Thing 10

I had never heard of CC before this lesson. I knew of the strict copyright laws, but not creative commons. I really like this idea and can see so many benefits to it. It is like when teachers plan together and throw out different ideas to come up with one GREAT idea. No one really remembers which part he/she played, but everyone wins...
I will also start looking for CC on more things as I browse the web or read my Google Reader.
I see so much happening in the world of education for this idea. Students and teachers can help each other when working on projects or assignments. Teachers/authors helping each other. This is a new and wonderful idea as far as I am concerned.

Thing # 8

Well, I was surprised by the Wikis. This is a good way to communicate and change things by adding your own two cents worth to the site, plus maybe adding more needed information or responses. One of my favorite wiki sights was the "Thousands Project". Fifth graders had posted questions and wanted to get 1000 responses to their posts. (And they did on most of them.) The next one I liked was "Kindergarten Counting Book". It had used real photos to count to 100 and invited people to add to their project. "Let's Go West" used a program like we have on the computers at I school called_____________. (I can't recall it now.) It was laid out almost like a Thinking Map and had information, pictures, graphs, etc. The "Holocaust Project" was different in the fact that it was laid out like the Wikipedia sight which I like very much and use quiet often.
I can see so many uses for a wiki from the classroom to personal uses. I would like to set up a wiki using reading strategies and let students add all of the different strategies they use when reading for pleasure, informational text or TAKS tests.

Thing # 7

I enjoy reading the blogs I have chosen to follow and therefore I like to comment on them. I feel it is a neat way to get to know the blogger as well as learn new thoughts and feeling about things that interest me. If time permitted I would read all the fellow classmates blogs and comment. The reason I chose the ones I did was because two of them are at my school and I wanted to keep up with them and learn more about them. The other one was a follower of mine and I wanted to reciprocate.
I like reading all of the comments on my blog!

Thng # 6

I have gone a little overboard feeding my reader. I love finding new feeds and adding them. It is hard just to connect to a few. What I find is that one feed usually leads to another, on and on.....
This is especially true when you are finding educational blogs. I want to be up on the latest research and thoughts in my field and that it is sometimes hard to know where to stop .
I have also tried to branch out some such as the photography one, and the personal one from my son, Steven. He and I have been bloggng for some time on this personal site. Yet I still love to read what he writes.
I am sure I will be finding more and more sights to feed my reader.

Thing # 5

In reading the Students 2.0 blog, it brought back memories of when I was trying to fill out an application for college over 40 something years ago. I had only 2 sisters and 1 brother that had attended college and they were not around to help me. I thought I had to follow in one of my sister's footsteps and take the same classes as she did since she had been so successful. That major was not really what I wanted to do, but I had no one close to ask advise. If I could have traveled and learned more about the world and then chose my major and may not have wasted or taken 5 years of classes before deciding what I wanted to be when I grew up 25 years later.

Thing # 4

I love blogging because it is a lot like talking and not very formal. The blogs I read were very varied and diverse. There were math blogs (I also got some information I needed from this one), student blogs, teacher blogs, and author blogs. I belong to three list servers now and I am always linking to a blog about reading. It is updated and the latest.
I would love to blog more with my students as I feel this is a great way to get them writing more about things of interest to them.

Thing # 2

We are in the 21st century in every way--but mainly in the technology age. We are so connected all around the world with just a push of the button. Most students in today's classrooms know more about technology than their teacher. I remember the days of computers taking up a large room in the building. Now it only takes a small space on your lap or on your desk top.
I feel that Web 2.0 will be a useful tool in the classroom. I plan to use the things that I learn with my students, including Wikis, blogging, etc.