Reflection on Things

When 23 things began, I had no idea I would become totally immersed in the program. In fact, I remembered thinking it was a big undertaking and time commitment and maybe I would do some but probably not all of the offerings. I found I did enjoy the challenges put forward each week and was amazed at how much I was learning. Some of my favorites topics were; Photos and Mashups, Video and Voice Threads and Exploring the Web 2.0 tools. I think Twitter is a total experience and I am still tweeting! I liked the fact that new topics became available on a weekly basis rather than all at once....this made it more manageable. However, the amount of time I put into the program was far more than I had anticipated. This was by choice and my desire to comprehend and fully experience each opportunity. Even so, I want to go back and re-visit some of the areas more extensively. I realize now that I had no idea of the possibilities and potential Web 2.0 had for me professionally as well as personally. ...so thank you tech team for opening those doors!

thing 22

I explored several different Web 2.0 tools and apps after scrolling through what seemed like the never-ending list! I experimented with flockdraw.com, a simple (very basic) drawing tool and fotobabble.com, a way of adding a vocal comment to your pictures. There was also a myriad of twitter tools available, Twitpaint, Twistory, Tweetvite...too many to name! My favorite was tuberadio.fm, which is a music video player with organizational capabilities. You type in an artist's name and all of his/her albums will pop up and you select your favorites. Play lists are created and stored. The lyrics, a bio and a list of similar music is also available as well as the ability to purchase. Videos can be set to repeat or play randomly. I found and filed all my old Motown favorites!

Thing 21

Twitter was an interesting and fun diversion. For me, it provided updates on what was going on in other people's lives in a more personal and often entertaining way. The 140 character limit added to the blog experience ...no rambling here. I liked the idea that you could reach out to a bunch of people in real time and still be going about your usual business. It does seem a little voyeuristic and that can be addicting as you follow what other people are doing who may have no connection to you, ie.I am following Martha Stewart. Do I really need to know she is at a christening in Tennessee this week-end?
Professionally, I am following artinfodotcom but I really don't like it in this venue maybe Google Reader?

Thing 20

I can see where slide share could be of benefit and add to the teaching experience. I found I had to look through a lot of presentations to find what I was looking for. In the search engine if you are too specific, it grabs on to other words in the title and takes a turn in the wrong direction. Nevertheless, using self-portraits as my main theme, I began sifting through a variety of entries which ranged from someone's wedding album to various postings by individuals as well as class projects. I found a middle school entry which provided a number of examples of student work which could be of use when presenting a self-portrait unit to my own students.

Harrison Middle 8th Grade Self Portraits

View more presentations from Harrison Middle School.

Thing 19

It is easy to lose track of time while exploring podcasts! I eventually narrowed my search to the arts and subscribed to the National Gallery's lecture series. One podcast that I particularly enjoyed was about Edward Hopper, narrated by Steve Martin! I spent some time at Podcast.com and influenced by the good weather we have had the last couple of days, I checked out gardening and discovered a number of video podcasts from the PBS show The Victory Garden. I had heard of podcasts but had no idea of the scope, availability and accessibility of these broadcasts.

Thing 18

This exercise started out fairly simple as I chose the easy option. I added my favorites to TV shows, vacations and favorite animals. It was fun to read what others wrote although it lacked the collaborative element that I thought was an advantage in a wiki. I decided to create my own wiki and so joined wikispaces and tried setting up my own. This was not so simple and I spent a lot of time trying to navigate the site and trying different tools. I thought it might be a good way to do some departmental planning and that is a possibility I would like to explore.

Thing 17

What I began noticing as I checked out some wikis was the amount of information packed into each site. I looked into Art 4cast which was a collaborativee effort involving 30 teachers. The main page had all the topics such as scheduling and calendars, art curriculum and lessons being taught, suggested sites and resources for art teachers. Each of these topics led to others. An hour had gone by and I had't even made it through all the content. I liked Creative Web Tools for and by kids(8-12yrs,) which provided an on-line gallery and dialogue. A Dutch art ed site offered a pay for art lessons wiki..something I had never thought of but might consider at some point?? It was apparent that many of the web 2.0 tools we have explored are a big part of the wikis.

