The Course in Summary

First and foremost, I thank the facilitators for the opportunity to explore and learn about these 23 things in a safe, self-paced environment. I felt like the expectations from myself would be higher because of my job description but that is the entire reason I took the class! I don't claim to know everything and there is no possible way I can know it all. They best thing I can do is to learn more! That is just what this course did for me. Having the RSS feeds I chose in my reader will help with keeping me educated on the latest and greatest. It seems by the time I hear about something new at a conference, other districts have tested, implemented, and required it of their teachers!

There are so many ways for me to continue this learning process. The number one "thing" I am excited about is being able to go back and review any of this online information at any time! What a gift from web 2.0! During this last month, I lost a very close friend. From the second week of class until Sunday (when we held her final memorial), I have been an emotional roller coaster. The time I worked on this course was a good distraction, but my time was limited. So, I didn't continue with the stretch activities in an effort to complete the course by the required date. I love exploring on the web. It's what I do! This class is here as a powerful reference for me to do just that!

Thank you again for the wonderful opportunity and the great experience I had with this class! Have a great rest of the summer folks!

Drumroll, Please. Thing 23

The Ning Network sounds like some sort of television station! I started a Ning two years ago before I really knew what a Ning was supposed to do! It is called IWANNAPLAYCOMPUTERS and I wanted everyone to join and give some great gift ideas USING technology. I am always creating books, calendars, movies, etc. for gifts and I wanted to know what others did. It never took off, though. As life goes, we got too busy to ever really pursue anything with my Ning! Back in February, we went to TCEA and our department had a Ning about the conference. This was the greatest use of a Ning for our department and a FREE resource we were able to share with one another. I really felt like I experienced the conference so much more because of the others sharing their thoughts with the world! Imagine how this could work in a classroom all year. The students would have a social outlet to use that is user friendly, and safe as it is monitored by the facilitator.

The Classroom 2.0 Ning has an incredible amount of information and resources. One thing I liked is the Visual Vocab app I found posted on the Ning. Since we are all fairly new at integrating iPods/touhes/Pads, etc., we need to see these new resources! There were also a ton of ideas to use with the kids in the classroom.

When I first found the Ning, I just thought it was like creating a web site, but have since discovered it is SOCIAL NETWORKING. It is an interactive site with friends, co workers, family, etc. It has so many uses and I hope we will be able to use it for free, or very cheap, in education!

Thing 22

Since social is my middle name, I decided to focus on the networking part of this thing! I already have accounts set up for My Space and Facebook. The cool thing about that, however, is that for the first time in my 23 things coursework, I was able to check these accounts without feeling like I was off task! Yipee! Social networking is one of the most incredible inventions of our times! We truly are separated by only six degrees. Networking has long been a way to get jobs, make connections, and change our lives! That is what these sites are doing for our society. Understanding how these work can help us understand the needs of our kids better. If we know what interests them, we can create lessons that "speak their language".

I use my site primarily for social networking with friends. I am not on these sites to meet new people or use the site to learn much. This has changed throughout my exploration of the sites! In the instructions of the lesson, we are told to add authors, schools, etc. A couple of years ago, while reading Wes Fryer's Blog, I was sold on this idea. Yet again, I didn't make the time so here I am rediscovering. Wes Fryer give examples of students setting up Skype interviews based on the usage of Facebook to track down authors, inventors, and others that can assist in educating students! It is an amazing way to connect and bring real people into the classroom where you never before would have had the opportunity!

I am biased to using Facebook as it's features are more simplistic and do not require an artistic or creative eye to develop! MySpace takes much longer to load pages and everyone has to be friends with the stranger named Tom. I like to add only those I know (LOL).

Integrating education in the use of these sites could impact our schools. First of all, they are FREE tools. All we need is Internet!It was once told to me that Japan utilizes these free resources for their students. I don't know the validity of that comment, but I have seen smaller school districts with less money implement more free materials with great success. Creating profiles of book characters is one of my all time favorite ideas! Questions could be posted and comments easily left starting incredible discussion groups. Students can utilize a MySpace page to upload all types of media created in the classroom. What better venue to access than his/her own space? Check out my spaces and places!

