Thing 15

Working with wikis sounds great for sharing with others. I was a bit confused with this "Thing" and is why I did it last. I did not get to complete the navigation through the sandbox as I would have liked. I am not great with things such as these and found it difficult. I am not much of a technology person but I will certainly touch base again with it after the course is over to see what interesting things I have missed. Hopefully I can clearly understand it better and can use it in my future classroom.

Is it the end or only the beginning?

Pheww... It has been interesting completing all the tasks. Some have been simple and fun and others challenging. I have to say my favorite was making the videos on Animoto. It was fun to create something your own way. My least favorite thing was blogging itself. I am not much of a blogger and honestly don't think I will really continue it. Maybe in the future I will ask my class to set up a blog and see how they do with it and if it is appealing to them. I did enjoy learning about all the gadgets and new sites that I can use in my future teaching career. I am sad to say that I am sort of relieved that the blogging part is complete.

Thing 23

Learning about Creative Commons is a very important thing to learn being a college student. Also preparing myself to be a teacher I need to know the correct rules and ways to correctly use someone else's work not just for me but for my students. If I do not know how to correctly follow the law about borrowing some's work how will I be able to show my students? Learning the correct way to use someone's work is very important so that you do not get into any legal trouble and being able to learn that in this course has helped a a lot. You never know how important it is until you get caught.

Thing 22

Education

I made a binder titled Education: Resources for Social Studies. In it i have gathered links to a resource page for multiple uses, a link to Social Studies games, and also a link to Social Studies coloring pages. This is great because all these resources are in one folder that can be easily access to get to all the important places I need for a Social Studies class. I can also make it accessible to my students to link to it at their home and work on the games and coloring sheets. This is great for teachers because they can keep all their important documents in one place and have them at their fingertips. I still need more time to be able to play around with the program and to see what all you can do in this. After I get more familiar with it I believe I will enjoy it much better. 

Thing 21

Create a wedding slideshow video at Animoto
video if the embedded did not work
I LOVED!!! Animoto. It was so much fun to work with. I just made a short film of my wedding because I did not have anything educational to make and did not want to include my son for privacy. This is a great way for students to learn and express their ways of learning. They can create short films about the topics they learn. For example this would be great with science projects and take pictures during their project and then make a video to show to the class. Teachers can also use this by making videos to show their students at the beginning of a lesson or create one as a class. I will certainly use this while teaching as well as before. 

Thing 20

50 States Song!

Using YouTube is a great way to find things you need even for everyday simple things. YouTube is great for teachers because they can find ideas on how to do things and also show students videos on certain lessons that would help them understand the material. Students can also have access to videos outside of the classroom. I found a video on how to help students remember their 50 states. It is a fun way to get students to remember the states. I enjoyed looking through the videos as well. This is great for everyone. Easy access at your finger tips!

Thing 19

I just recently joined Teacher pop and am a member of facebook. I like the use of teacher pop because it is a site where everyone has something in common and can be great to use for a certain group of people. Unlike facebook where everyone is on there and with something like teacher pop it is a group of people who have something in common. I'm sure in the teaching career I will join a group like teacher pop but as of right now I think I will just stick with facebook.

Thing 13

Map: States and Capitals

I actually enjoyed learning about google docs and Zoho. I've never actually worked with any other program besides microsoft. In Zoho the different types of templates you can use was fun. It was easy to work with and you could easily customize your own style. Google docs was my favorite. It was very simple to use and was set up easy to understand. My most favorite part about it was the insert tab. Here it was easy to use and when you wanted to insert a picture you could use google search without opening up another tab! That was my favorite part! With this you could search what type of color you wanted your picture in whether in all color, black and white, or only a certain color. This would be great for students to type up papers, make powerpoints, and excell documents for class projects or other assignments. This is great for teachers as well because there is so much you can do with it. The above link is where I made a document that teachers could use for a test or even just a practice sheet. 

Thing 18

ashleybeazley11@facebook.com

I really enjoy facebook..don't we all! This can be a great way for teachers and even parents to keep in touch with their students. They can set up their own "class page" and students and their parents can view it ti see what is going on for the day or even week in class. Most people would much rather text, or even facebook other rather than call. With this being said teachers can communicate with their parents through facebook. Teachers can post assignments for the day and students who were absent can view this as well. Teachers can post important dates coming up to remind parents because sometime those notes that teachers take time to make and send out never make it home. This is just a new way to keep in touch socially with your parents and even students and co-workers.

