Thing 23 Final Reflection

“Every acquisition of accommodation becomes material for assimilation, but assimilation always resists new accommodations.”
Jean Piaget quote


This journey has been a paradigm shift for me and, I believe, for everyone that has shared in this adventure. The path that has been forged will grow worn and familiar in time if we muster the courage to use the new tools we have learned as common as we use paper and pencil. It will not be easy unless we make it easier. I am a bit afraid, but must take a lesson from our fearless children who bask in technology as though they are part cyborg. What was it like again.. to be so…intrepid?

Fortunately, some “things” have become habit over the course of it all. Delicious is hands down the best way to access my educational bookmarks and, often, I use it as a search engine too. Youtube before seemed like a waste of time, but now I’m using it to supplement my professional learning as well as my lesson planning. Mrs. Sapielak and I have a classroom blog that we use for parent correspondence and the students can use it to answer questions in their Book Clubs. Our classroom, although not as tech savy as some we have witnessed during this venture, is now headed in that direction and we are all excited about it.

Thank you, 23 Things, for all your support and inspiration.

Thing 22

Creating a educational Wiki was fun. I decided to make a practical reflective Wiki that can be useful for students and teachers. It is called What Did I Learn Today? Students can reflect on lessons learned throughout the day and gain closure, while teachers can model the act of reflecting by posting comments with lessons they learned as a part of the classroom community.

Thing 21

Our school is interested in better collaboration to become a stronger PLC (Professional Learning Community). Wikis can be used as a tool to accomplish many of the tasks involved in this improvement. One obstacle mentioned so far has been "time". This obstacle could be minimized if each collaborative meeting could be conducted using a Wiki to complete a product(i.e. plan for improvement, etc.) at each person's convenience. Later, these products of collaboration on the Wiki could take the form of lesson plan sharing that includes uses of technology. Look at this great example of lesson tool sharing I found on the Examples of Educational Wikis Wiki called Vocabulary Web 2.0 There are so many ways the Wiki could be used it would be counterproductive not to use them.

Thing 20

After watching the Love and Logic Youtube video on Diane's Blog, it was pretty exciting to find the Love and Logic podcast subscription. This will help me become a better teacher and parent. The episode I listened to focused on having the logic to recognize that "love" is being consistent and firm. It also said that kids don't always get what they want, but that's all right, because they need to have limits and consequences. Now, I just need to get the book.

Thing 19

Podcasts can be an asset for reading and writing teachers. As a reading teacher, I have found having an audio book backup is a must due to absenteeism and differentiated learning. Podcasts can be an even better alternative, since if made by the teacher, it could incorporate guiding language such as definitions to vocabulary or pauses for comprehension check questions. For the writing instructor, it can aid in motivating the students to share their written works, since students can record the reading of their works for use in a classroom audio library. This would take the embarrassment out of presentation and add fun in.

I found a set of podcasts that I might use next year to teach reading. It is the recorded readings of the unabridged book by Lewis Carroll, "The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland". There is one podcast per chapter listed on Storynory.
It would make an excellent choice for an advanced guided reading group, since it is a classic and a popular movie. I'm excited to get started on planning out the task.

Thing 18

Slideshare can be an important tool for the classroom. I decided to look for something that would help me with my lesson planning for Fictional Genres. One slideshow on Genres looked pretty good, but it included more genres than I wanted to focus on at this time. In the end, I decided to make my own instead and show it to the class using a projector. Here is that lesson on powerpoint:

Fictional genres

View more presentations from rhondasingh70.

Thing 17

While investigating Online Productivity tools, I found Library Things to be right up my alley. On a personal level, it is a Website that allows you to catalog all the books you have read or wish to read. Also, it offers ratings and reviews for books by other users of the Site. In a way, it is like Delicious because you can use Tags to mark your favorite selections of books and your favorites are on a counter display showing how many people liked that book too. On a professional level, this may be great if you are a Reading teacher like me, and want to keep track of all the books you have already used. You can select "Style B" on the "Your Books" tab- this has a comment box for Literature-circle details. Also, I noticed, in the review area, that teachers would use "classroom" as a heading and write about lessons they used with the book. I would like to do that too.

Thing 16

Google Docs is a great tool for the classroom. Right now, our Writer's Workshop students are editing their research papers using peer review. This stage is the least favorite in the process. Using Google Docs for this, instead, could increase enthusiasm, since anyone in the workshop could review it -anytime, any place.

