Is it the end or only the beginning? - Summary

It is just the beginning for me! I am sad that I have completed all 23 Things. I have been pushing myself to make sure that I completed all 23 Things before the end date. (We have Freshman orientation coming up this week and I was getting nervous!). There is still so much to explore and do. I have a list of things that I am going back to look at again or to work on and my list keep growing.

I have enjoyed each of the discoveries and exercises. I don't really have a favorite. If I had to rank or prioritize the Things, the productivity tools would rank #1 followed by pictures/images. I found value to me personally and professionally in each Thing. Some of things I knew of or about but others I knew nothing. I needed the structure to go in and actually do. I feel even stronger about my knowledge about the web and I feel I can apply this to my classroom and my personal life as well.

For 9 years I have been working on areas I need to develop to be selected as an ETF with this district. This program is going to help me become what I want to be. The easiest habit I said in Thing #1 for me was using technlogy to my advantage, I now know that I haven't been using effectively what is out there for me. I am going to be better than before. The hardest habit for me was to play. I have definitely played thanks to the structure of this program and I have planned to go back and play some more.

I guess the biggest surprise is how easy many of these Things are to do and how beneficial they can be to today's students. To set up a wiki or a blog was very easy. An unexpected outcome was I wondered how to keep up with everything I was very overwhelmed by this until I learned about readers. I don't have to go check in everywhere, I just check my reader and see what is new. I loved reading everyone's blogs. It gave me some additional ideas and I love sharing.

The only improvement would be in what is wanted in our blogs as we reflect on our discovery. It seemed we were seeing the same applications of the discoveries over and over again.

If there was another discovery program would I participate??? That is a definite, YES! I appreciate the time it takes to put this together. If I had to go out and do this on my own I would not know where to begin and I would probably not learn anything. I liked that the information and options were brought together and have been looked at by someone known. This helps weed out the unnecessary and weak stuff. I like the discovery lesson where I have to "do it". I also loved being able to do this on my own time at home as well. Other reasons I why I would participate in another discovery program are: it was easy, fun, informative, and valuable. The most important reason why I would participate in another orogram is I want to learn more!

Now that I have the knowledge, I hope to have a class wiki and blog set up for my students and parent. I want to also set up for students to access photos. I think this is a good place to start and then I will go back and revisit and build after these are established.

In my reader I have subscribed to a couple of feeds on developments in web 2.0. I have my reader on my homepage so everytime I get on the computer I can see new posting and easily learn new things.

Thing #23 - Creative Commons

On the side bar is where you find where the Credit is given for the 23 Things blog. This is what it say:

Learning 2.0 is a discovery learning program created by Helene Blowers and adapted by the California School Library Association and others. Content and style for Learning 2.0 - 23 Things has been borrowed and duplicated with permission, under a Creative Commons License.

This area is an area that should always be checked with our resident expert, the librarian. We just always need to remember to give credit where credit is due. No one likes someone to get the credit or the reward for what hard work we have put in. As a teacher we must teach our students to do this.

Thing #22 - Podcasts: no iPod needed!

I didn't find a podcast that I want personally to subscribe and listen to as I am a visual-kinesthetic learner and anything just auditory doesn't work well with me. The podcast that I listened to and subscribed to was Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing Podcast. I thought this might be useful to the auditory learners in my class and would be something I would put on my class wiki. I actually found this podcast on Learn Out Loud and Podcastalley. Learn out Loud was the easiest directory to use and you got more information initially without having to click on the name. Making my own or class podcast might be in my future but being visual, I am just not that thrilled about it yet.

Thing #21 - Animoto

This was a very simple and fun Thing to complete! It was easy to do with the step by step directions given. I can see my student having a great time using Animoto for an introduction or closing to a presentation! I haven't done much with music on my computer and that will be something else I need to do

Thing #20 - You too can YouTube

This video is actually of my daughter and her 2 fellow officers at officer camp in June 2007. That is why I chose it! The one thing most frustrating was finding it. I knew it was there but finding it took some work! I am signing up so I can keep this and a couple others I found in my favorites to go back too when I want to. The secret is when you find a video you like check out what else that person has in their favorites. That is how I found the specific one I wanted.

