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.