Thing #12

I am a very strong supporter of Google and love everything about it.  I decided to create and iGoogle page to set as my home page.  I love it.  At first they ask your interests and usually you wind up getting dumb irrelevant stuff but majority of the information I was interested in.  There were healthy recipes and up to date news.  I also added a few gadgets.  I added a quote of the day gadget as well as word of the day and a to do list.  The page comes with gadgets uploaded already but you can delete any of them.  From this page you can directly send e-mails, chat, and even connect Facebook.  Then I set up a few alerts.  I'm not a huge news follower so I put in upcoming video games.  Ghost Recon is supposed to come out in March but the release date has been changed so many times.  So I added Ghost Recon to my alerts so I can be notified it the release date changes.  I love Google even more now.

Thing #11

The first tool I used was EduBlog's Award Winning Blogs.  I liked this link because the blogs that one were really good.  naturally, the first award I clicked was best education blog.  Teacher Tom is a great Blog and it became hard to finish the assignment because I just wanted to read all of his posts.  Next, I clicked on Topix.net and I did not like that site at all.  It confused me the minute it uploaded.  I immediately clicked out and went back to Edublogs.  Nearly all of the blogs were useful to some aspect of my life on this site.  I enjoyed it and plan on returning with more free time.  In the past I looked up blogs by typing a keyword plus the word blog in the Google search bar.  Usually after a little clicking I was able to find a comprised list of blogs on that specific topic.  I like the idea of RSS feeders and think they will be a joy to work with.

Thing #10

I really like RSS.  I like blogs but I'm never good about following them, just like television series.  This help keep all the information together without having my inbox flooded everytime some comments on a post.  This could be really useful in school when talking about specific content.  For example, in a Government class you could follow a political blog and track the campaigns.  Any other class you could find a blog that relates to the content and expand the children's minds and perspective.  Younger classes may be interested in culturally significant blogs and they could be used to diversify the classroom and bring culture directly to the students.  Personally, I will follow way more DIY blogs and education blogs.  I love hearing other people's ideas and either using them or creating a spinoff from them.  They always say two heads are better than one, but now it's millions of heads are better than one.

Thing #9

I think these sites are really cool.  The first one I went to had picketers and you could change their writing but, when I got ready to copy the html they announced they could no longer provide free images.  Hopefully, more generators won't follow in their footsteps.  This site was very simple and after playing around with a few I realized most are very simple.  All you have to do is edit the actual text you want and let the computer convert it for you.  Often you can also change the font style, color, and size.  If you used signs like these you could make sure students didn't just pass by them.  The colors and graphics will cause them to take notice and have a higher probability of following the sign.  If you make flyers or reminders these could also be helpful.  I think I would find a cute comforting one to add my contact information to.  Then I will convert it to a magnet and distribute to my students.  This way they and their parents have quick access to my contact information and me.

This image was generated at http://www.happyfacegenerator.com/

Thing #8

  
I think this is so cool.  I thought people actually went out and took pictures for every letter like you do for collages in school.  This can be used to make anything look interesting.  I love that you also have the choice to change individual letters and not the whole word.  I like vintage looking things and therefore I like older looking letters.  But, you can mix and match however you like.  This will probably be one of those things I overload on in the beginning and then begin to use it more wisely in the future.  Even though we only have to use one site I am definitely looking the rest up this afternoon to see how else I can use them.  This is an interesting way to present new letters to new younger learners and for activities like activities with names and vocabulary words.

Thing #7

I think Flickr is really cool.  However, a lot of the people on there are actual photographers.  It is kind of intimidating because I have a $60 camera and have silly shots.  There were some gorgeous shots though.  I looked for a group with the keyword Dreams and found some amazing shots.  The group description explained the different aspects of dreams.  hey can be lovely, scary, beautiful, horrible, make you cry, make you laugh, and some dreams you forget while others you never can let go.  The picture I chose is definitely something that could appear in my dreams and it is an amazing shot and perspective of the theater.  There is also a cool editing program you can subscribe to called Picnik.  However, it is closing in April.  Flickr intends on adding editing tools to their software to compensate for the closing of Picnik.

Thing #5

I think web 2.0 is a wonderful opportunity.  However, without proper resources, I believe a socioeconomic group with get over passed and and a rather large gap will form.  While majority of America has regular access to a computer and the internet, there is still a group that does not.  This group that does not is generally already behind in education and opportunities.  If there is a way to offer the opportunity to ALL students then I believe it will encourage a deeper understanding from students and more passionate teaching from educators.  I think web 2.0 use in the schools can be helpful in differentiated learning.  It gives amazing new ways to reach a variety of students and actively engage them all together.  Students can also gain a new in depth understanding of the world and its problems with the use of Skype and social media sites.  I believe the upcoming generations will be better educated and have a better grasp on learning and the world thanks to web 2.0. 

Thing #1

I really liked the 71/2 habits of Lifelong Learners.  I can see how and where they are all applicable.  The hardest habit for me would be to have confidence in myself as a competent learner.  I believe I have a hard time retaining things and still at 21 have not found a successful study program.  However, I do take responsibility in my learning and always attempt to expand my knowledge in important content.  I love to learn in general and I am always looking for new opportunities and ways to learn something new.  My favorite habit and the habit I strongly believe in would be the last one, PLAY.  It is important to enjoy learning or else you will unconsciously reject it.  Play makes everything more enjoyable and helps concrete things in your mind and memory.

Thing #6

I explored iTunes a little more than I have in the past.  I use iTunes even on my pc.  I used to have a MacBook and I spilled sweet tea on the keyboard and fried the motherboard ;-(.  I love how organized iTunes is and how much you can use it.  I have several different playlists broken up by decades and genres.  I do not have to create playlists of specific artists because you can use the search bar and consolidate your entire library or any one playlist down so a specific artist or keyword.  It really just makes listening to music an even more enjoyable experience.  The iTunes store is also helpful since it automatically can find songs that match what you have been recently listening to.  I love iTunes and I am soooo glad that it is available for other computer systems.

Thing #3

I really like the blogging concept and would like to get more involved with it.  I would like to have a education section where I offer resources and materials to parents and students.  There would be additional assignments available along with answers and tips.  This will help students with computers.  However, for those who cannot access the internet from home, I will offer time in class in which they can access the blog and respond to students posts and still interact with the web 2.0 aspect of class.  I may offer a question of the day for extra credit or have a blog hunt as a study guide where I post notes and questions.  They would search for the answer and then find the next question.  I plan on teaching in a low SES district so it might be difficult to require students to use the blog but I could certainly expand their learning and use it as a motivating tool.

Thing #2

This is my first time creating a blog.  I have since then created one for Reading 4050 and had a difficult time figuring out which was for which class before I actually added things.  Since then it has been smooth sailing.  I created an avatar that kind of resembles me, if you can say they look like any body.  They are quite disproportionate.  However, the face shape and hair are similar to mine.  I chose my name as my blog title because I was not quite sure how that worked.  There was a place for a blog title and blog name and I could not decipher between the two seeing as how I had never created a blog before.  I was also weary about how any title could be misconstrued and chose to keep it simple.