Thing 16

I seemed to gravitate toward the visual widgets. I spent a lot of time looking at some of the avatar offerings. I know some of the students use similar sites for fashion design. I think the widgets can add to a layout...it's all in the design, some times less is better! After browsing through some of the 3,056 additional widgets/gadgets, I was definitely on overload.

Thing 15

This was an interesting concept...not that easy for me and as you can see from the results, I am very much an amateur! For my use, at this point the LCD projector is working for me when I have to demonstrate a particular concept..I'm not sure I need to record it. I guess if you wanted to e-mail or post it on YouTube, it would be necessary.

Thing 14

I was thinking of ways to use voice threads with the students....a possibility would be to post a work of art, one that they are not familiar with and have them pull out information just from observation. Or you could do an online critique of student work similar to what we do in class as in peer analysis but others in the community could comment as well. Students would benefit from input from their class, the teacher as well as other interested in student art.

Thing 13

I have used YouTube quite a bit in the classroom and have found it especially helpful as another way of engaging students and reinforcing a concept I am presenting. I like the easy access and the fact that they are not too long. I viewed one of the videos on the top 100 ed. videos, Vincent Van Gogh. It was a comprehensive survey of his work put to music, "Starry, Starry Night". I would give it a 10! I have included a video that was amazing to me in terms of creative use of a non-traditional medium to depict Germany's invasion of the Ukraine during World War II. Unbelievable!!

Thing 12

As I looked over the list for Web 2.0 tools, I naturally gravitated toward Be Funky, Blabberize, Picnic, Pikistrips, Toondo and Wordle. Most of those sites were working with your photos and doing some "wild and crazy "things to them. Needless to say, it was entertaining and time flew by! PikiStrips, I thought took too long adding effects ..and in the end I wasn't so sure I wanted to go public with my creation. I think the students would have fun with Blabberize, I know I did! The talking Llama is a little out there..  Wordle, I have used before and really like. I like the idea of designing with text and the possibilities are endless. Definitely good for classroom use.

Thing 11

I did sign up for Delicious and spent some time navigating the site. I can see the benefits of the organizational side of it especially if you have numerous sites that you want to keep track of. On the social side, I am not sure of the time commitment. I bookmarked some sites to experiment and everything was going along fine until the tagging. Of course, I forgot about the fact that a space is another tag and so I have tags like "and, by, grade"...randoms that mean nothing to me. I tried to delete and couldn't and spent too much time trying to undo. I will give it another try when I need to bookmark.

Thing 10

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

I thought this was timely....I downloaded the collage maker from Big Huge Labs and used student art to create a heart collage. It has some interesting options using text and also the opportunity to draw your own shapes. I had fun trying the Spell with Flickr and the Flickr Colorpicker mashups. I couldn't figure out how to export the Flickr spell blocks to the blog. I was able to save it as a word document. I spent way too much time on the Amazon Window Shop..it was fun and entertaining!

Thing 9

                                                                                        I signed up for a Flickr account and downloaded some of my personal photos. The one on this blog is by Mark Miller from Morguefile. I think he took it at my house..it seriously looks like my backyard! I can see a project for the summer forming. I would like to organize  my personal as well as school related pics on this site. I was also intrigued by the idea of creating books on Snapfish. There is an option for sharing photos and getting feedback not just from family and friends but the public- not so sure about that. I really liked the free photo sites and I am excited to have other sources besides Google Images for my projects.

Thing 8

I liked creating my own start page. I included a calendar and a to do list which is basically how I function. Without a list, I would be lost. There are just too many variables to keep track of during a day both at work and at home. The weather is just a click away and on a personal note, eBay and stock watch were of interest to me as well. I tried to include some of my professional sights and typed in the urls but they kept coming up without a feed. This page is like a planner plus to me; everything all on one page and easily accessible. You can read the paper, check the weather and see what you have planned for the day at a glance. I also bookmarked some of the sites that I use most often for teaching.  I think students would find this useful to organize their work and keep track of assignments. I would need an internet app on my phone to make it totally relevant and practical for me... then,  I would be happy to get rid of the huge folder I carry around on a daily basis!

