I set up an iGoogle and a Google Calendar. iGoogle was so great! I liked how I could pick what I wanted to show up on my iGoogle homepage! I chose entertainment and news, two things that I love to keep up on! I like that when I get on my computer, that will pop up so I can get caught up on the latest, and also not having a bunch of random things that I don't care about taking up room on my homepage.
Google Calendar is a great tool! I can add events to make sure that I remember them, and I can set up reminders for a certain time before the event takes place. This is great for me because I am a very forgetful person! If I don't write it down, I more than likely won't remember it. This would be great for keeping up with classroom and school events and making reminders for when I need to have different things done.
https://www.google.com/calendar/render?tab=wc
http://www.google.com/ig
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Thing Eleven! Searching for Blogs
It is important for teachers to be able to get to information as easy as possible. I found that the Google Blogs search was much easier than all of the others, and I just prefer Google anyway. I didn't like the Technorati search very much. It just seemed like it was more difficult to use to me. I really only found blogs explaining the 23 things and what you're supposed to do to complete them. I found one blog that was about a Web 2.0 conference and the author of the blog was presenting there, which was pretty cool!
Thing Ten! RSS Feeds
At first, I was honestly a little confused about this whole RSS thing. The more I played around with it, I was able to see how it could be useful. I liked that the feeds that I chose all showed up in one place, so that I could see updates without having to go to each one individually. Teachers could use this in the classroom to show students current events, or if the class is keeping up with certain blogs they can all be shown right there. Teachers can use it for themselves in the same way as they would in the classroom. I don't know that this would be something that I would definitely use in my classroom, but I know it's there if I ever need it!
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Thing Nine! Getting Creative with Generators!
I used the smiley face generator for this one. This took me a little while to get it to look just the way I wanted. I couldn't get all of the text on the sign at first, but I eventually got it all there. This would be fun for an elementary classroom! A smiley face could greet them with a special message every morning when they get to school.
http://www.imagechef.com/
This one came from imagechef. I really goofed off with this, but it could definitely be used for serious things, too! This was super easy to make. It was just a matter of uploading a photo and the site does the rest! I could use this to award students for various things, such as doing his/her homework all week, or having perfect behavior. I could print these off and post them in the classroom. This site has so many different things that you can make, it could be used for so many different things! A very good tool!
Thing Eight! Flickr Mashups
The Flickr mashups were fun! I have always loved those pictures that have names spelled out of random objects, so I jumped at the chance to play around with this one! I think that this particular mashup would be very good for teachers in the elementary level! I would use this to spell out each student's first name and make them into cute name tags. This would be a good alternative to the same old name tags that we all probably had in elementary school.
The other mashups that you could use to make mosaics and collages would be great for students use on projects. They could find pictures of historical events or they could even use it on a introductory project and use pictures of themselves or family members to introduce themselves to the class. Tools like these are great for bringing the creativity out in students! The possibilities are endless!
Thing Seven! Flickr
I decided to make an account on Flickr and upload my own photos. I actually really liked Flickr! It was very easy to use. I would definitely use this for my personal photos to keep them organized. I would probably make it more private if I added more, though. I'm not sure I like the whole world being able to see me. I use Instagram on for pictures that I take on my phone, and I of course use Facebook, but those are the only photo sharing sites that I have used up until now. I think Flickr could possibly be used in the classroom to pull up picture for something like a history lesson. You could keep your pictures organized so that when it came time to show them, they are easy to get to. Now for the pictures I chose to upload to Flickr! Again, I want this blog to reflect me, so I chose pictures of the people that mean the most to me.
This is my boyfriend, Eddie, and I at Mount Rushmore this past summer!
This is my mom, me, and my Aunt Sharron on our farm!
My dad and I during a trip to Wyoming!
My brother, Josh, his girlfriend, Lindsey, and I at Grants Farm in St. Louis, MO!
My Uncle Bill, Aunt Sharron, and I on my 20th birthday!
My Paw-Paw and I on my 20th birthday! We lost my Nanny in 2007, so we try to spend as much time with him as we can.
These people are my life! I wouldn't trade a thing for them!
Thing Six! Pandora Internet Radio
I chose to explore Pandora. I have Pandora on my iPad and my iPhone and I use it all the time! Pandora is a way to listen to music for free. You choose an artist or a genre and there are stations already set up containing music from the artist you chose, and artists like them, or artists under the genre you chose. I have a lot of country radio on mine! Pandora could be useful in the classroom. Students sometimes find it relaxing to have music playing as they are taking a test or doing classwork. Of course, this would have to be school appropriate music. If the class is learning about other cultures, Pandora could be used to play the music from that culture so that the students could experience what those people listen to. I would also possibly use it for fun, like when the class has holiday parties. Being a music lover, I could definitely see Pandora being used in my classroom!
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