Last Thing

My favorite thing was Thing 21. I enjoyed creating the Animoto and it was simple to do. It created a way to make a short video with your pictures. This has affected my lifelong goals because this has shown me many things I can use in my classroom such as Flickr and online generators. One take away that I did not like was the Livebinders. I thought it was difficult to use and it would probably be difficult for students to use in the classroom. I was a little surprised to see Twitter as one of the things. I would not expect that to be used in a classroom. The only thing I would improve would be that some of these things I felt were unnecessary. Some of these seemed to be more work then help. This will influence me as a teacher because it has shown me different types of technology that I can use in the classroom. I plan to keep up with the new developments in 2.0 by keeping my blog open and checking back on it to see what new things have been discovered. I also will make a resolution to use some of these things in my future classroom.

Thing 23

This post is about Creative Commons. According to creativecommons.org, the creative commons symbol means that anyone can share and adapt the material. They can copy and change the material. They must give credit to the author, provide a link to the license and indicate if any changes were made. You cannot use the material for commercial purposes and if you change or add on to the material, your contributions have to be under the original license. The 23 Things blog is a creative commons because it can be changed but credit still has to be given to the author.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.  This can be used in the future because if I were to come up with something and someone else tries to add on to my idea, I would still get credit for it since the idea was mine originally.

Thing 22

I had never heard of Livebinders before doing this blog. When I first started trying to do this, I was frustrated because I was struggling on what to do. Even with the tutorial, I was still having problems and I could not understand what to do. After looking at the tips for Livebinders, I finally began to understand what to do. I feel that being able to use Livebinders could be helpful in the classroom because the students would be able to keep certain websites in one folder so there will be easy access to it.

http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=1600042

Thing 21

https://animoto.com/play/rwsuLxJdEPXdrifCfrMWkw

I really enjoyed using the Animoto website. I had never heard of this website before having to do this blog and it is something that I will keep on using. It's good for making short videos with any pictures you would like. This would be great for families and sending videos to other people. This would be good to use in the classroom because most students would like making the videos and this could be used for projects and assignments.

Thing 20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDmUdZwwq2I

YouTube is a very popular website to watch all kinds of videos about any subject. There is a popular website with YouTube call Teacher tube just for teachers with videos that they can use in their lessons and classroom. I like using YouTube and watching different videos.  have also used Teacher tube in some of my other classes and it is a great way to incorporate technology into the classroom. I chose to use this link because it talks about giving tips for special education teachers and since I am going to be a special education teacher, this is going to help me. I would definitely use Youtube and Teacher Tube in my classroom because it has many ways to teach lessons and make them fun. One application that I liked on there was called Kidyos. It is a kid friendly website that has educational material for kids such as games and videos.

http://www.go2web20.net/app/?a=kidyos

Thing 18

Before I took this class,  I did not even have a Twitter. To me, I did not see the point in Twitter. I only thought that people wrote what their opinions down and other people followed them. When I created my Twitter account, I felt that it was more then what I thought. When  typed in some of the educational hash tags that were on the list, I felt that it did not give me good resources. I felt that I did not learn anything from it. The only way I feel that this could be used in the classroom would be for students to socialize with one another. I do feel that it is good for the teacher to understand what social networking is because it is a big part of our students lives and it can affect them in positive and negative ways.

https://twitter.com/hlowery86

Thing 19

Social networking has become a big part of our everyday lives. It seems like everyone is part of some social network. I am a part of Facebook and I check it daily. I like it because it helps me to keep up with my family members and friends out of town. I can also post my personal thoughts and do other things such as play quizzes. I am also a member of Instagram, which is another social network where people like to post their pictures. I do not visit this site that often because I feel that Facebook is better. The Classroom 2.0 and the Teacher Librarian are two good sources for teachers to use to find ideas and things to use in their classroom. I like how teachers can find different lesson plans or activities to use in their classroom. On the Classroom 2.0 website, one teacher asked about including all students in the classroom. Other teachers posted to respond to their question by giving tips and advice. I find this to be helpful since I am going to be a special education teacher and teachers have trouble including their special education students with their regular education students.

Thing 17

The Delicious website can be good for trying to find different ideas and research quickly. When I typed in educational technologies, lots of different websites and ideas came up. I clicked on a couple and I saw ideas for teachers in the classroom. There were also ideas for activities for students to do in the classroom. When I clicked on the Classroom 2.0 website, there were places where teachers could blog about different issues. It helps teachers with teaching technology in the classroom. Another one I clicked on was the techlearning.com where it had more ideas for using technology in the classroom. I think that Delicious can be used in the classroom because it would be a way for students to incorporate technology in the classroom and they can research different topics.

