"Thing 24?"

     Goodbye everyone.

     Ha, just kidding. Not quite yet. Before I leave, I thought I'd offer you all a little insight. Firstly, my favorite thing about this blog was the amount of information that I learned. I thought I was pretty technology savvy and yet, I had no idea that half of this information was out there. Awesome, right? Next, I have to say that it probably will not impact my life too much. My learning styles are pretty stubborn and I've been in the same pattern for over 16 years now. So hopefully if I take away only one thing from this, it will at least be the information about copy rights.
     As far as there being any unexpected outcomes, I will have to refer back to my first statement. I was definitely surprised at the amount of information I learned. And there isn't much that could be done differently to format the structure of the class. It is a technology-based course and it studies exactly that.  
     I'm not sure how I will keep up with the new updates of web 2.0, but I at least know a lot more than what I did. And hopefully that can steer me in the right direction.

As for now, simply yours,
TPlummer

Thing 23: Creatively Common...

     Well, I guess those pictures that I used earlier in some of my posts were stolen. Such a terrible way to put it, but I guess it's true. I never usually think twice about taking an image from Google. But after reading about Creative Commons, I learned that I am not the only person who seems to unintentionally steal pictures; hence the title "creatively common."
     In fact, this website is not even an APSU-inspired website. It stemmed from another website's idea for librarians. But since it held a CC license, we are able to use it. Information like this is what helps educate our students and potential teachers. As long as we continue to inform each other about CC licensing, there will be no miscommunication about copyrighting. Hopefully, I can pass it on.. ;)

Yours,
TPlummer

Thing 22: Online Organization

     Hey guys! First off, I'm just curious if any of you have ever heard of online organization? I sure haven't. But it's definitely the coolest new trend. There's a website called "LiveBinders" where you can actually upload your information, documents, etc. and you actually have an online binder. Pretty neat, huh?
     My binders are called Education 3040, Chi Omega, and My First Binder. The first two I created and they are personal. The last one, however, is one that is given to you upon signing up. It is full of information about how to utilize the website. Here is its link: click.
     It's pretty obvious about how you can use LiveBinders in the classroom. A lot of teachers have "notebook checks" that include students keeping their work organized. Well, an alternative to paper notebooks could mean that electronic notebooks are the next big thing. It's earth friendly and we don't print out a million pages to do it! Great idea, right? :)

Yours,
TPlummer

Thing 21: Making Movies

     All I can say is "wow." After using this simple little movie-making website tool, it made me want to pay  for the monthly service. It's very easy and seems highly efficient. I like it. It's only $5/mo and I think that is an extravagant price for all of the neat things you can do! Here you can take a look for yourself and then decide if you like it ;)



Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Yours,
TPlummer

Thing 20: YouTube THIS!

     YouTube is one of those things that feels like it has been around forever. Obviously, it hasn't, but you know. It's a pretty neat little website. I think it is very simple to maneuver and easy to manage. It's not complicated to pull up a certain video and it takes little time. The only thing I recommend you have when you load the site, is patience. Patience and I are a long-time coming and growing friendship ready to bloom. And sometimes, the videos take awhile to load. So remember, just have patience. And by the way, I uploaded a little video for you ;) Just a little something awesome!



"...C to the H to the I, O to the M to the E, G to the A, whaddaya say! Chi O's the only way! HEY!"


Yours,
TPlummer

Thing 19: Expanding My Horizon

    First and foremost, the websites that I use, I use daily and regularly. That means that I don't necessarily expand my horizon often. For this assignment, however, I bookmarked a new website: TeacherPop. This means that I am now a new member of an online community. (Only if you don't count Facebook!)
    Quite honestly, I haven't decided if any of these websites are appealing to me yet. I've spent time browsing around, but I just couldn't "get into it." You know? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I like consistency. I'm used to doing the same things over and over, so looking at a new website that doesn't necessarily involve me currently, just doesn't hit the spot.
    On another note, I do like the fact that you can see everyone's stuff. It resembles a blog, or the Facebook Newsfeed. So I guess it isn't that exciting. But I'm sure it can be beneficial for when I become a teacher ;)

