Thing #12

Google

I decided to look further into Google Alerts and Google Translate. I really liked google alerts a lot, I set my google alerts to look for stories about Clarksville Montgomery County School System and elementary literacy strategies. I think that using google alerts is another quick and easy way of getting information as it becomes available. I liked how you could change the settings to the alerts as well. I set my alerts up for every week. I think that this is a good tool to stay current on school related information.  I can also see how it can be used for anything a person would want to look up whether it be business or pleasure. 

I also tried Google Translate. I think this would be a great tool if a teacher had ELL students in their classroom and wanted to find a way to help the student along with their integration in the classroom. Although I think Google Translate is a great idea, I would advise against any language student taking the translation verbatim. I translated a few paragraphs from Le Petit Prince, a child's story from French into English and there were a few errors where google translate took a direct translation of the text which when read in English did not make much sense. I would cross reference any translation from this to make sure it made sense when translated. For a quick translation back and forth between languages I think that this is a great tool to help ELL students and to help the whole class work with ELL students. 

Thing #11

Finding Good Feeds

I think the easiest way to find feeds was the google blog search tool. I am the most comfortable with google and I found it easy to navigate. I searched literacy for elementary education and found a good feed to follow. I am excited about getting updates for this. I think the most confusing one for me was the Technorati one. There was so much going on when I first got onto it, it actually took me a minute to fine the search bar to type in my search. I don't think I would really use anything other than the google blog one to be honest. I found Edutopia this way too, which was nice to know that I would eventually get back to this website. I feel like that it means it is a good one to follow. I did find it interesting that some of the blogs I went to had the RSS split into comments and posts, so you can be updated on one or the other or both. I think that was a nice little feature because sometimes people write comments that have other links to good resources in response to a post and I might miss it if I didn't have an RSS for the comments as well. I thought this was a good exercise in ways to find feeds because I didn't even know google had a search for blogs.  

Thing #10

RSS 

I have to admit when I first saw what thing #10 was I wasn't really excited about it. I have seen the little orange icon for RSS but never understood what it was for and wasn't really interested in knowing. After watching the videos on RSS readers, it became a little less intimidating. I can see the usefulness of  RSS for people today, it seems like our time is at a premium and people don't want to spend time looking through information they have already checked. For example, I think this would be really useful if someone was doing research on a particular topic to be notified of when new research became available without having to look through all the old research. 

I think RSS would be helpful in school for staying up to date with other blogs from teachers or parents who may blog. As a future teacher I can see how having a notification system like Feedly would be useful. Between writing lesson plans, grading and preparing for instruction... oh and spending time with the family, there isn't going to be a lot of time for other things but it is important to stay up to date with what is going on as well. Having a notification when something is new streamlines the whole process and makes better use of my time. On a personal level I might do a RSS for things that I am interested in like recipes from bloggers and hobbies like fencing and horseback riding. I still just enjoy scrolling through the new stories on Yahoo because things that I read on there I may not want constant updates on but found interesting to read about. 

I think teachers can use RSS professionally to stay up to date on the most current methods and new methods of teaching and skills. I feel that any employer wants to see that their teachers are staying current on the ways of teaching and they are active learners who are genuinely interested in teaching and the new teaching strategies that are being developed. I think it is also good for students to see that their teachers are staying up to date on technology and that learning doesn't stop once you graduate. I feel that especially in high school not so much at the elementary school level, that students will have stronger connections with their teachers who are more up to date that the teachers who have the same lesson plans filed away year after year with no interest in staying up to date and current.

Thing #9

Image Generators

 

This was a fun activity that I probably spent way to much time playing around with. I had a lot of fun looking through all the different things you can do on these cites. I used imagechef.com for my NJ plate and customsigngenerator.com for the magazine cover. I'm a Jersey Girl who has been transplanted in the middle of the US. The parenting magazine cover is of my little girl around the 4th of July, I think it looks great as a cover to a July issue of Parenting! On a personal level this would be a lot of fun to put in a family Christmas letter or post on Facebook for fun. 

When I was doing the magazine image generator, it reminded me of when I was in elementary school and we created our own Time Magazine covers. Over course it was nothing like students can do today but it was fun back then and it obviously stuck with me all these years later. I think it would be a good activity for elementary school students to do, students can make a magazine cover for a story that they read about, a current event or a science experiment. There are endless possibilities for this activity and I think it would be something that students would enjoy and stay engaged in. While I was on the custom sign generator website, I came across image generators for student of the week and star of the week. I think these would be great if I had a class website or blog that parents can check in on and see the happening of the classroom. Every parent loves to see their child being highlighted and I think that every student would like to see themselves up on a blog/ or website. Of course I would need to get parental permission before I would post a picture of their child on a public access website or blog. Imagechef was simple and easy to use and easy to post on this blog. I did have some trouble with the custom sign generator website where it would not open in safari but it worked just fine in firefox. Other than that I thought that this was great and something I will be coming back and playing with again. 