Thing 16

The start page that I decided to use was the ustart.org. I thought it was pretty cool being able to create a page and putting whatever you would like on it. You can put anything from the weather to Facebook to TV shows on your page. This one appealed to me the most because I like the layout and the freedom to create whatever you want. I would make this my home page because it describes me and things that I like to do. Online calenders can be useful in many ways such as keeping up with appointments, knowing when events are coming up and also being able to decorate them however you want. Some tools that I would recommend to use in the classroom are Zamzar or Pdfconverter. These would be good for converting a document or even concerting Mp3 and Mp4 files. This is a good technology for students to use to teach them about different options they would have.

Thing 15

I decided to post my Thing 9 on the apsu23thingssandbox. I enjoyed creating the online generator. It would be fun for the students in the classroom to be creative while they are learning. I added an entry and changed the font, size and color of my post. I like using wiki and websites such as wikipedia. I have been taught that Wikipedia was not a reliable source because anybody can just put information on their whether it is true or not.

Thing 14

Being able to create a flowchart would be a great tool to use in a classroom. Flowcharts are different ways for students to understand a concept, especially in English. I went to flowchart.com and created a simple flow chart about the "Three Little Pigs". I felt that it was challenging for me to use this website and it would probably be challenging for my students, especially since I will be teaching special education. I also tried the bubbl.us brainstorming map and I like creating this. This would be good to use for story maps or brainstorming for a paper.

Thing 13

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1giycXFGaQlM6-piqEqKlVcW7Vxv7qKXq9302FUoKKlY/pub

I like the Google Drive feature. This can be used in the classroom because it is just like the Microsoft Office collection. The teacher or school would not have to pay for the Microsoft Office collection, they could just use Google Drive. There is a feature for documents, spreadsheets, PowerPoint, and drawings. This is also good because it automatically saves in the Google Drive so you would not need a flash drive to save your work. Zoho also looks like it could be good, but to me it seems more for business people and not students. Even when you go to the website, it tells you it is a business site. I would rather use Google Drive because it seems easier to use and it would be better for students to use in the classroom.

Thing 12

Everyone knows what Google is but I did not know that Google had so many things that it can do. The first link I explored was the Google books. I love to read and so this was obviously one of my choices. All you have to do is type in a title or author of a book and it pops up with a description and how you can get the book either by eBook, sending it through the mail or finding it at a library. This can be used for education purposes because a student can look up a book that they need or at least find some information about the book. This can also be helpful for college students when they are buying their books for school.

The other link that I looked at for Google was the Google translator. All you have to do is type in anything in the box, then you can translate it to any kind of language. The example I used was English to French. This is good for students because if they are in a foreign language class, then this can help them with translating. It could also help students who are ELL because they can translate phrases into their native language to understand better.

https://translate.google.com/#en/fr/Hello%2C%20my%20name%20is%20Heather%20and%20I%20go%20to%20Austin%20Peay%20State%20University.

Thing 11

Me personally, I found it easiest to use the blog search engine.org and the edublog to help me find different blogs and feeds. With the blog search engine all I had to do was type in any subject it gave me plenty of options to choose from. The Edublog has all kinds of blogs to use for education. I liked looking up the teacher blogs. Seeing what they post on their blogs helps me to see that teachers are just regular people who make mistakes. Nobody's perfect. I didn't find any blogs that were confusing for me but with the Technorati feed I didn't like how you had to create an account to use it. I just want to search without having to do that. One of the main and useful feeds is Google and Yahoo. Google had always been my number one search engine. While browsing the cooking section, I did run into some interesting dishes such as pork shoulder soup. For the most part, I found several different ways to search for feeds based on interests.

Thing 10

This post is describing RSS or (Really Simple Syndication). This gives you the opportunity to access updated content on the Internet from one website. RSS allows you to get subscribe to content and have it delivered to you automatically. This was made so that it can be easier for people to get information from their favorite websites without having to go to all of the different ones. I like how you can choose what websites you want to add to your reader based on your interests. It makes it easier to access the websites b going to just one. I could use this technology in school because it allows the students to use the Internet and find the different websites based on their interests. I would also use this for my personal use to get ideas from things that I like. I like the articles that are in the education websites because they could help me as a teacher. I could use the advice and ideas that my colleagues are posting for my own classroom. Being able to use RSS would help us move forward with technology.

Thing 9

This post is about using online generators to create different words and phrases. This can be used in the classroom as projects and activities for the students to do. It shows creativity and personality. It can also be good for teachers to make their lessons more creative and fun. These would be good to use in the library to describe books or videos. It can also be used for personal use to show personality.

