Is it the end or only the beginning ??

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey? I really enjoyed the things where we got to create something ( videos, pictures, etc.) I felt that will be able to apply all of these activities to my classroom. By learning all these things it has gotten me more interesting in learning about more that Web 2.0 has to offer. I was blown away at the amount of resources that are available for free or very close to free. The web is jam packed with so many good resource, and I feel that this class just scratched the surface. Everything that I learned in this course will allow me to be a clearer more effective teacher. Whether it is keeping me organized or allowing me provide information to my students in a different way, I will be able to use every activity. The best way that I found to stay current on Web 2.0 resources was to find a website that condenses the most current Web 2.0 resources into one organized space. Such as http://www.go2web20.net

Thing #23

As we learned in class creative commons is a great resource that all teachers should participate in. Creative Commons is a valuable tool for students to understand. When creating projects we have to teach our students that it is not ok to "borrow" copywrited material. Creative Commons allows for an easy solution for copyrighted material. By properly explaining creative commons to our students they will be able to understand how to create many different types of projects without the fear of copyright infringement.

Thing #22

 The title of my binders were benefits of exercise, proper stretching techniques, and fun sports. I think that the binders can be used in the classroom to guide student research to websites that the teacher has previously picked out that target the learning objectives. Instead of the students searching the web for resources the teacher has saved time, and can keep the students on task more easily by using the binders.

Thing #21

Boom

Animoto is a pretty interesting resource that I think many students will enjoy and readily use. They could use it in classroom projects of just for personal use. It is a great way to make plain pictures come to life.

Thing #20

1. I chose the video below because I plan on using Youtube to discover new activities and exercise to use within my Physical Education classroom. When I searched for P.E. Lesson youtube was full of different options as well as grade levels. The embedding feature is very nice because it allows me to use and move the video within another document or tool, that we may already be using in class.  

Thing #19

•  I think the best uses of social media for an educator would be research and communication. Social media has limitless opportunities for both. I was only a member of facebook until recently I created a Twitter account, but I do use IMDB pretty often to look into new movie releases, actors, or any info regarding film in general. I plan on making an account with IMDB and seeing what they have to offer since I am such a movie fan.

Thing #18

https://twitter.com/etimhoff21


With the current move toward a paperless society and more and more schools adopting many new technologies it will be very important for all teachers to be well versed in social media and other Web 2.0 resources. I did  not have a twitter account previous to this assignment, but I can really see the benefit and the ease of access to information that it can provide. The hashtag search went well for me once I got the hang of it, and I can see where it could help someone narrow down a search and find something related to what they are looking for. I could definitely see a use for this within a school setting. It would allow students to do research and also provide them a way to connect with the people that are related to that research by allowing them to follow what that person is doing.

Thing #17

I think that tagging certain items can be a great way to direct your students research on a certain project. By directing their attention to certain links or activities the teacher will be able to keep their attention focused on the appropriate material, and because these bookmarks can be accessed from anywhere it will allow the students to do research outside of the classroom if they have internet access.

Thing #16

I chose uStart for my start page. It seemed to be the most appealing and useful start page tool I found. Everything is very customizable and easy to use on uStart. Although all the benefits that uStart has I do not see myself changing it to my permanent start page.

Although I will not be changing my start page I do use online calenders. An online calender really helps me stay organized. I really like the reminder features that most online calenders have. They will send an email a week or a day before a certain appointment, some can even send a text message. It really helps me keep track of my appointment, due dates, etc.

The PDF converter seems very useful. Everyone does not use the same type of computer or software, and a PDF file is very universal. It would be a great advantage to be able to convert word documents to PDF files that everyone can use.

Thing # 15

I really like the idea of using a Wiki in the classroom. I think it is a great way for my students to collaborate, and it really allows each student to contribute. A wiki would be a great way for group member to communicate and share ideas instead of email, and I think it would allow a student who is hesitant to share ideas in class to share via a wiki. Overall I think through proper teacher supervision a wiki can a be a great learning tool.

