1.
Throughout my journey of the 23 Things, I learned a thing or two about the vast quantity of free online tools available to do just about any job you might need. The parts I enjoyed discovering most, though, were the videos I found that actually taught something worth learning.
This course has re-invigorated my desire to learn to animate, so that I can make interesting videos that students can watch and learn from. I believe a pre-prepared, clear, and concise explanation with powerful graphics would far exceed those of myself fumbling about in front of class trying to remember every detail of what I'm teaching.
Things to improve on for the program would simply be an update. Much of the information is a little behind the times, and many of the tools that have been discussed are familiar to just about everyone. Perhaps that is unfair, given that those few people that have not been exposed to those tools would be behind if we did not discuss them. I did, however, find that much of the work in the course was a little arduous in that the point was made and the learning was gleaned far before the project was finished.
I keep up with new developments on the web already, so that will not change. My practice as a teacher will only be changing if I manage to learn to animate.
2.
I will not be maintaining my blog because I do not desire to announce to the world what I am doing. Blogs are not for everyone, and while I agree that certain blogs are excellent, mine would not be. I simply do not have the right attitude for a blogger. I will, however, be maintaining my Edmodo website and posting more useful material for my students.
Avatar
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Thing 23
As a teacher with little to no creative capabilities, I am not certain if or when I will be using Creative Commons, since that would imply I did something creative. However, I do have some pretty good ideas on making multimedia cartoons to explain physics concepts; I just either need someone to help me make them or need to learn to animate myself. If I ever find the time to practice and gain skill in animation, perhaps I will use the Creative Commons license to distribute the resulting cartoons, assuming they turn out well of course.
Thing 22
Here's my Physics Binder:
My three binders were Physics, Physics Videos, and Pre-Calculus. The Physics and Pre-Calculus binders contained websites for math tutorials or physics explanations, and the Physics Videos binder contains a set of extremely well put together explanations of several classically difficult to understand phenomena.
My experience with this Thing was actually quite positive because I found such fantastic videos that I hadn't seen before. The binders are a neat place to store such things, and I could imagine providing my students with links to these so they could explore the videos themselves. I could use LiveBinders in order to easily organize links for kids in my classes.
My experience with this Thing was actually quite positive because I found such fantastic videos that I hadn't seen before. The binders are a neat place to store such things, and I could imagine providing my students with links to these so they could explore the videos themselves. I could use LiveBinders in order to easily organize links for kids in my classes.
Thing 21
Here's my Animoto video:
Climate Change
This is what is happening to our planet because of the needless over consumption of natural resources and rejection of renewable energy across the globe. But, its business as usual for most of us!
My experiences:
Animoto is basically a glorified slide show maker. Perhaps it would be useful as a tool for a journalism or art class. Students could create slideshows that told a story, much like a photojournalist does. In my case, I decided to make a statement about how we're destroying our own planet, and the oddly placed music simply accentuates just how ridiculous it is.
Climate Change
This is what is happening to our planet because of the needless over consumption of natural resources and rejection of renewable energy across the globe. But, its business as usual for most of us!
My experiences:
Animoto is basically a glorified slide show maker. Perhaps it would be useful as a tool for a journalism or art class. Students could create slideshows that told a story, much like a photojournalist does. In my case, I decided to make a statement about how we're destroying our own planet, and the oddly placed music simply accentuates just how ridiculous it is.
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Thing 20
Video Insertion time:
I liked this video about changing the education paradigm. It will be a cold day in hell before this actually happens, I think, but its nice to think about.
I'd say that pretty much everyone who has ever touched a computer is probably already familiar with Youtube. I've used Youtube several times in my physics class so that my students can observe demos that we do not have the equipment to perform.
My chosen link: http://www.go2web20.net/site/?a=GoAnimate
GoAnimate is animation software that could feasibly be used to create a video in which your students learn something. I could imagine it being used to liven up physics problems and to help kids break them down into simpler terms. I've toyed with the idea of creating animations that explain physics problems, and maybe I will act on that when time permits.
I liked this video about changing the education paradigm. It will be a cold day in hell before this actually happens, I think, but its nice to think about.