DeAnna's Facebook
DeAnna's MySpace

Thing 7b

I discovered online Art! I must have been last in line when God passed out art skills. When our abilities are limited, we tend to shy away from certain areas. I have always sensed a lacking in that area for myself. It was confirmed my first year of teaching when I tried to draw a ghost. One of the students yelled out, "that's not a ghost, that's a sheet". Yes, I drew a sheet ghost. You know what I'm talking about. My insecurities have carried over into my current position. I am not approached by many art teachers to assist with technology nor do I have any ideas. So when I scrolled over this blog, I was intrigued. There are 10 sites that allow you to implement art on the web in different ways!

The Art Pad records the picture to create a lapse time effect! I have always seen this on TV or videos and wanted to be able to do it! This is amazing!

Another site, Doink is fun. You can create flash style animations. We have a few drawing tools already on the images on the computers throughout the district, but there is so much more I need to learn to truly assist our art teachers with technology integration. At least there is always Promethean!

Thing 21

So I am blown away! I had no idea there was such a thing called Google Books! Wow! How awesome. There were several things I shared about on my laswt post that fell under this post section so I will avoid duplication by discovering the new tools I've never used.

Google Books. Enough said. There are several books out of copyright I could access at my fingertips! I think this could be a great tool for students. There is just something about reading online that motivates students more and more! This can be useful for students to critically evaluate books before going to the library. Often times, I have heard teachers ask about how to hold the student accountable for his/her learning. Choosing our own reading material is one of the BEST ways to do this!

Another new tool I discovered is Google Alerts. This reminds me of an RSS feed, but better. There recently was a current event in the news I was trying to follow. I went back every day to see if anything new was posted. I created an alert to get updates! This will be so nice to feel like I am not chasing the wind! Current events are so important to discuss in lots of classrooms-this tool will allow the students to become a part of the world and follow something all the way through!

I used Picasa this past year for the first time and fell in love. Here a couple of collages I made!

Thing 20

Our department began using Google Docs and it has made such an impact on our organizational skills, collaboration abilities, and has changes the way we gather data and provide information to campuses. For our bi-monthly meetings, we build a team agenda. When we need to gather inventory items, serial numbers, etc., we create forms. As a department, we track numbers of teachers and students that are trained throughout the year to be sure we keep our jobs! We are also able to break this information down by types of staff development such as how it was delivered and whether or not it is interactive, etc. We do this by simply filling in a form! It is magnificent!

This past year, MISD has set up a Mesquite account with google which allows the collaboration of an organization. All of our information has been loaded into Google to allow for easy sharing. The greatest thing about this is that we have included special accounts for all of our secondary students! This is making a huge impact on our district, teachers, and students! This past year, a middle school teacher had her students create Google sites and work an entire six week project online. The students poured their hearts into this project. They collaborated with one another, critiqued each other's sites, and provoked others to Think throughout the project. The kids were working at all hours on their projects because they could do it from home! This one step into Web 2.0 caused our department to create a position for a facilitator to work strictly with Google Apps.

This tool can be used in so many different ways. Among teachers, newsletters can be a snap! Each teacher can add any information they want to produce each week and it can be created online! Using the spreadsheets, lesson plans are a snap! Each week, our team would meet, write in pencil, send someone off to type up the plans, and we would do it again the nest week. With Google Docs, this step is eliminated. We simply type in our assigned subject and the plans are done!

For students, using presentations can be more collaborative. The students can add their own individual page to the presentation and it can be built by the entire class! MISD is so new at all of this, but so excited. I can't wait to get everyone trained on the newest capabilities.

I have to say one more thing. The Google Calendars are amazing. My family and I have a shared calendar that we put all of our baseball, soccer, and football game times on! This calendar has kept me from failing to let someone know a date or time! My friends and I are always trying to schedule time together, but we are all busy. We created a friend calendar to share with each other to send out invites for girl time!

As administrators, these tools can make our life so much easier if we learn it and let it! The classroom will follow the lead of the campus! Just think, the entire Calendar of what we will do throughout the year online, interactive, etc. There is so much to look forward to!

