Is it the end or only the beginning?

My favorite discoveries were definitely Thing #8 with the flickr mashups and Thing #21 with the 30 second video clip made by using Animoto.

This program has affected my lifelong learning goals because it made me realize that the internet can be used for so many things in everyday life and in the classroom. Now that I have learned about all 23 of these tools, I will most definitely be using these tools in the rest of my college education and in my own classroom.

The only thing about this entire project that surprised me was how much I ended up loving blogs! I never had any luck with blogs before and I kind of hated them but now I cannot imagine not blogging.

I do not have any ideas about how this project could be improved upon because it was extremely easy to follow and complete on time.

The 23 Things will definitely help me as a teacher because I have so many new ideas that I could put to use in my classroom. I feel like after completing this assignment I am much more prepared to teach than I was before.

I think the best way for me to keep up with Web 2.0 tools is to keep visiting the APSU 23 Things blog even after I complete the course to see how things are changing.

Thing #23

http://sjlibrary23.blogspot.com/

The link above proves that the 23 Things idea is also being used by others. Our 23 Things project might have been started before or after the many other schools that are also using it, but all I know for sure is that we are definitely not the only ones with the idea.

Creative Commons is important because you need to be aware of the things on the internet that you can and cannot share. As a teacher, it is extremely important to teach this to students and to use it in the classroom as well as to not use anything that should not be used. It is easy to just copy and paste things onto a powerpoint and not even question whether or not you are allowed to do that.

Thing #22

My live binder

The titles of my binders are Elementary Education, Middle School Education, and High School Education. I am focusing on Elementary Education but I thought it would be a good idea to cover all the bases with my binders.

Live Binders could easily be incorporated into a classroom assignment or project. For example, if you assign a paper to your students, you could have them create a Live Binder to keep their different sources in for the paper. I think that would be a much better way to help them stay organized. If all of your information is on a website, how in the world could you possibly lose it?

I am seriously considering using this website for the exact reason I posted above. I am extremely horrible at keeping my things organized so if I can find a website that will keep everything right at my fingertips, sign me up!

Thing #21

My Animoto Video

Making a video on Animoto was so much fun! I really enjoyed this Thing because it was something new and really fun. I like how they have so many different music choices and you get to add all of your own pictures so it makes it very personal. Definitely a fun website that will be used in my classroom!

Thing #20

I said in thing #19 that I am a giant Facebook addict...well the same holds true for YouTube! I love YouTube because you can find virtually any video on the internet on this one amazing site. I chose this video to add to my blog because I felt like it was the perfect fit. It is a pretty short video that is talking about how fast technology is coming such an important part of education. Since this class is Educational Technology...it just fits too perfectly.

I can definitely see how YouTube would be helpful if applied to the library website. Sometimes it is easier to understand how to do things if you can see someone else do it in a video. For example, it is so much easier for me to understand how to use APA style if a get on YouTube and find a video of someone showing me what to do step-by-step instead of someone handing me a sheet of paper with instructions. Maybe that is just my own personal learning style...but I highly doubt it. YouTube is just all around an amazing tool to have at my disposal.

Thing #19

I am not a member of any online communities unless you count Teacherpop since I just signed up for it. :)

The social networks that caught my eye were the ones under 'Food'. I am a huge fan of cooking and baking so those sites automatically caught my attention right off the bat. I love having different websites full of recipes to keep under my belt because I never know when I will need them!

I can see myself using many of these in the future. I have used Project playlist in the last many times and I am sure to use that again in the future. I also plan on bookmarking Bake Space to use at a later date. I am very excited about all of these new tools that I have access to.

Thing #18

My Facebook profile

My Twitter profile

I am a huge, giant, crazy Facebook addict. I have been for the better part of 3 years. I LOVE everything about it. I was so excited when I realized Thing #18 was about Facebook. It is important for teachers to know how social networking sites because just about everyone uses them. As an educator, it is helpful to be up to date on things like this, especially because a lot of students have Facebook profiles. When you have students being bullied over Facebook and Twitter, it is important to know as much as you can.

Honestly, I did not really learn anything new that I did not already know about Facebook. I did not mess around with Twitter too much though because I just do not like it at all. I have tried before to become interested in Twitter and I am still having trouble getting into it.

I think as far as useful features, Facebook definitely is the winner. Facebook is not just about keeping up with friends and family. Facebook can also be used to join different groups on campus, keep up with fellow Education majors, and even find Facebook pages about teaching in the classroom.

