Thing #9

I had fun experimenting with the Happy Face Generator and it was super easy to use! You can choose the type of lettering you would like and preview before you save it. You type in the text you would like to use and instantly, you have a lovely text creation. I think if nothing else, this generator and others like it could be used to make the classroom environment more fun for the students. Of course you have to give direct instruction to ensure the students are exposed to the material but activities such as this one help to solidify what you have already taught. Also, many students in your class may be visual learners and this may help them to view the material in a more concrete fashion. We have to cater to all learning styles.

Thing #8

I used the Mosaic Maker to make a mash up of four completely RANDOM pictures I found. The picture on the top left is my favorite...so colorful. I think the mash up concept has the potential to be quite useful in the classroom. I could see myself gathering photos that were related to one another based upon the topic I was teaching in class that day. For example, if I was teaching a lesson on Egypt, I could create a mash up of pictures of pyramids or hieroglyphics. I'm sure that would be really interesting for the students. Instead of just hearing about Ancient Egypt from a text book, I would really be able to cement the concepts through these pictures.I think that this could be a very useful tool and as long as done responsibly, picture sharing can be fun!

Thing #6

The award winning Web 2.0 site I chose to explore was Etsy.com. Etsy is a website where a person can both buy and sell handmade goods. The site has much you can search, including clothing, candles, jewelry, and crocheted and knitted items. I found the crocheted items the most interesting, since I try to dabble in that myself when I have free time. What I found really interesting was that not only were people selling their crocheted items, they were also selling the patterns for different projects. It clicked to me that this is where someone could use this site for academic purposes. If a student was doing a project for school, they could decide to purchase an inexpensive crochet pattern from the site, create the work, and use it as a visual aide. Searching on the site is very easy. There is a drop down menu as well as a search box in order to find the items you are looking for. You can also search my color, gift ideas, or locally. I think Etsy.com is a great site and definitely worth exploring.

Thing #5

To me, Web 2.0 refers to how the majority of us are using technology more and more in our everyday lives. Technology does not have to be a daunting task. Many of us even grew up using technology, so much of what the Internet now has to offer comes easily to us. We as students incorporate Web 2.0 into our lives on a daily basis so in the future, I see students in schools using more Web 2.0 tools than we even do now. I read "Web 2.0 is Not About Numbers or Betas." In this article, the author talks about how the name Web 2.0 may be confusing to people. Later, he creates his own definition, saying basically that Web 2.0 just means more "regular" people taking advantage of what the Internet has to offer. These offerings often include blogging and social networking tools. I also watched the Web 2.0 video and it seemed to focus more on the educational aspect of Web 2.0. The woman was speaking about using Pod casts, wikis, blogs, and RSS feeds to enrich the classroom for the students. I can appreciate how she related Web 2.0 tools to an academic setting.

Thing #20

YouTube is an awesome site. I spend much of the little free time I do have, watching the entertaining videos people post on there. I love how many videos come up when doing a one or two word search. This gives you so many options to choose from. However, that is also one of the things that I dislike about YouTube. Although so many options are fine when you just want to entertain yourself of your friends, when you are looking for well thought out content, some of the videos that come up are not useful at all. For instance, you can type in teaching, and see a video you NEVER thought would come up. It's interesting to say the least, but for an academic setting, you may have to do a little more filtering. Another positive note to YouTube is how you can view a video and share it instantly with other individuals or websites. I think the ease of sharing would be beneficial to the library website.

Thing #18

It is important for educators to understand how social networking works because it can be vital tool in the classroom. Missing out on social networking can cause you to miss out on opportunities to make the learning process richer for your students. Also, many students are a part of these social networking sites and as an educator, you want to be familiar with what your students are using in their daily lives. Although when I first signed up for Facebook, I really enjoyed it, I find now I'm not nearly obsessed with it as I used to be. I keep mine around just to check in with people and since so many people I know are on it, it seems worth while to not delete it. However, I feel twitter is better. Probably because it's newer to me. I like how you can see small tweets on twitter about your friends without having to filter through access "junk" on their profile. I think twitter would be better for the classroom because it is easier to follow people based on topics or key words. Twitter allows you to follow ideas and concepts and not only people.

