One Last Thing...

My favorite thing to take from this lesson is the animoto.com video making site. It's awesome app. because it's free and it doesn't require any kind of downloads. It has affected my education because it is something that I will probably use in my own classroom. Teachers and students can use it for educational or recreational purposes. I had the intent of making an educational video, but after playing around with the sire for a while I decided to make comic gold. It had a positive effect on my life because it broadened my technological horizons. I will continue to use the tools I gained from this experience. It was fun, but EXTREMELY time-consuming.

Thing #23 Creative Commons

Yes, it is true...a person can Google life. I simply Googled web. 2.0 23things and wham! There is a blog on blogger.com posted by San Jose State University of the web. 2.0 23things...thank you Helen Blowers for making this semester the equivalent of a place that begins with an h and ends with a l. The university and others (such as APSU) have borrowed the 23things from her, modified them, and used this stuff for different purposes. I don't aspire to use the creative commons in the future in the classroom. I will tell students about it just in case any of them decide that they need a specified copyright...or in case I need one. However, people can set out guidelines/rules/regulations detailing how other people can use their work...It is useful, but not rendered necessary.

Thing #22 Podcasts

I checked out podcastdirectory.com and found a podcast presented by 90.7 WfUV in New York City, New York about Regina Spektor and her new album Far. It was interesting because I saw her perform some songs off the new album November 16, 2009 at the Ryman, but what I didn't know is that it took her 3 years and 4 producers to create the album...it was totally worth the wait. The radio station 90.7 interviewed Spektor about the album and she also played a few songs live...She got the opportunity to work with some amazing producers! I personally have not quite surrendered myself to the podcasting community, but if that was something my students were interested in then I would definitely incorporate it into the classroom. This is a podcast I could possibly listen to regularly depending on the types of music artist they interview and if the artist/genre is played frequently. All of them were simple to use, but I preferred this one the most. I added the WfUV: Take five podcast to my RSS feed...

Thing #21 Animoto

Animoto was a blast and I almost considered getting the upgrade. It was surprisingly similar to the Photobucket Slideshow option but not really...It was super easy surprisingly. All you have to do is mash up a bunch of pictures, add a couple of words, some music, select where the should begin playing on a sound bar, and hit like create or done, or some button with a word to this effect. I would love to use this in a classroom to see what kids would kind of concauctions kids would come up with. I had an extremely pleasant experience using Animoto!

Thing #20 You Tube

YouTube is my counterproductive drug of choice...I love spending hours upon hours of searching through funny videos that will get me nowhere in life. However, there are some really good videos somewhere out there in the far reaches of the world wide web. Some videos deal with live, real life accounts of important/historical events. People can find videos of natural disasters, breaking news, and all sorts of stuff. I just recently used YouTube to find a video about Spina Bifida for a project in my special education class (I am not a special education student, I am just taking a class about special education). I would definitely recommend YouTube to students for research, creating his/her own video profile(s), and entertainment purposes because YouTube can be so hilarious, ha ha. Students and teachers can share, create, and view videos for the sake of higher learning. I don't have anything negative to say about YouTube...it is so multifaceted and simple to use. It seriously has a little bit of something for everyone.

Thing #19 Facebook Myspace

I couldn't beat them, so I joined them...social networking sites are being forced upon us all the time now. I guess for strategical reasons Ning and TeacherPop would be more appealing for the university and to prevent getting hacked. I guess it is for more company oriented and professional public forums. Always good to stay connected...I joined Bake Space because it sounded hilarious...plus who doesn't like food.lol.? A whole social networking site dedicated to the pursuit of culinary. Once again, I wouldn't use any kind of social networking site that is more personal profiles based than simple text and commenting (blog based) because it just leads to trouble. Back to Bake Space...This or a similar site could be used in a classroom setting, a teacher could have students search the site for a new website or something without creating an account that could become personal. Or a teacher could also have students find a recipe to share and post it to a teacher monitored blog.

