Is it the End or only the Beginning?

I liked the image generator, the RSS feed, productivity tools, Animoto, and the flow chart exercises the most.  These are the ones that I plan on using the most.  This program has impacted my lifelong learning goals by interesting me in learning more about and keeping up with Web 2.0 tools.  I was surprised by the productivity tools provided by Zoho.com.  I thought it was cool that I could create a slide show presentation and then export it into a Power Point document.  I don't think that anything should be done differently.  I like that the program recommended that we register for a bunch of different sites and try them out.  I have learned so much about Web 2.0 and plan on using what I have learned.  Before this program I did not have very many plans to use Web 2.0 tools in my classroom, but now that I see how fun they are and how much they can appeal to the interests of my student I plan to incorporate them into every lesson.  I plan to keep up with advances in Web 2.0 by adding a RSS feed for new tools and technology. 

Thing #23 Creative Commons

This is a screen shot showing APSU  EDUC 3040 D2L shell showing that the "APSU Learning 2.0 - 23 Things for Teacher" is adapted from "Learning 2.0 - 23 Things" program from Mesquite Independent School District. 

This next image is a screen shot of the original Learning 2.0 program created by Helen Blowers.

 

 

This next image is also a screen shot of the original Learning 2.0 program that show that some rights are reserved under a Creative Commons license.

 

I will use CC anytime I create a video using Animoto, a slide show presentation using Zoho, an image using some image generator, a laboratory experiment, photographs I take or any other kind of creative work that I want to share and let other adapt. 

Thing #22 LiveBinders

The titles of the three LiveBinders I created are Biology, Chemistry, and Physics.  I created LiveBinders for each of these subjects because I would like to teach any one of them; they all are equally interesting to me.  I plan on filling them with websites that pertain to all the things that each discipline covers.  I might use LiveBinders to store and organize any supplementary material I can find that will help my students learn the content of my lessons.  If I like the way that a particular website addresses Punnett Squares then I can save it in my LiveBinder, use it in my instruction, and refer my students back to it later.  I might encourage my students to keep a LiveBinder for the purpose of following along with my lessons, filling it up with websites that help them to study and learn the material.  This could be used as extra credit or even as a small percentage of the overall grade.  To view the Biology LiveBinder below type "biology binder" into the access key box.

Thing #21 Animoto video

Make your own photo slideshow at Animoto.


Make your own slideshow at Animoto.

Wow! Creating these short videos was really fun.  I upgraded to the Plus plan so that I could make longer videos and have more songs to choose from.  I really like taking and sharing pictures so this is awesome way for me to group pictures and music together and share my experiences with others.  I really like Animoto and plan on using it a lot.  This was a neat experience!  Hope you enjoy the videos!  

Thing #20 exploring YouTube

 

 

 

I use YouTube all of the time to watch funny, education, and interesting videos, listen to music, and whatever else.  My cousin Maddy has uploaded a few videos of her and her friends acting crazy.  I chose one of her videos to add to my blog.  She is about 10 years old in the video and she lived in Texas at the time.  I like the diversity of videos that are on the site.  You can find a video that shows you how to just about anything.  I also like that it is free and easy to upload videos.   



Thing #19 other social networking sites

 I joined the TeacherPop community.  I was interested in Bake Space.  I joined that social networking site because I like to cook and grill.  I really enjoy eating with friends and family.  Cooking has been a hobby of mine for a long time.  I am glad that a site like Bake Space exists because now I can share recipes with other people and experience new cuisines and dishes.  I can see myself joining other social networking sites in the future if I find interesting ones. 

Thing #18 Facebook and Twitter

I have been on Facebook since spring of 2010 and Twitter since spring 2012.  I don't put a whole lot of time into either one.  I frequent them about once a week or at least twice a month for about 10 minutes at a time.  I put a lot of pictures on my Facebook page.  Sometimes I post pictures to Twitter via Instagram.  I apply the Golden Rule to sites like these.  I don't care a whole lot about what other people are doing at any given moment so I don't expect them to care a lot about what I am doing.  I am to busy being in the moment when I am doing something to post what I am doing to these sites.
 

