Final Thoughts on the 23 Things...

• What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

I definitely enjoyed learning about podcasts, how to use html editors, how to use audacity, and just generally my much better understanding and confidence in working with all of this stuff. Also the Animoto thing was pretty cool.

• How has this program affected your lifelong learning goals?

I am MUCH more likely to use the Web 2.0 features than I was before. (of course the probability was approximately zero before this course so I had nowhere to go but up.) I actually feel comfortable diving into new "tech stuff" now and feel like I can hold my own in a worked that was in danger of passing me by. Gosh, this stuff is still overwhelming, but I feel I have a fighting chance now.

• Are there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

Using online documents is cool. I could see that coming in handy. I want to try some Webquests. The thing is that this is all so new to me that all outcomes were unexpected. I look back at how I felt about this a few months ago, and I am amazed at how far I have come.

• What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

It was way too much work compared to other 3 hour college classes. Make some allowances for those without Macs and take into consideration that people working a full time job and having families don't benefit from staying up until 2:00 a.m. working on Zoho. Neither do the students they have to teach the next day.

• How will what you have learned influence your practice as a teacher?

I have already used some of the things I have found on here in my class. I feel like I keep harping on this, but I had ZERO chance of taking advantage of any of this stuff before this class. Now I am using things, and definitely feel much more comfortable with my chances of learning and using whatever wild new things that will surely come down the pike in the years to come.

• 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 may look at these blogs from time to time. I hope that I can stay in touch online with some of you. I am so busy I will need that kind of support if I am to learn about new computer stuff. I still don't see myself as a person who would choose to spend my little free time wandering around on the computer. Blogs are good for folks like me. I can let others discover things whereas I can just read these summaries.

Thank you to all who organized this. I really learned a lot. Really! It was unpleasant at times, and required a lot of cigarettes (and I'm not even a smoker), coffee, and ibuprofin, but I still learned.

THANK GOD I'M DONE WITH THE 23 THINGS!!!!!!!

Happyhappyhappyhappyhappyhappyhappyhappy!!!!!!

Is it summer yet?

Thing #23

I had noticed this earlier, but honestly failed to realize its significance. This whole project is an example of someone else's work being modified from its original form.
*Note: This project is loosely based upon the website 43Things (which allows you to set and track personal goals) and the Stephen Abram article titled 43 Things I (or You) might want to do this year (Information Outlook - Feb 2006).

I plan on using the excellent "A Fair(y) Use Tale" copyright law video from " The 23 Things" in my class as well as the tutorial I am developing for another assignment in my class. I was frighteningly ignorant about all this. I admit I am flabbergasted. I feel certain that my students are as in the dark as I was about this issue. I know they will benefit from a better understanding of copyright law. I am sure that whatever future classes they take, they will be expected to conform to these rules, and I hate to think how naive most people are in this area. With the growth in computer power and the ease of copying intellectual property, it is becoming more and more important that these rights are understood and respected.

Thing #22

PODCASTS!
Here are my two favorite podcasts:
The Mathgrad Podcast
The One Minute How To

I found these in Podcast Alley, the podcast directory with which I had the most success. I have recommended both to my classes and friends as they are both applicable of my curriculum and interesting enough to be worth a listen for anyone. This directory was the easiest for me to search and seemed to have more interesting topics to me.

The first, "Mathgrad"discusses famous math topics in everyday language. I like the way it models explaining difficult abstract concepts in terms anyone can understand

"The One Minute How To",follows up on the idea of explaining complex processes in a orderly concise manner. The gimmick of the podcast is that experts explain something in only one minute. This forces them to be very economical with words in much the same dense, terse manner of the mathematical proofs we do in class. Many of these are quite fascinating. It is surprising ow much one can explain in a minute.

I have subscribed to both of these and plan to listen to them in class regularly. I have already discussed my idea that I am kicking around about creating a podcast in which students pick an ACT problem and explain it in one minute or less. I have so much to do right now. I am not sure when I will implement this though. APSU keeps me swamped!

Thing #21

Wow! I am amazed how easy and fun Animoto was. I am beginning to be amazed at how much more comfortable I am becoming with all of this stuff. It's still not my cup of tea, mind you, but its getting easier. Making this video was easy, but only because I am so used to manipulating picture files and all of this other stuff we have been learning. I could definitely see how students could enjoy seeing a video such as this made of say pictures of projects or things we did during a semester. My parents are in town, and I think they may enjoy this with the grandkids pictures and such!

