Is It the End or Only the Beginning?

This experience was very enlightening.  I learned about websites that I had no idea were out there.  I am very happy that I learned so much, I even have passed some on to my family that they would like.  As far as changing anything, the only thing that I did not like was when it said to 'embed' the image or livebinder in the blog.  I had to use YouTube to figure out how to do that.  And just for anyone else, you have to change over to the 'HTML' instead of 'Compose' in the top left corner of your window to be able to embed, otherwise it will just have the long code in your blog.  YouTube is such a wonderful tool.  I plan to use many of the things that we did in my future classroom.  This has encouraged me, there is so much out there that I didn't know was available.
I think I might still use my blog sometimes when I do have something to share.  When I do have my own classroom I do plan on either having a wiki site or a blog for parents to look at and see if their child is telling the truth about no homework.

Thing #23

Now that I know there is a place out there in beg world of the web, where I can find different pictures to use in my classroom, I will be using it at least everyday.  I will encourage my students to use the same site and to make sure they are giving credit to who deserves it.  By the time I have my own classroom, even if it were tomorrow, there will be even more wonderful things out in the world wide web that if I were to use them I would have to give credit to.  My future students will become experts on copyright laws and the wonderful world of Creative Commons.

Thing #22

I created three binders with the titles of Math, Reading, and Useful Links.

Math

In the classroom I will use Live Binders to help my students keep track of the website they use when researching a subject.  They will be able to have a different tab for each subject and then in the sub-tabs they will have the different helpful links that they found helpful.  This will make proving the research they found so much easier later.

Thing #21

I created an Animoto of the time I took a cruise to the Grand Bahama Island with my mother and step-father last June.  It was so much fun and beautiful.  I so want to go on another cruise, this time with my husband and kids.

Using Animoto was very easy and fun.  Not a lot of choices of music to choose from but its nice to be able to upload your own music too.  For the free membership, you can only have ten pictures so that made it limited, but still lots of fun.  I thought I was going to have to do the work in thinking how to get the pictures to zoom in and out but once I clicked publish I was done.
This was a very fun Thing to do.

Thing #20

There are so many great videos on YouTube and also so many very bad videos but this video really made me appreciate my daughter for yelling at me when I tossed a gum foil wrapper out the car window last month.  My little girl is always asking me what we can do to help the environment and when can we plant a tree.  She loves to be the driving force in our family to do better for our world.
YouTube can be very educational and very bad.  There really are no rules as to what people can put up on this site so there is everything that is not rated X on here.  Everything that our children and young students are just a click away from seeing.
There are videos on here that really help people learn.  I remember when I was taking my first college class after 9 years of being out of college.  I couldn't tell anyone what a MLA paper was made of or how to even begin to write one, but I learned how to write one from a YouTube video.  This is a website to keep up because there are many great videos on it.

Thing #19

I am now a member of TeacherPop and Whats On My Bookshelf.

TeacherPop is really good to show the future teachers of the Austin Peay that we can create our own Ning for our future students.  They can discuss the books we are reading in class, the homework that is assigned, or what was discussed in class that day.  This would be very helpful to the students that were absent and also for the parents, for them to find out what is going on in the classroom without actually being there.
Whats On My Bookshelf is a great way to expand your reading library without spending hours in the library trying to find a great book to read or spending the money on the books.  The owners can leave a comment about the book to let others know how they felt about the book.  No more reading book reviews from people that have a paycheck behind the review.  Even if your not wanting to read for leisure, but you need a textbook for class, you might be able to get the book without buying it or renting it.  This is the best idea for college students that don't want to spend so much money on textbooks.  I know I will be using this site for leisure and for study.

Thing #18

Learning about all the educational uses with Facebook and Twitter is very informative.  Knowing that we, as students, can access any form of communication with our future students is wonderful.  Our future classrooms can have its own Facebook page, students will be able to ask questions and even form a study group online.  Who needs physical contact when we have the internet?  All of us still need that.  Our students will be able to succeed in our class and the parents will even be informed.

My FaceBook page:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1460353385

Thing #17

I checked the post of TED.  I found this site from a previous 'things' and I fell in love with the site.  After seeing the comments on this site, I am not alone in this feeling.  Using Delicious.com in the future will make research for papers very easy.  Just type in the search line the subject needed and a list of websites that others have found will show up.  Its like having the whole internet of people give you ideas on your subject.
In the future, my students will be able to use this site at home to assist in their homework.  I will be able to use it in the classroom for demonstrations and research for future lessons.  This is a very useful site.

Thing # 16

I choose to use iGoogle as my home page.  It was real easy to use since I already had an email account with them.  I changed my background picture and even was able to add a doppler gadget so I can see the weather in the area.
In the classroom my students will be able to keep up with current events and many other items on the internet.  The students will love this home page.
Using Google Calendar, I will be able to not only set my appointments but also plan out my day on the areas I will teach.  Being able to print the agenda or monthly calendar will be a money saver too.  All it will cost is the ink and paper from our personal printer. 
This will be a great tool for students.  They will be able to schedule their classes and when homework is due and they will be reminded about upcoming tests.
I set up a Remember The Milk to do list.  I think it will be very handy for me to use this instead of the sticky notes that is on my Kindle.  I will be able to check things off as I complete them and I can access it on my phone.  I will be able to get to my list from any computer and my phone as well as my Kindle.  It is very accessible.
Students will be able to organize their homework and be notified when they are coming up due.  A very useful app.

Thing #15

Creating a wiki space for my future classroom will be used for projects and collages.  The students will be able to add pictures to the space and quotes from the books they are reading.  The parents will even be able to go on the wiki space and see what their child is learning about.  A different page for the different projects they are doing to keep everything organized.
The concept of wikis is really great.  Being able to create a website, adding your own stuff, and other people to add more to your site.  Its a brainstorming group that includes the whole world.  A website to state your own opinion and then get feed back from people all over the world is a great use of the internet.
The way that the libraries are including wikis and other web tools is amazing.  Technology has come a long way since the big clunky Apple II-e that I had back in 1985.  Those used the big floppy disks and was in black and white.  Now we can see what books are at the library without even getting out of bed.  Technology is AWESOME!

Thing #14

I explored Gliffy's flow chart and found it to be very easy to work.  It was a lot of fun creating my flow chart.  My future students will be able to use this program in class to make flow charts for just about anything ranging from the life cycle of animals to words.  The students will have so much creating their personal chart to look as unique as they are.

I used mindmeister.com to create a mind map for a paper I will be writing.  Once I figured out how to use it, it was very easy.  It's so much easier than using the old fashion paper and pencil brain storming.  Once I created the main ideas of the paper, I could move them around and connect different sub ideas to other ones.  So much easier!  I loved it!  My future students will be able to do the same thing as I did.  They can also have other people help them work on it by sharing it.

Thing # 13

Zoho Writer is very much like Microsoft Office Word.  I was able to create a document and insert a table very easily.  The best part about Zoho for our students is when it comes time for the students to work on a project together they will be able to do everything through Zoho.  Should a student be sick at home or on a family vacation they will still be able to work on the project with the rest of the group as long as the have internet access.  No more will students have to huddle over one computer and email back and forth to complete a project together.  There is even a time sheet for the proof of how long each student worked on the project.

I created a spreadsheet using Google Docs, creating the spreadsheet was very easy if you know how to use Microsoft Excel.  Both programs are very easy to use.  The best thing about using Google Docs in the classroom is that all the students can access the document from any computer.  You are able to share the document with whoever you add.  That is the best idea.  Group projects just became so much easier.  Not only can our future students use this tool but we as current college students can use it to work on our paper from any computer.  Such a GREAT idea!