Thing 12#

So much out there to learn about in the technological world especially helps for teachers and students. The Google alerts tool is pretty neat because of the quickness of the information being sent to you. I am a big Chipper Jones fan (not quite stalkish) and Jeff Fisher fan (to the point of stalking) ha ha, ,just kidding, but I could put in any news that I want keep up with in regards to a specific topic or issue and have it sent to me. New ways to teach a specific standard, or new technology in regards to English for high school students and if I know that a student is interested in something, and it is content worthy, I could forward it to them. The calender is good, but I find that my phone works better for me, only because I know how to work my way through the process.  The translate would be awesome if you have some students within your class who are not fluent in the English language and accidentally write the wrong English word. 

Thing #11

The RSS reader, again it is great. Just the fact that you are able to subscribe to something and not have to search for that web page every time you want or need it, is just such a time saving commodity. The easiest way I found was once I am on the page and it I provides the information I am looking for, to find the RSS feed symbol and subscribe to it. Easy peasy.  I feel like the google blog search was the easiest only because it seems to work well with all of my other google sites, but I am sure the other ones once investigated more deeply will become just as easy.  The Topix.net was a little harder only because I couldn't use firefox to use it properly. A lot of different feeds were provided in just about anything you want to search, so many different topics, blogs and information that you don't really realize is that easy to get. 

Thing #10

The RSS reader is great. The fact that you only have to go to just one site to see your incoming  information changes your whole outlook on how you gather information daily.  Being able to have it all come to you without looking at each website is a time saver for not just teachers but students and everyone. I know a lot of time I do not read a newspaper because of all the time to find what interests you. Having this information sent to you automatically is awesome. I think if you set up the sites on your blogs so that a student can see your blog they can just look up information and this will help them to gather more information accurately.

Thing #9

http://www.images-graphics-pics.com/signs/warning/signs.asp

http://www.text2logo.com/

http://www.text2logo.com/

http://www.signgenerator.org/barcode/

Wow! All of the different generators that are available to you and that can make different and creative classroom signs and activities. There is so much available to you to make your classrooms inviting and knowledge-learning worthy.  I wish I had more time to play with all of this stuff it is great. I think having this available for students as well will be a great help for their projects and homework assignments. The different items that you can create will help with the creative and artistic talents of the students.

Thing #8

Flickr is quite unique in discovering things you can do with your photos and/or art. I think the fact that the students can use this mode of technology to improve their skills as artists by including pictures will have an exciting impact on their studies and academics. The sharing of photos gives everyone an opportunity to see a different side of the artists as well as see what other artists are visioning, through writing as well as portraits. It allows each one of us to search for more artistic way to provide information. Mashups are pretty cool.

http://metaatem.net/spell.php?picsize=t&string=Rebels Rock">

Thing 7

I think that this is such a great awareness campaign for hunger and homelessness in our society.  Sometimes we do not always see or even acknowledge this side of our community. As students I think we are so overwhelmed with the study and academic life that maybe we don't realize this is going on around us. The food pantry on campus is just one of the programs available to students to take advantage of or us to help them by donating if we are able. Next time you are at the store, just buy one extra can of something, then then next time do it again. Take them to a food pantry and help with this devastating problem in our society.

I can see that Flickr is a very useful tool for posting pictures. I think this will be helpful with high school age students to help them be more aware of their surroundings. The awareness of the positive and negative should make a difference in the people and members of society that they turn in to in the future.
I have never used this type of site before and it was interesting.  I am looking forward to delving further into the technology. I do believe that people do need to remember the personal aspect of photos. Make sure that you want it to be shown and make sure that anyone else in the photo doesn't care either.  

Thing 6

The Web 2.0 Awards nominee I chose was ask.com.  I have used this website as a search engine before and it takes you just about anywhere you need to go to get your information. I find it easy to just ask the question and it takes you to the appropriate links and sources.  I think that for any age that this would be a useful tool to do preliminary research.

Thing 5

Some much information. So much technology. How much is funneled in to the public school system by money or materials? After reading the Web 2.0 , I was surprised with the fast paced direction of the web for education and technology. The fact that someone had to "police" the "fragmenting" made me question some issues. After further investigation I see that they are keeping a good watch over everything which makes me feel better about using this technology in my classroom. The fact that everything is all integrated with the whole system is "mind blowing". Blogs and pod-casts are a unique way to involve the students, especially high school age. These make the web more user friendly and entice more people to use all the sources available.

The Horizon Report is very descriptive as to what is available out there, from collaboration sites to social sites to research availability. Of course with anything new the downfall is it goes out quick so it must always keep up with the current information and technologies available to teachers and administration. Collaboration experiences can be enhanced by the use of the new technology. The goal to keep ahead of the research is a benefit to teachers and students so that the students are able to go in to real world situations and actually be productive citizens. Due diligence is a great motivation for me as an aspiring teacher.

The technical world we live, work and study in constantly change, but most technology is second nature to children. My Junior in high school, tells me he is multitasking by being on his phone and on his computer on Facebook, email and Twitter as well as working on homework. It is just like an extension of his arm or a third arm in the way his processes work. He knows life to be very fast paced and informative and as I am sure all future students will as well. Technology will keep improving the minds and dreams of our future leaders.

Thing #4

After reading several classmates blogs, I found that I enjoy going and seeing what they think of what has been posted. Whether there are positive or negative comments, I feel a sense of accomplishment in just getting something being commented on. As I am several years older than most of my classmates and although I have 25 years plus of dealing with computers, blogging in no way compares to the computer use of my previous job of 20 years. It is interesting to see the different opinions and comments in regards to your thoughts on education.
I feel like the comments help you get a more well-rounded view of the subject as opposed to it being one sided. The different views help us out as teachers to see how individuals see things differently.

The blogs I have  chosen to follow within the class are Mellissia Troyer (http://epmom6.blogspot.com/), Kim Messer (http://kimberlymesser.blogspot.com/),Chelsea Ninness (http://chelseaninness.blogspot.com/), Cortne Hunt (http://cnghunt.blogspot.com/) and Stefanie Tate (http://stefanietate23things.blogspot.com/). I chose each of the following: Melllissia, because she said I had to, LOL, just kidding. Mellissia and I had a class together last semester and have become friends. We are in 3 classes together this term and taking the same online class. I like to see what she has to say as she is planning on teaching the same thing as I am, High School English; Kim, I like her honesty and straightforwardness. I feel she will be an awesome teacher; Chelsea, is a sweet young lady who puts up with an old woman. Cortne and Stefanie: I like the unique spelling of their names. They seem like unique individuals who will make great teachers.

The outside blogs I have chosen are Educational Technology Professor (http://girlprof.blogspot.com/) and Free Technology for Teachers (http://www.freetech4teachers.com/) I chose the Educational Technology Professor as it will keep the ever changing technologies present so that you know what is constantly coming to the forefront. I chose the Free Technology for Teachers because anything FREE is great for teachers.

With just a little research you can find so many things out there, some free some not, that can total make the difference between a good teacher and great teacher. By commenting they at least know that they are appreciated for their research. Thank you.