Yours,
TPlummer

Thing 18: Hello Social Networking

     Hi guys! Wow, it has definitely been awhile since I've last written. But now that I'm back, I hope you're excited! Today I'm talking about Facebook. I'm sure you know what that is, but let me go ahead and tell you a little bit about it. Social networking on the Internet has been around a little more than a decade, with sites such as MySpace (established in 2003) growing popular by the minute. It started out requiring people to be 18 years of age in order for eligible membership. Yet, as years grew on, more and more people joined and the age requirement gradually decreased to what it is now, 13 years. Amazing, isn't it? Legally underage girls and boys can log on to a social networking site and talk to anyone at any age. That doesn't sound very safe, does it? My thoughts exactly.
     With Facebook, it is following very much the same pattern. Gradually, the age has been decreasing. However, despite Myspace, Facebook has added security features that allow underage children to protect themselves from predators. Whether they actually take advantage of it, probably not; but let's hope for the best ;)
    On a lighter note, this leads to our discussion about why it's important for educators to stay updated about social networking sites like, Twitter and Facebook. For one thing, it's definitely an easy way for teachers to know what's going on in their students' lives. However, that doesn't leave me suggesting that teachers add their students as friends. In fact, I am completely recommending the opposite. Do not add your students as friends. Ever. Seriously. That is a very bad idea. There is always a little grey area between student teacher relationships and there is one thing I can tell you: there is a fine line with Facebook. Do not cross it.
     Now, if you're doing a class assignment that requires students to interact with each other, then Facebook can be an essential tool. The way to avoid conflict is by simply creating a Group. Within this group, you can search for your students and add them to the group. There, they can discuss different ideas, etc. This does not mean you added them as friends. This is acceptable.
     I like the fact that you can create groups, etc. without adding them as official friends. This makes classroom discussions possible and easy. And we all love easy. What I don't like, however, is that there are so many options to choose from. It can end up being a little bit confusing. But overall, it's definitely a positive asset to education.
     I hate Twitter. I think it's pointless so obviously I'm slightly biased on my discussion of it. Buttt- I guess it could be positively used (as discussed in one of my previous posts). You can read about it there, unless you already have, which I'm sure you have ;)

Yours,
TPlummer
    

Thing 17: Muy delicioso!

     Hi there! For starters, let's take a moment to welcome each other back from Spring Break... not. It sure wasn't long enough , that's for sure. But- I guess we're back now. And it's time to talk about social networking! Not too rough of a topic to come back to, right? Didn't think so. I'm not just talking about Facebook either, I'm talking about something called Del.icio.us. Ever heard of it? Let me do the honors.
    Del.icio.us is a bookmarking website. You create an account, log in, and then whatabam, whataboom! You can start adding websites and tagging them based on your own preferences. For instance, you can add Google (sorry I'm using Google again, I'll eventually move on) and tag it "search" or "most amazing thing ever." It's at your own discretion! You can bookmark blogs and then tag them with easier titles than what the URL usually applies. In case you haven't caught on yet, it's very simple.
     Implementing this into a regular classroom tool is very easy, especially for projects. You can automatically bookmark/tag your classroom's website and students could pull it up hassle-free. The same process can be done with class assignments, etc. On top of that, other people can tag websites as well. So you might find a website easier by looking through someone else's tags. Talk about taking research to the next level! All our students should be pulling off A's in MLA citations thanks to Del.icio.us! ;)

Yours,
TPlummer

Thing 16: Good Gracious Google

     I promise you, I'm not purposely implementing all of these Google ideas for you to read about. Really. I promise. But since we're here, I want to let you all know about iGoogle. If it's something you don't have, you might want to reconsider. It's a pretty nifty idea. You see, I am a completely organized person. If I'm not organized then I freak out. Seriously. To prevent these mini-melt downs, I have a long list of tools that I use:

• To do lists
• Calendars
• Sticky notes
• Text messages
• Cd's
• Bulletin Boards
• Emails

But before I go into all that detail, I just want to acknowledge the fact that almost everything I mentioned can be accessed through iGoogle. You see, it's a homepage that you can customize based on your own personal preferences. As far as links go, you can link To do lists, sticky notes, etc. to your website. Since it already has a calendar attached to it, you can input all of your information and then you get reminder updates sent to your email. Because my phone is attached to my hip, I also get text message alerts. So not only do I remember events by checking my email, but by reading my texts too.
     Ta da lists does a great job of keeping everything you need organized and it also sends out reminders. You can access this through a computer, ipad, iphone, whatever and it's very structured (I like structure). But even more so, digitalized sticky notes are awesome, too. This is an online site where you can download some small program and once its there, you can stick sticky notes anywhere on your desktop. My computer automatically came with a program similar to this and I kid you not, you can barely tell if I even have a desktop background. That's how serious I am... :) Ridiculous, I know, but it makes me really happy. (ha!)
     But since I started talking about iGoogle, I'm gonna run right back to it for a quick second. Although it isn't my homepage, I do have a link to it on my Favorites. That's primarily because I do like to keep it as a permanent page since it has all of the information I need in one place. (My home page is Google, but I'm sure you're not surprised.) Furthermore, I can say that everything I mentioned are tools that I actually use. And I recommend them to everyone! They are absolutely wonderful. I hope you think so, too.

Yours,
TPlummer

Thing 15: Wiki This!

