Thing 23

Wow, I have learned so much! The best part of it all is that this is just the beginning. I plan on going back and revisiting some of these things.
Most of these things will be used in my personal life, but many of these things are also a great tool to stay in touch with parents. I really loved learning about delicious and the photo editing lessons. I am on these constantly. This journey has definitely opened up my eyes and how I look at the internet. I really feel this is just the beginning.

Thing 22

Creating a Wiki is Thing 22. For some reason, this was the most difficult of the assignments, but I think my old computer is to blame. I was able to create a wiki, but I was not able to edit it. I will keep continue working on this. It was a little frustrating, but I still think this is a wonderful tool. Looking forward to playing with it some more.

Thing 21

Thing 21 is Learning about Wikis. I really loved this lesson. I think this could be such a useful tool, in the classroom, as well as in my personal life. I wish I had known about this when I was trying to organize a large event with a few friends a few years back. It would have been perfect! I checked out a few of the educational wikis...cool tools was one. I am really excited about trying this out.

Thing 20

Thing 20 is about Podcasts. I preferred the podcasts on Educational Podcast Network and Podcast Alley. I didn't really like going through I-tunes to get to Podcasts. Podcasts certainly opens up a whole new area for me. I didn't know what a Podcast was before this class. I could get lost in the world of Podcasts, if I had the time :)

Thing 19

Thing 19 is learning about podcasting. I could have spent a long time exploring all of the different podcasts available. It seems for any subject you can think of, there is a podcast for it. Again, with the populationn of kids I work with (newborn to age 5), I don't think this would be a great option. However, for my personal use, I certainly could get a lot of info from this site.

Thing 18

I spent a lot of time checking out all the slideshows. It is incredible the amount of information that is out there. I think this could be a wonderful tool for students in middle and high school, as well as for teachers of K-12. I embeded a sign language slide show.

380 Baby Sign Language

View more presentations from WKU.

Thing 17

I finished Thing 17. I explored bubble.us, Zoho Show, Remember the Milk, and my favorite, Flashcarddb. With the population of kids that I work with many of these tools presented would not be appropriate. For personal use, I really liked Remember the Milk and Flashcarddb. I can be quite forgetful at times, so I think Remember the Milk could be a useful tool for me. I am going to give it a try and see how it will work. My daughter is a junior in High School. She spends many hours writing out flashcards. I am excited to show her Flashcarddb.

Thing 16

I just finished Thing 16, Google Docs. I feel a little like a broken record.....I had no idea this was out there. There are so many templates available for so many different things. It is a little bit overwhelming. I am not sure this is something I would use very often. I'm not sure that I see the advantage to this over attaching a document to an e-mail. Maybe once I play around with it a little bit, I will see how it is a more efficient way to send documents.

Thing 15

I was happy to revisit RSS. I did struggle a little with this assignment, however. The instructions in the vidoe showed to click on sub with bloglines bookmark. I didn't seem to have that. I am not sure what I missed, but I will try to go back and work on it some more. I had not been to my blogline site, so it was good to go back to that, as well.

Thing 14

I am so excited about Delicious. Apparently, at one time, I knew about this, because I already had an account, although I had not bookmarked anything yet. To me, this seems like one of the most useful tools that I have learned so far. What a time saver!! It is very user friendly and simple to use. The only problem I had was my own computer. It kept freezing on me, so I ended up only bookmarking 3 sites. I am very anxious to revisit Delicious.

Thing 13

It really seems like tagging will be very helpful. It is s difficult to try to remember the websites I use. When I put them in as favorites, I still have a difficult time trying to find them. I love the idea that we are able to share these with other educators. Also, that it is not tied to one computer, like my favorites are. This is going to be a really helpful tool, that I am looking forward to exploring more.

Thing 12

Adding a widget! I had no idea what that even meant. The further I get into the things, the more I realize I have SO much to learn. Apparently, there is a world out there that I have not been a part of! I feel this could be a really useful tool to use with older students. Since I work with young childrent, this could also be a great option to use with parents.

Thing 11

I enjoyed reading other blogs. It is nice to read the different ways that teachers are going to incorporate this into their classroom. I commented on two blogs. I was comfortable with this. I am not sure that I contributed much to what they had said, but sometimes it is nice to know that other people enjoy and benefit from your ideas.

Thing 10

I had no idea how to do this, so I was excited to learn how to do it. I was pleasantly surprised how simple it is to. I chose this video about a baby signing. In the classes that I am in, many of the children are non-verbal, and can get frustrated not being able to communicate. This video shows some very simple signs to use with a young child.
I was also excited to learn how to share you tube when it is not allowed in the classroom.

Thing 9

I just completed Thing 9. I was familiar with You Tube, so I felt pretty comfortable with this. I did get a little frustrated trying to post a comment on a video. I kept receiving an error every time I tried to leave a comment. You Tube is restricted in my building, so I am not sure how much I would be able to use this feature.

Thing 8

I loved this. I had so much fun playing with my photos here. It is definitely a site I will go to again. I had no idea that this was available. Really looking forward to using it again. I created a few different pictures, pop art, puzzle and magazine cover. I think the magazine cover was the most fun. I also like the Spell with Flickr but I had some trouble figuring out how to save it and post it. If anyone can give me any pointers on it, I would appreciate it. I spelled out the word imagine changing the letters until I had it how I liked it. I just didn't see a way to save it. Overall, this was a fun project that I really enjoyed.

Thing 7

I just uploaded 5 pictures onto Flickr. I really liked it. Again, the directions have been very clear and it has been easy to do. I really love playing with pictures, and think this has some really nice possibilities. I am looking forward to working with Flickr more to see what else is possible.

Thing 6

I had worked with Flickr a little bit, so I was comfortable with this assignment. I did get a little frustrated trying to find a picture that was not copyrighted. I did finally find a picture that I really liked. I loved the simplicity of the picture.

Thing 5

I have to say the directions have been so clear and easy to follow. It was a very easy assignment. I think the toughest thing was looking through all the blogs and trying to decide which ones to subscribe to. So far, so good :-)

Thing 4

Just finished Thing 4. Still a little confused about how I will use it, but hopefully everything will become more clear as I continue through all the things. I have realized there is so much out there that I have no idea what it even is. Looking forward to learning more!

Thing 3

I think that blogging could be a really useful tool in many educational settings. The population of kids that I work with (0 to 5) computers are not an option. However, I like the idea of using a blog to try to connect the families. I think some parents feel they are alone when they have a special needs child, and it is so important for them to connect with other parents that are going through the same type of things. Hopefully, this would be one option that many parents would be comfortable with. I am really looking forward to exploring the possibilities of it. For older students, the possibilites seem endless.

I did it! I was a little concerned, but it was very easy to do. I am looking forward to learning how to do 21 more things now! Trying to impress my computer-savvy daughters :-)
Blogging has made me a little uneasy. I have stressed the importance of being mindful of what you write to my own children. The population of kids I work with are too young to have access to computers, but I do feel that it would be a good tool to unite the families.