One last thing! Is the the end of my blog?

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
If I had to choose, I would have to go with animoto.  I really enjoyed making the video and adding music.  Mine came together perfect.  I used our beach vacation photos and added some surfer music. 
I also like google earth.  It was incredible.  The things that you can do and see is amazing.  I also liked groove shark.  I like choosing songs and being able to add them to your blog.


How has this program affected your lifelong learning goals?
This program has shown me that there is a lot of programs on the web that can assist you in your personal and private life.  I learned that you can put everything you like in one place so there will be no more checking a bunch of sites.  I will use the programs that I have learned here, but I think the main thing that I have learned is that when I have to do something to search the web for an easier way.
What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
I would not do anything differently.  If a web-challenged person like my self could follow, complete, and take things from this program for future use, anyone can.
How will what you have learned influence your practice as a teacher?
I will be starting a blog that i will use for my classroom.  I will have each of my students start a blog as well.  They will do some of their assignments on this blog.  I would like for it to have an web poster board like glogster.  http://www.glogster.com/
I will also start a personal blog to put out some of the opinions I have.  I would like to use it to help young men who are trying to find their way in life. 

How do you plan to keep up with new developments in web 2.0? Recommend a way that you have found to be useful.
I will check some of the shared programs like diigo http://www.diigo.com/ to see what other people are using.  I will use some of the groups that I found during this exercises like the US History teachers.  I will join them and stay posted on whats new.  I will also follow Dr. Lucks blogs/groups.  He is always finding something new.

Thing #23

One of the first things I noticed in my search for the "23 things" was that it is used by a lot of schools. I did discover that Helene Blowers in order to encourage learning and exploration, set up “23 things”—small web-based exercises to expand her staff's knowledge of Web 2.0 (plcmcl2-things.blogspot.com). Each member of her staff who completed all 23 within a certain amount of time received an MP3 player and qualified for a drawing for a laptop and other prizes.

I would use creative commons to give the original authors credit for their work. In the past I would use a picture or a article without crediting the original source. Since I am a history teacher, I will use articles from other historians and modify them to meet the needs of my class. I will also show my class the videos on creative commons.

Thing #22

Hello,  Today I listened to podcasts.  I went to EPN (The Educational Podcast Network) http://epnweb.org/index.php?request_id=445&openpod=11#anchor11.  I then went to the Subject Specific Podcasts section and clicked on Social Studies.  I found some interesting things, the first one I checked was the First Amendment Minute.  It is a podcast that tells about Supreme Court cases that involve Freedom of Speech. http://epnweb.org/player.php?podshow=http://www.firstamendmentminute.com/Podcasts/FAM_2007-10-01_Truth_or_Consequences.mp3&podcast=First Amendment Minute&program=Truth or Consequences

I don't think that this podcast would appeal to everyone, but it would appeal to Us History teachers and fans of History.  It could be used in classrooms to educate students on real court cases.  They would hear real court cases and real decisions and the reasons for these decisions. 

I also went to Podcastdirectory http://podcastdirectory.com/ and I noticed that they had a lot more categories.  They had art, music, culture, and comedy.  They have education as well, but it is not a focus of this site.  If I followed a podcast it would be this one because of its diversity. 
Both of these sites were easy to use.

Thing #21

I was really excited about this one, it looked fun right off the bat.  I could not wait to share this on with family and I have not even started making it yet  It strarts off by picking a theme.  Then you upload your pictures or use theirs.  I chose some pictures from our Ocean City, MD vacation.  I uploaded 12 pictures and then I had to choose some music.  I was going to use my own music until i read that you had to have the rights to it.  So to avoid the hastle I just decided to use one of theirs.  I tried to find something "beachy"  It was hard to find something, but I did manage to find a surfer song.  It turned out pretty good.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Thing #20

     I have been using Youtube for a little while now.  It is perfect for history/government teachers because of the amount of historical footage that they have.  I had a Civil Rights project this year and youtube had the Bull Conner speech and footage of the march which drew the ire of the world.  I like the fact that you can easily get the video embeded code just by clicking on the embed button.  If you are collecting videos for a project due now or for future use, you can either put it in a temporary quene, or for long term placement in a play list.
     I chose this video because of its historical signifigance.  This speech was the pivotal moment in the career of Martin Luther King Jr and the pivitol momeent in the Civil Rights movement.

Thing #19

     Well the first thing that I did was join Ning teacherpop.  It said I would have to be approved by the administrator.  The first thing I saw when it opened was one of my classmates from my 5540 class, so I decided to leave her a comment.  Then I discovered that I could not leave a comment until I was approved.  No worries, I will just move on to the next exercise. 
     I am a big movie buff so I tried flixter.  http://www.flixter.com/  It is interesting because you can set up where you can veiw movies that are now playing.  You can set up a theater that is closest to you.  You can see new movie and DVD releases. It also has some cool quizzes, I took the superhero quiz.  I also joined in on a forum.  I will definitely use this to track movies I want to see.


I have just been approved for teacherpop.  I left a comment for my classmate Jennifer.  I also got my badge.  I also uploaded a picture.
Visit TeacherPop

Things #18

I have had a facebook account for a little while now. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1528141966   I never had a myspace account because I am a very private person and I am very skeptical of people having that much access to me.  I decided to get a facebook page under the urging of my friends just to stay in touch with them.  I have to admit that facebook does get you in touch with people who you may have lost contact with.  I have reconnected with a lot of people I went to high school with.  I like that feature of how you can find friends and you can comment on their status.  Every time someone makes a comment on your status you get an email or you can get an alert on your phone. 
   I feel like teachers should know about the dangers of social websites.  They should be careful about pictures and statements that they post.  Because if those posts are deemed improper, they could be fired.  Teachers should also be leery of accepting friend requests from their students.  This could lead to relationships being viewed as improper.  I do not think that a teacher should use a facebook/myspace account for educational use, because of all the potential dangers.  I think that teachers should use educational social networks where only the students, teachers, and parents have access.  I have enclosed a link of some of those sites.     http://www.educationalnetworking.com/List+of+Networks