I explored YouTube and found that it has much to offer in the way of videos. The important thing is to be watchful of what you search for and what you choose. I happen to love this song by Garth Brooks and I liked watching Dale Earnhardt race, so this is a perfect combination for a video in my mind. There could be benefits from using YouTube in your classroom, but you would need to research carefully and create a library of "safe" videos to use so you wouldn't offend anyone or embarrass yourself!
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Monday, April 4, 2011
Thing # 19
I am a member of a few online communities. I have joined several online communities that are based around education throughout this course. I am also a member of Twitter, which I mentioned in the other exercise. The TeacherPop social network seems like it would be very beneficial to teachers. I just joined TeacherPop, but I think it could be useful in my future career as a teacher. It would be a good way to share and receive ideas about lesson plans throughout the year. I think that the section for others to leave comments is a good way to get feedback on some of your ideas, and a great way to let others know that you appreciate their ideas. I tried to upload my badge from TeacherPop, but I could not get it to work properly. I explored some other social networking sites that I thought would be of interest to me, and it seems like they would both be good sites to join. I explored two sites that are related to music, since it is a large part of my life. The first site that I explored was last.fm, which is a social networking site that allows you to listen to your favorite music and communicate with people who enjoy listening to the same types of music that you do. The other site that I explored was Project Playlist. This seems to be an amazing site. It allows you to create a playlist and then share it with others on the other social networking sites you use such as Twitter or Facebook. This is a great site for anyone who enjoys all types of music, because you can create a playlist and share it with others. This gives others the opportunity to enjoy the same music that you do. I would recommend these two sites to anyone who enjoys music.
Thing # 18
I am the first to admit that I am not the most tech-savvy person in the world, but I do seem to be making some headway through the exercises in this class. I have a Facebook and a Twitter account, but only for a short time. The Facebook account was set up to keep in touch with family and friends and to see photos of grandkids, great-grandkids, great-nieces, etc., and because I have no time to write letters to anyone in order to stay informed. I do not like putting my links out for everyone, but I will say that I was able to reconnect with a very good high school friend that I had lost touch with through Facebook. Just on a lark, I typed her name in one day and lo and behold, there she was with all her kids and grandkids. So, I suppose I can see some good possibilities for the usefulness of Facebook and Twitter.
My Twitter account was set up for this class, and is geared more towards communicating with other teachers and educators. I believe that this type of social networking will be highly beneficial to me as a future educator and along those lines, I added a lot of websites about teaching, education, English teachers and literature. I have learned a great deal from these assignments that are pushing me into the world of technology.
My Twitter account was set up for this class, and is geared more towards communicating with other teachers and educators. I believe that this type of social networking will be highly beneficial to me as a future educator and along those lines, I added a lot of websites about teaching, education, English teachers and literature. I have learned a great deal from these assignments that are pushing me into the world of technology.
Thing # 17
Tagging is a great way to find information and help categorize it. There are unlimited uses in the classroom for these things. I think it is great to know that I can go to one of these sites and find whatever information I want with such ease. There is so much potential for this in the clasroom.
I really enjoyed Del.icio.us and think it will be quite helpful to me as a teacher, as well as being able to see its usefulness to students. I am a pretty organized person, or I try to be, and the ability to share information and links with my peers and students will be extremely useful. It should also help me to stay current on the latest technology and information pertaining to education and teaching.
I really enjoyed Del.icio.us and think it will be quite helpful to me as a teacher, as well as being able to see its usefulness to students. I am a pretty organized person, or I try to be, and the ability to share information and links with my peers and students will be extremely useful. It should also help me to stay current on the latest technology and information pertaining to education and teaching.
Thing #16
My favorite start page would have to be Google, but I honestly had no idea just how much Google has to offer. The online calendar could be very useful, and I do have one set up to try and stay a little more organized, because the only memory loss it has is if I forget to post it. I really think the calendar would be more useful in a classroom setting by a teacher. The Ta-Da list was simple and straight-forward, but I am used to writing things in my planner that I carry with me all the time, and I am not around a computer at all times of the day. I have to admit that I tend to get flustered when I am trying to use some of these tools and tend not to like those tools too well. If it gets too technical, I will just shut it down and go on because I have way too much going on in my life right now to get bogged down in technology. While that is not the expected attitude of an novice teacher, I figure I might as well be honest even if I am not tech-savvy!
