Hopefully just the beginning... :-)

One word - WOW! I honestly never knew half this stuff existed! I feel much more knowledgeable about what's out there. I just hope now I can incorporate these things into my classroom. One thing that really stinks is much of this I had to do from home...I mean our school seriously needs to do something about teachers not having access to many of these sites! And I also need to figure out how to incorporate these fun, useful tools while still getting in the material that the students need to know for TAKS and other tests. It's a work in progress but I am definitely heading in the right direction!

I had many favorites such as animoto and all the image generators - those were just FUN! :-) I think I will most often use delicious - I still can't get over that there is a program where you can get to your favorites from any computer! iGoogle seems like it is another thing that is very useful and convenient so I am sure I will be using it often...and even in the beginning - making an avatar was too fun! I got a good laugh that day!

Professionally, I would love to create a class wiki. If I really got one of those bad boys up and running I would be so proud!

I would like to play around with and put to use podcasts. I think that is one resource that would greatly improve testing scores if we could just get our students to actually listen to them instead of Lil Wayne! haha

I am very excited about what the future holds. Thank you for the user-friendly course - you ladies have done an excellent job in preparing detailed instructions, and I am very grateful!

Thing #23 - Ning

Visit 23 Thingsters


I joined our "MISD 23 Thing" on Ning, and that was fun to actually put a face to some of the people in this class! This social network would be good for students. I think my Facebook and Myspace accounts need to stay on a personal level, but if I chose to create a social network for my students Ning seems like a great place to start. Although I think a class wiki would be just as sufficient because of the discussion tab.

When I was exploring the Ning networks I found Mr. Bergmann's wiki and WOW - he is pretty much awesome! I can just tell from his pics! haha I bookmarked this because when I finally sit down and get a class wiki and page started this is what I want to shoot for! And omg - his classes just look so hands-on. I would love to sit in and observe him teaching.

I felt a little overwhelmed when I visited Classroom 2.0, but the "groups" tab was nice because I was able to narrow down my search.

Overall, I think there are social networks for your personal life and social networks for your professional life and to me there should be a clear separation. I would prefer to use Ning for a social network with my students rather than Facebook or Myspace for the sheer stigma that those two networks have. But like I said earlier, I think the discussion tab on a wiki would work just fine for communication outside of school!

Thing #22 - Social Networking

I created my Facebook and Myspace accounts years ago in college! I do not accept my students as friends as I feel that is inappropriate. But on a personal level, I love having both accounts because they allow me to keep up with family and friends that I would normally not be able to stay in contact with. I personally use Myspace more than Facebook, but both are great. I love looking at pictures of my friends especially right now since so many people my age are getting married and having children! :-) I think that many people are weary of these sites but they are very secure as long as you chose all the private settings.

Once my students have graduated I accept them as friends and it is nice to watch them grow and see what they are doing in their lives. At this point I am not certain how I could use these programs professionally with my students, but I love using them on a personal level.

Jessica's Facebook Profile

Jessica's Myspace Profile

Thing #7b - Google Reader update

Well TAKS is next week and all year our campus has been looking for ways to improve our minority students' scores. Here is an interesting story that finds that an affirmation exercise improved the grades of African-American middle school students, and the effects lasted for at least another two years after the test period. Pretty interesting! It makes me want to do something like this... ;-) I retrieved this from the podcast RSS that I subscribed to in "thing 17".

Thing # 21 - Google Tools

I just found a new love for GOOGLE! I created a Google calendar which is really cool! But I do have my own paper planner that I love so I am sure I will stick with that. Although when I created my iGoogle I liked the fact that I could add my Google calendar to my home-page. So every time I went to Google I would see it :-) One thing I did not like was making my calendar public or sharing it. Some things would be no big deal, but many things in my planner are personal and I am not sure I would want everyone to see those things. So if I did start to use the Google calendar on a regular basis I would probably make it private.

Jessica's April/May 2009 Calendar

The iGoogle was really fun! I added my Google Calendar to the homepage and my e-mail is on the homepage too! Talk about convenience - it's all right there when you log-in!

I could see my students using many of these tools! Some really need a planner whether they want it or not! They need to learn how to be organized. And honestly, I could see them keeping up with an electronic calendar because now of days many of them have fancy phones or are on the computer multiple times a day where they could keep up with their calendar.

The Picasa Web Albums would be fun! We could have a "NMHS" album where all our students uploaded pictures from school like spirit days, sport activities, etc.

Thing #20 - Google Docs

I was actually introduced to Google Docs at a faculty meeting earlier this year. We are even encouraging our students to use this tool.