That would make an interesting study. One could measure the degree of effort made by students while comparing Google Docs peer reviews and the standard methods of peer reviews.

Thing 15

Using Bloglines.com as an alert to the newest updates on my favorite Tags at Delicious.com is a welcome addition to the RSS. Some of the Tags I feel are important are "technology", "education", and even "Smartboard" (although we don't have them yet). As teachers, we are constantly looking for innovative ways of enhancing our lessons to met the needs of the newest generations of kids. The constant stream of technological images and sounds tempers the attention span of our kids these days making it a wonder they can tolerate the quietness of their own thoughts. The first step to making lessons relevant and interesting is learning "how"-using Bloglines will make it easy to get the "how" updates.

Thing 14

Wow, using the Bookmarking Website, Delicious is the high-point of the whole Workshop! I plan to use this as a tool for curriculum planning. It is so great to be able to put down notes that contain the GLCES and tag each into organized categories, such as, "interactive" or "primarysource". I absolutely love it! When our school gets Smartboards, and I stress "When" because I know it's just a matter of time, I can make a whole "Smartboard" category too. I can't wait.

To see what I have done with the Websites for my Revolutionary War Unit click on the "people" tab at the top of the page and then click on "add a User to network" put in rhondasingh70.

Thing 13

Organizing favorite Websites using tags seems like a good idea. I will have to register and practice to get a true grip on the process and its advantages. I look forward to making categories for all the subjects I teach and filling them with all the Websites I have under Favorites on my computer. Also, the social networking aspect seems like an effective way to find the "needle" of information I need in the huge "haystack" called the Web.


Since all teachers are looking for information that pertains to the GLCES, there is sure to be existing Tags that make it easier. I think I will look around on Delicious first and get familiar with with the Tags others are using before I begin attaching my own. I am excited to get started and hope to find lots of great Websites.

Thing 12

Throughout this experience, I am getting to know my co-workers better as we form our online community. There are so many things we can learn about each other through our writings and choices of graphics. Although face-to-face relationships are definitely more important, this type of communication is valuable for its other dimensions.



I chose this widget since it describes me personally. Debating about politics (mostly with my husband) is one of my favorite pastimes-he's a Republican and I'm a Democrat. I'm idealistic and he's a realist-it's fun.

Thing 11

There are some likes and dislikes when considering to communicate through blogging. I like the "delayed response" that allows a person to think before they speak- this can lead to more thoughtful conversations. Also, I like the anonymity. In a normal person-to-person conversation, whether you like it or not, each of you are prejudging based on many other forms of communication: body language, choices in apparel, eye contact, etc. At the same time, I dislike being tied to a computer for long periods of time. Tending a blog or reading through long lists of blogs could lead to the need for a chiropractor in the near future.

I believe blogs came into existence for one reason: People need validation. Maslow's heirarchy of needs states that respect by self and others leads to confidence and achievement. I can hear the music playing, "...People, who need people..." Barbara was right.

It would be an interesting lab to see how students respond to others' comments about their ideas and statements. Since I deal with kids moving into the "egocentric" stage, I will predict they will not take contradictions kindly and will defend their positions fiercely. Kids with low self-esteem may not fair well at all with this form of communication. It is a harsh world out there.

Thing 10

I was looking for an effective Website to explain the words of the Declaration of Independence to 5th Graders. This video titled, "Understanding the Declaration of Independence: 9 Key Concepts Everyone Should Know", by Craig Seibert, can act as a model for the students:



Michigan GLCE: 5-U3.1.5 Use the Declaration of Independence to explain why the colonists wanted to separate from Great Britain and why they believed they had the right to do so.

Objective: The students will draw lines dividing a print out of the Declaration of Independence into the three main parts, underline key words, such as, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and put stars (*)next to each grievance King George III inflicted on the colonists.

This is fun and I'm getting lots of lesson plans made. Thanks "23 Things".

Thing 9

Looking at the videos was fun. I found a couple I would like to use for 5th Grade Social Studies. The first one is titled, "School House Rocks: No More Kings" which describes the colonist's dissatisfaction with King George III's tyranny. Then, immediately after, I would like to show the kids, "School House Rocks: The Shot Heard Round the World". I remember this group of videos when I was a kid. The music and witty humor helps kids relate to, usually, boring concepts. It would be interesting to show them as an Anticipatory Set and then again when knowledge is gained through other means, to see if the kids noticed a difference in their understanding of the videos.

