Beth Newingham: The Reader's Notebook | Top Teaching

Beth Newingham: The Reader's Notebook Top Teaching

One Last Thing to Reflect On..........

Reflections

Completing the web 2.0 tools 23 Things was an enlightening experience. I have to say that my favorite discovery of this journey is RSS Feeds.  I discovered some incredible things like Google Reader that I read daily since I have subscribed to many interesting education and technology websites and blogs. I was tickled pink when I discovered that my Yahoo account connected me to Flickr, which connected to my Blogger blog and Facebook account that makes sharing information easy. Zoho writer was another awesome discovery that I plan to use to create documents that are accessible from any computer with Internet connection. During my journey I also discovered a website called Teacherlingo and that is where I found mybrainshark.com where I created my podcast.

This program has opened the door for me to continue learning about new technologies to last me for a life time. It has provided me with the knowledge to seek for ways to incorporate technology in my classroom. I was surprised at the amount of resources that this program had to offer. I certainly was not expecting to learn as much about web 2.0 tools as I have learned by completing the 23 Things. I think some of the technology assignments can be introduced with the Thing that is it similar to. For example when discovering podcast in the 23 Things that can go hand and hand with creating a podcast. I found that the Facebook and Myspace discovery matched the social websites discovery which made those things overlap. Other than that, learning about web 2.0-23 Things is the most essential part of becoming a teacher. I feel like this program has prepared me for teaching in a 21st century classroom. I will use what I have learned from this program to keep my students engaged and learning and to think outside of the textbook. I plan to continue to read my RSS Feeds from the websites and blogs I have found as well as continue searching for others. I have found that there is a never ending outlet of resources on the web. As I continue in my teaching career I hope to be apart of a future educational technological discovery.

OMG It's Thing #23

Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a not for profit online entity that makes sharing, remixing, and reusing creative works legal and free. Thanks to Creative Commons I have learned the proper way to use creative works of others and share it as long as credit is given to the creator. I will pass the knowledge and practices of Creative Commons down to my students and make sure they understand the importance of copyright laws.

The attribution that shows the Learning 2.0-23 Things is located at the bottom of the web page of the 23rd Thing and it states:

Credits

Learning 2.0 - 23 Things for Teachers is based on Learning 2.0 - 23 Things, a staff development program for the Mesquite Independent School District. That program was based on the Learning 2.0 program that was designed by Helene Blowers and adapted by the California School Library Association and others. Content and style for Learning 2.0 - 23 Things for Teachers has been borrowed and duplicated with permission, under a Creative Commons License.

Thing #22

Podcasts

Podcasting is a great way to get information across to others into a digital recording. A podcast can instruct, persuade, enlighten, or entertain. It can also be a fun activity for students to show off their creativity as well as practice public speaking.
The podcast I listened to came from npr.org and it was recorded by Emily McCord. NPR is a social media website that focuses on engaging the public and posting the information on their dashboard. Fans can also share their latest stories, videos and flickr photos. The podcast is called All Things Considered. I thought is would interest the future teacher candidates because this idea to eleviate snow days may be apart of their future school policy. To substitute snow days, Crested Butte, Colorado schools have "e-days" also known as electronic days. When school is closed, instead of missing assignments and extending the school year, students access their assignments from their home computers. Students just log onto their computers and complete virtual assignments created by their teachers. Now it's that awesome. E-days make it possible for teaching to show off their knowledge and creativity using web 2.0 tools. This would be a time where the podcasts, classroom blogs, wikis ect. could come to life and be of good use to communicate with students. This school district has parterned with an area university to study the effectiveness of the program and to determine if they will continue using e-days instead of snow days. I will definitely be pushing to have e-days instead of snow days when I become a teacher!

Thing #21

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Animoto is a quick and easy way to put together videos and presentations of classroom activities. I made a video of some random pictures of my family. Animoto has the ability to connect to Facebook photos, therefore I loaded some photos from my photo album and created a simple video of my dog Joe-Joe, my two sons, and myself. The only downfall to Animoto is that it charges for videos more than 30 seconds long. In order to create a full length video it will cost $30 a year or $5 a month, at minimum. Otherwise several mini videos can be made to serve its purpose.

Thing #20

YouTube
YouTube has been a great tool in my pursuit of a college education. I have visited YouTube for instructions on how to use my TI-84 calculator as well as how to solve word problems. If there is anything that can be demonstrated, presented, or recapped Youtube contains the visual. I like YouTube because it is free and it supplies the latest music videos and past and present news reports. The most interesting video I have watched on YouTube is the John F. Kennedy assassination. I had no idea that browsing YouTube for information about JFK would land me one of the most gruesome acts (caught on tape) in  U.S History!

The video is chose to post to my blog is about cooperative learning and its benefits for students. I chose this video because although it is geared toward students benefiting from cooperative learning but the concept also applies to how educators come together to meet student's needs in the classroom.

Thing #19

More Social Networking

I joined the TeacherPop social network for teachers. Being a member of TeacherPop is an effective way to exercise professionalism among other educators. It can be an introduction to learning the appropriate behavior as a teacher on other social networks. TeacherPop can also be used like any other networking website to collaborate with peers and colleagues. It can be a place to meet new friends in the profession and share new ideas. 
I also joined classroom 2.0. It is an awesome site to obtain the latest information about web 2.0 tools. I really enjoyed reading some of the discussions about ways to incorporate technology into the classroom. Again social networking sites are just another way to continue your life long learning experience.