One Last Thing...

In the last post, we are to summerize our thoughts on this blogging experience. My favorite exersise was the LiveBinders one. I found this to be extremely helpful in organization. I know that i will use this as a future teacher and as a current student. This program has helped open my eyes into the world of technology. Technology is always changing, but that's a good thing. It is a great thing to know, that someday, perhaps tomorrow, someone will change how we view online educational tools or change the way we blog even. The biggest eye opening experience for me was Creative Commons/ Copyrights exersice because i didnt know that all the different laws and rights. The only thing that i would have done differently was not having so many blogs due so close together. Having all of the different tools under my belt will help me as a teacher to be a better educator, it will help me be more up to date on new technologies, and it will help me to be more organized. I plan to keep up via RSS feed. I have suscribed to many of the sites that we have visited, and so i can keep up with any changes very easily. Overall, this was a great blogging experience and i plan to keep my own personal blog, using Blogger! :)

Thing 23

In this post, were were to explore Creative Commons and the copyrights laws. Creative Commons licensing is very helpful as a future educator. Their goal is to make internet educational resources more available to everyone. As a future teacher, i need to be sure and comply with all of the rules so i do not infringe on others work. I will most definitely check and make sure the the worksheets i use, movies i show, and quizzes i give are available legally. I can use creative commons if i have questions about if my project is legal. One attribution that shows that the 23 Things site has been modified is "Credits" section. It lists that it has a Creative Commons liscense to be an educational site.

Thing 22

In this post, we were to explore LiveBinders. This website is a great organization tool. It allows you to group important website together for easy acsess. I can definitely see the benefits of using this website because you can use the same sites from year to year without having to research and refind the site that you had used. You can also easily share your binders with other teachers. Students can use this also because if you have a site with three different websites that you would like for them to visit, all of the sites a conveniently grouped together. I plan to use this site in the future.
I picked a binder for Google Earth Lesson Plans, Educational Games for Kids, and Educational Quizzes. The binder that i embedded is called Educational Games.
 

Educational Games

Thing 21

In this post, we were to make animated videos using photos. I think that this is a great tool! I personally have never used this kind of website, and i really enjoyed using this site. I have several occasions that this kind of thing would be great for! As a teacher, i could easily upload class photos of the children, projects, or even class trips. Not only would the children be enthused to see themselves and thier accomplishments, their parents could feel connected easily to the childrens lives. I know that i will definitely use something like this in the future.



Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Thing 20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySpKh5GJ3nY
In this post, we had to explore Youtube. I was so excited because i love Youtube. I always keep up with the latest video that is going around. I watched several videos and i found this one that i thought summed up all the ones that i watched. In the video it acctaully mentions Blogger! :) All of the teachers that they interveiwed used Blogger as a way to allow students to complete assignments at home. Most of them used it as a way for students to connect and talk about books that they were reading at the time. As a future Pk-3 teacher, i feel like blogging will be an excellent way for students to communicate and share their thoughts.

Thing 19

In this post, we were to explore other social networks on the internet. I opened the fuzzster link because i love animals. I have a cat named Biscut, whom i absolutely adore! She is so cute! I think that this site is a cute way for other pet lovers to unite and share their stories and pictures. I didnt know that there were this many different sites out there. When i think of social networking, i always think of Facebook or Twitter. (Myspace is almost obsolete now) Having this knowelege of all the different networks, i feel that i can seach and be able to find a certain kind of site that i would want in the future.

