One Last Thing: Summarize

Is it the End or Just the Beginning?

Wow!!! I did it!!! It is hard to believe that I made it to this point, but the journey was worth it!!! I have learned so many things that on my own it would have probably taken much, much more time.

23 Things has been an awesome experience for me. This class has allowed me to discover valuable tools to share with the teachers I am working with. I think that every grade level can benefit from these tools.

Among my favorite discoveries I can mention the reader and how to feed it. I love the fact of finding everything I am interested in in one page! Wikis are amazing instruments for collaboration. The LibraryThing and VoiceThread are two tools that I would definitely be using... Well, I guess I will have to mention most if not all of the things!!! But really, they were all very helpful and eye opening for all that we can use to engage our students in learning!

Regarding the question "Where do I go from here?" My answer is that I want to keep up with my learning, so I will do my best to continue searching and reflecting upon my discoveries.

Thank you for this class!!!

Thing # 23

Beyond My Space: Other Social Networks

This was quite different from the other social networks. I think it does make a difference the fact that you join to a group that has the same interests as you do.

After exploring Classroom 2.0 for a while, I found a very interesting article in the forum, about Google Wave which took me to Joseph Corbett's post on ISTEConnects where he states that Google Wave will change education forever. In the post there was an 80 minutes YouTube video embedded, which is basically about the future of collaborative work in the internet.

After watching the video I realized why this guy was so excited. As many stated in their comments, while watching the video you are blown away. What is very special about Google Wave is that you will be allowed to collaborate in real time, breaking barries of time-space, and saving a lot of time.

Maybe it will take a while for some of us to really understand and use this tool, but eventually, we all will, I have no doubt about it.

Thing # 22

Explore Social Networking

I was aware of these websites and about how they work. I think it is really nice to keep in touch with family and friends and be updated with what is happening in their lives.

On the other hand, I think that you should not put all your eggs in one basket... For me, your private life needs to be kept that way: private.

Specially being a teacher, I think it is very important that your students, their parents, your coworkers and any other person related to the school have you in a very high concept... What I am trying to say is that you should never give anyone motive to doubt about your integrity as a professional, but more over, as a person.

You know your friends, and you trust them. Your friends know their friends, and they trust them. But I am sure that at some point there might be a "weak link" that might not follow the rule, who might have posted a picture that might be offensive or inappropriate for some people . There is no way you can control what others post: pictures, messages, phrases, signs, etc.

And for an educated adult, that might not be a problem, you would take things as from where they come, and ignore all the nonsense. But some people might not understand the fact that whoever wrote those things was the friend of the friend of the friend of your friend. Some people will just relate that posting to you, then the gossip will start and suddenly, without even notice, you could be in the middle of the storm. Maybe I am old fashioned or too careful, but those are my sincere thoughts.

And when it comes to kids, I think this could be a very dangerous place to be. If you have kids of your own and they are young and naive, and they use this networking, think about it, you could have the enemy in your own house without even knowing it... Scary!!!

I can see educational applications for these sites, but I am afraid that my fears regarding what I have explained before, might stop me from trying to introduce students to this type of networking, or at least to facilitate its use.

For the assignment I created a profile, but I am not sure I will like to use it.

Thing # 7b

Google Reader Revisited

I have not met the goal of building the habit of checking the Google Reader daily yet, but I am still trying to do it every other day.

One of the blogs I am following is called Free Technology for Teachers. I think this has been one of my greatest discoveries in the web, because Mr. Byrne, its author, is constantly updating his blog with interesting information regarding technology and its application in the classroom.

One of his blogs, called 35+ Educational Games and Games Resources is a good comprehensive list of quality sites where Mr. Byrne explains a little bit about each one and how it can be used in the classroom.

On top of that, some of his followers have added the names of some of the websites that they considered to be as educational and fun as the ones suggested by Mr. Byrne.

Thing # 21

Google is Not Just For Searching Anymore

I have been using some Google products which I consider incredible. I love to use Google Earth, Google Maps, and iGoogle to name some of the Google webtools my family and I enjoy visiting.