Thing 19

There are so many different tools out there on the web, that I have learned to just type in my generic username and password and sometimes, it just lets me in! Apparently I have set up an account for voice thread in the past. I love this tool. It is actually something I wanted to use more my first year as a facilitator, but as I was learning so much, I had forgotten about it! I am so excited to "rediscover" this tool.

This is a great tool for collaboration within our district. Teachers on different campuses studying the same topics can begin a voice thread and gather different perspectives from other schools. I think we tend to think more globally (as if that is a better way to collaborate), than locally. It is so much fun to use these tools and starting with what we know is usually the easiest. When we don't know where to begin, we don't begin at all! Many teachers know teachers on other campuses and this can jump start the usage of these tools.

So, voice thread is a great site to upload images, share ideas, thoughts, and provoke questions. There are several ways to share these thoughts-webcams, telephone, or microphones! The interface is extremely easy. The free account won't let you upload much, but I will check into creating an educator account for the future! How exciting!

Thing 18

I tell everyone in most of my classes you can learn how to do anything on the Internet. Two years ago, my headlight went out. I was in Rockwall at basketball practice with my kids and it was dark. I called to find the headlight at the local merchant and proceeded to look up the "how to" video on YouTube using my iPhone. I watched it, got out of the car, and changed my headlight for $7.00. Now, I have no idea what they would have charged me to do it elsewhere, but as a single mom, every penny counts. That is when I discovered the power of the site! It is amazing what we can learn. Since then, I have learned how to make better bows at Christmas, create jewelry, and string my weed eater!

The power of the site in the classroom is incredible! Our students can learn so many things. There are all sorts of lessons they have access to immediately. There are also different genres available to them. The topic I chose to look into as a facilitator relates to motivating teachers to become more technology savvy. These clips are great to use as powerful tools and emotionally stir us!

I also found videos that give great screen casts and overviews of different software programs we train our teachers to use. Comic Life and Inspiration were two I found. These are great openers in trainings and resources our teachers can utilize from anywhere. These introductions can be for students as well. Often times, I have seen high school students watch the overview of a program and figure it out in one 45 minute session! It's amazing!

The most important thing for kids is to share their work. You Tube is also a great place to post their own videos. One thing I know the students love to do is share their work with the world. Thanks You Tube!

Thing 17

Podcasting=fun. My kids and I made our first podcast a couple of years ago. I couldn't believe how simple it was! I remember being so intimidated by the word and the software. I try to remember those thoughts and feelings when I teach the class! There are so many podcasts available. The biggest problem I see for educators is filtering the good from the bad. Although the quantity is there, the quality is not.

One of the podcasts I want to share about is one that I had subscribed to back on the google reader when we first added items to our feeders. It is called GeekSpeak. The first thing that was said is that we are welcome to use the podcast as long as we cite it! Thank you for giving us rights to use it! It's very Geeky as the name says, but has several podcasts about science and adding solar panels to the moon. The ideas they are expressing could be great story starters in the classroom and make GREAT conversation starters for first dates!

Another Podcast I chose to listen to was dansmathcast. His shows were fun and goofy. He included his reader by answering e-mails, ends with a joke, and gets through the content on the chapter he is covering. If you happen to be teaching this particular skill, it might make for a great site, but I was looking for something a little more exciting, I guess. It does serve it's purpose!

I remember when a friend of mine bought an iPod. Oh my. I just thought they were over priced walkmans. Ha! As a single mom, I could not fathom spending that much mone on one item! Now, I can't imagine life without them. I work in Children's ministry at church every week and download our services every week. I need my iTunes account desperately and use it every week!

Kids love using podcasting in the classroom. They amaze me with the cool stuff they come up with. They have a unique ability to be shown one time how to utilize the software, and are able to find every new trick in the latest update. I have used Podcasting in classrooms for reader's theatre, book reviews, telling research facts about particular topics, and even UPSL for math! I believe in it so much, I train teachers to use it in Staff Development!