     Okay so the very first thing that happened to me when I tried to edit the wiki sandbox, was that someone else was on it. Apparently that means the page is locked and you cannot access it. So once that was over and done with (I had to seriously wait forever), I simply added a page to the APSU 23 Things Sandbox wiki. I read somewhere on there that someone commented on the Mindmeister/Flow Chart activity so I posted my blog to compare/contrast the two opinions. Hers was a fantastic review of the websites, my review on the other hand, was not so fantastic. I had a terrible experience. And this started out as an awful one too, until I randomly started clicking things. But like I said previously, I guess practice makes perfect and I just have to figure it out.
     I like that with wiki, you can do pretty much the same thing with Google docs, etc. However, there is a catch with this one. You cannot necessarily "stop" someone from adding to your document. At least with Zoho, you could preference who could edit your work. But other than that, it seems to have fairly the same amount of detail (and difficulty) as the rest of the web-based document-sharing websites. It might just be me, but I know that technology is an awfully hard thing to get accustomed to. I'm getting exhausted by the minute! :)

Yours,
TPlummer

Thing 14: Organization is Key

     My first impression of Gliffy.com was "What in the world is going on here?" And I'm not kidding. Wow! That website is packed full of stuff. I just didn't know which way to click or where to scroll (sort to speak). So after I tried to create a flow chart (and failed), I decided that I would just show you one of the website's examples: lunch. Of course, it's a little humorous. They had one that demonstrated the ways you could adopt Lady GaGa, but that was taking it too far for me. See, flow charts are easy once you learn how to properly manipulate them. Until then, you can just stare at them and follow where they lead.
     Mindmeister is awfully frustrating. For some reason, I had a hard time with it and in the middle of working on it, it seemed like it would freeze up on me. I watched the center of the graphing area, and a small spinning circle would appear and spin as if it was loading something. I kept having to exit out and reenter. For that reason alone, I won't post what I could get done. It's sloppy looking and all I have to say is Mindmeister isn't exactly my friend. But I can tell you that it was just a little biographical thing, so as long as you read my last blog... you already know the information. But for the most part, I chose these two tools because they looked relatively easy and I didn't have to do anything extra aside from the initial account creation. Clearly, I was mistaken about the easiness of it. I'm assuming that with some practice though, and a reliable computer (ha), I will be able to successfully manuever the icons and take advantage of its high-tech appearance. Until then, who knows.

Yours,
TPlummer

Thing 13: Zoho, zoho, it's off to work we go!

     Oh Zoho, how interesting you are. Zoho is a website that you can use to create web-based documents. In short, it's like a little storage space. You can literally make a document and save it and it will be there when you need it. Convenient, right? I saw that my friend Kayla wrote the same thing in her blog so I don't mean to reiterate what she says, but it's so true. If you are one of those people that email yourselves documents because you're lazy to go find your jump drive (like ourselves), then you know that emailing can sometimes be a bit of a hassle. But if you create and save your document on a website, then you have no problems! (Unless, the internet goes down, but that's another story for another time..)
     After trying Zoho Writer, I immediately went over to Google Docs. Now you know how much I love Google, so this was just something big waiting to happen. (Which it did.) Here, I created a Google Document. Anyone can see it, but no one can edit it. Sorry guys, I just didnt think you know me quite that well yet ;) ha! But you see, it looks like an ordinary word document, but anyone can edit it and more than one person can be on at the same time. Pretty cool, right? I think so. In fact, this makes such a great asset to the educational community. Students who say they don't have time to meet up with their groups no longer have an excuse. You can do it in the comfort of your home. And as a teacher, you could choose to monitor and track their work by viewing the editing history. Therefore, you can actually see who did most of the work. It's a teacher's dream come true! :)
     As far as comparing the two websites and picking which is better, I'm sure you know where I'm going with this. GOOGLE! Duh! Google Docs appears much more "clean cut" as opposed to Zoho. It's straightforward look is very appealing to a new person. If you've never used web-based document programs before, you will definitely love Google. It's what I would call "novice-friendly."

Yours,
TPlummer

Thing 12: Google Me

     Okay so you must be joking. I am really going to sound like a Google-fanatic after this post. Really. I think you're right in the direction you're assuming. Today, I'm going to talk about Google and it's amazing qualities :) So excited! You see, Google is not just a search engine for general web pages. (I think I made that a little bit clear in my last post where I used Google to find the term "pineapple" in a variety of blogs.) But it can be used for other things, like translating, alerts, calendars, work sharing, etc. The list could, inevitably, continue. 

     Fortunately for you, however, I am only going to discuss TWO of Google's many talents. The first will be Google Translate. You see, as an English Education major, I have to (unwillingly) take two semesters of an intermediate foreign language. My choice of poison is Spanish. (I'm really not that resentful, I just have a big test coming up and I swear I don't have any time to study for it!) Like I was saying, this is intermediate Spanish dos, and let's just say that I'm a pretty big English-speaker. So Google Translate is definitely my best friend. Without even setting the preferences for language, you can type the language in and if it's Spanish, then the Spanish icon will appear and it will begin to translate. Pretty neat, right? It automatically picks up on what you're saying.

