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Friday, December 6, 2013

The END…or is it!

I have enjoyed this class, Dr. Jerles as my instructor, the assignments, guidance, and overall learning experience I have had the past 16 weeks. I think it is a wonderfully designed course, that has adapted to the ever changing technology that exists today. 

As a future educator I will take so much from this class with me to my own classroom. The exercises we did each week, Dr. Jerles was always patient and helpful if needed. Some were things that came very easy to me, and I already knew yet some I had never used before. I had a great learning experience throughout, using tools for things I did not know were possible, and discovering a few "life hacks" to make my everyday life and classroom life simpler.

To keep up with web 2.0, I plan to watch for new developments. Weather it be from the sites we were exposed to here, or just by watching blogs from other teachers.

I have made a commitment to continue blogging. At the beginning of this class I got very excited about it, then of course got busy, now after working on the remainder of the 23 things I have the blogging bug again! I plan to continue this particular blog throughout my graduate studies. I think it will be wonderful to look back on. I love the challenge given, asking ourselves what we learned today then blogging about it. That is a great way to continue this journey!

Thing #23




In this screen shot I took you can see at the bottom this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

That mess means that anyone can use this creative work..which I find to be wonderful. Creative Commons allows creative people to help other people who might not be so creative…to be creative. I think it is a wonderful addition to the copywrite family. I am happy that it exists because I need all the help I can get!

Thing #22

The names of my binders are Recipes and Family. These are the things I use the most. I started one also for the classroom. Many of these activities we have been doing remind me of pinterest. I don't know that I will use Binders again. Although I do think it is great for the classroom. I can share binders with other teachers, parents, and students. This would show them what I find is acceptable and what we use in the classroom. Ultimately I believe it is a good idea, just maybe not for me?!

Thing #21

Stephanie Freeman



This was a fun site to use! I made a video with our most recent family pictures. I love my family. God has blessed me beyond my words! I will for sure revisit this site.

I could utilize this in the classroom to share with parents a year in photos. Given I had the time to create one for each child, it might be something I would attempt using artwork, growth, random pictures etc.

Thing #20



YouTube is wonderful. The video I chose is not related to education per say. However, it is one of my motivations for wanting to become a teacher. My family has moved here to Tennessee to chase my husbands dreams. Not only did we come here to find that, it is also where I found the oppurtunity to follow my own dreams of becoming a teacher! I chose this video to share with everyone first how awesome my husband is at singing and songwriting, but secondly because it shows you can make a video anywhere, and about anything. Editing or not videos on youtube can be entertaining, and it helps someone learn about a topic in a different manner.
Visual learners are not the only ones who benefit from videos. Also, ADHD students can be relaxed by having a pair of headphones on watching a video in class. As an educator I have the resources to create videos while I am out for the day, I can create my own YouTube channel and upload lessons from the classroom for students and parents to view. YouTube is wonderful because it is free, and easily accessible. I can see myself using this tool in my classroom regularly.
The new tool I have found is...
I am awful with grammer. It is not because I don't know how to write, it is because my ideas are move far to fast than my fingers. At times I might miss a comma or period. This will aide in helping me find those areas, and avoid embarrasment, and most relevant now a bad grade! It is also something I can share with my students to utilize.

Thing #19

Social Media.....Positive or Negative?

I have found that soical media often gets a bad name. It can be quite challenging to keep everything on social media sites age appropriate. That is a battle with just about anything. The great things I discoved about social media while going through Thing 19 is Ted TV. How amazing this idea is!! It makes me excited to enter the teaching field more so, because of all the technology and resources that are readily available. Things of this nature will show students it doesn't have to be boring to be educaitonal. The biggest thing to remember about children is they want to be entertained....findng a way to bridge the gap between entertainment and education is just what Ted TV does. I love it and I can't wait to see where it goes in the future, because I will for sure use this tool.

