Oh Yea! One more thing...

    This class has been awesome.  I can not begin to fathom all that I took in in such a short time.  This was  a summer fast paced fully packed class and one that if you didnt stay on top of it, then you are pulling all nighters the night before it's due and cramming it all in.  All the same, I loved this class and can honestly say I will be using 90% of everything covered in my classroom someday.

Thing 23

CREDITS

Learning 2.0 - 23 Things for Teachers is based on Learning 2.0 - 23 Things, a staff development program for the Mesquite Independent School District. That program was based on theLearning 2.0 program that was designed by Helene Blowers and adapted by the California School Library Association and others. Content and style for Learning 2.0 - 23 Things for Teachers has been borrowed and duplicated with permission, under a Creative Commons License.

This was found under the content tab of the course homepage and was the attribution that shows the learning 2.0 - 23 things for Teachers blog was based on someone elses work and modified from its original.

As A teacher, I will be more cautious of the materials I use for my classroom and for my instruction and make myself more aware of the creative commons in all aspects.

Thing 22

LiveBinders  is an organizing and storing tool that could prove to be very helpful.  I currently download articles and such that I come across thinking I may need it someday and I usually put them on a flash drive.  This website allows you to make "binders" to store all of them in and keep them catagorized by subject or by author or any way that you wish.  You can even go another step on this site and make your own Bookshelf.  For example, I have made a shelf for all my Special Education binders and articles as well as one for regular education.  When ever you are looking for something you know you have pulled before, there is a search tool that allows you to find the article in any of your binders...

http://www.livebinders.com/shelf/my?show=my_binders   Check it out :)

Thing 21

Well, Every new thing I try becomes my favorite!  I just made an awesome Video!
Check it out!

http://animoto.com/play/uwpDxuC0bjCaaHRiUS0L0g

This was so easy!  I didnt even have to pick and choose the pics.  Just the album I wanted to use.  This could be used in the classroom!  Fieldtrips could be video made and even turned into a fundraiser.  The possibilities are endless!

LOVE IT!!!

Thing 20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YCK014Uu9o   Clarksville Visual Theater - Clarksville High School indoor Color Guard Corp

I absolutly love you tube!  I chose this video because my daughter is in it! lol  She is a 7th grader that tried out for the high school guard AND MADE IT!  (insert proud momma face here)

You tube is very helpful in alot of ways.  I learned to change the oil in my car via youtube.  My oldest daughter gets instructional videos on hairstyles all the time!  It is very user friendly both for the subscriber or the owner.  Easy and likable to use...

Thing 19

Teacherpop looks to be a pretty cool social network.  I found several of my classmates already. (since I am such a procrastonator)  I am however having trouble getting the badge or posting comments since my acceptance has to be approved.  

I am not really a member of any online communities except for facebook.  I have a google + account but not really out there looking for anyone or anything.  I am looking forward to having one in Teacherpop though.  It looks really cool and I could see using that sort of forum for alot of questions on just about any topic.

Thing 18

     This is one that I must say I was surprised to see in the 23 things blogs.  Facebook I am familiar with as I have had a page for a very long time.  Twitter, not so much.  I don't have an account and dont feel like I would use one since I have facebook.

Find me here:
https://www.facebook.com/billie.j.gibbs

     I currently work in a guidance counselor office and the one thing I have found useful in having a Facebook account is when the girl drama starts rolling, I can go in and check it out to try and get to the bottom of it.  It is fun for an adult to stay in touch with distant family or former collegues and such but for kids, it is just trouble waiting to happen.

     I dont see a use for this in the classroom or any application of the such even remotely happening.  However, by the time I have a classroom of my own, that could be totally different.  Who knows?

Thing 17

     This blog is about the social bookmarking called "Delicious".  I was introduced to this by Dr. Jerles in the form of diigo and I really like that one and could see using that in the classroom alot.  Then Delicious comes along and now I am torn.  This one is similar and just as useful and I think even a little more user friendly.  I had no problems what so ever creating the account and everything I searched for, had an answer.  The main thing I could see myself using this for would be to post the daily assignments for the students and allow the parents to be included as much as possible.  Blogging basically does the same thing though.  As would Diigo too.  Decisions, decisions.

