Thing #12... Well, I'll be Googled!

How are we doing, guys?! For all of us who are familiar with Google (and those of us who say "Google" at least ten times daily, or just use Google as the generic web search name), who doesn't love Google? It's so much nicer to say "Let's Google it!" than it is to say "Hey guys, let's go search that on Bing!" In my opinion, "Bing Me" or "Bing It" could be taken out of context... So anyway! I have the Google "Translate" App on my Android smartphone. How awesome is that? Just saying! IT IS FREE IN THE GOOGLE PLAY STORE!! This translation app/tool is a wonderful resource. If there is a student in your class who speaks NO English, as long as you use simple sentences that avoid idiomatic expressions, it will be a wonderful way to bridge the communication gap. I also use Google Calendars (which is integrated on my Android smartphone calendar thanks to my Gmail account) and it is lovely. It makes my entire calendar accessible from my phone, laptop, or any computer that is able to connect to the internet. All I have to do is log into my Gmail account and voila! IT IS THERE. Can you believe that? Not only is it there, but I can publish it so that friends and family know when I am available or not. THESE ARE FREE RESOURCES THAT ARE ALL LINKED TOGETHER, PEOPLE! TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS AMAZINGNESS!!

Thing #11... RSS Heaven

Hey, bloggers! So I really do like using to help me find appropriate the kind of feeds to put in my Feedly account. This is a great way to keep everything all in one place. I want quality blogs and websites to get information. My favorite way to add the feeds to my Feedly is to copy and paste the URL. Using Google is a great way to find blogs, but so is BlogSearchEngine . These are very user friendly and do not take too much time (or brain power, for those LATE nights where we're running on fumes) to figure out how to use. I've also noticed that there is usually a button on blog articles that say "Share on Facebook, Twitter, G+, RSS, or E-mail." Using the RSS feature is also a great way to add things!

Thing #10... RSS should be a sin!

Really Simple Syndication. What does that mean to anyone? Until a little while ago, that meant NOTHING to me. Absolutely zilch. Nada. Nil. But now, it means awesomeness. I've made an account on and it is amazing! All of the things you like can be in ONE place at the SAME time. I know I run across sites that I really enjoy, but then I lose them, whether it is because I just can't find them again, or I've got so many websites that I've gotten into the habit of checking. This makes that issue completely go away. This will be a great way to make an archive of other teachers' blogs, assignments, and the like for my classroom. I'll have everything in one spot, similar to Diigo, which I only found out about less than a month ago. Teachers are so strapped for time. I understand that, as a student, time is such an important commodity that I can never get enough of. This is a great way, as a future educator, to keep wonderful resources in one spot and to save time instead of having to do a million Google searches attempting to find a website you found at 3AM.

Thing #9... thing with some bling

Okay, so here's the latest thing I've learned using my 23 things. This gorgeous "Life is Love" heart was made using . This is a pretty awesome website. It could be a fun way to incorporate an interesting shaped poem or phrase into the lessons that I will have planned for my future classes. Anything with color or that looks different than expected is sure to get a young student's attention. After all, who wants to look at books, paper, and a white board all day? This image is very sweet. It took less than a minute to make, too. The website is easy, free, and you don't have to sign up. However, it would be a good idea to do that so you can save your creations!

Thing #8... Spell with Flickr is great!

I think that Spell with Flickr would be a great asset for teachers. Using a PowerPoint with the week's spelling words would be a good way to introduce/review the words. I think that it would be a fun, memorable way for the students to get studying done. Also, in higher grades, it would be a wonderful way to make an acrostic poem. This could even be used as a great activity in an art class. Spell their name out using Spell with Flickr and then have them cut the top half of the letters off, drawing the top half to mesh with the printed bottom half.

Thing #7... Flickr Wha?!

After exploring Flickr, I decided to pick this image uploaded by Jeffrey Stroup (http://www.flickr.com/photos/uglyducklingxxx/). It is a darling image that almost every child (and adult) can relate with! THEY ARE RUBBER DUCKIES! Who doesn't love rubber duckies? They are the epitome of bath time just like the bubbles. Look at Ernie and his rubber duckie on Sesame Street! (Now that my inner child has shown through, I'm going to explain why I chose this image). It makes me think of the Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer that is shown on CBS every year at Christmastime that Burl Ives voices the singing Sam the Snowman. Anyway, I digress... This makes me think about the "Isle of the Misfit Toys" upon which the Charlie in the Box and Misfit Dolly live. These toys have been discarded and forgotten about. We love our toys as a child and then toss them aside, never to think about them again after a certain age. I feel like some parts of our education are the same way. Like diagramming sentences... Ick!

