Thing 23!

Take a few moments to reflect on your journey. You've covered a lot of material over the past ten weeks. What does it all mean? How has your thinking changed between Thing 1 and Thing 23? Has this program changed how you view the Internet or how view teaching in the digital world? What plans have you made for using these tools in and out of the classroom? How will you continue to learn about Web 2.0 tools? What are your big "take aways" from this experience?


Well this was a big eye opener! I am so much more aware of what's available on the internet! I feel as if I've "come of age"-- the digital age that is. I can actually picture myself using many of the digital programs I've learned about whereas prior to October, I never knew some of them existed. I still fumble around, but I'm proud of the progress I've made.

I am already using a blog in my 9th grade English classroom for student commentary on issues in To Kill a Mockingbird. Next semester, Karen Villegas will help me put together a wiki for my two Mythology classes. I can see a lot of potential in that application in that class. I also want to look into document sharing programs so that groups of students can easily access a shared folder for group work. How many times have I heard someone say: "I couldn't do any work because so and so had all our papers". Document sharing will take care of that.

I also thoroughly enjoyed learning how to incorporate pictures, widgets, video and slideshares into my web pages. I can see so many possibilities now that I know a few tricks. I always left my web sites very plain -- just sticking to the basics. Now I can offer a lot of variety along with the information.

Personally, I will also benefit from what I've learned. I can read cool new info on hobbies and areas of interest through my delicious account. (In fact, my 9th grade son and I already used it to check out a science experiment on magnetism for his science demonstration.) I will probably be using Flickr to organize my pictures and I can think of a lot of uses for the document sharing within my family and my groups of friends. We might not plan a camping trip like the group in the demo, but something a bit more cushy is in the works.

Now that you have me started, I can't help but want to learn more. We're experimenting with a lot of new technology in my district so there will be many opportunities to learn and share with my colleagues. I'll also keep up with the feeds I've entered in Delicious and in bloglines. I'll be downloading some podcasts on how to use Web 2.o as well as the new Smart Boards that will be arriving next year. I imagine I'll continue to think of countless ways to use these new tools to enhance learning in my classroom.

I'm grateful to Carol and Jackie for providing such an efficient format for us to learn. Clicking on the various YouTube and Common Craft presentations and hyperlinking all the sites showed us how we could utilize similar formats with our students. Many nights I looked forward to one of the "thing" adventures along my journey to relevance. Other nights, I'll admit, I was frustrated and tired, but no reward is as great as one that requires effort. I enjoyed the journey and would definitely recommend it to other educators.