I would say that the first time I explored Google Earth, I was amazed that I could see the apartment complex I was living in at that moment from a satellite view. The images were so clear that you could appreciate lots of details. And notice that I have not said "every detail" because I think that that kind of view might be dangerous for the homeland security if it is viewed by the wrong eyes, but I am sure that those views are possible (like the ones showed in the movie Enemy of the State, where Will Smith is the protagonist).



But when I got really astonished was when I could see my parents' house in Peru, the clinic where my daughter was born, the roads I drove for several years... I mean, I am out of words here to let you know how I felt.


View Larger Map

Where you see Clinica Adventista is where my daughter was born and it is located in Miraflores, Lima, Peru. That is a view embedded from Google Maps, customized after converting it from Google Earth.


Thinking about education, I think that learning social studies - especially geography - would be much more meaningful for the students if they are able to see the maps in an aerial view, where they can actually see the places they are studying about. And this is something that Google Maps and Google Earth have to offer.

Thing # 20

Google Docs

I have already used Google Docs in the past, without knowing what they were or how to create them. When I filled out information or completed an application piece for one of the staff development courses I have attended, I had used this documents believing they were some sort of websites that provided this service to the district or something like that. I did not know that the presenters themselves have created these documents where they later shared the information with all the participants.

So now that I know what Google Docs are and how they work, I think that these documents can be a great source of information for other teachers and students.

1. You could create a document that could be titled INPUT FROM STAFF DEVELOPMENT COURSES, which could include the name of the staff development course that a teacher has taken, the name of the teacher that took the course, a reflection upon his/her learning, and ideas or suggestions to apply their learning in the classroom.
2. You could create a spreadsheet where the teachers can put the results from their students so you could have your ASSESSMENT WALLS online, to plan for strategies to use for the whole grade level.
   
3. You could teach your students how to create a CLASSROOM PICTURE DICTIONARY FOR MULTIMEANING WORDS, that could grow as they find new meanings for those words.

During my Discovery Exercise, I created a Google Doc for FALL PARENTS - TEACHER CONFERENCES. It is very simple, but it is useful to document your communication with parents.

Thing # 19

Voicethread

Wow!!! Right now, I think that I am feeling the emotion, excitement, and the curiosity that explorers and archeologists might have experienced when finding those not yet discovered places, cultures, etc. As I am discovering more "things", I am more and more excited. There is a complete new world out there!!!

My mind cannot stop visualizing all the possibilities for teaching and learning. Thanks to technology, learning has a wide variety of ways to happen. Technology makes learning interactive, which engages students. They all learn the same things but in different ways, and that is really important because instruction is delivered according to their needs and ways of learning.

Voicethread allows teachers to include students as facilitators of their own learning, by creating their own presentations and getting to explain them to the class, in a way that both, the presenters and the audience can enjoy, while learning.

The following is a Voicethread presentation which I found useful for us teachers, because it gives us several ideas on how to use this wonderful tool:

Thing # 18

You Too Can YouTube

I discovered YouTube a couple of years ago, and since then, I have been using it in my everyday life. I have listened to my favorite songs, I have watched some of my favorite shows that are not on TV any more, and it has brought back so many memories while watching old TV commercials. Then one day, a friend of mine showed me a video about his homeland, and then I realized I could watch videos of my country, my people, and my culture. I was amazed!!!

Now, every time someone asks me about Peru and there is a computer nearby, I say, "Better showing than telling" and I go on YouTube and I show them about our food, traditions, and magnificent scenery. There is no doubt. I am very proud of my origins, and now, you might understand a little bit more of the reason for that:



Going back to the learning activity, my interest in the classroom these days is that students will be engaged in meaningful conversations. I have been thinking about this over and over again. And yes, I have also come to the conclusion that our students do not engage in meaningful conversations simply because they lack of conversation skills in the first place. There are several ideas on this matter, so I decided to search in TeacherTube about this theme, and the following is an interesting video I found:

Thing # 17

Podscasts: No iPod needed!