I'd say that pretty much everyone who has ever touched a computer is probably already familiar with Youtube. I've used Youtube several times in my physics class so that my students can observe demos that we do not have the equipment to perform.
My chosen link: http://www.go2web20.net/site/?a=GoAnimate
GoAnimate is animation software that could feasibly be used to create a video in which your students learn something. I could imagine it being used to liven up physics problems and to help kids break them down into simpler terms. I've toyed with the idea of creating animations that explain physics problems, and maybe I will act on that when time permits.
Thing 19
For this Thing, I explored classroom20.com and was already familiar with Yelp and IMDB. I found that classroom20.com was much more focused on education, as one might expect, and that made things much easier when it came to looking for topics that were actually useful. There is a lot of advice for new teachers, as well as a significant amount of encouragement. Finding material that is relevant isn't too difficult at classroom20.
I never really thought of Yelp as a social networking site, but after thinking about it, it really is. It enables people to view the opinions of others about particular businesses. Its sort of like Twitter, but focused on individual businesses rather than individual people.
I don't really know if I'd consider IMDB to be a social networking site because of the nature of the site. Sure, people can comment, but the focus of the site is really the movies themselves and maintaining a database of the movie and its content/actors.
As for the actual assignment:
Classroom20 is a good resource for advice from real teachers who experience what you experience.
I'm not a member of ANY online communities, including facebook and twitter, and I will be keeping it that way. I have an Edmodo account in order to upload tutorials/examples for my students, but its nothing more than a drop box and I do not use it for anything social.
I will not be joining any online communities.
I am not interested in any of them either. While classroom20 might be a good resource, I can just as easily ask my co-workers and get similar answers from people who actually know me.
I never really thought of Yelp as a social networking site, but after thinking about it, it really is. It enables people to view the opinions of others about particular businesses. Its sort of like Twitter, but focused on individual businesses rather than individual people.
I don't really know if I'd consider IMDB to be a social networking site because of the nature of the site. Sure, people can comment, but the focus of the site is really the movies themselves and maintaining a database of the movie and its content/actors.
As for the actual assignment:
Classroom20 is a good resource for advice from real teachers who experience what you experience.
I'm not a member of ANY online communities, including facebook and twitter, and I will be keeping it that way. I have an Edmodo account in order to upload tutorials/examples for my students, but its nothing more than a drop box and I do not use it for anything social.
I will not be joining any online communities.
I am not interested in any of them either. While classroom20 might be a good resource, I can just as easily ask my co-workers and get similar answers from people who actually know me.
Thing 18
I have avoided Twitter and Facebook because I do not believe in what they stand for. Being connected to so many people at once is just not my idea of a good time. However, in the spirit of doing the assignment, my Twitter account is as follows:
https://twitter.com/Sec_NotSure
I, of course, did not use my real name.
In searching key words like "Physics" and "Math" I found a lot of garbage and a few things worth looking at. A significant portion was, for lack of a better term, crap. Psychologists making claims they couldn't possibly understand about quantum physics and students complaining about their math and/or physics homework were abound; the occasional item worth reading did turn up, though these were severely outnumbered.
Twitter itself is not important for educators. What is important, however, is understanding what Twitter is and how it can be used and abused. Twitter is simply a way for people to socialize instantly with anyone who is willing to listen, but it can also be used to VERY quickly spread rumors or defame a student or teacher. Understanding the Twitter dynamic could perhaps help curb such behavior, however, I can't imagine using it myself for any productive reason. Social media leaves a bad taste in my mouth in general, though.
https://twitter.com/Sec_NotSure
I, of course, did not use my real name.
In searching key words like "Physics" and "Math" I found a lot of garbage and a few things worth looking at. A significant portion was, for lack of a better term, crap. Psychologists making claims they couldn't possibly understand about quantum physics and students complaining about their math and/or physics homework were abound; the occasional item worth reading did turn up, though these were severely outnumbered.