It is important that educators know how social networking works because their students are spending a substantial amount of time on social networking sites.  If educators want to take advantage of one more avenue by which they can reach their students they had better learn how social networking works.  If a student is going to be on one of these sites anyway why not put something educational on there for him/her to look at.  I don't dislike anything about either of the social networking sites; they both have their useful purposes.  I think that Facebook has the most useful features for a educator or classroom.  A teacher can create a page for his classroom and make post about important dates, happenings, and homework.  Homework assignments can even be tailored to include Facebook or Twitter.     

Thing #17 tagging and social bookmarking

I like social bookmarking; however, I thought that the Delicious website was not as user friendly as what I already use, Diigo.  Delicious doesn't have a "My Library" tab (or if it does it wasn't very obvious) like Diigo does.  But I guess Delicious is more for searching and seeing what every one is tagging and bookmarking and Diigo is more for saving your personal bookmarks.  I'm not sure.  All I know is that I didn't like it all that well because once I bookmarked a few sites I could not find them stored somewhere.  I like using Diigo more.

Here is a comparison of my Delicious page and my Diigo page:

 

Delicious above and Diigo below, haha!

 

 

This tool can be very useful in a classroom for the teacher and the students.  Because teachers and students are constantly searching the web looking for resources, having a social bookmarking site is great for sharing all the relevant sites that are found.  It is also good that the sites are save in a central location instead of scattered across several different classroom computers.  Teachers can take advantage of social bookmarking sites by using them to organize instructional websites by relevance to unit or lesson plans.   

Thing #16 getting organized

I chose to use iGoogle for my personal start page because I use Google for everything else.  I explored the others but they were not as nice as iGoogle.  iGoogle automatically synchronized my email, RSS, and Facebook.  I will most likely make this my permanent start page because I can access my email and news feeds quickly.  A screen shot of my iGoogle is below.

The online calendars can be useful for staying organized and on task with friends, family, and colleagues.  Sharing calendars with others is a good way to see events and dates that you might have forgotten to include in your own calendar.  It also is a good way to let people know all of the things you are involved in.

I explored the Remember the Milk online to-do-list.  It was simple to use but I don't see myself using it very much because it is a separate site that I have to log on to just use.  I can make a much more convenient to-do-list using sticky notes in Windows 8. 

I found a site called Team Cowboy.  If you are the coach of a school sanctioned sports team you can manage the teams practices and game schedule, roster, pictures and videos, and message and discussion boards.  It is designed for use by coaches and teachers who also coach school sports teams.  I would recommend this site to other teachers/coaches as team management system. Below is a screen shot of the team home page.

   

Thing #15 exploring wikis

I enjoyed my experience learning about wikis.  This video was very informative. The wiki concept is very clever.  I like the idea of collaborating on the web to get things done.  I thought it was interesting that anyone can create and edit a wiki. Before I knew what they were, I thought wikis were something that only website developers could create.  I also did not know that they could be created for free at some sites.  I didn't even know what the content of a wiki usually is.  Now, I know that wikis can be used for just about any purpose.  It is interesting to me how many people can come together and share ideas, information, pictures, and videos using a wiki.    

Ways that I can use a wiki include creating a place where the parent's of my students can collaborate on planning a classroom party or outdoor event, my students can raise awareness for an event or fundraiser, and having my students design a wiki page as a class project.  Since collaboration is the key ingredient for a properly functioning wiki, I can have my students collaborate on wiki page detailing what we did as a class for an entire year.  I could have my students design a wiki that details what they have learned as the result of some research they have done.  There are many applications for wikis in the classroom.  The image below is a screen capture of where I added my Thing #14 post to the APSU 23 things sandbox wiki.