Before exploring this "thing", I felt overwhelmed every time I heard the words Podcast, Podcasting and iPod. It is something I cannot explain. I had no clue what those words meant, but if I could avoid them, that was exactly what I tried to do. At least until today, when finally I had no choice but to face them. Why did those words overwhelm me? I have no clue. Weird, huh? Anyway, while working on the discovery exercise, I found out that there was nothing to be concern about. It is the opposite. Now that I know what a Podcast is, I wonder how I grew up without the possibility to watch my favorite show if I missed the time for the broadcasting and have forgotten to schedule its recording on my parents "Betamax". Do any of you even remember what a Betamax is? Probably not. Really, it amazes me how fast technology is changing everything around us.

Thanks Julien Tee for your picture from Flickr!

Back to our learning activity, I previewed Dragonfly TV Podcasts, Mugglecast: The #1 Harry Potter Podcast, the Math Factor Podcast among others. I found this to be a smooth learning experience. I consider podcasting an excellent way to deliver information to people interested in a certain topic. I find it practical, because you just need a video camera and/or a microphone, and voila, you are done.

I believe that using podcasting in the classroom would be really successful because of the students' engagement. I think that my next step would be registering in Podcasting in the Classroom and Garageband so I could be able to plan, create, and publish effective podcasts.

Thing # 16

LibraryThing: Where Books Meet Web 2.0

OMG!!! This "thing" is amazing!!! I mean, being able to create a library-quality catalog of your books and connecting with people that shares your reading interests sounds just wonderful.

I like the fact that to find a book you are looking for, you do not need to type everything, just a few words and voila! This is a very easy way to search, sort, edit information and tag books. You can even rate them!!! At the same time you are able to receive recommendations given by people who like to read and that are not suggesting you what to read just because they are willing to sell you something.

Another thing that I find useful is that you can be updated on the upcoming events at your favorite bookstores.

I liked the fact that you can search in more than 690 libraries around the world. This has allowed me to find books in my native language, something that sometimes is frustrating when you go to a bookstore and they have no clue of what you are talking about... And to make an educated decision, the features Zeitgeist and Suggester are very useful.

Finally, I can see classrooms using the Groups 50 Book Challenge, a way to keep a whole class motivated and engaged.

Thing # 15

Social Bookmarking and Tagging with Delicious

Thinking in retrospective, many times I bookmarked my favorite sites to the computer I was using at the time. I thought that being able to bookmark was pretty cool. When I had to change computers, I had to decide which of those websites were really my faves and then I copied their URLs into a Word document and I attached it to an email that I sent to myself. As you can see I was a "computer savvy".

Anyway, last spring I was introduced to delicious.com and I just thought that it was a great invention. Being able to keep all my favorite sites in one place and to open them from any place in the World was just incredible. I remember I "Googled" who created this site and thought Joshua Schachter, you rock.

Something new that I learned in this "thing" was to "tag" and to create a "shared tag". By the way, this is the link to my delicious links.

Thing # 7a

Google Reader Revisited

I will be lying if I would say that I have met the goal of building the habit of checking the Google Reader daily, but I am trying to do it every other day, which for me is a lot!!! The good thing is that I am not feeling overwhelmed by the avalanche of feeds because I know they are not really in the reader and I do not have to read them all anyways.

A couple of days ago, a post in Tech & Learning caught my attention. I think I have mentioned this before, but maybe some of you might not remember. I am Hispanic, so if I am skimming the reader and find something related to my community, it will most definitely catch my eye.

The title that got my attention was Hispanic Education Initiative. The post was about IBM announcing the donation of $2 million to support education within the Hispanic community.

The video news release can be found in YouTube.

Thing # 14

Discovering Web 2.0 Tools

This has been a hard learning activity, not for the steps I had to take to be done with it, but because there were so many cool tools that it was hard to choose one of them. Finally, after exploring one and another, I decided I was going to choose the ToonDoo.

I am aware that our 21st century learners need well prepared teachers that have several different tools in their toolboxes to meet their needs. I believe that technology is one of the most important tools in those toolboxes, and cartoons perhaps one of the funniest ones.

Comics could be a good resource to help teachers with their students' writing. Wonderful for sequencing, vocabulary, skill building, comprehension checking and so much more. This format allows for students to plan, design, and develop a wonderful product while having fun.

