Thing # 23 Summary of 23 Things

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey? My favorite discoveries were Blogs and Image Generators.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals? I have many more options for both teaching and learning!

Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? I had no idea what I was getting into. This has been really fun, but sometimes frustrating. I had many connections with other teachers from other schools. I found many more ways to search on the Internet. I found many things I can use in the classroom.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept? I think it would help to have optional lab times. Karen Harrell had a group of her co-workers and friends get together for helping/sharing time at Barnes & Nobel. It was very helpful. Kudos to Karen!

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate? Yes!

How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities? Wow, what an eye-opener!

Thanks for the opportunity!

Thing # 22 Nings

I lost myself for another few hours playing with Nings. I might be able to use this with all my accounting students. It would be fun to get them going on a Ning and then be able to hear back from them when they become real CPA's.

Thing # 21 Podcasts

Making a podcast was as easy as pie! However, Switchpod doesn't seem to be working today! I will try to put my podcast on my website! This will be a very effective way to communicate with parents and students.

Thing # 20 Teacher Tube

I found many videos on accounting. We could watch some of these videos during class time. The students could look up videos on their own for a review!

Thing # 19 Awards List

That was fun!! My two favorites were www.zillion.com and www.imcooked.com. Zillion is a real estate website where you can find the value of your home and see a bird's eye view of it. Also, you can see minute by minute mortgage interest rates. Imcooked is a website to share recipes on! Fun!

Thing # 17 Google Docs

This is a great resource for those who do not have the latest Microsoft Office Suite. It is very user friendly. I would probably never use this since all of my co-workers use Office. I will be suggesting it to friends and family members.

Thing # 17 Rollyo

Rollyo was very user friendly. It was very useful in finding many more websites on your favorite topics!

Thing # 16 Wikis

What a perfect way for students and teachers to communicate! It will be great to use this in BCIS projects this coming year. I especially liked playing on www.pbwiki.com.

Thing # 15 Web 2.0

It is so exciting to see the direction libraries are taking. When my students do research papers, we use a computer lab. Books could never keep up with the exploding amount of information that is available. Accuracy and truth are the biggest problems out there. Some of the information is questionable and students tend to take everything at face value. Blogging may have great information and opinions, but doesn't always have the facts.

Thing # 14 Technorati

Not my favorite. Technorati seemed much more complicated and over-run with advertisements. I much prefer the tagging on Del.icio.us.

Thing # 13 Del.icio.us

Del.icio.us is all set up and ready to go. I love this concept! I had no idea that such a thing existed. My students do research in BCIS class, so I will be able to introduce them to this website!

Thing # 12 Community Through Commenting

I am having too much fun for this to be Professional Development!

My biggest pet peeves about posting are typos (I'm an old typing teacher!) and silly replys like "Me too" and "Thanks". Same goes for e-mail.

My favorite sight to post on is Cruise Critics. My husband and I love to cruise. I was able to find two other people cruising on the same ship we will be on in July.

Thing # 11 Library Thing

I absolutely love Library Thing. I am an avid reader and added a dozen books when I figured out how it works. This is a tool I will use frequently!

Thing # 10 Image Generator

Summer Trip to Pacific Northwest

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

This is an image from the map maker on Big Huge Labs. I will be able to incorporate this into my BCIS class when we do our travel project.

Daughters & Sons-In-Law

Wedding was a success on the Carnival Conquest! Our nest is completely empty!

Thing # 9 Library Blogs & News Feeds

Okay, 3 hours later.....

I found that Blogline's Search tool seemed to be the easiest for me. Technorati was the most difficult. I did a search on the cruise ship we will be on in 3 weeks and found tons of information on the different blogs. I used Google's news search and came up with more news than I wanted to know!! I see that in a later "thing" we will be working on Technorati, so I guess it will be easier after that lesson!

I am spending way over 18 hours on this..........;-)

Thing # 8 RSS Feeds

This is a great way to keep up with my personal interests! I like to stay current with news and weather. I also like to search for vacation spots and recipes! In my business classes, I will be able to use many of the financial sites available. This tool is great for libraries--updated information continuously. Thank goodness the libraries still have great books to read! That's one of my favorite things to do!

Thing # 6 Google Tools

I think the most useful things for the classroom are Google calendar and Google Notebook. Students can keep track of assignments on the calendar and collect information for projects on Google Notebook!

Thing # 6 Mashers & Third Party Sites

My favorite was the calendar maker. You can produce a calendar with all your cool photos!

Thing # 5 Flicker

Flicker is a great spot to find pictures and put your own pictures on for friends and family. I had a great time looking at vacation spots for the summer--Puerto Vallarta, Seattle, Alaska, and Glacier National Park. Glad my computer will travel!

Thing # 4 Registration

All registered. Looking forward to using this in my Accounting and BCIS classes!

Thing #3 Blog/Avatar

Setting up the blog was easy! The Avatar was fun! I am nervous about setting up all this online stuff with the district laptop, but guess it is okay. I have visited some other blogs, but haven't commented yet. I have been contacted by a few others doing "23 Things" and look forward to commenting on their blogs.

Thing #1 7 1/2 Habits

The hardest habit for me is having confidence in myself. After I set a goal, I don't really know that I will be able to accomplish it until I see the end result. The easiest for me is teaching and mentoring. I learn an amazing amount by being a high school teacher.