Thing 16

     This topic is very much "me"!  I personally use Microsoft Outlook for my calendar and to-do lists and even have them on my smart phone to utilize and edit and refer to all at my fingertips.  It is all very user friendly and helpful in many lifestyles.  I personally am a full time student with assignments all due at different times.  As well as a single mom with a very active 13 year old.  She has practices for color guard, bassoon lessons, and boot camp all to keep up with in a days time.  Not to mention the orthodontist appointments, dentist appointements, and meetings and inservices and the list goes on and on and on...  Needless to say, I would never be anywhere on time or get anything completed and submitted on time if not for the handy gadgets of Outlook calendars and to do lists.

     As for the cover page, I simply use the one that came on my laptop.  Its shows the weather, time and date in one corner, RSS feeds in the other corner and right in the center, it links with my lists and has the next task at hand right in front of me...  as much as I am on the computer, this is very helpful as well.

Thing 15

     Well, this just might be one of my new favorites!  I have used wiki before and I now realize I have only scratched the surface!  There is so much potential!  I really thought the whole posting in the sandbox was going to take me forever to figure out, but in fact, it was very user friendly and I was able to upload pretty quickly.

Thing 14

     So, Today, I played with a couple new tools and found Gliffy to be a pain in the you know what!  I didnt like that one at all!  As a matter of fact, I moved on to the Mind Map and made a flow chart of my immediate family. I used bubbl.us and it was very user friendly.  I didnt have any problem at all unlike with Gliffy.  I had a fun time and had the ability to be really creative.  Changing text size and font color is a fave of mine in anything I make, and this one was really easy.  Being an accounting major originally 20 years ago, I could see where the flow charts could be useful then when explaining the financial statement.  But I am trying to figure out how I could use it in the classroom.  This one will require a little more thought...

Flow Chart of the HOLT Family :)

Thing 13

     Thing 13 talks about the ZOHO program and asks us to explore it a bit.  Also google docs and google's online spreadsheets and stuff.  I personally didnt care too much for Zoho but love Google Docs.  I was first introduced to this at work but have grown to love it!  I have used it in previous classes as well.  I have created a document for Google Docs and put it on Google Drive to share with you.  Here is the link...

Google Docs Spreadsheet

This program could be used on a group project for my students and allow them the time to work on this at home or outside of the classroom.  Online collaboration is used alot now in both the workplace and at school and is proving to be useful and beneficial.

Thing 12

     Google has come out with many options to it's program and is no longer just a search tool.  I use google so much that it is my home page when I log into the internet as well as my biggest app on my Iphone.  I personally use the gmail which is the google email.  I also use google docs that is the online storage and share of documents and thing.  This in particular is used in schools as an online collaboration tool that allows shared users to see and comment on the same thing simultaneously.

     For instance, I work at a school locally and this is used to track at risk kids all the time.  One teacher has Johnny in math and he is making a 60% right now.  So teacher notes that she is giving him an extra worksheet on the standard he is struggling with.  The next teacher sees this comment and notes that Johnny is struggeling in her class too.  So for PE or Related Arts, These team of teachers elect to pull him in for remediation and monitor his progress for a few weeks.  At the end of the term, several teachers have collaborated and noted his marked improvements.  This student is no longer an at risk student.

     I also am familiar with Picasa Web albums and am very fond of them.  The band booster organization I am a part of posts competition pictures with a link from the band website that allows friends and family that was unable to attend the competition to see the all the pictures from that event.  It is open so that more than one publisher can post pictures.  That way, If I have a student login because my student is in the program, then I can log in and upload the ones that I took as well as others that took pictures that day as well.  Very useful tool!
https://picasaweb.google.com

Thing 11

     Finding blogs RSS feeds is not a difficult task but can be somewhat overwhelming.  There are so many out there that you really have to dig to find the one you want.  I started out by googling the website that interested me.  Education Weekly was one.  In that website, there are many sub-categories from strategies, to Common Core, to Legislature.  Each sub-category has an RSS feed that you can subscribe to to allow you to follow that particular part.  This was very interesting to me and the more I dug around, the more feeds I found and was able to follow.