Thing 18

In this post, we are to explore Twitter or Facebook. I am a huge Facebook (FB) junkie! I get on my account everyday, whether it be on my Blackberry or on my laptop. I think that FB is a huge part of kids my age's lives. We have incorporated this networking site into our lives because it is easy to keep up with our friends and allow our friends to keep up with us. I think that it is important to know how to use these kinds of sites, because as we get older more and more people are going to use this as a way of communication. I think that FB has many useful features. You can write on friends "wall" which is their profile page and tell them anything you want. I love this tool because it is a quick and easy way of communicating. Since i have the FB app on my phone, these types of posts are sent directly to my phone so it is just as fast as a text message. In my honest opinion, i don't see a place for facebook in the future classroom. This site is used basicly for private lives and I feel like FB or Twitter does not belong in the classroom.
The link below is to my profile page on Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1784880979

Thing 17

In this post, we were to discover the usefulness of tagging things on the internet. Some of us may not realize it, but we use tagging almost everyday! In the social network, Facebook, when we upload a picture, we have the option to "Tag Friends" in the photos. We use the same basic principle when tagging websites according to their content. On the website, Delicious, it is a site that allows bookmarks and tags to all be in one place. As a future educator, i found that this tool could be very useful not only to me, but to my students as well. I could seach easily for lessons, blogs, or information about a certain topic that we are discussing in class that week. For my students, it would be a great tool to look up information and find connecting sites on their topic that they are researching. I think that teachers can collaborate easily with this tool and share sites they find interesting and useful. I can definitely see a place for this kind of site in the classroom. 

Thing 15

I found that wiki's encourage group projects. It supports group projects by allowing people to edit pages and contribute to your own workspace. I feel like wikipedia was a good idea, but has been taken out of context. You can no longer use this site as a source of good infomation because so many people have changed the right information to wrong facts either to be funny or just because its fun to change history. I would use a wiki in my classroom to let students edit each others information. I think it is interesting that you can edit information in the web! It is cool to input your own thoughts.

Thing 16

In this post, I have discovered that, once again, Google is the best thing out there! iGoogle allows for users to customize their own homepage which is useful because not everyone is the same. I organize my things different than someone else does. I had fun looking through the widgets that can be added on. As an educator, this can be useful for fast access to email, weather, and current events that are taking place that day.
As an avid online user, the online calendars are very useful to me. Every new event that is taking place can be added on the fly and accessed later. Also, reminders will pop-up which is always beneficial to all of the forgetful ones out there. This would be useful in my classroom because if the parents used this site, reminders could be sent to them about classroom events that were coming up. Being organized is a huge step towards becoming an effective teacher.
For me, the To-Do lists were great! I can type faster than I write and so listing everything that I need to do online is useful. It also helps legibility.
Hands down, MyStickies is the coolest thing! It allows you to use the internet like a book! This is very useful for research or even just browsing for fun! I think it was a great idea to be able to put virtual sticky notes anywhere on a web page!

Thing 14

In this post, we were to explore flow charts and mind maps. A mind map is like a chart of your own thoughts. The difference between a flow chart and a mind map is that a mind map has one main idea with others centered around it. I created a 'map' of things that i love and connected them. on Bubbl.us. This was a simple idea, but you could use this site to brainstorm ideas for a paper or for a project. I would recommend this site to students who wanted/needed to organize their thoughts. I will use this site in the future for the same reason. I also got to use a flow chart o Gliffy.com. Not only did i find a flow chart, but i also found floor plan section. I find floor plans and interior design SO interesting. In fact, if becoming a teacher had not worked out, i would have majored in Interior Design. I have to say that i played around on the site way more than i did on Bubbl.us. I found it to be very entertaining.

Thing 13

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t5x02Evr20Rgi5XWEiQEk5DQ3IowGBzHBZyHC_qMCuc/edit?hl=en#
The hyperlink above is an 'about me' that i typed in Google Docs. I perfer Google Docs to Zoho, because as i mentioned in the previous blog post, i am a big Google user. I find the interface simple and you dont have to sign up for an account like i had to with Zoho. I think that as a future teacher, i may have my students work together on an assignment using Google docs. They can see what others are writing if you hit the share button. I think students that share their ideas with one another is a great thing. You are never too old to learn something from someone. Children have gret ideas and this tool on the web can allow that to happen in a fun, easy way.

