Thing #23 Summary

YAY!!!! I have finally completed the course! I had a great time going through all the "things" and blogging about my experiences. I have enjoyed blogging so much that I want to keep up my blog and hope that I can find something interesting to blog about! I feel that my favorite discovery would have to be the mashups and third party sites. I love the sites that you can go to to manipulate pictures and images. I love taking pictures and having fun changing them up for example the picture of me as a cartoon or with my new hair and body ;). This program has really opened my eyes to what is out there and what I can do on the web. I want to continue learning about what is out there and how to use that information in the classroom. I never knew that there were sites that you can use just to bookmark your favorite pages! I am def. going to continue using that site. Rollyo is another site that I will take from this experience. It is really cool that you can search several sites at one time. I think that this is a great program and I don't think I would change it at all. It was easy to follow and gave me plenty of resources to use to complete each "thing." I would def. want to participate in another one of these programs. I would like to have more time to complete the program such as at my own pace instead of just a couple of weeks but I would love to learn more about web 2.0. If I could describe my experience in just one word or phrase I would say "eye opening" because it really opened my eyes to what is out there that I didn't know about.

Thing #22 Ning

Ning is a website that lets you create your own social network. It is great that you can meet people and join groups of people that share your interest. With Ning you can learn information and apply it. I found many sites for teachers. Some for teachers in general such as Teach Like a Rock Star and some for specific subjects such as I Teach Social Studies. I am going to join I Teach Social Studies because well I teach social studies and I could use ideas for my classroom. If you don't find anything for you to join make one of your own! You have the ability to create your own social networking site. So get out there and socialize!!!

Thing # 21 Podcasts and videocasts

I have never created a podcast or videocast before. I was excited to get to learn about how to use photostory but I had no idea what to make! I decided to make one of my house remodel. I think these are great for kids because they can make them as part of a project that they are doing in class. To show what they learned or for a science demonstration. I think kids would enjoy making one of these I know I did!

Thing #20 YouTube and TeacherTube

I was so excited when I was found that we were getting to explore YouTube and TeacherTube. I frequently look at YouTube and I am excited that I get to share one of my favorite videos and I am sure many of you are familiar with this video. I first saw it when I went to my mom's house and we were playing on YouTube. She asked me if I saw this video and I was like ummm no I haven't see it and she and I watched this video and I loved it! The funny thing was that that happened on a Saturday and the very next Monday my students came to school talking about that same video! So that is why I have to share it with you. Even if you have seen it, watch it and enjoy it again!
I have never really explored TeacherTube but I have known teachers to use it. When I explored it I found some videos but what I don't like about it is that when you search something they will give you anything with at least one of those words in it and may have nothing to do with what you typed in. I also don't like how it doesn't have an advanced search so when I search for videos I can't limit them to elementary and I am stuck looking through all the videos for h/s and college to get to the few that are elementary. I did find one video that I could use to introduce the solar system. It goes fast so I would have to pause it to go over each of the planets.
The Solar System

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Thing #19 Web 2.0 Awards List

Ok, So I went to the awards list and of course I went straight to the "fun" category. I chose the Hair Mixer and had sooo much fun!!! You not only get to see yourself with new hair but with a new body too! Maybe this will inspire me to lose weight??? But here is the picture that I created:
Many of these could be used in the classroom but I chose to look at one for fun! I like to play around with pictures and enjoyed this one! Here is the site if you would like to make one of your own: http://www.hairmixer.com/ Enjoy :)

Thing #18 online productivity tools

Well....this stuff is pretty cool!!! I tried to download open office and it was taking wayyyyyy toooo long and quite frankly I just don't have the time. Soooo I tried Google Docs. I never knew this existed! It is great for students at school to use on the computers that don't have Microsoft office or for college students that just don't have the money to buy office just yet. I know that I cringed when I bought office 2007 and it wasn't even professional and it cost a buttload. The upside to Google Docs is that it is FREE!!! You can create excel spread sheets, power point and word documents at no cost. The downside is that you don't get many options such as font types and colors and many other tools that you would get with Office. Google Docs is great for simple projects but if you need to create something complex you would def. need Microsoft Office. Check out Google Docs and see for yourself: http://doc.google.com

Thing #17 Rollyo

What a cool tool! This would be great for the classroom because I could build a search engine for the kids that have kid friendly search engines so they could get the experience of finding their own sites with kid friendly information but the teacher still has some control of where they go. Check out my rollyo: Just one click...: http://rollyo.com/ashleyshsu06/just_1_click../