Thing #12

I decided to try out Google calandar and it is absolutely amazing!!!! I love how the calandar is organized. It's organization makes me want to be organized! It gives you the option to fill in your individual days, providing plenty of space for details, your weekly schedule and 4 day schedule and agenda. I like that you can choose who can view your calandar, so you can make plans with your friends or co-workers. Also, they have an option where you can send out invitations and people can RSVP through your calandar. I'm excited to explore the Google Calandar even more. I feel like a calandar is very important for me to be able to function and keep up with myself. This calandar will help me remember meetings or in-services I need to attend, or dates I need to remember to accomplish certain tasks by.

I also looked at Google Notebook, which actually allows you to clip information as you surf the web. This will be very useful when doing research for projects as a student, or finding clips for my students for WebQuests and stuff like that. The best part is that you can access your notebook or notes from any computer!!! No more lost notebooks for this girl!

Thing #11

I tried all the search tools listed but I still like google's blog search the best because it is the most familiar to me. Technorati had a lot going on on it's page. I found it very overwhelming and the text was really small. I liked how in Topix I could add my Zip Code in the search box and all the local news popped up. All of these search tools seemed the same. They all had search boxes and you had to type what you wanted to find. I really didn't see other tools to search for feeds. Some of the pages had categories to choose from. Everything was very broad. I really didn't find anything unusual since I really didn't know what I was looking for.

Thing #10

I decided to create an account with Google Reader. It seemed like the easiest way to go since the guy on the original video I watched showed me how it worked. I liked that Google Reader had the option of bundling. I signed up for all the News feeds and the most popular education sites. I also signed up for Cool Cat Teacher since Dr. Wall recommended it. I checked it out. It looked pretty neat.

I like that RSS and newsreaders send all the latest information to me. It saves a lot of time that I may have spent visiting all the different websites. I hardly use the web for anything but email so RSS isn't really helpful to me at this point, but I can see how it is a very useful tool. I'm not sure how I could use RSS in school. I guess I could just keep up with the latest education technologies and news by reading up on the feeds I signed up for.

Thing #9

I really had a hard time with this exercise. I really wanted to create a puzzel using one of my own pictures, but every time I tried to upload my picture, the computer said error. Then I tried to create a liscense place and it wouldn't work for me. I also wanted to create a wordart thing, but the only shape to choose from was a heart and I couldn't think of anything to write inside except what their example said. Sooo I found this Monopoly Card generator. I have the Lottory Scholarship on my mind, so that was the chance card I created. I also created a smiley face holding a wooden sign using Smiley Face Sign Generator. I liked this activity because there were lots of smiley faces to choose from and so many possibilities of things to write. I really don't see how these programs could be included into your lessons. All of this seems like fluff, and I usually wouldn't waste my time on creating stuff like this.

Thing #8

I used Mosaic Maker for my mashup and had so much fun using the photos from Flickr to create my mosaic. I chose to do flowers because they are colorful and all of the flowers have water on them because I was looking under the category "rain."

I think that this could be used in the classroom as a project. For example the topic could be pollution, and the student could search for photos involving the harmful effects of pollution. It is a fun and creative way to learn more about our world!

I really like the idea of being able to share photos online. I think that it would be cool to visit a place in which you took lots of pictures while you were there and then compare your photos to someone who has been to the same exact place. I bet the photos will be completely different. The only thing I worry about is not knowing how to cite the photos that I'm using. I don't want to claim someone else's photos!

From Left to Right, Top to Bottom
Photo 1
Photo 2
Photo 3
Photo 4
Photo 5
Photo 6
Photo 7
Photo 8
Photo 9

Thing #7

I chose to use the word rain as the keyword I typed in to the search box. I found this picture taken by marinnazilla and I really like it. I love how you can see the splash of the raindrops hitting the wet pavement. I love that the person in the picture has rolled up her jeans and is barefoot. I can't wait for the weather to be warm enough to be able to run around barefoot again!

I had fun exploring what Flickr had to offer. I actually used Picnik the other day when I needed to shrink a photo for my WebQuest. It was very easy to use and very helpful. After seeing what Flickr was all about, I had the urge to take some pictures! I probably won't open an account on Flickr since I rarly take pictures anyway, but I enjoyed the website.

Thing #6

I noticed that YouTube was one of the Web 2.0 tools we could choose from. I've never actually gone to YouTube before for fun, but I have found it very useful to find videos for presentations. I just had a project due in my special education class about students who are deaf or hard of hearing. I typed in some keywords and found a clip to the movie Mr. Holland's Opus. It is a movie about a music teacher whose son his deaf. The clip was exactly what I needed for our presentation and I think our class enjoyed watching the clip. I feel like a teacher could incorporate some of the videos from YouTube in his/her class to make the class more aware about a certain issue or so that students can hear someone else's perspective on an issue.

