Thing # 10 The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

The truth is I find myself to busy to spend a lot of time on the web besides working on homework, and I'll admit it check my Facebook I don't have enough time in the day to do a lot of browsing. Google Reader is PERFECT for me, the busy mom, the military wife, the student, the future teacher, the chief, I am all of these things and with Google reader I can go and have all of this wonderful information for a the "different" hats I wear. I am still checking out all of my subscriptions but the one I wanted to share is TeacherTube. Teacher Tube is an online for sharing instructional teacher videos.  Google Reader has numerous subscriptions for teacher from things like lesson plans or just blogs about classrooms. It a GREAT resource to help a teacher find new ways to teacher subjects or could be great for a the student to have so much information tailored to their liking (maybe even about subjects studied in school ;) ) conveniently on one location. 

Thing 9; Lets Generate

 

The above image was created by using immagechef  It was very easy to use and fun to do. You could pick any set of words and symbols to create a mosaic. I picked the words; dream, grow, learn, play, and smile and various symbols.  I had the words created into a heart using various colors.  I think as people you need to dream BIG learn as much as you can, play hard and smile during the tough times.  You could use this website to create multiple things to use in the classroom or for personal reasons.  Either the student or a teacher could use this to create something to put in their blog, like we did, or as a post on facebook or twitter.



















The above image was also created at imagechef. I thought it was a fun way to put a qoute on my blogs.
http://www.imagechef.com/

Thing #8; Let's Mashup

I chose to use Spell with Flickr (example above) and Big huge Labs (example below) . They were both  easy, fun and  I could see getting addicted to these "tools".  

Spell with Flickr

There were various styles of letters and I think it can be useful for both school and personal projects. As for using it in the classroom you could have your students use it to make one word to describe themselves or maybe just to personalize their desk with their name, which can help you to learn your student’s names.

Big Huge Labs

Like I stated about it found this application to be easy to use. However I did have a hard time uploading my creation onto my blog. There are a lot of creative, cool things you can do with your digital pictures. In the classroom you could use this along with pictures of your students and at the end of the year create something to look back on all the different activities that were done during the year.

  

Photo Sharing

Photo sharing online can be such a blessing. I am miles away from my family so its great to be able to upload pictures for them to view or order. I do try to watch what I post publicly of my children since you never know who is on the other end viewing the pictures.

Thing # 7; Handprints

The picture above is my oldest daughter Hallie working on a welcome home project for her Daddy.  I started this blog browsing photos on Flickr. I used the key word handprints.  Maybe it’s the mother in my but there is something so simply and beautiful about a child’s handprints. As an educator you will leave your mark on so many children and sometime more of a mark then you know. BUT the children also leave a mark on you, the teacher. For me that is what the handprint symbolizes.

I found some GREAT picture on Flickr. I enjoyed browsing. However I had some issues with the copyrights. I found it a little confusing. I emailed one user about a picture and never got a response. Then I found another image but it would take 3-7 days to see if the user would allow me to use the picture for my blog so I decided to upload my own pictures.

Compared to photobucket I would have to say I would rather use photobucket. I like that on that site I can also edit my images, unless I am missing something I couldn’t do that on Flickr.

Flickr or another image hosting site can be a great tool for a teacher for finding images for PowerPoint or activities. It could be a great tool to let the student use maybe with a webquest or their personally assignments.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/32311656@N06/5024613900/

Thing 6; Information Overload!!!

Note to self, you should listen to the direction. If the directions say start with ONE, just pick one.  After I was done overwhelming myself I took a step back. I had heard of some of the sites mentioned on the web 2.0 list, some I use quit frequently but when I saw Skype on there I laughed to myself. I just started to use Skype this year but other than talking to my husband I really don’t know anything about it and the only reason I can do that is because he can use Skype to call me on my phone, technology is neat!

So after spending sometime checking Skype out and doing some research I learned the Skype can be very helpful for the classroom. I read about using Skype to having guest speakers in your classroom, you could have anyone from the author of a book your reading to someone from a different culture you’re learning about. Or how about sharing a performance whether it be parents whether it be to watch a demonstrating of a science experience or another class watching a class project Skype can do all of that and more. I even read about a fourth grade student who has leukemia and couldn’t make it to class so she joined her class everyday via Skype.  How cool is that?!?


http://www.skype.com/

Thing 5; School 2.0 and Remembering Oregon Trail

Web 2.0 defined: Information overload from anywhere around the world. From school, to home and at your local Starbucks, It is more things than you could learn in this lifetime all at your fingertips all with the click of a mouse.

School 2.0 Defined: The evolution of the classroom. It’s trading in those worn out textbooks for e-books,   its typed assignments instead of your handwriting on paper with a pencil or pen, its saying goodbye to those poster boards and hello to Power Points.  Its Smart boards in place of chalkboards, and blogs and social networking brought into the class room.  In short, it is implementing the latest and greatest technologies into the classroom.

Do you remember Oregon Trail? I can remember playing that game in computer lab. When I think about how far we have come in the classroom really it just makes me feel old. Thinking back to those big massive computers with their big black floppy disk makes me laugh. I have traded that in for a laptop and a zip drive.  Technology is great and updating our schools with the latest and greatest is just going to help us advance as a society. It’s astonishing to think about the information our children will have at the fingertips. I do however wonder about those schools that can barely afford books let alone updating their technology.  I believe in the school system we are only as strong as our weakest link. Maybe there are some exceptions to this rule all in all I think it is the truth.  So we really need to make sure that this technology is standard in every classroom.

