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.

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!

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.

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.