Where do I go from here?

I have really enjoyed making this blog (well I would have enjoyed more if I did not have other classes). But I truly have learned so much about emerging technologies. I now feel so much more confident about technology in a way I never thought of before. This blog and the "things" have open my eyes to so many potentials. I will no longer be scared of this technology, but I will just read the "how to do" and make the technology myself. I really enjoyed making the slide show, the collage of pictures, my wiki, and putting the you tube video on the blog- I have always had to just input a link which would bring up the entire you tube page. I will most defiantly be using this blog in the future. I wish we could continue to receive "things" (could entitle 24 things and beyond!) so we can continue to discovery new technology and add it to our blog to keep as a reference. I will just have to create my own 24things and beyond! to continue my pursuit of emerging technology.

Thing #23

We are more alike than different-you tube
You tube is full of documents, movies, music, etc.. that has all been altered, shortened, extended, added to and the list goes on and on. I will use creative commons in the future and now I actually know what the small double c's actually mean ;o)

Thing #22

MY LIVE BINDER

My live binder took me a little bit to figure out, but once I had added a couple resources to my binder, I was getting the hang of it. I figured out you can change the background color and even add notes to the side of the resource. For example; on one of my youtube videos- I wrote beside it- Great video for all to see. I also figured out that you can actually have google add some tabs for you by typing in the key word and it will auto fill. I have to admit this is a pretty neat tool. This would be a great tool to add to a classroom blog for parents and students alike. This would also be a great tool for a teacher website for teacher to constantly add and update different resource. I really like the fact that you can make your binder private, but can give someone the "key" and they can unlock it and see whats inside.

Thing #21

Make your own slideshow at Animoto.

OMGOSH how easy was that?! I have to admit, when I "scoop" other peoples blogs I have dreaded this "thing" because I just knew it was going to be too complicated for a non-computer gal like me. Boy, was I wrong! I simply uploaded my pics, picked my music, and typed in a text. I will so be using this for years to come. Can you imagine the possiblities? Teachers can show end of the year presentations of the students to the parents. and how easy to make a short 30sec video for the students birthdays to show in front of the class to make them feel special! really really glad I did this "thing #21".

Thing #20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_-P4t2jR1g      I chose this particular youtube video because I think it is a great tool to show typically developing students how people with disabilities are not any different than you and I are different. The production in called "we are more alike than different" and that is so true to everything I want to be an advocate for as a Special Education teacher. I personally love you tube, I think there are many useful videos to show to students to help tie certain project, lessons, or assignments together as a type of visual demonstration or example.

Thing #19

 Well I of course joined TeacherPop- because I do what I am told :) and I also check out yelp.com. I really like Teacherpop- its nice to have a social networking group of individuals going through the same process I have gone through. I also will be using yelp. What a great way to see what others think about a place you are about to attend, eat at, etc... I looked at restaurants in my own town, and I have to admit the reviews were pretty correct.

Thing #18

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=63704468&ref=tn_tnmn Well like most college students and really most anyone these days- I already had a twitter and facebook account. I personally do not prefer twitter. I am not interested in a play by play of others lives, facebook gives me more information than I need sometimes. lol. However, I can see many uses for facebook pages. Just like the college of education facebook page- it is a great way to bring a group of people together for a common interest. This is a way to engage your student, parents, and fellow staff members. It is also good to at least have some knowledge about these social networks, because the majority of your students and parents will be using these sites.

Thing # 17

I hate to admit it, but I really did not think Delicious was anything more than a glorified google search. You type in a word and you get all "tags" that match that word. With google search you type in a word and you get all documents that match that word. Now, granted delicious is probably a more narrow search which makes searching for the right document a little easier. As a teacher it would be nice to have all your ideas stored in one place and be able to share those ideas with others, but I do not think I personally will use this. I will stick to my stickies and favorites tabs ;)

Thing #16

I choose to use netvibes.com just because I was already pretty familiar with google and wanted to try to something else. It really wasn't that different at all. It seemed to have more news information, but it was already set up to show certain news feed, where as with google you have to suggest or pick certain feeds, which netvibes also offered as well. I would defiantly continue to use my google, nothing worth switching for with the netvibes.

I use the google calendars, in fact I think I wrote about it in one of my previous blogs? Anyways- I had my school schedule set up with the google calenders and every different class was a color coded onto the specific days with specific times. I also had it set up to alarm when important assignments are due- like the 23 things :) but a word of advise for assignments like the 23things- don't have the alarm the go off just a couple days before lol!

My last "tool" I choose to explore was MyStickies.com This was really easy to use. Its basically like having your bookmarks or favorites right there in front of you. However unlike favorites or bookmarks- you can write notes on any web page. It is a really useful tool- I just hope I remember to use it and I am still trying to figure out if there is a way to set your already saved "favorites" onto mystickies? or if I will have to go to each page and "stickies" it myself?

Thing 15

The apsusandbox was pretty neat! I really liked being able to see what people in my own class and other classes have been busy doing on their own blogs- it was also a little intimidating because you realize your blog might not be as "awesome" as you thought it was. lol. I dont really like being able change other people work, I don't know- it just doesn't seem "right". Now just changing font color or size, doesn't seem like too big of a deal, but to actually change the wording just felt wrong, lol. I blame our teachers for this because if we have heard it once, we have heard it a million times, about the negative aspects of WIKIpedia and how anyone can change anything and it may or not be truth. BUT I do like being able to see every ones work in one place- because it gives me great ideas to do things on my own. kinda like wikipedia- where you read the content but then follow the resources links to make sure its "fact".

Thing 14

Gliffy

Bubbl.us

I looked at the first two- Gliffy and Bubbl.us. The flowchart (Gliffy) was really cool, it had so many possibilities... and you could even make floor plan, along with several different types of diagrams ( I wish I would have known about this website in Math 1010- when we were making the Venn Diagrams). I have to admit I was not nearly as impressed with Bubbl.us (mind map) which really just made a type of flowchart with bubbles.. nothing really that the Gliffy couldn't do. I would like to make a chart of my family tree, which Bubbl.us would be great for, but other than that I really wasn't impressed :/ 

Thing 13

Zoho was a really neat website. It is a great website to store all your documents in one place without having to carry around jumpdrives and so on. The Zoho Writer was very similar to microsoft word, but I actually found it easier to nagviagate through. The links were simple to access and of course the best part... FREE account!