One Last Thing...

I really enjoyed this "class." I put that in quotes because it was really fun, so I'm not even sure I would call it that! :)

The 23 Things have really given me some great tools to spice up my classroom teaching! This is such a technology driven time period when every student walking in my door has a Facebook, Myspace, or cell phone they can text on from under their desk! It is so important to reach out to students by integrating things they are interested in into the lessons and even outside the classroom. I know I won't be able to incorporate ALL 23 things, or maybe not even more than one starting off, but I am definitely going to make the push toward a technology powered and FUN classroom! There are so many tools at my disposal just waiting to be used.

I loved the 23 Things, and would definitely be interested in learning some new "things" in the future!

Thing #23- Ning

My overall impressions of Ning are that it is very cool and user friendly! I really like the Classroom 2.0 Ning because it gives me a place to ask questions and see others questions about technology in the classroom. I think it's so neat how it emails the group members when something is posted so they don't have to check it every ten minutes. I think that is helpful and one major reason why responses to questions and comments are so quick on the Ning.

I think Ning is much more conducive to a classroom than MySpace and Facebook. As I stated in my previous post, there is such a fine line educators must adhere to on Facebook or Myspace due to it's personal nature. On Ning, there is not as much personal information about the members, so it is a great tool for classrooms! It is also harder to "find" people, so I think it is definitely safer for students! I think it would be a great tool for students to post homework questions. I would like to set up a Ning for my classes and give students a deadline to post questions that I will answer or even a "chat" set up in real time for an hour or so on homework nights.

Thing #22- Facebook

My Facebook Page

I am a Facebook guru. Really, I am! :) I use Facebook often to keep up with family and friends and reconnect with old friends.

I think it is important to for educators to know how these sites work because MOST of our students HAVE THEM! It is also critical to teach students that anything they post on the Internet can be seen by anyone around the world. It is an amazing and scary thought. The networking possibilities are endless, but students especially should be careful about what they are telling everyone.

Tammy brings up an awesome point- employers use social networking sites to get background information on potential candidates before hiring, and many of them may use it to check on their employees. It is important to be professional not only in the workplace, but on our social networking profiles! It is all for fun and games, but a quick reminder that employers can see your information along with friends and family members can keep you out of trouble!

I do think there could be educational uses for social networking tools like Facebook. For example, creating a Facebook page for your classes or study tips. However, as educators we must be extremely careful that we don't cross the line between professional/teacher and "friend" with our students when it comes to social networking sites. It is definitely something to think about!

Thing #7b- Google Reader Revisited

I found this post in my Google Reader yesterday that piqued my interest since I am a Math teacher. The post informed me of an hour long Webinar tomorrow evening on Egyptian Math. It is supposed to show the history of math and give great ideas for cross-curricular planning with History. I plan to "attend" it! :)

Thing #21- Google Tools

The two tools I chose to explore were Picasa and Sketch Up.

I really like Picasa! I take TONS of photos, and currently I use an editing software online that I like, but it doesn't allow me to save my creations. Picasa is online, easy, FREE, and I can save my photos to it so that I don't lose my work or have to search for them later! I enjoyed playing around with Picasa and uploading to my albums. Here is one of the creations I made.


Google Sketch Up is also really fun and definitely has uses for my classroom! Seventh grade is the second year that students will be introduced to and use solids in math. I especially love how Sketch Up allows the user to "push and pull" the shape to make it smaller or bigger. I would love for students to use this tool and then the measuring tape to find measurements of their solids and then go on to find the area of the base and the volume of the solid. I also think with the push and pull tool, it is easy for students to see the difference in volume of a shape with the change of only a few inches on one side. I think this tool is most useful in middle school because it is visual and hands on. Many of my students have trouble with the measurement concept because it is hard for them to visualize the shapes and the changing of the shapes. Using Google Sketch Up, students don't have to visualize it, they can create it on their own!

Thing #20- Google Docs

I guess I have been using Google Docs for quite a while and didn't realize it! Haha!

Here is the document I created. I used a sample picture, but I would really like to get one math related or even one of the front of our school or classroom and use this document for parents to view when school starts. I will link it to my Moodle, which you can find here. Right now there is a password on the 7th grade Math moodle because we used it for a quiz at the end of the year, but after updating it, we will remove the password and my Google document will be available under my class for students and parents to view.

