Thing 23 - ("twenty-three" - ENGLISH)

My word: USEFUL

I was actually taken back at first when I found out it was intended just for librarians. I thought to myself, "What did I get into?" Then, after doing a few of the things, I felt a whole lot better. I had to think about libraries. Why were they created? How do we use them? In this time of change from recent changes, libraries do need to evolve quickly. As a teacher, schools need to evolve just as quick. If Web 2.0 directly impacts how information is gathered, created, and shared, then preparing students for that future is a must.

23 Things On a Stick not only lifted some of the fog from Web 2.0 for this individual, but it made my technology skills useful again. My abilities with using the internet and other applications have evolved because of the activities I did here. My knowledge and comfort level are back like it was three years ago when talking about "what's new" on the Web. When that unpredictable day of change occurred, the day where my knowledge was now considered the old way, I became stunted. Not understanding or the fear that comes from that is no longer the anti-motivator, but has become the exact reason my commitment is stronger than ever.

I truly enjoyed the things where I got to immediately use the applications available on other sites. Be it with editors or creating files to share, the direct usefulness was valuable to my learning. I also liked being connected out there. Receiving a message from a librarian I have never met was cool. Then, contacting and being contacted in the social networks was a fun experience that I will continue. Sharing picture files and making them available for all was a first for me. Even playing online games connected me real people out there that I would have never met and probably will not ever meet in person, but we met. That's cool.

Thank you for the experience and having me be pushed by your objectives and outcomes to try out some new things that I avoided or did not even know about.


Get a Voki now!

Thing 22 - ("zweeanzwanzeg" - LUXEMBOURGISH)

I will...

1) Keep Google Reader as my home page. This will have me continue using this page as my main source of gaining information from around the Web. I will keep this updated by adding new, relevant to me RSS feeds. I will also delete RSS feeds that are not so interesting anymore.

2) Use more productivity tools supplied by the Web for school work and personal work. Ta-da List and Backpack are two that come to mind that I can start using this summer or in the fall.

3) Photoshare more often on Flickr using more pictures that I take. I did not realize how easy it was. I took some sweet photo of The House on the Rocks this summer that would be cool to add.

4) Enhance my communication skills in the classroom to the parents by placing some of my slideshows on my teacher website this fall using Zoho Show and Slideshare. I will have better access using the school's PC compared to my Apple at home. I look forward to sharing what the students are learning in the classroom with the technology provided by our district and Web 2.0.

5) Continue using Facebook to stay personally connected with friends. I recently just chatted with a college friend through Facebook's chat feature. I have not seen him in over two years. This really gives me an opportunity to stay in touch with people I have not been doing that with. I also have been connected with old high school friends. Reading what is up with them has been quite entertaining.

6) Look at online games to better educate myself, but I will NOT play these games regularly. I am proud to announce it has been a week since I played Puzzle Pirates. I will continue seeing the positives gaming has to offer, but I will also continue to challenge students and parents to better develop self-control when it comes to gaming. It is not the absence of, but balanced infusion in one's life where I see value.

Thing 21 - ("dvadesetjedan" - CROATIAN)

Well, here was another area that I have not really jumped into. I joined the 23 Things On a Stick Ning at Ning.com. This was probably my first online community besides the others I joined through this assignment. I placed my beautiful badge on this blog and one more widget (a music player) that I could not get working. If you know how to get songs onto that widget, please post a comment with the instruction.

I then went and checked out the other ones listed in this thing. I love movies! So, I thought I would join Filmcrave.com. It took me awhile to fill out my profile. I actually look forward to sharing my thoughts on movies. It will be interesting how engaged I get within this community. I will do my best to show my new Web 2.0 version of ME. I love talking shop about movies, their story lines, and the acting and directing. So, hopefully this may lead to a new interaction for me.

If the security is there, it would be cool for students to interact with each other based on interest. I think we promote this in the classroom by actual person to person interaction. It would be cool for students to meet other students in a safe way using the web and sites like these. It would be good to find out if there is such a thing like Filmcrave for students and other interests.

