I already had a Google calendar that I used to use when I had another job, so I decided to expand on it and put it to good use again. I love working with Google in general because it is so simple to use. I think this is why Google has become so popular to almost all individuals across the country. The Google calendar could be used in my educational work by being something of a unit calendar to keep me on track with my class's assignments. The other Google site that I chose to investigate was Google Translate. Google Translate was so easy to use. It will be so helpful if I decide to try and teach English Second Language students. Although this site might not perfectly translate everything, it will definitely be helpful if I need it.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Thing #11
This 'thing' was both enjoyable and frustrating at the same time. It was not quite as enjoyable as the other 'things' but I feel that it was very helpful. I found all of the feeds equally easy and useful, but I didn't often use a lot of them. The search tools were what frustrated me. The easiest search tools for me to use were the Technorati and the Google Blogsearch. These were very simple and completely easy to use. The most difficult search feed was Syndic8. This site was very difficult to navigate, and I had no idea how to use any of it. I found a really helpful blog that was about the Bronte sisters and how to teach their novels to students. This will be very helpful for me, because I am going to be teaching these novels to my future students.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Thing #10-RSS
After reading the assigned articles and watching the YouTube video, I was very impressed with the idea of a RSS. I can't believe that I have never heard of an RSS before, because it is so revolutionary to the way that individuals receive through the internet. They are so convenient, especially for people who do not have very much time to spend looking on the internet. When I am teaching or even now when I am in just my personal life it will help me to learn the most information possible in the shortest amount of time. Teachers should use this not only to learn more about the subject they are teaching and new ways to provide information to their students but also to help students in their technology usage.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Thing #9
These generators were a lot of fun to use! They were a little bit more difficult to navigate than the flickr website, but that made it all the more fun to figure out. I enjoyed making the magazine cover. All you had to do was upload a picture of your own and then pick out a magazine template. When I first chose the template part of my picture was covered up, but after looking around a little bit more I found a way to move the picture around the template so that it would show better. The chance card took a little bit more creativity. It gave about ten different card templates with just the word chance and the pictures on it, and you had to write a fun comment onto the card.
Thing #8 Mashups!
This was the most fun 'thing' we have done yet! I thoroughly enjoyed using all the different mashup tools, but I like the Spell with Flickr and the Jigsaw pictures the most. I chose to make my images about something important in my life, my sorority, Alpha Delta Pi. I was able to spell out the shortened version of my sorority and also make a jigsaw from the picture of one of our events. This was a lot of fun for me and it gave me the opportunity to share information with all of the readers. I think that same kind of thought process could be used in the classroom with students. A fun assignment for students, espeically in my subject area high school English, would be for them to use some of these mashup tools to create a presentation to teach their classmates about a specific assignment. Along the lines of my selected novel Wuthering Heights, each student could be given a specific event or character to tell the class about and be able to do so using these mashups in a short powerpoint or something similar. Both of these programs were very easy to use and could be done also by middle school aged children. I feel that sharing pictures online can be very beneficial for the sharer and those viewing the images, but it must be safe and students and individuals should be encouraged not to put images on the internet that he or she does not want seen by everyone.
Thing #7-Flickr...AGAIN!
Imagine my surprise when I discovered I was going to be able to investigate the Flickr site more for my next 'THING'! I enjoyed searching specific tags to discover more about the site. It was like a treasure hunt, which I enjoyed because it brought me back to my childhood. I decided to go through the tag novel and then wuthering heights. I also discovered this photo was inside the groups 'The Pleasures of the Text', 'Visual Mashups', 'Wild and Crazy...Lunatic Fringe', and 'Visibily Talented.' My project in this class is based around teaching the novel Wuthering Heights to senior English students, so I felt that this picture would be very appropriate for my flickr choice (also I LOVE this novel!). This photo not only appealed to me, but I feel that it would appeal to high school students. It is not only visually appealing and beautiful, but it is also informative. It lists numerous themes, symbols and ideas from the novel in a fun way that is 'young and hip' as my mother would say. This photo would be useful as an opening to teaching students about the novel, and I am planning on using it in my powerpoint teaching tool.
Photo retrieved from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30807533@N02/5037060938/
Thing #6-Flickr
Flickr is a photo sharing community in which any individual may add or share pictures with any other user. I found this site VERY easy to use. It took me less than a minute to make an account, and I was immediately able to both search photos and add photos onto the site. I found it very easy to add photos which I was able to edit and add captions to; however it was somewhat difficult to search for photos. Not that the search engine was hard to use, but it was difficult to narrow down your search terms and all uploaded photos found do not exactly relate to the search term that you typed in. For example, although I was able to find the inserted Web 2.0 picture by typing in Web 2.0, but it also pulled up a picture of an individual with her cat. There was a pretty cool search tool in which it would filter appropriate pictures for students. This would be a helpful tool in the classroom. I feel that as an educator you could use this site for students to discover pictures when making a powerpoint or doing a webquest. They would be able to safely navigate the website with directions from the teacher.
Photo retrieved from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/careers/2935895182/
Photo retrieved from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/careers/2935895182/
Thing #5-MY School 2.0
After reading the articles about Web 2.0 and the subsequent School 2.0, I realize the necessity for both myself and all other prospective educators to become proficient in technology. Web 2.0 has taken over our lives by storm. From grade school students up to grandparents, it is hard to find someone who has not at least heard of youtube or facebook let alone use it.
School 2.0 to me means:
Education for every person no matter where they live or their SES. It is difficult for an individual today to not have some sort of access to a computer, whether it be a home laptop or the library computer. School 2.0 allows for all individuals to be able to acces information about anything they need, to contact and learn from educators through blogs, online education, or social networks, and to learn about anything from anyone in the entire world. This is amazing to me. As an eduator to know about the opportunities through School 2.0 and not to use it is a crime. If schools and educators do not take hold of School 2.0 we are not only holding back our potentials for teaching but we are also holding back our students.
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