One feature I LOVE about Google Docs is that the documents are stored online! How many times have you lost an important document?! It either got lost in cyberspace or you lost your jump drive - something! And it's very depressing! Well if you have it in Google Docs you can access it from any computer and will never lose it!

And omg - you can create a presentation just like in PowerPoint. If you don't have Microsoft at home - no worries just use Google Docs. This was a HUGE plus for me!! I don't think people know this, and it really could be beneficial for students who cannot afford to have Microsoft programs. One solution that I immediately thought of was no more "we could never meet up together." Now students can log-on at different times and ALL make changes and additions to a project. They do not necessarily have to all be in the same location they can just collaborate online!

Thing #19 - VoiceThread

COOL! I truly believe creation and teaching others is the highest form of learning, and if you can do that then you are showing you understand the material. My sophomores could create tutorial VoiceThreads and we could send them to the elementary schools or we could even use them ourselves to review at a later time in the year such as now when we are preparing for TAKS!

I could also see these being useful for students who are absent or just need a refresher. A goal of mine in the future is to have a class website. It would be really neat if I eventually could post all my PowerPoints on the class website, and in those presentations I had voicethreads! When teaching with PowerPoints I always like to add in personal examples, etc. So when I print off a PowerPoint for a kid who was absent they don't get that extra teaching - this program would help resolve that dilemma.

Thing #18 - YouTube and TeacherTube

My whole world right now is WEDDING, WEDDING, WEDDING! ;-) So of course I found a "how to" for something for the wedding! My card box actually...I can't decide if I want to use a flower for the topper or a big bow! Well now I know how to make a bow if I decide to go with that choice!



I have heard of TeacherTube, but never visited the site! I really enjoyed it - I mean YouTube has some hilarious stuff but I liked the fact that all the extra "bad" stuff was not an issue on TeacherTube. It's nice to know if I need something work related that I have a clean, direct site to go to...

And like today I reviewed my kiddos over DNA...well I don't teach Biology so I felt a little rocky so I just watched a quick video over DNA and feel better about tomorrow!

Thing #17 - Podcasts

We actually just had a faculty meeting where we learned about podcasting! I think they could greatly add to the overall success of our students. It would be very useful for ESL students...they could practice their vocabulary words, review material learned in class, etc. I could think of many ways to use podcasting in my classroom, but immediately I thought it would be so cool for my senior TAKS prep students! Let's be honest almost every student has an iPod or mp3 player! I could find useful podcasts related to TAKS and they could subscribe to them and put them on their iPod or mp3 player and listen to them whenver they wanted! Or I even thought that we could as a class create our own podcasts and upload them to their portable devices! The more they hear the material the more likely they are to retain the information.

I previewed and subscribed to "Why? The Science Show for Kids podcast" and "60 Second Science." Both were really neat :-) The 60 second science was cool because it was short and to the point! Quick facts in literally a minute! The Science Show was neat because students are the ones who send in the questions to be answered! Kids are so creative and think of some great questions!

Thing #16 - LibraryThing

I have some English teacher friends and students who would love this site!! You can't make it to book-club night? No problem you can now chat on LibraryThing! Too fun :-)

I am not a big reader, but when I do have some spare time, like in the summer, I enjoy reading a good book! Now I know where to look for reviews on a book and see what people really think about a book. I especially liked the Zeitgeist link. It gave me a good idea of what is going on in the book world and what is good and what's not!

Thing #15 - Delicious

This site is very beneficial for teachers for the simple fact that we are always "floating" around even if we have our own classroom! We are always moving around the school whether we are in the library, teachers lounge or another classroom. I LOVE the fact that you can get to your favorites from any computer! The is truly genius! I also like the "search" feature. I use GOOGLE for everything, but now I have another resource and actually can narrow searches down by using the tag feature.

http://delicious.com/jstidham9

Thing #7a - Google Reader update

As the NBA gets into the heat of the play-offs the TNT commentators are feeling a bit competitive themselves! Chris Webber challenges Charles Barkley to a Bread Challenge! Chris challenges Chuck to eat a slice of bread in 30 seconds! The loser promises to donate money to the others charity. Well poor Chucky - he lost!! It was pretty funny to watch :-)

Thing #14 - Web 2.0 Tools

All of these tools are amazing! I had no idea all of these existed and are FREE!! WOW! I decided to use LetterPop where I created a personal photo collage. This was just a fun one...

As far as professtional use, one goal of mine is to send out newsletters to the parents of my students. This specific tool would allow me to easily do that - there are templates on this site ready to use. I would just have to type in the wording! I could even add pictures of my students from class. How cool is that? LetterPop has a few "social" features including commenting and you can also publicize your "creation" so that the whole world can see it! You can e-mail out your creation as well which would also be useful to send to parents!

