"Thing #24" Boo!

I have learned a lot of from the 23 things. I know that my bookmarks have increased as the course went on. I like it all, but in a five week course it's a big amount of stuff. The only real suggestion I have is that all the links work and when you click on something, that a different window opens up every time. I had to always open a window and go back to see what it was that I needed to comment on. Throughout my blogging I have unknowingly accomplished this "hidden thing 24" by stating what I have applied or what I will apply to my classes. I will check back on this blog to remind me of what I meant to apply to my classes and do it. All in all, I liked it. This was fun!

Thing #23

My CC example

Creative Commons is one of the things I remember learning about the most. I find it refreshing that there is now an option for people to create something and decide just how they would like to share it. It's very frustrating when you find the perfect picture for your presentation, but you can't use it because of the dreaded copyright sign, the R inside the circle. I think CC is the ultimate for artists who wish to share their work without having to pay someone to tell others how they may use it. A great way to cut out the middle man!

As a teacher, I will make sure that what I used is used properly. I'll also explain to my students how there is an entire movement out there that wants and encourages them to use their works. I'll definitely show them the CC PowerPoint that I made.

Thing #22

I don't like how the binder site is organized. I think that they could streamline this site a lot. There are too many things going on at once. They make it easy to find things, but making the binders is a bit tricky. It needs some work. For the life of me I could not figure this site out.

Thing #21

The video in Animoto was easy enough to make. I think this would be a good tool for showing off the projects of my students or a field trip or any number of things. I have had students use this for assignments before. They've done spectacular things with it.



Try our slideshow maker at Animoto.

Thing #20

Spanish hilariousness

I absolutely love this video! It's hilarious! I show this to my Spanish 2 students because they understand what he is saying and they also understand how it's a bunch of nonsense. When we are about half way through the semester, I show them the second semester of Spanish Spanish love song. They laugh and we have a good time watching these. They make reference to them throughout the semester as well. Learning another language can be stressful, so laughter is most definitely needed and a plus. I like using YouTube for references, but the site is blocked in my school system. However, I can post the link and my students can watch it at home. Thankfully, for the Spanish love songs, someone uploaded them to the county-approved teacher tube and I can show them from there.

Thing #19

Visit TeacherPop

I'm a member of IMDB and Flixster. It used to be that you had to go to the movies often and watch the previews or look in the paper or look at the movie posters. With Flixster, they tell me when a movie that I might like is coming out and what it's about. I like IMDB because I find myself trying to remember the name of that actor in that one movie that I saw that one time :) I just connect to my IMDB and I can look up almost any information I want to about a ton of movies. If I like a certain actor or actress, I can follow them and hear about a movie that they will be starring in.

I find playlist very interesting. My Spanish students wouldn't otherwise hear good music in Spanish if I didn't expose them to it. This site, along with others, allows me to do just that without having to buy every CD. I use this when my students are doing group work or working on a translation.

Thing #18

Social networking is very important for anyone. It is helpful for teachers because, if we stay connected, then we might never get stuck in a rut again, or at least we won't stay stuck for long. It allows you to think and see outside of the box. It can keep you current and fresh so that you don't get burnt out or feel like an island/classroom hermit. Twitter is a more concise way to stay current on other teachers or schools and it's very easy to locate quotes and links that they may put up. Facebook is great for obtaining more detailed information which could allow you to get more involved. Also, Facebook has email, messaging, and instant messaging options for a more personal, in-depth experience. I wouldn't say that I dislike either of the two. They both have their place. Twitter is more direct and to the point, while Facebook is, but Facebook can also be more in-depth. I think they're both very useful. I do think that Facebook has more useful features. Aside from words, you can view pictures, become friends with other people, plan events and send out invites, you can chat, and you are able to start both public and private groups. I would say that Facebook is at an advantage, but sometimes it can rob you of your time with all those features. Twitter is a quick, get in/get out sort of technology. My school already uses Facebook.

Thing #17

Wow! I am a bookmark addict. I was shocked when I learned that delicious allows you to add your own tags to your bookmarks to make them easier to find. I thought that was cool. When I found that the delicious bookmarks were open to the public I thought, "Finally! I can connect with a whole lot of other Spanish teachers and see what they're using!". I can most definitely see the reasoning behind using this in a classroom. Instead of waiting to bump into someone of your same field and asking each other for hints and helpful things, you can just connect to delicious and browse through theirs. The next time you happen to bump into someone, you can just say, "Check out my delicious bookmarks and check out my stuff.". Of course you might want to clarify that you don't think bookmarks are indeed delicious and that it's the name of the site. (Bum bum tazz!)

