Thing #23

I learned about Creative Commons in a post a while back. I had no idea that the 23 Things that we are currently doing in class were based on 43 Things. The 43 Things is a website that people go and share thousands of pieces of information for others to use. I plan on using and teaching my students about Creative Commons. I feel that my students will benefit from learning what they can and cannot use when it comes to media especially pictures and music. I feel that if my students learn about copyrights and creative commons will make them better appreciate what they use online.

Thing #22

The binders I created for myself were the Civil War, the Great Depression, and the Civil Rights Movement. I created these three binders specifically for the United States history class I will be teaching. These three time eras are my favorite ones to teach. Having these binders let me organize material online or have Google put information into my binders. I set up each of my binders so that Google can input information that go along with the title of each binder. This could help me by either having more resources when it comes to finding material for lesson plans. It could also help me in that I can search by that title within my binder to see if students claimed material to be their own. I believe that LiveBinders will be extremely useful for me in my classroom. http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=655073&backurl=/shelf/my

Thing #21

I have seen Animoto before but, have never used it. I couldn't believe how easy it was! I signed up for a free account and that was it. The only thing that I didn't like was that if you wanted to have a fancier background or a longer amount of time for your video that you had to pay. Besides having to pay for a prettier video I loved it. It was so simple to uploads pictures or videos either from your computer or off of Facebook. I think that anyone could use this website to make educational videos or videos for fun. The fact that making the video was so simple I believe that anyone could use it. Students could make videos for projects they have or with their friends. I would recommend anyone young or old to make their own personal video on Animoto. http://animoto.com/play/Z1ZeBKYJ35qsSGoeAoUx4Q#

Thing #20

I have used YouTube many of times and I love it. I always use YouTube to watch music videos or funny videos. There is a couple things I really like about YouTube I like that making the accounts are free so that will be extremely helpful for a teacher. Another feature that I like is that you can leave comments or like videos. So I could leave a recommendation on a video and others could do the same to make my video better. The best feature YouTube has is being able subscribe to individuals. This can be very helpful because teachers or historians in my case share videos that can be extremely useful in my classroom. I like the idea of using videos within the classroom because students have many different of absorbing information and some students enjoy videos. Along with using YouTube in classrooms I think adding them to library websites is also beneficial. Videos can help anyone learn with movies, pictures, and music. Especially, in subjects like astronomy when students have to see planets move or rotate, having YouTube available can help better understand. I choose this video about the French Revolution. This video could be useful to show students how much money she spends while teaching about the French Revolution. 

Thing #19

I really enjoyed looking at all the online communities. I always thought the online communities were just social media like Facebook or Twitter. It opened my eyes to find out their were many different website communities based on specific careers, hobbies, and music. I find these social networks very appealing to me. I've always been a media or technology nerd and love to find new and interesting things. The site that really appealed to me was the website for crafts. I have an extreme passion for crafts and to find a blog besides Pinterest to find ideas were great. I have find many different ideas on craftster.org that I could use within my classroom. The ideas on this website aren't limited to making fun decorations but, also for activities and teachings for the classroom. I feel that teachers or anyone who love to make homemade things should join a craft community or anything that strikes their interests. 

Thing #18

It is important for teachers to be able to use social media because it keeps them connected to people all over the world. Teachers can communicate with each other all over the world. Teachers can ask other teachers about what they are doing in their classroom. On the other hand I love all the things Facebook and Twitter have to offer. On Facebook I like that you can create events or groups that you could potentially add parents or colleagues in it. I like that Twitter has it to where you can follow new feeds or people that would help with material in your classroom. I love having a social media sites for my own personal use. I honestly wouldn't want to use either Facebook or Twitter with any students or parents of my students. I feel that if you allow students or their parents to be your friend or follow you on Twitter that it is an invasion of privacy.

 

Thing #17

I joined the tagging website called Delicious today. First off that is an interesting name for a website and it seems cool! I always tag people when I'm on Facebook and Twitter so I might as well do it through a website. When I joined onto the website I could not manage to find anything when I looked under the search bar. I kept trying and trying but, the website kept defaulting me to insert a link. This process became very frustrating. After about fifteen or so minutes I was finally able to see bookmarks under the search educational technology. I found may sources that I could use within my classroom. I like that I can tag any bookmark by just typing a word. I feel that this website and websites that use tagging is very good for teachers and students. They allow you to classify large groups of things. 

Thing #16

I choose to use the calendar on Google. I choose this calendar because I already have a Google account and use Google as my homepage. So I figured it would be the easiest calendar to access. The online calendar is extremely useful to me because I can sync my friends calendars to my calendar. That way we can plan events and activities around each others schedules. It is also helpful because when I start to do parent-teacher conferences can allow parents to see my calendar. That way the parents can sign up for times to meet me around each other schedules. I love the idea of to-do lists. I like having a system that shows me exactly what needs to be done through the day. That way I will not become overwhelmed with tasks. I would recommend any online calendars or to-do lists to any parents, teachers, or students.

Thing #15

 

I know when I was going through high school and currently through college my teachers or professors warned me not to use Wikipedia. They always said "Wikipedia is not a valid source."  At this point in time I somewhat agree with them. One thing I like about Wikipedia is that it is a fast source that gives somewhat accurate information about anything. Wikipedia has almost everything you could possibly need to know quickly. Another feature is that when searching a person it breaks down there life into sections. Currently I looked up Jovan Vladimir for my history class and it broke down everything into life, cult, notes, and references. It was very helpful for a start on my research. One the other hand there is one bad thing that stands out to me about using Wikipedia is that anyone can edit the information. The fact that anyone has the ability to change the information makes this an not creditable source when it comes to research. Besides what I enjoy or do not enjoy about Wikipedia the entire concept of this website it very helpful for quick information.

 

 

 



Thing #14

I have never used organizing charts online before. The experience was actually very simple. I personally out of flowcharts and minds maps prefer flowcharts. Flowcharts are the traditional organizing charts that I was taught when I learned how to create charts in elementary school. I like them because they can be created easily and they can have the color changed on them as well. The mind maps were also easy to use but gave you less creativity than the flowcharts. I am totally going to use these charts on a project in the future.

Thing #13

I really enjoy using online applications and try to use them as much as I can. I currently have a Google Docs account and have used it since high school but, if I had to choose between and Google Docs and Zoho, I prefer Zoho. On Zoho I like that you can do so much more with your account then you can on Google Docs. When I was looking around the website I noticed many applications I can use during college and in my classroom. I'm all about multitasking when I invest my time into things. I  saw on Zoho that the applications were broken down into three application types: business, collaboration, and productivity. I feel that the three different types of applications can be used for my social, professional, and personal life. Some tools that I would use in the social life would be the calendar, chat, and notebook because I like to keep all my activities or plans organized. Within the business applications I would use the quiz maker, comment box, and meetings so, I can help students with assignments and plan parent meetings. In the productivity applications I can use documents, invoices, and books. I could use these applications to keep track of any bills I may have or books I would like to purchase. I highly suggest that anyone use online applications like Google Docs or Zoho to help them with their personal and professional life.