Twitter itself is not important for educators. What is important, however, is understanding what Twitter is and how it can be used and abused. Twitter is simply a way for people to socialize instantly with anyone who is willing to listen, but it can also be used to VERY quickly spread rumors or defame a student or teacher. Understanding the Twitter dynamic could perhaps help curb such behavior, however, I can't imagine using it myself for any productive reason. Social media leaves a bad taste in my mouth in general, though.
Thing 17
After perusing Delicious for a while, I was able to shape an opinion on the site itself. Firstly, I'm not a fan of toolbars. That isn't to say that they are useful, my preference is to just keep all parts of the browsing experience separate. However, I can see the benefits of sites like Delicious. I use Edmodo with my students, and its easy for me to share links with my students, but only my students can see those links, and only if they have an account. A site like Delicious enables other people to benefit from the sites I've bookmarked for myself, such as Khan Academy. I did find a couple of cool resources from Delicious, but found that it was easier to just Google what I was looking for, for the most part. However, for those who are not good with key words, I could imagine that Delicious would be a good way for communities of people, like teachers, to share bookmarks relevant to their interests. Plus, having bookmarks online means you can access them from any computer, which is nice if you can't remember the URLs.
Thing 16
If I ever actually used homepages, the Start page might be useful. Personally, I just type my search into the URL bar, which defaults to a Google search for my chosen browser, Chrome.
I messed around with the NetVibes start page for a while and found a few useful devices to put on my page, like a to-do list and a calendar. However, the only other thing I found useful to place on the page was websites. I can make a favorites list without having to load an entire webpage, so that feature is pretty much useless. The tiny box of text is displays for each website is nigh useless for each of them. However, if you are the type that likes to go to Google.com to type your search into the search bar itself, I could imagine one of these tools being useful. I'll not be using any of these start pages.
However, I can imagine how a person with many devices might be a little more enthusiastic about these online devices. Your favorites list doesn't follow you around unless you've memorized it; which I have. The calendar and favorite sites are saved online, as opposed to your computer and so you can access it from anywhere on any device.
Personally, these tools are not useful for me because I already have them in some form or another. However, I could imagine my grandmother or wife using them, as they seem to appeal to "one stop shoppers" (my wife) or people who are less technically inclined (my grandmother).
I messed around with the NetVibes start page for a while and found a few useful devices to put on my page, like a to-do list and a calendar. However, the only other thing I found useful to place on the page was websites. I can make a favorites list without having to load an entire webpage, so that feature is pretty much useless. The tiny box of text is displays for each website is nigh useless for each of them. However, if you are the type that likes to go to Google.com to type your search into the search bar itself, I could imagine one of these tools being useful. I'll not be using any of these start pages.
However, I can imagine how a person with many devices might be a little more enthusiastic about these online devices. Your favorites list doesn't follow you around unless you've memorized it; which I have. The calendar and favorite sites are saved online, as opposed to your computer and so you can access it from anywhere on any device.
Personally, these tools are not useful for me because I already have them in some form or another. However, I could imagine my grandmother or wife using them, as they seem to appeal to "one stop shoppers" (my wife) or people who are less technically inclined (my grandmother).
Thing 15
Wiki's are an incredibly useful tool for a variety of reasons. Both publicly editable wikis and wikis that are have a limited user base have an important function for spreading information to the masses. Wikis are not subject to massive amounts of review prior to being published, so the information on wikis is often very cutting edge and updated quickly. Simultaneously, it is more likely for wikis to contain inaccuracies because of that lack of review...or so one would think. It turns out that, when one is looking at scientific material, Wikipedia is actually pretty reliable. A study done in Nature, a journal, found that Wikipedia was just as accurate in scientific information as the Encyclopedia Britannica. Because of the massive user base, inaccuracies on Wikipedia are caught and repaired quickly. Closed wiki pages that can only be edited by those that are registered are also useful because organizations can quickly and easily introduce new material, such as those linked in the 23 things article.
Overall, wikis are a great way to both transmit and receive information to and from the new web-based knowledge pool.
Overall, wikis are a great way to both transmit and receive information to and from the new web-based knowledge pool.
