Thing # 23

I loved learning how to make avatars. This was one lesson that I had a lot of fun playing with. I also saw great benefits to Rollyo and Google Docs. This class has helped me to stay current with the waves of the future so that I can be an effective teacher in teh years to come. I expected this whole class to be frustrating and dull, and while some of it was, I found myself getting excited about some of the assignments. I am glad that I took this class, and I am so proud of myself for finishing!

Thing # 22

I think that Nings are a very cool tool. They are a great way to get together with people of similar intrests and talk about them. I thing that a Ning would be a great tool for a school to have. If a whole school staff had a Ning, information could be shared very easily and effectively. Now, my school sends dozens of emails every day to everyone, and if we had a Ning that everyone was involved with and checked regularly, it would be much easier to post the question or comment, and answers than it would be to send those dozens of emails.

Thing # 21

I can see benefits to using podcasts in the classroom. It would be a great to create a podcast of yourself reading a book, and using that in a listening center. It would also be great to be able to make podcasts to give directions for small group activities. As many benefits as I see to podcasts, I really do not think I will ever make another one. It was easy to make the podcast, but I could not figure out how to publish it. I also did something wrong while registering for switchpod.com, so I had to use someone else's account to get my podcast linked to this blog.

http://media.switchpod.com//users/bullettprf/MissNelsonisMissingvoicereview.mp3

Thing # 20

Using You Tube and Teacher Tube seems to be very similar to using a site like United Streaming. One benefit I noticed is that the videos play all the way through without stopping and buffering. Another benefit that I noticed is that these sites have videos both to use with the students and to use as a resource tool for the teacher only. The video I have chosen to embed is a video of a woman giving ideas on how to use a teacher clock to teach students to tell time on an analog clock.

Thing # 19

I played with ifoods under the food category. In my school, we have a science kitchen that we can use at any time. A lot of units that I do involve a cultural aspect, and since food is such a big part of culture, I cook with my class. I am always looking for easy recipes that I can do with my class that will enhance the units I teach. Ifoods is a great site because I can use it to search recipes, but what makes this site special is that I can also watch videos of how to make the dish. That way, if I am unclear on how to execute a recipe, I can figure it out by watching the video. I will use this site in my classroom for next year and years to come.

Thing # 18

I can see many advantages to using a program like Google Docs. It is just as easy to use this program as it is to use Microsoft Office if not easier, as all the programs are in one place. Another benefit is that you can save your documents online, and therefore will have access to each of your documents on every computer you work on. If you did not want to bring your computer home, you can still work on documents from your home computer. It is also easier to share your documents using Google Docs. You can add your friends or colleagues as collaborators or as viewers and share with them as you see fit.

Thing # 17

http://rollyo.com/teacherstyle/lesson_plans_1st/

Rollyo was much easier to use than I anticipated. I created a search roll on lesson plans for first grade. I added four sites that I used (and searched) frequently last year. Rollyo will save me lots of time because I can search just one site for the lesson plans that I want as opposed to searching all four sites! I am so glad that Library2play introduced us to this site!!

Thing # 16

I do not think I will use wikis in my classroom because I think they are a little too advanced for first grade. My students last year really needed help doing activities online, and based on them, I do not think that wikis would be possible in my classroom. I can see my team using wikis to plan activities and parties. Wikis would be a great way to get parents in the same place to talk about events and activities that the grade level puts on and requires parental supplies and volunteers. In the past, this was done through email, but I see wikis as being much easier to use.

Thing # 15

Libraries everywhere seem to be in a transitional phase according to these articles. They need to go from having solely printed information to finding a balance between printed materials and materials online. More and more information is available on the internet, and libraries are losing circulation because people would rather find the information they need from the comfort of their own homes and computers. I do not think that fiction books are in any danger of going out of circulation, so I think that libraries really need to think about what they put online, and what they leave available in print. There are also those people who prefer looking through books as opposed to looking at a computer screen, so libraries also need to plan for those people.

Thing # 14

I think a website like Technorati can help when you are looking for another real person's experiences or opinions on a subject that interests you. Maybe you could look for ways that other teachers deal with problems in the classroom, or how other teachers teach certain subjects. Looking at other people's blogs could help with subjects like this.

I think that tagging is a really easy way to go back to information that you know you are going to want to see again later. I think that using a social site to tag things is great, because then you can use your own searches, as well as the searches of others.

Thing # 13

I can see great benefits to using a social bookmarking site like delicious. It is much easier than using Google to search for a specific topic. I sometimes have trouble finding information or ideas for lesson plans on specific topics, and with delicious, it is much easier because other people have already found the sites. All I have to do is look through the sites that I want to see as opposed to filtering through the junk. This is a great tool to share information for the classroom!