Thing 17

I am not very good with the use of technology and I had difficulty with this program. I created an account and looked around but was confused about it. I have used "tagging" when I have browsed the internet and when I found something I liked or wanted to keep up with I would just save it to my "favorites" tab. This is how I kept up with things. Maybe when I fool around with it some more and get more comfortable with it I will really appreciate it.

Thing 16

I started with netvibes for my start page. I choose this one because it was neatly arranged and was simple to use. I really am not into things such as this so I probably will not make it a homepage. I would just rather stick with the basic one I have. The online calendars were fun to use because it is on the go with you and it keeps up with everything you need. I really am not good with organizing and tend to forget important dates and this is why I like the calendars.

Thing 14

States and capitals

The mind map was very interesting to me. I created a map that my students could use in the classroom to identify and break down parts of certain states. This was great because as a teacher I could use different colors to group things together and also leave some bubbles blank and use those for the students to fill in. This would be a great way to make study guides or even assignments for students. With being able to choose the font and color of the bubbles this could grab the students attention and be more involved with learning. With the gliffy plow chart it was more "high class" and had more tools to use. It had multiple designs and templates you could use to create your document. Both were very interesting when it comes to making things for your classroom.

Thing 9

 happyfacegenerator
I played around with the smiley generator. Being an Elementary School teacher, these icons would be fun and creative in the classroom. This is not just for students views, but parents as well. It grabs their attention and would be great to use on calendars, newsletter, and notes home. These can be used to praise students as well. Every child loves praise and a smiley face makes it better.

Thing 8

 Beazley
I used the spell with Flickr tool. I am still learning about it but I thought it was interesting because you could use this in the classroom to get the students involved. When you add creative ideas to homework or in class work the students are more interested in the assignment. It is interesting and fun and it allows the students to be involved.
Puzzle pic
 I used the puzzle tool. This can also be useful to get students involved. It can be used to make creative pictures for the lesson and turn them into puzzles and allow the children to put them together. Making puzzles according to your lessons can be educational as well as FUN!

Thing 7

http://www.flickr.com/photos/93743152@N07/8526545342/

This is a picture of my wedding cake. I look back on this day to motivate me. Without my husband I would not have my son and the strength to continue on with school.  I have never used Flickr before so I am still playing around with it and getting used to it. I will have to get more familiar with it and determine if I would use it in the classroom. Having photos in a public place is a bit concerning for me. I would not post pictures of my kids on it but other pictures of landscapes or objects would be no problem. I suppose teachers could use Flickr in the classroom to show students and even parents photos of things they might be teaching in the upcoming lessons. 

Thing 5

Web 2.0 is great. There is so much to it and many useful things for everybody. This is great for teachers, parents, work places, and even the community. It will tell you if things are free and that's always useful in the classroom for teachers. Using web 2.0 will probably make a big difference in the classroom for teachers now and future teachers. 

Thing 6

Do you enjoy working with your colleagues?

The tool I found interesting was the workitywork tool. This tool is used for the workplace where you can give recognition to other worker's work/ideas. This tool is used to motivate workers about their job and to bring workers together as a team. This is useful in the education setting because teachers need to be involved with each other. Viewing others ideas and commenting and praising them can bring great team work in the workplace. Teachers in the school need to stay in touch and create a social environment with each other.

Thing 12

After viewing and playing with the Google Tools I have found that the translator and Alert tool was my favorite. Both these tools can be very useful in the classroom for any type of teacher. The Alert tool can be a great resource because you can search for a specific topic that you can have access with at your finger tips. This is great because instead of searching daily you just need to open your email and see what has come to you for the day. I especially like this tool because I work in a daycare and I am always looking for craft ideas. With this tool and having a smart phone I just need to open my email and see what I have for the day. Google Alert:Crafts

The translator tool was also great because many teachers have a variety of students who speak different languages. This tool can help you translate things for student use as well as teacher use. If a n ELL students writes better in Spanish you as a teacher can easily translate it to read it. Also a teacher can make test in the language best for the student to understand. This tool is great for not only teachers but as well as parents. Communication can be an obstacle for teachers and parents because some parents might not know English and it be difficult for parents to understand what their children are doing in the classroom. Translator

Thing 4

Commenting can be great because it gets people involved. If you comment on others blogs, then they are more likely to comment back on yours and this starts getting other bloggers to post comments. Commenting on a blog your interested in can lead to great discussions, but I know how scary it can be to randomly choose to comment on someone's blog. I am always worried about if I am going to post the right thing, or if I'm going to be talking a foreign language that no body understands.