Definitely I can see how these can be used at school. It just takes time to locate the video that is worthwhile and connects with the lesson you need. That is where having an account to save will come in handy.

Thing #19 - Beyond MySpace: other social networks

I joined MISD 23 Things on the Ning network. It was very easy to do! I set up my page, put my Avatar as my picture and commented why, added a badge to my blog and uploaded pictures!

I just glanced at some of the other networks - but at this point I don't want to get anymore involved than what I am! I want to work on my Facebook and MySpace and see where that goes and I will continue to check in on the 23Thingsters to see what is going on there. My best friend had invited me to be a friend on Tagged.com and I need to check that out some more as well. I haven't done a thing but sign up. Is there anything on the Web 2.0 that adds time onto the day?!?!? Because I definitely don't have enough hours to do all that I want to do! :)

The crafts community, baking community and school community may be some of the ones to check out later. I thought about maybe doing one for all of the CTECs and facilitators for the district. It might be a great way for us to keep in touch with each other.

Thing #18 - Explore social networking

I was planning in setting up accounts to both MySpace and Facebook even before this course. It was purely selfish motives! My daughter will be leaving for college in a couple of weeks and I thought this would be an easy way to stay in touch with her and her friends as they move on in life. This was importatant to me because this is one of the first things she checks on the computer. As a teacher we need to know about these sites because it is probably the first thing our students do as well when they get home. I haven't learned anything new about these sites and I probably will learn more as I continue to participate in them. The only difference I have seen so far is MySpace has all of the splash and glitter and Facebook is more "business". School applications??? - I haven't seen any so far.
Here is by MySpace. I am working on Facebook but have run into some glitches when trying to confirm my account. I haven't given up yet! Got my Facebook page working! Persistence!

Thing #17 - Tagging and Social Bookmarking with Del.icio.us

I have been seeing del.icio.us more and more and was curious about it. This form of social bookmarking puts a whole new twist on searching. The way I see this is a lot of people rely on a recommendation from a friend, coworker, or a critic on TV or some other media before they go get a book to read, go to a movie, or buy something new. We want other peoples opinions to weigh into our decisions we make. Social bookmarking puts that recommendation there for people as they search the web. As you search you can see what has been tagged by others. If it has been tagged by many, most likely it is a site that has "value" to it. In other words it is a site that isn't a waste. It sets a trail of breadcrumbs to follow as you look for information that a regular search engine can't do. I think social bookmarking can be a valuable tool in searching for information. I think it can help eliminate a lot of time spent at sites that aren't necessarily needed. As a teacher this would be a wonderful tool to help student research information. If I set up and tag sites that have the necessary information the student need, there is less of a chance for them to get off track in the computer lab by going to a site that they don't need.
Personally I think this could be a big help in being able to access your bookmarks anywhere. There have been days when I found something at home the night before, bookmarked it and then needed it at school the next day.

Thing #16 - Getting Organized with Web 2.0 Tools

I had already created a start page with iGoogle in Thing # 13 so I checked out PageFlakes and Netvibes just to see if anything was better. I am keeping my iGoogle start page! I love what I set up, I feel it have more choices and options than anything else and it is very easy to integrate other things I am using from Learning 2.0. It excites me and it is my permanent homepage.

I had also created a Google calendar and I will continue to use it for personal use, school, and dance. I tried Ta-Da List but there was an error so I tried Remember the Milk. It has a couple of things I like for example if I have something I think of that I need to do I can put it on the list and email a reminder to my home email or school email. It only works though with people who have a Remember the Milk account. I also like that I was able to set up for reminder to be sent to my cell phone as well. I am not too sure about this one and I plan on going back and checking out Ta-Da list to see if that one I like better. So I am still investigating.

