The end..or the beginning?

Wow!  This blog has really opened my eyes to so many things.  There is so much out there that I did not know.  My favorite part about this project has been finding out that there actually is social networking sites out there geared towards teachers.  That is something I have always wanted to find.  There also was so many fun and informative exercises throughout this whole process.  It was a lot of fun.  Every "thing" was so thorough as far as the directions.  I knew exactly what to do, and how to do it.  I cannot think of one negative thing to say about his assignment.  I plan to become somewhat of a blogger in the near future (starting tomorrow, I promise).  This has been an amazing experience, and something that I will carry with me forever.


Thank You

Thing 23

Creative Commons is a great way for people to allow others to use any kind of information or work of their own.  Creative Commons gives folks permission to use pictures, documents, etc. as long as the user follows the specific guidelines set forth by the author.  Creative Commons, along with Fair Use, will really expand the depths that educators can go, freely, to teach students with the most advanced, and unique resources available.  This is a game changer in education.  Teachers can now use material without the fear that they could get into trouble when all the teacher is trying to do is use what is available to help the students become more able.

Thing 22

This is my binder that I created on LiveBinder

Sports

I created three binders.  One was called personal, one was called Sports, and the other is called education.  I plan to use this site a lot in the future.  I will put my personal files and information into the personal binder as the need arises.  The sports binder has three tabs in it.  Two of those tabs are vanderbilt related sports sites, and the other is the mothership, ESPN.  The final binder will contain information regarding anything and everything education.  You could use this site to create projects for students to create all kinds of binders to share with anyone online.  The possibilities are endless.

Thing 21

I created the video below on Animoto.





This was a trip I made to Oxford, MS about 3 years ago to watch Vanderbilt Football play at Ole Miss.  It was nearly 100 degrees, but worth it in the end as the Commodores prevailed.  I really enjoyed Animoto.  I have always wanted a site that made it easier to create crisp clean videos.  I have messed with trying to create YouTube videos, but this is so much easier.  Animoto does all the work!

Thing 20

I found the below video on YouTube about implementing technology to help students reach their potential.




YouTube is a vital tool for teachers today.  I know that if I ever do not know how to do something, I can check YouTube for steps to do just about anything that I want!  There is literally nothing that you cannot do with YouTube.  The possibilities are endless!  There was nothing that I did not like about YouTube, except maybe the fact that you need internet access to view the video unless you know another way to get the video offline.  I am an avid YouTube user, so I spend a lot of time using this site for research, news, and entertainment.  I chose this video because it seemed to fit the standards of this class.  Adding videos to any site instantly makes the site more visually pleasing.  This is something to remember for future sites/blogs!

Thing 19

It is very neat to see other social networking sites not called Facebook.  I never knew these existed.  I previously was not a member of any educational networking communities.  I am mainly a member of sports related networking communities.  All of the available sites listed were really fun and interesting to see.  It was really neat to see that APSU even had a hand in creating such a thing.  The TeacherPop site was so neat and informative.  I have always wanted to see an idea like this, and I did not even know that it was already created to use!  So neat!

Thing 18

Social networking sites are very important in today's society.  Educators should be aware of their benefits.  Twitter and Facebook are certainly the most popular.  Educators could use Facebook to connect with many other educators throughout the world!  Twitter is more of the same thing, but in 140 characters or less.  Twitter could potentially reach more people with certain ideas or links if you are able to get more prominent accounts to ReTweet your information.  So, there seems to be more potential, as far as reaching as many people as possible, with Twitter.  I really like Twitter because it is so simple, yet so powerful.  I use Twitter to get all of my News as it happens.  For updates during the Boston Bombing, I used twitter.  For sports information on the spot, I use twitter.  Twitter is much faster at spreading information that Facebook.  I could see many schools using a Twitter account in the future to make announcements to parents, teachers, and students.  Teachers could tweet out links to Google Docs with today's assignments on it for students that may have been absent.  The possibilities are endless.  Oh, below is a link to my Twitter account.  Follow me!

Twitter

Thing 17

I really enjoyed StumbleUpon a lot.  It was fun and informative as well.  The Delicious site was so informative.  It has so much information on just about any subject you need.  I searched for geometry information and it gave me a ton of stuff.  This site is something that can be such a help for new or experienced teachers.  Education is always changing, and this can help teachers keep up with the trends.  Students could also use this site for research of certain subjects.  Also, teachers can place certain information for their students to use during the year.

Thing 16

For the start page, I chose iGoogle because I am a big Google fan.  I like all things Google.  That was a simple decision.  This was a really neat task.  I never knew you could get so much information in one place just for you!  I will probably not use a start page just because I have such a habit of going to the same sites naturally.  I never use my home page anyways.  The calender is very useful for someone with a lot of tasks to be done.  I will surely use this calender when I get my teaching job to keep up with everything I need to get done. The to-do lists seem like too much work.  Any time that I create a list, I never check it anyways.  So, the to-do list may not be as useful for me as others.  I really enjoyed the PDFconverter because it just seems so useful.  Any way you can convert a file to be read anywhere, it will come in handy!

