Thing #23 Summarize Your Thoughts About This Program

Well, I finally made it to the end.  I have to say, thanks to whoever put this course together for professional development credit.  It's always refreshing when I actually learn something useful and very interesting.  Unfortunately, this is not always the case.  Here are my answers.

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?  I think learning how to use PhotoStory, RSS feeds, Cool Google tools, Image generators and LibraryThing were definitely my favorites.
2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?  It has helped me learn some very useful things that I can implement in both my Choir classroom and my elementary classroom.  I especially like the idea of using Facebook with my Choir students and their parents as well as posting videos clips of performances.
3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?  I finally have something to help me organize my home library (LibraryThing)!
4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?  At this time, I really can't think of anything to improve it.
5. If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?  I absolute would.
6. How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities?  Almost all of the activities were extremely relevant to what I do every day in the classroom.
7. Now go and comment on some of the other Players' blogs!  I already have.

Thing #22 Nings

I'm thinking that if a person has a lot of time and just can't get the look and features he wants on a Facebook site, Ning would be a very good thing. I liked the teacherlingo.com site and might actually check it out more in depth for things I can use this year.

Thing #21 Podcasts and Videocasts

Ok, after some fiddling around here and there, I think I finally have a short audio file about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart that I can use with my elementary music students.  I couldn't find PhotoStory at first so I made the audio file on Audacity.  Then I recorded it to PhotoStory after adding a photo from Google images.

It really wasn't that difficult and I look forward to using this a great deal with both my middle school and elementary students.

Thing #20 YouTube, TeacherTube and Zamzar

I really think for a Music teacher, whether of Choir, Band, Orchestra or Elementary Music, it is imperative that YouTube be available as a resource.  Music teachers are able to find performances of music their students are learning, instruction ideas and much more on YouTube.  I know I have used it to find practice karaoke tracks for students who are preparing solos for my Pop Concerts.  It is an invaluable tool. 

Now, I know this video might appear gross but it's actually very interesting and I would definitely show this to middle school Choir students, mainly to show them what happens to the vocal cords when they've been overused by too much talking, yelling, screaming, lack of sleep, etc.

Thing #19 Web 2.0 Awards List

Wow.  This is an easy Thing to post about.  There are several sites here that I've used and am quite familiar with like craigslist, Facebook and YouTube to name a few.

Facebook is extremely user-friendly and quite handy for personal communication.  I had actually thought about starting a separate page for my middle school Choir so my kids can network there and have a place to go for reminders about assignments and performance.  It would also be a great place for former students to come and post about what they're up to now.

Thing #18 Online Productivity Tools

I explored Google Docs.  I do see a benefit to using a tool like this.  Obviously, it would be most convenient if you needed to access documents from another computer.  It also seems pretty user-friendly.

One disadvantage I saw right away is that there isn't as much storage space or memory allowed per document if you upload docs to Google Docs. 

Thing #17 Rollyo

This was a really helpful Thing to learn.  I hadn't ever heard of it and I plan on using it for short research assignments I may give my Choir students as well as my older elementary Music students.

I made a Rollyo using Firefox for political sites I frequent.

http://rollyo.com/321321321/price_is_right/

I'm not sure the url for my search engine is correct but I DID create one.

Thing #16 Wikis

For this activity I posted a comment about the value of what I've learned so far.  I know I've said this many times but I really am thankful that I'm gaining a great deal of new knowledge in this course.  As far as wikis are concerned, it was very easy to go and edit, write and save a post.

I can see several uses for this in my secondary classes and perhaps for my older students in elementary when they're in the second semester of school.

Thing #15 Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the Future of Libraries

I just think Web 2.0 is a way of describing a collection of new tools and applications that will enhance technology.  I do understand that some think many of these will eventually replace school libraries but...I don't know.  I know that the newspaper business has already been affected.  Many are going out of business and the ones still being published are getting smaller.  It's a lot to ponder...

Thing #14 Technorati and How Tags Work

I do understand the value of using tags and doing searches using tags.  I will give these sites a try for sure in the coming school year and see if I find some useful information and sites for my students to use.