Thing # 12 - Slideshow!

My slide show is full of various pictures demonstrating waves and their properties! I had a little bit of trouble with RockYou so I tried "Slide" and it worked! Thank goodness! I am not sure what was going on...I have used RockYou before so who knows what was happening this time! Anyhow, I think these programs are relatively easy to use and do not think students would have any trouble using them! I often teach using PowerPoints and I would love to incorporate one of these slide shows into my presentation. Maybe I could even add a little music! :-)

Photo Credits

1. Reflection by mikebaird
2. Refraction by mikeyexists
3. Sound waves by madbuster75
4. Transverse wave by jurvetson

Thing # 13 - online image generators

The online image generators are too cool! :-) One of my favorites was the Graffiti Generator. I have always wanted my name on a brick wall!!

I also enjoyed the Trading Card Maker. These would be fun to create and put in teachers boxes for a little "thinking of you" type thing. Especially when you use fun pictures like this one!

My students would go to town with these generators! They could make flash cards and study them - wouldn't you want to study if your cards looked like this?! They could send thank you cards to their teachers :-) And they could definitely use these generators with their projects, especially PowerPoints.

Thing # 11 - Flickr

Wow - I really could spend HOURS on Flickr! I love looking at pictures! I chose to search the topic "waves" - it just happens to be the last topic I taught in class before we started preparing for TAKS. I found a clear, obvious picture of refraction.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63101308@N00/429808626/ User: mikeyexists

And a really surreal picture of reflection...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikebaird/2985066755/ User: mikebaird

Flickr could be very useful for teachers! Just recently I was struggling with explaining the term refraction and as I looked for pictures to use in my PowerPoint I found the same old ones - Flickr would have been very helpful! A picture speaks a thousand words, and sometimes there is no better way to explain a vocabulary word than showing a great picture!

Our students could use pictures posted on Flickr for projects in order to make them more detailed.

Thing # 10 - Creative Commons

I don't think I have ever noticed the CC logo on any website, but then again I was never really looking! I think the program is a great tool and I am happy to know something like this is out there. There are many teachers/professors who have some awesome lessons to share and I am thankful that I have access to those with the help of this company. I am constantly using pictures off the web for my PowerPoints, good to know I have the right to use them when I see this symbol! I have not shared any of my content on the web - I don't think I am that "fancy" yet but if I get there one day I am glad to know a company like this exists.

Thing # 9: Wiki's - what a beast!

Whew! I am so glad to be done with that! This was the most intense "thing" so far. Maybe because of all the different instruction pages or maybe just because there was sooo many steps!

Anyhow, I feel accomplished and like I actually learned something I could use! And I have to admit...it was a little fun :-) I am looking foward to adding more stuff to my sandbox page.

Thing #8 - What in the world is a wiki?

Wiki's seem very fun and useful for teachers and students! The majority of them seemed the same, but one feature I really liked was the fact that you could put your lesson plans and PowerPoints online for students to view, especially absent students. On the Dr. Reich's Chemistry Wiki, he had all his lesson plans and Powerpoints available. This resource could really eliminate the excuse of being absent or "I lost my notes."

One thing I have learned throughout the last few years of teaching is that kids LOVE to see their work exhibited regardless of their age! On the Salute to Seuss wiki there was an abundance of student work shown and there was even a link called "student gallery." This could be a wonderful way to encourage students to do their best because their work would be published for hundreds of people to see!

The Room 15 Wiki was by far the coolest wiki listed!! This wiki is pretty much A-MAZING! If I were to ever make a wiki this is how I would want mine to be! I am such a neat-freak and love lists and organization, and this wiki is very organized and simple to maneuver through. I think my favorite part of this wiki was the "student blogs." It's always interesting to see what students are writing about - they are so funny and some are really good writers! I mean this wiki is full of tools! I only wonder how long it took this teacher to do this and how much time is spent updating it? And where in the world does this teacher get the time to do it?? I mean this wiki is freakin' awesome, but there is no way I would have the time for it! I guess I could always start small and add a little each six weeks...or maybe have one project every six weeks that requires my students to add to the wiki. It would be a work in progress, but I could definitely see it being incorporated to my classroom.

Thing #7 - Commenting

To me comments are sometimes the most informational part of the blog! It's like teaching - you teach a tough topic and Susie has a blank stare. Well then little Johnny explains it to Susie and she is like "ohhhh - I get it!" Blogs are usually pretty easy to read through but the comments back up the information and break it down a little more. After reading through the comments on a blog I usually feel a little better about what it is talking about.