Friday, November 29, 2013
Thing 14
The two Web 2.0 apps I chose for this Thing were Gliffy and MindMeister. I found that MindMeister was much easier to use, as connecting new bubbles was automatic, whereas in Gliffy you had to make the connections manually. However, this makes send as a mind map generally just shows a relation to a central idea. Flowcharts don't center on an idea per se, but instead show a flow of logic between two points or a multitude of points.
If I were to use one of them, I would most likely choose MindMeister, because of its ease of use. It would be a useful tool to map out certain ideas, like how to write a good scientific paper. A flow chart could also be used this way, but Gliffy just requires more work to connect the pieces.
If I were to use one of them, I would most likely choose MindMeister, because of its ease of use. It would be a useful tool to map out certain ideas, like how to write a good scientific paper. A flow chart could also be used this way, but Gliffy just requires more work to connect the pieces.
Thing 13
This document details my opinions on Google Drive and the associated tools that come with it.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/16AaseW0LVphgGVlcEIrf9zmf7bgq9ZST4g9w_WQIRrs/pub
This is just a quick drawing I made to demonstrate how publishing to a webspace works using HTML:
Students could use Google Drive to collaborate by sharing files, for example, research they've done. They will all have access to the same files and can edit them for everyone else to see. All students will have access to the same version and no one will have to worry about being out of the loop. The program is similar to dropbox in that regard, though its not quite as automatic and familiar as just dragging and dropping files.
In comparison with Zoho, Google Drive and its associated applications are less robust initially, although much of that can be overcome with other downloadable Google applications. Zoho seems to have a more business oriented outlook, and the website is less simple and more difficult to navigate than Google Drive. Zoho offers services like "Live Support," which enables business owners to connect with and support customers through Zoho. They basically make running a website/business easier by being the primary go-to for web-based solutions.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/16AaseW0LVphgGVlcEIrf9zmf7bgq9ZST4g9w_WQIRrs/pub
This is just a quick drawing I made to demonstrate how publishing to a webspace works using HTML:
Students could use Google Drive to collaborate by sharing files, for example, research they've done. They will all have access to the same files and can edit them for everyone else to see. All students will have access to the same version and no one will have to worry about being out of the loop. The program is similar to dropbox in that regard, though its not quite as automatic and familiar as just dragging and dropping files.
In comparison with Zoho, Google Drive and its associated applications are less robust initially, although much of that can be overcome with other downloadable Google applications. Zoho seems to have a more business oriented outlook, and the website is less simple and more difficult to navigate than Google Drive. Zoho offers services like "Live Support," which enables business owners to connect with and support customers through Zoho. They basically make running a website/business easier by being the primary go-to for web-based solutions.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Thing 12
The two tools I chose were Google Translate and Google Trends. Google Translate is a great tool for trying to have a polite conversation with someone who speaks a little of your own language. My wife has friends from Ecuador who came to visit and neither of them spoke much English. We had a great time TRYING to communicate with Google Translate, and for the most part the translations were good enough that after some thought we could figure out what the other was trying to say. However, I would caution anyone using it for anything other than fun or ordering Chinese food. The translations are not true to the meaning of many words and phrases we take for granted.
Good Trends is fun because it allows you to see search trends over time. If you type in a celebrity name you can see exactly when they became popular because the search counts skyrocket. Its funny to see which countries are most interested in certain topics, and maybe a little disconcerting for others. Try typing in funny and weird things into google trends, you might be surprised who's been searching for it!
Uses for google translate would be few and far between, but google trends could be used to demonstrate to students how to extrapolate data from a graph. We may not have an exact date given to when Steve Jobs died, for example, but we can very clearly predict from the graph a rough time period in which that occurred.
Good Trends is fun because it allows you to see search trends over time. If you type in a celebrity name you can see exactly when they became popular because the search counts skyrocket. Its funny to see which countries are most interested in certain topics, and maybe a little disconcerting for others. Try typing in funny and weird things into google trends, you might be surprised who's been searching for it!