Thing #13 Tagging and Discover Delicious

After going through all the activities, I don't really see a need at present for Delicious.  I'm very good at organizing my bookmarks by name and in folders.  If I ever used it, it would be for teacher sites.  I don't see a personal use for it at all.  I didn't find much when I searched for specific tags. 

Thing #12 Creating Community Through Commenting

Two points I liked about the comments - as a commenter myself, I do like when a blogger or fellow commenter responds to a point I make.  I also like when a blogger makes note of the feedback he is receiving from comments.  This tells me that what his readers think is important to his writing.

There are two blogs where I have made comments and both are of a political nature.  I enjoy keeping up with news from these blogs and participating with like-minded individuals.

Thing #11 LibraryThing

What a great idea!  I look forward to coming back to this site and adding more books.  I added five books from 4 different categories - mystery, spy thriller, chick lit and classic lit.  I joined a mystery group and another for people reading big classic works.  I plan to become more involved in the second group when I start reading Atlas Shrugged. 

Thing #10 Online Image Generator

Image generators would be a fun addition to a powerpoint project for both my middle school Choir and elementary Music students.  They would also be fun for my school website.

Thing #9 Useful Library-Related Blogs and News Feeds

The easiest search tool by far was Google Blog Search.  The worst in my opinion?  Technorati.  I tried and I tried to find blogs relevant to the words I entered, to no avail.

I think the most useful feed I found was for choral music.

Thing #8 RSS Feeds and Readers

Finally, I understand what RSS means!  The thing I liked best was that it was clearly explained and I like the concept of the reader as it can make catching up on news of the day a lot faster.

I check out multiple news sites and blogs several times a day every day so hopefully, this will make life a bit easier.  I think as as teacher, I can use this to stay updated on news and teaching ideas from the various music education websites I use.

Thing #7 Cool Google Tools

This was a fun exercise and I learned a lot by looking at the tools.  I now know where I can get a quick document translation if I need one too.

The two tools I chose were the calendar and an iGoogle page which I have bookmarked.  The educational uses for the calendar are really a given but if I have to explain, let me say that I think it is a bit easier to use than the one in Outlook which I use a LOT.  I am going to use a Google Calendar this year along with my Outlook version and see which I prefer.  I would also like to see how I can upload the calendar on my school website.

Thing #6 Mashups and 3rd Party Sites

There are two mashups that I find very interesting although to be honest, I would have a hard time finding an immediate use for one in particular.  Flickr Color Pickr is a neat idea but would be difficult to implement in a music class.

On the other hand, Bookr would make for a great individual or group project with my students.  It would allow the students to be highly creative if given an assignment to say, write in book form a story they have sung about in a song.

Thing #5 Explore Flickr

I really enjoyed this exercise.  I had already started a free Flickr account and had uploaded some photos but this task really gave me a lot more insight into what Flickr can do.  I also found some interesting photos to use for my subject area.

Thing #4 Register Your Blog

Ok, I've finally registered my blog and am now official. 

Thing #1 Read Blog and Find Out About the Program

I'm looking forward to learning more about the things mentioned in Thing #1.  I've already played around with a few like Flickr but want to learn more about using all of these technologies.

Thing #3  Setting Up My Blog and Avatar

Finally managed to get my avatar uploaded although I have to say, there were some missing directions.  I had to figure out some things on my own and while I managed just fine, it did waste a lot of time.  As a result, this post is going to be short or else I will have to expound on how aggravating it is to receive incomplete directions on how to do something.

Thing #2 Pointers from Life Long Learners

Of the 7.5 habits, I find taking responsibility for my own learning the easiest.  I have no problem taking the initiative to seek out training to improve myself as a Choir director, whether it's a course offered by a local university, a district inservice or a clinic at TMEA's annual convention.

The habit that is probably the hardest for me is using technology to my advantage, simply because many technology resources are not as readily available to me as they are to other disciplines such as the core subjects.  I definitely use technology when I record practice tracks for students to use at home and record their performance on audio and video but I would like to expand on my use of it in the classroom.