Three ways I can use Google docs/spreadsheets/presentations in my classroom:

1. Google Docs- EASY way for students and parents to see information! Due to the limited availability of Internet to some of my students, I would still send home a paper version, but I would make certain that parents knew where to find an online version so that the excuse "I lost it..." won't apply anymore! :)

2. Spreadsheets- I am the cheer coach at my school. I know there are times that the girls and myself need to get ahold of each other. I have made a spreadsheet (not on Google, but in Excel, you know, the "old school" print it out and copy it? ha!) of each girl and myself and cell and home phone numbers. However, I am almost certain 3/4 of the have lost it by now AND many of them have changed numbers or did not give me every number available to call them. By setting up a Google Spreadsheet, the girls and myself can update it with numbers and contact information anywhere at anytime! Also, there isn't any fear of losing it since it is at our fingertips online. Because this document would include contact information for students, I would definitely have to make it private and add the girls as viewers and users by email addresses!

3. Presentations- WOW! What a great way to do a "group project" without using tons of classtime. Instead of one student having to do all of a presentation or saving to a flash drive or emailing back and forth, all group members can collectively and collaboratively work on a presentation together! I love this feature! It really would have saved me some headaches in college had I known about it! Haha!! :)

Thing #19- Voice Thread

This was my first encounter with Voice Thread, but I think it is very cool! I really like how there are several different ways to comment, so that every commenter does not necessarily have to have a microphone, but can also type their comments too! It allows for more participation among all commenters!

I think I would like to use this in my classroom in conjunction with presentations. I think Voice Thread is a great way for students to comment on each other's presentations. It could even be possible to have students view their classmates' presentations online and to leave a specific comment about something they liked. This could ensure the teacher that each student viewed all presentations and could be used as a participation or audience grade. I also think that students will appreciate using Voice Thread because it is different from the norm and would definitely be interactive and fun!

Thing #18- YouTube and TeacherTube

To be honest, I don't use YouTube much. I know in years past it has been blocked by our district filter, so I couldn't even tell you if it available for use on our campuses or not. Ha! I do really like TeacherTube and have used videos from there in lessons in the classroom. YouTube has such a VAST amount of videos, that it kind of overwhelms me to search it. I did become familiar with the specific tags I needed to search and discovered that the more tags you put in, the less videos are returned in your search. That helped me not to be so overwhelmed. I found several interesting videos on YouTube and TeacherTube that could be used to facilitate lessons in the classroom. I try to stay away from BORING at all costs (because if I as the teacher don't even want to watch it, my students definitely won't want to!), and I found some great funny and cartoon type videos that I could use to beef up my lessons! I found the video below on my 5th or 6th search, and it is pretty funny to me! I think I will play it for my students during the first week of school to break the ice and get the discussion going about the importance of math and why we learn. Enjoy!

Thing #17- Podcasting

I currently use podcasting to listen to one of my favorite preachers, Matt Chandler, from the Village Church. Every one of his sermons is made into a podcast. I subscribe to the podcast in iTunes and it automatically updates into my iTunes every time there is a new podcast added. Each time I plug my iPod into my computer, the new podcasts are put onto my iPod. I LOVE IT! I can listen to it in the car or working out or anything really.

I have never used podcasting with students, but I can definitely see where it could have uses. Podcast directories are just another avenue we as teachers have to visit for resources. We could show podcasts in the classroom, or get adventurous and make our own! I could definitely see value in explaining mathematical concepts via podcast and allowing students to subscribe to them for extra help, or even posting them on a class website.

Some of the podcasts I viewed/listened to and enjoyed are The Math Factor Podcast, Teachers Teaching Teachers (I subscribed to that one!), and The Teachers Podcast on iTunes.

Thing #16- Books, Books, Books!

I love to read. It is one of my favorite summer activities. Because I teach math, I'm not sure there's too much I could do with my students in Library Thing, but I will definitely use it personally! I really liked the suggestion tool. I had fun typing in some of my favorite books and viewing other books I might like! I think the 50 Book Challenge is really cool, especially since there aren't strict "rules" for the group, so it's something I think I would enjoy! I also loved that people posted reviews on books they had read, so I could get an idea of other books I might like! I liked seeing the word clouds as well to see how other people tagged books I had read and searching tags I like to see other books in that category. Definitely a fun tool to use for a hobby I enjoy! :)

Thing #15- Delicious

I have never heard of Delicious, but after looking at it and practicing, I am pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to use! I love being able to press the "TAG" button and quickly enter my tags. After tagging a few sites, I noticed that suggested tags were provided for me. I used some of those, but also added my own! I really think I will use Delicious now that I know about it! I search the Internet a lot (especially during my off time in the summer!) and will often find a decorating tip or recipe I want to try, and I have to bookmark it, type something I will remember, and then the trick is remembering that I bookmarked it later on. I have tons of bookmarked sites that I forgot I even had in the first place. By using delicious, I can tag all my recipes, decorating ideas, travel sites, etc. without all the hassle- so easy!

