Thing #12

The different tools that Google offers are really neat. I have used Picasa for a few years now with my pictures. It is a free and easy way to "spice" up any photos with special effects, cropping, fixing red eye, and even making albums. Also, I currently use the google calendar for an organization I am in. We all have access to it, and officers post meetings and activity dates on the calendar. It comes in handy. I knew about these tools; however, I did not know about the google translator, http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=EN. This is an easy way to translate languages. It has several languages you can choose from, and it translates quickly and on the spot.

All of these tools mentioned can easily be used in a classroom. Any type of photo project students might be doing, they can use Picasa. A teacher needing to organize one's personal life, work life, and classroom could definitely use the Google Calendar. And, there are always projects that need translating, so that tool can be implemented within a classroom with no problem.These tools are great. My favorite thing about them though is that they are so easy to use, anybody can do it! So, try them out!

Thing #11

These search tools to find RSS Feeds are a helpful tool. It makes it much easier to navigate around the blog world. As I was looking up various blogs, I found the Google Blog Search easiest. It was much like the simple Google Search. I also liked the Technorati because it was set up to easily navigate about the site. I did not like Topix.net because it seemed to be a little more difficult to use. It did not explicitly state the ways to move around the site. These search engines could be extremely useful in a classroom for not only me as the teacher to research information to teach on, but also to teach students to use them for specific research assignments. The blog world is a great way for people to post information about personal lives but also about current important issues.

Thing #10

I see the benefits in using RSS Feeds because I can easily look at all the information that I need at one time. It is a way to stay updated with blogs and various other websites in a time efficient manner. For my personal life, I can see myelf using this with all my different e-mails, so I can check them all quickly. Also, I could use this in my classroom by adding certain history research websites to the feed and being able to stay updated on the new discoveries. Overall, this is an interesting tool, and could be useful.

Thing #9

Within this blog, I have discovered that an image generator is a cool tool to use. I can definitely see elementary teachers using this in their classrooms. It seems as though every elementary teacher asks their students to write about what they want to be when they grow up. This would be a neat way to put a picture with their writing piece on the wall. You could simply take head shots of all your students, then upload them in the image generator and get to work. I always wanted to be the President of the United States, thus the picture. Here's the link I used: http://www.bodyswitcher.com/. There are several different images you can upload a photo to. So, enjoy and get to work!

Thing #8

I have posted my matchup on my blog page because I liked it alot. I wanted it to be at the top of my page. There are many ways to make this a useful tool, espcially in a history classroom. For example, you can make a map and place pictures of various places on the map. This would be a great way for me to show my future students landscapes, architecture, or simply people from areas across the world. It is a visual aid tool that can be used to greatly benefit each student.

Now, for my personal use, I probably would not use this tool. I might use my Flickr account to look up a picture for a presentation or something, but other than that it will not be used much. I am not a huge fan of posting pictures for the world to see. I understand that you can set your pictures to private only, which is good. But, when I post a picture, say on Facebook, I do it only to allow my friends to see what's going on in my life. I do not like to share extremely personal things over the internet, but Flickr is defnitely a neat webstie for photographers to get their art work out there.

Thing #7

Well, I have explored http://www.flickr.com/ and it was interesting. The pictures that people post are often times humorous to me. What I find interesting is that anybody can post pictures of basically anything. This can be good in some cases and disturbing in others. But, I decided to simply type in the search bar "teacher." The following picture popped up: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cctwebteam/943677949/in/photostream/. I thought this was funny. Pay close attention to the things on the chalk board. For example, the last thing written... a four leaf clover divided by two equals sale! This caught my attention because of my last post regarding http://www.amazon.com/. Teachers are always looking for sales, and this picture depicted that perfectly.

I am going to try to upload a picture of my brother and me. But, I do not know how it will work. The link that tells me to "add images" is not pulling up, so let's see if I can figure out another way...

Thing #6

There are several sites on the internet that are beneficial to many people. Out of the Web 2.0 Awards List, my favorite site is probably http://www.amazon.com/. This saves me money, time, and allows me to buy the things that I want or need at a reasonable price. Amazon has reviews from customers on just about everything they sell which can give a person the answer to whether they want to purchase the item or not. Could it be useful in the classroom? I do not think that a lesson plan could be based around http://www.amazon.com/, but a teacher could definitely find deals on certain items that are needed for his or her classroom. With the tight budget of a teacher, it is important to spend money on a classroom wisely, and http://www.amazon.com/ allows each teacher to do so.

Thing #5

Technology is becoming an important aspect in today's society. People communicate through blogs, e-mail, facebook, skype, twitter, and the list can go on and on. Students are using these methods of communication more than anyone else. If students are using this technology, then should it not be used in classrooms? Of course it should! I feel that it is important that teachers continue using hard-text books, white boards, and some of the essential items to make learning hands-on, but we must integrate all of this new technology in the classroom as well. If teachers use School 2.0, the attention of students will most likely increase. Using technology in classrooms always gets students excited. And, using technology that they use on a daily basis at home will help each student not only their attention span, but they will have the opportunity to learn techonology skills that they did not already know and implement them in their future occupation.

What are we going to do today, is a question that all students need to be able to wonder. School 2.0 gives teachers the ability to make students ask themselves this question. I will not lie, completely relying on techonology in a classroom makes me nervous. Most of the time, something will go wrong. But, the job of the teacher is to integrate the technology and be ready for when something fails. Make the lesson worthwhile. School 2.0 will help in this! That is what it means to me...giving the teacher the ability to make his or her classroom a great learning environment!

Thing #4

Commenting is extremely important to any Blogger's world. It is a means of communication, a way to speak your mind, and a way to express your feelings toward another blogger's opinion. These are all excellent skills that each individual needs to work to obtain, and what better way to do that than through a blog? When someone blogs, you begin to feel as though you know that person, like they are your next-door neighbor. You form a community and interaction within the community, because you can talk to one another about the various topics that each blogger writes about.

Two topics I found important in the reading were to write a meaningful comment and when you comment on someone's blog it brings attention to yours. There's much to these two topics. A meaningful comment is something that will be thought provoking and can often times tell someone alot about yourself. When you comment on a person's blog, many times, they will go look at your blog. But, these two go hand-in-hand. If you do not write a very good comment, then do you think a person is going to look at your blog? Probably not. So, make sure when you comment, you say something worth while.

For my classmates I chose to follow http://tplummer1.blogspot.com/, http://misssmokeybarn.blogspot.com/, http://kbearden.blogspot.com/, http://wgottsblog.blogspot.com/, and http://jorgejimenezcano.blogspot.com/. I had no exact reason as to why I decided to follow them, I just picked five people and decided to look at their blogs. Now, for my personal interest blogs to follow, I will choose those at a later date when I learn that in Things 10 and 11.