Thing # 15
When doing research, Wiki is a terrible reference, but it might be very useful in a classroom. Since the whole point of a Wiki is that many people can contribute, it becomes easy for anyone to go in and change any material that the article may have posted, even if it's wrong! This is what makes Wiki a bad reference because there is no way to be certain what information is coming from a reliable source.
But, while it is not useful for a reference, it would be very useful to set up a Wiki and have it become a class project with all the students researching and collaborating. This could cause the students to gain a great amount of knowledge about a subject. Monitoring would be needed, by all means, but it could become a great group or class project.
But, while it is not useful for a reference, it would be very useful to set up a Wiki and have it become a class project with all the students researching and collaborating. This could cause the students to gain a great amount of knowledge about a subject. Monitoring would be needed, by all means, but it could become a great group or class project.
Thing # 14
I explored all the different mind maps and flowcharts and I believe that the difference between the two is that the flowchart is like different steps in doing something while a mind map is more like a brainstorm chart. I used Bubbl.us to make a chart of the things I need to have a cookout for my grandson's baseball team and it was so easy to use. Going from one bubble to the next was very easy and moving them around to place them where I wanted was easy, too. The site was easy to use and navigate.
I really liked these tools. I think that these charts would be most useful for actual activites in a classroom such as using the flow charts to help students brainstorm ideas for writing a paper and the maps could be use to create different views. For the most part, the charts followed the same basic concepts, but both could be interchanged in a classroom.
I really liked these tools. I think that these charts would be most useful for actual activites in a classroom such as using the flow charts to help students brainstorm ideas for writing a paper and the maps could be use to create different views. For the most part, the charts followed the same basic concepts, but both could be interchanged in a classroom.
Thing # 13
I have explored both Zoho Writer and Google Docs and discovered that Zoho Writer is like Window Office , only Zoho is connected directly to the Internet which allows me to connect to my documents from any computer I may be using. Also, on Zoho, if my computer goes down or crashes, my document will be saved and I can access it from another computer and continue to work on the document. This would be a very useful asset and it also makes it easier to work on documents and send it to others. It is also possible to allow other people to edit my writing, but it would take some time to get use to Zoho's differences from Office.
I thought that Google Docs was a very helpful resource. I used Google Docs to create an excel and it was just like the Windows Excel, which helped to figure out how to use it. One difference was that you needed to make sure you know how to use the formulas because the Google Docs excel doesn't do it automatically. I used the Edit form and created a test with multiple-choice questions, fill-in-the-blank, etc, and it was very easy to use. There were also different backgrounds to choose from to apply to my test.
Google Docs was easy to use and students could use it for projects in the classroom. They would also be able to use it at home if they have the Internet. I prefer Google Docs to Zoho because I was already familiar with Google and understood all the options easier. It would be more convenient for me to use Google instead of learning Zoho, but I can see where it might be very useful sometimes.
I thought that Google Docs was a very helpful resource. I used Google Docs to create an excel and it was just like the Windows Excel, which helped to figure out how to use it. One difference was that you needed to make sure you know how to use the formulas because the Google Docs excel doesn't do it automatically. I used the Edit form and created a test with multiple-choice questions, fill-in-the-blank, etc, and it was very easy to use. There were also different backgrounds to choose from to apply to my test.
Google Docs was easy to use and students could use it for projects in the classroom. They would also be able to use it at home if they have the Internet. I prefer Google Docs to Zoho because I was already familiar with Google and understood all the options easier. It would be more convenient for me to use Google instead of learning Zoho, but I can see where it might be very useful sometimes.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Thing #12
I checked out all of Google's neat tools and decided to try out Google calendar and Google alerts. The alert I set up was for updates on managing diabetes as there are many new ideas coming out every day or so it seems. I liked Google calendar and set up my own with class times and Jaylen's baseball practices and my great-granddaughter's 1st birthday party. I can see where both of these tools would come in use in a classroom as you can never have too many calendars to remind yourself of what is going on and when items are due. The Google alert could be used to update information on any topic that my class might be studying throughout the school year.
