One last thing

I really enjoyed this class but I have to be honest, it was a lot more work than I realized. I know they said up front that it would be a lot more work but I just didn't realize how much that would really entail. I learned a lot including, but not limited to, Creative Commons, RSS feeders, a wiki, slideshow, and bookmarking.I realized I needed to be more aware of picture copyright and to use Creative Commons. I always heard of an RSS feeder but didn't take the time to figure it out and use it. It was easier than I thought. I like having so many things in one place (google.com). I had heard of a wiki but I didn't know what it was because I never explored it on my own. I enjoyed making a slide show and know it can be useful for my own personal blog as well as for classroom use. I use the Delicious bookmarking system all the time.

I learned a lot of things from this class even though it took me a year to finish it. I am thankful I could finish it and can use what I have learned in the future.

Thing #23

Classroom 2.0 has an exorbitant amount of valuable information for educators. Like it said on 23 things, we can begin to “feel overwhelmed by the amount of content” so we need to “remember that [we] are not supposed to keep up with everything on a site like this, but rather to skim, explore and focus on those areas which are of real interest to [us].”

An article that caught my eye on Classroms 2.0 was about teachers using cell phones in classrooms. I never thought that cell phones could be used for educational purposes. There was a forum that listed ideas for best practices as well as pros and cons. I teach first grade so I cannot use it but I showed this to my husband who asked me to e-mail it to him. He is going to try polleverywhere.com by having the kids text their answers and it will show up as an anonymous poll to see where the class as a whole is in their understanding of the information.

I signed up for Twitter about 1 year ago and only got on approximately 2-5 times and never did much with it. I didn’t really see the need for it since I update my facebook page. Someone explained that Twitter is just updates so you can do it more often and follow others (kind of like the main idea without all the details). Teacher’s guide to twitter has helpful information about how to start and make the most of your Twitter. I think I would use it to follow other K-2 teachers who post valuable and interesting information. Other teachers I follow may post ideas or videos or something else I can use in class.