One last beep from this sheep

     Well, this is it. A lot of things have happened on this blog and most of it sheep related. I did not really have a favorite Thing, but I certainly hated a lot of them. I guess I am just old school. I think a teacher shouldn't rely on communication and books. I think this generation is loosing touch with books. This will sound really lame, but books are so important. I feel kids are just too stuck on the internet. Enough of the rant, I need to focus. Will I do anymore blogging in the future? Probably not. I can see a personal value in it and if I ever continue to blog, I will do it as some form of hobby with no relation to my work as a teacher. Nothing surprised me during this blogging adventure; just another assignment for a grade. I am not sure how to improve this "program" To be honest, I wouldn't teach anything like this. Well, thanks for reading. Enjoy your web surfing.

Thing # 23 Creativy is not so Common

    Copyrights is very serious business. If I created something, I don't want people taking credit for my work or using it in a way I don't want them too. Luckily there are copyright laws and the Creative Commons. Every blog post I created is mine and if anyone wanted to use any of my work, they had to give me credit like I did earlier in my posts. In Thing #7, I used a picture from someone's Flickr and I gave them credit for it. It is all about remember the small things about copyrights. Just ask yourself, "Do you thing they mind if I use this" or something like that. One foot in the right direction and you be heading in the right direction. Especially me, I need to stay on the right track on my journey of becoming a teacher.

Thing # 22 Bind It! We''ll do it live!

   

Novels

Organization is key to success. LiveBinders might be a key to success. With LiveBinders, you can create binders to help organize webpages by using tabs and the like. You can have binders for school, work, and fun.I made three binders entitled: Novels, Novellas, and poems. I shared the Novels one with you. I can see LiveBinders being useful for an organizational tool for teachers. It is a great tool for teachers organizing things into different binders for each of their classes. 

Thing # 21 Animate Animoto style

   

  For Thing # 21, we had to create a video using Animoto. I found it extremely easy to create the video, but I wish I had more control over it. Maybe I didn't look at all the options, but I wish I could edit some things. I don't like the fact that to get more out of Animoto you have to pay. I see no need of using this in a classroom when there are probably better and free options out there.

Thing # 20 There is nothing on the tube

What I like about Youtube is the wide range of things you can find. The thing I hate about Youtube is all the videos I don't like getting in the way of the stuff I do like. There is always some idiotic video that gets a million hits and makes it way to television or some person trying to be famous. Once you are able to find what you like or need, it can be a great site. I can totally see this being used in any subject or grade level. You can show a video about viruses in a biology class or a clip from the History Channel in a history class. 

Thing #19 You don't have to be that social

     Everybody has heard of Facebook and Twitter, but there are many other social networks sites. One example is TeacherPop which is a social network for in-service teachers at APSU. Another social network which I found to be interest is Ning where you can create your own social network site. With Ning you can create a social network for you and your interests.  One social network site I found particularly interesting was Shelfari. With this site, you can create a virtual representation of your bookshelf/books. You can also see other users' bookshelves and user book reviews. 

Thing #18 I don't care for Twitter or any social network to be honest

     To be honest, I do not care for the whole Twitter scene. I see no need to use a social network site in a classroom. Call me old school, but anything we can do with a social network site, we can do with a simple, free email account. I have no need to broadcast everything to the world. As a teacher, I just want to interact with my students and their parents. With an email account, I can be more personal and professional. I just hate the idea of social networks entering our schools. Kids are already addicted to the social networks and checking them constantly. There is no need to help that addiction when they come to school. Schools are places for students to learn and interact with other students and teachers in person, not online. I am posting my twitter account https://twitter.com/#!/MrMontyEnlish (which I never used or ever will) because I have too. Have a nice day!

