I agree totally with Rick Anderson's "Away from the Icebergs" and Chip Nigles "To more powerful ways to cooperate." The best way for educational institutions to reach their students is through technology. This is where they spend most of their time during the day, so why not reach out to them through technology. Our goal as teachers is to make learning meaningful and interesting for our students. Using these types of technolgy will give them a sense of ownership and help them take more of an interest in their learning, because their input helps construct and improve the system. I can see the libraries of tomorrow consisting of more computers and less printed manipulatives.

Thing 14-Technorati and How Tags Work

After looking at the different applications, I think that Technorati and Delicious are almost two of a kind, although I enjoy using Delicious more. I have only been using them for a short time, but I feel more comfortable with using Delicious. I like using these now because it’s a great time saver. By typing in a keyword/topic, you are given access to pertinent articles, videos, pics, and blogs. The key word is PERTINENT. I just get so tired of using google and yahoo to search topics because you get several entries that don’t have anything to do with what you are searching for. These applications reduce that irrelevant search time, that could be spent on actual research.

Thing 13-Tagging and Discover Delicious

I really like the idea of tagging and using Delicious. This makes it a lot easier than saving hundreds of websites under your favorites tab on Explorer. This would be very beneficial for students while working on a project or research paper. Now students can highlight a particular phrase, paragraph, article or website and can easily go back to it by using their tags or find other articles related to their tags. This would work the same way for teachers when working on a research paper or presentation.

Thing 12-Creating Community Through Commenting

The two points that I feel are most important when it comes to commenting on blogs is 1. Remember the Power of Words and 2. Write a meaningful comment. There is a time and place for everything. When writing your comments, they should not be hurtful thoughts, but should be meaningful. Whether you agree/disagree with the author, your comments should always pertain to the topic being discussed. I always refer back to “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

I commented on blogs from my list on Google Reader.

The first topic that drew my attention was on “What to know about Bullying.” This drew my attention because this is a topic I deal with a bunch with my students in my ISS class. Here is my comment on this issue: I don't think bullying will ever stop. I feel as an educator we have to act proactively in order to prevent several future occurrences. We must educate the kids about bullying and let them know those actions will not be tolerated and will be dealt with accordingly. Mainly we need to let them know we are always there to listen to their situations. Sometimes we get caught up in doing what we are doing and are not actually listening to them. For the kids I work with, the school is a lot of my student's safe haven and they need to know we are there for them, at all time.

The second topic that drew my interest was on “Classroom Management for Substitutes.” I really liked this because I subbed for a semester before I got into teaching, to see if teaching was the right fit for me. Here is my comment on this topic. I was a substitute teacher for a little over a half of a year before I got into teaching. One thing I learned after being a sub and a regular education teacher is that if the regular ed teacher has set a firm set of guidelines in their classroom and the students understand that you mean business, then they will follow those same rules for the sub, for the most part. As a teacher, now I let my kids know that disrespecting my subs is like disrespecting me. I also let them know that no matter who is in the room, when I am not there, they better treat them with the same respect as they would to me or consequences will follow. I haven't had a serious problem yet. I have learned that telling a kid that they have disappointed you has more affect on the kid than just telling them you are mad at them.

Thing 11-Library Thing

I have added my 5 books and some,on LibraryThing. I really liked this site and did not really have any significant problems with this site. I chose to catalog books dealing with football and discipline. The discipline/classroom management books I chose, were books that I have read that helped me become a better teacher for my students and myself. The football books that I chose have helped me teach my kids how to become better athletes, as well as better members of society. By using this site I will be able to quickly log on and find other books which are similar to the books that are of my interesr or that I have already read. I also like the fact that I can interact wiith others about their thoughts on certain books or their reviews. I searched a few groups and found some that could be of interest but so far I have not found one that I really feel is the perfect fit for me, yet.

Thing 10-Online Image Creator

So far this has been the activity that I enjoyed the most. I had a lot of fun playing around with the different image creators. The two that I liked the best and feel that I would love to use in my class and on the field, are the Trading Card Maker and the Comic Strip Generator. These are very easy to use and very easy to spend a great deal of time on. I also feel that the students would really take an interest and get involved in an activity that used either of these two programs, whether it be an introduction activity or part of a project.