I felt that some important points about commenting were, if you have a blog, share some about yourself when you comment. This can be difficult because some people do not want to share personal things about themselves, but if you could share some simple things it will help. You can always share maybe some experiences that you might have had dealing with the topic or some beliefs you have about the blog and this can grab readers attention and they are more likely to comment back on future blogs of yours. 

Another thing i believe is important when it comes to commenting is that don't be afraid of commenting.  I know I try to find people that are interested in things that I am interested in or think the same way as I do. Commenting on random people  is difficult because you are worried about, what will they think? or what if I don't comment the right way? I have to agree 100% because I always have this fear. I am hoping to get out of my fear box and just comment, which i have to do for this Thing 4!

Choosing 7 people to comment on:

James Harris:Thing 4. He posted about comfort zones and I felt the same way about it so i decided to comment. I commented about how I felt the same and maybe after getting use to blogging I will get out of my comfort zone. 

Haley Carney: Thing 3. I actually randomly selected her (YAY! go me!) and she was discussing about blogging and parent involvement could become of it.  I agreed and stated that when you involve parents they have this trust bond with their children's teachers.

Lindsey Burris: Thing 1. She mentioned the use of technology in the classroom and how to get involved. I commented back about it could be great for students because it is something different and it is not the basic stuff.

Chasity Halpin: Thing 2. She posted about how she didn't really like technology and how to use it and I felt the same way and commented about how if I was more familiar with technology I would feel more comfortable with using it. 

Amber Law: Thing 3. She posted about parent involvement. I strongly believe that parent involvement should be taken seriously. Without parent involvement, teachers might not could give their students the full needs they need. If we involve the parents then we can communicate with them on how to better provide for the student. 

Jill Hutchison: Thing 2. Talked about what all you could do with blogging. After reading her blog I realized that blogging wasn't just for talking about something random or important but you could do much more such as movie reviews and games.

Brandy Putman: Thing 4. Discussion about commenting and I feel the same about bringing readers in. If you comment on others then your more likely have others comment on you.

Thing 3

Blogging is all new to me so I am still considering the ways teachers can use them for their advantage and also their classroom's advantage. Some ways I thought of is communication with other teachers or staff in their community or even outside the community. Teachers can post blogs about activities they did in their classroom and it can allow other teachers to use the same activity and also comment if they like the idea or even if the activity worked in their classroom. Teachers can give feedback about the activities and comment alternatives as well. Also, teachers can blog back and forth about different ideas when it comes to behavior or situations in the classroom. With this teachers can communicate back and forth about different ideas and ways they use in the classroom to reduce the conflict(s). Teachers can share ideas and craft ideas as well. Posting their craft ideas teachers can share and even review others ideas and use them in their own classrooms. Blogging can be used in many different ways for teachers and these ideas are just some of the basics.

Thing 2

This all very new to me. I have never been the one to sit in front of a computer and blog about stuff. I never even knew really about blogs until this class. This is the first I have ever set one up or began to learn about one. I am still not 100% on how to work it. When I created my first blog and set it up I was somewhat confused. I felt like I needed someone to hold my hand and give me step by step directions. I feel more comfortable when someone gives me step by step directions. I would complete one part of setting up my blog and could not figure out how to go back and finish up. The avatar I created was difficult to do at first. I had to have help with creating it and if you asked me to go back and edit it I really would not know how to do it. I feel that I am not "into" blogging yet so honestly it is at the bottom of my "like" list. It just isn't me. My avatar is just a basic similarity as me. I did not add any fancy add-ons because I just wanted to keep it simple and get it over with, if you must say. I hope after this class I will be comfortable with blogging and use it in the future because it could always be helpful. It's almost like when Facebook came out I said, "I would never have a Facebook" but now I rely on my Facebook.

Thing 1

Everyone has their own ways of learning and different habits they use when it comes to learning. Out of the 7 1/2 habits I found that habit 6 was the hardest habit for me and of course habit 7 1/2 was the easiest. Habit 6: Use of technology to your advantage is my hardest because I am not very familiar with much of technology. I have a difficult time using the technology correctly and even had to begin with it. I believe this habit could be an easy habit for me if only I could learn more about the different types of technology and how to correctly use it. Lastly, habit 7 1/2: Play, can be considered the easiest for me. Who can't play while doing something? This can be difficult I guess if your having difficulty with the learning, but I try and find different techniques to help me learn and I have fun doing it so therefor I am playing while I am learning.