Thing 16

What will they think of next? This thing takes me back to the Dewey decimal system! The links go on and on as you explore each page. I have to say that as I enjoy the ease and comfort of having all of the information of the world at my fingertips, the first glance intimidates me. There are so many sections on each page. Dewey is just what we know and expect. Library thing is what we need and desire. As a matter of fact, I desired it so much, I got an account. I am feeling like I am a part of so many different things these days with all of my accounts. Having this resource in the classroom could be an incredible way to keep up with your classroom books. When I left the classroom, I had a HUGE library of books in the classroom. They were categorized by level, color-coded with dots to identify the levels, and placed into specific organizational tubs. Gone would be those days! How wonderful the kids could treat their classroom as a personal library efficiently and find what they need! Another thought I have about utilizing this feature is that it would be amazing to see the kids setting up the library online! We as teachers already have so much to do and this would give them a sense of ownership of the classroom. They would be able to feel like the community of learners includes everyone!

Thing 15

When I first discovered delicious a while back, I thought is was the most incredible idea! Someone at the Container Store had to have invented it! My reputation regarding my organizational skills is not something to brag about! I thought I had found an answer to my bookmark problem from all of the different computers I used. I set up the account. I imported the bookmarks from the computer I set it up on, and never did another "thing" with it, until Thing 15! I thought I would be able to start developing a library of resources that were never-ending, but I ended before I began. Initially, I did not place tags on any of the bookmarks. I believed just having them all in one place was enough for me. After reading and exploring during this course, I am excited about the resources I can grab from others! I am always looking for ways to get things from others that is simple and direct!

I am almost embarrassed our department has not utilized this resource for our community of learners in the world of technology. We each have our own account, but this will be a great goal for our own "CIP" in the fall. As we find sites that assist teachers, we are always looking to share them with each other. This will make a great resource if we truly utilize it!

Thing 7a

I recently went to a conference about 21st Century Skills. The entire session for the first day utilized the internet. Unfortunately for the hotel, speaker, and participants, the Internet did not accommodate 500 wireless users! You can only imagine the frustration of the entire room and the stress level of the tech services employees. The next day, there were ethernet cords set up in every break out room and I am sure the hotel had more than "I'm sorry" to say. One of my colleagues complained about the speaker not having a back up plan. As a tech facilitator, I find it difficult to have a back up plan when you're entire presentation is web based. There are several solutions, but life without the internet is a scary thought to You Tubers according to this post from readwriteweb.com.

There are several people out there who have shared videos about the historical process of the internet. The videos range from descriptions of the early internet sounds from dial up, to the speed of it, to discussions about what we can and cannot do without it. The Internet is our world and the strangest thought to me is this-I was alive before the internet. Wow! I am part of history by watching it happen and living through the transition!

Thing 14

This "thing" should have taken a lot less time. Every time I sit down to do this activity, I find myself here way too long! I have literally been on thing 14 all week just because I have played with all of the tools. Some of them I had seen at conferences and used before, but the rest were so much fun, I found myself getting carried away. The site I am choosing to focus on tonight is Blabberize. I absolutely love to blabberize everyone! Let's start with the name. The site name is a verb! It tells me I will be doing something! I can bring animals to life, become someone famous, or use silly voices to tell stories. The endless possibilities make Blabberize a simple to use site educators can integrate in every subject area. The novelty of watching the creation of these videos reminds me of a Six Flags souvenir. It becomes a token the kids appreciate and talk about!

Blabberize has several social features as well. You can have friend requests in your account to connect you with other blabberizers! You can also share your videos by embedding them in web pages with the html code. The best part about sharing your videos is that you can export them directly to a bookmark, social networking site, e-mail, or even print. Check out the options:

Thing 13

You can imagine how I felt when I saw our own principal standing with my son on the cover of this magazine! Talk about an answer to prayer! LOL! I know, I know. This is silly. But is it? This is so much fun. My aunt and uncle paid LOTS of money 20 years ago to have my cousin put on a magazine cover. It's been around for years and definitely an enjoyable novelty for tourists, etc. Having this tool at your fingertips can be a blessing to our students to give them more opportunities to explore and learn through discovery and FUN! To create one yourself, go to this comic strip generator site, upload our photo, and choose the fake magazine cover option.


The trading card is a classic love for many students! Allowing them to create their own using famous people in certain areas of history would be so much fun! After researching different key people in history, these would make great culminating activities. It was simple to create and produces a simple product.