Thing #11
The easiest way for me to find feeds were to check the Edublog reccommended sites and to check blogs that I am already following. The easiest to maneuver for me was Technorati and the hardest was Topix, but that could just be me not being real tech-savvy, yet. A couple of interesting finds for me was Spencer's Scratch Pad because it is interesting and Diabetes Mine: the all things diabetes blog, because I am a Type 2 diabetic and I am always looking for information to help me cope.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Thing # 10
So, I have a Google Reader account and have subscribed to several feeds. I think this will be a great wayh to keep track of a greater number of sites at once and to receive relevant information for teaching and the classroom. Not only can I keep up with news items through this feed, but colleagues and friends also. It is a great time saver when searching for sites that interest me both as a teacher and personally.
This would be a good way to get students connected to each other as a class project or to communicate any problems that might be happening with schoolwork. It really is a neat place to gather information and I am learning so much about the internet and its connections!
This would be a good way to get students connected to each other as a class project or to communicate any problems that might be happening with schoolwork. It really is a neat place to gather information and I am learning so much about the internet and its connections!
Thing #9
In honor of our upcoming Irish Day celebration, I chose a shamrock to generate from the image generators. This is a great tool once you get the hang of it.lol
I can see a great deal of possibilities for an image generator in the classroom. It could be used to interface many places, or things to subject content of any curriculum and would be a good way to keep students interested in class activities or to motivate them to take part. Creativity could be sparked if students were given the opportunity to incorporate the use of an image generator into a project.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Thing #7
Glory! I think I am on the right track, finally, When I went to Flickr to explore, I found some really fascinating photos and things to do with them. I first just played around exploring different tags and groups, but finally decided to explore photos from January 18, 2011, as this is my husband's birthday and our wedding anniversary! This photo just took my breath away when I saw it, but it wasn't my first choice for a photo to upload to my blog. There was a beautiful photo of an owl that was not being shared that caught my eye first, but this one is equally breathtaking, I think. It is a photo of the Pyramid Mountain in Iceland and it is appropriately named judging from the photo. The colors are spectacular.
Flickr is a really interesting site to explore and I can definitely see where it will work well in a classroom. The uses for this site are endless when it comes to projects that can incorporate photos.
Thing #6
There were two sites that I found really interesting-Pandora and RememberTheMilk.com. Pandora caught my eye because I like being able to listen to music genres that I choose to listen to without a lot of hassle. Remember the Milk was an eyecatching curiosity. I love the idea of being able to create lists to keep track of "things-to-do" that is easily accessible from my phone, also. At my age, (sixty), one needs all the help one can get when it comes to memory retention, particularly if your daily life is as hectic as mine. When I am in the grocery store with my six year old grandson, it can be a real challenge to try and remember what I need to buy with "superboy" flying around the store pleading for me to "buy this". As a student, a list of assignmens due and special projects due will help keep me organized and on track. As a teacher, lists will be an integral part of my life and one centralized place to accomplish them really sounds enticing! The ability to keep up with all my students' tasks and progress will make me a better informed teacher that can be more responsive to my students needs.
The use of this tool in a library setting would be great in keeping up with research articles, books, etc., when working on papers or projects.
The use of this tool in a library setting would be great in keeping up with research articles, books, etc., when working on papers or projects.
Thing #5
The internet is a vast and expanding network of informational, educational, and entertaining places where we can all participate. As with most things, however, there are good and bad forces at work on the internet. The key, I believe, is to become responsible educators who teach our students how to use this resource wisely and to our benefit.