I searched for interactive math lessons and games. Here is my delicious page. I think this could be very useful for educators because it is an easy way to share our favorite education links all in one place! For example, I could email my colleagues a link to my delicious page and they would automatically have the math links I have bookmarked at their disposal. Cool! And EASY- I like easy!

Thing #7a- Google Reader

I have said before that I really like David Warlick's blog. He takes things that seem to simple and so obvious and says them in a way that makes me think...very cool! Last week, he posted about the problem with students not knowing simple every day things that we learned in school and may take for granted, especially students who come from poverty. Two things he writes really jumped out at me (they are bold in his post, so hopefully they jump out at you too!). :) Our students can't imagine the possibilities for the future if they don't know about the present. But (here's the kicker..ha), the present can't be TAUGHT, it must be DISCOVERED. His post is definitely worth reading- it's not very long and is thought provoking!

Thing #14- Play time!

The first tool I played with was 30 Boxes. I have an obsession with calendars. I write EVERYTHING in my calendar: big events, small events, lunches- ha! I really liked it. I don't think I'm ready to give up my desk and purse calendars quite yet, but I did see lots of uses for this type of calendar in the classroom. Since it is updated online, I think it could be useful to use sort of like a wiki where a team of educators can update the calendar with meetings, lessons, etc. as they see fit. Also, I think it could be useful to inform parents of upcoming activities by inviting them as buddies so they could view the calendar or posting the calendar link on a class blog. It also has a status option to let students or parents (or just friends) any upcoming events or important information. I only added a few things so far, but here is a link to my calendar! Also, since it's online, it's pretty hard to lose- a major plus! :)

Some of my favorite things about 30 Boxes:

• I can add my to-do list to my Google Reader...sweet!! :)
• I can tag my entries to make categories (weddings, birthdays, school, fun)
• I can get an email each day with a "run-down" of things going on
• OR I can just get email reminders for specific events

I also played around with Wordle. I made a wordle using this blog. You can view it here. I really like that you can post your wordle for anyone to see. It was cool looking at the different word clouds that had been posted!


I also think PollDaddy is really cool! I added a simple and fun poll above to my blog, so you can check it out and let me know what you think! If your answer is not there, you can even add your own! I LOVE the fact that I can put a poll on a blog or website and get feedback- how cool for teachers and parents to communicate quickly!!

Thing #13- Mash Ups

I created these with Spell with flickr.







I used Image Chef for these.







I thought the Flickr Color Pickr was really cool, but every photo I clicked on for each color was copyrighted all rights reserved. Since I couldn't use any of those photos, I started playing around with some of the other generators. Image Chef was probably my favorite. I think pictures add interest for students. If I put images into my lessons that capture the interest of my students, they may remember the concepts as they connect them to pictures. I especially liked the soccer jersey generator because so many of my students LOVE soccer. Putting a soccer jersey into a lesson or using it to capture my students attention would probably be a big hit!

Thing #12- My Slideshow

My slideshow does not have captions because I want students to decide if each picture shows similarity or congruence.

Photo Credits:
Multiplication by Geometry by SputSoft
Left Hand Rotation by lefthandrotation
Similar Figures by sogni_hal
Signed multiplication by geometry by SputSoft
Blue, Red, Gray, Green by Robert Hruzek

Thing #11- Flickr

I have never really explored or used Flickr before today. I really liked the option to search within CC guidelines because it saved me lots of time and confusion! I searched for several different topics, but I saved photos for the topic of Similar Figures and Congruent Figures. My students usually have trouble with these concepts because they get them confused and mix them up. I would like to use pictures to show students the meanings of similar and congruent so that it will stick with them.

For example, I could use this photo to show similar figures:

Multiplication by Geometry by SputSoft

I searched for many other topics, and it took me a while to get the hang of the tags. There are certain tags that did not produce the results I wanted, so I had to modify the search term to be more specific. I also had better luck with searching using the tags only instead of searching all text.

I definitely think Flickr is useful to educators, especially given the ease with which we can search photos that are okay for us to use. I really think this will be helpful when teaching vocabulary, particularly new vocabulary words or words that are difficult and very abstract. I also think this tool will be extremely helpful in teaching vocabulary to English Language Learners.