Thing #23-Summary of My Thoughts

Completing 23 Things has been quite an experience. It has been overwhelming at times, but I have learned so much. My favorite discoveries included Library Thing and Image Generators. It was amazing learning about how blogs allow for worldwide communication about issues that matter to individual people all across the globe.
This program has helped with my lifelong learning goals by allowing me the opportunity to explore technology in ways I hadn't thought about before. The biggest surprise that I have taken away from this experience is how much I truly like the idea of blogging and all it encompasses.
As I have said,the idea of 23 Things is fantastic, yet I am concerned that there was not enough support for some of the "things", including Avatar and the Podcast. I definitely struggled with both "things" and had to be "rescued" by a very patient and technologically literate colleague. I worry for other participants who do not have that same support system available to them.
If you were to offer another sequenced learning program such as this, I would participate. More complex areas of technology would require a bit more support, however.
If I were to assign a word or sentence to describe my 23 Things experience, it would be the sentence, Learning like this requires a leap of faith, but is well worth the jump.
Thank you for allowing me to participate, and I am dedicated to the idea of continuing and reevaluating my learning.

Thing #22-Nings

I constantly watch as my son uses Facebook, but I've known very little about it for someone like myself. Nings seem like a good way to connect with specific groups of people from all over. The notion that two heads are better than one is now multiplied thousands of times over. It would be great to have a network of educators to share ideas with, yet this "thing" is probably not the one I will refer to the most.

Thing #21-Podcasts

I definitely struggled with creating a podcast. At first I attempted to download Audacity and to save a sample audio to my blog, but it did not work. Because I am fortunate enough to have a friend and colleague who is technologically saavy, she was able to guide me through setting up my podcast using Photostory more effectively. Learning this "thing" really does require outside assistance for those of us who are more inexperienced. Of course, in the end, I realize that podcasts are an amazing resource. The students in my class will love using it for their own book reviews and research presentations. My first Photostory podcast is rather basic. It will be fun to make them continually more complex.

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=734fe93831e3fb400ce8

#20-You Tube, Teacher Tube, Zamzar

It has been frustrating trying to download the Teacher Tube video I chose onto my blog page. With the help of my son, I was able to complete the task. The URL address was further down the page than I perceived when reading through the instructions. I downloaded a perimeter rap that was catchy. (See link above!) Every year my students continue to confuse perimeter and area, and it doesn't matter how many cute pneumonic devices I give them. This rap may just make a difference in this concept formation.
I had fun going through the You Tube videos and I loved Technology-Looking Backward and Thinking Forward as well as The Top Ten Things You Don't Learn When Student Teaching. What a combination of entertaining and educational.

Thing #19-Web 2.0 Awards List

What a great resource this list is to begin to make sense of all the sites that are out there. It narrows in the choices. Some categories were a bit general in nature; for example I was drawn immediately to the retail category and was a bit surprised that the #1 ranked site was Threadless, which sold t-shirt logos. I ws expecting more choices like in Style Hive. Going into the book review site, Lulu was intriguing. I noticed a book review from George W. Bush as well as a link on how to download, bind, and self publish a book. Pretty cool! I also enjoyed I'm Cooked and will download some cooking demonstrations soon.