My Thoughts - The 23 Things

So here we are, at the end of this journey. I enjoyed exploring these sites and tools. My favorites are RSS feeds with Google reader, Google docs, TeacherPop from Ning, YouTube, and Podcasts. I hope I had a little more time to explore these tools. The program makes me realize how important a good tool can help me to be more effective in my teaching. To keep up with web 2.0, I will subscribe to RSS feeds, for example, Learning 2.1 blog to find new tools related to education and connect with my colleagues through social networking so that we can share the latest information on the technology.

I have been using some of these tools in my teaching. I will continue maintaining my blog in a regular way and expanding it with different categories related to my teaching and my own study. I will never quit learning because it is part of an educator's life.

"Education is not preparation for life, education is life itself." - John Dewey

Thing 23

I read about Creative Commons and now I understand better of using the information obtained from other resources (including Internet of course). I will be cautious of using intellectual properties that belong to other people. I will also use Creative Commons license to protect my own copyright while sharing my resources with other people, and I do appreciate if they acknowledge the credits of other people. I find it particularly important to understand this list of things before licensing my work. As far as what was the Learning 2.0-23Things for Teachers blog modified from, I think Dr. Wall mentioned on the very first page of the blog that "This project is loosely based upon the website 43Things (which allows you to set and track personal goals) and the Stephen Abram article titled 43 Things I (or You) might want to do this year (Information Outlook - Feb 2006)."

Thing 22

I added ESL Podcast RSS feed to my Google reader. I went to Educational Podcast Directory and browsed to I listened to the English as a Second Language Podcast directory. ESL Podcast 556 – Scheduling an Appointment http://www.eslpod.com/website/show_podcast.php?issue_id=8332436#

The site at www.eslpod.com provides many good resources for ESL teachers and students. It has so many Podcasts in different topics for ESL. I am going to explore more and maybe use some of this in my class later. I may also create a podcast with my students some day.

Thing 21

I had great fun with Animoto. I have seen some video editing software before but I never used an online video editing application. The clips Animoto makes look professional and attractive. I followed the instructions on the site to upload 10 pictures and pick up a song. I was able to create the following video from pictures of my trips. I hope you will enjoy it!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Thing 20

YouTube is one of my favorite sites that I frequently visit. It has so many interesting videos uploaded everyday by people all over the world. The videos are not really very organized even though it has a classification system. Also I think the privacy might be a concern for some people. The following is a clip that shows what is going on in a kinder-garden ESL class. I really enjoyed watching these adorable kids learning their first couple of English words and making short sentences. As commented by the author, he was actually trying to "entertain more than teach" since it was on Friday.


Sure I can use YouTube in my teaching. For my ESL reading class, I read a story about using your brain to control a computer, and I searched YouTube and found the video clip about this research and how it helped a real patient. Here it is!

Thing 19

My joined the APSU teacherpop group at Ning and left comments on the Educational Videos. I also uploaded a picture to my profile. I checked some other social networks mentioned on the site. Classroom 2.0 seems to have a large group of members and I am interested to try it some time. See the map above for how many visitors they have and where they are from. It seems most of the visitors are from the United States and Europe. I am a member of Facebook but I like the idea of special group, for example, social networking site for educators better. Another site I explored is GoodReads which allows Facebook sign in and has a very good organization of different genres. Each book has a rating and related reviews that are helpful. I can quickly search for a book and share with my friends. I will come back to visit this site later.

Thing 18

My Facebook page is at http://www.facebook.com/people/Ling-Wang/1601957649
I think you will need to register to see my information. I added my friends and colleagues at APSU to my friend list. Why is it important that educators know how social networking works? Educators may use social networking to connect with their peers and share teaching related information. Facebook and MySpace have brought significant impact to people who are using Internet for social networking. Almost everyone I know here has either Facebook or MySpace account. There are also some new comers like Twitter. I like Facebook better and it is getting more popular. It is easy to use, has most useful features like blogging, images, videos, etc, and can be integrated with other web 2.0 tools. Well, although Facebook is intended for use with personal life, I think it has grown into a business more than just sharing information and pictures. For some reading topics, I ask students to explore a real story and they may set up a social networking account to share their findings. Anyway, I think both Facebook and MySpace are good sites that can be used by educators and students for sure.