Thing 23 - This is it!!!

I am a leader of technology in my building. That is why I took this class, because I want to be able to show all these cool tools to my teachers and keep up with what the kids already know. There are so many great tools that teachers could be using. I will definitely promote some of these tools to them. Will I promote all?? It is hard to say. I am still trying to get my teachers to get there students to NOT use wikipedia and use a database instead, so do I want to show them a wiki? Maybe. It's getting the time and chance to promote these ideas to them. But as I have mentioned previously, I do not give up.

Okay, let me address the prompts. Have I differed in my view between Thing 1 and Thing 23? No, I still think it is overwhelming and there is so much out there. You could spend a lifetime just exploring those that were covered let alone the stuff that was not covered. It's just like the one presentation said (Did you Know) the world is growing exponentially. For example, I have mentioned I am camping, we bought a travel trailer, and we stocked it with camping stuff from when I was a kid. When I was between 10 and 12, so about thirty years ago, my parents and sisters went tent camping around the state of MI for a week. We had plastic dishes. We are using those plastic dishes, and my daughter tried to put one of the mugs in the microwave and I had to stop her. She asked, "It's not microwave safe?" And I had to reply, "It was made before microwaves."
Our students don't know life before the Internet, or DVR, let alone only three stations and the wonderful invention that VCRs were. (Okay, I love my DVR). I love technology. And it is more than just the cool tools we find in the Web 2.0 world. It's the cell phones that record video and instant weather surveillance. Which brings me back to the question asked, "Has this program changed how you view the Internet or how view teaching in the digital world?" Just that it is cool. I once worked for a data processing company (they still used tape for data drops) and one of the sales people always said to the customers, "If we can tell a person how to do something, we can program a computer to do it." Okay, I might not be quoting her exactly, but the point is there. We can make the computers do stuff that works better, looks impressive, and can be transmitted around the world in the press of a button. How cool is that?
" What plans have you made for using these tools in and out of the classroom?" I have started several projects I hope to put finishing touches on including my flash cards, my Googledoc site, my wiki, and a few others I can't even think of right now, oh yeah, podcasting.
" How will you continue to learn about Web 2.0 tools?" Listening to my colleagues at REMC meetings for one, because there is too much out there to explore on my own. I wouldn't have found these tools on my own, because I do not like to surf.
"What are your big "take aways" from this experience? " I have learned about how to get around many of things I thought were holding me back before. Like not having a server, or it being tedious to make a webpage in Dreamweaver. It's so easy to do these at the many sites. I feel confident now that if a teacher asks me about doing one of these projects with students that I would be able to help them and possibly get filters unblocked (except for flickr and you tube), if they wanted to pursue something like podcasting.

So, confidence, knowledge, and the starting point to help my self and my teachers bring their teaching into the 21st Century.