Thing #20

Youtube! I found a cool video telling how to embed videos. I thought it would be good practice to try to embed this video. If anyone else in the class has not done this yet and is reading my blog, I hope this is helpful. I had already looked at youtube many times to watch old jazz performances and just mess around. This is the first time I ever took the time to join though. Now that I have joined and know how to embed videos, I may actually be able to use this in my class. No, wait. Youtube is blocked by my school. Scratch that. I can, however, use this already to collaborate with other educators through this blog.

Thing #19

Teacherpop Ning:

I signed up for an account on the specialized social network teacherpop. It was not too difficult. Unlike other social networks I have explored, there is a wait period while the administration of the site approves ones application for membership. This makes me feel a little more secure. I have had some paranoia about Myspace, the reasons for which involve a bad experience another teacher at my school had that I described in an earlier post here. Plus the fact that our administration says, (and I'm paraphrasing here), "DO NOT HAVE A MYSPACE!!!" Anyway, the wait period made me feel better. I don't know how effective whatever administrative check they do will be at eliminating abuses, but it made me feel better none the less. I posted a reply to a post by my instructor, Dr. Wall at APSU in which she asks people to post lesson ideas for using Web 2.0 tools. My post did not appear right away so I'm not sure it made it. I did come up with an interesting idea though, I think. I will paste it here so at least someone will read it sometime hopefully.:
I was intrigued by a Podcast I found "The One Minute How to" . In this podcast, various experts explain how do do anything form how to wax cross country skis to how to find a publisher to how to file a tax extension. The gimmick is that they must do this in less than 60 seconds. I was thinking about a one minute how to that students could do on ACT problems. I think the students would find it exciting and interesting to work within the strict time requirement and would develop organization, and verbal communication skills as they attempt to develop an explanation that fits with in the time limit. I have always read that one of the main characteristics of good business communication is that it must be concise. Assigning students to look through an ACT preparation booklet, pick a problem, and produce a 60 second or less Podcast would serve many useful educational purposes. Obviously it helps them review for the ACT. It gets them comfortable with technology. It forces them to think about not just the solution but also how to explain the reasoning. Finally it develops communication skills that will be valuable to them and to the company or organization they end up working for. If social networking sites were involved with this or bookmarking, one could get other students around the country involved and soon there would be a wealth of resources available. What a good "warm up" it would be to put up an ACT problem on the computer projector screen, have the students spend 5 minutes on it and then listen to the 60 second podcast. In less than ten minutes I could do my roll, take care of other clerical duties and have a meaningful engaging warm up for class. If there were lots of these out there bookmarked, it would be almost effortless to set this up each day.
It took me a while to find the tiny "get badge" button at the bottom right, but putting it on my blogger was easy once I did so. I can't believe that I am beginning to kind of understand what html code is and where to paste it and what it does. I'm learning a lot form this class. I still would rather be outside doing something fun though.

Thing #18

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcpTCKOzJjA
A cool Youtube video I found on Myspace

Social Networking... Myspace...
Educators need to know about these because they have become so important to our culture. Young people in particular seem to be very in tune with these sites, and they are our business. . I was uncomfortable as I expected I would be with the idea of students being around sites like this. I was able to find an old friend on there who has a band in Hopkinsville, KY ("Black Cat Cadillacs" in case anyone is up there and interested.) Still, even this myspace had things on there that were not appropriate for students. There seem to be just too many dangers with these types of sites. I do not see any good use of them in the classroom. A teacher at our school had a myspace page made about him, by students without his knowledge. Many inappropriate pictures and words were placed right under his name. Because of this, all teachers at our school were required to search around to make sure we didn't have such a site about us. I have been paranoid about these ever since. I don't feel comfortable putting my real name out there. Teachers need to be aware of these sites if for no other reason than to guard against abuses like the one described above. I would like to see such a site with improved security features if such a thing is possible.

I'll be honest...this is just not my idea of fun.

Thing #17

Del.icio.us!