Thing 4; Leaving my mark

We grow up being told “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all”. I believe we need to be reminded of this simple fact when you are talking about the blogging world maybe it’s because we forget that it is an ACTUAL person sitting behind a computer just trying to share their thoughts on different subject matters.  We all have opinions; sometimes it is best to just keep ours to ourselves. I think this whole having the “world” read my thoughts has kept me away from the blogging world. I think a blog can be so personal and to put myself out there in that way seems a little intimidating.

Now I do realizes this post is meant to tell you why commenting is a good thing, and I consider comments on a blog to be a great thing, when done with a little common sense.  When a person does put themselves out there for the world in a form of a blog they want people to read what they are writing and to have people converse on their blogs can be a huge form of flattery. Comments can be beneficial to both the reader and the writer. Sometimes someone else’s point of view can take the “blinders” off.

                                                                           Leaving my mark


People from my class.......

1) The first blog I chose to comment on was Asante Pugh post Thing # 2. This post was about her experience creating blog and avatar. Asante mentioned have some issues creating her blog because of the distraction of her children. Being a mother of 2 I completely understood how helpful kids could be.

2)I chose to comment on Holly Brown's post Thing #12. Holly mentions that she hadn't realized all the things that Google could do. I commented on this blog because I related to it, i too had never realized all the wonderful things Google could do.

3) Sarah LaBean's blog caught my eye because she was the first in our class to finish 23 things. I wanted to congratulate her on her accomplishment.


4) Coach Ski’s blog make you feel like you know him, that’s what leads me to read his post.  When I saw the picture he chose for thing 7, a simple smiley faces with words around in on post its, entitled Happiness…only when shared.  It’s a great way to look at life. We should all relish in each other good fortunes.


5) I sit next to Megan Antz in class to I thought I would check out her blog. I fell in love with the quote she chose for her blog so I let her know that I liked it


People from other classes......


6)  Kawana Atkins left a comment on one of my post and that lead me to prows her blog.  Just like this post talks about blogs bring a sense of a community. I enjoyed Kawana’s post thing # 5, it sounds like she has big plans when she gets into a classroom. 


7) I noticed that Jason Longon had just started his blog so I thought I would leave a comment of encouragement. In his thing #1 Plus he had mentioned that habit # 4 was the hardest  habit and that had seem to be a common theme so I wanted to let Jason know that he wasn't alone.

Thing #3; Blogging in the classroom

Writing a blog as a teacher could be beneficial in many ways but the focus of the blog would depend on the grade level you are teaching. So before I continue on I am going to fill you in a on a few things, you already know I am an elementary education major what you don’t know is my DREAM grades to teach would be kindergarten/first grade. I think it’s important to know that for this exercise. For those grade levels I wouldn’t have my student’s blogging, my blogs focus would be between teacher and the parents. At this pacific age levels could blog to help parents have a place where they could follow what activities are being done in the classroom. I could take photos and put up reminders of things to bring to class on a specific date. If parents are kept up to date with what is going on in class I believe it is easier for them to continue the education at home. Another thing A blog could help parents with all the up and coming dates all in one place and dates that affect their kids and only their kids, unlike the schools website which would have dates for the whole student body these dates could include anything thing from P.T.O meetings to the date of the latest fieldtrip. Blogging for the classrooms sounds like a great idea!

Thing # 2; Thoughts on creating this blog and my avatar.

Naming My Blog

I think my name is self-explanatory. This is my journey to becoming a teacher. Everything I am currently doing here at Austin Peay is just another step closer to the dream, being an educator.  I am happy to announce setting up this blog was simple and not complicated at all. When I was told that I would have to blog I imagined it to be one headache after another but so far so good! Maybe technology isn’t so scary after all, MAYBE.

My Avatar

I like to think of her has my virtual Barbie. I enjoyed changing her look a thousand times and then I left her as she is now, a slight depiction of me. Blonde hair, green eyes and even her clothes something I would pair together. I put a smile on her face because I am a glass half full type of person that sees the good in most things and she is holding a computer since you can imagine since I am a student I spend a lot of time near my laptop.

Thing # 1; Lifelong learning

I have always enjoyed learning and I have wanted to help spread that enjoyment with young minds. We are all lifelong learners in some sense. To explain which the 7.5 habits are the easiest and which are the hardest I am going to apply them to my life. I am a student at Austin Peay majoring in elementary education with the goal to graduate in 2013. That covers the first two. I have a goal and I am here attending classes. Though I am taking sophomore classes here at Austin Peay I have enough credits to be a junior, just not in education. When I transferred to Apsu from Valencia community college the curriculum was so different from Florida to Tennessee many of my classes didn’t apply. I could have looked at this as a setback but I truly believe it to be a blessing. Who can have too much education?!? Exactly no one and that covers habit number three view problems as challenges. Now I wish I could say I was a master of all of the 7.5 habits but I must admit that I am not. Habit four talks about be confident in myself, I have a hard time with that and I seem to always be second guessing myself. I need to learn I have gotten this far and that with a little faith I can conquer the world. The second of the habits that I have to work on is using technology to my advantage. Technology makes me a little nervous. So far this blog thing isn’t as scary I thought it would be I found it rather easy so maybe I am on the road to triumphing over that fear.