School 2.0 is a progressive idea in education that has both good and bad forces to it, also. While giving educators and students great opportunities in interactive education that could improve knowledge content and responsiveness, it also sets up the possibility of creating a robotic, unemotional student if there is not a balanced proportion of face-to-face interaction. For all its expansiveness, there is nothing like a conversation between two people or a rousing discussion amongst several people to bring home a point.
Therefore, I can see great potential for School 2.0 in the future of education if it is incorporated into the curriculum with the idea of expanding the student's knowledge base and their research abilities. What it will mean to me as a teacher is that I will use any and all technology in order to reach my students on their plain of thinking. Being a success as a teacher will be accomplished, in my mind, if I see the "light bulb go on" in my students responses because, ultimately, they are the most important aspect of my teaching career.
School 2.0 is a progressive idea in education that has both good and bad forces to it, also. While giving educators and students great opportunities in interactive education that could improve knowledge content and responsiveness, it also sets up the possibility of creating a robotic, unemotional student if there is not a balanced proportion of face-to-face interaction. For all its expansiveness, there is nothing like a conversation between two people or a rousing discussion amongst several people to bring home a point.
Therefore, I can see great potential for School 2.0 in the future of education if it is incorporated into the curriculum with the idea of expanding the student's knowledge base and their research abilities. What it will mean to me as a teacher is that I will use any and all technology in order to reach my students on their plain of thinking. Being a success as a teacher will be accomplished, in my mind, if I see the "light bulb go on" in my students responses because, ultimately, they are the most important aspect of my teaching career.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Thing #4
In posting a comment on a blog, you are voicing a response or an opinion about an idea that has been expressed and your comment may agree or disagree (with tact and diplomacy, of course). Either way, you are a contributing spoke in the conversation wheel the blogger created, as anyone who posts a comment to the blog will also become. As each contributing spoke is added to the conversation wheel, it becomes a stronger, more defined conversation that evolves into a sense of community and interaction, just as when we are conversing with our friends or classmates about a particular subject.
When we leave a comment on a blog, we are letting the blogger know that s/he has posted something with which we can empathize and that they are not just "talking to themselves". Our comments also serve as "cyber RSVP's" and let the blogger know that there are others with thoughts about the subject of the blog that are willing to "stand up and be counted" thereby creating "strength in numbers" which gives the blog its sense of community.
A rather important point about commenting on a blog that was in the readings concerned how to "agree to disagree" in a mannerly fashion. It is expected that not everyone will agree with the blogger's viewpoint, but it is also a given that the way in which you disagree is as important as stating your opposing view. There should be no ranting, abusive tirade with unacceptable language or name-calling. After all, this is America and we are all entitled to our opinions if given in a respectful comment with consideration for the feelings of others. Because we are becoming such a diversely populated country, tolerance for others and their opinions needs to be followed.
Another point in the readings was made about how to get more comments on a blog. While comments are generally thought to be an unstated expectation from a well-versed blog, it seems that only about 6 percent of people who visit a blog take the time to make a contributional comment. Therefore, we are told to ask for comments and responses to our blogs much as you would invite someone to enter a discussion on a particular subject. It seems that most of the population needs to be cajolled into making the physical effort to respond.
The blogs that I selected to read and comment on in our group are Tammy Waters, Sandra Febus, Mary Beth Cannon, Anne Sritzel, and Kristin Barrett. I chose Tammy because whe was one of the first to comment on my blog, as was Sandra. I chose Mary Beth because she sits next to me in class and has helped me many a time when I was "technologically lost"! Anne sits in front of me in class and I really like reading her posts to her blog. Kristin was selected because we were in EDUC 2100 together and she is very technology savvy!
The two other blogs I selected to read and comment on are HuffpostEducation which has great information about all things connected to education that will be relevant to me as a student and educator; and the other blog is SuccessfulTeaching which has tips for teachers and wonderful commentary that will help me as I continue to prepare for being a high school English teacher.
When we leave a comment on a blog, we are letting the blogger know that s/he has posted something with which we can empathize and that they are not just "talking to themselves". Our comments also serve as "cyber RSVP's" and let the blogger know that there are others with thoughts about the subject of the blog that are willing to "stand up and be counted" thereby creating "strength in numbers" which gives the blog its sense of community.