I was checking into the sticky note options and I am still not sure on that either. In my opinion and the way I would use it would almost be the same as a to do list. I am contemplating checking out the sticky notes you download but I am just not sure yet.

Of course there are tons of personal uses that would help me keep my life organized. I am always looking for the simplest way to do that. Google calendar will be a big help. I am still going to work on getting it to sync with my phone. There were several tools on the list for students and educators that will need a much more in depth look and I would rather check those out at school so I can see what will be blocked by the filters. Several of us have mentioned concerns over how Google is blocked through the district filters. Will the policy of blocking Google be reconsidered by the district? Maybe so if more and more teacher take this course and learn the infinite possibilities of uses for our classrooms.

Thing #15 - What in the world is a wiki?

A wiki in my opinion is an interactive webpage. It was very easy to add information and change my information that was there. I liked viewing the wiki pages that were set up for classes. Although these pages were for high school, I can see how this might work for 6th graders. I often have parents tell me they can't help their child because they have forgotten the information or they weren't good at it themselves. And of course the students never take their textbooks home. I am planning on coming back and trying the challenge of creating my own wiki for my class when I have completed the rest of the Things. I am panicking on time at this point! I also want to take my time to think about what I want and set it up right where it will be useful for my students and parents. Another plus of a class wiki is that students who are absent aren't really if they use the class wiki to see what they missed that day. A class wiki will lend itself to more independent and individualized learning. Students who need review can review notes and visit links that could help them. Those who need more can have that too. I liked on the class wikis how they also link to the class blog. A wiki is going to be a great way to bring many of the pieces from Learning 2.0 together so they can be easily accessed and used.

Thing #14 - Go With the Flow

I first tried Gliffy to make a flow chart as seen above. This was very easy to use. My only concern with this online application is you are limited to 5 public document through the Gliffy Basic which is free. You can make private documents as well.

I then tried Flowchart (click to see chart - Flowchart). Now this online application does flowcharts as well as mindmaps. It has many choices in clipart to use which gives this a plus but I felt this was much more difficult to use.

Mindmeister I am not happy with. I got in and started a mind map but all it will allow me to do is put in the initial piece and it won't let me add. Trying to change colors to the font was also something difficult.

Bubbl.us I am having difficulty getting in. I have the flash player but it still won't let me in.

I don't really think that I would use any of these online flow charts and mind maps as we have Kidspiration and Inspiration on our computers in elementary and our students are used to using these programs. I feel it would waste time in the little that we have to go and teach them how to use similar online applications. I can see how middle and high school could use these online charts a lot. I even think that student who are working on a group project can share the mindmap and work out their project without even having to get together. Of course our school uses Thinking Maps and these applications can easily be used for students to create any Thinking Map for any given lesson.

Thing #13 - Web-Based Applications

In my exploration of Zoho Writer, I couldn't find anything that I don't have in a Word or Appleworks document. I like the fact that you don't have to learn how to do something new, you use Zoho just like any other word application. There is a definite plus in creating document through a web based application. I know I have run into version problems between school and home as well as between my daughter's new laptop and my computer, this problem will be corrected when using a web based application. It is easy to import a document you have previously created and saved on your computer. So anything I have done I can import and then access from school. I don't necessarily have to save to my jump drive any longer. What I see as most beneficial is the ability to inline comment. As an English/Writing teacher this would work great when we peer edit or I grade a piece of writing. The only thing that I feel is not great is the limited number of fonts and sizes for what I need on a personal level but that is a great thing when students are limited. They won't waste time playing with the many different fonts.

I posted this blog through the publisher and then came in to edit it because I forgot to mention that it was written and published through Zoho. I also had another thought this is just like shopping for clothes not every piece of clothing out there will fit or look right on each person, you have to try on a lot to see what fits and looks right on you. With so many options available in Web 2.0 (Zoho and GoogleDocs, Flickr, Snapfish,Picassa, etc) part of Learning 2.0 is to explore all of these options and choose the one that is the best fit for you!

