Thing 7

I have just started a final semester project with my students using Microsoft Photo Story 3 where students are making a movie of what they have learned through their reading. I think using Flickr will help student capture pictures they want and will need for their movies. I have not checked yet if this site is blocked at school, but it still would be useful if students could use it at home to save and retrieve pictures. I am definitely not the most proficient with this site, but I believe I will be able to work with it for use at school. Personally, I love to take photos of my family and think this is a great source for me to use to save and share my photos.

Thing 6

This beautiful picture of the sun was found after some searching under the tag "sun". Interestingly enough many pictures under this tag seemed to have nothing to do with a sun. There were pictures of snow covered mountains, flowers, dogs and families. Since everyone thinks differently about naming their photos, it could definitely take time to use Flickr if you needed to find a certain picture.
I liked this picture, because I am definitely a summer person and as a sit here looking at some rainy, snow coming down outside, my need for the summer sun has just increased.

Thing 5

I struggle with the concept of keeping up to date with information from blogs. I feel as though I lack some interest in sitting at my computer and reading what others are saying about a given topic. Maybe I just need to put this into my daily routine, though it seems very foreign to me. I did like the way that feeds could be organized into folders. This was a good starting point for me today.

Professionally, I see it as a wealth of information, just being able to search accurately for information will be my first hurdle. I am interested in reading about the latest teaching strategies and classroom lesssons (especially in the area of reading). I want to be more effecient so I can use this tool more effectively with my students.

Thing 4

Frustration set in some on this "thing". Not because of what was being presented, but I was not getting my blogline validated and it slowed me down. Now that things are working, I am glad to be able to have another way to manage information. After creating the blog, I was worried about a way to read through all the posts that could come in at one time. But now I understand that new information could be filtered through bloglines and therefore making the time at the computer essential.

I am still amazed at the technology out there. I am fortunate to be putting myself into a situation where I have to learn it...I feel like a first year teacher, with so much information in front of me. But I think my experience will help me manage what I want to do with it.

Thing 3

Of course my first thoughts when searching through many blogs was how will I encorporate this in my classroom. But my vision also broadened when I thought about the other areas of work that I am involved in. I think I may set my sights on our faculty/staff book club. This may be an easy tool to get more involved in our book club. Discussion topics, thoughts, books we have read, books we want to read could be visible for the whole school community to witness and feel apart of.

In my classroom, I think I will begin simply by posting assignments. Since the nature of my class is students reading books, I would like to set up a way for students to post book reviews and/or thoughts about the book they are currently reading. As I have told my students since day one of class, we are not in the business of doing book reports, we are in the business of thinking. Therefore, having a blog where students can post what they are thinking based on the book they are reading, all the better. I want students to think about what they are reading and how it is changing them. A blog would be another great tool for students to show their thinking.

Thing 1 & 2

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to re-think technology. I am participating in 23 Things because I know that avoiding technology is not the right thing to do and this opportunity will help to enhance what I do in the classroom. I hope to learn more ways to communicate with my students, but I aim to provide them with more avenues to communicate with me. The statistics in the video for Thing 1 were outstanding and devastating to me. As a teacher I need to be on the cutting edge when it comes to communicating with students. I work with high school students and I know they are all cell phone, email and computer savy teenages, whom I need to befriend their knowledge and expertise instead of shying away from it. Writing on the internet has not been a focus for me - though I now see it as another avenue to reach students. Why should I miss out of this opportunity? I think I have always been sceptical of the validity of internet writing, making everyone think they are an expert on something. But used properly and in the correct arena it's really just another teachable moment. I am exciting that I have finally created a blog...I'm on my way.