A rather important point about commenting on a blog that was in the readings concerned how to "agree to disagree" in a mannerly fashion. It is expected that not everyone will agree with the blogger's viewpoint, but it is also a given that the way in which you disagree is as important as stating your opposing view. There should be no ranting, abusive tirade with unacceptable language or name-calling. After all, this is America and we are all entitled to our opinions if given in a respectful comment with consideration for the feelings of others. Because we are becoming such a diversely populated country, tolerance for others and their opinions needs to be followed.
Another point in the readings was made about how to get more comments on a blog. While comments are generally thought to be an unstated expectation from a well-versed blog, it seems that only about 6 percent of people who visit a blog take the time to make a contributional comment. Therefore, we are told to ask for comments and responses to our blogs much as you would invite someone to enter a discussion on a particular subject. It seems that most of the population needs to be cajolled into making the physical effort to respond.
The blogs that I selected to read and comment on in our group are Tammy Waters, Sandra Febus, Mary Beth Cannon, Anne Sritzel, and Kristin Barrett. I chose Tammy because whe was one of the first to comment on my blog, as was Sandra. I chose Mary Beth because she sits next to me in class and has helped me many a time when I was "technologically lost"! Anne sits in front of me in class and I really like reading her posts to her blog. Kristin was selected because we were in EDUC 2100 together and she is very technology savvy!
The two other blogs I selected to read and comment on are HuffpostEducation which has great information about all things connected to education that will be relevant to me as a student and educator; and the other blog is SuccessfulTeaching which has tips for teachers and wonderful commentary that will help me as I continue to prepare for being a high school English teacher.
Thing #3
I registered my blog a while back, but I have been going in circles lately and am just now getting around to posting. The thing is, I think I created two different blogs, but only Nanniemary is registered for credit; the other one is mlhutchinson and I have no idea how I did this! Whew! I hope I get the hang of this soon.
I orginally thought that a blog was nothing more than a place people created to gossip or draw attention to themselves. I am pleased to say that I have had a complete change in opinion since starting "The 23 Things" list.
A blog, when used correctly, could be a very useful tool to the teachers, students and parents for maintaining communication about lessons and progress of students. Its use in a classroom for interaction with students would provide invaluable opportunities for enrichment with full-class or one-on-one participation possibilities. Students could get faster feedback in case of a problem with a lesson and teachers could see where students are grasping material and where they need additional help. For those students that are shy about asking a teacher for help, the blog could provide an avenue for help from their classmates or the opportunity to view another classmates ideas on learning the material.
For parental communication, a blog could be used to keep up with students progress or problems and for parent or teacher to maintain contact without students becoming averse to their dialogue (by using separate blogs for parents and students, of course).
All in all, I can see real potential on a broad spectrum for the use of a blog.
I orginally thought that a blog was nothing more than a place people created to gossip or draw attention to themselves. I am pleased to say that I have had a complete change in opinion since starting "The 23 Things" list.
A blog, when used correctly, could be a very useful tool to the teachers, students and parents for maintaining communication about lessons and progress of students. Its use in a classroom for interaction with students would provide invaluable opportunities for enrichment with full-class or one-on-one participation possibilities. Students could get faster feedback in case of a problem with a lesson and teachers could see where students are grasping material and where they need additional help. For those students that are shy about asking a teacher for help, the blog could provide an avenue for help from their classmates or the opportunity to view another classmates ideas on learning the material.
For parental communication, a blog could be used to keep up with students progress or problems and for parent or teacher to maintain contact without students becoming averse to their dialogue (by using separate blogs for parents and students, of course).
All in all, I can see real potential on a broad spectrum for the use of a blog.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Thing #2
Creating my blog and avatar was a great learning experience for me. Since I am not tech-savvy, I found it amazing what could be done in creating both the blog and the avatar. I decided on my posting name by remembering that Dr. Wall wanted us to use our last name and I just addied my initials. I kept it simple because there is so much to remember when it comes to usernames, passwords, URL's, etc. I chose "Nanniemary" for the name of my blog because I am "Nannie" to six grandsons and one great-granddaughter and adding my first name to create a unique name.