Thing 20 - ("dalawampu" - FILIPINO)

I have been avoiding Myspace and Facebook for many years because of two reasons: (1) I am a teacher, (2) I am a male. This school year our school district really made an effort to immerse us in Web 2.0. I then created my first Facebook page. I left it blank for many months. Typed in a few words on my profile. This summer, after recently (since starting 23 Things on a Stick) I start accepting invites from friends and started checking my Facebook page once in awhile. It just started to spread from there. I think that your name showing up on people's pages helps them connect to you. I have been in contact with people I haven't heard from in over 10 years.

I think it is one of the most powerful social networking sites. It does connect you because of how it shares how you have been contacting other people on your site. The web grows from there....almost uncontrollably.

I joined the 23 Things On a Stick Group. It was cool to find it there. I made a short post and left it at that. A lot of people posted sharing their experiences with 23 Things On a Stick. Those were cool to read.

Thing 19 - ("on dokuz" - TURKISH)

I found this podcast from the Minnesota Public Radio Podcasts on Jack White's facemelting abilities from Facemelter with Jill Riley and Brett Baldwin. Jack White is one of my favorite artists and I was quite pleased to find a podcast on him.

I have used podcasts before. To me, they are the auditory version of what Blogs had to offer. Ownership and the ability to share your perspective to the world instantly. I think one weakness and maybe a reason why it hasn't caught on like Blogs is a lot of people do not like to listen to themselves (smile). That is just true. Typing out your thoughts avoids that discomfort. Another reason might be the control factor when engaging someone else's content. When I look at someone's Blog I can skim, read thoroughly, or even print it for later reading. A podcast makes you sit through the entire thing for that set amount of time. Sure you could skip forward, but you do not know what you are missing then.

Podcasts are quite novel in the classroom for elementary students. Having the students listen to each other is very cool for them. Posting them on a website for the world to listen to is great, but requires permission. I have used it with poetry before. I did not post them on a website, but the students had the chance to listen each other throughout that week. I look forward to trying to figure what else I could do with podcasts in the classroom.

Thing 18 - ("achttien" - DUTCH)

I have used YouTube many times before this. So, I decided to go try Google Video. It is quite similar. It does link to other sites like Shout if a video was taken from that site. It is too bad these files are so large for some school district servers. To my knowledge, I know teachers have access to YouTube in our school district. I used it before for some background content for students (great for Science and Social Studies). I am unsure if students have access. I will have to check if Google Video is available to teachers or not.

The video I selected is Demetri Martin (found on Google Video and then linked to Shoutfile). He is a comedian that I found online searching for comedians last year. I found his name when I searched for comedians. I then went to YouTube to see if there was any footage. He cracked me up and still does! I recognized him from the Daily Show when he had a recurring role on there a few years back. After laughing and enjoying his clips, I decided to see if he was still doing standup. I found him doing a show down in Missouri at Truman State University in Kirksville. So, my girlfriend and I decided to do a sudden road trip to go see him live. It was well worth the trip. The college theater was jammed packed with a great audience. It was the best standup show I've ever seen. My friends and colleagues laughed at me for driving over ten hours round trip to go see a comedian. I just smiled. Spending time with my girlfriend is always worth it. Laughing together for almost two hours with Demetri Martin will never be forgotten. This is all thanks to a search tool, YouTube, and contacting the college through email about how to get tickets.

Thing 17 - ("sedanbaest" - BOSNIAN)

I have used these tools before for my graduate classes. It does save amazing amounts of time searching for materials to use. I did create a folder a long time ago for my class where I placed content I found for my research paper. Where I found trouble was in the amount of materials I had to go through. The productivity was great....almost too great (smile). I had to be real picky and more specific in some of my searches. These tools, back then, seemed like the future for libraries. It felt like why was there a need for paper bound resources when they could easily be accessed from a screen and gathered by a printer. I can still recall walking up and down the aisles in my undergraduate college library searching for articles. How far we have come in such a short amount of time.

I do not see a quick application for third graders, but I do see how teachers can use these productivity tools. Be it in our own researching or just to gain added information on an issue or topic these are wonderful tools for teachers.

