#23 Summarize your thoughts

I found this course to be extremely valuable and will certainly recommend it to my colleagues.  Since we don’t start back with the students for another week, I’ve yet to incorporate any of the new tools in my classroom.  Thus, I had to give questions 8-10 a score of three on the survey.   However, I have made it a goal to implement at least one new thing each semester for this coming school year.  I am especially motivated to work on a Calculus website as I move through topics this year that I can launch for the students the following year.  I had a bad experience creating a Blackboard account, so I look forward to doing this “on my own terms”.

With regards to the 23 things to do, I have to admit it became extremely overwhelming as I would rather have spent more in-depth time on fewer things.  My concern with this course is the same I have after other intense trainings on new educational tools – how will I find the time to implement them?   I do understand the need for the course to be more of an overview of all the tools, as each of us will find different items more useful.  Thus, as a follow-up course, I would prefer to now choose from the list of tools and have deeper instruction on them and assignments which allow me to actually set-up something specific for the courses I teach.   I would not sign up for another overview of more tools, if that is indeed what the next course is as I have not even scratched the surface of using what I now already know.

To know there is an easy way for me to create my own webpage that I can manage myself and invite only certain people to view is the most useful thing I got from this course.  Although, I love all the visual things we can do, which I will indeed incorporate in my webpage.  I liked a lot of the other ideas too, but most likely will wait a while before using them.

YAY - DONE BEFORE SCHOOL STARTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Let the fun begin...

#22 eBooks and Audio books

As stated before, I am not an avid reader.  I rarely read a full book and as a math teacher I don't assign books to read.  I do however read alot of articles from magazines, and often will have my students read some interesting finds on new research in mathematics, the correlation between upper-level math and higher-paying, more challenging jobs, etc.  Thus, eBooks don't interest me, but finding single articles would be great.  Unfortunately, as with many of these new things we are learning in the course, they are very time consuming to find.  Thus, I am glad to know it's out there, but it will be a while before I venture into using this tool.

#21 Podcasts

I had heard people talk about podcasts, but I honestly didn't really know what that were until today.  I am not an auditory learner so I have to see things written down in order to remember them.  I was a frantic notetaker in my formal education days, simply for this reason.  Thus, podcasts would never work for me.  Now, as a math teacher, I can't imagine putting anything on a podcast, as math is extremely visual.  Okay, maybe one of the silly songs or "slogans" I use to help kids remember concepts...but that's the one thing I know the students remember from the classroom experience.  Maybe it'd be fun to make a podcast of that...especially since my students are always trying to video me doing one of my silly songs so they can put it on utube.  Somehow I always seem to dodge that one, but I wouldn't be against a podcast being out there.  Well, I am rambling, so in summary, I don't see me using this much, but after doing this activity, this will be new suggestion to my students next year.

I did look at a few of the links but found it difficult to find anything on math.  I even did searches on math and calculus that both came up empty.  I guess it's not surprising since I really don't know how you'd learm math just from listening.  I also tried to listen to a podcast about smartboards as they intrigue me, but it didn't work.  However, in lesson #20 on utube, I did listen to an audio file which was a rap on the quadratic formula which was really cute.  I'm not sure if that's considered a podcast, but the concept is the same and how I envision using audio/podcasts in my classroom.

#20 UTube and Video

I've been looking forward to getting to this task since the beginning of the course.  I have used utube numerous times already, but I don't know how to embed one in a power point presentation.  I still don't but I haven't spent enough time yet.  I'll be back again tomorrow.  In the meantime, I wanted post this link of a teachertube video I liked because it motivates me to implement all the things we are learning in this course:  http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=448&title=Pay_Attention  and another I thought was cute realting to math:  http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=3682&title=Got_Math_

Much more on this topic tomorrow...

#19 Library Thing

Sorry to all the Librarians, English and History teachers, but I just don't enjoy reading.  I can count on one hand the number of books that I've actually read from cover to cover.  Thus, this "Library Thing" perks absolutely no interest for me.  I will certainly let my bookworm students know of this great tool, though...if they don't already have the inside scoop.  Don't hate me - I teach math for a reason :)

#18 Online Productivity Tools

Okay, I absolultely love Google Docs!!!  I can't tell you how many times I have emailed back and forth documents with coworkers, friends or family.  It takes forever and gets so confusing as to what's updated, etc. I think this is my favorite discovery from this class!  It'll be great for making tests for school, but I'm more excited about it from a personal level.  I also know the students wil like this too.  .It's getting to the point that I almost have too many tools for how to go about the same thing (not really, I just get overwhelmed with too many options).