Boy! This has been an eye opener. I have often had the feeling that there was waaaaay more happening on the web than I was aware of. Watching these tutorial videos, I really began to have a strange mix of emotions. I was fascinated and a little awe struck by how much stuff is going on out there on the web that I have had and still have NO IDEA about. This was mixed with a whole lot of apathy toward the situation as well. Honestly, I am left feeling a little overwhelmed and inadequate for being so unaware of so much. I loved the concept of harnessing collective intelligence. I really think that the web has already provided and will continue to provide more useful information than any person can ever digest. What is needed most then is an ability to filter out the best information for ones one particular purposes. This is spot on what social bookmarking is all about. I began by typing in some interests I have in this area beginning with outdoors. I began following alternate tags set by other people and ended up finding out about a great place to go mountain biking, Lehigh Gorge in Pennsylvania pictured above. I can foresee many applications of this network. Research could be revolutionized. The more people spend time working with these sites, and the better the user gets at finding other users and tags with similar priorities, the more luck we will have hooking up with the information we need.it is easy to envision how making research more efficient could stimulate and motivate today's students to explore in ways that were impossible to us older folks. I honestly don't understand how people find time in the day to keep abreast with all of this stuff. I feel swamped most of the time. I'll bet that as one becomes better and better at using these networking tools, a snowball effect begins to take place where ones online contacts begin to do much of this staying caught up business for us.

Thing #16

Online Productivity! I chose the Google startup page because I normally start searching with Google and I'm comfortable with the site. I have made it my homepage. Why not? I created a Google online calendar, and found it to be excessively complicated compared to the paper and pencil , but I did decide to have the students in my Mu Alpha Theta club use this feature. It has the advantages of being "Technologyish", which will appeal to the students, plus it can be accessed by all club members. I really plan to pass on much more of the organizational responsibilities to the students next year. They will get more out of the club that way and I'm way too busy! I did put a ToDo list right on my custom homepage. That has already come in handy. I really recommend this homepage idea with the to do list and local weather and personal interests and all. I plan on figuring out how to get my kids sports schedules linked directly on there. I see no reason why anyone could not get some benefit from this.

Thing #15

Exploring Wikis:
I have been exploring some recommended wiki sites with mixed results. I have been interested in reading across the curriculum lately due to some reading that I have been doing in connection with a paper I am writing as well as due to conversations this has sparked with colleagues. I thought I would explore some of the book/ library focused wikis to see if I could develop some good reading recommendations for my students. I know there is great stuff to read out there and I know I have several students that love to read. It is a shame we don't do a better job bringing those two groups together.
I found that the Booklovers wiki is mainly old stuff published a few years ago to document a summer reading from Princeton University. I guess it is human nature, but I was turned off by the fact that most entries were years old. The point of a wiki is to be new and up to date. I think students will agree and be more likely to use and get excited about wikis with recent activity. Teacherlibrarian wiki had some more up to date stuff and some good booklists.
Then I looked at Welkerswikinomics and found some cool stuff that could apply to my calculus class such as the page at the following link.: http://welkerswikinomics.wetpaint.com/page/Price+Elasticity+of+Supply
There are many other cool applications of slope and reading graphs such as this in there.
I selected my Zoho slideshow to post into the APSU 23 things sandbox Wiki. I am comfortable enough now with all of this that it was straight forward. I EVEN USED THE HTML EDITOR TO PUT IN THE ACTUAL SLIDESHOW! I never could have done that before this Educational Technology class I'm in!
I have been using Wikis in my class as a general resource for some time now. They are a handy reference if one needs to know the formula for the volume of a sphere or something like that. They come up on Google automatically. Wikipedia is well known. I enjoyed looking at the other wikis I found during this assignment. I see now that they have much more potential than as mere quick reference tools.

Thing #14

My Bubbl.us brainstorm. Planning a field trip contest.


My Gliffy Factoring Flow Chart.

I'll be honest. I selected these two services to sign up for because they were the first of each type listed by my instructor. I was to explore and test flow chart producer and a brainstorm producer. I could readily see the advantages of each. The flow chart is much more flexible and able to produce many cross links and interesting designs. The brainstorm has much less flexibility. The new bubbles are created automatically with the press of a button and do not need to be drawn in like the ones in the flow chart. This gives speed in exchange for the power to fully customize. As the name implies, the brainstorm allows one to move rapidly from idea to idea without taking time to switch from the bubble tool to the line tool. One can focus ones efforts on the ideas being explored rather than the design. The flow chart is far better for considering the audience and adjusting the organization and appearance accordingly. I must say I enjoyed the fast pace of the brainstormer and would probably use the brain stormer as a kind of"prewriting" to produce my next flowchart. I will definitely show the Field trip flow chart to the other members of my department to help finalize plans for this year's contest and to make adjustments in how we plan and implement next year. This is fine since all my fellow math dept. members have a basic understanding of what the contest is about and just need reminders and a basic, easily modified layout to keep us on track and possibly to spark ideas about how to improve our process. I think the flowchart maker would be good for students to use to create documents for their own use as well as projects to present to the class. Making the chart about factoring really made me think about the process involve. I know students would benefit from the planning and thought involved in creating one of these