Thing # 13

Online Image Generators

I enjoyed this "thing" a lot. It was easy, fun and helped me to forget about my stress for a little while. My daughter who was nearby asked me if she could play around with some of the generators, which she identified because she has already used them at school (she is an eight grader at Kimbrough) and it was hard for her to give me the computer back.

We got into Mosaic Maker to create a photo mosaic from photos we found on Flickr. She asked me if I could use pictures of converses (which she loves and collects, she has nine pairs in her collection) from the Creative Commons pictures - she Post Optionssaid that she knew that there are some pictures available to use and others that you need to ask permission to use them. This is what we got:



1. Converse love, 2. Stomp, 3. Converse, 4. We'Re All Made Of Allstars. Twenty-Fourth Edition.

Then we got into Image Chef and start playing with lots of possibilities. One of those possibilities is called "Remixes" which takes a shape of your choice as well as words you want to use and creates cool word mosaics. These are two that I liked:

I can see the students using these applications for their reports, PowerPoints and even as a reminder of clue words from whatever unit they are doing. For example, if the students are doing a unit on the Gingerbread Man, a good way to remember the story might be the following, which I made using Wordle.

Thing # 12

Create a Slideshow!

As I wrote on Thing # 11, my chosen theme was to use pictures as supporting details to come up with a main idea. I created my slideshow using several photos from Flickr Creative Commons and Slide.com.

Photo Credits:
Coffee Break by Mike Bitzenhofer
Cold Cranberry Juice for Summer Natsukashii... by Claude Estèbe
Cute Little Milk by Hobvias Sudoneighm
Bread by Ulterior Epicure
Scrambled Eggs by Annie Mole
Fluffiest Pancakes by Salihan Laugesen
Breakfast? by Ian Hayhurst

Thing # 11

Flickr

I am very pleased of having learned about Flickr. I spent more time than the amount of time suggested for this exploring activity, but it was worth it. There are so many pictures that I see many possibilities for using Flickr, especially for building vocabulary among our English Language Learners. It is well known than a picture is worth a thousand words, and this is particularly true with our ELLs, who most of the time do not grasp the meaning of English words just because of their lack of vocabulary.

Anyway, I have decided to use the pictures I downloaded from Flickr in a ELA or BLA lesson about Main Idea and Supporting Details. My plan is to show the students pictures that will be supporting details, and they have to come with the main idea. The Supporting Details in this particular case are: Coffee, Juice, Bread, Scrambled Eggs, Pancakes and Milk, which will lead the students to the Main Idea, which in this particular case is: Breakfast.




Thank you Bitzcelt for your picture that fits perfectly with my project!

Thing # 10

Creative Commons

Before the discovery exercise in this activity, I had never ever realized there was a CC logo on any website I had visited, at least not consciously. And if it was unconsciously, then I guess I might have thought that that logo was meant to let people know about the availability of CLOSED CAPTIONS or something like that.

I wish that CC will impact the way students learn and create projects, but with few exceptions, I doubt it will happen soon. I hope I am wrong about this, though.

I have not used digital images, audio or video clips from the web in my teaching, except for a PowerPoint presentation I made for a PFK class where I was one of the presenters. I used a video clip that I got from Docushare and even got some snapshots from it that I used as digital images that I inserted in the presentation. I had permission from the person that recorded the video clip (she was the other presenter in this class) and I was the one that appeared in that video, teaching a mini lesson during writing workshop in my Kindergarten class.

The only thing that I have shared in the web are my thoughts and reflections as part of the application piece we are required to do in our technology classes.

Some of my teaching materials are property of the school and some are mine.

At this moment, I cannot find any potential negatives for using CC if whoever is using them is aware of their purpose.

Thing # 9

Play In The Wiki Sandbox

Well... Some people have told me that sometimes I let the child inside of me to come out and have some fun. And to be honest, yup, that is the truth. So, when I started reading the Thing # 9, I thought that this would be a good time to let my inner child to get out and have some fun.

Mmm... It did not worked the way I thought it would. The fact that you have to ask for permission to play there, and that you have to wait who knows how much time for the permission to be granted just drove my inner child crazy. Kids are not very patient, especially when someone invites them to play and the game is not fun at all - or worse, like in this case - the so promised game needs to start after you have given permission by a person that is not available at the moment. Arggg.