Thing #17 Yummy bookmarks with Del.icio.us

     Del.icio.us is like taking a social network site and your bookmarks had a baby. With Del.icio.us, you can simply save your bookmarks on your free account and tag them for others who have similar interest to see. If you ever want to find sites that share your interests, you can search the site by typing in simple key words or phrases. Once you find something you like, you can add it to your bookmarks. Digg is similar but has a rating system to let others know if users like it or not. StumbleUpon is the wildcard of the group. You enter your interest and then you are taking to random pages that might meet your interest. The key word is "might" considering you may stumble upon something that has no relation to your interest. I can see only a small use for sites like this while teaching. I would use it to collect sites that would help gather information for class, but I do not think I would share it with class.

Thing #16 So easy a sheep can do it!

     Organization is key to being on track and successful. Considering a great number of the population have access to or own a computer, it makes sense to have things to help you organize right in your web browser. I started with a customized start page with iGoogle. It claims you can make a new start page in under 30 seconds. With this you can keep track of news sites, Youtube, your bookmarks, and even the weather. Also, you can personalize it to meet any of your needs. Another way of keeping organize is using online calendar sites like Scrybe. I don't like using calendars or using online sources to keep me updated. I like to write things done on a piece of paper and keep in on me in my back pocket or write it on my dry erase board.

Thing #15 Wiki it!

     I really like the Wiki concept yet I have many problems with it. It is nice going online and looking up something you forgot or would like to read up on something, but when it comes to research for school it is not the best. I am in college and I have access to many respected databases and other sources. Even though middle school and high school students do no have access to these databases, but with more access to the Internet at schools it will only be a matter of time. Wikis are only useful for small bits of information not for whole research paper.

Thing #14 Watch me flow

     For today, I played around with flowcharts and mind maps. How exciting! I used Gliffy for the flowcharts and Bubbl.us for the mind maps. I choose these two since they both seem to be clean, simple to use, and plenty of options. At first, I felt that flowcharts and mind maps were the same thing or could be use in the same manner. After playing around with the two sites, I see the different charts in a new light. Personally, I prefer mind maps. It can be a real help when your mind is a mess. It can simplify what you are thinking in a visual way. I see a great deal of use in flowcharts, but more in a scientific fashion not an English one. If I had to use them, I would probably do a flowchart for helping students identify the different forms of poetry like free verse and blank verse.

     I used Bubbl.us for this chart of the great Romantic poets. I could have expanded this by have another bubble with each other's greatest work, but I was just sort of lazy. To be honest, I actually see some potential of me using such tools in the future. 

  

Thing # 13 Zoho, my bro.

     For Thing #13, I compared two web-based applications. The two are Zoho and Google Docs. The both have applications to make documents, presentations, spreadsheets, etc. Essentially it is Microsoft Office free and online. On Google Docs, I find it to be easier to share my documents with other people especially if you have a Gmail account. I feel that if teachers instruct the students wisely, they can really have a way for students to share documents and have them work together. On the other hand, it could lead to students doing other students homework. Despite this, I liked Google Docs better than Zoho. To me, Zoho was just the same as Google Docs except they had not mailing system like Gmail.

Thing # 12 Can I use Google to search Google?

     Good day, readers! Today we will be talking about that little search engine you might know called Google. Specifically, I will be discussing two of Google's tools: Google Translate and Picasa. I choose these two since I very familiar with both of them. I have received tons of experience during last semester. I took Technical Writing and the big project for that class was making a manual for Picasa. Picasa and Picasa Web Albums are very simple to use and bring a lot to the table. During the time of making the manual, I saw how easy it was to organize and edit your photos. Google Translate, on the other hand, is a tool I am only slightly familiar with. I am a fan of putting together plastic models and over time I have bookmarked many blogs and personal sites of modelers. The thing is not all of them are in English and that is where Google Translate steps in. It is able to translate site from most languages. I do not recommend using it to translate your foreign language homework. I would recommend actually studying and learning the language then using a secondary source.

Things # 11 Finding a place to feed.