I have used the Khan academy myself. I think it is excellent as a resource for the classroom, and in the home for students. There is literally a lesson for anything, and some really big names have partenered with Khan academy to ensure it sticks around for a long while.

People are nosey in general, that is why socal media has really taken off. For whatever reason everyone wants to know what everyone else is doing. Or oh my goodness did you see what so and so did, or look they got engaged, wow they are having a baby...so many conversations start with Did you see on facebook....

Turning that around and making it hey did you see on ted tv.... wouldn't that be music to a teachers ears. That talk in the hallway rather than what is going on now!! We have the ability to postively influence the coming generations, showing them it is not about being nosey on someones facebook, it can also be about using these technological resources to thier advantage in and out of the classroom.

Thing #18

@smichelle0945
 
I can remember when social media was non existent, even when texting was non existent, which was not very long ago. How did we ever go without knowing what all of are friends were doing, who was eating what, how wonderful someones husband/wife is, or where vacation destinations might be?!?! haha. Although social media can be quite annoying, at times you want to jump through your phone screen or computer screen and slap someone for what they are saying, or you want to give them a hug becuase of a hard time they have shared. Either way soical media gets down right personal...not "bubbles" exist anymore.
 
 
Educators and social media is a touchy subject, especially facebook and twitter. Educators are held to a higher standard, almost as if we are some sort of celebrity. Students, other teachers, parents, and gradparents are always looking for a flaw, our actions will always be blown out of proportion. Which is why i will only have a twitter or a facebook for just a very short while longer. Simply because innocent things can be taken out of context.
 
 
The good news is....these listed above are not the only soical media sites available!! And although the ones above are somewhat iffy for an individual teacher to have...who is to say clubs, or classrooms can't have thier own? When using a facebook page or twitter page in the classroom hashtags would be of main priority. Hashtags allow for a set of information to be contained to one area. I can hashtag #christmas2013 on everything I do this year for christmas...when I do that everything with that hashtag will all be connected. Something to avoid would be to use something to general like #christmas2013, because anyone might use that then your information is mixed with thier information and its a mess! Trying something like #teamfreemanchristmas2013 even though that is extremly long...it would allow me to see what team freeman (what we call my family) is up to for the christmas 2013.
 
 
So you see how hashtags can be beneficial, but how they can also be unorganized. Overall I think using this type of thing in the classroom is great, as long as parents, schools, and other teachers are in an agreement to do so. It is hard to take something off the world wide web once you click publish or submit...so keep that in mind!


Thing #17

How delicious!! I love it!! I have never ever heard of this. At first I thought this was teaching us how to simply bookmark sites on our web browser....that is so not the case! I agree it does become quite a mess using the outdate book marking tool.

Delicious has become one of my favorite things to explore. It is not just for educational use, it can be for so many differnt things. Sharing recipies, fashion, movies or books. The possibilities are endless!! I love the stack tutorial!! This site allows even an uncreative person to look as if they are super creative. I find it is similar to Pinterest and I love pinterest. Pinterest is a bit more complicated to apply to the classroom. With Delicious I can link in parents, and teachers. Parents can easily see what we are working on in the classroom. I can share with them sites myself and other teachers recommend, the possibilities are virtually endless.

Thing #16

Remember the Milk...what a cute name for a fun little tool. So many of these tools exist today but it is always fun to see what is new! With this tool I can set reminders as I think of them throughout the day that will go off once I leave school. Often times things are put in you pile of good intentions, or thoughts of good intentions, only to be forgotten..then remembered when it is too late! It works with gmail calendar, since this class I have started using gmail more so than yahoo and I love it.

My other favorite was MyStickies. This is great for me to use now as a college student. I can put stickies on random websites for me to remember what it was, or where it was I was looking at a particular article or site for. Basically allowing me to save my place. That is necessary espeically for long assignments. When you get tired, or have to step away this is a great tool to have. At work I am a Stickie note Nazi, I use stickies for everything, all day...I shared this site with my co-workers, they agree it would be a wonderful tool to me. Although with this the gratification I get when writing on a stickie note would sadly go away!