     Not only can it do that, but you can get the Spanish word for "redhead" and if you want to use a different word or spelling, you can double-click on the word and it offers you a variety of alternative words you could use rather than that one. You can also hear what you're typing. (Which is SUPER COOL!) If you know how a word sounds, but you don't know how to spell it, you can simply listen until you hear the right word. Not like I know from experience or anything ;)

     On another note, Google Alert is really a separate yet neat idea. If you are doing research on a specific topic and can't find any good sources, you can sign up for Google alerts and anytime something comes up and relates to your keyword, you will get an email sent to you. How convenient, right?! So perfect :) You can disable these alerts at any time and they are extraordinarily easy to sign up for. Do you believe me now that I've pretty much proven to you that Google is AMAZING! If you really can't, don't, or won't believe me, then you just need to go and figure it out for yourself. Go Google :)

Yours,

TPlummer

Thing 11: Pineapple-Upside-Down Cake

     Hey all! Sorry it's been awhile since my last post. Seems a little subtle for me to say that I've had a crazy ride these past several days, but I have definitely had a busy schedule. But now that I'm back, it appears we have some things to discuss. The first consisting of subscriptions to RSS Feeds. (Seems a little familiar, don't you think?) Well, I guess we'll go ahead and jump on into it!

     First, I'd like to say that I think Google has seriously taken over the world. I mean, we use Google for everything. At least I do, anyway. But here, I used Google Blog Search to look up things with the word, "Pineapple." Okay, so I know that's an odd thing to look up, but I've had this long lasting urge to eat pineapple. And I can thankfully say that by typing in that one word, I found a variety of blogs talking about pineapple: how to cut pineapple, how to cook with pineapple, and how to dye pineapple among other things. Google is seriously, the best ever.

     Next, I tried Technorati.com. All I have is four words for you: What in the world? I typed in the same search word "pineapple." But what did I find? Moby-dork. What is moby-dork, you say. Well I have absolutely no clue what the heck "Moby-dork" is. And I don't have any idea as to what it has to do with the birds and the bees. (I know you're lost. But at least you know how I feel whenever the search results came up.)

     Clearly since Technorati was confusing, I thought I would try Topix.net. I must be the only person to not know the relevance of a pineapple to the Academy Awards. Is it their symbol or something? Regardless, I typed in "pineapple" and BAM! I got all of the information I have ever wanted to know about the Academy Awards.

     This was an interesting exercise. And I am probably not the first person to tell you this, but Google is where it's at. I'm not kidding. Technorati was awful on me. And Topix.net seemed awfully irrelevant to what I was looking for. (Clarksville Singles and Dating? No thanks.) So for the rest of my life, I hope I have Google to lean on.

Yours,
TPlummer

Thing 10: Jesse James is Writing a Book?

     Hey all! I hope everyone is having a nice day today! I know that I'm trying to, despite the fact that it's incredibly windy with a 100% chance of grey skies and somber moods. Regardless, I have some new information for you! :) Ever notice that little icon up at the top right corner of your screen? Sort of looks like this...



    Yep, now you know what I'm talking about. Well that little thing is called an "RSS icon." RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication." That means that whatever you use it for, it's initially going to be really simple. (Ha, nice use of words there, huh?) Anyways, the way it works is very similar to a subscription. You subscribe to various blogs or news posts and then automatically, you receive daily updates. It's very easy and it requires little to no effort. As an example, I subscribed to five new sources:

1. The Pioneer Woman- it's obvious, isn't it? She's wonderful.

2. The Pioneer Woman (Cooking Section)- I really couldn't help myself. I love to cook and she's magnificent.

3. Julie Powell- I know most of you have seen Julie & Julia. If not, you need to. It's fantastic! Anyways, the blog here is Julie's actual blog. Here, she posts from way back when all the way up to recent events. Her point of view on different topics is quite a read. You'll enjoy it.

4. Perez Hilton- Now you know I have to stay updated on my celebrity gossip. This is the absolute most current up-to-date information. Whether or not it is true, I could careless. It's sure fun to read though. (Just don't spread it, because you might look like a fool if it isn't true).

5. The Gawker- This neat little blog is like a mini-Yahoo! engine. It has all kinds of cool, gadget-y information.

     Regardless of the pages I selected, you can do the same with very different pages. It's very simple and it's through Google Reader. Although my blogs don't relate to education, RSS feed can definitely contribute to educational needs. It's even easier to stay "in the know" with up-to-date information and have access to it anytime. This is an important tool to master as a teacher, afterall, you want to know everything (if not more) than your students, right?

