Reflections

I enjoyed this project very much. I am very glad to know of so many useful tools. I would love to create a wiki for my future classroom and perhaps have my students create their own blogs for discoveries and reflections. I enjoyed learning about RSS Feeds, Del.icio.us, Animoto, and TeacherPop the most. I have been keeping my eyes open for other awesome Web 2.0 things like Voki and just today I came across authorSTREAM which allows a user to upload Powerpoints so that they can use them on their websites or blogs!

I plan to keep this blog for my own reference. I have learned so much from these "things!" I started another blog several weeks ago in response to this one: How I Became a Teacher, and I am using it to organize my thoughts along my journey. It has really helped me reflect on my field experiences so far. I hope to one day have enough confidence to reach out to other edubloggers!

Thing 23-- Creative Commons

I understand why this was the last "thing" on our list. Web 2.0 is really about sharing, learning, helping, and bringing people together. Creative Commons helps people do just that.

I read about Creative Commons a few days ago, and about that time, I was also looking at pictures of celebrity babies. I'm not really into following the lives of celebrities, but I am a sucker for babies! This was one of the pictures I saw:

[(c) Mrs. Me, Inc., 2008.] This photo is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license.

On Gwen Stefani's site, she shared this picture with a Creative Commons license making it okay for others to put it on their blogs (and in other media, with some restrictions). I thought it was neat to see a Creative Commons license in action outside of this project (the credits and Creative Commons license for the APSU 23 Things project are clearly displayed on the lower right hand side of this page)!

As an educator, I am glad to know about Creative Commons, not only to understand what I can and can not do with others' work but also so that I can share my ideas as well. I think we are all capable of those big ideas, and I can't see any reason not to share them and to be a part of a community that helps and supports each other. That is really what becoming a teacher is all about!

Thing 22-- Podcasts

I am familiar with podcasts because my husband bought me a Zune for Christmas last year. There is a whole section on the Zune for podcasts (and music, pictures, and videos...it's really the Microsoft version of an iPod), and I had to fill it up and be all tech savvy!

I tried out several podcast subscriptions, but really the only things that stuck were the Radio Disney and Frontline World Podcasts. I'm pretty much obsessed with Frontline World, and my kids are pretty much obsessed with all things Disney Channel.

I have never met a Frontline World podcast that I didn't like, but if I had to pick a favorite, it would be Chicago: Little Mexico because it addresses immigrant issues in this country; and I am genuinely passionate about immigrant rights.

Just as a side note: Here is the link to the Frontline Teacher Resource Center. Hope it's useful to someone or many someones!

My Video-- Pumpkins 2008

{see reflection below}

Thing 21-- Video

Animoto was FUN! I actually paid the $3 to get the longer video because I am going to use it on my kids' blog, too. I used a song from my mom's band.

I added too many pictures to use the 30 second short and wanted the full dose of awesome.

I liked the whole experience. It was easy, and it topped off a great couple of days (I spent the day with my son's kindergarten class at the Honeysuckle Hill Farm.) It's much too cold outside, but I feel all warm and happy inside. :)

P.S. Who loves my "pumpkin pie?" Am I am nerd or what!?

Thing 20-- YouTube

I went looking for a Common Craft video on YouTube because I have enjoyed all of their lessons "in plain English" throughout this blog project. I initially thought I'd add Electing a US President in Plain English because the election is right around the corner, but I instead decided to add this one on zombies because it's super silly and it's going to get me in the mood to carve pumpkins with my kids this afternoon.

Like with many other things, YouTube is a tool. There is a lot of inappropriate and even harmful things to be found on YouTube (I recently did a special education project on EBD and found a ton of "thinspiration" videos to give encouragement for girls with anorexia to continue not eating). There is a lot of very useful things on YouTube, too. For example, those Common Craft videos are wonderful! If only I had "biology in plain English" last year!

I can see myself using YouTube in the classroom if there was a video that made a lesson more "plain English."

Thing 19-- TeacherPop

Visit TeacherPop

My membership to TeacherPop is pending and awaiting approval so I will come back to this post. I am very excited to set up a page and look around.

Edit: My membership was approved, and I set up my page and added some friends. I look forward to adding more teacher friends as time goes on. This is a great way for us to "network!"

I have to say that TeacherPop (P.O.P.= professional online profile) is genius and so very appreciated. Austin Peay has such a great teacher ed program. I could not be happier.