It's not over yet!

 I have really enjoyed the 23 Things project. I have learned a lot new tools that I will be able to use in the classroom and I improved on a few things that I already knew how to use but didn't know everything there was to know about it. My favorite discoveries were definitley Animoto, Flickr, and Blogger. This project was a great way to improve my learning on web based tools.  Everything i learned during this process is going to help me in my future as a teacher. I hope that the use of these tools helps me be the best teacher and influence to my students that I can be. It is nice to know that if i ever am stuck in a rut with my calendars, or projects, that there is a tool i can use to help me stay organized. I have definitley learned a lot during my time in Education 3040.

Thing 23! Creative Commons!

Before taking Education 3040 at APSU I did not know the copyright laws or what Creative Commons was. I always thought that if you could copy and paste a picture or video that it was okay to use it, with credit to the author of course. Exploring the creative commons website was a nice thing to learn because now i know i can go there to get pictures for my powerpoints and projects. I will be able to use the creative commons in my classroom to find pictures for lessons or just fun pictures to hang in the classroom. I will be including lessons on Creative Commons and Copyright in the future to my students because I will want them to be educated before college unlike I was.

Thing 22! LiveBinders!

Using Live Binders would be a very great study tool for students of any age and even for teachers in the classroom.Live Binders would be good for college students to organize websites for each class in different binders. For teachers it would be great to organize the websites according to the binder name like mine are below.
 The title of my binders are
 1.) Tools for Teachers 2.)Games for the Classroom 3.) Lesson Plans


http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=689451

Thing 21! Animoto!

Using Animoto was actually really cool and really fun. I enjoyed being able to explore the different songs and even knowing i can add my own. Animoto would be a great tool to use in the schools at things like Kindergarten graduations, or 5th grade graduations. Showing pictures throughout the year at the end of the year class party would be a great way to use Animoto in the classroom too. I loved playing with it and will definitley be using it again. Below is one of the videos I made.


Rachel and Drew

Thing 20! Youtube!

YouTube was not a new website to explore for me because I have used in many times for many different purposes. I think YouTube is a great site to find videos for children, however it isn't a website that I would let children explore without supervision. There are also very inappropriate videos on YouTube. I like that the search bar is easy to locate and it gives specific examples of what you searched for, making it easier to find a video that you need. I can see how YouTube would be good to have applied to my Library Website. Videos are especially helpful when your trying to inform somebody on something, especially with children. Below is a video i found that would be appropriate to show to elementary children during a science class.

Digestive System for Children

Thing 19! TeacherPop!

I am a member of a few online communities, most are for my pleasure. I am a member of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. There were a few of the listed social networks that were appealing to me. The fact that there is a place to see what other education majors and teachers are doing is a real nie thing. It would be a great place to go for advice or to share a new learned lesson that others may benefit from. The TeacherPop webpage was very nice, it was easy to navigate and understand. I can see myself using it in my future. I also enjoyed signing up with Flixster under the movie category. It reminds me a lot of Netflix, but it was also different in ways. I could see myself using Flixster in the future.

Thing 18! Twitter and Facebook!

I can see that it may be important for educators to know how a social networking site works, but as for social sites like facebook and twitter, i don't see much room for them in an elementary school classroom. Even in middle and high school classes they would be nothing more than a distraction. I didn't gain any new insights on these sights because i have been using them both for years now. I do like both sites because it is an easy way to communicate with family that is out of town or even my high school friends who went our seperate ways. Between the two sites, i prefer to use Facebook, only because i am more used to facebook and twitter.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/charlotte.r.manning
https://twitter.com/Rachel_Manning5

Thing 17! Delicious!

Delicious is a very helpful tool and could be helpful for anyone, not just teachers and students. It would be a great tool to doing research or finding new websites. It is an easy to use tool so students would be able to access other websites much easier and safer than google or another search engine. The bookmarks and tags are an even better tool on the web page. You can bookmark pages to come back to and show your children during lesson plans and proects.

Thing 16! igoogle & To do lists!

For the start page I picked the iGoogle. I felt like it appealed to me just for the simple fact that it is tied in with my google email account so i can see my emails on my home page. I did infact make the igoogle my homepage. As for the online calendars, I did find them interesting, but i dont think that i would use them. I am the kind of person who would rather just write it down and make a list. Which may be why the Remember the Milk to do list page was my favorite. It was so simple to edit or add the lists, and i loved that you could change anything at anytime. I would use this one at school, home, or work and would recommend it to others over any other sites.

Thing 15! Wiki!

Using Wiki was a new concept to me as well because in middle and high school and even in college, my teachers have alsways told me not to do research on wiki because of the fact that it is available to be editted by anyone. Therefore the information may lack accuracy. During my time using the Wiki post for apsu 23 things, i had a hard time, when i clicked the edit button it wouldn't move the page or let me do anything. I had already made an account and joined the group. I had to kep clicking until finally it let me edit and add my things. I also did not like the the lock could be stolen at any time. I had to repost my post twice because the lock got stolen. It was very frustrating. I don't think i would use Wiki in my classroom.

Thing 14! Flowcharts and Maps!

During my time on thing fourteen i chose to explore Gliffy and Bubble.Us.
Both of these web based tools were free and easy to use. I have used/ made flow charts and mind maps in high school, mainly for my english classes. After playing around with the websites, I see that there are way more than just maps and flow charts to be created. I especially loved Gliffy because of the Floor Plan Design and the very easy to follow instructions. These websites would be great for making charts to show my children, or printing the templates off for the class to make after reading a story. I could use the charts and things on many things in the classroom.
Between the two, I would rather work with Gliffy.

Thing 13! Zoho and Google Docs!

Using Zoho and Google Docs were both new tols for me. Between the two, I feel like I would rather work with Google than Zoho. I felt like the Google Docs was easier to navigate and easier to find the tools I needed to do my drawing. It also had more options. With Zoho I got a little frustrated trying to figure out where things were on the webpage. If I get confused by the webpage, my students will most likely be confused too, which would make it harder to do the assignment and it would lengthen the time it will take them to finish. I do like that both websites are free to use, as teachers we will always be on a budget and free tools always help. Another thing I liked on both websites was the sharing tool. It was nice to see that I could export my drawing and documents to a word document and save it on my computer. Between the two sites, I would choose to use Google in my classroom and for personal use.


Here is the link to my Google Docs drawing.

Here is the link to my Zoho Document.