Thing #16

Surprise surprise, I chose iGoogle for my homepage. I chose it because I love Google! I think I may actually use this as my homepage. I chose cooking as a topic of interest and it put a "recipe of the day" tab on my homepage which was nice! I feel like I could use the online calendar to help me keep up with anything I have going on at the time. As of now, I have several observations I need to complete so the calendar would help me to schedule my time better. I used Remember the Milk as my online to do list. Secretly, I am obsessed with to do list. What I've discovered about myself is I'm much more likely to remember something if I write it down. I really don't need the list after that, but writing down what I need to do always helps me to not forget. I'm not sure if I would use this tool, only because to me, writing it down just seems easier. I would definitely recommend iGoogle for the customizable homepage. Having your interests right there on the page is really appealing to me and I think it would also be appealing for others who try it. I think this tool would help me to organize my interests at home.

Thing #14

Flow Charts vs Mind Maps! I chose to focus on Gliffy for my flow chart and Bubbl.us for my mind map. Like it says on the website, Gliffy is an Online Diagram and Flowchart Software. In a flowchart, all of the ideas are smoothly connected from one to the other. There aren't really gaps between the listed information because the information is moving from beginning to end. There is a starting point and a stopping point. However in Bubbl.us, mind mapping is taking place. In mind mapping, you may have one broad topic and other subtopics around it that are related in some way. The information doesn't necessarily have to transition so smoothly. Mind mapping is really just a hodge podge of ideas; It's mass brainstorming. The reason I chose these two particular tools instead of the others was because these seemed to be the two least confusing. It was easy to map out the ideas and that's the whole point. We wouldn't want to make brainstorming to difficult.

Thing #13

I thought Zoho was a pretty cool site. At first I thought it highly resembled Microsoft Word, and I still think that it does. However, I found you can do many things right from Zoho, such as publishing straight to your blog! You can even create tags for the documents that you create. I really liked Google Docs. I'm starting to notice that I'm pretty much in love with all things Google. Possibly because I've just been using it for so long. Google Docs gave me a sense of familiarity. Students would be able to use Google Docs for group presentations. When working on the project the students can create documents and add in e-mail addresses of those in their group, in turn, allowing only select individuals to view their work. What's also wonderful is the students can communicate and edit work in real time. If it isn't already evident, I much prefer Google Docs. Not to say that Zoho is a bad site, because it isn't. I'm just cozy with my Google buddy and prefer many things Google. Call me bias. I like how Google Docs seems to be geared towards group work which is great for the classroom.

Now Who Wants to See a Picture of a Celebrity Home?

Thing #12

I'm loving how the majority of these sites allow you to use your g-mail account to register! That makes it so much easier, instead of having to create a different e-mail address for every site. It also makes me WANT to sign up for things because of how easy it is. When exploring the tools I first thought I should set up an account with Picasa. However, I think Flickr would be a better option so I later decided against it. However, I did set up a Google Calendar. I think it would be something I would have to get used to using because I'm so used to receiving alerts through my cell phone. However, I think if my life ever got super busy in my career and I needed to keep track of several things (ie. parent teacher conferences), this would be a good tool. I also used the Google Translate tool. The only time I remember ever using a translation tool before this was in a foreign language classes in middle school. I did think it was neat however and you never know when you'll need it!

Why would you need a translation tool? 

Thing #11

When I was going through the feed tools, I found the ones easiest to use were the Google Blog Search and Technorati. I was pleased with the way each of the sites was laid out, especially the Google Blog Search. The layout of that site was very familiar because it was basically identical to Google, which I use on a regular basis. I typed in food as my keyword (because clearly I'm always hungry) and came across really well laid out websites that made me even hungrier than I already was. My least favorite would have to have been Syndic8.com. I found it to be the most confusing out of all of the options and I was not at all pleased with the layout. I felt like everything was jumbled together and it was hard for me to easily decipher what was what. Because of this, it made me not want to use it at all. After looking at as much food as I could stomach for the morning, I decided to use Google Blog Search to search elementary teaching. I came across a blog called "Teaching is Elementary" where a woman blogs about her journey as an elementary school teacher. I actually subscribed to follow her because I felt her blog may be a good tool for me in the future. I didn't come across any odd teaching blogs, but I'm saying that's a good thing.

Thing #10

I liked the RSS feed because it reminded me a lot of twitter. With twitter, you use key words to search topics or people you may be interested in, and several twitter accounts that contain that content will appear. The RSS feed is very much like this. You choose a key word or phrase and different websites appear that are associated with that content. It makes it very easy to see which websites contain which information, so I could see how it would be quite handy. In my personal life I could see myself using this to discover new websites that pertain to my interests. In my academic life, I could see myself using Google Reader to help me find ideas for projects or for group assignments. I'm not sure if I could use this to find sources I would actually cite in a paper because many of the sites that appear are not scholarly sites. This would be an awesome tool for teachers because you can subscribe to other professionals in the field and possibly gather ideas from their suggestions or things they are doing in their class. Also, the RSS feed would be great to find loads of information on one topic without having to do multiple searches.