Thing #13

MY ZOHO SLIDE SHOW!!!

Above is a link to my Zoho online document. I created this in about an hour and a half and ran into surprisingly few difficulties for once. My first problem was when I tried to choose from among the many options of backgrounds and styles. I was impressed by the variety in this free service. Then things went smoothly until I tried to insert a picture. On my old clunky computer, the bottom part of the page is hidden and you cant "grab" the screen and move it up. Anyway, I am no techno expert and I could not see the "upload image" command at the bottom of the "insert image" screen. I could not figure out how to put my pictures into the slide show for a few minutes and finally had to "hide" my toolbars under the view menu of mozilla to be able to see the "upload image" button. Also I could not find a drawing tool like in Microsoft Powerpoint. One could easily overcome this by creating drawings elsewhere and uploading them, but it was a little clunky for this reason. I am tired from a long day of teaching and everything else (3 kids, 2 sports, etc.) and I still managed to create something with not too much misery. OK, I lied. It was roughly 62% misery, but only because I'm so tired. I could see the advantages of this for easily producing something viewable for a large number of students, colleagues, or any large group you didn't feel like sending an email to with a file attachment.

Thing #4 (Out of Order)

Commenting is important for several reasons. Obviously it gives feedback and hopefully allows people to improve their blogs. Most importantly, I think it is important because the great strength that the web has over all other previous media is the extreme ability it has to facilitate the networking and distribution of information. There is just not enough time for any one person to sift through all of the information available. By blogging and commenting on blogs, we can take advantages of our peers as information filters to bring exciting things to our attention and share the task of weeding through the tons and tons of chaff to get to the good stuff that is out there. Commenting makes the communication of a blog two way, thus making it much faster and more effective.
Two points that I got from the readings were the fact that it lets others know that their Blogs are being read and thus encourages them to keep it up and the fact that it can call attention to ones own blog. These just go back to the points I made earlier about how the more connections in both directions we make out here on the internet, the more effective this amazing new tool will be to us.
Miranda's Blog: I commented on how he seemed unimpressed with the mind maps in thing fourteen. I suggested that he try to do an actual project with them instead of just clicking around. I found that it actually helped me think about the complex process of to do things in planning a field trip. the key is how FAST the thing works so one can write stuff down as fast as one thinks and it is neat and savable and organized.
Mechelle Scotts 23 things: I commented the following:I like the design of your flow chart and this blog page in general. They look nice! You produce good stuff! You should put in some more pictures and examples! I have gotten great practice by putting in pictures and things whenever possible. It is not that hard. I liked her stuff but noticed that she had not put in too many pictures or examples. I hope my encouragement helps
Candi Ciola's Blog thing 12: I checked out Igoogle. I liked your phrase "internet command center" very apt. I made one too. I wish she had put a picture of her igoogle page up there.
Rebecca Curtis's blog, Curtis 2009 on thing nine: I checked out phototrix and it was fun. I hadn't noticed that when I did this "thing". Pretty cool. I liked the website that I had skipped over when I did thing 9.
CheyenneLuther's blog, Thing 13 I appreciate the review of the word processor feature. I did my project on the slide show maker. I did miss the ability to do drawings. It is a pain to make a drawing and save it as a picture and then insert it. still it is good for the price... free Maybe she can come up with a better way of putting drawings into these Zoho documents.

OUT OF CLASS BLOGS This was kind o fun.
I found about a new place to hike in this blog:http://www.zevonprice.com/?p=35 Here is a link to it.
http://www.baysmountain.com/
I just thanked her for the review.I enjoyed reading about bays mountain. I used to live in Ktown and never made it up there. I'll have to check it out.

