Thing 23 - You Made It!

This has been such a great experience for me. I just spent some time going back through all of the "things" that were covered, and I can't believe how much I have learned in such a short time. I think the most important thing I will take away from this class is an increased confidence in working with Web 2.0 tools. Most of the things we talked about had crossed my path before, but I never felt ready to take the plunge and explore. It can be intimidating and frustrating to take on the task of expanding your technological skills, but I found it to be much easier than I thought. I never thought I would be the one who created a webpage for our counseling office, but now not only do we have a page, we have photos, videos, cool graphics, and so much more!

I like that I can now be a person to whom people can come if they want to learn more about Web 2.0 tools as well. There are so many valuable resources out there to help us reach students, and hopefully if I can lend a helping hand to interested teachers, we can really start making a difference. I know that I will continue to delve even further into the tools we have already learned about, and be much more open-minded to any new tools that arise in the future. I realize that I may not use ALL of the tools available to me, but if I can reach just one more student by taking a risk in technology, it is worth it. I can't wait to continue learning about and then sharing information about these wonderful tools. From several videos in this class, I was reminded that kids are so eager to try new things, but they still need a helping hand along the way. I think if students see that we are willing to take risks with new technology, their minds will open up even more to experiencing new things.

Thing 22 - Online Video

My feelings are mixed on YouTube. The content provided is so widespread when you search for something, it is somewhat difficult to figure out what is worth viewing or not. And unfortunately, sometimes you are too far into a video to realize it is really inappropriate. I think this is a tool that teachers definitely have to monitor/find the video ahead of time to make sure they are getting what they want.

As of right now, YouTube is permitted at our school (to teachers anyway). When you do find the material you are looking for, it can be very helpful. Last year some of our 6th grade students did a version of Dorothy following the Yellow Brick Road in the Wizard of Oz, that was presented to our incoming 5th graders during orientation. Some of the kids weren't really grasping what their character were supposed to be portraying, so I went to YouTube and looked up examples of other people/kids playing the parts. It was pretty neat to be able to just have the kids come in my office for a few minutes to view a video of someone acting out the Tinman or Lion instead of trying to explain it myself, take them to some live performance, or dig out the video.

I was not aware of TeacherTube and SchoolTube, so I am really glad I got a chance to explore those sites. I think I will have better luck finding appropriate material on those sites. If used in an appropriate way, I think YouTube could have a lot of value in the classroom. I think it is pretty amazing that I can simply type in a video I would like to see and it is there at my fingertips. It might take a little searching to find just what you want, but most of the time, it is out there!

Thing 21 - Your Heart Will Be All a Twitter

So far, I have not really jumped on board with Twitter. I have followed its growth for some time now, but have never been compelled to actually make an account or to follow others. For me, it is just a little much. I already have a Facebook account where people can update their status every two seconds if they choose. This in itself can be very annoying to me. I like to keep in touch with the people I care about, but it seems like there is a point where people start to post things just because they have nothing better to do.

I am trying to think of a time when "tweeting" would be helpful, and I suppose if you were in a situation where you could not check your phone for text messaging, but could have access to a computer, a tool like Twitter could be helpful. Maybe someone is trying to organize a project or an event and you could check on the status by seeing his/her tweets. So far, I have not found that telling the world about my burnt toast is worth the time it takes to get on my computer, log on to Twitter, type in "I burnt my toast this morning," and then post. I will however keep an open mind because I know that it is a huge thing for a lot of people.

Thing 20 - Bookmarking with del.icio.us

Username - hagenk13

I started out by tagging a handful of sites that I use both personally and at school. I think that this is going to be a very helpful tool as I continue to find ways to be more time-efficient and promote collaboration among colleagues. My favorite part about it is that I can access my bookmarks from any computer. There have been many instances where I found a website on my home computer, but then could not find it again at school if I forgot to email the address to myself. The "social" part of all of this is going to be a great aspect to utilize as well. I can see a lot of time being saved by being able to look at what sites others have found useful. I am excited that my partner counselor and I can share websites over del.icio.us, versus trying to remember to send an email (and of course remembering to either attach or copy in the website!).

I can see using this tool with one of the student groups the counselors help coordinate at school. Each year, our diversity council puts on a Respect Y.E.S. assembly for the entire school that promotes respecting yourself, each other, and school. This assembly takes a ton of planning time, and if we could set up a system where kids could help look for material at home and then save it to del.icio.us, we could probably spend a lot more time at school doing the actual practice for the assembly. It is a great way to keep things organized so that I am not collecting little notes from ten different students and reading emails form several different teachers who are helping us with the project.

Thing 19 - Introduction to Social Bookmarking

I am really excited about this Thing. I have definitely found myself getting frustrated when I had previously found a really useful site and bookmarked it, but then cannot remember what it was called or just cannot find it in the huge mass of bookmarks I already had saved. I think tagging could be a really big help in keeping my digital resources organized. One disadvantage I see is that it is yet another site that I have to maintain and update. With so many of the "things" we have been covering, I think it comes down to finding what is really going to be the most helpful for you as an individual to get the most of the resources available and help you to be more time-efficient. If I do decide to use a site like del.icio.us, I need to make sure I am ready to commit to it so that I am really getting the most out of what it offers.

It will be important for me to name the tag something that I will remember -- and probably to be consistent with the naming. I do like that you can tag one thing different names though, because obviously a site could offer information on more than one category that I would like to revisit later. Writing a brief description of the page will hopefully be a good reminder of what I liked about the site and why I chose to tag it in the first place.

I think my favorite part of tagging is going to be that I can access the tagged sites from any computer. There have been plenty of frustrating instances when I had found a great resource on my home computer and made it a favorite, but then forgot to email the link to my school email and could not find it again at school.

Thing 18 - Building Your Personal Learning Network

I think the idea of creating personal learning networks is a great one. I know that there have been numerous times either when I was still in grad school, or actually working in a school, that I have been so thankful for my network of counselor colleagues. Through email, workshops, newsletters, etc., we have been able to share valuable information that has helped to make our programs better. I definitely like that there are resources out there like Ning, MACUL, and IST, but it seemed a little bit overwhelming to me. If a teacher was having a hard time finding people with whom to collaborate at his/her school, I can see where networks like those mentioned above could be very helpful. For me though, taking the time to connect with those people around me who are working directly with the same students I am and who are working in the same school environment/culture is more important. There is hardly enough time in the week to make a face-to-face contact with other teachers at my own school, so trying to keep up with blogs and questions/answers of teachers in schools all over the country seems difficult to me. That being said, I still think it is amazing that a network is actually set up that if teachers were really in need of advice, it is pretty much at their fingertips. If one could really narrow down the specific information/subject area for which he/she was searching help, I think a personal learning network could really enhance the potential for teaching growth.

Thing 17 - More Web 2.0 Winners

I got a little carried away checking out all of the winners (cocktail builder was quite fun), but finally decided to explore one that could be useful at school. Revolution Health seemed to be a really good site for some of the health issues we see at school. It is pretty hard to just Google "ADHD" and expect to come up with really valid search results. I like that this site had descriptions of medications and also a place where someone could find a doctor or hospital. I could just type in my zip code, what specific ailment/condition for which I needed a doctor, and up popped a list for me to scan. Another helpful part of the site was a section describing different types of insurance plans and giving more details on what those plans offer. This site seemed to offer answers to many of my questions all on one site, saving me time from searching each specific question over and over.