Yours,

TPlummer

Thing 9: Cook Up a Picture with ImageChef!

     Hey guys! Sorry it's been awhile since I've last posted. On the upside, I have so much to tell you :) You see, Thing 9 is perfect for right now. The task is to play with photo generators and create neat things. Well, I found several adorable pictures that I was able to manipulate. The first one I did was a tree trunk. You see, this past weekend was my anniversary so my boyfriend and I traveled to Atlanta, Georgia to celebrate the occasion. While we were there, we could not stop talking about how beautiful it was (especially the trees). So it's incredibly convenient that I discovered this neat little tool. It's perfect!

 

     As I kept creating different pictures, I realized that these would be great tools to help motivate students! Needless to say, my next creation was very inspirational to myself... I'm sure you'll agree with me on this one:

     "Almost here." That's exactly how I feel about Spring Break. Give me that break already!! I can literally visualize Destin, Florida as I sit in bed and write this post. There are the calm waves of the beach and the warm sand beneath my chair. With the sun beating down on me, endorphins are bursting right out of my body and I can't help but feel happy. And relaxed. Not to mention the fact that I already have a well-planned schedule of all the homework assignments I want to get done. (Sounds great, right?) But nonetheless, I am anxiously waiting for that break to get here. It means half of the semester is over and the other half is quickly arriving. With that preceding thought in mind, I instantly thought of the one thing that has successfully (for the most part, anyway) gotten me through this half of the semester. And that perfect thing happens to be coffee.

 

     I know that I said coffee helped me through this semester, but what I meant to say was that Mugsy's Coffee has helped me. You see, Mugsy's Coffee Co. (located on 41-A, across from Gate 3) is the greatest coffee shop ever. I'm not kidding. Granted, I live nowhere near that side of town. But I will tell you that I will drive the 45 minutes it takes me to get there just to have a venti Peppermint Patti- nonfat, no whip. And I always get a cow sticker clinging to the lid of my cardboard cup. Sometimes, the sticker is a star. What I'm getting at here is that I live for that stuff. It's my own personal motivation and can really turn my day around. Even a picture of coffee with the name swirled in it, makes me happy. If pictures are enough to turn frowns upside down, then let's use them in classrooms! ImageChef.com did a fantastic job of allowing me to use their pictures and personalize them. It didn't cost a thing and like I said, if we can use them to emit positive energy, what are we waiting for? Forget motivational posters. Personalize student pictures!

Yours,

TPlummer

Thing 8: Word of the Day

     After doing this activity, I'm sure everyone can agree that it was an entirely easy assignment. Unless, of course, you're me.

     I spent almost an hour deciding what I wanted to write and which letters I liked best, but then it came time to input the HTML code. Wow. Before now, I never realized the little tab labeled "Edit HTML" above the text box whenever you create a New Post. So the point that I'm getting at is that... well, I kept trying to copy and paste the code into the Compose text box. Clearly, that wasn't working. So after using [what I thought was] all of my options, I waited until I got to class to ask Kayla. Once I learned that I was in the wrong format, it was easy to fix everything. Hence, the beautiful word you see above.

     Speaking of words, the word I chose to display is lycka. The origin of the word is Swedish and it means bliss, luck, success, and/or happiness. I know you're thinking "what the heck?", but since I'm less than 1% Swedish, I thought I'd use it to my advantage. (Ha!) And what better word than happiness? What I've done here is show you a small example of how Flickr mashups can be used in the classroom. Since I will be teaching Language Arts/Literature for 7-12 grades, this is perfect for me. I can use the word mashups to creatively illustrate words of the day. The same can be done for elementary school spelling tests. Some students remember things better by actively matching colors with letters or designs with words. This could definitely help visual learners.

     So the question remains, do I intend on using Flickr mashups for my classroom? Definitely! It's a creative tool that is appealing to the eyes and can be used to help students. As for my personal life, I'll probably use it for social networking sites (unfortunately, however, websites that allow you to personalize your "space" are out of style... cough myspace cough). I do plan on using it though, both personally and professionally. And as for the neat little word of the day - hope you  loved it!