Thing 16 - ("saisprezece" - ROMANIAN)

Where was this when I was in college? In my nature, I am a bit of a procrastinator. I have slowly learned how to overcome that challenge. Usually, that late night working on a project the day before it was due was a reminder enough to change my ways. I checked out the Assignment Calculator and the Research Project Calculator. Both seemed to offer the same thing. I sort of had some disagreement with the layout of time. From experience, I do not like to finish the project 1-2 days before the due date. I try to have the project finished before the 1-2 days it is due (we'll see with 23 Things On a Stick). I typed in different time spans and sometimes the suggestion would be to write the first draft the 1 day before it was due. The finishing touches would be on the due date. The minimum of days I gave were 7. 7! Sometimes I felt the research and organization of the project were given too many days. Some 3 days went by in the suggestion before any writing. Now, I might be completely wrong in disagreeing with that, but I do.

This is very useful, though. I think something like this provides an outline and a foundation for all students (young and old) to start from. Then, individually people can adjust for their work styles. The content and links under each step were the most helpful. Those details give knowledge I wish I had when I was younger.

Students are given projects to finish as young as kindergarten. Sure, the project might include a lot of gluing and cutting, but it is still a large project that needs someone to accomplish steps to finish. I see these websites providing a visual and a map of where to begin. Its structure is clear and easy to use. I look forward to playing with it with some school projects next year.

Thing 15 - ("tizenot" - HUNGARIAN)

I am now angry. Angry that Thing 15 exposed me to Puzzle Pirates because it revealed I need a life. I played that darn, stupid game for well over an hour. I did every puzzle trying to help my pirate self-esteem of being a "novice" and "able" to being at least "respected" in that world. I joined up with two crews and kicked some major cartoon pirate "booty". I order a hat, boots, and a jacket so I would not look like a home less, wandering hobo (that took all of my pieces of gold that I earned). I even was disappointed some captain made me walk the plank because during our sword fight against another crew we lost. I was like "what the", but then I left my body and looked down at it from the heavens. It was a sad sight.

I yelled, "GET UP AND GO OUTSIDE! IT IS BEAUTIFUL OUT THERE!"

I love video games. I quickly learned after my Sega in high school that I could easily pump in the hours on these gaming systems. I then promised myself to not own one in college. The game systems came out and I stayed away. I did have chances to play the Playstations and other new and advanced boxes of entertainment, but I never owned one in my home. My skills did drop. My friends enjoyed shooting me over and over again in Bond 007, the scores for Madden were like 63 to 6 with me being the 6, and they would laugh that once I figured out one combo move in any fighting game...well, that would be my only move again and again and again and again. Computer games would slip onto my Apple in college. I would play for hours sometimes when everyone was asleep in the dorm with no class in the morning. Thank goodness they were really old games like Populous and Galacixa that never kept my interest.

Now, I am an adult. Matured and wiser. And I am still frickin' addicted to playing video games......aye, ya matey. There are many online games, free or at a cost, that have caught the world...children and adults of both genders. One thing that I noticed about some of these games is their format to keep players playing. Having the players collect things and gather levels to be a greater character. Making this possible, but not too easy and not too impossible. Also, giving the player the ability to have some ownership over the character's image and look. This is just to keep them playing....keep me playing.

To be preachy, I do not blame the games out there for the list of negatives people come up with about gaming. It comes down to us as people to be in control of ourselves. To self-evaluate and act on good judgment. This is not a natural progression, though. I strongly feel that the youth out there needs exposure and practice at balancing this sort of entertainment. They need guidance and an opportunity to have some decision power in how they fill their day. "They will play all day, Jon!!" Then, they need to build a greater concept of who they are. As adults, we often dictate and order when children do things. Eventually they will rebel from this. We need....we, as adults, need to do what the games are doing with our youth. Give them the ownership of creating their character, give them opportunities to collect knowledge and experience, but make it not too easy or too difficult to gather, and let them enjoy playing the best game out there.....life.