Thing #18 Social Networking

I have had my facebook and myspace accounts for ages and for the most part, I have enjoyed them thoroughly. This is definitely one of those great power, great responsibility kind of things. I absolutely would not recommend using facebook or myspace in the classroom setting because it can become a bed of trouble. It will have parents and school officials swarming around a teacher in the matter of seconds, I have seen it happen. These could be potentially useful sites in the classroom setting, but human nature definitely wouldn't allow this to happen. Everything in this society has to be misused to be useful I guess. In my opinion, myspace is the most useful because it has the simplest to control and understand apps. I still don't really understand this whole ninja wall, favorite pop diva, and food fight business...too much for a grown to even think of caring about. It is important for teachers to know about social networking, but like I've said I don't think there is any place in the professional realm for these particular types of social networking sites...It has office wars and personal space invasions written all over. I think what the class is doing right now (blogging) is a more appropriate choice. Btw, I am friends with a few of my professors on facebook, and you will find that this is definitely the more tame of the two listed above.lol.

Thing #17 Tagging & Bookmarking

Del.icio.us.com, as previously stated is definitely handier than the bookmarking option already on the computer because of the social aspect. I think for a classroom setting this would be a more desirable feature, but ultimately it honestly is the product of someone with a lot of time on the hands, or really nosy. In the classroom setting teachers and students could share useful sites with one another and sites that enhance lessons or offer extra practice. the apsu23things Del.icio.us account was riddled with people tagging the free classroom and ed. blogs which makes sense considering that most people aspire to become teachers in this class! I was able to see the comments...the site received a lot of positive feedback. I would definitely be willing to give this application a shot in my classroom, but I wouldn't just for personal usage. As for Furl and Mag.nolia...different grade, same grade. I would stick with Del.icio.us simply because it is the more popular of the three.

Thing #16 Getting Organized

Ok, I don't remember which thing it was listed under but I think I have done the customizable start page before (Thing #12)...I chose to do the iGoogle start page because I use Google ALL the time. In fact, it has been my start up page since like the beginning...I absolutely love love love me some Google. Well I chose to add things that interest me such as breaking news, politics, cooking, and entertainment. It is pretty cool because it shows everything you would probably search for anyway on one page without actually having to search the web! Convenient or Lazy? I definitely think it promotes productivity and allows people to make the best out of already extremely limited free time. The calendar can be useful because most of us check our computers at least once a day...It is like the to-do list only nicer in my opinion. However the to-do list is ok...they would be good for posting to show or remind students of the daily agenda. I wouldn't place more than one week worth of information at a time on it because a student could look at it and easily become overwhelmed. The mystickies are awesome, I have them tacked everywhere at the moment just because I can I guess. I like the way they look, but honestly they nice for keeping up with stuff found online. I mean they are pretty self-explanatory: virtual sticky note, just like regular ones only virtual. Same purpose, same function. Any of them can be used at home so I say I reckon all of them can be useful for at home, but I use my myspace calendar pretty often because I like to keep people informed and be informed. I checked out the 30 Boxes and that one is good too, if I didn't already have one I would definitely use it. Good stuff.

Thanksgiving Thank-A-Thon

I would like to start off by thanking the Notorious G-O-D and Lil J for getting me and my fiancee through another year! Second, I would like to thank Lady Gaga and Britney Spears for keeping me dancing all year long, especially through troubling times. And...last, but not least, Modcloth for giving me this awesome opportunity. However with all of the said, the person I would like to dedicate this Thank-a-thon to most is my Mother for keeping our family together. I have just recently moved out of my mother's house to pursue my dreams of becoming an attorney and this has been one extremely trying year. She continues to fill me with love, hope, courage, and prayers when the going gets rough. She has fed me when I have needed to use money to eat on rent, and has helped pay rent when I have needed money to eat. Despite being at home supporting my younger sister as a single parent she continues to help me strive for my dreams even at the expense of her own. She is the most selfless person I know. We haven't been able to buy new clothes and other luxuries because we need the money for things required to survive. However, it would be so nice to see her in something new for the holidays because I know she is embarrassed about her appearance, but wouldn't dare to complain about it. I know other people will be writing about things of more interest and perhaps have posts that make people laugh, but right now the only thing I have to write about comes from my heart. Thank you Momma for being the rock in my life and holding things together when when I didn't know how! I Love you Momma :)
Modcloth Thank-a-Thon