This image was created using an online generator and I chose this because I thought it was cute and it reminded me of Christmas, which is my favorite holiday.
http://www.customsigngenerator.com/

This image was created using an online generator. I chose this one because it has Bart Simpson on it and some students might would recognize him. It also has a chalkboard which has to do with school and it warns the students to behave.
http://www.customsigngenerator.com/

This image was created using a smiley face generator. I chose this image because I like to dance and this smiley is ready to party. I would use this for my personal use.
http://www.happyfacegenerator.com/

Thing 8

I think that the mashups for Flickr are a fun way to explore different ways of using graphics. There was one where you pick a color and the pictures would come up based on the color you choose. There was another mashup where you can upload a photo and it would create a puzzle out of your photo. I really liked that one. This can be used in the classroom by students and teachers. Being able to use Flickr in the classroom can help with learning and lesson planning by allowing students to be creative and show the way they can change things to make it better. This can be used for my personal life by showing my creative side and showing my personality. I do not think that it is a problem sharing photos online as long as the photos are appropriate and that the person who uploaded the photos gave permission to use the photos. This is a photo I created using mashup jigsaw.

Thing 7

This is my first time using Flickr and I must say it has been a different experience. I thought it was cool being able to type in any key words and having different kinds of pictures come up. I like how you can use images for whatever you are discussing. This can be used in the classroom by incorporating it into lessons and students could also use this for presentations. I typed in the search box schools and all kinds of pictures of schools came up. Then I typed in the word classroom. That's where I chose this picture from. I chose this picture because it is a classroom like I would like to have. It is colorful, their are different types of chairs besides desks and it looks organized. This is also a good way to get ideas for things such as lessons or how to decorate your classroom.

https://flic.kr/p/8rrLmg

Thing 6

The GoWeb2.0 website is a good resource to use. I like how it breaks down the search for you by categories. There is a special section just for teachers. When I clicked on the teachers tab, there were several websites that teachers could use. The one that jumped out at me was called gameclassroom.com. It is a website for teachers, students and parents between the kindergarten and sixth grade. There are worksheets, math games and other educational games for students  by grade level. There are lesson plans for different subjects for teachers to use in their classroom. There are also videos that the teacher can incorporate into their lessons. The website is also colorful and kid friendly which I like. This application can be used for the classroom or library. There are reading and language arts games that can be used for the library.

Thing 5

Before this blog, I had no idea what Web 2.0 was. After looking at articles about it, I realized how this website could help with teaching in the classroom. With Web 2.0, there are different applications that can be used such as presentation tools to upgrade how PowerPoint are created, video tools to put videos into a presentation, mobile tools for pod casting, media sharing and blogging,and community tools such as social networking where teachers can communicate with their students. Web 2.0 is the future of education because everything has to do with technology now and the more we integrate it into the education system, the better it will be for our students. This technology will allow us as teachers to take our lessons to the next level. The students will be able to learn better by creating better presentations for them in the classroom. School 2.0 means a lot to me because we as educators have to be able to keep up with society and technology. According to the article Teacher 2.0, teachers deal more with technology than the average adult, which is good since we have to teach the students. Being able to be involved with this technology is crucial towards our student's future.

Thing 4

Thing 3

Writing a blog can be useful for teacher education programs because it can help other people who are trying to be teachers. Being able to see what other people are thinking can be helpful to others that are going through the same things or situations. Seeing other colleagues blogs can help you to relate to issues they are dealing with and you can offer advice to them. It's a good opportunity to get tips and learn from others. Keeping a blog in your classroom would be good for your students because it would give them an opportunity to express themselves and they can post about how they feel about things. This could also show the students how much alike they actually think and they can help others by answering each others questions or by encouraging each other.

Thing 2

I have no previous experience in making a blog. Before I started this blog, I had no idea how to make a blog. I decided on my blog name and post because I am original and I just used my name Heather Lowery. My experience in creating this blog was hard for me. I did not know how to create avatars or upload images before this class. I created an avatar that looks like me because that's who I am. I have hair that is brown/black that touches my shoulder and brown eyes. I created a pink shirt because pink is one of my favorite colors and jeans because I like to wear jeans. My avatar has sneakers on because I like to be comfortable and wear sneakers. The sneakers match the shirt because I like for my outfits to match. I'm an easy going person and I can change my look whenever I have to.

Thing 1

I think that the easiest habit for me to do out of the 7 1/2 things is habit one: to begin with a goal in mind. This is easy for me because I always make goals for myself whether big or small. I try to always achieve my goals and if I come up short, I can see what I need to do next time to make it. The hardest habit for me would be habit four: Have confidence in yourself as a competent, reflective learner. This is hard for me because I'm always questioning myself and wondering if I'm doing things right. Sometimes, I do not have confidence in myself and it's hard for me to believe I'm doing things right because I feel that I can always improve myself. I need to understand that what I'm doing is good enough. My experience in setting up this blog was challenging to me because I have never kept a blog before and I had to learn what to do. I'm not a very creative person, so trying to create this blog was not fun for me. I don't mind writing down my feelings because I feel that its good to let them out. I just wish that they already had a blog already with photos and sayings, but then it wouldn't be my own so I see why they did not do that. I want to learn how to keep a blog and to see examples of other people's blogs. I hope I end up doing this right.