Thing 15

Wiki is another great collaborative idea.  Posters can add or edit material to make it more accurately represent whatever the subject may be.  There is an area called a Sandbox that is more for fun on a wiki site.  I could certainly see myself using a wiki for my classes as I teach.  We could post pictures and information of what we did that day for other students, teachers, and parents to see.  You could even use a wiki site as a collaborative project for your students throughout the year.  The options and ideas are endless with a wiki site!

Thing 14

I chose the Gliffy Flowchart site because it just seemed less cluttered.  The other flowchart is very compact and just did not seem like it would appeal to students in 5th grade math class.  The Gliffy flowchart was very basic, but colorful.  I could certainly see myself using this site to create many flowcharts for my students to better understand material without feeling overwhelmed with clutter.

I chose the bubbl.us mind map because, once again, it seemed less cluttered compared to the other.  I will need something with basic shapes/arrows that does not seem too overwhelming to 5th graders.  I can see myself using this site as well to create a mind map for my students' benefit.  Both of these sites will certainly go into my "bag of tricks" to use as I go down the road of public education.

Thing 13

Zoho and Google Docs are two great ways to collaboratively work on material together.  You can work on presentations, spreadsheets, drawings, documents, etc.  This can really come in handy when you are expected to work on some task together, but may not be able to always meet with your partner(s).  You can log into these sites from anywhere, at any time, and insert your portion of the work.  Zoho, in my opinion, has the edge over Google Docs because you can use any email to use Zoho.  Google Docs requires you to have a GMail account, which can be a hassle remembering all of your log in information.  It is much easier to use an account that you already previously used because you are more likely to check your most consistently used account.  Using either site is a win-win, though.

Students can use either of these sites to work on projects together.  Students can input their portion of their presentation, spreadsheet, document, etc. even while the other workers are putting their part of the work in at the same time.  This comes in handy when class time gets cut short for one reason or another.  Being able to do group work even when the group is not necessarily able to be meeting is a major advantage in today's educational realm.  I have attached the google docs document I created below.  It is a generic spreadsheet where teachers can insert another "sheet" and teachers can keep track of what grades each student is making in other classes vs their own.


Google Docs Collaboration

Thing 12

This is a picture that I edited using Picasa.  It is from a pregame tradition at a Vanderbilt football game.  Players carry an anchor across the street, and into the stadium, as they enter the stadium before a game.  This program is amazing!  There are so many ways someone could edit any kind of photo.  I will definitely use this to make awesome posters and photos for my room.  Another site I liked was the google translate site.  You can translate words or phrases from any language to another language so easily.  I actually have this app, and it will be a great asset for when I am trying to explain mathematical terms to someone that speaks another language as their dominant language.

Thing 11

The easiest way to find feeds, I found, is to search key words of the subject that you want to subscribe to.  The search tool that I liked the best was the google blog search.  It was very similar to a basic google search, so I was very accustomed to its format.  The first search tool was very confusing, and I could not even figure out how to search.  I may have just been impatient, but I knew I would like the google blog search, so I moved on to that.  I searched for basketball drills, and I found 2 great sites that involve basketball drills for youth basketball.  I quickly subscribed.  

Thing 10

RSS is a great tool for everyone, not just teachers.  RSS allows you to view new posts based on your subscriptions.  This helps to keep readers updated on what blogs are posting all in one place!  I will use this technology in my school to help keep interested parents updated on what is going on in our classroom.  In my personal life, I will use this to keep myself updated with teaching tools and strategies, as well as coaching tools and strategies!  Teachers can use RSS to find new blog posts about teaching topics, and they can share their own as well!  

Thing 9

I really enjoy this template because I hope to be a coach one day.  I can use this to create name plates for each player's locker.





This template helps create banners.  I will use this within my classroom for decorative slogans!







This image can be used for decoration as well.  You can pick any word or phrase you want to make into many different shapes!

All of the above images were created with ImageChef.

Thing 8

Jigsaw is a very fun way to create a puzzle with a Flickr image!  I will definitely use this within my classroom for many activities!  I could create an image pertaining to what we are doing that day, and have to students help complete the puzzle before we start.  This will give the students a little game to help them relax before the lesson completely begins.  I really enjoyed a lot of the mashups.  It was really hard to decide which one to include in my blog.  I ended up choosing the one that I thought I would use the most in the near future.  I will definitely use other mashups in the future too!

Thing 7

I chose the above picture because a great friend took the picture.  I will give him credit here:  This PHOTO  was taken by Bryant Brink in November 2012 at the Vanderbilt vs. Tennessee football game.  I had a hard time finding a photo that I liked that would allow me to use on my blog.  So, I got permission from a friend to use one of his.  This was an amazing game.  Vanderbilt beat Tennessee for the first time at home in 30 years!  It was a great experience.  I will definitely use Flickr in the future!