I found out about a place that sounds awesome!!!. No doubt I'll need to shape up before I try this one, but I'm gonna do it!!! Beats the heck out of blogging! :) Check out "The Walls of Jericho hike at this blog
http://timothyeggstuff.blogspot.com/2009/04/kevins-jericho-report.html?showComment=1239772980000#c7067540000989804923 intimidating review. Here is my comment: Nice read. I'll think about getting into better shape before I try this one.
I never knew about Blogs as such a resource for finding hikes! I can get into this!

Thing #12

The morning half of my weekly calendar looks about this bad too. If I had a cell phone with Internet access this would be more practical. I do, however, like this Google feature. I keep a mega-super Mom calendar on my fridge, complete with stickers, and that's where everything goes. Unfortunately, I can't count the number of times I wrote something down on paper, had good intentions of taking it home and writing it on my handy-dandy calendar, and then washed that important bit of info along with the rest of the laundry. If I could access this from anywhere, I would definitely use it. Clearly, this is perfect for things like classroom management, parent contacts, appointments, etc.

The absolute coolest thing I've discovered in this class has to be the Google Book Search. Granted, I prefer book in hand, but I found some hard-to-find books using this tool. B.H. Carroll is my favorite Biblical commentator. He lived in the 1800's and books containing his sermons and teachings are hard to come by. When you are fortunate enough to find his works, you pay a pretty penny for them. I was surprised to find several full text versions of some of his writings using this tool. I also searched for my fav-o-rite political cartoonist of all time, Berkley Breathed. I was disappointed to find that even when it said you could preview his work, it was purposely obscured in order to protect the copyright. Crapola.

I played with Google maps some too, but I wasn't as excited about it as I was the above two things.

Good stuff! Lots of good Google stuff! I really liked this one.

Thing #11

Wow. I'm brain dead. Where do I start?

I set up a Google reader account, and everything there is self explanatory, thank God! (Even idiots like myself can use it with ease...) I accidentally clicked on coolcatteacher's blog, and I must admit she (he?) did not impress me. There was too much information there all crammed together and I felt like I wasted a lot of time reading things that don't interest me in the first place. Too confusing and frustrating for me. That's one blog I will not be subscribing to.

I used Technorati, which was user friendly, and ended up subscribing to several blogs that relate to those out there that teach calculus. (Even found some videos!) I did have to weed out, but overall I found this useful. I did not enjoy Edublog's award winners at all. Again, the overall complaint I have is that there is simply waaaaaay too much stuff I have to look through in order to find what I want. Google Blog Search was the same way. Although it was easy to use, I (personally) don't enjoy this process. While I see the benefit in collaborating with others within my field, or custom tailoring the news that I want to read about, the process of getting it all set up is a pain.

From a teaching perspective, this could eventually be a useful endeavor. From a personal perspective, I doubt I will ever read a blog just for fun. This will definitely be a work-related thing only.

Thing #10

I know i can be somewhat of a cynic when it comes to technology, and it's no secret that I abhor sitting at a computer for more than 10-15 minutes, but I must admit that this assignment was meant for people like me, and I like it. Anything that cuts down on my time here, at this very keyboard, is a plus in my book. The key words are Really Simple Syndication.

I appreciate the efficiency and ease with which it works. This will be great in the classroom, once I find a few bloggers that teach the same subject matter I do. I'm always up for new ideas...I just don't like to wade through a lot of useless garbage to get there. Google Reader cuts out the useless garbage! I found it very simple (Really Simple) to use (thank goodness) and I've subscribed to 6 blogs. (5 from class and also my crazy cousin's that lives in California.) This is most definitely something I will share with my department at school because I know other teachers will be interested as well.

As far as the optional part of this assignment goes, it's safe to say I'm not up to the challenge. This class had made me cry twice today, and multiple times in the past several weeks as well. Actually, some might say the second incident today could be classified as an "emotional breakdown" when the computer locked up and I lost all my work, but there were no witnesses, so I'm sticking with crying. It sounds more professional.

