Summarize My Thoughts

I have learned that this is only the beginning of a life long journey of learning about web 2.0 tools.  There are so many different ways that I can improve my skills using these tools.  I am not a very good technology person and I know for me to keep up with technology that I have to use to understand how it works at a regular basis.  There are web 2.0 tools that I already used before this program, for example: Facebook, calenders, and spreadsheets. I learned how to blog, edit Wikkipedia, use Animoto, use Flickr, and a lot of other things.  I know I did not learn how to use all of their features, so as I use them more in the future through my career to help me stay organized I will learn more and more of their features.
My favorite discoveries were Flickr and Animoto because I take a lot of pictures because in our family memories are documented a lot.  We like to take pictures to help us treasure our memories that we have made together.  This program has cahnged by lifelong learning goals by adding technology tools to it because I do not know everything about all the tools I was introduced to in this program.  Yes, there were some things about this program that surprised me.  the main thing that surprised me is how good I became with the tools that I was introduced to because of the readings and tutorials. The only discovery activity that did not teach me anything was the social networking one because I already had a facebook and myspace, so I was already aware of how to use them.
In order to improve this program you would have to make the some of the activities faster to see the end producy like the Animoto becasue I have impatience I do not like waiting a very long time to see the end product of something that I have created. Also,  talk to students to see what they know or do not know because some of the web 2.0 tools I have already used in my life for school and I did not need the instruction on them. It will influence my practice as a teacher because I will be able to use the web 2.0 tools to teach and it will linfluence me to use technology in the classroom to benefit my students and help keep my classroom organized.  It will help keep me on task, print worksheets, make tests, come up with ideas for lessons, and collaborate with my colleagues about information or classroom challenges. I plan on doing research every once in while to see what developments are being made inthe web 2.0 tools. Plus, I have selected a few features in the web 2.0 tools that I used to email me on updates on those tools.

Thing 21

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Animoto is a simple video creator that you can use to create videos using your pictures or pictures you uploaded to a flickr account, another account, or your computer.  Also, you can use pictures from Animoto's collection.  I used pictures that I took when I went on vacation to Memphis one summer to the aquarium and zoo.  For the music you can use from your personal collection, or from Animoto's collection.  I used from Animoto's collection because they have classical music that tends to relax me and I like to relax when I look at pictures.  I picked Mozart and it flows nicely with the pictures of the different animals.  All you have to do is pick ten pictures and pick the one song for your music.  Creating a simple 30 second video is that simple with Animoto and it is fun to do.  I enjoyed doing it because of how easy and simple it was. 

Thing 19

Visit TeacherPop

Yes, I am a member of the playlist, and open source food communities because I love music and I cook a lot. Listening to music is a everyday thing for me and cooking is something that can help relax me if no else is around to watch me cook. Yes these two social networks are appealing to me because they are two of my hobbies. I will use playlist ti find music that I have always wanted a copy of and play it online to listen to it. Open Source Food I will use to try different recipes and get great meal ideas when I cook. I also joined teacherpop ning and the ting that is appealing to me is that you can share your ideas, blog, and leave comments. It can be used to collaborate with other teacher education students.

Thing 23

       Twenty-three things was modified from its orginial version from fourty-three things I might want to do this year by Stephen Abram.  I can tell that the twenty-three things came from the fourty-three things because he listed some of them and they are: register at blogger and blog, look at Facebook and future social networking sites, setup a flickr account and post a few digital photos online, sign up for Del.icio.usaccount and play with social bookmarketing, play with Wikkipedia and edit an entry.  His list also, includes quite a few other of the activities we blog about at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FWE/is_2_10/ai_n16133338/. I saw this when I went to the website and read through the 43 things that he suggested on doing because almost all of twenty-three things are from his list.  Plus, there is a credit section giving credit to different programs and a creative commons license saying that it has been borrowed and duplicated with permission.  I will use the Creative Commons licensing to license work that I have to use in the classroom that is not my own work and mot duplicate it.  I will use it in my own research if I use the majority of their work and keep it in mind when I grade my students work.

Thing 22

       Livebinders is a great site.  I organized all my resources in about one hour, and I realized I have a ton of resources that I use for school lately.  It will help me keep all my resources organized and keep up with them.  Livebinders can be used in the classroom to give students websites that can help them understand the topic being taught in class if they are having problems grasping it.  Plus, it can give students ways of organizing their resources that they will pile up as the go through school.  Also, it can also help by giving students places to get worksheets for extra practice if they need it, or an alternate explanation.  It is very easy to use.  You can create new tabs, and new subtabs. 

Thing 20

I chose this video because Manta stingrays are rare encounters and they are one of the largest creatures. Plus, we know nothing of their nature, which I found interesting because they are one of the most intelligent ocean animals.My experience with YouTube was great, but then I have had experience with this website. I liked the fact that YouTube brings up videos similar to the one that you watch and that you can add videos to your query. I dislike the fact that YouTube tends to repeat its search results in the results and that sometimes you get results that did not match your search. you can use YouTube in the classroom for animations to help teach a specific topic, or to give the students a overview about what they are going to learn when introducing a topic to grab their attention. the features of YouTube that would be interesting if added to the library are the Press Library and the timeline feature.

Thing 18

       It is important that educators know how social networking works because it is an awesome way to collaborate with other people and colleagues. Plus, it is important to know how social networking works because you can connect with your colleagues and share information.  I already use twitter and facebook, but the new insights that I gained are that you have to be extremely careful with what you post because everyone can see it and that you can use it as a way to collaborate with people that you know.  Social networking is a good way to communicate with your friends and colleagues if you use it right. I like the fact that on twitter it keeps the tweets short because when some people like to update their friends on whats going on they type a long explanation and what I dislike is that you cannot go back and edit your tweets. with facebook I like the fact that there is no limit to what you can type. Tweeter has the most useful features because you can also follow organizations that post information in your major.  I can see an application for these sites because tweeter you can follow organizations that publish journal articles, so tweeter can help you with research.

Thing 17

        I experienced that you can click on a tag and bookmark and it will take you to that specific site where it was tagged or bookmarked.  It was nice because it shows that you can bookmark or tag something and keep it all organized in one place and use other peoples research as well.  I can see the potential use of this tool in the classroom becuase you can use it to help gain resources in teaching a topic and teaching resources such as test generators, wroksheets and quizzes.  Teachers can take advantage of social bookmarking sites because they can use it to find resources from other teacher's bookmarks and come up with a lot of resources that can help students understand different topics.  Plus, social bookmarking websites can be accessed from anywhere, so if the teacher wants to show students where to go for more help on a topic they can pull it up in the classroom.