Thing #12 - Google's Not Just For Searching Anymore

WOW - AGAIN! I am pretty adept at technology and I have a My Yahoo! page that I use. I use the calendar that I sync with my cell phone calendar. I am much more impressed with how easy it is to use Google Calendar. I liked the ability to set up separate calendars for separate aspects of my life choosing either public or private. I like having the place for comments for responses. I think this will be useful as I set up a calendar for school and will share this with my parents. As I also take care of the school's website, I am going to check in to using this as the website calendar instead of building one in the website. This is just another means of keeping parents informed on projects and other special events coming up! I've tried to link to the calendar but seem to have problems and the HTML cannot be accepted. Maybe after a break I can figure it out. I may even set up a class calendar. I can put daily assignments (even though they are to keep an assignment book). I added the Cowboys schedule as my room will be Cowboys this year. There were some other public calendars to go back to look at that might be useful in the classroom as well. I am probably going to switch the calendars I personally use as well! I have gone back and forth with my Yahoo calendar as I worked with the Google calendar comparing features. Google by far has many more pluses than Yahoo!



I have a customize My Yahoo! home page that I use at home but the iGoogle page is much better! You have many more options for customizing and adding themes. I spent a long time going through the themes, they have a lot! They have many gadgets to add to your home page. I really like being able to put my calendar, reader and notebook all on the same page for easy access. With the busy schedules we have this is going to be so helpful. I added a couple of other gadgets like sticky notes and weather. I will keep playing and see what gadget I want to keep and what to delete.



I did go and set a Google notebook up as well. This has incredible potential. Often when I research I copy and paste in a word document to use. This will be much faster and more efficient. I started a notebook that I called Learning 2.0. I put in the first idea that I wrote in a notebook that I had started (another wish I knew this before). I plan on using this to add thoughts, idea, etc as I continue this journey. Here is the notebook I set up - Learning 2.0 Notebook.

Thing #11 - Finding Good Feeds

First - definitely overwhelming!!! There was way to much information out there. It might have been easier if there was something specific I was looking for but at this time I don't have anything specific to look for. I am just exploring. Secondly - definitely an ongoing process. There is a lot of learning in the best way to search. Syndic8 and Google Blog search were the easiest right away for me. Technorati came with time and practice. Feedster never loaded. Topix was just there for me.

I was stuck on what to look for so I read fellow Thingsters blogs and got some ideas. I went and found a word of the day feed that I want to use in class. As I said this is ongoing - some I checked into for personal use were outdated and no longer current. I have bookmarked the search tools so when I have something specific to look for I am ready to go. I think what might work best for me in the long run and with limited time is what one of my fellow learners is doing (I wish I could remember who you are) they are checking for additional feeds on the websites they currently view.

Thing #10 - Set up a RSS reader and add feeds

I choose to set up my RSS reader with Google Reader for no real reason other than to get started. Both Google Reader and Bloglines seemed to work easily for setting up and adding feeds. Maybe later when I have more time I will actually set up in Bloglines as well and test them side by side. My first thought was this should not be Thing #10, it should be Thing #5! It would have made things so much simpler for me. I have spent a lot of time going to each "Thingster's" blog to see what they have discovered and learned on the Thing I just completed myself. Had I had everything set up in Google Reader, I would know if there was a new posting or not and if it was on the same thing as I was on. Instead I spent lots of time going to blogs that were way ahead of me or behind me. I love this ability to have what is new brought to me! I don't have time to go out there looking at everything each day. When I have time to get on the computer (during school) it is in little pieces of time during the day or late at night.

Personally - as I add more places I visit and set up a family blog I will know quickly and simply what is new without having to log in to a bunch of different places. As I try to get my business going I will set up a blog my reader will keep me on top of things.
Professionally - it will keep me in touch with current information in education and technology as I find and add needed feeds. As I add a blog for parent and for teacher at my school it will help me stay on top of everything.