Here's a document I started:  http://docs.google.com/demo/edit?id=scABpsx8T6Dpb4yeKAkkm5spF&hl=en&dt=document#document

I also watched the utube video about google sites.  This also seems really great and especially user-friendly.  Although I didn't create a webpage, I can see it could be used for any class as a "home base"and it seems you can do most anything on it.  I will most likely use it this coming school year.

#17 CL2.0 Wiki - Curriculum Connections

 I went through all the links on this wiki and played around in the sandbox as suggested.  I didn't find anything that related to high school math, so it was a little disappointing.  Actually, this task seemed much like #16 where I already discovered how I might use one in the classroom, but honestly, I probably won't because it isn't convenient for upper-level mathematical formulas and problems.

#16 Wikis

Of course I was aware of wikipedia but I had no idea there were so many others out there and that you could make your own. I think this would be a fun way to give an assignment on concepts learned throughout a unit.  Now, using this is more difficult in mathematics, but I am always looking for ways to get students talking about math and I like this approach.  So much of what my students have to do on the AP exam is justify and it is not easy to get kids to write about math topics. 

First, I went to Westwood's home page and looked at all the wiki's they had posted there - their Hall of Fame.  It was very impressive.  Next, I looked at the 10th grade English one which seemed tailored to just one activity, seemed private and unavailable for the general public's use but it helped me see how a wiki could be used to enhance classroom instruction and learning.  Last, I went to pbWORKS for Educators.  It was a list of all wikis relating to education and had a place to regiser your own wiki.  From the list, I chose a physics class.  This one was much better than the previous one I looked at becasue it was more broad - set up for all his classes for the entire year.  Thus, all his homework and discussion questions for each unit were easy to access and discussion boards were easy to find for students.  I definitely like the idea of setting up a wiki for my classes even more than Blackboard as I would have full access and control.  Of course, the issue is the time it takes to create it.

#15 Copyright, Creative Commons, and What’s Coming Down the Web 2.0 Road

Here is the example that shows the site has been modified: 

Learning 2.0 is a discovery learning program created by Helene Blowers. Content and style for Classroom Learning 2.0 have been borrowed and duplicated with permission, under a Creative Commons License.

First, I watched the embedded video, then I watched the utube video and last I read the Horizons Report.  To say the least, I am totally overwhelmed at how quickly technology is changing education.  Although it's exciting to think of all the new ways children learn and how to implement it all, it's also scary how different the classroom will look from when I started and when I might finish teaching.  I have a lot to learn myself and the biggest fear is how much time it takes to create lessons that allow the students the proper use of the technology mentioned. 

#14 Technorati, Tags, and SEO

I couldn't find "Classroom Learning 2.0" when I searched with or without the quotes in the blogs or posts in Technorati.  I was not able to find/figure out how to type in keywords/phrases to find tags of this phrase either.  I started to get frustrated when I decided I would change my search to something I'm interested in - Making Calculus Fun, but again had little success.  I then moved on to Google Blogsearch and found 14,700 blogs with Classroom Learning 2.0.  It made me wonder if I was doing something wrong in Technorati but I didn't really care now that I know I would just use the trusty google one, which I'm more apt to remember anyway.  Last, I clicked on the link for "popular blogs, searches and tags" which took me back to Technorati but got the following message:

What's Popular

Technorati's Popular section is currently unavailable. Popular features will return in the near future. Popular videos are available now in the new Technorati Video Section.

Obviously, I am not impressed with Technorati and sense I'm still not convinced I will be blogging or using blogs much in the future, I am happy to move forward with the other tools this course has to offer. 

#13 Tagging and Delicious

When I went to this site I immediately saw that I would like this idea.  I love when things are organized and thus more useful!  I spent time this evening creating an account, importing all my current bookmarks from my laptop, and tagging them all.  I especially like that when I get back to school, I can do the same for all the bookmarks on my work computer.  I can't tell you how many times I've found a great site at work and then get home and can't remember what/where it was.  The portability alone makes it worth it, but the added feature of seeing what other sites people tag in the same categories takes it to another level of usefulness.  I'm already finding delicious to be just that...delicious :)

#12 Fun n Games

First, I played around with Wordle.  It was so much fun and I loved the result!  It really did pull out the main ideas.  Here is the poster I made:

Since I am doing this activity at the same time as Candice, she was working on Rollyo.  In talking with her, I think I could use Rollyo to set up a group of tutorials on a topic and give the name to my students so they could choose for that list of websites.  I could see that would be very useful!

I initially skipped over the Traveller IQ, since it doesn't really relate to teaching math, but on a personally level, I might go back and play it for fun because I will be travelling to Europe for the first time next year and my geography knowledge could use a boost.