Thing #6... Discovering Web 2.0 Tools Is Fun

I followed the link http://www.go2web20.net/ to the website and looked at all of the many many MANY Web 2.0 tools. I could not believe my eyes! It was like opening Google Play for my Android phone!!! The two tools I found the most interesting are: PowToon (http://www.go2web20.net/site/?a=Powtoon) and LittleBirdTales (http://www.go2web20.net/site/?a=LittleBirdTales).

These could be a fun way to help me, as a teacher, add variety into my lesson plans. I could make a PowToon to introduce a lesson or make a very short, comical version of a story we are reading in class.

LittleBirdTales could be an interesting project for each child in my classroom. I could have each of them make their own story at the beginning of the school year, and another at the end of the school year. Listening to them both would allow me to see how much more my students have grown in their abilities.

I had no clue that these were out here. I cannot wait to begin using them myself!

Thing #5... Web 2.0

I think Web 2.0 is really a great thing. It helps get everyone involved, even for students who are not that interested in school. I feel like this is a way to get all of your students participating. Especially as a young child, who doesn't love to work on technology? After all, I remember the Compaq computer running Windows 95 I had when I was 5 and 6 years old. I loved that thing. I didn't have Internet or even used it until I was almost 10 years old.

Web 2.0 is a wonderful tool to help get students involved. This has made assignments more interactive than a class discussion or a worksheet out of a workbook. With all of the different learning styles of students, it will be possible to interest everyone and they will be able to learn to the best of their abilities.

Schools of the future will eventually be paperless thanks to Web 2.0. With global warming upon us, we need all of the trees available to help the convert carbon dioxide that we exhale to the oxygen that we need to inhale. Imagine your students pretending to be an atom of oxygen. Through a website or program, (hypothetical as far as I know) they could be taken in through a person's nose, go down into their lungs and be dispersed into the blood cells. Bringing back the carbon dioxide to the lungs, they would be exhaled and taken in by the nearest tree. This would be a great science lesson about parts of the plant cell and/or functions of the body.

Thing #4... Commenting, what is it good for?!

Commenting is a good way to show support to a fellow blogger. It is important to let other bloggers know that they are touching on a topic that is not only important to them, but to others as well. A way to increase the number of your comments is to respond or reply to some of the ones left on your blog. This doesn't mean you have to go through and type an essay for every "good post!" or "agreed!" type comments. Sift through and find the people who feel strongly, whether in the same or opposite way that you may feel, and reply. This lets the reader know you not only care whether or not your blog is read, but you care about the endless possibility of interaction between you as a blogger and others as commenters.

I commented on Debra Millan's blog. She says she's never blogged before and has always wanted hard facts like statistical data in articles she has read. That is very important, but at the same time I don't believe that teaching is so cut and dry. Using opinions and suggestions that other educators might provide via blog comments could make all the difference in the world.

I also commented on Laken's "Thing #1" post. The hardest of the 7 1/2 habits, play, is something we both share. I hope that through each other and learning the skill of blogging, we are able to get through our difficulty with "play" and can lighten up!

A comment I left on Symantha Norton's blog post "Thing #3" is about a similar experience in high school. We both signed up to a website that was similar to Facebook. I'm unsure at this point in time if it was the same website, or a different one. I am excited to hear if her experience is different than the one I had.

KaTreva Foster left a comment on my "Thing #1" post, and I commented back on her "Thing #3" post about the slightly negative side of blogging in the classroom. It really has nothing to do with blogging itself, but the people behind the blog like students and parents. A teacher can only suggest things. We can't go to every student's home and force them and their parents to use a blog. Not to mention there are still so many homes without Internet access.

I posted on Christy Washington's "Thing #3" post about implementing blogging in our classrooms. I shared an experience with Edmodo in high school. It is nice to share stories of success as well as those of failure. A commenter might be able to spot the tiniest thing to change and it throw the results in a completely different way!

While posting this, I read the CoolCatTeacher blog. Even though this blog is just for teachers, I can see it being a help to me while I finish up my BS here at Austin Peay. Any experience, even that of others' can prove to be beneficial if taken into account. In my opinion, you can never have too much experience. The blogger explains about commenting etiquette with legitimate reasons. I'm one of the people who just does better if there is a reason behind something.

I was very excited to read "10 techniques to get more comments on your blog" because of the advice it was given, yet when I went to comment, I could not find a place to do so. One of the points in their blog is to keep your comment box accessible. Then I realized the comments I was reading were posted in 2009. Despite the information being dated, I found it useful.