Thing 12

For this post we had to expolore Google tools. I love Google and i always use it as a search engine. However, i think i will use it much more now that i know all that i can do! The first tool i explored was Google Calendar. I like to be organized and i felt like this is a great way to keep track of my schedule since i am online everyday anyways. The second tool i used was Google alert. Not only ca i use this in my personal life, i can also use it in the classroom. I can set up an alert for the Florida Gators football team, and keep track of lets say a particular science experiment as it develops. That way as the experiment pogresses, my class and i will be notified of any changes that are made.

Thing 11

In this thing, we had to play around with more RSS feeds. Syndic8 was the most confusing. There were so many different sites that didn’t make a lot of sense. I also tried Topix.net. I felt like this one wasn’t much of what I would use because it was about news. I feel like I would only use that every now and then. Technorati was ineresting. It was somethin that i would use personally to kep track of Celebrities and their lives. One unusual post that I found was a blog called Observations of a Brain-Damaged Troll. It was about this guy that talked about issues in politics. One of his posts included ‘Limbaugh calls Michelle Obama fat’. I found this post to be interesting and unusual. I found this on Technorati. In this site, i also found that the keyword search ws simple to use. I typed in 'Florida Gators' and pages popped up about this topic. If you ever needed a particular topic, you could type any keyword and information would come up about it. Another way that i was able to locate news feeds was the tag index. I found it easy to locate ceratin topics by the alphabet. Some useful feeds i found were one about Blackberry. Since i recently got a blackberry, this feed would be helpful to me if i ever have any questions about my phone.

Thing 10

I like RSS feeds because it can help you keep track of what is going on with a certain site. I signed up for the blog RSS feed because it will let me know when something new comes up such as a headline or new blog. I could use this in the classroom to keep tabs on certain sites that update themselves with new information. This would be a good way to easily keep up with the new information. This new technology is a simple solution to keeping track of new information that is most important to you. I created a good reader account and so all of my blog posts and the ones that I have subscribed to showed up in the feed part.

Thing 9

 
In this thing, we had to explore image generators. I feel like in my future career of teaching students, this tool could possibly a cute way to organize folders or make cute name tags for each student. Of course it might tae awhile, but i think that each student would appreciate it. I tried to use smiley generator, and I could not find a place that allows you to upload your creation to a blog. I was disappointed because I made very cute blinking, polka dot letters that spelled my name. I then tried Image chef. I like this site better because it was simple to do. I made a heart with my name in it, which I liked. Also i made a liscence plate with my name on it, which is a cute idea for name plates for your class.

Thing 5

Web 2.0 is very important as our world changes. So many of us are web dependant now between facebook and online resources, we all depend on the web for much more than we give it credit for. As our world changes, so does the web. The web is constantly changing. We are making changes to the web so it is more user friendly. I took web classes in high school, and i find the web fascinating. I love learning new tools and using those tools for knowledge and new ideas. I plan to do just that when i get my own classroom.
School 2.0 is the same concept. The way that students are being taught is changing. I am in Math 4010, and there are major differences in the way i was taught and the way that i am learning to teach. I think that school 2.0 means that school/learning is changing and i plan to change with it. I think that it will make schools better for the children to learn in. I feel like schools give children a brighter future.

Thing 8

I enjoyed messing with these mash-up sites. I am a very creative person and i love messing around with photos. I have photoshopand enjoy creating different pictures. In my future classroom i could use these sites to let them explore another part of the world. Pictures can show children another place that they have never seen before. If they have sites like thses, it can make looking through pictures fun and exciting. It can be like an art project of sorts, with learning thrown in there.
I feel like photos on the web have their place. Of course any photo that will benefit education is okay with me. However inapproprite photos should not be uploaded obviously. Basicly i feel like certain photos are important to share. The web makes it easy to share.