Uses for google translate would be few and far between, but google trends could be used to demonstrate to students how to extrapolate data from a graph. We may not have an exact date given to when Steve Jobs died, for example, but we can very clearly predict from the graph a rough time period in which that occurred.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Thing 11
In my search for new Education blogs, I first tried Google Blog Search with the expectation that it would be the best. After all, it's Google! I got an absolute truckload of non-blogs I had to weed through and quickly gave that up. Google Blog was pretty bad.
Next, I tried Blogsearchengine.org and was able to find several good blog sites, such as:
http://www.speechtechie.com/
http://www.seomraranga.com/
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/
After finding those, I tried out Technorati. I didn't end up finding any blogs because I got too distracted with the articles they link to their site. It seems like a good tech news site, but I think I'll stick with Blogsearchengine.org to find blogs.
The three blogs I found are neat because they give teachers a more technology focused perspective and try to find affordable ways in which teachers can implement technology in their classrooms, rather than championing multi-thousand dollar pieces of equipment like smart-boards.
Next, I tried Blogsearchengine.org and was able to find several good blog sites, such as:
http://www.speechtechie.com/
http://www.seomraranga.com/
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/
After finding those, I tried out Technorati. I didn't end up finding any blogs because I got too distracted with the articles they link to their site. It seems like a good tech news site, but I think I'll stick with Blogsearchengine.org to find blogs.
The three blogs I found are neat because they give teachers a more technology focused perspective and try to find affordable ways in which teachers can implement technology in their classrooms, rather than championing multi-thousand dollar pieces of equipment like smart-boards.
Thing 10
The thing I like about RSS Readers is they enable you to consolidate all your news/daily reading sources into one big pile so that jumping between them is easy and seamless. I can imagine using this in my normal life for sure.
As a math teacher, I'm not sure its immediately useful, but as a physics teacher I could use it to quickly show students cool tech/physics news as it unfolds. I could also imagine history teachers liking it if they want to talk about current events.
Thing 9
I decided to make a couple of items using Image Chef. The other provided tools weren't quite as straight forward to use, and I just couldn't get the Smiley one to work at all. Here's what I made:
Neither of these really seem that useful in and of themselves, though you might make a case for at least making your classroom rules or something along those lines more fun to look at. You just have to be careful and make sure it isnt a distraction during class time!
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Thing 8
I think Flickr is a really cool site, but I have yet to figure out a way to filter out the "All Rights Reserved" copyrighted material. I started to make a cool mosaic, but finding uncopyrighted images that fit what I needed was too much of a pain in the you know what.
If anyone knows how to filter the Recent Photos section, let me know!
Honestly, I don't see a whole lot of use in these tools unless I decide to write a ransom note sometime far in the future. Mosaics look cool, but I'm not an art teacher. I can imagine these tools being fun in an art or digital media class, though. As a math teacher, I personally have no need for image mashups.
As for sharing photos online, I absolutely do not do that. Personal photos I would NEVER share, but even photos of random things I keep for myself. I'm not really a "share everything with the world" kind of person. I share photos with people I know, and that's about it.
Thing 7
My quest through Flickr was much more satisfying than my quest through Go2Web2.0. I saw a lot of really cool pictures. I didn't really have any particular things I wanted to search for, so I decided to peruse the "Recent Photos" gallery. A lot of very talented photographers and photo editors post really cool pictures to Flickr very often. I couldn't believe the level of work available right in front of me. Much of it was copyrighted, however, which was a little frustrating. Every time I found a cool picture I found that I couldn't share it. Virtually all of the landscape pictures were like that.
I did find a really cool picture of a spider about to munch on a tasty bug it just wrapped in silk, though!
photo by Wanderin Weeta; pulled from Flickr.
I mainly chose this picture because I like nature. Sometimes I just want to walk around and photograph cool bugs and plants. Unfortunately, I do not have a camera of this quality, so that's not really possible for me at the moment. My wife's dad does have a camera like this though, and he does take pictures like this every once in a while and they're always really cool. I'm always excited to see his latest photographs when we go visit them!