Thing # 12

I really enjoyed looking at blogs that were not a part of this activity. I found two blogs that I really connected with. Last year was my first year teaching, and as time went on, and I became more confident in my abilities, I worried that I did not do enough to help my first class become successful in the years to come. I found a blog where a teacher is getting the opportunity to continue with one of her classes, and is scared that she did not do enough last year, and will continue to fail her class. I really connected with her, and felt the need to comment to let her know that she is not alone, and that there are other first year teachers who feel they have not done their best.

The other blog I commented on was a book review. I read the book as a child, but it was not one that I thought to use in the classroom. This blog helped me to look at books that I enjoyed as a child from a teacher's perspective.

I have realized that there are lots of things I can learn from the experiences others write about in their blogs, and I will continue to comment in the future.

Thing # 11

Library Thing is a great tool for me! This is exactly the kind of site I was looking for in thing 9. I think I will really benefit from this site, because I can look at the ratings that are given to books before I decide which books are worth purchasing. I can also use this site to discuss books and potentially the uses for certain books in the classroom. I have seen benefits in each task I have done, but this is the first thing that I have been truly excited about learning since making my avatar.

Thing # 10

I found Image Chef the most fun image generator to work with. I really had fun creating a book template dedicated to my class pet with that site! This is a great way to introduce things in a fun way! I will probably really use this image that I created today when I discuss our class pet with my new class next year.

Thing # 9

I found the google blog search the easiest way to search for posts. It was the easiest site to navigate for me. The hardest site to navigate was the edublog's award winners. I never found a search button, so that would make it extremely difficult to find the exact topics you are looking for. I searched for a variety of topics, but one unusual thing that I noticed was that when I searched for good children's books, I did not get any posts, I was navigated to amazon.com, and other book selling sites. I was hoping to get ideas of some new books to purchase, but that did not happen. I really like using the search key to look for specific information because I am not very good with technology, and I like everthing to be easy when I try to find things.

Thing # 8

I liked the idea of the RSS. If I were a person who spent lots of time on specific sites, it would be really beneficial to have those sites brought to me. I am really not much of an internet reader, I would rather read novels or children's books, and I subsribe to a newspaper for news. One thing that I did like about the RSS and that I think will benefit me, is that some of the blog sites that I subscribed to talked a lot about education and new books and teaching strategies. I may actually start looking at those while I am planning lessons, or before I go shopping to enhance my classroom library. Same as me, I think that Libraries can use these blog sites to see which new books are good for their libraries. Librarians and teachers can also use the RSS feeder to stay current on the trends in education.

Thing # 7

I focused on the igoogle homepage and the google calendar. I was able to plug in all the work meetings, and staff development days that I need to do or attend for school for the next month. It is great to be able to come up with a schedule that I can stick to. This will benefit me in my personal life as well as in the classroom with organization. The igoogle homepage was also extremely fun and beneficial. Igoogle gives the average google page a prettier view, and allows you to add fun gadgets that can help you stay focused on what you are doing. I also really liked the google notebook, and I am sure that when I am researching topics for units this school year I will use this tool.

Thing # 6

It was really fun looking through all these different mashups. I experimented with all the ones that were listed, and I can think of great uses for all these sites. The one that I had the most fun working with was the mosaic maker site. I can see myself using this in the classroom, both to show students pictures, and also to let them find and create mosaics of their own. This mosaic is a mosaic of different scenery you can find in Australia. I thought that making a mosaic would be extremely difficult, but it was in fact incredibly easy! I also liked the color finder. Giving the class an assignment where they have to choose their favorite color and do something with it would be a great getting to know you exercise at the beginning of the year!

Thing # 5

I thought that Flickr was a very interesting picture site. It was sort of like a social website to talk about pictures in the Creative Commons section. I noticed that the comments on the pictures were very friendly and positive. I examined Flickr by typing in keywords from all the units that first grade covers, and I found pictures that will enhance every unit that I teach.

The picture I chose to save is a picture of Putty Beach in Australia. This picture, and others similar to it, can be used to compare and contrast Australia to America physically. I am very excited to have learned how to use this site!

Creating a Blog and Avatar

This was much easier than I anticipated. Creating the avatar was really fun! I enjoyed going through all the different outfits and backgrounds and choosing things that fit my personality. I actually have a dress that is very similar to the one I chose for my avatar!

7 1/2 Habits Hardest

The habit that is hardest for me is using technology to my advantage. I sometimes have a hard time knowing exactly how to look for specific topics. I also have a really hard time with new technology.

7 1/2 Habits Easiest

The habit that is easiest for me is beginning with the end in mind. Before beginning teaching, this would not have been my easiest habit, but now, I feel like I think more clearly about what I want to accomplish before beginning.