Thing 23-I've made it!

What an adventure this has been! I believe I learned something "new" in every activity I did. My 12-year son was watching over my shoulder with almost every "thing" and we worked on them together. Of course, he knew his way around better than I did.

Thank you, Ron, for cultivating your idea into this class. I have grown tremendously. You ask us how we will continue our journey. For me, that will pose the biggest challenge. The summer has been great to explore where my routine has been loose. I have spent an hour of unadulterated time working on each "thing" and playing around. When school gets started, I will really need to carve out the time. To help with that, I want to collaborate with MACUL or a group similar to continue my "technology" conversations and learning. I also know colleagues who are savvy with web 2.0 and will perhaps create a google doc with them.

It is definitely all about being a life-long learner and playing with what is out there already. I used to think that I could live without the "web". Now I think I can not live without it.
There truly is so much to still learn. My teaching will change as a result of this class. The classes I teach will be revised to include web 2.0 and some will actually be re-created right from the web.

I am wondering if I will be able to access any of these activities after the class ends - as reminders and I love the videos you used. I have started a notebook just for web 2.0 and ideas and user names and passwords and so much more.

Thing 22

I am a fan of youtube (and so are my own children) and have found some simply hilarious clips. I can also see the latest clips from late night talk shows that I may have missed. I use teachertube for my personal use and have shown only a few with my students. There is one teacher who does a rap for algebra that is pretty unique and helps give my students a mnemonic to remember the 4 basic steps.

I just tried out schooltube and TED for the first time. Schooltube has some tutorials on how to use video with students that I plan to research. I like the games as well. I want to try to link the game of simon on my wiki or blog for my students. I think I can now that I have had this class.

I really like this TED. I will search it for some professional development this year. There is one on how the brain creates meaning that I found interesting. I never heard of TED before and...wow!

Now, for the tricky part - how do I use it with my students aside from just "showing" them the clips? Schooltube will help, but I am not proficient in this skill yet. I have interviewed my student before and put it onto DVD to show at a board meeting, but that's about it.
I'll keep working on it b/c I think the majority of our students are visual-spatial learners and this way of teaching/learning would match thier styles.

Thing 21 Twitter

Okay, I'm not a big fan of facebook or twitter. Conan O'Brien does a spoof on his show called the "tweet tracker" where he pokes fun at the latest tweets by Hollywood stars. Frankly, I'm not interested in such frivolity.
Now the twitter search may have some merit. I did a search for my city and also followed some top searches that I enjoyed reading. I also stumbled upon some information in which I was interested regarding Fulton Street Market.

During the week of the Festival of the Arts this year, the Grand Rapids Press published some "tweets" during each day of the event. They were truly a pleasure to read. I am interested in the "craft" of writing tweets. With only 140 characters allowed, precision in word choice is a must and would be fun to create. I plan to study tweets a bit further, find some well crafted ones and use them to teach some writing with my older students. It might be fun to communicate that way for a class period, keeping in mind the precision of word choice.

Thing 20 bookmarking

I'm eager to use social bookmarking with my colleagues. I have created a username - jade41 - and have saved bookmarks from my "favorites" in Explorer. I think the sharing of bookmarks will only happen if my colleagues have del.icio.us accounts. So, my next step is to get them signed up for this.

Using del.icio.us by simply saving bookmarks has already proven a benefit for me. I can use the tags to call up a site I have saved to use in the classroom, rather than scrolling down the long list of favorites.
The greater advantage will come when I have colleagues sharing with me.

Burning question: Do I need to know usernames before I can 'peek' at their tags and their bookmarks?

Thing 19

I have a huge list of bookmarks on my computer. Due to the nature of my position, I sometimes only see groups of students once a week and need to remember the website I used in the past. However, with my aging memory, I struggle to recall the name !

This social bookmarking is just for me! I'm excited about getting to use it in Thing 20.

Tagging does seem to be a great way to organize my bookmarks. I think mine are currently organized by date or ABC order. Tagging will allow me to "cross-reference" like I do with my current files in my cabinet. (I wish I could tag in my filing cabinets as easy as this seems to be!)

When I read the 13 things about tagging, my initial question was answered. I wasn't sure what lingo or words to use in my tags. It suggests to follow the crowd a bit, observe how others have tagged and then try it out. That will be my plan.

Thing 18

Our whole school is a PLN and our staff meetings are now collaborative meetings where we meet as several small groups and analyze student learning. There is some value of social networking online. Ning allows you to "chat" (I still use that term lightly b/c I feel it's not in real time) with professionals around the nation. I entered a forum where the members were discussing RTI and read through the posts. Some interesting ideas were there.

In MACUL, I found SIGEE there, a group that focuses on K-6 tech and teaching. First, I will join a group and see how it goes before I start one on my own.

I belong to Trillium Haven's yahoo group and I go to it everyday. There, I read through the posts, get ideas, recipes and answer questions or share when I can. This group has been my first try at it. I see the value!

I'm wondering how to "search" through all the posts for something specific. Or, do I read all the posts under a general topic?