Thing #7

http://www.flickr.com/photos/orvaratli/5368192421/

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.

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.

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.

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.