     Thing #11 had me using various search methods of finding blogs that fancied my interest. Before the class I only followed a few blogs and I didn't really have any use of RSS or feeds, so this is all relatively new to me. The one I find to be my favorite and easiest for me to use is Google's Blog Search and I was able to find blogs that I really liked. Syndic8 on the other hand was not so easy. I found it to be very cluttered and one time when trying to use it the site was down. Like I said before, I am still new to feeds and RSS. Hopefully it will become second nature to me.

Thing # 10 Feed the Feeds

    Do you say to yourself, "I have tons of bookmarks of sites and blogs that I would like to keep track of, but I just don't have the time! What should I do!?" Well, RSS is your answer!

     I find RSS to be straight forward ans easy to use. I have a good deal of bookmarks that contain sites that cover a wide range of topics. It is really nice to have one place I can go to to see all the updates. In a school setting, I find it helpful for students or teachers to keep track of sites they benefit them in learning/teaching. I don't see it used as an in-class thing. This is all for Thing #10. Now, pardon me while I go add blogs about sheep to my RSS feed.  

Thing #9 Start those generators!

    

     Thing #9 was a very simple...thing. For this exercise, I had to create an image for my blog using a image generator. I used Comic Strip Generator to make that lovely image with the blog's mascot: the unenthused sheep. In a classroom, setting especially in an English classroom, I do not see any use of these image generators. I feel they are better in the Web 2.0 than the classroom. 

Thing #8 Mash it up!

     Thing # 8 also involves Flickr. I looked into Flickr mashups this time around. The mashups take existing photos from the site and use them in an innovating way like Mappr and Spell with Flickr. I decided to give "Spell with Flickr" a shot.

     Now, how can I use this in a Flickr or the mashups in a classrom? It is hard for me to say. I plan to be a high school English teacher and I do not see much use in this. The only thing I can come up with is having students look up pictures to display the emotion or theme in a story, book, or play. In the future, I might be able to find a better use for Flickr. 

          

Thing # 7 Sheep can enjoy hats too.

     Flickr is a site where users can upload, view, and share photos. I am quite familiar with the site. It is pretty straight forward: you upload, share, or view photos. I also found interest in the tags system. I just enjoy the idea of labeling certain words to a photo which will help connect them to other pictures. For Thing # 7, I had to find a  photo from Flickr and share it on my blog. I know exactly what I wanted to look for. I was kinda worried that no one on the site has uploaded such a picture, but Flickr did not disappoint me tonight, folks. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you: Sheep wearing a hat!

Image from Max Sullivan

Thing # 6 Is there a page on Wikihow on how to use Wikihow?

    Wikihow is a neat site. The site is a collection of user-written, how-to articles. It is similar to Wikipedia as in the user writes the content of the site. Wikihow provides a wide range of how-to articles from how to calculate the value of scrap gold to how to become a Civil War Drummer. The wide range of topics the site covers it quite impressive. They claims it has "98,508 how-to articles." The one aspect I really like about the site is it's wide range of topics. The thing I dislike is it's wide range of topics. I guess I am just nitpicking, but I really don't see use in most of these articles. Sure, someone out there might find use in articles that I don't, but there should be another medium were people can look up the more obscure topics. I do give them credit for writing well-thought-out and well written articles. I don't know maybe I am going to far. Overall, I find Wikihow to be a interesting website and regardless of my opinions, you should check it out. 

Thing # 5 Web 2.0 The Sequel

     Web 2.0 in a sense is using the internet to make user created content. Web 2.0 has brought up social media sites, wikis, blogs, etc. I think it is really great to an extent. I am sure you most people have heard the saying, "Too many cooks, spoil the broth." What I am trying to get at is Web 2.0 is great, but when thousands upon thousands of people creating their own blogs with no meaning or creating videos that just waste people's time it ruins the whole idea of making the internet into a better place.
     When I think of School 2.0, I think of schools using existing technologies to improve the classroom. I think of ideas like turning papers online or having assignments online. On paper, these seem like a good idea, but I feel they can do some harm. Students might become more lazy when they are not involved with assignments in person. If schools do a "School 2.0" approach, they have to do it right or they have to go back to the drawing board.