Links:

Trading Card Maker- http://bighugelabs.com/deck.php
Comic Strip Generator- http://www.comicstripgenerator.com/

Thing 9-Useful Library-Related Blogs and News Feeds

The ones that I found the easiest to use were Blogline’s Search Tool and Google Blog Search. These two offer a vast variety of options to use which is always helpful. The ones that were a little bit confusing were Technorati and School Library Blogs on Suprglu. These two offer so much information and takes a great deal of time to read all the instructions for help which can be a little confusing. Maybe I will feel a little differently about this after I have time to play around with it a little more. I had to read a lot to figure out how to use it. During my search I really became fond of the Google Blog Search it was very easy to find different ideas on topics I like to look at (sports, movies, video games, politics, etc).

Thing 8-RSS Feeds And Reads

I really enjoyed setting up my Google Reader. I will now use this resource all the time for various things. The RSS feature really speeds things up. Now I can go to one place to look for all the different sites I usually look at on a daily basis. This sure does beat having 6 or 7 tabs open on Internet Explorer. I am a coach and an ISS teacher, so in order to help me in the classroom and on the field, I added different sites ranging from football to student discipline websites.I have also added a website that will help me in my real estate and home buying. And of course I added a few sports blogs. Teachers and administrators can use this also in different facets by getting other ideas and thoughts from non bias bloggers. Either to keep up with new teaching ideas and strategies, discipline strategies, or even ways to improve the school's environment.

Thing 7-Google

The first I chose to talk about is Google Earth. I am in the process of purchasing a home, so I use it all the time. It gives you a Birdseye view of any place that you may plan to visit have or have never been to. This is a great program to utilize in any geography or social studies class. The other application that I found useful was Google Docs. The main reason I liked this application is that it provides useful templates that are great for teenagers as well as adults. Such templates as resumes, cover letters, calenders, invoices, etc. These could all be used in most business education or career development classes.

Thing 6-Mashups

I really liked the Mappr website. I currently teach the ISS class at my school. One thing I try to instill in my kids is that there is a bigger world out there, than just what they see around their neighborhood. By using this program I could create a large map (US and TX) and have various pics of events and landmarks for each state or city.

Thing 5-Flickr

I have used Flickr before and I enjo using it. I like the use of the tag option. It offers you several different ideas that could be associated to your search. I also like the group option because it offers a more defined search option. I chose to look up football for both options to see the difference. I am a football coach so I chose a football picture.

Thing 4-Register Blog

My blog has been created and the info has been emailed for registration.

Thing 3- Avatar

Setting up my blog was not a problem. The steps given were self-explanatory. I also enjoyed creating my avatar. I feel that it represents the other side of who I am. The person that my friends and family see. We all have a personal and a professional side. I have also looked at other blog pages to get more ideas for my own.

Thing 2-The 7 & 1/2

I feel that lifelong learning is key to any humans growth as a person (educationaly, physically, emotionally and socially)

In regards to the 7 & ½:

The things that I found easy for me were:

Begin with the end in mind- I am a person with high expectations and the only way that I feel I can reach those goals is to set very high standards for myself in order to have something to strive for.

Accept responsibility for your own learning- This idea is self-explanatory

View problems as challenges- I feel that there is no such thing as a mistake or a problem. I only see these events as learning experiences in life and in education. The only way it becomes a mistake or problem is if you don’t learn from it.

Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner- Confidence is key in every aspect of life in order to maximize your potential, whether it be in education or leadership.

Use technology to your advantage-I am the type of person that loves reading and learning or even acquiring new technology, whether it be in the classroom or in my home.

Teach/mentor others-I feel that it is the duty of every teacher to pass along some type of knowledge to every student or faculty member that needs help in a certain situation that you are familiar with.

Play-If you’re not having fun at what you are doing, you are WORKING. Something you enjoy should not always feel like work.

The one thing that I felt was hard for me:

Create your own learning toolbox-This is something that I feel is not hard but an area that I could improve in.