I like getting comments on my page! :-) So I will try to post comments on my classmates page...there is nothing like a little pick me up!

Thing #6 - Feed your reader!

I ran across one blog where the author discussed her trip to Qatar and her experience and new knowledge! Her blog reminded me of my own trip to Costa Rica and Nicaragua. I think the sad thing is many of our students will never experience what I and this girl experienced, and that was life outside of our own "world". You find out so much about yourself and life when you travel to another country. Words cannot explain the feeling and emotions. Although some of our students may not be able to ever travel out of the country, I think they can learn a great deal just by volunteering their time in the community. Even if it is a trip to a nursing home...when you help others you really learn about "life", and that is knowledge you cannot always receive within the walls of a classroom!

One of my "fun" feeds is connected to a NBA blog-site. This year's all-star weekend was interesting! Dwight Howard is pretty much awesome! He is talented and hilarious. I guess I never realized how funny he was, but he got many laughs out of me this weekend! Watch a you-tube video of his dunks from this weekend if you have time - HILARIOUS and the boy has mad skills! :-)

Thing #4 - Read, Read, Read!

Many blogs are casual, sarcastic and funny! Some are serious, but I would say the majority are very similar to a conversation you would have on the phone. I think commenting is important because it extends on ones ideas and generates more thoughts. I know it helps me think of new ideas.

I agreed with the no homework blog whole-heartedly! When I first started teaching I loved grading papers with all my different colored pens, but soon realized it was not so fun! The sad thing is I could already tell you who was going to make an A, B or D before grading a single paper! The author is completely right - your A and B kids are going to do the homework when they don't really need the extra practice and your C and D kids are not going to do the homework when they are the ones who need it! I think the important thing is to find some other way to get those less-motivated kids involved during class, rather than out of class.

I also enjoyed reading the PowerPoint blog. I had my students complete a six weeks project last six weeks and a number of them created Power Points. A few of them did an excellent job, but many of them had slides full of words, little color and no images! BORING! The suggestions this author made were great, and I appreciated the links which lead to images, etc. to use in Power Points.

Thing #5 - Making decisions...

A blog that I found interesting was about an 18 year old who thinks it's crazy for someone her age to be able to tell you what they are going to do for the rest of their lives! I agree! I am 24, have my bachelors and masters, have taught for 3 years and still have no idea what I am going to do for the rest of my life. I do think you have to at least know what your interests are so that you can have an idea of what you want to major in, but even then, your major does not decide what you are going to do for the rest of your life! This student in particular is very sarcastic and pretty funny! :-)

Thing #2 - Thoughts about Web 2.0

Technology is so important these days, and we as teachers have to be on board with technology or our students are going to run off into the "techno" world without us! Teenagers are hooked on technology now more than ever. We live in a world of iPods, cell phones, and computers. I mean for goodness sake, just watch the next teenager at a restaurant and see how many times they look at their phone? Better yet, see if any of them are wearing their iPods?

I feel like I know a lot about technology, but there is still so much to learn! I am excited about what this class has to offer and learning new strategies to take back to my classroom. I just recently did a survey with my students and 98% of them strongly agreed that they preferred using technology in class more than paper and pen. Our kids are begging us to incorporate these "fun" activities into our curriculum and I am hoping this class will help me do just that!

On a personal level, it's fun to keep up with friends and family through technology, and extremely convenient!

Thing #1 - Reflections on Lifelong Learning

Just reading the word "PLAY" makes me happy! :-) I think the most important habit of learning is to play! When you lose interest in what you are learning and no longer "love" it, you really aren't learning; you probably are just going through the motions. The fabulous thing about science is that it is "fun", and I enjoy it. In order for me to make it though this course I think it will be important for me to play! This whole blogging thing is pretty cool and I am already having fun! :-)

The easiest challenge for me is using technology to my advantage. There is so much technology out there - I am a huge technology fan! I could not go a day without my computer, blackberry or inter-write pad in my classroom. Our students really enjoy using technology so I try to use it in my classroom just to first get their attention, and then I can start the hard stuff. I am a teacher so it is pretty easy for me to teach and mentor others! Some days are harder than others, but nonetheless that is a relatively easy challenge considering my profession!

The most challenging habit for me to employ would be "beginning with the end in mind." I have goals, and I can usually see them, but I am never really sure of all the steps to get there! In this class I would like to understand and manage the steps and create a check-list as I reach my goals! One of my first goals - we are already doing; creating a blog!

I think life-long learning is essential in our day and age! And really as long as you are out and about, trying new things you are going to learn something new!