Thing 10

Thing 10

     RSS reader can be helpful and used in several ways. Teachers are always needing new ideas or looking for information on many different topics.  I feel as though the RSS reader could be used as a quick tool for a teacher when she is making her lesson plans to go to a subject she is following in her feed and research or get others input if following a blog.  I also see that this could be used as an online collaboration tool too.  Teachers of a certain grade level or department could all follow each other and add comments or ideas daily to keep everyone in the loop.  I may in fact make a public page just to see what could come of it...

Thing 9

Thing 9

     This image generator was used to make a wallpaper for my computer desktop.  This was more difficult to pull off as everything you went to, there were more ads and more ads and whew!  Mind Boggling!!!

     This could be used in the classroom as the background on presentations or something like that but really not sure what other purpose it could have.  I was really not impressed with this tool. :(

Thing 8

Thing 8

     Flicker mashups could be used in many ways in the classroom.  Mainly, I think in presentations as eye catchers or attention getters/keepers.  This very neat puzzle as a matter of fact, could be placed in a power point explaining Paris Landing and its geographical facts.  This was a fairly easy concept that could be taught to kids of all ages.  

     I have a pretty profound opinion on using photo's and sharing photo's online.  I have a facebook account and am so conscous of what photo's I add to it.  I want to protect my childrens faces and demographics as much as I can.  With this being said, I use online photo's alot.  I upload photos's to online sites to print,  I use websites to make photo projects and things such as that.  I just try to monitor and be safe with which sites I use.

Thing 7

Thing 7

     I have chosen to create a FLICKR account and have some fun with a few photo's.  I am an avid scrapbooker and I take pictures all the time.  I like to upload them to save them and only print when I am ready to put in albums.  This particular photo is from Paris Landing last March.  I think this website will be a good tool for this too!  And I love the fact that I can add friends to see the photos!  I like facebook for that as well but I have to admit, I don't want to show EVERYONE!  This website allows me to share with one or two or a specified group of people.  I like this alot.

     I can see using this in the classroom.  I can take photo's of various things and upload to aid in presentations or just as conversation tools.  It has potential to be easily navigated although at first, I had some difficulty, not much, but some.

Thing 6

Thing 6

     Today, I explored some of the tools available on the web2.0 website.  There were alot of options to look at many of them useful in alot of different ways.  I played around with enthuse.me and realized there are several ways to bring this tool in the classroom.
     For one, this is a website to "showcase" you!  So you would open and create and profile and tell about yourself a little bit.  Then you would post your "insights" to certain topics.  I immediately invisioned a student (older one of course) creating a profile and presenting or displaying a project!  This could potentially alleviate  dragging the big poster boards on the school bus and all the boxes for diarama's and so forth...  If you upload pictures and descriptions and then use this in the classroom as a presentation tool, I could see this being very beneficial.
     http://www.enthuse.me/bgibbs5apsu#/  Look at what I accomplished :)

Thing 5

Thing 5!

     School 2.0 to me is a vision the schools are wanting to make reality.  Our local school system alone has made so many advances with making all classrooms "21st century" classrooms.  They all have document readers, internet connectivity, projection devices and computers at teacher workstations.  This allows technology att eh teachers fingertips. However, money will be the hinderence in this vision.  It is so costly to re-vamp the classrooms after already being set up one way, having to take down existing equipment that may be obsolete to replacing all the equipment with the new innovative cutting edge technology.  This money doesnt exist and everytime they try to add in the budget to allow such renovations, they only get a fraction of that money and not all changes are made.  This vision is simply that to me, a vision.  without drastic budgetary changes, I never see it becoming a reality.