PDF converter is something I can see myself actualy using in class. Although most things can be done in this form anyway, it is still a nice tool to have. Almost all systems will open a PDF file which is what I find most attractive about this tool.

Thing #15

Wiki....I am not a huge fan. This is equal to webmd to me. I try to not use peoples "opinions" over true facts. Even after looking into what Wiki can be used for, and how it operates, I am still not a fan. :( I don't like to say that about anything, but for me I think it would be more frustrating that useful. I don't like that anyone can edit, even if you are an owner for the particular thread, it doesn't mean someone else can't change it. I suppose you can disapprove the thread, but again it becomes more of a headache in my opinon. Some might argue it is better than a bunch of emails, but I like paper trails! I like to see what has happened versus it just being erased. I do not think I would use Wiki in the classroom. I don't use it now. I certainly would not discourage students from using it, just not for concrete evidence on topics.

Thing #14

Going with the flow! I enjoyed looking into each of these sites given. I have never used this resource for projects, or anything for that matter. I like gliffy. I felt as it it were the easiest tool to use. It is free and children can create thier own with little to no help. I could see myself using this in the classroom for following math steps, concept mapping with reading stories, life cycles of plants of animals, and brainstorming. I like that you can export your creation. I can save these and send to parents to work on at home during breaks, or simply share with them process for complex subjects such as math. I think this is a great tool to organize short ideas, and could come in handy.

Mindmeister was another that I like. It believe this would be benefical to teachers more so than students. I could see myself utilizing this for lesson plans. I like the options available. Such as the color icons, task manager, and the notes. This is more for elaborating on information, bigger projects. You can create and come back to it as needed. It is also compatiable with cloud storage, which is something I have began to use!

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Thing #13

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wugvVmO3kA1WfrrHJfYuvHdYgFv1nCfQkEE9cUtbtGg/edit?usp=sharing

Above is a link to the awesome document I created!! Google Drive is amazing, and I seriously never knew it existed until this exercise! I find it to be a wonderful tool, I think it has the possibility to wipe out Microsoft, but it would not be for some time to come. People are just now getting around to using gmail accounts, therefore finding out about the extra apps, and utilities Google has to offer may take some time. 

I think Google Drive makes it extremely easy for students to not only work with one another, but how easy would this be to accept assignments from your students!? Just like in this class, we all created accounts for google, some not ever having one, yet we are all working with one another, and experiencing with each other new technologies. I find it to be very exciting, and can't wait to see what else is to come!!

Although ZOHO does seem to have a great deal to offer, I feel the ease of use with Google Drive is much better. The applications are user friendly, and do not require much adjusting from what most are used to (Microsoft), I would choose Google Drive over other online application that are out right now because of this.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Thing #12

GOOGLE!! I love the Google...I utilize this for so many different things in my daily life. From recipies, to house hunting it is all there. So many positivies exist with Google, especially with the new features that are being offered with gmail, the calendars, translate, and photos. The two tools I chose to explore future were the Google translate, and Google Calendar. The Google translate is awesome! So innnovative and useful for anyone! I, along with my office staff had a great time typing in different phrases and hearing them in other languages. I think this will be a great resrouce to use in the classroom if there is an English Language Learner in a classroom, a teacher can use Google translate to speak with, and even help give instructions for assignments. I actually have a classmate here at APSU that has used this for that reason in his classroom, which I find to be extremly helpful! The Google calendar is something I utilize for my Husbands musical endeavors, and for our family day to day. We actually set up a gmail account that we both have access to. This is where we do all of our communication with upcoming events; shows, meetings, radio interivews, etc. We also utilize this for family appointments, game days for my children, picture day, etc. We have found this to be extremly helpful to stay organized. As a busy family of 5, with two full time jobs, and myself attending school full time, it gets crazy! Either of these can be used edcuationally. As mentioned above a classmate of mine uses the Google translate to speak with students, and assist with assignments. It is also edcuational because you can virtually learn a different language. The Google calendar can be useful as a teacher to organize lesson plans, send out inviations to events and those be added to your calendar, all around great organizational tool! Google is wondeful, and I hope they keep putting out more and more resources!

