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

Recipes

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...

www.grammerly.com

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!