Thing 14 - ("quattuordecim" - LATIN)

Librarything.com was cool. I can see how I can create a library for students and parents and post this on my website for people to access. Students creating their own login and libraries would be great. It is so easy to setup an account, I can see this happening next year.

I added some popular books to my library (i.e. Harry Potter series). There were some conversations that I read. I think elementary students might actually enjoy this feature. I am unsure if my students could start this right away, but later in the year would be a sweet opportunity for them to look at chapter books in a different way. The different way being instead of reading a chapter book, doing a book report, or just doing it for personal enjoyment, the student could place that book in their own library, see who else did or did not enjoy the book, add comments on their books, and create a library they can share with others. I am sure there is more that I missed, but the more I use the site the more I am sure I will learn.

I did place a randomizer of my library on my blog. Check it out!

Thing 13 - ("treze" - PORTUGUESE)

Thing 13 was definitely cool to look through and find things. I have been using My Yahoo for some time now (like 5 years). It has been constantly changing and trying to improve. I have always been a Yahoo supporter over the Google hoopla. Looking and using Google for these things have made me a believer in Google. It just is better. iGoogle was sweet because of the user friendly applications and tools. Yahoo is trying, but it is just not as easy as Google. I will keep using My Yahoo because of my personal email, but I may change to Google soon. My start page is still my Google reader because I need to practice using that tech. I still do not use it very well, but it being there every time I open up the internet is a good thing.

I think the online calendars are useful, especially planning with a significant other. Currently, my girlfriend and I use a Wiki, but I think, after seeing these calendars, we are going to go use Google Calendar from now on. The interface is simple and so is getting an account for adding more people. This is definitely better than setting up a table on a Wiki.

I did check out Ta-da Lists, but I want to talk more about Backpack (looks like provided through the same company). That looked really cool. I think teams of teachers could use this to much benefit. Microsoft Office just doesn't seem like it is at that level of cooperation. I know some people use the Microsoft Outlook calendars. I used it for a year. I didn't like it very much because it seemed so isolated. I know you can look at other people's calendars and suggest an appointment, but it seems just a busy step that is replacing communicating verbally with people. Backpack looks like a place where teachers could place their agendas and plans seamlessly. TOO BAD IT COSTS MONEY (I know there is a free trial, but come on). I wonder if our school district would pay for it for some of its teachers? Hmmmm...

The other calendars, organizers, sticky notes, and converters seemed good. I think the converters are incredible, because I still remember the day a PC document couldn't be read on an Apple and vice versa. What progress we have made.

Thing 12 - ("divpadsmit" - LATVIAN)

I decided to mix it up with Mixx.com after looking at all of the other sites. What I like about Mixx is that, to me, the layout is easier to read and follow being a newbie to this. I went to Startribune.com and shared an article on teen driving and using a device that could report the speed of the car. It is being developed at the University of Minnesota. I rewrote the description and put in a few tags.

This was all interesting, but I don't see the whole, big picture, yet. I watched all of those videos. I understood how to use the sites and what they are offering in service, but I kept asking myself "Why?" I don't know if I was just being stubborn or close minded, but it seemed to me like a popularity contest of news. That is just weird to me. I noticed similar features and tools like this on other sites. The Startribune website has a most popular and most emailed tool about stories. I guess it does give you an insight on what everyone else is interested in. For me, I can only ask questions.

Should I conform with what everyone else is interested in and read those stories? (I did just finish watching the movie Into the Wild....maybe that is why I asked these questions....great movie, though)
Is this how I want to receive information?
Does my sharing an article say something about me? Is that fair?
How does my participation add to my life?

I know I sound like an old mushroom growing on a pile of pooh, but I am just being honest.

Back to being professional (smile). I do see how this can be applied in the classroom. Students could look at these sites for current events and interact with them either directly or indirectly. Students could be involved on the site (direct) or write essays about what they find on the site for classroom work (indirect). Students could even blog their opinions and viewpoints and share it on the sites (both).

Photo from Flickr.com from Madonnica and Brian's photostream and edited by me using picnik.com.