I can see Facebook being useful in the classroom because you could assign each student a person in history and have them create a Facebook profile for that person. That way, they have to research the information but can still have fun using Facebook at the same time. I think this is a very good idea for a history teacher!

Thing #17

After creating my account on Delicious, I searched 'educational technology' and decided to click on the bookmark for Brainpop. I could see the different tags that other users had assigned to this particular bookmark and that is why it caught my attention. The tags covered a pretty vast amount of topics and for me, that is important.

I can see this being helpful in the classroom because you can see the tags before you click on the link so you have a better idea of whether or not the website will be helpful to you or not. That is definitely a plus. Instead of wasting valuable time looking through a ton of different websites, you can look at that tags and find what you are looking for.

Thing #16

The start page I chose to use was iGoogle. The main reason I chose this start page was because I have used it on another thing in the past and it is currently my home page and I love it. iGoogle appealed to me because I can personalize my page with widgets that I want and will use daily. This is already my homepage and it will remain that way. :)

I also decided to use the Google Calendar because it was a widget I had already added to my iGoogle homepage. I love this Calendar because it can be synced to my android phone so everything I add to my Google calendar goes directly to my phone as well. That way I will always be on top of everything going on.

The to-do list I chose was Remember the Milk. I also chose this one because it has an android app so I can keep up with my to-do list on the internet and on my phone. Since I always have my phone, I will always have my to-do list on me. Always a plus. :)

All of the tools I played with could definitely be useful in the classroom and at home for personal use. I will be using all of these tools to keep organized. The internet makes it SO easy to be organized so I might as well take advantage of it!

Thing #15

I am officially a wiki addict! I never really thought twice about wikis...all I knew was that wikipedia was banned from all college classes. I LOVE wikis. Have I gotten that point across yet? :)

Editing the apsu23things wiki was a piece of cake (literally...I posted a picture of cake.) It was so much easier than I thought it would be! Because of how easy it was to edit, I just know it would be so easy for elementary school students to figure out as well. (They are already more tech savvy than me, you know.) I can definitely see myself making a class project revolving around a wiki page. It would be a new and fun way to get students involved in learning. The more hands-on you can get, the better (especially with younger students).

I do think that you really need to be careful when using wikis though because of the fact that it is so easy to edit and change information around.

I will definitely be using wiki's in my classroom!

Thing #14

The first tool I played around with was Bubbl.us. I can definitely see this being a good classroom tool, especially for elementary school students. I can see myself asking my students to write a short story about something and using this tool to help write an outline. It would be fun and interactive and the students would also be learning something useful at the same time.

The next tool I tried out was Gliffy. I liked this site because there are different ways you can create a flowchart. There are different shapes you can use and you can increase the size to fit in the amount of information you need. I also thought the Venn Diagram tool was pretty neat as well. A lot of elementary school teachers use Venn Diagrams to help students compare and contrast different things.

Both of these different websites would come in handy as a teacher. I am very excited to play around with these sites and learn more about them so I can see where I can use them in my own college experience.

Thing # 13

Zoho Writer is a very neat tool to have at your disposal no matter what profession you choose. It is so neat to have something so similar to Microsoft Word that you can use on a computer that does not actually have Microsoft Office. The neatest part about Zoho Writer that I discovered was the option to post a document to your blog. I even tried to do this but I had some complications in the process (nothing to do with Zoho, just my weird computer!) Anyway, I thought that was a pretty neat tool because I plan on having a blog of some sort from now on so that will definitely come in handy I'm sure. :)

Now I mentioned Zoho Writer being like Microsoft Word...well Google Docs is like Microsoft Office plus some! With Google Docs you can type documents, create spreadsheets, make pictures, and so much more. This is another excellent tool for anyone to have access to because you can do so many different things with it. Plus, because it is also online, you can use it anywhere you have internet which is basically everywhere nowadays.

I am not sure which one of these tools I like best because I love them both. I like the blog option that Zoho offers but I also like the different options that Google Docs offers. Both tools are incredible and I can definitely see myself using them both in the very near future.