As any other child would do, I got out of there and told anyone who asked me "Do not even bother, you won't be able to do it now. Let's go somewhere else. We could come back later to see if we could play then". So, I will probably come later...

Here I am 12 hours later to reflect about my experience with the Wiki Sandbox. First of all, I think I was luckier than some of the other participants because I got the permission in about 3 hours (from what I read I thought it was going to take me at least one day), while I started working on Thing # 10 and Thing # 11.

I followed the steps in the Instructions for Creating Your Sandbox Page and then I linked my page to "Our Sandbox Pages". I had to reread some of the instructions more than once, but finally I liked the outcome, so although some up and downs, I enjoyed the experience.

Thing # 8

What in the world is a WIKI?

The first time I learned about WIKIS was last spring, while taking the Intel Course. We used a Wiki to reflect in our learning and to share our experiences. I liked it because if two heads think better than one, imagine the possibilities among way much more than that!!!

This is all a matter of points of view. An individual perspective is limited, but being able to get exposed to the collective thinking gives you broad roads in your quest of understanding more the world around you.

I think that Vicki Davis had a positive experience when first using wikis in her classroom. I think that a great part of it was her own excitement that was transmitted to her students, who eventually came up with wonderful ideas.

I really hope there is a WIKI in my future… I do not see it just now because I am somehow overwhelmed by my new responsibilities, but I hope that once I get things under control I will be more open to commit with a project such as having a WIKI. I think this should be something meaningful, not just an impulse.

Regarding my thoughts and observations about the educational wiki projects I have explored, the ones that caught my attention were 1001 Flat World Tales, Kindergarten Counting Book, and Thousands Project. What I liked the most of these WIKIS where the purpose they were intended for.

I was not aware of how much I liked writing until two things happened in my life. My daughter, who is in eight grade now, told me she wanted to go to College to study English to become a writer, and I started teaching writing to bilingual kindergarteners. You might think that I am not the best qualified individual to teach writing, because you have maybe found several errors in my writing. Please understand I am an English Language Learner, but I write pretty good in my native language. Well, having explained that, I think that a wonderful way to learn how to write is to do it in a writing workshop, where you can learn at your own pace. That is what I found in 1001 Flat World Tales, an ongoing global writing workshop emphasizing peer editing and revision. You learn a lot from others because they open your eyes to ideas otherwise might probably have never popped in your mind.

I chose the Kindergarten Counting Book because I used to teach that grade level and wondered how this new technology would be useful for these young students, and although I came up with one or two ideas, I am not a very creative person, so I am always looking around to “steal” ideas from the inventive minds. In this case I liked the fact that kindergarteners where able to demonstrate that they have grasped the matching one-to-one concept in a fun but simple way, with little help from adults.

Finally, I just love the idea that Mr. Monson had when he created Thousands Project. Being able to expose fifth graders to the opinion of people around the world regarding meaningful topics for them is an awesome way to teach them that we are not the only culture in the world and that people in other cultures have different but interesting points of view.

The challenge that I found with WIKIS is that you need to be committed to monitor them, or otherwise, after certain time they will eventually become obsolete and without a purpose.

Thing # 7

Creating a Community Through Commenting

As I stated in the post for Thing # 7, the sense of community has always been important to me. Therefore, I am happy to belong to a community of lifelong learners. I am very excited to be a member of the 23 Thingsters.

I truly believe that getting input from others is very important because our vision of the world is very limited. On top of that, we all have different points of view and having our minds opened to receive advise, constructive comments and ideas that differ from ours will help us to be more aware of the world around us.

I have not received any comments yet, but I am eager to read from you. I am sure that every comment provides teachable moments.

Thing # 6

Feed Your Reader

Wow!!! This is so cool!!! I am getting excited as I discover all the new features that technology is offering to us nowadays.

My experience with Google Reader can be described as love at first sight. I am a very organized person and I am always trying to find methods and procedures that will make my life easier.

Google Reader offers organization and time saving... What else can you ask for? Well, yeah, there are lots of things you can ask for, but anyway, this is a very impressive tool. I like the fact that you can have your favorite websites as well as information of your interest at the tip of your fingers and in just a glance.