Thing # 4 Comment on this!

     Commenting or any form of interaction on a blog is very important to the creative process. Everyone needs some feedback or critique in what they are doing and this applies to blogs as well. I like the fact that each post has a place where one can comment and give their opinion, insight, praise, or even resentfulness. To be apart of this commenting revolution, I read and commented on seven blogs. The seven blogs are 23 Things of McFarlands' Education in Technology, 23thingstwaters, Cool Cat Teacher Blog, Mary Barczak's 23 Things, SOsborne22 Edu Blog, and Spencer's Scratch Pad. 

     I commented on John McFarland's because I know him outside of class and decided he deserves a comment. I have had Tammy Waters in my past Education class and she has a nice blog. Cool Cat Teacher is a blog our Education teacher has linked on her blog and I really like his How to Comment like a King(or Queen!). I commented on Mary Barczak's 23 Things since she has an impressive blog with nice, long written posts. SOsborne22 got a comment simply for their informing post on Amazon which I enjoyed. To confess, I have not commented on Spencer's Scratch Pad since I am not sure how to do so. I mentioned the blog simply because I was shown this blog by a comment on my blog made by John Jordan. I hope that counts. 

Thing # 3 Thirds a charm

    When I eventually become an English teacher and I am still using a blog, I would like to share my experience with other teachers. I would most likely use it as a way to share my ideas with other teachers that are in the same field. I highly doubt I will create a classroom blog. It is not that I don't trust students, it is just I do not want to take any chances considering what kids can do to each other over the internet. The blog would serve as a teacher-to-teacher blog were ideas for the classroom would be shared and commented on.

Thing # 2 Why does your avatar have a sheep?

     You may be wondering what is with the sheep in my avatar, but I will get to that later. For Thing # 2, I have to write about my experience in creating this blog which you are reading now. As you may or may have not noticed, my posting name is MontyEnglish. The story is nothing spectacular, but I will tell it anyway. I was sitting in my dorm room thinking of my posting name and looking around my desk I saw my Monty Python's Flying Cirucs DVDs. "Monty has a nice ring to it," I thought. The second part of the name is even simpler to explain: I am an English major. So, I just put the names together and I am now MontyEnglish. The title of the blog is just relates to the blog assignment I am doing for my Education 3040. Now onto the intriguing part of my blog, my avatar. Part of the assignment was to create a avatar through DoppelMe. I wasn't too thrilled when it came to my avatar's creation. Let's just say I had the same expression of my avater during its creation. I gave it a hat. I am not sure why; I don't even wear hats. I was quite bitter when all the options for long hair looked like female's. Out of curiosity, I clicked on the "Accessories" tab and skimmed through them until something caught my eye. That something was the sheep. Why did I decide choose the sheep and keep it? Well, why not?

Thing # 1 Begin with the End in Mind

    I found the 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners to be interesting to say the least. Do not get my wrong; I found the the message of the "tutorial" to be admirable and encouraging, but I wish they find a better speaker than the dull and monotone one they used. Enough of the nitpicking, the reason I created this post was to tell you my personal feelings about the Habits. The one I find the easiest is also the first one on the tutorial: "Begin with the End in Mind." When it came to doing a major school project or a personal goal, I always pictured what it will be like when I finished. On the other hand, it can lead me into disappointment since I picture the end to be the perfect outcome and in reality it is far from that perfection. I still do it though to push myself to make whatever I am doing as perfect as possible. The habit I find difficult to wrap my head around is the "View Problems as Challenges" one. I can never view a problem as a challenge. To me, problems are something that needs all your ability to handle. A challenge is just to test your abilities. If I start viewing them as challenges, I might feel less inclined to handle it. To finish this post off, pay attention to this "tutorial." It has some nice things to say.