Thing #14 flowcharts and mind maps

I liked Gliffy flowcharts and Bubbl.us the most.  I created accounts with both sites.  I would recommend both to my students and colleagues.  They were really easy to use.  The tools and features available on Gliffy are great for productivity.  I made the flowchart  of plant classification below in about 15 minutes.  It was really to add shapes, insert text and connect boxes.  This a very simple flowchart.  Gliffy has the features available to make really elaborate flowcharts.  

I also liked Bubbl.us for mind mapping.  It is really good for jotting down ideas and connecting related ones when brainstorming.  I brainstorm (or at least weigh a lot of options in my all the time) constantly so I like having a place like Bubbl.us to go a write them down and store them for later.  It is also a good place to store ideas that you have for later contemplation.  Below is a short mind map of my living situation within the next year and what I plan to do after graduating.  

Thing #13 web-based applications

 
Zoho Writer has a lot of useful features that allow users to be very productive.  It has features that allow you to create spreadsheets/databases, word documents, and slideshow presentations.  It also allows the user to create folders for organizing documents, adding groups for collaboration, and create work spaces and shared work spaces for collaboration.  Zoho Writer also allow the user to upload previously created presentations, word documents, spreadsheets/databases, pictures, videos, and music.  I really like all of the collaborative features Zoho Writer offers.  I can add my classroom as a group and let them work together from virtually anywhere on projects.  I created a slide show presentation using Zoho Writer and embedded it below.



I am going to be teaching 10th, 11th, or 12th grade biology.  As a part of each of these courses I might have my students collaborate on a research project with data, a presentation, an informative poster.  I could have my students use Google Docs to create, edit, and finalize their collaborative work.  Google Docs is especially handy for this because not all students have access to Microsoft Office products or the internet at home.  Those that do could surely work on the project at home while others work from school or a public library.  The good thing is that whatever the students are creating can be saved online and edited from anywhere.        

After exploring the to online productivity sites and learning more about them I would have to say that I like the features of Zoho Writer more than Google docs.  I think that Zoho has more to offer in terms of storage space, uploading photos, movies, etc., and working collaboratively.  Zoho has features for workspaces, groups, and adding tags.  And I like that I can import documents created in Microsoft Office software and export what I create in Zoho to Microsoft Office software.

I made this drawing using Google Docs!

Thing #12 Google tools

I have been using Google Calendar ever since I got my laptop about six months ago.  It has been very useful for reminding me of the all my friend's and family member's birthdays, appointments, obligations and bill paying.  It sends me reminders via email and text messages.  And because I have my calendar synchronized with my mobile device I can edit my calendar from my device.  Setting up and using Google Calendar is very simple.  It was a pleasant experience.  I can use the calendar to remind me of all my students birthday's and special events I might want to attend.  I can use it to remind me when late submissions of assignments are due.  

I created a couple of alert using Google Alerts.  The process for creating alerts was very easy.  I was already signed into my account so I did not have to go through the confirmation process upon creating new alerts.  I created alerts for news on the College World Series, research papers about HPRT Deficiency (Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome), any articles about evolution and creationism in schools, and publication in systematic botany.  Some ways I could use alerts in my classroom are having my students follow a particular topic they are interested in, finding the newest research publications on a disease, or following a developing news story.           

Thing #11 finding good feeds

Using a search tool like Technorati or Google Blog Search was easier than going to my favorite sites and looking for the RSS icon.  Some of my favorite site didn't have an RSS icon.  So the search tools were great for finding feeds that interest me.  

I think that Technorati is better than Google Blog Search (GBS) for finding blogs.  GBS just gives a lot of hits with the title of the last post as the search result with no information about the blog.  Technorati search results gives you information about the blog.  Also, Topix was great for finding news feeds.  I like how Topix automatically found my location and gave me local search results for things like news and entertainment.  By far Google Blog Search was more confusing.  The search results for blogs was full of blog post titles.  It was not very informative as to the author of the blog or what the primary focus of the blog is.  

I subscribed to an all-sciences blog, ZME Science, that had posts from all branches of biology.

From an article about the new anatomy of the human eye from ZME Science.