Thing 7

 I have never been on Flickr before. After exploring some of the photos, i discovered how tags work. If you are a photographer, like the one who posted this photo in the link below, you can link all of your photos together to create a sort of portfolio. This guy, Eric3dmark, has posted many stunning photos of the beach. Since i typed in the word 'beach' of course he was someone who popped up. In all of his photos he tagged himself and the word beach to show all of his work rather than just one shot of the beach. If you are not a photographer, you could use this site for other things. For example, it is a good way to organize your own pictures. You can make them private or share them publicly. If you have family that lives far away, you can share these pictures with them easier than lugging your laptop out, if you even have a lap top. Flickr is a simpler solution to this problem. There are many sites similar to this site, but Flickr is one of the first sites to make this idea popular.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eric5dmark2/5226944420/in/photostream/

Thing 6

For this 'thing,' we had to find a new technology for the web on the 2009 web award site . I have selected Evernote. Evernote is a program that helps you to organize your notes. Not only can you take notes with this applications, you are also allowed to upload photos and document the, with comments and captions. Another neat feature with this website is that you can view your photos and notes from any computer that you log on to. This tool is very handy. For example, my family lives in the state of Florida. When i log on to my Aunt's computer, my photos of course are not there. But when i log onto Evernote, i am able to show my Aunt my photos with ease. Not only are you able to see this on your computer, you are also able to download this application on your phone, so your notes and photos are able to go anywhere you go! 

http://www.evernote.com/

Thing 4

COMMENTS! Commenting is an important tool in the blogging world. By commenting on others blogs, you can ask questions, tell someone your opinion, or possibly laugh with them. Commenting in a sense is 'putting your two cents worth in'. I feel that stating your opinion is important in our world because everyone has thoughts. Sometimes thoughts should not be shared, but in this case, sharing is important!
Reading others blogs is fun. It is interesting to see what opinions others have and feel like they should share. It is also fun to input your thoughts and let them think about what you have said. Someone said it is important for being a responsible blogger. I agree with them. Someone else said dont be a troll. Commenting makes the blogger feel good to know that others are spending time reading their blogs. I know i like it when people comment on my blog! :)
I commented on someons's blog that lost her dog and used that experience to pick what picture she wanted in Flickr.

Thing 3

Blogging is a part of the internet that can be very useful for everyone, but especially for teachers. In teaching, blogging is beneficial for networking. Posting my own problems and reading about others classrooms can help me learn of potential problems, but it can help me learn of solutions to those problems. It can also give me new ideas as to what to teach in a lesson that maybe I'm not quite sure that I am presenting the topic in the best possible way. Blogging is also important in the respect that it can  allow students to learn a new technology. Having students blog could help them connect with new friends and socialize in a fun, creative way.

Thing 2

As i created this blog and my avatar, i will be the first to admit i was frustrated. Sometimes technology does not agree with you and that can become tiring and upsetting. However, i don't think that i will regret making this blog. I enjoy writing, and i always have an opinion. I named my blog something that i know would identify me among my class. It was not the exact name that i would have chosen, but i kinda like the name now. I will use this blogging experience to sharpen my computer skills, especially on a Mac computer. I am hopelessly addicted to PC's. I want to learn to use all the tools available to me, and i know that by learning the Mac computer better, i will become a better teacher.
As i tried to post my avatar to my blog, i was frustrated, yet again. for some reason, my html code was not pasting to my blog. It just would not appear. When i clicked on add javascript, however, it popped up. I had fun creating my avatar. I did create my avatar to look something similar to me, but i don't think it matches my personality perfectly. I added the little sheep to it, because i thought he was cute! :)

Thing 1

As i watched this tutorial, i learned about lifelong learning. I think that the easiest habit for me to complete is asking for help and surrounding myself with people that are educated enough to help me. I am a very inquisitive person, and i am not afraid to ask for a clearer understanding of something that i am not sure of. I think that my hardest part of lifelong learning will be to view problems as challenges. I tend to think of problems as  obstacles and i need to begin to think of them as challenges. I think that this promotes a happier, healthier, positive outlook on life and lifelong learning.