Thing #9

Haha! These were fun to make. I teach Algebra II, which, in my humble opinion, is the most difficult math class a high schooler can take. Yes, there are higher levels of math, but Algebra II is the first time they are really asked to think "outside the box", so to speak. There is absolutely no sense in sugarcoating the fact that the class is hard. The students hate it, for the most part, so I don't try to convince them that they will feel otherwise. I often joke with them about exactly how much they hate it. (I usually start my power points off with a slide that says, "I H8 ALG2".) It softens the mood, and i think it helps them to know that I don't expect them to love the subject like I did; I just expect them to do their best. Anywho, I would hang these up in my room. They would go well with all the other signs that complain about math difficulties. (Although, upon second glance, I'd probably scrap the tarot card of the devil that says "Ms. Spicer" at the bottom. There are nudie parts showing, and I could foresee me getting into deep doo-doo over that one.)

I tutor every morning. My tutoring students are funny. They actually want to pitch in and get T-shirts, like its a club. Go figure. Anyway, when i asked them what they wanted on the shirt, they came up with, "The only thing better than Algebra II is Algebra II at 7:00 a.m." I actually have that hanging in my classroom. Confucius makes it look even better.

I created all of these at the following addresses:

http://www.customsigngenerator.com/
http://www.imagechef.com/

Thing #8

"Have some fun discovering and exploring some of these neat little apps, but be careful. Playing with these tools can be habit-forming. You may discover that you have a new hobby!"

OK. While I can see some practical applications that can be utilized within my classroom, this is far from a hobby for me. Gardening...now there's a hobby. Or the guitar. Or the banjo. The piano. Backpacking. Photography. Those are my hobbies. Yes, there are some neat pictures and things you can do with Flickr. For example, I used Retrievr by System One Labs and sketched an ellipse and it generated several examples of real life ellipses, such as the girl with the hula hoop above. This would be a good assignment for some of my Algebra II students when we cover conic sections in class. They enjoy seeing how conic sections appear in everyday life.


However, sitting in front of this computer is not a hobby for me. I want to be outside so bad I can hardly stand it! (Maybe I'm ADHD. My mother thinks so.) Technology is what I call a necessary evil. I understand the need to be fluent, but it in no way, shape, form, or fashion falls under the umbrella of what I consider "fun". Surfing the Internet is laborious to me. I could throw my TV and computer out the front door and never miss either one. (However, take away my ipod and I'd probably cry. Best darn invention since the wheel.) I guess what I'm trying to say is that the linear and nonlinear power points were much more applicable for the subjects I teach. Those are something I will use. To be honest, I don't know that I will ever explore Flickr again after this class. I'd rather be somewhere taking a picture instead of looking through someone else's. I don't see anything wrong with publishing pictures on the Internet, but it's just not what I want to spend my time looking at.

The above image of my name was made with Spell by Flickr. My daughter thinks this is "ultra-cool".

Thing #7

Check out the colors in this photo! I love photography, especially landscapes, and this caught my eye because of the purples in the image. There was probably a small window of opportunity for this shot, and he got it! Bruce McKay published this photo on Flickr March 15th of this year. He says it was taken the first day of his spring break. I should take a photo of a miserable, raw, rainy afternoon and publish it as the first day of my spring break, which currently starts tomorrow. I'd rather be there.


Here is a link to this black and white photo of Mount Rainer, taken by Jeremy Chen.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremychen/58229721/
After exploring Flickr, I just couldn't pull myself away from the landscape pool. Not only do I like photography, but I find black and whites to be elegant, soothing, and dramatic all at the same time. I chose to search for Mount Rainer, the pride and joy of my backpacking career. Yes, I climbed this bad boy about 15 years ago. Check out the Mount Rainer climbing blog below for lots of cool stuff. I wish I could find data for female climbers. At the time, someone told me the number of female climbers was far fewer. Regardless, I remember this view, and it was life changing. For those who have never been to Washington State, you have to see it to believe it.
http://mountrainierclimbing.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html

Thing #6

The website that I picked as my fav-o-rite is zillow. I used this handy dandy website when I recently purchased a new home. I found prices of other houses in the area, found out what the current owners paid for the home, and other vital information. Compared to realtracs, which is what I've always used in the past, zillow is more helpful and more user friendly, especially for people like myself who tend to avoid spending more than 30 minutes in front of a computer screen at one sitting. The search options are better, and you can even get mortgage advice from this site.

As far as a school application, this would be a good tool to let students see what houses actually cost. In the past, I have done an assignment that teaches them how to calculate interest rates. Maybe I could send them to this sight and let them pick out their "dream home" and then let them figure out how they are going to pay for it.

Thing #5

School 2.0. What does it mean to me?