Thing 8

This was an adventure. I even saved the "Big Huge Labs" Website under Favorites.

It took a couple of different links to make this picture. First, using a picture of a wall in my Grandma's garden, I accessed the "Motivator" link to add the title. I only wanted to use the title feature and opted not to write inspirational text underneath. Next, I took the newly formatted photo and used it to make a jigsaw puzzle picture on the "Jigsaw" Site. It was fun!

Thing 7

Flickr is a solution to the problem my husband and I were having with storage space for our pictures- they take up so much hard drive space! We have previously purchased, easy to lose, flashdrives to house our pictures. While this is a good idea for use in the new digital photo frames, it is still better to back up our pictures on the easily accessible Web.

In the classroom, there are many ways Flickr can be used. First of all, pictures can be taken of the students completing projects, playing learning games, or doing presentations. Secondly, it could be a record of their experiences on field trips. Finally, pictures could be taken by the students themselves as a character education lesson; for example, if a student witnesses cooperation between students, he/she will be allowed to ask for the classroom camera for a quick snap shot. A bulletin board of these cooperative moments may act as glue for the learning community.

Thing 6

This glass plate negative is part of the Tyrell Photographic Collection in the Powerhouse Museum. It is estimated to be dated at the turn of the century. It was found it in the "Commons" section of Flickr.

I found it interesting because of the age of the photo as well as the unique probability of capturing five baby Kookaburras "sitting in an old gum tree". They don't look to be laughing, but maybe they are listening attentively to the joke first.

Thing 5

Securing new feeds to the RSS was probably easiest using the third technique mentioned in the videos. This method didn't require the user to hunt around the Website looking for icons. All I had to do was set up a tab on the tool bar according to my browser instructions. The simplicity of step-by-step instructions provided by the creators of 23 Things is much appreciated. So far, this is a well-thought out assembly of links, instructions, and videos that walk moderately Web-abled users through with a minimum degree of discomfort.

Thing 4

Sometimes I just consider how far we have come since inventing the wheel - it is just amazing. Instead of searching, use an RSS and let the search come to you- brilliant. Presently, I like to keep tabs on the blogs of some of CNN's anchor personalities and now it is much easier. It's interesting to have a constant check on the pulse of America or the world for that matter. This will save time having everything I need all in one place: Resources for teaching, 23 Things, CNN, and NASA news. Time is relevant, according to Einstein, but while living on Earth, saving it is important.

Thing 3

This is very exciting for the classroom and my head is beginning to fill with lots of ideas. We could use it for the Book Clubs next month. There will be six different clubs going on, so six different blogs would be required. The questions for each book could be posted every week and the rubric could be a fixed piece of text. The kids might like doing the written work on a blog rather than in the traditional manner. Another idea could be to use it for Social Studies. Right now, the fifth grade is discovering the events that led up to the Revolutionary War. Timeline software is available and this meshes well with the Montessori way. Also, causes and effects of main events during the War could be examined successfully and additional links could be provided for the students. Blogs may become as common to the classroom as paper and pencil in the future.

Thing 1 and Thing 2

After reading about all the different technologies that can be used in the classroom, I felt a sense of awe. There are so many things we could be doing in the classroom if we just take steps in the right direction. I hope to learn how to use and implement what we already have access to, engaging our students and encouraging them to learn in an atmosphere that is better suited to their lifestyles. As a team, our school could make changes to incorporate many of the "things" we learn in these lessons. I look forward to it.

23 Things for Teachers Learning About Technology

Students can benefit from blogging for many reasons. First, many will give more sustained attention to reading comments offered by their teachers or peers, since the social atmosphere is different. Also, there is a chance it will peak their interest, since they can access a keyboard instead of locating a pencil. Second, the atmosphere, though different, is much more relaxed and students can be more open and truthful and less affected by peer pressure. Third, using it as a tool for test preparation or for classroom projects could open the door to better collaboration between students; for example, I could use the blog as a study forum before a Unit test or as a place where students can share information for a Jigsaw lesson plan. Lastly, it expands students' sense of the word "communication" and opens their minds up to greater possibilities.