Yours,
TPlummer

Thing 7: I love you, you love me

     Valentine's Day is, by far, the greatest holiday ever. Okay, so maybe that's just my opinion, but with all of the pretty colors and delicious candies, it's not hard to remember love. Granted, most of us have busy lives and don't always acknowledge the love we have for our families, but we do love them. And luckily, V-day gives us that one day where we can make up for the rest of the year and take the time to say "I love you." Because of that, I became inspired to search pictures with the label, "love." Cute, don't you think?
    With that in mind, think for a second about how many pictures might pop up with keyword love. Oh, you know... just a couple billion. So from that point on, I figured it might be a little difficult to find something that truly resembled the angle that I was trying to illustrate for you here. Thankfully, Flickr has this neat search bar where I can enter in multiple keywords. After jotting in love, valentine, and pink, I got this pretty picture you see now. And not only was I able to view the picture in a variety of sizes, but I also got the link to the photographer's collection. She had beautiful pictures, too, but unfortunately those weren't going to contribute to my angle either.
     Flickr has many qualities that teachers can use in their classroom lessons. Whenever I have a discussion that involves Edgar Allan Poe or William Shakespeare, it will be extraordinarily convenient to just type in his name and bam! There it is, beautiful portraits of each. Granted, I have used Photobucket before and I do get somewhat the same results, I just like Flickr better. I use it personally and definitely plan on using it professionally. And the fact that the pictures are public is of no concern to me. If I was worried about it, I could easily change my privacy settings. It's like a light switch. Private. Public. Private. Public. My only hope is that the school system doesn't block it from school computers like other photo editor websites. But let's go back to my picture! :)
     You see, I picked this picture not because a. it's Valentine's Day or b. it's pretty, but because of the idea behind it. Look at it one more time. What do you see? To me, it's a spoon full of love. There are days when we feel down and it's always nice to hear that one person (whether it's your mom, dad, or a significant other) say that they're thinking about you. It's almost like when you hear those words, you've taken a spoonful of medicine and suddenly your day turns around; that spoonful is love and everyone needs it.

Yours,
TPlummer

Thing 4: Un Commentaire

     Everyone loves comments. It doesn't matter if it's a new picture uploaded to Facebook, a tweet, or an email. When you check your inbox and see that "so-and-so" just commented on your new profile picture, you can't help, but smile. There's something about that feeling when you know someone out there cares about you and what you're doing. This same feeling is felt everyday by fellow bloggers, like myself.
     CoolCatTeacher says that most bloggers "feel like they are posting to themselves." And I think it's safe to say that we all feel like this. Actually, some of us might; the others just remember that this is a graded assignment so we know that at least one person out there is reading our posts. (Ha!) But for the most part, we like to hear feedback every once in awhile to let ourselves know that our opinions do matter. That's why most people debate sensitive topics via Internet. The best way to sort out your supporters from your opposers is to just go public with it! ;) Believe it or not, it creates a sense of community and interaction when you can share your ideas through commenting on each other's blogs. This same idea is proposed by ProBlogger who posts "10 Techniques to Get More Comments on Your Blog." Here, the author tells you how to properly construct your blog through complimenting each other's posts.
     Let me be the first to tell you that I love compliments. When I receive a comment from someone, I treat it just like a compliment. It doesn't matter if it's hateful and rude, or a sincere gesture- regardless, the reader took the time to ponder my words and submit a response; my post was worthy of a reply. It wasn't just any reply, either. It was a well-written and thoughtful response. My friend, KBearden, is awesome at leaving posts that are professional and cutting edge. She tells you like it is and that's the way commenting should be. According to Will Richardson (Edublogger Etiquette), it's rude to leave a short, insignificant response. After spending an hour writing the perfect post, no one wants to receive feedback that says "cool." or "nice."
     If you, as the reader, notice something in error, try offering some advice to help fix the problem. Or if you can relate to the matter being discussed, share your story. There's nothing more fascinating than bonding over blogging (catchy, huh?). But it's true. Don't be afraid of the "comment box." It is your friend. And since we've talked a little bit about it, I hope you feel more comfortable in leaving some love on your friends' pages. But in case you're still a little weary about how it works, I'll give you a few examples.
     I'm picking five of my fellow classmates to periodically comment on his and her posts. They will be in alphabetical order, along with why I chose them

• Kristin Barrett (TeachMe) - Kristin and I know each other on a friendly basis. I would like to get to know her more and this could definitely be the best outlet for doing so. I love learning more about people through their career goals and what a good way than by sharing advice on teaching through technology?
• Kayla Bearden (KBearden) - Kayla and I share a personal relationship outside of the classroom. Although we will be teaching in separate environments (she is elementary education), she is smart and has a lot of sense about her. I look forward to reading about her ideas for teaching.
• Jesse Brewer (JBrewer) - Jesse and I are somewhat of acquaintances. From our surroundings, I can tell that he is very motivated and appears to have a strong head on his shoulders. By having him in a previous class, my guess is that he'll be making History a lot more fun than it was for me in high school.
• Gage Morse (GMorse) - Gage has recently decided to teach Secondary English education, like myself. With this being said, of course I want to get a glimpse inside his head. Granted, we hardly know each other, but with his ultimate goals being very much the same to my own, I think I can make this work.
• Chelsea Walker (CWalker31) - Chelsea and I also have a personal relationship. She has a very bubbly and whimsical personality about her, so I'm interested in learning about her professional expectations. I'm sure my interest will remain piqued throughout her posts.