Thing #11

The method that I found to be of most ease to use is, the otion to find the little RSS symbol on my frequent websites. Many options exist for this including; music artists, pinterest blogs, etsy, public figures, shopping websites, the possibilities are limitless. I really enjoyed searching for that little button, once I learned what it was it becomes more interesting to seek out when browsing different sites. Once these are located, and now that I have a feedly account, I can easily access blogs or sites all from one place. The medthod I found to be confusing was the blogsearchengine.org. I say this because you search by key word, and there were so many options I was overwhelmed! Useful feeds for me range from the teacher education, craft, home decorating sites/blogs, etsy, musicians...all of these things are of great interest to me, and I utilize and seek out these types of sites, and blogs almost daily. Again having feedly to house these all in one place is great because I won't have to search for something over and over. I didn't find any that were unusual in particular. I feel like most of the searchable items were beneficial to someone, and I could become interested and educated on a topic quite quickly if I begin to follow. Like I stated I have seen this little RSS feed icon on many websites in the past, and continue to see it more and more. I have already mentioned starting something for my place of employment, so that we have resources to offer in some sort of blog form for our employees. In the future I could perhaps link with our other branches and we could all share ideas. This really is a wonderfully resourceful addition to the Internet world!

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Thing #10

What I like about the RSS is that all of the blogs and websites that I have interest in can be found in one place. I love that you can choose to see just one blog at one time, or you can see all blogs together separated by what is the latest, and greatest. I enjoy being able to see these listed in this fashion so that I can pick and choose from each, all in one place. The search tools are very easy to use, and it is easy to add a new blog to my feedly.

Using this in my school or personal life will be simple. The resources are limitless. Access to others ideas can easily be purchased, or duplicated with the permission of the original author. Many of these sites have ways to create organization in a classroom, which is something I am very interested in. Using the crafts from these sites is also wonderful for my children at home, and for themed activities within the classroom.

Teachers can use the new technology of RSS by sharing ideas with one another through requesting access to personal or classroom blogs. When a teacher gets stuck, or needs a fresh idea on a certain topic, or element of the classroom it is easily accesible from a neightboring teacher, or even someone across the globe! It is very simple. 

I love this and will continue to use this in the future. I have such a hard time trying to find things that I use once, and then somehow loose; feedly allows these blogs and sites to be housed all in one place without getting an email every time there is a new post from a blog you follow.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Thing #9

                                                                 www.redkid.net
www.acme.com

This was an awesome activity! I had no idea there were so many FREE sites available for this type of designing. This is a great way to create fun personalized representations for each student. Living in military towns all my life one of the first things military asks one another is, "where are you from?' The license plate tool would be so fun to have each child create their own from his or her home state. Or even making a collage of all the states that each student has been. This could be integrated when discussing where students went for vacation over the summer...little things like that. I personalize just about everything I own, especially things my kids take to school, so that is another reason this activity was so enjoyable to me!! I listed the sites where I created these two particular photos underneath each. It was simple, step by step, even allowing to save straight to my computer. I think this will be a great tool, I have only tipped the ice burg at the possibilities to utilize this in the classroom, and even at home!

Thing #8

Thing 8 by smichelle0945
Thing 8, a photo by smichelle0945 on Flickr.
Flickr Mashup was a very fun tool to work with! I enjoyed using all of the options that are available. For my particular mashup, I chose to do a Texas theme. The photos here are photos which I have "favorited", from these I created my mashup on Mosaic Maker. I found it to be user friendly with multiple options to choose from. I could use this in the future for numerous things within the classroom. I think it is a great tool to do what I just did, gather photos from multiple sources, mash them up, and it gives a story to tell....one stop shop! For personal life I can use flickr mashups to create mosaics for birthday invitations, or family photos to share. The options are limitless with this tool.