Thing #16

To be quite honest, I have never really gotten down with the whole start page thing. After seeing these options, I might try to actually apply this in real life though. So far, I only use bookmarks in my toolbar. I definitely need to get on the ball with that. I like how efficient the start pages are. They can be so efficient that they go from being a start page to being the main/only page that you might need in most situations. The really help cut your time down considerably if you're in a rush or just don't want to be in front of a computer. I'm a fan of the possibilities, but I have to admit that I'm still procrastinating on that one :)

An online calender would be useful to me so that I don't put all my eggs in one basket. If I were to loose my phone, I would loose my appointments. That wouldn't be good :( While I save them on my phone's calender, I could save them to my online calender. Thankfully, my phone offers that feature already. I no longer live in fear of dropping my phone in the toilet and getting fired because I forgot a meeting. I'm living free as a bird now... a bit over the top, but kind of true.

I currently use a to-do list on my phone that syncs to the online version. It helps me anywhere from jotting ideas down for my Spanish classes to funny videos I need to watch on YouTube. They have proven helpful, especially when grocery shopping and Christmas shopping. If I didn't have an online to-do list, I'd walk around with a small book in my pocket and be writing them down. I'm all for online to-do lists.

The PDF converter is a useful tool that I found. I have used it in the past. There's nothing more frustrating than sending someone a Word document only to find that they couldn't open it. I have the converter on my Mac and my phone so that no matter where I'm at, I can make a document, save it as a PDF, and send it off so that anyone can open it up and see exactly what I wanted them to. Another good function about a PDF for school purposes is that once it's saved as a PDF, people cannot change anything on the document. The original is with me and can only be changed by me in its original format and "resaved" as a PDF image.

Thing #15

I could use a Wiki for having my students post about their experiences after taking a field trip. We could have this giant class story about it. I wonder if they could be used when organizing a party, too. Something as simple as a Christmas party could be organized by the students while I supervise it. They could make lists of the food, drinks, music, etc. that they would like to bring. I could tell them to check back at a certain time with my final approval. In this way, the party planning wouldn't have to take away from class time. I guess what I'm trying to say is that there are many ways that this could be used. I like how it functions a lot like a group in Facebook. Once your members are there, the planning and fun beings. Students are already familiar with Facebook's groups, so it wouldn't take them any time at all to grasp this. In my school system, Facebook is blocked, but most wikis are available to use; that's another plus for this concept.

Thing #14

The flowcharts from flowchart.com would prove very useful for me in my Spanish classes. This could be effective when conjugating verbs, especially the irregular verbs. It helps to have an organized list in order to memorize and utilize verb conjugations. I use something like this already in my PowerPoint presentations that go over the verbs and their conjugations. It really help my students learn which conjugation goes with which person. Yaay for subject verb agreement in Spanish!

The mind maps of mindmaster.com would be useful in verbs, too. However, I would use mind maps when reviewing all conjugations of the verbs: past, present, future, and the specialized type in between. I like how the mind maps can take a lot of information and present it in an organized way. It has a way of taking otherwise intimidating amounts of information and making them look doable.

Thing #13

Lucky 13! First of all,  ZOHO's documents are a lot like Microsoft Word, but with a slight delay. Maybe it's because every time you type something, this programs saves it. No joke... every single letter. I was wondering what the delay was because I can type pretty fast and the app was barely lagging. I looked up at the top and noticed that every time I would type, it would read, "saving". However, Google docs did the same thing, but it took quite a bit more time for Google to save than it did ZOHO. The two word documents looked similar enough to easily work with interchangeably. I would go for Google docs simply because they offer more apps for more uses. A simple email address and from then on out, it's a one stop shop.

I could see how my students could use this. Microsoft Office is down right expensive and their parents might not want to buy such an expensive program for their high school students to use every once in a while. I would suggest for them to use Google docs because it's free and using a Gmail account opens up a bunch of apps for them to use automatically. My students could work on a presentation and link it/email it back and forth from anywhere and get many things done from the convenience of their own homes. 

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