Thing 11 - ("goma sha daya" - HAUSA)

Tagging is something I have not consistently participated in. I have seen the opportunities to do this in previous blogs and other posts, but I did not want to take the time to complete that step. After learning more about Web 2.0 and what it has to offer for today's users, I realized how vital tagging can be in connecting me and/or my work with others. Without tagging, it might be hard for someone to locate a post by me, a picture by me, or even a website by me. I did take time to tag much of my content on this blog. I will also tag more often when I add things to the web.

I have learned to use del.icio.us in a previous workshop. I admit that I do not use it religiously. I have my habits still when I am online. I do see the benefits of this tool. When researching, especially in a group situation, del.icio.us makes sharing your resources a whole lot easier. Instead of emailing links or creating a huge list of bookmarks, the toolbar from del.icio.us would be quite useful for multiple people working on the same project.

It would be interesting if elementary students could tag and search those tags in a controlled environment at school. There will be that given percentage of students who will type in inappropriate tags in searches. Avoiding that would be difficult. If students can search tags created by their classmates or peers, well, that is a more ideal situation and could help develop the students' skills in creating tags and learning how they can help you and others.

Del.icio.us at the elementary level would be useful, because students love going back to their favorite sites. I do not know if students have access due to our system securities. Which is the give and take of working in our computer labs. The students can only do so much for their safety.

Thing 10 - ("desat" - SLOVAK)

When I learned more about Wiki's this year at our school district's year kickoff workshops, I was pumped to used them more often in my life. I first suggested to my teammates that we should try to use a Wiki to form grade level groups (a practice we use sometimes). I then created one for my personal life. My girlfriend is a scheduler. I am a spontaneous planner going day-by-day. A Wiki was our great compromise on figuring out our schedules together. It has been a joy. I used pbwiki to create both Wikis. The ability for others to add information for a group or another person to see without running an official website is terrific. Wikis can reach even the layman internet users.

I disagree with banning Wikipedia as a resource. I read this blog entry as I researched the accuracy of Wikipedia. I agree with Andrew Gent's post from Feb. 1, 2008. A specific quote I'd like to point out is the following:

"Unfortunately, people quickly start to refine or replace these rudimentary definitions with descriptions of how they believe these goals should be achieved. So knowledge management is no longer managing knowledge, it is specific approaches to managing certain types of knowledge: facilitating communities, selecting and promoting best practices, using story telling to capture implicit knowledge... And quickly the war begins the proponents and detractors of various methodologies." - Andrew Gent, 2/01/2008

I think the conflict he is talking about is in the world of educators leading to these bans and arguments against Wikipedia. I am not going to make my argument, but I strongly believe in my role as a teacher. I hope my teaching practices DOES NOT lead to a student who believes everything they see in words. I hope my teaching practices DOES lead to a student who can resource a diverse collection of information, personally evaluate that information to gain knowledge, and apply that new knowledge in their life.

I edited the 23 Things On a Stick Wiki at pbwiki.com. Go check it out! If you like Calvin and Hobbes, you might enjoy my edit.

Thing 9 ("tisa" - SWAHILI)

Well, Thing 9 seems to require permission (Google Docs) to edit the Declaration of Independence. I requested a little while ago and again today. To me, it looks like I can interact immediately on the screen with the posted document after having permission. That is quite cool. I can see how group writing projects in my classroom can be done from the home of the student. Partner writes and even editing partners could use this tool. Its application seems easy enough. What I still have to deal with are appropriateness in edits and students not doing too much work for another student. 8 and 9 year olds sit on a huge spectrum of how they react to criticism. So, the challenge for me isn't necessarily using this tool in the classroom. Anyone can do that. The challenge will be to use this tool to add to their learning without it being a negative influence for the students I work with.

The second part of Thing 9 has us working with Zoho Writer. In order to interact with the link, you needed to email the given address and wait for permission. I haven't received a reply as of the date of this post. My assumption is that this tool offers the same function as Google Docs, but has an added feature of being able to add posts at the bottom of the page for comments. Again, I can see how this tool can be used in the classroom. It actually works like a Wiki, but it is in a form of a document.

I will add another post or update this post once I receive the proper permissions.