Photo credits from top left...
1.) cat.loree
2.) Seth Patterson
3.) Christiane
4.) siedo

Thing #7

Thing 7 by smichelle0945
Thing 7, a photo by smichelle0945 on Flickr.
Flickr is a fun site to look around. I found beautiful, and unique images. I will probably not use this particular site in the future, simply because I use another photo sharing site. I utilize Instagram, which is basically the same principle of Flickr. You have a screen name, and can tag photos; the only thing it is lacking is the groups that you can belong to. I did like that about Flickr, it was neat to look through and see what others who have been in this class posted. As far as using this site for the classroom I am not sure how I would use it. I suppose having parents sign waivers to put their children on the site, setting up a private group, and sharing that way is a possibility. I have an Instagram account as stated above, which I share photos of my children and family. I don't particularly mind having photos online, mostly because they are set to private, or for "friends only".

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Thing #6



This is the most amazing Web 2.0 site I can find!!! I use Pinterest multiple times a day weather it is looking up recipes, outfits, crafts to do with my kids, big projects to tackle, you name it...Pinterest has it! I love the ease of use for this site, the search tool is great when you need something specific and in a hurry. This Web 2.0 site is very user friendly offering categories to search, and specifics to do those searches.

I can see myself definitely using this site for classroom design, activities, among many many other things. There are often links to blogs posted here that are extremely beneficial to teachers to learn from, and utilize. When ideas run out, or you are stumped on what creative thing to do or make, there is something for everything on the Pinterest website. I have used it for so long not knowing what type of Web interface I was dealing with, now knowing it that more interesting to me!

http://www.pinterest.com

Monday, September 9, 2013

Thing #5

School 2.0 ?!? What does that even mean...School 2.0 to me means innovation and endless learning possibilities. Starting with the options in distance learning schools, there are resources at every corner for the students of today. Opportunities to learn are available to virtually every type of student. Web 2.0 offers a multitude of free websites, apps, and blogs that aide in teaching and learning. The use of these resources provide a different perspective to teach students, and for the students to utilize these skills and practice for comprehension.

What does all of this mean for the future? Well it means that Web 2.0 will only get bigger. More options will surface with this programming. In todays classroom it is not uncommon to see 5 or 6 computers in each learning environment, on top of that computers labs are present in most schools. Therefore the technology is at a students fingertips. Finding what works for you as a teacher, and what works best with the objectives you are teaching are easily accessed right there in you own classroom. Many Web 2.0 sites offer interactive games that aide the students in learning without them knowing that they are learning. Web 2.0 engages students in ways that teachers cannot. It gives them hands on application, which is more stimulating than sitting and listening to the teacher talk.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Thing #4

Commenting is something I got in the habit of when starting Facebook. I always read the comments underneath products I plan to buy, or recipes I plan to make, just to see how they have turned out for others. After going through this exercise I have uncovered commenting is so much more than simply voicing your opinion about something. Commenting creates a community where you can relate with others, tell them that their post helped you, offer advice on a problem, etc. With there being so many different types of blogs, the possibilities are endless. 

From the reading I liked the parts about constructively criticizing. There is no need to get onto someones blog and bash what they are saying, or creating, or cooking. I have seen this a few times on food blogs where people find a recipe, make it and then come and comment back with all of the things that they did differently, and how bad it tasted before they added this and that in. Although the person who created the recipe may not mind what they are saying, there are nicer ways to throw these things in..such as, great recipe I added a few touches to make it my own...something along those lines. Another point from the reading is commenting builds relationships. You may not know the person whose blog you are following, weather it be craft blog, or history blog, whatever the case...you are reading with them daily or weekly whatever the occurrence. This creates a bond and a relationship with that person, commenting on their posts lets them know first of all that you are following them and they are talking to someone when they type and two that you care about what it is they have to say, which probably makes them feel even better.