Thing #14

I chose Gliffy and Mindmeister for my flow chart and my mind map. I believe that using a flow chart can really benefit students that learn better when somethings is described graphically rather than in words. To use a flow chart in my Physical education classroom I would use it to break down a certain routine or motion that I am wanting my students to do in smaller easier steps.

A mind map is similar but it focuses on a main idea and then spider webs out with ideas how to accomplish that idea. I would use this for goal setting in my classroom.  I would post a main goal in the middle of the mind map and then branch out with ways to achieve my main goal. This will allow the students to break down the goal in more manageable steps.

Thing #13

Google Drive Document
Mile Time Spreadsheet

Students will being able to use google drive to collaborate on many different types of assignments. They will be able to use google drive with homework or a project I may assign. This allows students an ease of access to each others information/ or part of their project without emailing.

I prefer google drive to other similar web bases applications because of the ease of navigation and the available tools that are built into to google drive.

Thing #12

The first thing I explored within google was google maps. This is an awesome resource that I actually use quite often. After looking at Topos of my house and a few other places I decided to look for my duck blind. Google earth is pretty amazing! I could see this being a very valuable educational resource for any teacher that want to give their students a bird's eye view of something.

Google Translate

The second tool from Google I chose was the translator. Any school teacher could benefit from this tool. With the growing diversity in our school and the number of ELL students this could be a valuable resource to keep in mind.

Thing #4

Commenting is very important. I feel anyone can really benefit from feedback, not only students. As long as commenting is done in a constructive manner I believe it can provide important feedback on a subject. I am not saying that the commenter has to always agree with what the blogger is saying, but they should comment in a constructive respectful manner. By doing this the blogger and commenter can have a civil conservation and maybe reach a middle ground where they can see each other side of an argument.

Rachel Hannabass-  I commented on Rachel's blog because we are in the same class and I enjoyed some of the things she created with her image generators.

Sunny Peterson- I commented on Sunny's blog because we have had a bunch of classes together and we seem to like a lot of the same things. I personally really enjoyed the image generator assignment and I though Sunny did a great job with hers.

Tonya Van Winkle I commented on Thing#7 on Tonya's blog. She had many interesting things to say about flickr and I thought she posted a great picture of her family.

Nicole Petrik I commented on Thing #9 on Nicole's blog because she chose to use the fake magazine cover app. I thought this was a very cool app and I used it as well.

Casey Martin I chose to comment on Casey's blog because  for Thing #7 he posted a cool picture of a spider. It just caught my eye so I chose to comment.

Field & Stream I found a cool blog from a couple of writers for Field $ Stream magazine. They call themselves the gun nuts, and they post reviews on new products and hunting gear. I chose to comment on their review of the new Rio Ammunition non-toxic bismuth ammo.

Realtree This blog I commented on was discussing the advantage of surface drive mud motors. Mud motors are a valuable tool to any duck hunter, and owning one myself I was interested in reading what they had to say in the blog.

Thing #10/ Thing #11

I think RSS can be a valuable tool for anyone that is looking to customize how they view the internet. By narrowing down what you want to view and receiving information on when it has been updated seem like it could be very convenient. When I was deciding what websites to include in my RSS I used a mixture of professional and personal ones. The professional websites I chose were all related to education, and my professional growth. The personal websites I chose were sports, movies and news websites that I like to keep up with in my personal life. Here is a link to RSS website called Feedly that I used.

Thing #9

Image Chef

I used this image generator to create a holiday themed picture. I think students would really enjoy this activity and it would be really great around any holiday. We could print off their creations and they could take them home to hang on their parents refrigerator to display.

 fototrix

This was also a pretty cool image generator. It has a ton of magazine templates to choose from and you can uplad any image of you and it automatically places you in the magazine. I had a ton a fun playing with this one, and I am sure my students would enjoy it also!