 It contained articles relating to topics that I will be teaching.  I also subscribed to Clarksville Online through the Technorati search tool.  I subscribed to this feed so that I could stay up-to-date on all Clarksville news, events, politics, and happenings.  I also used the Topix search tool to find feeds for world news, politics, and popular trends.     

Thing #10 RSS and newsreader

I like that RSS does the searching for me.  It scours the web and brings back only the information I tell it to.  This what I was talking about in the last paragraph of my Thing #1 post.  In this course (EDUC 3040) I wanted to learn about tools that would retrieve lots of information on specific topics for me.  I accomplished this in this learning activity.  Just like my professors here at APSU, I want my students to be well informed on all things that interest them including biology.

I can think of several uses for a RSS in my classroom.  I can use it to retrieve scientific journal articles for research papers and stay up to date on new discoveries.  I can have all of my students choose a feed to subscribe to and have each student keep the class current on a topic.  In my Thing #6 post I talked about the Web 2.0 tool Edumodo, which is an online classroom hosting site.  I can use this tool to store all the information I receive via the RSS.  My students will have 24/7 access to all the information I post to Edumodo.  Teachers can use this technology to find websites that provide supplementary instruction and practice to topics covered in class.  Teachers could use this technology to keep students informed of job opportunities, volunteer opportunities, community happenings, and perspective colleges and research opportunities.  

Thing #9 online image generators

I am constantly thinking in terms of biology.  I see all kinds of stuff everyday and my mind finds some way to link the things I see to something I have learned about biology.  Naturally, when I saw the expression on Albert Einstein's face I thought he was revealing his deepest, darkest secret.  It was easy to make.  When I saw the template that I wanted (Albert Einstein) I clicked on it.  The page that opened up allowed me to change the text on the board.  I emailed the image to myself and uploaded it to my blog.
       

I created this image at FanSignGenerator.com.

To create this image I just uploaded the photo of myself to the website and then found the template that I wanted to use (ultrasound).  The generator merged the two together.  Again, I emailed the image to myself and uploaded it to the blog.

 

I created this funny picture at Fototrix.com. 

I would use photo generators and other such tools to make funny images and use them to spice up Power Point lectures.  Little funny images like these would keep my students from getting too bogged down during a lecture period.  I could also use pictures of my students to generate funny images and put them in the Power Point to keep things interesting.  

Thing #8 exploring mashups

I can use tools like the ones used to create these images as an activity to teach the Tennessee embedded technology and engineering standard for biology II.  I could also use the mosaic tool to create test or lecture questions, for example, have four different photos in a mosaic and have the students describe what is going on separately and/or collectively in the mosaic.  I can use mashup tools to create postcards to send to parents.  This would be a creative way to let parents know what their children are doing in class.  

I like sharing photos online because most of the photos I take are of the outdoors.  I like to share my enthusiasm for the natural world with others.  Some people are not as fortunate as I am to be able to get outside and see beautiful flowers, wild animals, and scenic sites.  And I would like to bring that to them.  Sharing photos online is one way that I can do that.   

Name this species.  (Hint: the common name is Yellow Adder's Tongue)

Give the species name for the plants in the upper left and lower right photos.  What might be the purpose of the hairs seen in the lower left and upper right photos?

Thing #7 exploring flickr

Clark's River National Wildlife Refuge May Trip, a set on Flickr.

These are just a few of the plants that Rob and I collected on our trip to CRNWR in May. The plants are from various habitats including roadsides, bottomland hardwoods, and reforested stands.

I had already created an account with Flickr before creating this blog.  I like all that Flickr has to offer with sharing and posting photos.  It is really easy to upload, edit, and share photos.  I really enjoy taking great photos and sharing them with the public.  I look at it as enhancing the web and the educational opportunities it has to offer.  If my photos are used to help others learn different species then I will be happy.  I will definitely use Flickr for classroom photos and to enhance my students educational experience.  The only other photo hosting service I have used is Facebook.  I like Flickr because it has more options for tagging and editing photos than Facebook does.  However, more people are on Facebook, and thus more people are able to see the albums I post there.    