#11 Award Winners

Many of the sites listed were ones I was already familiar with, so I guess I'm not as behind the times as I thought I was.  Interestingly enough, my brother was visiting this weekend and finally talked me into joining skype.  So, I spent some time today with this new technology - adding people and even calling one friend.  I'm excited to see, not just talk to, friends who live miles away that I seldom see in person.  I also looked at Don't Forget The Milk and EHow.   I liked the idea of the lists but since I still haven't converted my cell phone plan to include internet access, I really wouldn't use Don't Forget The Milk until I break-down and add that service (which my brother has been working on this for the past year).  I have a terrible memory and I have to make lists all the time and it would be so convenient to have it all on my phone.  See, I'm already talking myself into yet another reason I need to upgrade.  The EHow was interesting, but I feel like I would just do a basic google search for any "How to..." I need.

#10 Image Generators

I loved this activity and can totally see myself using the comic generator in the midst of power point presentations to add some comic relief to the grueling calculus.  My students love to tell me all these funny calculus jokes/sayings that they see and as the course goes on, they finally understand.  Here is an example of  how I will put these two things together:

I also played with the image chef link.  I think I could play with this for hours :)  Here is the first one I made and the only one I saved:

#9 Education Feeds

I tried all the search tools listed in this activity but honestly I prefer to simply type in a topic I'm interested in and use the google reader's search.  Because I'm not into current events and I'm a math teacher, getting constant feeds of daily activities doesn't interest me.  However, I can see how this is a useful tool for others with different lifestyles.

#8 RSS

I had never heard of RSS and since I don't do much internet surfing, I don't know that I'll use it that much at home.  However, I did enjoy searching for sites that contained information about AP Calculus to see if there were any new ideas I could use.  I subscribed to several links/blogs that might be interesting for me to continue to explore.  One in paricular had a type of quiz game for Calculus topics.  I could see me trying to incorporate this at the end of a unit to review for tests.

#7 Technology

My brother is a technology geek.  I remember years ago him first getting me involved in Shutterfly and how amazing I thought is was that I could share photos with my friends and family through the internet.  Looking at that now, it's hilarious how outdated even that is; I rarely share anything on Shutterfly anymore!  With all the social media - facebook is my current addiction - sharing pictures, thoughts, joys, frustrations is a daily occurance.  It amazes me how easy it is for me to keep up with my childhood friends who live across the country.  I also love connecting with former students from 15 years ago and seeing what they are doing now.  This generation will never know what it's like to simply lose touch with people they were once really close to.

#6 More on Flikr Fun

After looking through more of the "fun" things to do, Candice and I discussed how we could use this in our classrooms.  As a result, we found the tab for educators - a free account where students can create things (we were looking at the flash cards) and upload them to our site, etc.  We thought this would be an exciting way to have our students turn in the dreaded vocab/concept cards at the end of each unit.  YAY!!!!  A way to make math fun :)  Little will they know, our motivation is really to have a way for students to save, not lose or ruin them!  What a great tool for end of the year review!!!!

#6 Flicker Fun

I was all excited about the poster I made.  I couldn't wait to print it out and put it in my classroom.  Unfortunatley, it's only a digital image and you have to buy a membership to actually print...FAIL!  I'll probably go back another day and consider the membership, but for now, I'm disappointed.  The applications are really cool though and I will certainly still use the image that I saved.  Here it is:

# 5 Flickr

After looking around in Flickr, I felt like - what would I use this for?  As a math teacher, I rarely need pictures.  I suppose to add decoration or a picture of a mathematician who was connected to what they were learning, maybe?  Any thoughts? 

So, I chose Galileo because I love his famous quote, "Mathematics is the language in which God created the universe".   Since I didn't create an account, here is the link to his picture:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10403914@N05/5447311827/

# 3 & #4 Blog, Avatar and Registering

I found this exercise to be a lot of fun.  I was intimidated at first because I have never done anything like this, but found it to be user-friendly.   Uploading the avatar was the most difficult to figure out, but it's there now and I like it.  To register, I just sent my blog address to Ruth through my school email account.

#2 Habits of Lifelong Learners

I thought this information was good - pretty much common sense.  The one that is easiest for me is PLAY - ha,ha!  No, seriously, I always begin with the end in mind because having a goal is what motivates me.  The one that is most difficult for me is using technology to my advantage.  This is why I signed up for this course.  I get excited about technology, but I am not good about taking the time to implement knew things that I learn.  I tend to always fall back on what I already know.  So, I am hoping that this course will "force" me to put in the time on things that I really do care about learning.

#1 Test Post

Testing, testing, 1...2...3...???  Anyone out there?