I do want to warn you. When I went to the website to create the magazine, there was a chat room available at the bottom of the screen. Unfortunately, they were not chatting about anything appropriate. I am sure this site is blocked within our district.

Thing 12

The slideshow contains the following photos from flickr:
1. US Capitol, jcolman
2. Ford Theatre, wallyg
3. Lincoln Memorial, Stuck in Customs
4. White House, wallyg

These are the places that we MUST see in DC when our family goes on vacation. There is so much to be said about our history and a great place to learn is in DC! Classrooms could spend the entire year on these landmarks and their history. The photos are amazing and the authors have several they share through Creative Commons. I have a personal photo of the pillow encased in the home where Abe Lincoln died across the street from the theatre. I showed that photo at school year after year and is has been misplaced. I found several on Flickr, but not one allowed me to use it! I was so disappointed. As silly as it seems, it is my greatest memory from the 8th grade!

Thing 11

Hoping to head to Washington DC in a few years with the family, I decided to search Flikr for some choice photos. Traveling through Flikr, I decided to set up an account. I actually thought I already had one, but was unable to locate it! It really doesn't matter because I obviously haven't used it! So, the photo taken by wallyg, is a great viewpoint of a national landmark! There are so many in DC, and this is one honors one of my favorites in history!

Navigating through Flikr honestly feels a tad overwhelming to the beginner. Each photo I viewed had to be evaluated for it's allowances. However, after digging around a while (much longer than I anticipated), I discovered where to look and how to navigate within my account much easier. I am not sure why my family and I have not been sharing photos through Flikr and I honestly am second guessing my Mobile Me account. Hmmm. In the classroom this is an incredible thing for students. Since I haven't been utilizing any of these products within our network at school, however, I am wondering if it's blocked! Through reading different things teachers are using this site for, I see amazing opportunities such as math-Exponential Functions! These students out there blow me away! Even the ideas for writing prompts, digital storytelling, and presentations seem simple, but with a compounded resource the goal seems more attainable!

Thing 10

So I am going to be totally honest. When I first read the words Creative Commons, my mind went to Common Craft. So much so, that I just had to retype Creative Commons over the incorrect word. There is so much out there on the web to become familiar with, things 1, 3, 5, etc., can get confused with prior knowledge! Anyhow, Creative Commons is amazing. I have heard of it in the past, but have never used it. I didn't realize what it was either! So, to see these videos explaining the incredible sharing that we are capable of doing with copyrighted material, I am astounded. Opening Achziger Elementary, we were faced with several copyright issues dealing with iPods. The campus chose not to buy listening stations for the students as they have always done in the past. We discovered so may things that were NOT allowed. With CC, I will be able to assist the teachers with the creations of even more information that will be legal to use in the classroom. The plethora of files available can empower the teachers and students to create more work. Some teachers are so concerned about copyright, but uneducated. When I first saw the videos on fair use and CC, I realized we should be less fearful and more proactive. Then there are teachers who just don't care. I admit I have seen the type. It is so sad to disrespect the hard work of another person. Most people are willing to share, but it's people that don't care that cause things to be so "ruled" and policed to begin with. Yeah for CC!

Thing 9

Playing in the sandbox has a completely different meaning in 2010! However, the rules and outcomes are the same for the live sandbox of the early days and the web-based sandboxes of today. Play nicely. Collaborate with one another to build things inside of your sandbox. Then let's not forget to treat it as a learning space-a place of discovery! Those are a few things I experienced while playing in the Wiki sandbox.

Creating my page, I first followed the instructions given to me on the outline. I appreciated the clear, concise format we followed to create the sandbox. As a student, I want to meet the requirements of the activity, but as a person, I enjoyed sharing my personal data! ringing my own information into the sandbox allowed me to feel confident with already knowing part of the assignment. I felt less intimidated by the activity.

The most difficult item for me to complete was the question for the universe! I had to stop working on it and go back later. Sometimes you are mentally prepared for things and sometimes you're not! The day I began the activity, I was stumped. When I went back to it today, it was like the question has been there inside of me all along. Visit my sandbox to read it!