Thing #6 exploring Web 2.0 tools

The Web 2.0 site that I explored is called Edumodo. To visit the site and learn more click here.  It is a website where teachers can create a virtual classroom and invite their students to join.  Features of the site includes calendar of events as well as a place for assignments, quizzes, discussions, and submissions/uploads.  Basically, it is like the D2L that Austin Peay uses but it is for public school classrooms.  Teachers can post all lectures, assignments, study guides, and additional information for students to access outside of the classroom.  Teachers can even create a parents version of the virtual classroom so that they can keep up with what their children.  I plan on using this tool when I am a teacher.  I can use this tool to post all of my lectures, homework assignments, projects, practice test, study guides, and grading rubrics for my students to access whenever they need.  Research papers and other projects can be uploaded and viewed digitally as to reduce paper use. The site has a blog section where images and videos can be posted by either students or the teacher.  

Thing #5 Web 2.0 & future of education

It was really interesting to learn about just some of the Web 2.0 tools that are available to teachers.  I bookmarked the Discovery Education website for Web 2.0 tools.  It has a lot of tools and apps that I can use when I am a biology teacher.  I also the looked at the "50 Web 2.0 tools every teacher should know about."  I registered with a few of the tools that were free online.  A few of the tools I chose were Prezi, SchoolTube, Quia Web, and Quora.  Tools and websites such as these are what I consider to be School 2.0.  School 2.0 is learning  that takes place when some piece of interactive technology is involved.  If there ever was a School 1.0 I would consider it the traditional "chalk and talk" (later PowerPoint and lecture) method employed by so many teachers. To me School 2.0 is the classroom equivalent to the information age in American society and economics.  Our students are following suit with changing times and so should classroom methodologies.  Students today think in  terms of digital media.  They want things faster and preferably in a format that fits in the palm of their hand.  A thick textbook that a student has to lug around is now longer the most effective form of transferring or sharing information.     

What does all this mean for schools of the future?  It means that schools better be ready to hit the update and refresh buttons regularly.  Schools of the future are going to be centered around technology.  Instead of teachers saying, "Students! Please take out your textbooks and turn to page...," they will be saying, "Students! Please take out your iPads and log onto...."  It also means that student can be in many classrooms at one time.  Classrooms Dallas, TX will be linked to ones in Knoxville, TN, New York. NY, Kissi, Kenya, or Melbourne, Australia.  Pod-casts, blogs, and streaming video will link classrooms across the country and globe.  Just think, students will be able to collaborate with other students on projects half the world away.  They will be able to share ideas they had on various topics and assignments, helping each other to learn and succeed.  Thanks to Web 2.0 and thus School 2.0 the future of education is going to be as exciting as it will be interesting. 

Thing #4 commenting is important

By commenting on a post you are interacting with the author.  You are letting the author know that you have considered his/her thoughts and opinions and what you think about them.  The author is then free to consider your thoughts and opinions and tell you what he/she thinks about them.  By this level of interaction alone the person leaving the comment and the author have established a relationship.  Relationships of all kinds are what communities are based upon.  Think about a community cookout.  Every person at the cookout has some form of relationship with the other people there.  One group of people might be talking about televisions shows while another might be talking about a local sports team.  They are all in a sense posting and commenting in their own little groups.  All the while they are interacting with one another under a common union, blogging, in this case a cookout.  Comments can also help create a sense of community and interaction by inspiring authors to publish new posts.  A comment by an individual might say something like, "If you feel this way about X topic, then I would really like to hear your thoughts on Y topic."  By this the author is then inspired to publish her thoughts on the topic.  It's all about interaction.  The more people you interact with the stronger the sense of community.

I found that it was important to welcome comments from others.  By the author being open to suggestions, readers of the blog will feel more comfortable with leaving a comment.  I think that the goal of a blog should be unite like-minded people and to build a community around their interest.  If readers do not feel welcome to comment on a blog then there no community can be built around that blog.  

