Thing 19

I am not a member of any other online communities, but I plan on changing that. Online communities are awesome resources for teachers. My favorite that I explored Crafter.org. This is an excellent online resource for teachers, especially people like me! I am not creative what so ever, but I plan to steal borrow ideas from this website and incorporate projects into my curriculum. TeacherPop was neat as well, but I am still trying to get the hang of it!

The End? Or the beginning?

WOOHOO! I'm finished with blogging. Okay, so I'm not that excited, but I'm glad that I no longer have to do it for a grade. Doing the "23 Things" project has been eye opening. I LOVE all of the things  (no pun intended) that I have learned throughout this project. Not only have I found tools that I can use as a future educator, but I have currently picked up some new tools to use in my everyday life.

Crazy to say, but Google Calendar has been my favorite tool so far. Even though it is a simple tool, that I should have been using a long time ago, it is extremely useful. This semester has been crazy busy and I am so glad that I started using Google Calendar to help keep everything organized in my hectic life.

Throughout this project I have learned the importance of being informed on all of the helpful tools that are out their for teachers. Being a teacher is a difficult job and the tools are only there to make your job easier help you. I do not think that teachers take full advantage of all of the resources that are on the World Wide Web. I hope to continue with everything that I have learned and take it with me when I become a teacher. Even though this project was time consuming it was extremely helpful.

Thing 23, y'all!

Helene Blowers got the idea for Learning 2.0- 23 Things from Stephen Abram. Abram created 43 Things for anyone that is using the Internet. This was in hopes that people would be organized and to sort of their goals. Currently, I am unsure of how I will use Creative Commons Licensing directly but I will be sure not to use the work of others without asking for permission.

Thing 22

I made three different binders that related to what I think I will deal with when teaching. The names of my binders are : Middle School Education, Special Education, and Education Technology. This is the link that allows you to view my Middle School Education binder: http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=815959





I was not a fan of this "Thing" but there are many ways that teachers can use LiveBinder in the classroom. Students could do a research project and use LiveBinder to organize the information that they have found for the particular subject. Honestly, I do not think I will use LiveBinder in my classroom as a teacher.

Thing 21

Here is the link to my video: Thing 21

This website is awesome! I think it is a super great tool to use in the classroom. The only downfall is that is costs, but I think it would be great to make videos and share them with your students. I think these videos capture the attention of students and they will enjoy what they are learning. I also think it would be great for students to create these videos to share with their peers.

Thing 20

WOW! Can I start by saying the "What Teachers Make" video by Taylor Mali is one of the BEST videos I've ever watched! I loved it! YouTube is great resource for teachers and students and I will use it in my classroom to help educate my students. I chose a motivational video for teachers because we all get discouraged at some points, so watching these videos can help us stay on track.

Thing 18

Social networking is constantly growing. Nowadays, almost everyone has a Facebook or Twitter to communicate with people all over the world. I think it is important for teachers to be up to date with how social networking works because it is becoming an important form of communication. Being a future middle school teacher I know that I will be faced with many different issues in the school and one of them is bullying. Cyber bullying has taken off and it is a major issue. I believe it is important for teachers to know how social networking works so that if there are any issues between students they can intervene.

I have had a Twitter and Facebook for many years now, so I feel like I know a lot about each network. I personally use Twitter more, but I think that Facebook is more useful when looking to communicate with people from all over. Facebook also has more features than Twitter. I do not see using Twitter or Facebook for school purposes, but maybe there are. I am sure that other teachers use these social networking sites in the classroom.

Thing 17

At first I was unsure about Delicious. It was a tad confusing and I was unsure if it was going to be useful in the classroom, but once I figured it out...I loved it! This is a great bookmarking website to use, not only for yourself, but in the classroom to share information with your students. Social media is growing and almost everyone uses it in today's society, so using this is a great way to share information with others! Teachers can take advantage of this because they will be able to link up with other teachers and borrow their ideas. I love this website and I think it will be extremely useful when I become a teacher.

Thing 16

I love iGoogle. I actually forgot that I had used it a long time ago. It is super useful because it is a homepage with all of your favorite websites in one. I am definitely going to use this as my homepage from now on. I am crazy about my Google calendar so I am a firm believer in online calendars. I think they are extremely helpful when linking the calendar with my cell phone. I am extremely busy, but having this online calendar helps me keep everything in order. To-do lists are nice, but I think doing them online is way too much work. I make a to-do list everyday just to make sure that I get everything done, but I just use paper and pencil because it is a lot easier for me. I found a lot of tools that were useful for home and school. I would recommend teachers to use the "Spanish Word a Day" tool in the classroom. This is helpful because it allows teachers to share a different language with their students. Also, at home you could use the "iTunes Top 10 Songs" tool. This is a neat tool to just keep in touch with good music!