Final Post!

I had a great time participating in the 17 Things program this year. Before starting this fall, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what tools were out there, however I soon realized just how little I knew! I am amazed at the amount of possible tools on the web and am excited to use them in my personal and professional life! I would definitely encourage others to participate in future programs. I loved learning new tools and going at my own pace! Thanks Alicia, this was such a great program!

Evernote #17!

I can't believe I made it to #17! This was such a hard task for me. All of the tools that I explored were so impressive and a little different from the last. The four that I really enjoyed are 1. Remember the Milk, 2. Tripit , 3. Woot, and 4. Evernote.

Remember the Milk was very useful for myself. I love making lists and that's basically what this website does. I like the idea of being able to share these lists with others and get reminders, however I'm not sure I would use it as I already get updates on my email from Google calendar. However the name is so catchy and the site was impressive. http://www.rememberthemilk.com/

Tripit was so fun and would probably be my #2 choice. I am only not choosing it because I didn't see how I could use it in the classroom. The only way I thought would be to plan 'trips' to Spanish Speaking countries using this site. It could be a good addition to a study abroad project we do in level 4. Personally though, this is such a great way to organize all of your confirmation numbers and trip itinerary information in one place. It's something I also want to tell my parents about as they have a great need for some trip planning tools! http://www.tripit.com/

Woot is a site I'm also very glad to have found. I have used other sites that seem somewhat similar to this, but I love the idea of a different item being sold everyday. I also love that it posts people's reviews of the item so that you can do a little research before buying too quickly!
http://www.woot.com/

The final tool that I chose as my #1 was http://www.evernote.com/. I thought this was a very cool site and one that could be used in my classes as well. On this site, you can create different notebooks of plans, notes, websites, etc that you want to remember. These can then be shared with other users or can be made public as well. This would be a great site to use during group projects or presentations. Which would make collaboration among groups much more realistic in the student's busy lifestyles.

BBC Mundo ScreenToaster #16

I had a little trouble getting started with ScreenToaster. Once I slowly figured it out, I did a quick video about the BBC Mundo website. We use this website in Spanish IV every week. Students select videos from the website and lead a discussion in class about them. ScreenToaster would be an excellent way for students to post their videos and explain them to the class. These videos can be challenging for students and this would be an excellent tool to practice the videos and continue the class discussion after school!

Here's my link:

http://www.screentoaster.com/watch/stUEpWR0BIRFtZSFRYXl9ZVVdc

Voicethreads #15

Here is yet another "thing" that has really surprised me! I didn't expect to like voicethreads. Even after looking at the examples Alicia had posted I didn't really see how I'd use it in class and I just didn't think I'd be interested in it. Once I registered and started commenting on the RB voicethread; it all seemed so cool and I started thinking of ways to use this in my classes. This would be great to work on in our language lab. Thanks Alicia!

Wikis #14

Wow! I think this Wiki thing is really cool. I'd love to somehow use this in my classes. It would be a great way for students to collaborate on a project without having to get together to do so! On a professional level, maybe we could somehow use this to update each other on language lab issues. Brigit R.

Animoto #13

This is the best 'thing' yet! I had so much fun creating my video, I can't wait to make more. Of course I can see how you get sucked into upgrading to the all access membership. 30 seconds just isn't enough! I will probably try and sign up next time with my school email so that I can get the educator access and use this with my classes! Most of my pics are of course of my 14 month old...he's the subject of the majority of our photos these days. Enjoy!


Riordans 2009

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Creative Commons #12

I feel completely ignorant when it comes to copyright laws. I am sure that I probably break them on a daily basis, between copying short stories for my upper level classes and using google images to make flashcards. This website seems really useful to get a better handle on these laws. I think it would be excellent for students to be introduced to this idea as well. I know that if I don't think twice about copying a picture from the internet, I'm sure they feel the same. It's definitely something that should be discussed.