Thing 8 ("ewalu" - HAWAIIAN)

Thing 8 for 23 Things from Jon

From: JonZetah, 3 minutes ago

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SlideShare Link

Wow, Thing 8 had a lot of things to look at! Almost too much to absorb it all. I will comment on each thing I looked at, and I will point out the things I created on this blog.

Create and Share Slideshows - Thumbstacks and ZoHo Show did not work very well with my Apple computer. The websites' applications seemed compatible with PC formatted browsers or maybe something more was needed on my computer. I tried, but to no prevail could not get the websites working. I did read the what the sites had and they did seem pretty comparable to the ones I could use. Slide was okay. Nothing special, in my opinion. I spent most of my time with Slideshow because it had the most flexibility with what the final product would look like. The other sites had features and effects, but not comparable to what Microsoft PowerPoint has. My finished product is with this post. I noticed that most of these sites allow you to immediately post it on another site with the given permissions. That is slick. So, what I could take from this part was that you could share a slideshow in a simple view format instead of sharing the entire file. You do lose the animations with slideshow, but it gives you a close enough product. Would I use this? Maybe. If I wanted to use a slideshow, I would like the slideshow to be impressive and an enhancement to my presentation. No, just a little video on a website. Although, if I wanted a slideshow on my website, these are quite useful.

Share Your Photos - Picture Trail was sweet. It is a great way to share your photos. I added the product I created at the bottom of my blog using the images I used for this blog. I could see me using this in my professional life (teacher webpage) and in my personal life (personal blog or website). This was a highlight of Thing 8.

Databases - I could not get this one going on Lazybase. I thought it would generate a database based on the information I entered. I tried about 10 times and only got a blank database where I could located items one at a time and enter them into my new database. That would be a pain! I will try again. If you have any suggestions for me, please post a comment. I could be doing it wrong.

It's All About eFolio Minnesota - I read through this, but I did not take the time to complete a eFolio (already spent over 3 hours just on Thing 8). I do not think I would use this. I could see how this is a resourceful tool to offer to people. eFolios also seem like the next step away from the PowerPoint electronic portfolios that started a few years back. Possibly, when I have more time, I will come back to this part of Thing 8.

Challenge for Thing 7

I joined the Google Group for 23 Things On a Stick, Meebo, and Twitter. The interesting thing about this challenge is that it is quite interactive. I have to use these more to get a feel for their use and if I even like them. I placed the Meebo and Twitter widgets on this blog. We'll see how it goes. If you want to join and become my friend (that sounds really pathetic), let me know.

I changed my home page on my internet service to my Google Reader. It is definitely forcing me to use it more. I caught myself bookmarking to my weather link this morning. Habit, habit, habit. I have added a lot of RSS to my Google Reader. The Google Group is on their now. I saw that Master Michael Walker is part of that group as well.

I will just sit back and see how this challenge goes.

Thing 7 ("sju" - NORWEGIAN)

I currently have my business email and two personal emails. One personal email is my real account. The other email is my junk mail account. I give out my second personal email to businesses and registrations that require an email. I discovered that often times I would receive garbage SPAM and got sick of using the filters in the email programs. I found that having two personal emails worked out great. I read the productivity hints and it made sense. I am sometimes too wordy.

In college, I use to chat often with friends in the good old chat rooms. IMing isn't new to me, but I do not use it as part of my daily communication. A lot of my friends and family just don't do it, so who would I talk to? I setup the web-based Google Talk on my blog. Hopefully I can practice using it with some of you! My username is JonZetah. Feel free to invite me.

Text messaging is cool, and I am becoming better at it. I still don't know all of the lingo. I usually type out all of my words with few abbreviations. Sad, I know. My friends, family, and even my students have engaged in texting before. I do give out my cellphone to my students during the year. They call me with questions about their homework or share something that is going on. Guidelines and expectations are clearly covered in the beginning of the year with the parents. The age level I work with makes this possible. If I worked with older students, I would have to think about if I would give out my cellphone.

Web Conferencing is something I have not done, yet. I will definitely checkout one of the OPAL opportunities to watch using their master schedule. It is something really new to me, so I am interested to see how it goes.