I found that it is important to be open-minded but still have some commenting guidelines.  This is especially important for those whose blog is intended to be educational in nature or if kids and teens are frequenting the blog.  Kids (and immature adults alike) can the say the most outrageous, off-the-wall things.  Therefore, it is good to keep and open mind towards them.  However, it is equally good to let everyone that frequents your blog know that there are some suggestions and language that will not be tolerated.  

The seven blogs I have chosen to read and follow are Meghan Wagley (meghanwagley.blogspot.com), Girl Meets Life (girlmeetslife.com), Nicole Clay's 23 Things (nicoleclay.blogspot.com), Michelle Terry (mterry-23things.blogspot.com) The Biology Blog (www.thebioblog.com), Jacob Aldridge (coachjla10.blogspot.com), Ethan Bourke (ebourke23things.blogspot.com). 

I selected Meghan Wagley's blog just because she sits beside me in class and we talk to one another.  Plus, she seems pretty interesting.  Also, she has kids and kids make there parents have a different perspective.  It will be interesting to she what she comes up with for each of the 23 things.  I commented on Meghan's easiest lifelong learner habit because it was the same as mine.  We have similar justifications as to why it is the easiest.  

I chose the girls meets life blog because it is written by an adult female living in New York, New York.  It is a unique perspective that is probably completely opposite from mine.  It will be interesting to interact with her.  I commented on her latest post, which was about the cleaning crew she hired recently.  She posted pictures of her clean and organized apartment.  

I chose Nicole Clay's 23 Things blog because I liked her blog template and her avatar.  Also, her blog was full of images and photos.  I commented on Nicole's Web 2.0 tools post.  In the post she told about this neat tool called 24me.  It seemed really interesting.  I am going to look for it so that I can use it. 

I chose Michelle Terry's blog because I read her first post and found out that she is an incredibly strong person mentally and emotionally.  Her first post is really worth reading.  I commented on her thing #1 because she spoke of the numerous situations in her life that she had overcome as they pertained to her easiest lifelong learner habit, view your problems as challenges.  I commented that I too had overcome many obstacles to get where I am today.   

I chose The Biology Blog because I plan to teach high school biology.  I wanted a blog from which I could get ideas and motivation.  I commented on a post about the single-chain peptide-based nanostructures.    

I chose Jacob Aldridge's blog because he is a chemistry teacher and chemists think a little differently than the rest of us.  Plus, we have a couple things in common.  We are both from small towns in east Tennessee.  I commented on Jacob's thing #3 post.  He had a really neat idea for using his blog in his classroom.  As a future biology teacher I could use my blog in a way similar to what he described.  

Finally, I chose Ethan Bourke's blog because he had good content and his avatar was cool.  I commented on Ethan's thing #3 post.  He said that a blog could be used for student/teacher communication.  The blog could also be used to post additional information about classroom topics, and that parents could follow their child's learning.      

          

Thing #3 ways I can use my blog

I can think of several ways to use a blog in my future classroom.  One way I could use a blog is to make weekly posts and have my students make a reply to the post and one reply to a another student's comments on the post.  I would more than likely make a post on Sunday evenings and give my students until midnight Saturday night to complete their replies.  This way I could evoke my students' thoughts and opinions on a lot of different issues and topics.  Another option would be to assign each student to research a topic, publish a post, and have the other students reply to the post in a week's time.  I could assign the topic to the student on Monday, allow him/her two days for research, require a post by 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, and require the other students to comment by midnight Sunday.

Similar to the second option would be to assign groups of three or four, have the groups research a topic, and have the groups publish a post.  In all of the scenarios I envision giving the students guidelines for research and some hints as to what I expect to be answered in the post.  I also envision giving the students the grading rubric by which I would be grading them.  All of these options previously mentioned could be homework assignments were a small percentage of the total grade.  Or I could use the blog strictly for extra credit opportunities.  I could use the blog as a message board where students could communicate with each other and help each other out with homework, projects, tests, study materials, etc.  I'm sure some students will be more enthusiastic towards the blog than others.  For some posting on the blog will be fun and interesting while others will view it as just another assignment.  A blog is a very useful tool for interaction and communication between students in and out of the classroom.