The blogs that I commented on for this exercise were Natasha Long, Stephanie Fortner, Nicole Petrik, Alexa Aguilar, and Whitney Butts from class. The other blogs I commented on were from Makes and Takes, and Salsa Pie. The comments on the classmates blogs were all related to the subject matter in their post...some were early in their stages of blogging only on step 2 or 4, others were on step 10. With each comment I personalized what I got from their particular post and let them know they were doing a great job. Its hard to put something out there and not know what others think when they read it, or even if they are reading it! The other blogs I commented on are two that I have looked at before, both craft, recipe and family blogs. There are some interesting crafts always handy, and easy go to things for spending time with family, and creating things at home. I chose to comment on a post about crafts for teachers, because I love to make things for people and I wanted to thank them for sharing the great idea. The other was for a place card craft that I could make for my children to add a little happiness to their day!

Starting to comment has made the process even more fun than I thought it was going to be! Now I am not "scared" to comment!

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Thing #3

Ways that I might utilize a blog in my teacher education program is to create a timeline of my progress and experiences. I think it will be amazing to look back and see where I began, and what has transpired throughout the entire journey!

Ways that I might utilize a blog in my classroom are limitless! I can blog about activities we will be doing in the classroom, books we are currently reading, goals and rules that can be reinforced at home, among many other things. I will have the ability to interact with parents without having to bring them in for a meeting, or sending home letters everyday, where I might forget to include something; I can see how a blog could eliminate that problem. I can use one spot that parents past and present can log onto for resources and to gain other information about the classroom! I think it is a wonderful idea, and a great opportunity to interact more than the one or two conferences throughout the year. As a parent, I would really enjoy having a blog I could go check out for my children's classrooms. I plan to use that perspective to create my blog once I get into the classroom!!!

Friday, August 30, 2013

Thing #2

My previous experience with blogs is very small! I have used others blogs for craft projects, or ideas for recipes, adn decorations, however I have never had my own. I love to read others blogs and their experiences with life events. I know many families who have a blog of vacations, or even everyday life. Which is wonderful, it seems to be like a giant, well organized year book. I love to write, so I am unsure why I have not considered blogging, but now I don't want to stop! I decided on my posted name Stephanie Freeman because I want this blog to be a valid representation of ME! I have just embarked on a new journey by getting into Graduate school, and I am extremly excited not only to use this blog in this class, but throughout my time in Graduate school! Creating this blog was extermly easy! I almost thought I was doing something wrong because of the simplicity! My avatar reflects my personality well I belive. I am very happy, I try to smile all the time, and I am outgoing. I think that this avatar embodies those qualities. The avatar looks as close to me as I could get it to! My hair is not that short, but I didn't like any of the long hair styles. I would also probably wear the outfit the avatar has on, I am pretty simple and that is the way I tried to dress her!

Thing #1

Being a Lifelong Learner... The hardest of these habits for me would be to create my own learning toolbox! Sometimes I don't know exactly what I will need, or where to go for information, so I tend to have an overload of tools! Finding specific tools and resources that best fit anything I am doing would be ideal, but I have not quite mastered that! The easiest of these habits for me would be that I take responsibilty for my own learning. Nothing I have accomplished so far in my education could have been done if I did not put this habit into practice. I made a consious decision that no matter what the circumstance; having a child, moving cross country, or financial set back, I was going to make it through college, and continue to graduate school...which is where I have made it to!! GO ME! However I will not stop taking responsiblity for my own learning EVER, there is no time when you can have to much knowledge, as a future educator I find this to be very important to remember and instill in students. Web 2.0 is something that before this class I wasn't aware I had used. After discovering what defines Web 2.0, I know now that I have in fact used it, and will be doing so quite a bit more within this class. For instance just by setting up this blog I am using Web 2.0!! Blogger has made this process incredibly easy. I am very excited to "track" our progress through class, and most likely continue with a blog thereafter!