Not too bad, right? The hard part is over. Now that I know who I will be paying most of my attention to, I will come back and let you know exactly what I said to who on what post. While I do that, I will also follow a couple of personal blogs that really interest me. The first will definitely be the Pioneer Woman. Not only do I get told on a regular basis how much I resemble her, but I cook like her as well. With that being said, it won't be hard to follow her around and comment. But as for the other one.. well, we'll see.

Yours,
TPlummer

Thing 6: Owl love Etsy Forever!

     For starters, I feel obligated to tell you that I've cheated a little bit on this assignment. You see, Etsy.com and I have been best friends for almost a year now. I first found this site last year when a sorority sister of mine sent out an email naming Etsy as the best place to find cute owl items (owls are our mascot, sort to speak). So of course we all immediately entered the site's URL and whaddaya know? It's like a Chi Omega's heaven. But other than my sorority, there is a tremendous amount of other items.
     Since the website mainly sells homemade products, you can find nearly anything. They have cards, artwork, blankets, jewelry, clothing, etc. It's pretty much like your one-stop-shop! And with low shipping rates for U.S. citizens, it's almost impossible to find a reason not to buy anything you love.
     Let's talk about homemade gifts for a second. Everyone likes them, right? At least they did the last time I checked. Well, maybe you're not the "sewing material"... or maybe you just don't know how to use a sewing machine. Etsy is here to your rescue! You can easily purchase something and pass it off as something you've done (Yes, I know that's wrong, but hey. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do). I'm sure we've all been in that situation, or at least I have ;) But for those of you that do know how to sew and/or paint, you can search for ideas on what to make. It's that simple. If you're looking for how to make owl cards, just go to http://www.etsy.com/ and type in "homemade owl cards" in the search engine.

     Cute, right? Now you can look at them as models for your own project. Websites like these are definitely inspirations for creativity. Students that have to create projects in school can log on and browse Etsy's collections. Like I said before, sellers sell anything on here! And it's wonderful quality because an exact description of the product is listed. If you receive the item and it isn't up to par- guess what. You can return it for a full refund! I mean, it just keeps getting better and better, don't you think? The same concept applies for students that need items for a project. It isn't often that you can find homemade items in stores. Nowadays you have to make them yourself and then compile all of the pieces into one big presentation. But now that Etsy is here with each of her sellers, you have access to over 1,000,000+ homemade objects. How is it that students don't know about this website? Teachers can definitely use it to help give better examples for project ideas. Don't be the last to get on the bandwagon. Help yourself and your future students. As for me, I'll definitely be continuing my online addiction! ;)

Yours,
TPlummer

Thing 5: Incorporating Web 2.0 into School 2.0

     The idea of School 2.0 existing is controversial. It has two separate meanings. The first being that teachers simply learn to incorporate Web 2.0 tools into academically useful resources. On the other hand, School 2.0 is now the nickname for online learning. For this post, however, I will only be discussing the incorporation of the web.
     "School 2.0" has the most potential for success based on its resources. We've previously discussed why blogging is so important and both topics have a multitude of the same reasons. Technology is quicker at producing recognizable text and concepts, as opposed to pencil and paper. Students can learn to use online libraries rather than public city libraries. In my opinion, the main goal of School 2.0 is to make tools more easily accessible. If students have unlimited access to a variety of resources then it doesn't give him or her much room to fail. And we are trying to get our students to succeeed, right?
     As far as what it means to me, I think School 2.0 will become an advanced learning resource. I believe that it won't become popular right away, but it will happen progressively. To further emphasize what I previously stated, I do indeed believe that it will be successful. Blogs and social networking have the power to be used for academic purposes and eventually, they will. For future schools, it unfortunately means more money. Computers and electronic gadgets are going to become more needed than before and sadly, it also means that more students and faculty will be relying on electricity. If the power goes out so does the day's lesson. On a brighter note, it could help learning advance. We learn new things everyday on computers and as teachers, we can use these new things to show our students the world. By opening their eyes, we are helping them be the best they can be.