Thing #2 Creating blog and avatar

Honestly, I have very little experience with blogs.  I have never read, commented on, nor published one, that is until today.  In the past I have mainly used the internet for doing research, sending emails, and social networking.  The main reason for my limited experience with blogs is because none of my closest friends or family read or published one.  I do like the idea and purpose of a blog.  I like to record ideas, feelings, and experiences in a journal; however, I never felt the need to post them on a public forum like a blog.  I guess I thought that no one would be interested in reading what I had to say because I was not particularly interested in what other people had to say.  I felt that it was a waste of time to sit and read about someone else's experience when I could experience the same thing for myself.  

I decided to name my blog with the initials of my first and middle names along with my last name because I like the way that it looks and sounds.  I have always liked the way that some authors choose to be recognized by there initials and last name.  I put the "23 Things" on the end because that is the contents of the blog.  I wanted people to know what the blog was about from the name.  The blog was very easy to create.  It was easy because the instructions on D2L were very helpful and Blogger is really simple to use.  Overall, creating the blog was a good experience because everything worked right the first time and nothing frustrated me in the process.  I did not like having to create a new gmail account for it, but I see how it was necessary do so.  It's just one more username and password to have to keep up with.     

Yes, I created my avatar to reflect my personality.  My avatar has on a red baseball cap similar to the faded-red Austin Peay hat that I always wear.  I wear it so often that on the rare occasions that I don't wear it people say that I look different without my hat on.  My avatar is wearing shorts and a t-shirt because that is what I prefer to wear.  I really enjoy warm sunny weather and being outside hiking, swimming, water-skiing, kayaking, botanizing (going around and looking at plants), and playing sports.  My avatar is holding a baseball and a bat because baseball is my favorite sport.  I played from when I was five years old all the way up to when I was a senior in high school.  The whole experience was really neat because it's interesting to try and re-create yourself.

Thing #1 Habits of a lifelong learner

Considering the lifelong learning habits, play, teach/mentor, use technology, have confidence in yourself, view problems as challenges, and accept responsibility are the easiest ones for me.  The other two habits, begin with the end in mind and create your own learning toolbox, are a little harder for me to practice.  It used to be that I struggled with having confidence in myself as a competent, effective learner.  I would be anxious about new courses, and would often think, "how am I going to learn all this?"  But now I enter new learning experiences with high expectations of mastering the material.  I guess what changed for me was my study habits.  I began to invent new and exciting ways to study and learn the material.  Studying and learning for me transformed into play and I was more willing to do both of them.  

Coincidentally, when I began to have more confidence toward learning I began to view my problems as challenges.  Viewing challenges as problems is as if you are standing at one end of a dead end road.  You can walk to the end of the road knowing the whole time that eventually your walk will come to an end because you are unwilling to fix the problem.  See when you have a problem there is no challenge.  It when you only have obstacles do you have challenges.  The challenge is overcoming the obstacle.  Back to the road analogy, those that view problems as challenges only see "obstacle end roads" and not "dead end roads" because the challenge is getting around the obstacle.  Once I had become a confident, competent, effective learner other people began to recognize this characteristic in me.  It was then that I started to practice the teaching and mentoring habit whenever I could.   

I am now beginning to practice the more difficult habits.  Actually, I consider this course as launching point for creating my own learning tool box.  I feel that by completing the objectives of this course I will have filled my learning toolbox, and be equipped with the knowledge to help others create their own learning toolbox.  One of the things I want to learn from Web 2.0 tools is how to bring lots of information to the attention and fingertips of my students.  One of the things I really liked about all of my professors here at AP is that they filled up their D2L with additional material that was very informative.  My experience with setting up the blog was fun and interesting.  It was not difficult at all.  The instructions provided on D2L were spot on and process was easy.  I remember being excited about having a blog because I like to write about ideas I have and the things that I experience.  As a lifelong learner, this is something that I continue to do for a while.