Thing 6 ("ingodwaaswi" - OJIBWE) Continued

I read some comments on Thing 6's directions and found the blog generatorblog.blogspot.com which has tons of third party software. I decided to see what celebrities I'd match with. Thinking about posting this on my blog, I decided to do a slideshow on iPhoto of my matches. Publishing a slideshow on a blog is a first for me. I can't believe how much I am learning. I am realizing I have all of the tools at my fingertips, and I just need to use them.

Students might get a kick of seeing who their parents would look like. I am worried that child images may come up with some creepy looking celebrities that look like kids (smile).

Thing 6 ("ingodwaaswi" - OJIBWE)

Here are the trading cards I created using Big Huge Labs. I believe the students would get a kick out of using this. Many of them at this age level have played card games like Pokeman and Yu-Gi-Oh. They would really enjoy having the ability to create their own. The writing, mathematics, and reading involved to create their own trading card game would be worth the effort and time. I look forward to seeing which students would be wanting to take on that challenge.

I also created a card showing symmetry. In many of our curriculums there are card inserts for students to use in small groups or individual tasks. This could be a way to individualize it towards any lesson or mini-lesson that I do not have a card for. I could see myself using this tool in stations which would give directions to students, added enrichment for student homework, and even with staff sharing what each of us are doing in our classrooms.

This is very novel, but can be used effectively.

A Vision of Students Today

Sure does make you think as an educator. This is from Michael Wesch. Master Michael Walker had me watch The Machine Is Us/ing Us and that lead me to this video. I've used YouTube before in a casual way, but I just linked YouTube to my blog. I can now post video content, like this one, straight to my Blog....a first for me.

Thing 5 ("cinq" - FRENCH)

I can see how I can use these mashups in the classroom. Creating a magazine cover for students' accomplishments or for a student news press would impress the students and parents. Having them create their own would just emphasize the power of ownership. The motivational poster mashup would not only allow me to make it more specific to my school building and classroom, but I could include student images in those posters (not for public viewing) and print those out. This was a photo I took during the year. I believe I could even download them into a digital picture viewer (that would be cool). These mashups add even more potential to the applications in an elementary classroom. I will need to take more time to discover and play.

The mashup Big Huge Labs allowed me to instantly upload to my flickr.com account. After making the magazine cover, I realized that if I did this, it would be public. I knew I could go change the setting to private, but it would still be on my flickr.com account. I didn't want this. So, I saved it to my computer. Posting it on my Blog for all to see just doesn't feel the same as having it on my flickr. com account even in the private setting. This is again my digital immigrant side coming up. I believe I have the understanding, but I have no natural comfort zone for some concepts (photo sharing).

Challenge for Thing 4

Fallen Tree Next to Home picnik version, originally uploaded by thedexterzero.

I thought picnik and flickr working together was really fun. This is where I could see students having some fun at the third grade level. They could take photos as backgrounds and then edit in their characters or details for their own narratives or reports. This sort of instant impact leading to a finalized product is pretty amazing. The ability to immediately post it, too, is something we digital immigrants are amazed at. We also sometimes argue the risks. I don't know if that is a self-esteem thing to make ourselves feel better or if that knowledge replaces the lack of knowledge we sometimes feel. For example, I could see how some cyberbullying could come from the power of picnik and flickr. You could really be cruel with someone's image.

Inappropriateness would be the only con I would foresee with this site. I think it is cool and fun. Students would think the same, too. It is easy to use and with permissions being given to all the sites life is easy when you want to upload the image.

I did go to Picasa and Smugmug. First, Smugmug only has a 14 day trial. I hate that. I rarely even try those because I don't like doing all of the login work to give my the abilities to do things and then see those abilities gone in two weeks. Not worth my time. So, I only looked at the page and didn't see anything that stuck out. Picasa is a Google product and it took me through the steps of making all of my Google products one. That was impressive. Then, it also allowed me to download an Updater that would work with my computer (I am an Apple user) and iPhoto. It was cool, but nothing different. Maybe I was still being influenced by my positive experience with picnik.