Thing 6

I chose Grid as my tool of choice.  I really liked this tool because I hope to be a coach one day.  I can use this app to create a list of stats for my players.  I can create graphs to know who needs to shoot the ball where, and who needs to pass the ball where.  This is also a great way to organize your class grades.  This is basically a spreadsheet within an app for an IPad.  The only downfall is that you need to have an IPad, and they are currently working on the final touches of the app, so It is unable to be used at this time.

Thing 5

I really enjoyed reading the 50 web 2.0 tools post!  School 2.0 means using technology within the school to help students learn lessons.  Students are so accustomed to using smartphones and IPads to perform everyday tasks, that it is a great way to gain their attention, and interest, within the classroom.  This seems like a great idea, and I support it.  But, some schools might have a hard time finding the funding, or even the teachers, able to attempt this "School 2.0" idea.  I hope that many new and old teachers are willing to understand that things change, people change, and we must adapt accordingly!  

Thing 4

Commenting is a great way to interact with bloggers from near and far.  People can share their agreements or disagreements with the given blog post.  This helps the commenters create, or show, their identity through ideas.  This then helps the readers understand who each person is.  This then leads to a sense of community within the comments section.

I really enjoyed the reading "Your Comments?"  It was a great way to explain the importance of commenting.  It makes sense that writers would want feedback since they put this out on the internet for everyone to see.  So, your comment is very much needed, and important.  Also, I enjoyed the 10 ways to get more comments.  It is a great list of ways to objectively get more comments and interest within your blog.  I will use this in the future!

The 5 blogs I chose from our group are:

http://shammontrees23things.blogspot.com/

http://mcneily23things.blogspot.com/

http://autumnapsu23.blogspot.com/

http://kaylakitchens.blogspot.com/

http://kanikaapsu23things.blogspot.com/


I chose all of the above blogs because they are the first 5 names before my name on the list.  The first 4 comments are about being excited to reach the "thing" that I commented on.  The last one is a comment about the avatar.

The extra 2 blogs:

http://coachingbetterbball.blogspot.com/

http://johncarrier.blogspot.com/

I chose both of these because I aspire to be a basketball coach in the near future.  These will be great assets for my coaching career.  My comments were just opinions of their plays and drills that they both posted.

Thing 3

Writing a blog is a very innovative way to reach people no matter how close or far they are.  People can connect with your thoughts, opinions, and stories as if they know you personally, whether they do or not.  For teachers, a blog can help them reach students, parents, administrators, fellow educators, etc.  They can put their thought out there on pressing educational issues, or just make it more personal about life stories and such. 

I plan to use a blog in the future to help parents stay connected to what is going on in my classroom.  This will be a great way for parents to see how hard we are working to learn!  I can also post podcasts of my lectures, or even notes for students that may have missed class for whatever reason.  My future blog will be a more education oriented blog instead of a personal, public journal.  

Thing 2

Creating this blog has been an adventure.  I have no experience with any kind of blogs, writings, or anything public like this.  As you can read from Thing 1, I over-analyze everything.  So, there has a been a lot of second-guessing.  The name of my blog comes from two things.  The "golden" part is because I am a very very dedicated Vanderbilt athletics supporter.  The "gov" part is a little more obvious if you know that I attend Austin Peay State University.  Their mascot is the Governors, but is commonly referred to the "govs." I also use this same name on twitter(follow me there @Golden_Gov).  

My avatar was designed to come as close as possible as a cartoon version of myself.  I think I did a pretty good job adding details to make it as unique and close to me as possible.  The reason I wanted to make the avatar as close to "the real me" as possible, is because I want readers that may not know what I look like or who I am to identify who is writing this.  I want them to see the man behind these words. 

Thing 1

The easiest habit for me to follow is to begin with the end in mind.  This comes very natural to me.  When I am presented with a problem where I have to make a decision, I spend an enormous amount of time considering consequences that would result from each option.  Now, this sometimes causes me to over-think somethings.  It causes me to tear apart what people say to me, and analyze every word, which is very over excessive for a lot of conversations.

The hardest habit for me to follow is accepting responsibility for my own learning.  Often times, it is very easy to blame a million other things for that bad grade, or lack of progress.  When I do not understand a concept, instead of trying to ask questions, I sometimes blame the instructor for not explaining it "my way" the first time.  It is also easy to blame our circumstances for why we did not get something done.  We can blame it on the weather, car trouble, sickness, kids(not yet!), etc.  This is a habit that I hopefully can kick to the curb before too long!

While working on this assignment, I began to feel guilty at first because many of these habits have been difficult in the past to me.  But, by the end, I had a lot of optimism that these habits can be followed in the future.  This exercise helped me feel as if I am setup for success.