Thing #12

I have always known about Google because...well, it's Google. But honestly, I never really used it as a search engine. I always used Ask.com. After exploring the different things Google has to offer, I was extremely impressed to say the least. The first one I would like to talk about is iGoogle. I thought this site was really cool because you can add a bunch of different gadgets to your homepage and really customize it. I thought it was neat for some very practical reasons. First of all, I like that you can add the weather gadget for your town. I thought that was neat because nobody really thinks about how important it is for teachers to know the weather, especially in the winter months. I also liked that I could add my Google Calendar to my homepage. This is also the second site I checked out and really enjoyed. Since you can share the Google Calendar with people, I thought this would be a good way to put all of the homework assignments and test dates on a calendar so that students as well as parents can see the schedule at any time.

I also liked iGoogle because of the hamster gadget. I love hamsters. :)

Thing #11

I definitely enjoyed using Google Blog Search the best. It was the easiest to use and all I have to do was simply type in what I am looking for and *poof* there it is! Topix and Technorati both kind of scared me off. There was so much information to look at and it was a little intimidating. I did like how Topix already knew where I was located, though. That was pretty neat. I think that using these two websites would not be beneficial to me since I can just use Google, which is a site I am already completely comfortable with. I think if I learned more about Topix, it could definitely be useful because it is able to help me find blogs that are operated by people who live extremely close to me.

Thing #10

What I like about RSS is that you can keep up with the things that are important to you in one spot. It is easier to keep up with everything and it helps keep everything more organized.

This would come in handy in my personal life because I follow a lot of food blogs but I do not want to have to look through every blog everyday. Instead, I would be able to just look at my RSS feed and see if anything was posted that day that would interest me.

Teachers can use RSS when following different teacher's blogs. It would be a neat way to see other ideas but to keep them all organized be able to look at what you want to look at specifically instead of having to search through everything.

Thing #9

I chose to play around with Image Chef. I thought this was cool because you can customize a lot of things to make the picture completely yours. I can see myself using this because I am going to be an elementary school teacher and I can definitely see myself finding a way to use pictures such as my jersey on a bulletin board. Each child can have their name on a jersey and it could be used for things such as keeping up with AR points or something of that sort.

I also chose to mess around with the Happy Face Generator. I can definitely see myself using this for little notes around my classroom. This could even be used to pull up on the board with instructions for morning work or something like that. For personal use, I can see myself using these funny little signs on facebook.

Thing #8

Flickr and Flickr mashups could definitely be useful in the classroom and my own personal life. I think the puzzle piece pictures could be a cute way to decorate a bulletin board in a elementary school classroom. I also loved the idea of the Flickr Color Pickr. I plan on teaching little kids so that would definitely come in handy when teaching colors. It would be helpful to have different pictures of every color like that.

I can use Flikr mashups in my own personal life to just be more creative with pictures. I enjoy scrapbooking and I LOVE the idea of the puzzle piece pictures in a scrapbook. I am not always very creative so when I can find tools like this to help boost my creativity, I jump on them!

Thing #7

For thing #7, I uploaded this picture to my new Flickr account. I really love baking and these "ice cream cones" are actually cake pops. I made them for a birthday party over the summer and I was so thrilled with how they turned out because this was the first time I had ever made anything like this! I have made many more cake pops since but these will always be my favorite I think.

I chose this picture because this is what I love to do. If there is one thing you should know about me, it is that I have a serious passion for baking. I am always creating something new and I love it!

I can definitely see myself using Flickr in the classroom because I could easily share photos of the school day with parents. I think that would  be a neat experience and it would help parents feel even more involved with their child's education. The only other photo site I've used is Photobucket, and that was many years ago. Photobucket and Flickr are actually pretty similar as far as I'm concerned. The only thing is I never had much to do with tagging until I learned about it on Flickr. I have never had many concerns about having photos in a public place but of course, I've grown up in the Facebook era so I have never been too concerned with it.

Thing #6

While looking through the Web 2.0 Awards, I decided to use Amazon. I chose Amazon because I have a Kindle so I am a very big book nerd. The greatest thing about Amazon is that there are free books you can download to your Kindle, PC, or phone app. The site is extremely useful because it is so easy to use. You just search whatever book or item you are looking for and it pops right up on the screen.

I can definitely see Amazon being useful in a classroom or library setting. If you have computers or Kindles for the students, especially high school students, they can download and read books easily. Also, since most high schoolers read books in English like Great Expectations, The Scarlet Letter, and plays by Shakespeare, they could download and read these books for free. There are also a lot of books by lesser known authors that are also free as well.