Yours,
TPlummer

Thing 3: Helping Myself and My Future Students

     Let's see... how many ways could I use a blog in assistance to my teacher education program? For starters, it's incredibly convenient to watch other students' work. A lot of times you come to a fork in the road amidst a difficult assignment and all of a sudden, a confusing word appears. That word can usually be read in one or two ways, you just don't know which way to read it. By that point, you have already emailed your professor a hundred times and really don't want to bother them anymore. In fact, it's highly possible that when he or she sees your name in his or her inbox again, it's going straight to the Spam folder. Ha! Just kidding!
     But I have been faced with these obstacles often throughout my college career and I'm here to tell you that a good way to avoid it has been by using these blog posts. Since all of the Education 3040 students are  able to view each other's material (regardless of the class period), it's much easier to see what path everyone else has taken. For instance, many students in my own class have not progressed onto Thing 2, whereas I am beginning Thing 3. Fortunately, I could view the profiles of the other classes to note the topics they discussed and make them relevant to my own subject matter. I consider this process of "peer reviewing" to be extraordinarily beneficial to students like myself.
     As an English major, I love the fact that I could post an essay and receive immediate feedback. It would help me in my classes and thusly, improve my writing. The same goes for classroom environments. As a teacher, it would be convenient to post material that I cover in class with other teachers in order to prevent the same course objectives being taught. For example, ninth-grade teachers might teach Romeo and Juliet, but an eleventh-grade teacher also teaches it. By teaching the same thing, the students don't have much room to grow, but by proper communication (i.e. blogging, etc.), the eleventh-grade teacher could further the students' knowledge of Shakespeare by teaching Twelfth Night or Othello rather than repeating the prior lesson.
     It's "all about communication." Isn't that what we always hear? Well, the fact of the matter is that it's true. Communication is key. Blogging can be used to help post calendars, syllabi, and other material needs that students might need access to. Granted, programs like Blackboard and D2L exist and can also be used for those reasons, however with blogs, students can comment. I find this important because I love to work from feedback. Knowing myself and how I want to teach, I want to give my students the best possible education I can. In order to do this, I'll need their input. If something is wrong on the class schedule, he or she can leave a comment. Or if a worksheet is available online, students can ask questions about a certain topic. This kind of participation is ideal for all teachers. And through blogging, I certainly hope I can both participate and set an example.

Yours,
TPlummer

Thing 2: Creating Myself

     You don't know this yet, but I'm a very creative person. In fact, when I was younger I was placed into the Talented and Gifted Program (TAG) specifically for my creativity. Regardless of that fact, it seems that I'm a little stuck on picking a title for my blog. I did come up with some really great ones, but the fact that it had to have my last name within the title just didn't seem suitable to me (you'd understand if you're last name was no different than that of an occupational plumber). Until I do create a fitting title, you're going to just have to settle for my name. It's not that bad, right? At least I can say it's somewhat original.
     As far as the blog itself, I didn't have a difficult time signing up. Once I logged in though, I was shell shocked with all of the buttons and templates and designs... Don't get me wrong, I've tried to blog before. In fact, I probably have a couple floating around here somewhere, but I've never been able to master the technology of it. Thankfully though, I was able to take my time and browse. Hence, the pretty profile you see now ;)
     Let's see... my avatar is a pretty interesting character. She and I don't exactly favor each other too much. Her hairstyle is nowhere near the length or style of mine. Since my hair is always wavy, I attempted to locate a style similar to my own. You can see for yourself that it wasn't a successful search. I ended up with a generic hairstyle because it was the only natural looking one. As for her eyes and hair color, we match pretty well, I'd say. For her face, I added a cute facial expression. To be more specific, it looked a little quirky to me and I am definitely quirky. (Plus, I love to wink!) I gave her a green sweater for two reasons: the first being I naturally look good in shades of green; the second being that I love sweaters. As far as the khaki pants, I'm most comfortable in them. I feel that it adds a sort of "business casual" look to my attire. And for the brown shoes? Well let's just pretend that they're a nice pair of Birkenstocks.

Yours,
TPlummer

Thing 1: The Beginnings of a Lifelong Learner

     According to the 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Learners, lifelong learning is a beneficial concept for those who love to learn. With it's simple presentation for interested viewers, it is quite easy for many teachers to be persuaded into furthering his or her education. As a potential teacher, it is important for me to evaluate the possibilities of success and failure through each one of the proposed habits. In doing so, I have realized that the easiest habit for me to follow through with is Habit 7: Teach/Mentor Others.
     It seems too coincidental that teaching and mentoring others would be the easiest habit for me to pursue, but it also means that I'm clearly taking myself down the right career path. I have been a tutor for as long as I can remember from grade school to the peer mentor position I hold now. So I can safely presume that there will not be any complications as I fulfill that specific requirement.
     On another note, I immediately realized that I am going to have a slightly difficult time attempting to fulfill Habit 7 1/2: Play. Although it seems "too easy" to throw down your books and dance wildly in your room, I'm here to tell you that it's not. In fact, these days with 18 credit hours and American Literature papers due every other class period, I find it difficult to even daydream about fun. I'm going out on a limb by saying that I will properly implement "fun time" into my busy agenda, but I will say that I'm going to try.
     In summary, the habits are a pretty neat way to help teachers and interested viewers maintain a good mental health regime. After all, the majority of habits are results of self-reflection and perseverance. The fact that you can control the information you retain, well, that is the best part of learning, right?

Yours,
TPlummer