As I posted previously, creating the blog was an interesting, but scary and anxiety-ridden experience. This was due to the fact that I am not comfortable with all the web applications available which made it a hard, slow process. Of course, that is why we are taking this course and I am confident I will be proficient very soon!
My avatar was created to reflect my real self as much as possible as well as my personality. They did not offer red hair scattered with gray hair, but I look younger this way! I do spend most of my time in t-shirts and jeans and tennis shoes or hiker boots, and I wear my glasses all the time. The laptop accessory and the classroom background are a part of my developing teacher personality and help to define me. The avatar was definitely a fun activity.
As I posted previously, creating the blog was an interesting, but scary and anxiety-ridden experience. This was due to the fact that I am not comfortable with all the web applications available which made it a hard, slow process. Of course, that is why we are taking this course and I am confident I will be proficient very soon!
My avatar was created to reflect my real self as much as possible as well as my personality. They did not offer red hair scattered with gray hair, but I look younger this way! I do spend most of my time in t-shirts and jeans and tennis shoes or hiker boots, and I wear my glasses all the time. The laptop accessory and the classroom background are a part of my developing teacher personality and help to define me. The avatar was definitely a fun activity.
Thing #1
The habits of the lifelong learner consist of:
1. Begin with the end in mind by setting goals for yourself.
2. Accept responsibility for your own learning.
3. View problems as challenges to learn from.
4. Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner.
5. Create your own learning toolbox.
6. Use technology to your advantage.
7. Teach and mentor others.
Last, but not least in importance - PLAY!
The easiest lifelong learning habits for me will be #3, #4, and #7, as I have always lived my life with the philosophy that problems are nothing more than challenges to learn from, confidence in myself as a competent, effective learner is what has motivated my educational venture from the beginning, and I enjoy teaching and mentoring others as it gives me a sense of achievement in myself and whomever I may be teaching/mentoring. The hardest lifelong learning habits for me will be #6, using technology to my advantage as I am not a tech-savvy person (yet!), and the last habit, learning to play, because I have always had to work hard and multi-task with little time for myself.
What I would like to learn by playing with Web 2.0 tools is how to become technology-oriented in relation to teaching in the classroom. I believe that this will enable me to become a more effective and confident instructor. I am hoping to accomplish this goal by exploring options myself and by asking for help from my classmates and professors.
Setting up my blog was a bit on the scary side for me because I am not as comfortable working with web applications as I would like to be. There were many moments of anxiety and frustration with myself for not being able to accomplish the task quicker, but it was still an interesting and educational experience.
1. Begin with the end in mind by setting goals for yourself.
2. Accept responsibility for your own learning.
3. View problems as challenges to learn from.
4. Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner.
5. Create your own learning toolbox.
6. Use technology to your advantage.
7. Teach and mentor others.
Last, but not least in importance - PLAY!
The easiest lifelong learning habits for me will be #3, #4, and #7, as I have always lived my life with the philosophy that problems are nothing more than challenges to learn from, confidence in myself as a competent, effective learner is what has motivated my educational venture from the beginning, and I enjoy teaching and mentoring others as it gives me a sense of achievement in myself and whomever I may be teaching/mentoring. The hardest lifelong learning habits for me will be #6, using technology to my advantage as I am not a tech-savvy person (yet!), and the last habit, learning to play, because I have always had to work hard and multi-task with little time for myself.
What I would like to learn by playing with Web 2.0 tools is how to become technology-oriented in relation to teaching in the classroom. I believe that this will enable me to become a more effective and confident instructor. I am hoping to accomplish this goal by exploring options myself and by asking for help from my classmates and professors.
Setting up my blog was a bit on the scary side for me because I am not as comfortable working with web applications as I would like to be. There were many moments of anxiety and frustration with myself for not being able to accomplish the task quicker, but it was still an interesting and educational experience.
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