Thing #12 Google is Not Just for Searching Anymore

Google Translate I found to be pretty nice. I love how you can translate from our language to another. This would help the kids if they are having trouble translating into a sentence. Google Alerts I did not know who could have alerts sent to you! I really like this. I love to hear about the news when it happens. I usually don't get to hear the news unless I stay up late to hear it! I have a little one that wears me out.  Google Calendar I really did not like the google calendar. I think I would rather hand write my stuff in on my personal calendar that I carry with me. There are sometimes I can not have my phone or internet with me and I just need the hard copy. 

Thing #11 Finding Good Feeds

Google Blog Search I love!!! When I am at home all I have to do is type what I am interested in and I get to view which Blogs I would love to follow. This one would be the easiest search tool out there.  Technorati was the easiest site to find hundreds upon hundreds of RSS feeds. If I was looking for something just one thing then I would go to this site! I wish I knew about all this sooner!  Syndic8.com  I found this website hard to navigate!!! I did not really like this as much as the other ones. I founds some teacher feeds with other teachers helping one another. I love to see this happen because you may have a day where you need help and you rely on another teacher for help. This is a great way to do it. I just type in what I am looking for and I get some feeds that narrows it down.  

Thing #10 Set Up an RSS Reader and Add Feeds

I did not know that there was a Google Reader. I also did not realize that I have one. I guess when you have a Google email address you already have a Google Reader!! AWESOME! I was shocked to know that I have one. It keeps up with my blogs that I tend to follow. I think this tool save time and navigation around the internet. I can just look at it and see the different blogs and their feeds. I get all my updates in one spot on Google Reader. I can see how this would be useful in a classroom sitting. We could have the parents linked up to the news feeds as we see it. Also as teachers we can keep track with one another. We could help each other with problems and give feedback. I LOVE IT!!! I wish I was introduced sooner! I also just wanted to add that everything is at your finger tips!!! You can access everything through Google Reader!

Thing #9 Online Image Generators

I found the online image generators fun!!! I could use this in class to have fun with the kids and learn at the same time. There are so many creative things you can do. This can be used in a classroom sitting.

 

http://monolpoly.game.cards.txt2png.com/

I could use this in my history class as a game. We could learn important things about our presidents and what they did for the United States.

http://dummies.book.cover.txt2pic.com/
I think this may help the kids ask questions about history. They could ask questions and we can put it in our book we start. Then if someone has a question or has an answer they can put it in our new design notebook.

Thing #8 Flickr Mashups

I found the Flickr mashups to be fun and exciting. I think kids would love it! I created a jigsaw picture of all of our presidents since my standard deals with history.  I think the kids would love to create a project over the lesson we learned that week. I think these types of photos are okay to share online. I don’t have a problem with it.

Thing #7-Explore Flickr

 This is a photo I took of my husband and son on his first birthday. I love taking pictures of my son!. I have not used Flickr before, but I love the site. I could see using this in the classroom. We could take picture of field trips and share them through Flickr. Then the parents can see their children. I never used another site to photo hosting. I am unsure about making picture available to the public. I can she its advantages and disadvantages.

Thing #6 Discovering Web 2.0 Tools

I choose the site picnic. I have never heard of this site before. I found this site fun and exciting. You upload your image to this website and cut and edit! I love it. This makes photographs fun to do. You could go in and type a text on your photograph. Tweak the picture around. The only thing I didn’t like was the limits you had unless you bought a subscription. I created this picture of my son out in the snow last year. You could use this website to have the children create a mother’s day gift or father’s day. Parents would be appreciative.  http://www.picnik.com/

Thing #5- Some Perspectives on Web 2.0/School 2.0 and the Future of Education

What does “School 2.0” mean to me? With blogging which we are learning how to do and commenting, we are able to have students interact with us on blogging. We can teach our students how to use blogger just like we are learning.  What does this mean for the future of schools? This means students, teacher, principles, and parents can interact with one another through the technology that is available. For example, we can blog with our students about what they learned in class today. The parents can also join in on the fun of blogging and leaving encouraging comments for their children and other students. Maybe they have another idea the teacher had not mention.  The web 2.0 is the future for Education I found very helpful to me as a future teacher. I think this is a great website with tools to help me with teaching the kids. There are blogs, webinars, videos, and much more. I really found this site exciting and hope to use it when I start teaching.  The educator guide was also very helpful! It explains to me how to kids this is second nature. When it comes to teachers this may be the first thing they learn and try and teach it.

THING 4# Commeting

The reason why commenting helps to create a sense of community and interaction is because it helps us as writing the blogs to express how we feel or a problem we have. This also allows other followers to express how they feel about our blog and help with feedback. With the feedback and our blogs we write we feel like a close fitted community. The interaction will help us writers to continue to write more blogs. The feedback is an encouragement to the writer of the blog.

I found two things that will help with writing blogs and commenting. You have to be personal and tell a little about yourself. For example an experience you had that pertains to the blog. I also found you need to be kind and nice about your feedback. We don’t want to discourage someone from not writing anymore blogs.

The seven classmates blogs are Katie Kennedy, Bretlea Appleton, Kelly Hill , Cynthia Brown, Benjamin Howell, Miguel Martinez, and Amy Mills.

Katie Kennedy

She is a fellow classmate in my class. In her “Thing 2”, she posted creating a blog is something that I have never done before probably because it was so difficult. The reason why I choose this thing is because encouraging feedback will help her get through blogging. I went and commented some encouraging feedback. I think with positive feedback this will help her get through blogging. With choosing her blog I am hoping this will help her through the class.

Bretlea Appleton

She is another class.  In her “Thing 9”, she posted a pumpkin with spelling words. The reason why I choose this thing is because it was a great idea. I found this to be encouraging for children to learn their spelling words! I left a comment to let her know this was a great idea and I plan on using an idea like that in my classroom.

Kelly Hill

She is a fellow classmate in my class. In her “Thing 7”, she posted a picture of a roll tide sign. The reason why I choose this thing is because this picture expresses her personality. I could see which football team she pulls. This just helps express who she is as a person.

Cynthia Brown

She is another class.  In her thing “Thing 1”, she posted about what the easiest thing is and what is not. The reason why I choose this thing is because I can relate to technology being very easy and helpful in the classroom sitting. This will help children learn different things.

Benjamin Howell

He is a fellow classmate in my class. In his thing “Thing 9”, he posted a comic of a scientist. The reason why I choose this thing is because I think it is encouraging to students that they never ask stupid questions. What a better way to put it in a comic strip. I loved his picture.

Miguel Martinez

 He is a fellow classmate in my class. In his thing “Thing 6”, he posted he could not full experience getfirefox. The reason why I choose this thing is because to help encourage him to not get discouraged. With other people who have used firefox can help him with his experience for firefox.

Amy Mills

She is a fellow classmate in my class. In her thing “Thing 3”, she posted how this would help in teaching. The reason why I choose this thing is because I agree with her on how it’s the future. Most parents and students already use different things on the internet to connect with one another.