I like that the site has a search box so you can find what is offered by putting in some key words. I don't like that you have to have exact wording if you are trying to find a particular video. I also don't like that there are no censors on the video. You never know what is coming up and if it is appropriate or not. I would definitely never let my students explore YouTube on their own!

Thing #5

Web 2.0 means read/write web, so I think that School 2.0 means how teachers will integrate technology in to their lessons in which reading and writing is concerned. As for the future, the computer will replace some of the most common paper and pencil tasks.

I really enjoyed reading the article, "New Literacies: Enrichment or Essential?" I especially liked the section about Digital Storytelling. In many ways teachers have to be entertainers. Teachers have to compete with the thrill students gain from watching televison and playing video games. There is no reason why learning can't be fun and technology is the way to do it. I don't feel like everything should be digital. I feel like parents and teachers should still read a story aloud to his or her students. But a child is more likely going to remember creating their own digital narrative than a paragraph they had to write about a story or a picture they drew. We should give our students the opportunity to explore their creativity. Sure digital storytelling is a longer process, but students can learn that the harder they work and the more time they put in to their project, the better the result will be.

I also read Web 2.0: A Guide for Educators. I was excited to see that I have learned how to do 2 of the 3 things listed under Tools that Drive Personal Learning Environments, which is how to create a blog and podcast. I will most definitely be using podcasts in some way in my classroom. Student's will get to hear themselves read out loud and get to be creative with it at the same time. Technology can be an amazing tool in your classroom as long as you know how to use it for efficient learning and your activities are structered.

Thing #3

I've enjoyed being able to look at my classmates blogs as we all go through the process of completing our 23 things. It is nice to know that I am not the only one having complications at certain points.

I feel like a class blog could be a useful tool to keep parents and students involved in what is going on in your school or class. I liked the idea of showcasing students' art, poetry, or creative writing on a blog. This could be a goal for them and also a way for them to feel special. I would love for my class to come up with a newletter and post articles written by the students or pictures taken by the students. Blogging is a whole new way students can be creative and show off what they have learned.

It might also be nice to have my own teacher blog in which I can share and gain ideas from other teachers. It would be beneficial to document teaching insights I've gained from incidents that have happened in my class. I think it would also be nice to keep a log of good things that have happened while teaching, so that I'll have something happy to read when I've hit a rough patch.

Thing #2

I had a hard time coming up with a name for my blog. I first had to check out everyone else's blog names to make sure I would have something similar. I knew that I had to include my last name in the blog title so I tried to come up with s-words and came up with slow and successful. Slow and successful describes me best when working with computers. I'm very reluctant but at the same time determined to finish what I start. My title was going to be Jenny Sanders' Slow But Successful Learning Moments, but it wouldn't allow a title that long so I shortened my name to Jen.

Creating a blog was quite a task for me. The process and set up was easy, but I had a hard time coming up with a title and a URL that I wanted to use. My only other complication was that I didn’t know the difference between a blog and a post. I accidentally created two blogs, one was titled Thing 1. It took me some time to figure out how to delete that blog.

I had a lot of fun creating my avatar. I spent about two hours creating my avatar. My curiosity got the best of me and I spent most of my time looking at every single option possible. My avatar has light colored skin, but isn’t completely pale. I chose brown hair and brown eyes for my avatar. I was disappointed that they didn’t have shoulder length hair with a part in the middle, so I chose the hair style that resembled mine the most. I dressed my avatar in a black dress with white polka dots because I love to dress up and I LOVE polka dots and the colors red, white, and black together. I chose an outdoorsy background because I love being outside surrounded by greenery and the sun.

Thing #1

The lifelong learning habit that is hard for me is Habit 6, which is use technology to your advantage. I tend to shy away from anything that is technology-based. I like to keep things simple and I see technology as complicated. However, I'm beginning to see how technology can simplify life if you give it a chance. The lifelong learning habit that is easy for me is Habit 7 1/2, which is play. I always look forward to the times when you get to try out something you've just learned.

My experience setting up a blog was an interesting process. I'm a very indecisive person in general, but more so when I'm doing something for the first time. It took me forever to pick out a name for my blog simply because I didn't want to do something that wasn't right. My most frustrating moment was when a realized that I didn't know the difference between a blog and a post because I had accidentally created a blog for my Thing #1. I was embarrassed and wanted to delete the extra blog immediately but couldn't figure out how to get rid of it. I finally figured out how after playing around with the different tabs. I’ve been dreading the whole creating my own blog thing, but I think it’s growing on me! I hope to learn as much as possible about the Web 2.0 tools.