At the same time, if you are an avid learner, like me, you will find very useful the fact that while reading your favorite blogs, you can always check out the blogroll to find other perspectives in the same topic that interests you.

Thing # 5

Three Cheers For Rio!
RSS: Rich Site Summary or Real Simple Syndication
A reflective blog about an item of interest from my reader:

Wow!!! It is incredible how technology is making our lives easier more and more every day. Thanks to the RSS, we can have information that matters to us delivered to one place, without being bombarded by the nasty SPAM.

I usually do not read newspapers anymore, even though I always try to be informed. Due to this "Thing # 5 Learning Activity" now I am subscribed to the home page of the New York Times.

While quickly scanning the news, I found one that caught my attention: Being born in South America, it is very exciting for me to know that for the first time ever a South American city has been elected as the host city for the 2016 Olympic Games.

It is well known that the International Olympic Committee (I.O.C.) tries to positively affect the cities chosen to host the Olympic Games, and this time it is not the exception: This time not only Brazil would be able to develop faster, but the entire region - and more over, its people, for the first time in their lives, will feel so close the spirit of the Olympic Games.

On the other hand, personally speaking, it would have been nice that Chicago had won, now that I live in the United States. I kind of feel bad for Chicago and its citizens, who had already planned celebrations all over the place and who were astonished after the results.

Anyhow, the United States have hosted the Olympic Games before, and maybe it was time for a region usually forgotten to feel the joy of winning such an important privilege.

Thing # 4

Discovering Blogging

One of the things I noticed about the genre of blog writing is that there are many different types of blogs, and many different kinds of blog posts. Bloggers can incorporate many different types of posts into their writing, or limit themselves to just one type. I think that is a matter of preferences and choices.

I think that blog reading and writing are different form other types of reading and writing because of the interactive format of blogs. Both readers and writers can interact with others in the topics they are interested by leaving comments and exposing their thoughts.

Commenting contributes to the writing and meaning-making because it adds a new perspective or point of view to the discussion of the topic. It can also be a mean by which bloggers get more information about a topic they like.

It is more than evident that blogging facilitate learning, because you do not only read and gather information about an specific subject, but by contributing and commenting in others blogs you are prone to reflect on what you are reading and meaningfully express your thoughts about the topic that has been presented to you.

In response to the exploratory reading, there were a couple of blogs that I found very interesting. In one of them, Dan Mayer explains his point of view about math homework making me wonder if as teachers we take some time to think about the purpose of homework or we just throw it at their students randomly and with no reason whatsoever. In the other blog, Dr. Joyce Valenza warns us about how to avoid a mediocre PowerPoint presentation, making me aware of the importance of delivering information in an engaging format.

Thing # 2, Thing # 3

What might Web 2.0 look like in school?

I think that Web 2.0 might change my professional practice in 180 degrees. Being able to use all these new tools I am learning in the 23 Things will let me be more proficient in the use of technology, as well as a mentor for other teachers in my campus, who at the same time, will be able to integrate technology in their classrooms and therefore engage today's digital learners.

I love the idea of everybody interested in the education of our students to be involved through these means. A bunch of possibilities pop in my mind, as I picture not only horizontal alignment but also vertical alignment among teachers in my campus. I picture every teacher in my campus as a facilitator of engagement and success for our digital learners.

Thing # 1, Thing # 3

7 ½ Habits of Effective Lifelong Learners

I truly believe that none of the 7½ habits of Effective Lifelong Learners may be challenging for me to employ as part of my Learning 2.0 - 23 Things experience. I have always considered myself as a Lifelong Learner, and even though I had not stopped and thought about my habits as a learner, I would identify the 7 ½ Habits of Effective Lifelong Learners as mine.

I guess that the habits that will be easiest for me as a lifelong learner are:
- Beginning with the end in mind.
- Accepting responsibility for my own learning.
- Having confidence in myself as a competent, effective learner.

More over, the habit that I think will be the most important for me as I work through this course is having confidence in myself as a competent, effective learner, because if I am able to do so, all the other habits will just fall into place by their own weight.