Thing 4

Thing 4

     Commenting is very important in the blogging world.  How else are you grow and learn as an educator without collaborating?  Everyone has a good idea every now and again, you can only hope they post or publish it somewhere and allow you to experience it to...

     When you comment on someones blog, you open yourself up and allow interaction with your collegues and friends.  however, what you comment can be used for you or against you.  The comment you make needs to be meaningful and purposeful.  If someone has already stated the obvious, dont add insult to injury "just to be commenting" and putting your name out there.  You dont want to be afraid of commenting.  If you are certain about what you have to say then find the confidence and put it out there.

     I am still trying to find some blogs to follow.  I have several friends that blog on a personal level so I plan to find them and share.  Jsut not there yet.  I have found a few from the class to go with and I have to say I am pretty impressed with the designs and layouts that are being used.  I'll be back when I have finished looking around :)

Thing 3

Thing 3

     There are so many ways to use a blog in a classroom.  I think one of the most important ways would be to list the homework assignments for each day so the students that forget what it was would have access to them when they got home.  So many students have end of day on their mind and forget to write it down or to take home the right worksheets or whatever and to have a blog and the accessibility of the assignments listed as well as the documents to print, oh what a parents dream.

    A blog could also be used as a parent teacher communicator and you could list your lesson plans for the week or some lesson instruction video's for the harder topics covered for the week so the extra tutoring would be there when the student got home.  I know many parents struggle with their students work whether for lack of remembering the steps or perhaps the new methods taught.  This way, the instructions would be there and the parents and students could watch the blog video and handle the homework in a different light.

   These ways seem very helpful and I look forward to using them in my classroom someday.

Thing 2

Thing 2

     Well, I have to admit, this whole blogging thing is going to be interesting.  Thank goodness for the very explicit directions.  I have never even read a blog before let alone created one but I definitely see the potential for making this a new hobby!

     To me, setting it up was easy but again, the directions were very clear.  Since creating it, I have noticed that several of my colleagues have created blogs and use them daily almost like most would use Facebook.  They share pictures of their children and talk about the day they had and what adventures that day entailed.  Family from afar can share in the journey with their family and still feel a part of it...  Really interesting!

     I really put no creativity in creating my posting blog name.  Just me, Billie Gibbs.  I have found that I use so many screen names and passwords that the simpler I keep them, the easier it is to remember them. So, that easy.

     My avatar was difficult for me to create.  Not on the instructional technical side but on the descriptive side.  Did I want to be funny and different or again, just me?  So I enlisted the help of my younger daughter and let her help me pick and choose...  She pretty much pegged me as me with just a different hair style...  But that was fun, enlightened me on her perspective and made her feel pretty important to be helping mom on her homework.

Thing 1

Thing 1

     Well, getting a late start but one of my biggest weaknesses is procrastination.  I had always had the very busy lifestyle and have always managed to make everything fit and now, it is becoming a bigger challenge and not always as successful. I would always tell myself " I do my best work under pressure", NOT!!!  (anymore at least)

     Begin with the end in mind.  This is such a powerful statement and has taken on a new meaning for me in the last year.  I have started college at age 40 and have the goal of being a Special Education Teacher.  I have to look at the end to keep myself going sometimes.  My frustrations are now greeted with the thoughts of my future students and ways that I am going to make a difference in their lives.  This is my motivation.  And now my anti-procrastination device.  I am not going to put off til tomorrow what can be taken care of today.

     Of the 7 /12 habits of Lifelong learning, I have to say the easiest of these would be looking at all problems as challenges.  I was overloaded in the "problem" department not too long ago and when I changed my outlook and took them on as "challenges", they were disappearing!  I was accepting the challenges and moving forward rather than dwelling on the "Problems"! This alone made a huge impact on my life and broadened my learning capabilities.

     One of the hardest of the habits that I will be focusing mostly on, is the mentoring and teaching of others. I seem to lack self confidence and feel intimidated when it comes to explaining or expressing to others.  Not so much with children but mainly with my peers.  I am going to address this as a challenge as well and tackle it!  We'll see how this goes!