Thing #5

The first site I looked at was Web 2.0: A Guide for Educators. I loved this site because it talked about how in the past decade, the internet has become such an important part of our lives. The internet can be used for virtually anything from running a business to using a social networking site to keep up with old friends. Teachers definitely need to take advantage of Web 2.0 and use it to give our students a more fulfilling educational experience. There are so many ways to integrate computers in the classroom and there is no reason not to use them.

The second site I looked at was Web 2.0 Is the Future of Education. This was a really neat site with a lot of different things to look at. I saw an article about how iPhones, iPads, and Macs are being used in the classroom and it really made me realize that in the near future, schools could very easily be entirely electronic. Everytime you turn around there are some new advances in technology that are changing the world as we know it. When I was in elementary school, we had one computer lab in the entire school. We used them to learn how to type correctly and that was about it. Nowadays some children go to school and already have facebook pages or cell phones. It is a different world out there and if teachers do not spend a lot of time learning to understand and use the internet, they are going to get left in the dust.

Thing #4

Commenting on blogs if you have a meaningful comment is always a good idea because it makes the blogger feel like somebody actually cares what he/she has to say. Another reason commenting is helpful is because if you comment on a blog about something that is important to you, changes are you are going to learn something useful or at least find some people who share a similar interest.

"You become part of the life of the blogger you are reading." I have experienced this before so this is definitely something I feel is worth mentioning. I bake like it is going out of style and in fact, I work at a bakery now. I followed the BrownEyedBakers blog religiously and I would wake up everyday excited to see what she was blogging about that day. When you read a blog regularly, you really do feel like a part of the blogger's life. It is a really neat feeling.

"If you have written about it, hyperlink to your post." I love this idea. Not only can you comment about the subject, but you can hyperlink to your own post and people can see your opinion on the topic and you also get more people looking at and hopefully following your blog.

The 7 blogs I have chosen to follow are:

1) Rhodes 23 Things
2) Abby Smith's '23 Things'
3) Carroll's Cavern
4) Stefanie Tate's 23 Things
5) T. Smith's 23 Things for Teachers
6) the teacher wife
7) My Little Cupcake POP Blog

This blog is partially a work in progress. I have yet to post a comment on all seven of these blogs.

Thing #3

I believe that using this blog in Education 3040 will really help me during my career as a teacher. I have found a lot of blogs recently revolving around teaching and classroom projects/classroom management. This blog will be helpful to me because it will allow me to get some of my ideas out in the open and help out other aspiring teachers like myself. Having a way to communicate, especially when you are a teacher, is extremely important and I really enjoy the way I am getting to communicate in this class. That is how I plan on using my blog!

Thing #2

My posting name is simply my first and middle name and since that is what a lot of people call me, I thought it would be a good posting name for my blog. My blog name is Burkhart's 23 things because it is straight forward and my creativity leaves something to be desired. Creating the blog was easy because I have had blogs before but they never really stuck. I am hoping this is a blog that I can keep up with since it will be helpful when I begin my career as a teacher. My avatar reflects my personality because it looks almost exactly like me, even down to the outfit and glasses. I chose to make an avatar that looks like myself because sometimes I think it would be strange to sign on to update my 23 things blog and see an avatar that does not look anything like me. :)

Thing #1

While reading through the list of 7 1/2 Habits of Lifelong Learning, I analyzed myself and decided that Habit #1, begin with the end in mind, is the one I struggle with the most. Whether it is homework, essays, cleaning, or even working out, I know what I want the end result to be but somewhere in the middle I lose focus and give up. For example, I can try to start working on a paper the day it is assigned in order to get it done early so I can relax and not worry about it. However, this never happens for me. I always get sidetracked by something that is happening that I would rather be doing than working on that paper. I really need to get better at keeping my focus on the end goal until I finish whatever it is I have started. Habit #6 is the one that comes most easily to me. I am very good at using technology to my advantage. I spend a good part of my day either on my laptop, a school computer, my smartphone, or my kindle. A lot of people think that technology is ruining the world because everyone is so obsessed with it, but I think if you use technology correctly it can definitely help you a lot. Most classrooms nowadays are technology oriented, our Education 3040 class, for example. I am extremely knowledgable about technology so I am hoping that this will help me in my career as an educator because I feel like I will continually grow along with the new and emerging technology. While using Learning 2.0 this semester, I hope to learn how to better use technology specifically for my career purposes. I had a pretty easy time setting up my blog because I have had different blogs before so for me it was pretty straight forward.