Thing 6
After spending an inordinate amount of time trying to find a Web 2.0 tool that both worked AND didn't require me to install anything or create an account, I finally decided that web tools just are not the way to go. I'd prefer to just find a program made to do the task I want, such as the program I use to teach in class: Autodesk Sketchbook Pro. This program was developed by software professionals and is a very useful program with a lot of great features. All of the Web 2.0 programs I tried to use were virtually useless, OR they required me to sign in with facebook (which I do not use) or make an account and give them my personal email (which I refuse to do).
Honestly, I'd rather just buy or download free software that does what its supposed to do. Gnumeric is a fantastic spreadsheet program. I don't need to log onto the internet to use it. Autodesk Sketchbook Pro is a fantastic drawing program, and again I don't need an internet connection for it.
Web 2.0 is great for communication, such as blogs and photo sharing. It's just not good for productivity!
Honestly, I'd rather just buy or download free software that does what its supposed to do. Gnumeric is a fantastic spreadsheet program. I don't need to log onto the internet to use it. Autodesk Sketchbook Pro is a fantastic drawing program, and again I don't need an internet connection for it.
Web 2.0 is great for communication, such as blogs and photo sharing. It's just not good for productivity!
Thing 5
As I perused the plethora of web 2.0 apps for teachers, I began to realize a couple of things.
1. Web 2.0 is useful in preparation of materials for the classroom, however, I've yet to find any truly good apps that I think would be good INSIDE the classroom. Doing math and physics homework on a computer is just frustrating and I've never witnessed any student doing online homework and enjoying it.
2. While I wouldn't use any web 2.0 tools inside my classroom, I do recognize the capacity for supplemental material outside the classroom. Blogs enable teachers to communicate with students outside of class, places like Khan Academy allow students to find supplemental material to help them when they are having difficulty, and tools like dropbox might allow me to distribute a file to students, such as lecture notes, that they might otherwise never be able to see.
"School 2.0" will never occur, at least no in my classroom. There is something to be said for keeping the internet away from a bunch of kids with little self control. However, I will most certainly be taking advantage of Web 2.0 tools in order to supplement my instruction.
Question Responses:
School 2.0 implies, to me, that kids in a classroom will have their faces buried in a computer while the teacher is relegated to a baby sitting job. I realize this is probably not truly the idea, but I have a feeling that is how it will end up happening in the long run.
I hope it doesn't mean much at all. I've seen the result of online credit recovery programs. Students go in with an F and no knowledge, and they come out with an A and no knowledge. The internet completely takes away any responsibility of learning because they can just look up all the answers. Even if they don't, they get infinite tries to make a good grade. Its kinda silly, to be perfectly honest.
1. Web 2.0 is useful in preparation of materials for the classroom, however, I've yet to find any truly good apps that I think would be good INSIDE the classroom. Doing math and physics homework on a computer is just frustrating and I've never witnessed any student doing online homework and enjoying it.
2. While I wouldn't use any web 2.0 tools inside my classroom, I do recognize the capacity for supplemental material outside the classroom. Blogs enable teachers to communicate with students outside of class, places like Khan Academy allow students to find supplemental material to help them when they are having difficulty, and tools like dropbox might allow me to distribute a file to students, such as lecture notes, that they might otherwise never be able to see.
"School 2.0" will never occur, at least no in my classroom. There is something to be said for keeping the internet away from a bunch of kids with little self control. However, I will most certainly be taking advantage of Web 2.0 tools in order to supplement my instruction.
Question Responses:
School 2.0 implies, to me, that kids in a classroom will have their faces buried in a computer while the teacher is relegated to a baby sitting job. I realize this is probably not truly the idea, but I have a feeling that is how it will end up happening in the long run.
I hope it doesn't mean much at all. I've seen the result of online credit recovery programs. Students go in with an F and no knowledge, and they come out with an A and no knowledge. The internet completely takes away any responsibility of learning because they can just look up all the answers. Even if they don't, they get infinite tries to make a good grade. Its kinda silly, to be perfectly honest.
Thing 4
Commenting on others posts does a couple of things; it shows them that you actually took the time to read their post, and it allows you to input on the conversation. Whether or not that input is constructive or not is up to you, but simply taking the time out of your day to write a few sentences about another's post is often greatly appreciated. Additionally, your comment could spark future discussions, so commenting on bits you are interested in is...well...in your best interest!