Thing #8

I used the Mosaic Maker App, and I found it was very simple. All I had to do was follow a few instructions that lead me through different template options and there it was my own mosaic of my pictures. I actually used the upload through Facebook option and mosaic maker actually used one of existing albums to create the mosaic. I'm sure this app had its place in the classroom. It could be used for projects or the teacher could use it to create a visual aid. In P.E. I could use it to teach the different moves related to a sport or activity. By placing the main activity or focus in the middle and surrounding it with pictures of the moves that are involved in the activity it will give the students a good visual aid to help them understand the activity.

Thing #7

This was my first experience using Flickr, and I could see it being a very useful tool. As I was looking through the website I noticed a plethora of different pictures. They all ranged from historical photographs to wildlife to pretty much anything you would want. As I was looking through some of my search results I realized what a great teaching tool this could be. A teacher could use the pictures in a presentation or they could create a lesson where students found pictures that pertained to their classroom studies.

The image I chose to blog about was a picture of Bear Bryant when he was the coach for the University of Alabama. I am a huge Alabama fan and a firm believer in the style of coaching and mentoring that coach Bryant gave to his team. I feel that when I am a coach and P.E. teacher that I will be able to lean on some of the same principles and beliefs to better my students and my athletes. 

Bear Bryant Photo

Thing #6

I found a Web 2.0 website called daily burn. Daily burn is a website that provides a social element to exercise, but focuses on finding its users a workout program. It also tracks exercise progress, and helps users work towards set goals. Daily burn is also available on a mobile device and can actually track its users progress while they are at the gym. I really liked this app because i felt i could design a classroom activity around it. The website is very self explanatory and user friendly. It begins by asking your gender, age, and weight, then it asks your desired weight. After you have filled in the first part the site runs through a series of questions ranging from your level of previous workout experience to how much time a day you have to actually do the workout. Another great thing about this web 2.0 resource is that most of the workouts require little or no equipment to do. This tool would see the most use in a health or P.E. setting. The teacher could design a lesson plan around Daily burn and this website could help explain the importance of daily fitness.

Thing #5

School 2.0 to me is a term used to describe how schools are becoming more and more technologically advanced. Even in the past 10 years schools have made a huge jump in the use of technology in the classroom. When I was in school, although not long ago, we didn't have smartboards or cloud storage, and really cell phones weren't even that popular. Now instead of written notes home teachers can send reminders through text or email. My point being that we have come this far in 10 years therefore we as teachers better be ready to use technology in our classrooms. I am a firm believer in using technology, but I believe it should be used correctly. There are so many Web 2.0 resources out there that is can be overwhelming, but I think if a teacher can use these sources correctly they will be able to greatly increase learning and ease of learning in their classrooms.

Thing #3

I think a blog could be very valuable in the Physical Education or Health setting. The best use for a blog that comes to my mind is a student blog where students record accomplishments in P.E or Health class. These accomplishments could be big or small. I think the students could also use their blogs to further their learning. They could express concerns or questions about eating correctly or receiving the proper amount of exercise. On the other hand I as a teacher could use a blog to post helpful tips to help keep my students active. Kids are so technological now that a blog could be a "fun" way of relaying a message about how to eat healthy or exercise properly. I could also include links in my blog to useful websites that a student could use to understand the importance of healthy living.

Thing #2

This is my first blog, but I am fairly confident with Web 2.0 so setting it up was for the most part pretty simple. I chose the name for my blog based on the class it was for... real original I know. Once I looked over the website Blogger it was very self explanatory, and seems to be a valuable tool so far. I also included a look a like avatar.

Thing 1

Life long learning is essential for anyone who wants to be an effective part of a society. Things are constantly changing especially now with technology and Web 2.0 tools. It will be even more important for us as teachers to stay up to date on new technologies, and determine if there is an appropriate place for them in our classrooms. Out of the 7 and 1/2 habits the most difficult one for me is creating my own learning toolbox. I can be disorganized and sometimes scatterbrained and if I could become a more effective organizer I think it would make continued learning much easier. On the other hand I am very good at accepting problems as challenges. I enjoy looking for solutions. Also I am big fan of the 7 1/2 habit of playing!