Thing #8

Flickr Mashups

I decided to try out the Spell with Flickr Mashup. I loved it! I think these type of things are so fun to play with. I love all the options that this mashup offered for the letters and numbers to spell out 23 Things. I did however have a hard time uploading the picture to this blog. I tried to follow the instructions given on the page but for some reason I couldn't figure it out and just decided to take a screen shot of the picture and upload it that way. I have no idea what it would look like if I was able to do it the correct way but I don't think it looks too bad the way it is. 

I could see having students use this mashup in the classroom for projects and for fun. Students can spell their names or make interesting posters with all the pictures available. If I enjoyed doing this I am sure my future students would enjoy doing this activity as well. Depending on if I can find a standard to pair this with, I may want to have my students go out and try to find letters and take pictures of them to make their own spelling mashups as well. I feel like it opens up a whole new awareness when you look at things abstractly. I think this would be a good exercise to get my future students into a creative mindset. We will see when I actually get into the classroom how it all plays out though.

Thing #7

Exploring Flickr

Team USA Bronze

  I have never used Flickr before but I found it easy to use and to find images. It reminded me a little like Instagram with all the pictures people can post. In light of the winter Olympics that are going on, I searched my love of fencing and came across Team USA in their Bronze medal bout against Russia in the 2012 London Olympics. My friend was on this team and my dad was there as her coach so it was really cool to come across these pictures that someone had taken.

I really liked how you could click on the information on the picture and it would tell you all the camera settings that the person used for the picture. I got a very nice SLR camera for Christmas and I thought it helped me knowing the settings people used for their pictures. I thought that this was a nice feature of Flickr for the people who want to take similar pictures. Overall I thought that Flickr was user friendly and easy to look up tags and save pictures. I did however have difficulty citing the picture. Maybe as I get more comfortable using my new camera I will sign up for Flickr. 

Thing #6

Web 2.0 Tools

I was totally amazed at how many websites/tools there were on the list of Go2Web2.0, 73 pages worth of information. I was happy that the website had a search option to narrow down the list. I happened to come across the website eLearning4Kids which I thought would be very useful for an elementary school classroom. I was first very impressed by the fact that the website offered 5 different languages that it can convert to. I thought this was a great option for working with ELL students to help with the language barrier. I am guilty of the thought that when someone says that they have an ELL student, I automatically think that their primary language is Spanish. Clarksville is a very diverse community with many other languages spoken other than Spanish and I think that this website with it's multiple language options would be a good tool for students. Students can choose from multiple skills to practice and grade levels K-6 are available. In particular, I thought the "life skills" lessons were interesting to have. While I was observing at an elementary school in Clarksville, I was surprised to learn that one of the "specials" the students attended was a life skills class taught by the school counselor. I think that these life skills lessons would be a good addition for students to reinforce what they have learned. I think this would be a great tool for students to use inside and outside of the classroom. There are so many options that a student would never get bored and would never have to repeat a lesson. It is also a free website which is also very nice although it does ask for donations. 

Some of the my dislikes about the website were that some of the lessons would not load so it made it hard to evaluate the website for these particular lessons. Some of the lessons that I was able to review had a lot of words to read and would make it difficult for a young elementary student to follow along with the lesson. Younger students would need the help of a teacher or a parent to be able to read the information in the lesson. 

This website would be great for school or at home. I think it keeps students engaged in their learning at the end of the lesson the student gets a certificate which is great. First, I think students enjoy receiving a certificate after completing the lesson and second it serves as a record for which lessons they have completed. I think this website would be very good for a child who was home schooled. I think I will use this website when I have a class of my own to see how students like the website.

Thing #5

"The Future of Education"

Web 2.0 & School 2.0

As I was reading the articles and watched the video Machine is Us/Using Us, I am simply amazed about how far we have come with technology in such a short period of time. I remember our third grade classroom getting an Apple computer, (no mouse) with its green screen and green print. It's hard to imagine what the next ten years will bring us in technology. One point that struck me was in "The Horizons Report", students today are now more then ever learning everywhere, at home, in the classroom and in their community. There are so many educational games and resources available to students now which help all different types of learners. 

