Tools #3 Image Generators and Mash-Ups

Dumpr is way cool. There are multiple ways to manipulate pictures and images. You can use your own photos or upload from other sources. Images can be manipulated, placed in various backgrounds, and many more options are there to choose from.


Mashups and image genarators are a great way to add creativity to student work as well as a new dimension to presentations in any subject area.

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/2114536/Living_a_Full_Life

I'd love to have this printed and made into a classroom poster. I love motivational posters. The Wordle word cloud allowed my feelings to come to life in words organized in a creative outlet. I certain the students would love to do the same. They could also use this format as an alternative way to present materials in any content area.

Let the Mashups began.

Tools #5 Tagging and Social Bookmarking

My experience with delicious was last summer and I wasn't impressed with my first visit. The site was not organized in a way that fits my personality. I viewed it as people randomly placing labels on topics with no clear focus. But, once I truly clued in on how tags/social bookmarking worked, I began to think of the ways this site could benefit me. I now use it to find articles and web pages on my favorite topics and subjects. I booked marked http://www.autismclassroom.com/.

Diigo is also a awesome place to find resources and sites/blogs with common interest. I like that you can group them. This would be a great place to build a group of approved websites for your class to research or visit for a specific purpose. I joined the Autism Teachers group at http://groups.diigo.com/group/autism-teachers.

The tags I used to search for my chosen websites/blogs were teaching autistic students, autism, strategies for teaching autistic students. But, just as mentioned in previous post, students need to be careful about the content read because not all sites/blogs have verified facts and references.

Tool #4 Cool Google Tool

The Google Reader is a great tool for monitoring and organizing the blogs you have or are following. I personally have set up several list of blogs that are organized by their unique topics.


In a classroom, students can use the Google Reader to monitor fellow students and teacher blogs by course subject or content area. Of course, that depends on how the blog is tagged (another topic).


Google Docs are easy to create and accessible on any computer with Internet connection. It is all saved on a web server, so your documents are easily retrieved without having to save, send, or open via email, flash drive, etc.


Google has managed to put together the tools we use the most on the web for convenient and easy access. No more searching for the document that was saved as one version or on an old operating system and now requires a new version. Oh, did I forget to mention it is FREE. All you need is a connection to World Wide Web.

Tool 2: Building Community & Comments

I must re-state what Mr. Richardson spoke on in his YouTube video. Safety and ethics must be taught before releasing our students onto the Internet to participate in PLN's. But, once those two very important standards are introduced, the sky is the limit. Online communities and PLN's are not going away and most likely will impact more of our classroom time in the future than not. As we move forward with incorporating technology in the classroom, the Internet won't be far behind and will be come a standard format to teaching and possibly assessing.

The point that educators may be behind when participating and creating these online communities and PLN's stood out to me the most. Mr. Richardson stated that our students are already doing these things, so why resist the inclusion of them in our classrooms and curriculum? Again, the Internet has impacted just about every facet of life, education has to utilize these tools in order to educate our student users. Others wise, will lose their interest with archaic formats.

When I began my 11 tools journey, many of my fellow educators had not begun their blogs, so choosing ones to follow were few. I have since begin to follow Kimmy's 11 Tools , Life Long Learning , Live Laugh & Learn, Shopping Teacher, and Teaching and Technology. Three are from my WWe campus and two are other SBISD campuses. Check out their blogs to see my comments.

Tool 1: Blog Set-up & Registration

Up and ready to go. I left my old avatar I used last summer, but added the Voki avatar on top. I love how you can add voice to the avatar, but Voki needs to expand your choices of avatars. Maybe I didn't spend enough time surfing the site.

I use blogs as a cool way to journal and share my thoughts. Lately, my daughter has used hers to chronicle events and school years. There are many ways blogs can be incorpoarted into the classroom. Blogs can be used by a single class or used individually. It can chronicle the school year, serve as a way of pen palling with other students, be a student journal, or a place to grow their personal writing skills. These ideas can be combined too.

Just remember, blogs must be shared in order to serve their purpose, so be careful what you write and post.

11 Tools for the 21st Century Learner

OK, I finally recovered my user name and password for this blog. I used it last summer for 23 Things. Now it will serve the purpose for posting for the 11 Tools for the 21st Century Learner. Please just consider this a break in the page.

Things #23

During the course of the 23 things we explored, I think I enjoyed the experience of podcasting the best. It was just as challeneging as others, but the reward seemed greater for me. I also enjoyed the mashups. I love taking pictures and having a creative outlet in which to manipulate and create new images was great. I'll surely use these and share them with others.

23 Things awaken my senses to the fact that the Internet is forever changing and evolving. New apps are always being crrated and there will forever be new things to explore. And all of them can only enhance the web experience. I will embrace all with eyes wide open. By the way, from this experience, i am now Twitting, I have a thriving Facebook family, and I will blog for myself this fall. 23 Things inspired me.

I can't say I was surprised at the level of exercises asked to complete. They were appropriate for the course and players. Improvement of the program can only come through new advances to the Internet. I am sure as more is developed 23 Things will advance right along with it. Your doing a great job showing the novice surfer the underground world.

I do plan on completing Library2Play2.

One word to describe my learning experience....Geeked (somebody who is a proud or enthusiastic user of computers or other technology, sometimes to an excessive degree).