Thing #7

I absolutely love Flickr! Before, I was not that knowledgeable about this photo sharing site, but now I am glad to have discovered it. I think it is great you can upload pictures by way of several different mediums. I am constantly taking pictures on my phone because it has a relatively good camera. With Flickr, I can upload the random pictures I take, organize them, and share them with others. Also, you can edit the photos right from the site. Finding images is so easy on this site. All you need is to search whatever comes to mind. I have to admit that at the time I was doing this assignment I had not yet eaten, and I was really craving sushi. Needless to say, sushi was my tag! Once I searched, I saw so many pictures of colorful pieces of sushi that looked beyond delicious. I'm not sure why I decided to search for food with me being so hungry because it definitely did nothing to curb my appetite.


Link to a pic of scrumptious sushi

Image Citation
Jonathan. "Sushi Platter II." Jonabrams. 8 July 2007. 3 October 2011. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonabrams/2718779012/>

Thing #4

Commenting on someones blog and sometimes your own blog is important because there really isn't any point to having a public journal if you don't know if someone is even reading it. If there are people reading it, it is important for them to be engaged so you can acquire feedback on the blog. You want people to read your thoughts and ideas, process them, and form their own opinions about the topics. Once they post their comment, it may possess others to want to chime in and leave a comment of their own, fostering discussion amongst your readers. When reading the "10 Techniques to Get More Comments on Your Blog" post, I liked how he said to comment on the comments of your viewers. I too think it would be important to show your viewers that no only do you appreciate them taking the time to read your post and leave a comment, but you are also interested in their feedback and what they have to say. By you commenting, you may encourage them to comment more often. Also on this blog, the post said to regulate the comment box on your page. Although conversation is encouraged, I do feel it is important to not let the comments get out of hand. I would not want my blog to be known for its hostility.

When making comments on other blogs I tried to comment on posts that were interesting to me. For instance, there was someone who blogged about having difficulty navigated a certain site and seeing as I did as well, I let them know that. I also tried to comment on pictures or an idea that really stuck out to me. It is important to comment on the work of others to give encouragement and feedback. 

Thing #3

Blogging is a wonderful way to record what is important or of interest to you. That being said, I think a blog would be an awesome tool to document your attitudes and how you are feeling while going through the teacher education program. I think it could almost be a form of therapy to vent out some frustrations (constructive, of course) or triumphs made within the program. I also think someone could use blogger to share ideas with other individuals who are aspiring to become teachers. Some ideas could include things you have learned while observing or student teaching. On the blog, others will be able to comment and give their input in any one of these situations. Within the classroom setting, I think blogger would be good to post pictures and comments about what you as the teacher and your students are doing in class. For example, if the class was learning about Native Americans and the students made miniature teepees, you could take pictures and add them to your blog. Other teachers who are subscribed to your blog may become inspired to create a similar project within their own classroom. Also, a blog would be a great place to post exemplary work produced by your students. This would allow you to show off their work to others who may appreciate it.

Thing #2

When I was trying to come up with my posting name for my blog, I chose to use my middle name and my last name. What I have discovered about myself is whenever I am asked to key in information on the internet, I often try to maintain some degree of anonymity. I didn't think I was creative enough to come up with a completely new name, so I just used a name that no one knows me by. I'm sneaky. I enjoyed making the blog. Like previously stated, I have always wanted to have my own blog so I thought this was perfect timing to learn how to use blogger. I'm actually hoping to create another blog in the near future to record some of my own interests. When I created my avatar, I tried to make her look as similar to me I could.We have some differences such as complexion, but she is an avatar after all and not my cartoon clone.

Thing #1

When watching the presentation on lifelong learning, I thought the easiest for me would be habit 6. Habit 6 stated to use technology to your advantage. I thought this habit would be easy because I already use a substantial amount of technology in my everyday life. Using technology would help me to commit many of the things that I learn to memory because I am so used to using it. The habit I thought would be most difficult for me would be habit 3. Habit 3 stated to view problems as challenges. I think this habit would be difficult for anyone to commit to because in most cases, individuals are more likely to become stressed and frustrated when faced with problems. I don't see turning a problem into a challenge as being beneficial to me because honestly, I see the two as being the same thing.

I found that setting up the blog was fairly easy. I didn't run into any problems with this task. I though creating the avatar was a really cute idea. I don't think my avatar looks that much like me but I tried to make her as similar as I could. Secretly, I have always wanted to start my own blog so I was really excited to use blogger, even if was for class.