I definitely feel like I have learned a lot in the past 40 min. Before I thought flickr.com was just a place to get images. Now, I am a participant in supplying those images, realized I could edit those images, and saw how I could connect between multiple sites. I am pretty excited.

Thing 4 ("quattro" - ITALIAN)

Fallen Tree Next to Home, originally uploaded by thedexterzero.

Okay, I just uploaded this photo I took from this year. My neighbor's tree almost crunched my little home. See the window right behind the tree trunk. That's where my bed is! It was a close call. Little damage to the both homes, but look at the poor little fence squished by the fallen tree.

I have used flickr.com before but not to this extent. I have never uploaded a picture on this page (it was easy to create an account since I already had a Yahoo account) and now I am instantly posting the picture on my blog from flickr.com. This is a first. I am use to saving the picture on my computer and then uploading it from my computer to the target site. I can see how this may save time and definitely save computer space. It is weird posting from this (flickr.com) site because I do not have all of the whistles and bells (hyperlinks, image uploads, and text manipulation. Although, I am pretty sure I can edit this post once it is on my Blogger Blog.

It was cool adding tags to the photo and putting in my own little description of the image. Adding this to flickr means anyone can use it. That is pretty sweet. I can see how some people may get a little addicted to posting images hoping people will use theirs. That sort of instant ownership is empowering for the takers and givers.

I do take tons of photos of the learning in my classroom each year. I create a video at the end of the year for the students to have. Security reasons limit my abilities to use those images on flickr. Students could use images from flickr.com for their reports or projects. I still need more time thinking about how flickr.com can offer more to students than just simple photo sharing, but maybe that is enough in itself.

Thing 3 ("ba" - VIETNAMESE)

Call it the "old way" like the video said, but it is "my way"! I tried using a newsreader before. I never used it. For some reason, I don't mind clicking through my bookmarks. With that said, I think I need to try to use it some more. I just spent the past 30 minutes setting up my Google Reader. It is cool and I can see how it would save me time, but we'll see (smile).

I do like that all of the sites I usually visit are right there on the reader. I also like that I can add other people's blogs, although I usually don't read other people's blogs (that might be changing). I think I can use this in the classroom by having the students select what would be interesting for current events which falls under our social studies expectations. Personally, like I mentioned before, this tool has not easily transitioned into my habits. That is something I am willing to battle.


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Thing 2 ("zwei" - GERMAN)

After watching the video interview of Stephen Abram, my initial feeling was "Man, I am old." Then, remembering his words about having an excitement for learning...that made sense to me and washed away my reaction. It does come down to me just learning. Taking time to do that will not be much of a challenge. Not because I have no life, but because I feel it is that important. I am online routinely to check my email, weather, and news. During those times I will just purposely add some time to complete one of the "things" (like I am doing now). This experience of 23 Things On a Stick will hopefully propel me into the world I feel a little disconnected to. I have always been known as pretty savoy with technology. Although that consideration is only coming from my peers, who are often not that up on things. I am looking forward to growing a comfort level with the Web 2.0 tools and anything else that falls into my laptop.

In my third grade classroom I have tried to incorporate as much technology into the students' experiences that is appropriate. We have not only used, but the students became proficient in the following: Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Think.com (blogging), Voki.com (messaging), uploading digital images, and using a variety of websites. This year, including the blogging experience was incredible to be a witness to and to be a part of it. Our school district provided training on blogging and I came about Think.com through discussions with colleagues there. After being shown the ropes I was the only teacher using blogging in my school building (around the elementary schools in our school district it was spreading fast). I shared and shared with my school building and the entire fourth grade decided to join Think.com as well. I look forward to taking whatever I can learn here back to my classroom and school building.

photo by maiks72 on flickr.com

Thing 1 ("uno" - SPANISH)

Welcome to my 23 Things! I am looking forward to improving (aka "messing around on the computer") my life skills. 23 Things On a Stick will improve my life skills. I am a "digital immigrant". In order to succeed in life, it is my responsibility to deepen and strengthen the opportunities 23 Things On a Stick offers.

I hope you enjoy my journey!

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