Thing 8-Stretch

My son has gotten very serious about skateboarding. He loves to read about it and study everything he can about famous skaters. So, when I read about the stretch activity, I decided to review information regarding the history of skateboarding. Folks, skateboarding does not interest me in the least! It takes EVERYTHING in me to seem interested when my son goes on and on. I love that he talks to me and so I wanted to make every effort to "be in the know" next time he starts talking. So, in review of the information, I see I have been listening. Developing my knowledge base will help me understand and interact with him on a more educational level. I even developed some questions to help keep the conversation going. The history and discussions were the fun part! Most of the posts seemed to be from kids-some haters, some skaters! They had some inappropriate language as well. That was an unexpected eye opener for me! I know anyone can add information, but it just hasn't crossed my mind that there may need to be more filtering systems for our family!

Thing 8

Wiki-Wiki! I wish I could be as quick and simple as a Wiki! I do love the idea of a wiki and have used them with students. They are absolutely amazing products. Reviewing other wikis and seeing actual implementations The gowest wiki integrated other great resources such as graphic organization software and authentic drawings from the students. The pages were varied in design and it seems like the kids were given great parameters with some creative freedom! Organizationally, the wiki was extremely efficient! I am amazed at the size of the flat classroom project wiki. This wiki is a little overwhelming. Granted, it's been around since 2006, the Ning is also massive as well. It reminds me of my church that started with just 7 families in a bait shop and now has 4 satellite campuses that have branched off of the main site! This site is also well organized. It is even broken down into categories for students, teachers, and information regarding the project. This wiki truly represents what can be done by many.I was unable to view some of the videos because my home internet runs too slow lately! They call it high speed, but it's the lower-end high speed! Overall, this site is exciting and fun. It shows how small our world can be!

www.kcountingbook.wetpaint.com
How cute to be 5 and creating a wiki! As a former Kindergarten teacher, any wiki with the word Kindergarten draws me in. I am always so impressed by teachers of younger students who take the time. It amazes me to see them learn it once and be able to teach it to others on the second try! This site is just adorable. The greatest downfall: ADS! It has so many ads that I worry about what the kids may see viewing this at home. This type of wiki would most likely be blocked in my district.

I read several of the choice wikis we were given to review. I loved the ideas behind them-the thousands project, interviewing parents and grandparents about school, and kids opening their own medical clinic. I would love to have a wiki set up for my campuses! I have one started, but like many men, I never finished or followed through with the project. My goal for 2010-2011 is to bring my campuses together in a forum-the Wiki. It's named Collaboration Hut in honor of the Hawaiian word wiki! I know the technology on campuses is available to all who would like to use it and they could do so much more than they allow themselves! Hmm....my brain is going! I am so excited!

Thing 7

If comments were not a vital part of technology and Blogs, I would have no reason to click on my open Facebook tab just seconds ago to post on the wall of a friend! Comments are the "rivers of living water" on the internet. This is what drives all social networking. Dialog, communication, and debates have pushed us into the 21st Century to become smarter, more efficient, and productive members of society. So why would blogging be any different? All types of comments are necessary as well. It's what causes us to think and question ourselves and what we stand for or against. I recently lost a friend in a tragic way. It was on the news and I obsessively read every blog and article regarding her death. The most powerful part of these sites were the blogs. It was so interesting to me to see the thoughts of the general public about a situation they knew nothing about. Some of the comments showed wisdom while others were sensitive and empathetic. There were also those who posed questions I had yet to think about. It has been an enlightening experience.

As for posting comments, I interact with the writer on a more personal level when I respond to what they have written. I believe they will read what I have posted which drives me to encourage the continuous writings of the authors I support. I also value the opinions I disagree with. These moments are opportunities for me to express my thoughts and allow a counter-thought to come back to me from a total stranger in a professional way. Now, I know professional responses are not always given by all parties involved, but the delete option works wonders!

Google News Feed

Challenging myself to do every stretch activity in 23 Things may get harder as I have fallen behind due to my circumstances these last two weeks! However, I did subscribe to a feed from Google regarding Obama's Health Care Plan that has been passed. I admit that I have heard bits and pieces, but as a single mom, I have decided not to follow politics. I use that as an excuse really, but it should motivate me even more to be educated on the things of our nation and how it will affect my children. As I have followed the news and read some of the feeds, the media seems biased in each article. It seems to portray many of the perks to the plan, but the press received overall from the people around me has been negative. I am filtering out the good and the bad, but have found myself intrigued to search further into the authors of each article and who they are affiliated with! It has become far more interesting than I imagined!

