Reflections

I loved 99.99% of all aspects of this project. I liked the whole idea of iGoogle and ImageChef, to name a few. I think the only thing I can quibble about is the lack of time I had to really explore each activity to its full potential.

I really feel like I can approach teaching differently now, because I know what is out there in terms of technology. I plan to try to stay internet savvy and keep up with what's new and what's cool about the internet. I love so much about what the internet has to offer, and I think a great deal of it is useful to education.

I plan to create another blog over the winter break that I can use to list all the cool new things I've found. I'd like to update it at least twice a week with come cool new thing, or an expansion of a thing I have already discovered. I also would like to create a personal blog.

Thing #23

I like the idea of Creative Commons. To be honest, I had no idea about copyrights or anything of that nature before this class. I think it's really important not to make that mistake with my future students. I want my students to understand what it means when something is copyrighted with all or some rights reserved. I also want them to understand in what ways those laws apply to them. Even our project, APSU 23 Things is liscensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike Liscense.

Thing #22

The podcast I chose to include was an "eco-funny podcast" about Recycling and it is from Podcast.com. The link to the episode is: MoreHipThanHippie I didn't really like any of the other podcast directories. They seemed a little complicated to me. I liked the general layout of Podcast.com and they offer a lot of the same podcasts as the other directories. I think I might listen to podcasts more regularly now, especially those concerning the environment and those that pertain to education. I don't feel that I am ready to join the world of podcasters, but maybe soon?

Thing #21

My experience with Animoto was GREAT! I've used slide show wizards before, like Rock You and other similar applications. None of those are like Animoto. I love how the music plays alongside the video, and I love the effects. I feel like my video turned out great, and I'm very pleased with this discovery! I have already shared my video with some of my MySpace friends. Here's my video:

Thing #20

For some reason, when I go to YouTube, I am always drawn to the funny videos. After I wasted some time looking at funny videos, I found this parody of a rap song "The Way I Are." The parody is called "Bad Grammar" and I'm sure you can see why just from the title of the other song. I thought the vido was humorous, and I thought other English-minded folks would get a laugh out of it! I tried embedding this video, and I thougth I did everything right, but apparently not. So here's the video:
Bad Grammar - The Way I Are Parody ft. HotforWords

I definitely think YouTube videos and videos from other sources have a place in the classroom. I think it's great how it is so easy now to find a video to illustrate your point.

Thing #19

I thought the setup for the TeacherPop sight was very similar to the setup on Facebook. I like the site, and I like how we are all there! I could not for the life of me figure out how to add the Ning badge.

I moved on to the 43 Things site and signed up there. I like this community because people can announce their goals and receive support from others in the community. I have only put one goal on my page so far, but I plan to expand it soon. I just don't want to have too many goals at one time. I definitely feel like I will continue to make use of this community.

Thing #18

This one was easy. I have had a MySpace account for a few years now. Here it is. A lot of good and bad can come from these social networking sites. Educators can use these sites to help their students interact with one another, but teachers must be careful with their MySpace or Facebook accounts because being a teacher means being professional. I love social networking sites. I also have an account with Facebook, but I don't use it nearly as often, so I won't link it. I feel that both sites have a lot to offer. Facebook has recently come up with a lot of ways in which people can personalize their pages, and MySpace has recently adopted a lot of the applications previously found only on Facebook. I think Facebook might have a place in the classroom, but I don't really feel that MySpace belongs in the classroom because so many things could go wrong. Imagine if students started getting in trouble because of things posted on their MySpace pages...