I think when people refer to School 2.0 they mean that our students are getting the newest version of education. Just like how we need to update computer software to keep up with technology, we need to update the ways we educate our students. Now we are taught that we as teachers need to differentiate our instruction and I think that using technology aides in this tremendously. Students can use the classroom computers to take individualized tests according to their level. In addition to helping students I think that School 2.0 also means updating the way we run our schools as well. In Clarksville, for example, Powerschool is the latest update of School 2.0. Powerschool electronically sends attendance to the office and serves as a grade book in which parents can log on and monitor their child's grades. Tools like Powerschool help teachers, parents and school administrators to better communicate and work together to give students the best education possible. 

I have mixed feelings when it comes to what School 2.0 means for schools in the future. While I am excited to see what the future will bring in the way of technological developments. I am a little concerned about how inner-city schools and Title I schools will be able to stay up with these demands of supplying schools with the newest of technology. It would be great if every student was able to get an Ipad/ tablet but realistically I don't see that happening nationwide. Prices have gone down tremendously as technology has been more accessible to everyone. In 1984, 30 years ago,  a Mac computer cost $2,495 ($5,595 in today's economy). 1984 Macintosh  The cost would be very prohibitive for every school to get computers/ tablets in every classroom. To add to this, I recently found out that my MacBook Pro that I bought five years ago is considered to be an "antique" and can no longer get parts for it. Even if schools were able to supply students with the most up to date technology, we are making technological advancements so rapidly that it would be difficult for schools to keep up. I also have a security concern as well. There are always new viruses popping up and if someone decided to target schools and children's personal information could be as risk. That being said there is no reward without the risk. I do believe that the positives outweigh the negatives when it comes to School 2.0, students are using technology anyway, so why not use it to educate them as well? 

Thing #4

The Importance of Commenting

I have to admit, since I am new to this whole blogging thing, I have been a "lurker" not a commenter". After reading about how important commenting is I equate commenting to giving students feedback for tests. People want feedback and commenting is a way of giving people that feedback. When someone comments on a blog, it is telling the blogger that they connected with them and actually thought enough of their post to write a comment. It gives a sense of belonging and validation for what the blogger is doing. We are social beings and now that everyone is on a computer we have lost some of that, but we have also gained a new way of being social. We don't have to be social with the people around us but we can also make connections with people in other towns, states and even countries. Which makes the world a smaller place because of all the connections that people are able to make due to blogs and social media. 

Two points that stuck out from the readings were to watch out for the "Darth Commenter" and to make links to the blogs you comment on. I think part of the reason I never wanted to blog before is because of the "Darth Commenter", people can be mean and it can really put a bad taste in your mouth about the whole blogging thing. I tend to take things personally and I didn't want to put myself out there in the chance that someone would come along and decide to make a negative comment. Even though I am an adult now, I still care what people think of me, its a hard thing to break myself out of. If I do get a comment from a "Darth Commenter" then I will have to remind myself that I am who I am and if someone doesn't like me, that's ok and a comment from someone like that isn't worth getting upset about. My mom would always tell me to "consider the source". The second point I found important was to make a link to the blog that I commented on my own blog. If it is something that I thought enough of to comment on than, I want to first have a link back to the blog for myself and for any of my readers as well. If I have readers of my own blog, they must find what I have to say interesting so it would be safe to assume that my readers my also find what I thought to be interesting, interesting as well. Creating a link would make it easier for my readers to find the information instead of hunting for it. 

The Blogs I have decided to follow and comment on are:

The Amazing and Wonderful 23 Things According to Mrs. Pigg - Kyrie Pigg

Emily's 23 Things - Emily Ellison

23 Things from Mrs. Cruise- Rachel Cruise

Morgan's 23 Things- Morgan Bryant

Miss Z's 23 Things- Christin Zolkiewicz

Shenanigans in Second Grade
Wright's Room

The five I picked from our classroom are ones that I found interesting or I felt like I had some connection with. Emily would like to be a third grade teacher as would I, so I felt that we had a strong connection and would gain insight into how to use technology from an elementary school teacher's perspective. Kyrie's post seems to that it will be fun and interesting to read. She seems to be very upbeat in her posts and I am interested in what she has to say. I made a connection with Rachel's post about negative commenters and she seems to have similar thoughts to my own. I picked Morgan's at random only to find that I was one of her 5 classroom blogs to read. I picked Christin's because I am interested in how she will use technology when it comes to special education.

The two others of my choice I chose because they could help me in the future in teaching. I chose Shenanigans in Second Grade because the blogger is so creative with ways to keep the classroom fun while still learning. She has so many ideas I think are so wonderful to keep younger students engaged in their learning. I picked Wright's Room because she has a background in technology and she takes the time to respond to every one of her commenters. I feel like that says a lot about her and I wanted to be one of her readers, she was very insightful even about things that were not directly related to the classroom. I also thought it was interesting that she isn't from the US and I think this would offer an interesting perspective on teaching as well.