Thing 6

I absolutely love the google reader. I ask myself why I never take the time to set these things up for myself. Why does it take this class to motivate me? I have had two feeds on my iPhone (the free version of the app only allows that many), but having so many more to choose from of different genres makes me feel like I am able to visit the library every day!

In the following post, I cracked up! This feed is a New York Times Personal Tech Q & A site. They address how to handle re-adding a friend on facebook after blocking them and then "making up". So that tells me one thing. Social networking has changed dramatically since the time before technology, but at the very core of human nature, we are still the same. We friend, we unfriend. We like, we dislike. We fall in love, we fall out of love and often, things are just "complicated". So, now we just have to learn how to have all of these relationships online and in public! As I ponder these thoughts further, I must admit that most of the reading I do is based on a level of curiosity about the lives of my friends and what is going on at any given moment.

I also came across some other valuable information. I work with all types of teachers. New, veteran, older, younger, all races, and retire/re-hires! After reading one post from this blog, I had to agree! There aren't any teachers running in front of the others. The use of technology in the classroom tends to be more based on the personality of the teacher rather than age! I am encouraged by this a-ha!

Thing 5: iPhone Update

On the way to the 21st Century Skills conference this morning, my colleagues were discussing the update on the iPhone. My life has been so upside down lately, I was unaware of the update! I don't live under a rock. I do know the new iPhone came out! Many of my friends are getting the new phones, but now I get an UPDATE! So I went to read some of my feeds for thing 5 and to my excitement, there is an entire article about my new update I am working on as I type! I love multi-tasking!

This great article, explains the features on the update. First of all, I can finally allow my children to add more apps. I have been out of pages for quite some time. We can do this by creating folders. The update allows up to 12 apps to be placed in folders. It will even name the folders based on the apps located inside of them! Another great feature is in regards to mail. I can now merge all of my accounts into one United Inbox. This feature will allow me to check all of the mail at one time instead of having to check each account! Another great feature is called multitasking. Funny, that is my middle name! I can open an app without closing another! This will come in handy when the kids are playing on the phone!

I love the reader for my RSS feeds. I really want to be more diligent in growing professionally with these features. There is so much I can learn in 15 minutes a day! I am considering teaching this as a staff development on my campuses next year! Any feedback on that is welcome!

One last thing about RSS feeds...have you ever seen a site with no RSS feed? To create one, all you have to do is go here,cut and paste the URL and click on "to RSS".

Thing 4: Blog-uation

Reading different types of blogs, I see so much value in the implementation of the classroom. There are so many different genres, but the majority I read contain strong opinions. For the purpose of education, I can see these blogs as great research material as we find teachers doing similar tasks around the country and updating the results on a blog. Cross-comparing these instances can create breakthroughs in education!

In Marc;'s Edtechblog, we see a new perspective on reading. As a tech facilitator, this should be part of my mindset. Ashamedly, it never occurred to me that this would be a great supplement for reading live books. I just love books. I don't really enjoy audio books. I use them mostly due to time restraints! However, this opens a whole new world for learners! Yeah! One of the comments suggests using it as a center! Loved it! The article points out that blog writing IS different from other types of writing!

When I read a blog, I question the validity of the information. Being a skeptic, I don't know who these folks are out there on the WWW! I come from the old school that still calls it the World Wide Web. I am ready to move into the next century of the Whatever Whenever Wherever!

Reading comments gives so much more insight. In this post from PBS Teachers, I was really curious to hear what others thought about this well-written letter that spoke the truth in love! It allowed me to feel more confident in speaking my mind about an opinion, but also delivered it in a respectful manner. Verbally this art is somewhat lost it seems. Most people would rather not say anything at all!