*Disclaimer* I have one heck of a headache. And I've had a rough day. Not to complain, but you know how sometimes you're just in a bad mood, and you probably shouldn't answer subjective questions in that frame of mind? Here it goes...

I teach high school math. I teach Algebra II and Calculus. Here's what I encounter everyday, thanks to calculators.

"Ms. Spicer? What's 2 x 0?"
"What do you mean what's 2 x 0? It's 0. Anything times zero is zero."
"Oh. I forgot my calculator. Sorry."

Or better yet...division, multiplication's tricky little friend.

"Ms. Spicer? What's 5 divided by 1?"
"Are you kidding me???"
"No. Billy borrowed my calculator."
"For the love of Pete, it's 5!!!"

I won't even get into fractions.

My issue with technology is this: it seems to me that students learn to rely on it to the point of throwing basic fundamentals out the door. Call me old school. Call me a teacher with a massive headache right now. Whatever.

Let me play devil's advocate for a moment. I graduated from UT Knoxville with a degree in mathematics. Guess what we were NEVER allowed to use on a test? Graphing calculators. (Don't have a heart attack, Dr. Wall. Just hear me out. ) The logic behind this rule was simple. We were forced to learn the material first. Old school. Pencil and paper. Straight up lecture. Books that smelled like mildew. What they had the wisdom to see was that once we learned the material, it wasn't a gigantic leap to THEN incorporate technology and expand our horizons. But first we learned it. And we learned it the hard way. It wasn't always fun. It wasn't always entertaining. It wasn't supposed to be. In some aspects, I feel we are spoiling this upcoming generation by constantly trying to stimulate them with graphics and other web tools. What happened to picking up a book and reading it? Or listening to (gasp) a 33 LP on a record player? For those of you who don't know what an LP is, allow me to broaden your horizons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LP_album There is something to be said for the sound those scratches make, and the way it makes you feel when you hear them. I just hope as we move forward in education, we don't lose sight of where we came from.

Thing #3

Who knew that it would take a full 15 minutes to register this blog?

Yeah...15 minutes. You know why?

Its not because I'm a technological idiot, although I am pretty close. It's because of lack of sleep.

You see, in my family of five, no one told me that the stomach flu could run through three children a total of five times in one month. For those out there that don't like word problems, this means that oldest daughter began vomiting and didn't stop for three days. Then middle son followed suit. Finally, youngest daughter decided she couldn't be left out, and there you have it. But were we done? Oh, no! Oldest daughter and son decide that once wasn't enough, so they opted to do it all over again. Throw in the fact that I got a RAGING case of strep throat somewhere in there, and the bottom line is that I'm getting very little sleep. AND I'm tired of cleaning up vomit.

The breaking point for me was when my daughter threw up on the cat. Guess what cats do when they get thrown up on? THEY RUN THROUGH THE HOUSE!!!

Anyways...it took me 15 minutes to register because you were supposed to express the date as MM/DD/YYYY. I was so tired, I didn't notice YYYY. I typed 09 a half dozen times before I realized the problem. I think some profanity was uttered as well.

Thing #2

I created an avatar. Very exciting. I feel high-techy.



My son has a toy avatar. He likes to pretend that his toy T. Rex eats it.

Thing #1

As a mother of three and high school teacher, I am blessed with ample opportunities for learning as I go through my routine. I learn from my children and students daily. I look forward to this blog as a way of organizing my thoughts and processing the many observations and feelings I experience. Too often, we can get caught up and not take the time to meditate upon and digest our experiences and to examine them from a professional frame of mind. My hope is that this blog will be a successful part of my effort to become a more reflective practitioner of the profession of education. Having just watched an online video about the seven and one half habits of lifelong learners, I feel challenged to take a more active role in pursuing the ideal of being a lifelong learner. Of the habits listed, I feel most confident in my confidence... so to speak. I have always enjoyed learning and have been and continue to be a successful student. I am proud to be a part of a math department that has been praised by administration for its effective collaboration. We form a tight knit group that eats lunch together daily and continuously communicates. This has been a great boon to me in my young teaching career. As a matter of fact, two other teachers are assisting me this week in installing a projector for my computer in my classroom. This is good because I feel the weakest of my seven habits is technology. Thank goodness for helpful people when it comes to leaning about things that can seem frustrating. Technology definitely falls under that category for me. Still, I am making progress. I just started my first blog. Wow!