My only concern is with the school filters - Google is blocked and having to override is a pain!

Thing #9 - Online Image Generator

Here is a new sign to hang on the door on those testing days! This was made with SignGenerator. This site may be only good for teacher use because there were some questionable pictures and will be blocked by school filters.

I got started and couldn't quit! I think the students would have tons of fun creating things with image generators and I would definitely approach it with the let them play first approach. They have to since there is too much out there! Since I teach 6th graders definite guidelines would have to be set for using these image generators appropriately as well. I can see them using generators to create posters to advertise events (PTA, PlayDay, etc) or as I created a motivational poster for TAKS. They would definitely use generators to add humor to their writing. I am sure as I keep playing I will come up with more ideas for student usage. The motivational poster I created I plan on using for the dance studio I also work at. It will also make for easier scrapbooking that I haven't worked on for the past 4 years.

The image generator I used was ImageChef it was very easy to use. http://www.imagechef.com/

Thing #8 - Flickr Mashup - Captain Mosaic

Captain Mosaic, originally uploaded by K-C's Pics.

It takes practice but it is so much fun! It also makes me wish that I was a better photographer! I can defintely use this personally! I had so much fun showing off my pride and joy! I noted several other mashups that could really be used in class. There was one about movie posters. I wish I knew this last year! Our school theme was about the movies. I can see the student using the magazine cover mash-up for the cover of any research they might do. We might even write our own magazine next year! Right now I am going back and explore some more!!!

Thing #7 - Explore Flickr

Flickr is an amazing. It is frustrating as well. As I feel I am computer literate and I felt like I explored enough of Flickr, I know I have barely scratched the surface as I ran into a few problems that took some time to work my way out of! It is actually an answer to a project I have this summer. I had planned to back up and organize all the pictures I have taken over the last 4 years. Since I have a recent graduate I don't want to loose any of those memories. So definitely has a personal use!! I think this project will give me the extra practice that I need. As for school use -- I can see having my students take random pictures and upload to a class set. From there they can download pictures to use in practically any type of writing.

Many of my family members use the Koday Gallery to share pictures since we all live at a great distance from each other but that is all that I have done is use it to upload pictures I wanted to share. I haven't stored any there even though I could. I think Flickr is a lot easier to use and I plan to explore even deeper when I have time.

Listing my pictures as public - I am not comfortable with! I don't think I will post any more pictures as public. Most of my pictures are personal and aren't needed for public display. Now I don't mind sharing with family and friends and I have no problem with posting pictures as public when it is a "generic" picture like the one I am uploading here.

Thing #6 - Discovering Web 2.0 Tools

In this exercise can I say I had difficulty from the first! Pick a site to explore - right I didn't even know where to begin!! So I did a quick view in each of the category that I was interested in. Problem 2 - several things were interesting! In the education category I chose .docstoc to explore. This is a place where people can store documents that they want to share with others. There is a section for education and then you choose the level you want. Some are documents and others are powerpoints. I thought this was a great idea because we are busy enough, why should we reinvent the wheel everyday. It was easy to move through the site and easy to download. I felt teachers can use this site to find resource to use in school. Students can use this site to find information for a project they are working on.

Thing #5 - Web 2.0 and School 2.0

In education for too many years to count now, the push has been for a shift in the classroom from the teacher teaching and the students reflecting the teaching as stated in More on School 2.0 to where learning is student driven. Well that is what has happening to the internet. The shift has been made from just going to the internet to get information (Web 1.0) to going to the web (Web 2.0) and being invited to become active participants in learning and perpetuating learning. So as a classroom teacher we need to utilize this powerful tool. Life is not stagnant, it is continuing to grow and change. I do not see a regression in the use of technology ever coming and for our students the necessary use of technology and the internet is their future. We ourselves as educators have to acquire new knowledge and skills on a continuous basis to keep up and to prepare for the future. It is the future.
I think after completing Thing #5 I finally have down how to approach learning and how this will work best for me. I complete the lesson and my posting and then I read everyone else's posting on the same thing as I just completed. Isn't this what School 2.0 is all about, exploring and learning the way that works best for you?!