Blogging can allow students and teachers to communicate on many different levels. Student to student, student to teacher, and student to the world relationships can build bridges of mass amounts to acquire new learning. Several blogs I read by educators and other professionals promote proper use of grammar, punctuation, spelling, and proper use of our language. When students begin to blog and read other blogs, the grammatical aspect is based on the purpose of the blog. The more personal leveled blogs allow student to express themselves. I do see students that do make an effort above and beyond in some cases strictly because these avenues are PUBLIC!

Overall, I love blogging and wish I made more time for it. My family has a blog we have failed to update for some time. Some of the comments I read on blogs discuss the fact that educators don't feel like that have anything to say or that no one cares. This is how most of us feel, I imagine. Together we are building web communities of learners through blogs! It's simply amazing!

Thing 2: Thoughts about Web 2.0

How could we use these tools from Warlick's article? Wow! In the classroom and among an entire campuses, the world CAN change. When I was a kid, we just wanted world peace and hunger to stop. We watched TV and played early versions of Pac Man, played outside, and talked to our neighbors live. Reading the article alone is enough to wrap your head around. What comes to mind to me is all of the training the teachers have had to step out of their box and step into Web 2.0. I get discouraged because I think I can't make that happen. However, I did think of what I CAN do. Model. I don't have these things set up among campuses for those who desire to grow technologically. I SHOULD! I NEED to. If I don't step out and apply it among teachers, how will I get teachers to implement these things in their classroom. Besides, it's easier to sell something after you have already purchased it!

I feel like a broken record. Wait, do you even know what a record is? They are the vinyl "discs" used way back in the olden days record players. The record spins around on the turntable as a needle is placed in the ridges on the record to produce sound. Anyway, I digress. I know that children are living in a digital age. Most students have never even opened an encyclopedia. They use the internet for everything! It's our world and I love the videos on you tube that were presented in this class! Engage me. I want to continue to push and be pushed into the digital age until I grow out of it or die!

Thing 1: Reflections on Lifelong Learning

Funny. The original post title was "lielong" learning! Leaving out one letter can change everything. Good thing I caught the typo! However, it really made me think. I grew up believing lies about learning. I didn't believe in lifelong learning. I believed that you learned something and were done. Move on, right? You get a diploma and you're done, right? Get your degree and your done, right? I encountered a paradigm shift of thinking in the process of getting my master's degree. I realized I had a natural desire to learn. Before I began the program, I attended staff developments out of a need to become better in my professional career. There was a need. After I completed my degree, I needed time off from classes. What I realized was that I missed learning! I missed "being taught" something new and experiencing the joy of discovery!

Watching the presentation online, I noticed my mind wandering immediately. I was curious as to how the presentation was made. I found myself trying to figure out the software! The steps in the intro were very basic in reference to how we learn and the old school box we find ourselves in. I like the "too old" excuse. Sometimes I use it so I don't have to play certain video games with the kids! Sure that is probably wrong, but I have to at least be a little bit interested in something to learn about it!

It's true, though. It's never too soon or late to learn. It can be done in a structured or non-structured environment. If you are open minded, you are likely to learn something anytime and anywhere.

In response to the reflection questions, I found the most challenging habit to me would be to view problems as challenges. In regards to my job, it seems I don't mind this so much. My job lends itself to this habit! The skill I have to embrace these challenges don't carry over in my everyday life most of the time. I recently had a plumbing problem under my sink. This wasn't a challenge to me. It was a PROBLEM. I can't fix it. I also don't have the money for a plumber. After it's all fixed, I find it almost impossible to replace the flooring and sub flooring! One thing did come to mind. I wondered if there was a chance someone could teach me! My initial response negatively impacted my ability to see this challenge in the beginning!

Naturally for my personality, using technology to my advantage seems to be the easiest habit for me. I tend to lean in that direction for most things. When I think of gifts, re-organizing, learning, connecting, and communicating, I go to the computer!

The most important habit I desire to attain throughout this course is accepting the responsibility for my own learning. I set out to take this course because it's my job to know this information. As a technology facilitator, I desire to open up as many doors as possible for the educators on my campuses! I want to be able to practice habit 7-to teach and mentor others! Therefore, as an online class, I commit to taking the responsibility seriously and I must say, it is extremely exciting!

I enjoy learning about good habits. So many of us beat ourselves down about our bad habits. It's refreshing to focus on some positive habits for once! I need the break!