The important bits I pulled from the readings were that comments need to add to the conversation and be constructive and meaningful. Otherwise, why bother wasting your time commenting? Your comment doesn't have to inspire happiness and butterflies. It can inspire rage and frustration; that's okay so long as you're adding to the conversation!
I selected the following bloggers to read and comment on:
Nicole Petrik
Candace Small
Whitney Butts
Tyler Imhoff
Rachel Hannabass
I basically just chose 5 random people within the class to read about, then read through a few of their Things until I found a post I was interested in, then commented on it!
I didn't bother with finding the two external sources because the Thing implied that part was optional by saying "If you are familiar with... do this". So I assumed I'd be doing it during thing 10 or 11.
The comments I made were mostly either identifying with the poster personally, making some type of suggestion for them to think about, or just letting them know that I found their post interesting and was able to take something of value from it.
The important bits I pulled from the readings were that comments need to add to the conversation and be constructive and meaningful. Otherwise, why bother wasting your time commenting? Your comment doesn't have to inspire happiness and butterflies. It can inspire rage and frustration; that's okay so long as you're adding to the conversation!
I selected the following bloggers to read and comment on:
Nicole Petrik
Candace Small
Whitney Butts
Tyler Imhoff
Rachel Hannabass
I basically just chose 5 random people within the class to read about, then read through a few of their Things until I found a post I was interested in, then commented on it!
I didn't bother with finding the two external sources because the Thing implied that part was optional by saying "If you are familiar with... do this". So I assumed I'd be doing it during thing 10 or 11.
The comments I made were mostly either identifying with the poster personally, making some type of suggestion for them to think about, or just letting them know that I found their post interesting and was able to take something of value from it.
Thing 3
I've been toying with ideas on uses for a blog and only one has really stood out. I was planning to take advantage of an online classroom program (such as Khan Academy) in order to have a common rail for delivering content to my students, but I may instead use the blog in order to post notes from class and supplemental study work for struggling students. Since I work on a pen tablet using my projector, I can save my notes directly from class and upload them to the blog instantly. I'll probably post random surprise extra credit opportunities in order to get students to check the blog regularly.
Monday, October 7, 2013
Thing 2
Coming into this particular exercise I had no experience with blogs whatsoever. I've probably only visited a blog once or twice, and it was most likely on accident! I most certainly had never even considered creating one, mostly because I have no desire to share my thoughts with the world. However, I can see how it could be a useful tool for a teachers to relay information to their students.
My posting name was just my typical default. I have no creative bones in my body. The title of the blog is also a product of my zero creation brain. I just tried random combinations of "The 23 Things" until one worked.
Creating the blog was easy. I would consider myself an intermediate tech user, so even though I hadn't done it before, navigating the space wasn't challenging.
I generated a completely random avatar that has nothing to do with my personality whatsoever. Most likely because I have no desire to share my personal information with anyone on the internet, so the more I can distance myself from my avatar the better!
My posting name was just my typical default. I have no creative bones in my body. The title of the blog is also a product of my zero creation brain. I just tried random combinations of "The 23 Things" until one worked.
Creating the blog was easy. I would consider myself an intermediate tech user, so even though I hadn't done it before, navigating the space wasn't challenging.
I generated a completely random avatar that has nothing to do with my personality whatsoever. Most likely because I have no desire to share my personal information with anyone on the internet, so the more I can distance myself from my avatar the better!
Thing 1
As far as lifelong learning habits are concerned, of those they listed, the one I find easiest is taking control of my own learning. Throughout my undergraduate studies as a physics major, I had a pretty easy time until I got into the upper division classes. Suddenly, things stopped making intuitive sense as the realm of differential equations and quantum mechanics took over. I realized I had to take charge of my own learning and study hard if I was to have any chance of survival, and it paid off in the end.
The most difficult lifelong learning habit for me is beginning with the end in mind. I NEVER have the end in mind, right until it is looming. This makes it hard for me to wrap things up sometimes, but alas, my brain just doesn't think in those terms. I start at the beginning and I end at the end.
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