Thing 7

The Google Reader is definitely a useful necessity in keeping track of all the information that is coming my way. I love the fact that the info comes to you and you dont have to go looking for it. At the same time, I feel compelled to read it all, it is addicting .... I  spent well over two hours with my favorite blogs and websites. Did anyone look under Explore in the Reader where there were recommended items to click on...I did and there were a number of bizarre photos such as an orange in the shape of a banana and a snake smoking a cigarette! Did anyone else check this out and why are these recommended? I haven't come across any sites with an orange button yet and so can't offer any RSS feeds at this time.

Thing 6

I found the Nings very interesting and informative. I really enjoyed checking out We Love ETSY which is a group(8,206 members) which promotes the selling of handmade items. I think this could be particularly relevant to me in the future if I decide to open my own shop on the internet. I used to do craft fairs but this opens up a whole other realm of possibilities that I knew nothing about! I paid particular attention to the photo and video section as the marketing aspect of your product would be important. This appeared to be great support group to members offering advice and encouragement. Some of the other arts groups(My Modern Metropolis and Visual Arts Forum)were also intriguing. I like looking at other artists work as it can be inspirational as well as motivational. Ok- I also went on the Tyra Show(Ning) which was just fun!

Thing 5

Joining LinkedIn felt a little like inerviewing for a job. You list your assets and then wait to see if anyone is interested. It does seem like it would be a great way to increase your circle of acquaintenances and expand your horizons.I can appreciate the possibilities of connecting with others that share some of your interests. I can also see how this network of people could be a factor if you were looking for a job. It really makes it much easier to accomplish both of these tasks.  At the moment, I am not any other social networking sight mainly because of the time factor. I see the value but  I am still trying to decide where my priorities are in terms of how I manage my time during a 24 hour period!

Thing 4

I enjoyed reading other people's blogs. I was a little apprehensive after reading the bit about the 9 things you should strive for when commenting on blogs.I did feel I was resorting to pats on the back and agreeing with the blogger in my comments. Mostly, these initial blogs were musings or comments on the idea of blogging. I can see the potential once the discussions becomes more varied and hits on relevant topics. I have not received any comments yet and am feeling like a social reject!

Thing Three

The first blog that caught my eye was how to prevent another Leonardo or how to kill creativity in schools. http://wanderingink.wordpress.com/2007/05/23/how-to-prevent-another-leonardo-da-vinci/Right Right up my alley, I found myself nodding in agreement and then thinking I know exactly what he is talking about. I thought the format with Italian sub-titles and the What-for facts followed by the verdict of murder was clever and to the point. Good Read... Duck Diaries- very cute-http://duckdiaries.edublogs.org/2006/04/20/2nd-graders-write-about-our-missing-duck/-Second graders- I can't believe they are talking about boyfriends and the mall! I am noticing that different blogs serve different purposes and the chance to connect with others and get feedback is really interesting, ie. the Hudson River plane crash .storyhttp://areallydifferentplace.org/node/1460.When I read "The Time is Now"http://bobsprankle.com/bitbybit_wordpress/?p=349/,  I found the article interesting and the idea of tech being intrinsic rather than integral a legitimate observation. I have to admit I was more intrigued by the way this author set up his blog space- he had all sorts of interesting links and pics and video clips not to mention info about himself.The last article I read "Spies Like Us''-http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2007/01/spies-like-us.htmlthe  the possibilities as we go forward are unreal.....I could be on Youtube and not even realize it!

Interesting possibilities

I think it is the possibilities that make Web 2.0 both exciting and interesting to me. The global connection is amazing especially in terms of teaching, I have been using some of the formats(youtube-flicker) but I am loooking forward to learning about and using Twitter, LinkedIn ,etc. The connections apppear to be limitless and the types of data you can transfer and share goes beyond e-mail and atttachments which so far has been the only type of social interchange I have experienced.(oops-forgot about Moodle!) I am curious to see what's"out there" but have some reservations about how much time per day I will be staring at my computer!

Intro 23 things

I thought this program would open up many new ways of communicating. Also, I am always interested in learning new ways of doing something. Right now it all sounds a little confusing and possibly overwhelming...but I am willing to give it a try!