In Closing...

Well, like everyone else has said, I learned a lot by doing these blogs. I was surprised time and time again by all of the useful resources we studied. I'll be able to utilize nearly every tool we learned about as I enter into my teaching career. I enjoyed a lot of the exercises like Animoto, Mosaic Maker, and others. The only negative one would be the "Creative Commons"- but only because I found it a little boring. I definitely understand the importance of learning about Creative Commons... it just wasn't entertaining like a lot of the other tools. Overall, I learned a lot with this exercise, and I look forward to taking advantage of (and building on) my new found knowledge in the future.

Thing # 23

At the bottom of the "23 Things" web page, there is a "credits" section that says the site was borrowed and duplicated with permission, under a Creative Commons license. I never would have though twice about all that mess before taking this class. Because we've already created a project pertaining to Creative Commons, this wasn't necessarily new to me, but it was a couple of months ago. Through Creative Commons, I'll have a better understanding of what it takes to borrow, share, and utilize documents or programs created by other educators. Perhaps I'll eventually create something that I want to have a Creative Commons license on, so I can share my work with other teachers.

Thing # 22

I listened to a couple of obscure podcasts that I came across (though not throught the podcast directories listed). I chose one by a guy named Steve Gorman, who lives in Nashville and is the drummer for one of my favorite bands- The Black Crowes. His podcast is primarily sports related, but he talks about pretty much everything. The other podcast was about a book series that I read, and it obviously contained discussion about the books. Neither of these are education related, but I have listened to educational podcasts before (and created one thanks to 3040) and think that it would be a fun and different kind of exercise for students to do at school. This of course depends on whether the school I'll be teaching in even has the resources (which it probably won't). The directories listed in the "thing" had too many options, and I couldn't get anything to really work, so I just used google. Podcasts are something I have heard about for a long time, but didn't know exactly what they were until I had this class. It's one more thing that will come in useful in my life, professionally and recreationally.

Thing # 21

Well, I could see how someone could spend hours using Animoto. I'd like to have longer than 30 second videos, so I may have to upgrade. This is great for personal use or as a way to upload images into an interesting slideshow pertaining to whatever you may be teaching in your classroom. I really enjoyed this "thing", it may be my favorite yet. I created a video using pictures from my first trip to Iraq, and uploaded Velvet Underground's song "Oh Sweet Nuthin" from my personal music library to use as my background music...I've attached it below.
Iraq Video

Thing # 20

I love Youtube. It's like Michael Scott, from the TV show The Office said, "when I discovered Youtube, I didn't work for five days." Youtube is awesome, and it can be used for a multitude of reasons. I personally use Youtube for pleasure, watching hilarious videos of new reporters losing it on live tv, learning how to play songs on the guitar through a video lesson, watching clips of movies, etc. You can find just about anything you can imagine on Youtube. I lose track of time so easily while on the site, that I purposely refrain from getting on it if I have something to do or somewhere to be. Youtube would be great to utilize in a classroom, because I could find videos, songs, etc that pertain to whatever I may be teaching, and it would also be a good way to get students to wake up and pay attention. Like I said... Youtube is awesome.

Thing # 19

I'd probably be more prone to use social networking sites like these, as opposed to the "big 2" (MySpace and Facebook). Teacherpop is a good one, and seems like a good way to get and give help within the world of educators. Like I've said many times now, I'm thrilled to have help from experienced teachers who know what they're talking about- it will make my job that much easier. I'm very, very big into music and movies, so I can see myself delving into social networking sites relating to these two areas, but I could probably waste a lot of time in them, because I easily lose track of time when it comes to discussing those subjects.

Thing # 18

MySpace and Facebook have been very popular for quite some time now, and really are a great way to keep in touch with people. I first became aware of these sites the first time I was in Iraq, because so many of my friends created them while deployed to stay in touch with people from back home. It's important for us to be familiar with social networking sites because they are very prevalent in today's society. As educators we could utilize the sites as a means to give and get help from other teachers, and also as a way to post information for students who may have forgotten what was due in class, etc. I've strayed away from creating an account at either of these places because I'm not real crazy about the whole thing, I feel like it's just a way to spy on people (and yes, I know the information is voluntarily put out there for people to see, but still). Regardless, I definitely see the positive effects that having an account at one of these places would have, and I'm sure I'll create one as I begin teaching.