Thing #4

After reading about commenting I think one of the crucial things was realizing that some people out there are just out to critize and be ugly. I don't want to be one of those people. I also think another important point is that it is encouraging for others to receive comments because it lets them know that people are out there and are paying attention to what they are saying. Out of our class I commented on Jones3040, Itty1982, Hill3040, Will Walker Gets Taught, and sbalash. I mainly picked these because I looked through and found post that I either liked or I had the same thoughts as they did. One of the one's outside our 23-Things community was the the Cool Cat Teachers post on integrating Technology into the classroom and the importance of college students being trained in technology. I mainly just agreed with her and the importance of learning new technology that is emerging. The other blog I choose was One Walk. This is a blog that is a friend of mine that just started this blog she and her husband are on a surgical mission in Kenya, Africa. She started the blog a few days ago to keep her family and friends updated on their trip.

Thing #12

After looking at the Google tools I chose iGoogle and Google Translate. I had already explored the Calendar in a previous blog. The more I am exploring Google Tools the more I like them. The iGoogle was extremely easy to setup. The Google Translate is a useful, but also fun tool. It is a tool that could easily come in handy in the education field. In the very diverse world that we live in Google Translate could be used to write letters to communicate with non-English speaking parents or even to communicate with ELL students. I think the iGoogle page would be more for personal use. However, it could be setup to use in a classroom and news or current events could be looked at from it daily.

iGoogle

Google Translate

Thing #11

After searching through the tools I think Technorati was the easiest to use to find feeds. Personally, I really liked the Google Blog Search. I thought Google Blog Search was extremely easy to use. Topix.net and Syndic8.com I thought were the most confusing out of the listed tools mainly because I wasn't sure where the feeds themselves were coming from. I probably got a little RSS search happy. When I figured out how this worked I went out to several sites that I enjoy going to and found their RSS link. As the Cool Cat Teacher said it is also easy to find other blogs or feeds by reading what other people have. I really think this is a neat tool. I added several Special Education blogs or feeds to my RSS because I am a Special Education major. For my own personal enjoyment I found many religious blogs or feed that I am interested in.

Thing #10

The thing I like about RSS is the convenience of using it. It is nice to be able to have several favorite website or blogs in one easy location. In a classroom setting one possible use would be to use it to follow blogs or updates in education. Another idea would be to use it in a Social Studies classroom to follow current events. In my own personal life I plan on following blogs on current educational issues and specifically in Special Education. I look forward to finding more sites to add to my Google Reader.

Thing #9

Dynamic Einstein

Well so far out of our exercises this was one of the more fun ones in my opinion. The first picture I made was very simple. Once I found this website it had a text box to type what I wanted Einstein to be writing on the board and then click create. It was not at all difficult. There were other templates available, but this is one that I found.
  

Happy Face Generator

The second one I made was off the Happy Face Generator that was listed on 23- Things. This one also was not that difficult to make. The hardest part is deciding which smiley face to pick and what to write, but with my feeling about assignments right now it did not take me that long to decide.

The Minifig Generator

The last one I choose was a generator that created little Lego men.  When I was younger I used to love to play with Legos so this sight just seemed fun and silly to me. It was not difficult it had three sections to choose from first you had to pick his head out, then you choose his torso, and lastly his legs. There was a button to do a random generator that could also be fun.





Overall, I think the most challenging part of this exercise is picking which generator to use. There are so many out there that I do not know if I personally could ever explore all of them. These could be really fun though to use in the classroom either as the teacher or the student. As the teacher these could be used to add to a PowerPoint or worksheets. Students could use them for projects or just for a fun activity. Personally I might use these when I am trying to make PowerPoint presentations. Sometimes it can be such a challenge to find pictures that are free for public use. So this way I am creating my own.

Thing #8

I explored several of the Flickr mashups. The ones I liked the most were Spell with Flickr (the above image was an example), Splashr, and the puzzle tool. All three of these could be useful tools in the classroom. The Spell with Flickr could be fun to use for PowerPoint presentations. The Splasher also could be a neat tool to make presentations. This tool can combine pictures that are online into a presentation slideshow with different backgrounds and different ways to view them.  The puzzle tool is very neat as well; this tool takes a picture and makes it into a jigsaw puzzle. Most kids like puzzles and this would be a fun activity for students. I do not have a problem with sharing photos online for one I think it is neat for people who have family in other states. Also for classroom purposes sharing photos with the public has no problems except it is crucial to make sure that copyright laws are maintained.

Thing #7

This is a picture that I took in Bridgeport, AL of the Tennessee River. It really was not that difficult to create an account or upload my pictures. I did however have trouble finding the URL. When I clicked on the medium size the URL was not showing up. After playing around for awhile I tried right clicking on the photo and going down to properties and that had the URL there. This could be a nice tool to use in the classroom, but as a teacher it would be my responsibility to make sure that my students understand the concept of copyright. Honestly, I figure I will probably use this more for a personal use. My sister-in-law has started doing Photography on the side and it would be neat to be able to see them since she lives pretty far away. This was my first experience using Flickr and I have never used another photo hosting service before. It really does not bother me to have my photo in the public place. However, I do believe if my photos were of family or friends I would prefer to have them marked as private or where only my family and friends could see them.

Tennessee River 1