Thing #12

WOW! Google really does do it all! I am very impressed! By far my favorite google tool is iGoogle. It only took literally thirty seconds to create it and when it opened up, my jaw dropped to the floor. I could not believe all the stuff that was on my page, and how well everything was organized. I stayed on my iGoogle page for a while just checking everything out. The other good tool I used was the Google Calendar which was really neat as well. I like being organized so when I put in my class schedule and volleyball schedule, it was nice to see my week planned out. Both Google tools can definitely be used for educational purposes. The Google Calendar can help organize the most unorganized person in the world by easily just typing in a few things. Teachers would definitely like to have a tool to help them organize their week and teaching schedule. The iGoogle would be useful in education because it has pretty much anything you can think of on it. Anywhere from the time and weather to a quick youtube link that could be beneficial for all subjects as a visual aid. Here is a link to my iGoogle. Check it out!
http://www.google.com/ig

Thing #11

I found typing in a topic in the search bar was the easiest way to search for feeds. I thought that the Google Blog Search was the easiest search tool to use. The search tool that was the most confusing was Topix. I found a cool elementary education feed while I was searching around and I added it to my collection. I tried to find a feed for volleyball but I was unsuccessful. I found Bloglines home page useful in searching for more feeds because it has a top 200 feed list that I was able to look through and add the ones that interested me.

Thing #10

I really enjoyed learning about RSS. I feel that it is going to be a really useful tool for me to use in my future teaching career. I like how the newsreaders were really organized and easy to navigate. I chose the newsreader "bloglines" and created a free account. I added five different feeds that were interesting to me. Teachers can take advantage of this technology by being able to pick educational categories and pull up websites and information fast.

Thing #9

At first I had a little trouble with figuring out how to work the image generators, but once I got a hang of it, I had a lot of fun creating different images. I used ImageChef and picked the category "music" to create the photo on the top.
http://www.imagechef.com/ic/product.jsp?cat=music
For the image on the bottom I used ImageChef again but picked visual poetry this time. I got to express a little bit of my own personality in both of these pictures.
http://www.imagechef.com/ic/poem/
The image generators can be used in the classroom for main point makers. For example, the student could look at a single image and get the whole main point of a book. This web tool would be very useful in education.

Thing #8

Making this Flickr mashup was so much fun! What a totally neat way to organize your photos and/or ideas! Flickr/Flickr mashup could be used in the classroom for grouping together pictures or words of a subject matter all into one whole image. I have mixed feelings about sharing photos online. One part of me feels that sharing photos is a great way to connect with people and a fun way to show your personality. On the other hand, some photos could be personal and shouldn't be shared with strangers. I share photos on facebook with the people who I accept to be my friend and I love being able to have those memories at the click of a button.

Thing #7

The beach! I decided to use the "beach" tag when I was searching through Flickr. I never knew how cool flickr really was. I also looked through a few of the recently posted pictures on flickr, and it was really fun. The groups are fun to see what other people in the world are interested in the same things you are. I had heard about flickr before this discovery exercise but I never knew how in depth and interesting it was. This photo was taken by Suzette Cruz and it is beautiful. I also saw some other work by this photographer and liked it.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zeturna/4437138724/

Thing #6

http://www.lulu.com/community/index.php?cid=en_tab_community
This was the site I went to for web 2.0 discovery exercise. I thought it was an extremely useful and interesting site. I really like to read so this electronic book site definitely interested me. I could totally see this site being used in both the classroom and the library. You can buy books, create books and blog about the books. I was very impressed with this web 2.0 site and now that I know it is available to me I will definitely look into it. There is a free membership sign up so that is another positive part about the site.

Thing #5

I find the whole web 2.0 thing very interesting. School 2.0 would be definitely something that would benefit children in the classroom. I totally believe that we need to keep up with technology in the classroom so that children continue to be interested in learning. Web 2.0 is definitely something that would help educators teach at a higher level and make subjects and material a lot more fun and interesting. Future schools would definitely benefit from web 2.0, I think it will be a complete must have in the future.

Thing #4

I feel that commenting is definitely a positive thing when it comes to blogging. I think sharing ideas and opinions is what makes blogging fun. It is important to be able to learn from others and it's a great time to listen to what others have to say. Being open ended with some responses is a great idea. I know that open ended questions plays a huge role in the classroom so I feel that blogging will definitely help with that. The five people I commented on from our group is Nick Newsome, Ashlyn Pentecost, Kara Plunkett, Ashlie Lawsome, and Nick Hampton. I picked these five people becuase I had something in common with something they said in their posts. The other two blog sites I picked were cooking blogs. One was about a yummy chocolate dessert and the other on a delicious roasted chicken dinner. I picked to comment on these blogs because I enjoy cooking and learning how to make new things to share with my friends.

Thing #3

I definitely see myself using a blog in my future teaching because it would help me communicate with other teachers either in my building or even around the world. It is a fast and easy way to share little tips or important information with other experienced teachers. I could use a blog in my future classroom to communicate with parents and post fun things that happen in my classroom along with grades and important announcements.

Thing #2

My blog name is nothing original. I just used my first name because I was the only one in the class with the name Paige. The experience in making the blog was a good one. I did not think it was too difficult. I really liked making an avatar that looked like me because it was a fun way to have a picture that resembled me on my blog.

Thing #1

The lifelong habit that is going to be the easiest for me is habit number three. I have always been the kind of person who views obstacles as a learning opportunity. I find a way to be motivated by things that may be challenging. The habit that I think I may have some trouble with is habit number four. I sometimes struggle with confidence. I tend to think that seeing is believing when it comes to having confidence in myself. For example, I play volleyball and when I am not performing at my best, I lose confidence in my game.

I am really excited to learn more about web 2.0. I would like to learn little tricks that would help me search the web. I thought that setting up this blog was pretty easy. I was just a little confused at times but it was easy to figure out my questions.