Thing #4 - Commenting is important

My first approach as everyone is getting involved in participating in 23 Things is to first read what others have commented on for the next thing I am working on. I think approaching it this way gives me some background knowledge before learning. The process of blogging and commenting puts you out there. I am more of a watcher that one who "wears their heart on a sleeve" about everything. I only get on my "soapbox" when there is something I am very passionate about. Posting and commenting allow me to be who I am. Blogging in my opinion is a safer way to express your thought and opinions as is it not a face to face and will give people the opportunity to develop skills in expressing their thought and opinions. Msmusicteacher (MMS Notes) really made me think twice about blogging and commenting and I commented on this posting. Do I really want someone to comment? Do I really want to be noticed? That is a scary thought at first but then how do I not get better if I don't get feedback from others. People who are reading my postings are doing so because they are interested in the same thing I am and want to learn something new just as I do. So far there are some ideas I haven't thought of that I have learned from other postings. (Comments to come). This is how posting and commenting create a community.
In the blog How to Comment like a king (or queen) 2 points I felt were very powerful and important. The first one was #6 - teach commenting. If we are going to use this with our students this is one of the first skills we need to teach, model, and practice before letting students loose. #7 - Remember the power of words is also very important. We have all said the old saying -"sticks and stone may break my bones but words will never hurt me" and we all know how untrue that is! If we use blogging and commenting with our students we need to teach them how to properly comment and choose words that build and not hurt.
Although I read all of the suggested blogs about commenting and they all had important advice. I felt that this one statement in Edublogger Etiquette - Responding to Comments - "Are you listening to the voice of your readers or do they really have no voice?" was so powerful. We always have to make sure as teachers that we listen to our students. When we post something we need to "listen" to the comments posted this will help us grow as well and validate and help the person who posted the comment grow.

I posted a comment on 23 Things because I totally agree. When do we not use technology??? With cell phones, dvr, email, microwaves. I can't think of a day when we don't use it.
Wendy's Wanderings - the post on Thing 5 is so true we do need a balance between what these kids can do and help them learn to transfer to the classroom.
mathteachermrscpb had a suggestion of using the generator to create comics to help with SAT words. That was such a great idea that I have started a notebook to write down these ideas so I don't forget.
Additional comments on blogs to come!

Thing #3 - Register your blog

I haven't gotten very far as of yet but I will get on track now! I have 2 ideas for using blogs. The first is to set up a blog for our 6th grade parents to them informed of what is going on at school since most of the notes sent home don't get home! This won't be 100% full-proof as many of my parents don't have internet access but it will help those that do! Information I would post in the blog could include due dates of projects, fundraisers, upcoming events - for example pictures, awards, homework assignment, etc The other idea I have is to set up a student blog. Since I teach English/writing, the creation of blog would aide in writing skills whether they have their own or I post samples of their writing and have the student comment on the writing piece.

Thing #2 - Creating a Blog and Avatar

Creating the blog was very simple for me! I am good at following directions and love working on the computer. I want to come back and look at editing the layout and see what else I can do with it! Choosing my blog name and posting name took a little thought to work it out so it was smooth for me. I chose the names as they are to keep me focused on my goals. The avatar wasn't difficult to create either. I created my avatar to match my posting name. She is what I "wannabe" so maybe she will get me working on looking that way. She does have touches of the real me as well, I like to keep it simple.

Thing #1 - Lifelong Learning

It was very interesting seeing successful learning broken down into 7 1/2 definable habits. I know these and I use them somewhat so it was helpful to have them reinforced. One of the hardest things for me was to choose the easiest habit because with each of these habits I have a weakness! In the end the easiest habit for me is Habit 6: Use technology to my advantage - I do anything to make things easier, more perfect and interesting. The hardest one for me is Habit 7 1/2: Play. I have a hard time letting go and not staying driven!