So really this is 24 things, no fair! ;)
This journey during 3040 has really been something. The work has not been difficult, but definiting time consuming and mind boggling sometimes. I have enjoyed it for the most part. It has been very informational, and I hope I retain what I have learned during the 23 things.
My favorite of all of the 23 things was Animoto. It was the easiest way I have personally seen to make a video to share with friends and family.
I think this program has effected my lifelong learning goals tremendously. Now that I know the many, many, MANY resources available to me through technology, I can use them to continue to learn throughout my teaching career. Don't get me wrong, I knew there were things out there for me to use. However, I did not know there were so many awesome websites and tools, nor did I know which were the best. I feel that using this program I now know the best ones to use. I appreciate that.
I really did not think this would be something I would enjoy, just because it is homework afterall. But, I really did like most of the 23 things. Since I was able to learn so much about technology, I feel I will be a better teacher for it.
I do not think much should be done differently to make the process better. The one thing I would say is that there are so many accounts that must be created to get to all of the activities. I do not think there is much that can been done about that though.
I plan to take what I have learned through this program and use it to keep up with learn 2.0 and continue to educate myself on what is going on in the technology world. What a journey it has been. But hey, I did it! I made it through all of these things, and did not go 100% crazy. It was a great learning experience!
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Thing 23
23 Things
I found this link to show that 23 things was not made just for this class, or even for APSU. I simply Googled 23 things and found that learning 2.0 and the 23 things has been out there for a while to use and explore the web.
Now that I have Creative Commons and Copyright laws down, I think I can now use resources much more safely and efficiently. I know it will be my responsibility to teach my students that there are copyright laws that they must follow and adhere to. They will need to know all of the basics especially for my class since it is Language Arts.
I found this link to show that 23 things was not made just for this class, or even for APSU. I simply Googled 23 things and found that learning 2.0 and the 23 things has been out there for a while to use and explore the web.
Now that I have Creative Commons and Copyright laws down, I think I can now use resources much more safely and efficiently. I know it will be my responsibility to teach my students that there are copyright laws that they must follow and adhere to. They will need to know all of the basics especially for my class since it is Language Arts.
Thing 22
Persuassive Writing
The titles to my binders are: Persuassive Writing, Why is Audience Important, and Pre-Writing Help.
I would use this in my classroom because it would mean less paperwork to carry around! I could make assignments due in Livebinders instead of actually making a real binder. As long as I had the resources, like computers, available to have students use while in class I would use this. I understand that while most students have computers at home, not all do. Especially for towns that are low income.
A lesson I would do for my students using this would be journal writing. I would have them each find different topics online and make a binder per topic, and have one due each month. Each new month the students would have a new topic for a new binder. I would require at least 15 tabs per binder. The information would need to be good information however, and not just some yahoo answer page, etc. These would need to be from college websites, or websites that I have previously approved.
The titles to my binders are: Persuassive Writing, Why is Audience Important, and Pre-Writing Help.
I would use this in my classroom because it would mean less paperwork to carry around! I could make assignments due in Livebinders instead of actually making a real binder. As long as I had the resources, like computers, available to have students use while in class I would use this. I understand that while most students have computers at home, not all do. Especially for towns that are low income.
A lesson I would do for my students using this would be journal writing. I would have them each find different topics online and make a binder per topic, and have one due each month. Each new month the students would have a new topic for a new binder. I would require at least 15 tabs per binder. The information would need to be good information however, and not just some yahoo answer page, etc. These would need to be from college websites, or websites that I have previously approved.
Thing 21
Make your own slideshow with music at Animoto.
Ok, I admit at first I had some trouble with this thing! I had Adobe disabled for another project I was doing, so nothing would load. I started trying to fix whatever was wrong, and when I finally figured out what I was missing, it worked great. I could have kicked myself. This program is beyond easy. Pick a theme, add pictures, bam. A video. Not only is it great for this class and to use in my classroom for an interesting twist on Language Arts, but it is great to send to family! No one likes getting those annoying emails with attachments and tons of pictures to open up. This makes it much more fun for everyone to see your pictures. I would like more than 30 seconds...but I refuse to pay for it. Yes, I have a budget.
All in all, this was alot of fun. I will definetely use it in my classroom as well as in my personal life.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Thing 19
I am a member of some online communities, especially after taking this class! There have been so many great sites that I have been able to connect with because of the 23 things. It is great to have so many resources to go to. I think once I am a teacher I will appreciate these even more.
I like most of the social networks I looked into. What's on my book shelf, Yelp, Flixster, and Bake Space were some of my favorites. I think in some way or another I can use these in my English class, and that is what it's all about! I love finding new ways to make my class more fun. I will have a huge list of resources by the time I actually get in my classroom.
I think I liked What's on my book shelf best, because it works on a point system. You can get online and trade books with other people using points. So it is inexpensive and helpful. For my English class, being able to use this for my students will be great.
I like most of the social networks I looked into. What's on my book shelf, Yelp, Flixster, and Bake Space were some of my favorites. I think in some way or another I can use these in my English class, and that is what it's all about! I love finding new ways to make my class more fun. I will have a huge list of resources by the time I actually get in my classroom.
I think I liked What's on my book shelf best, because it works on a point system. You can get online and trade books with other people using points. So it is inexpensive and helpful. For my English class, being able to use this for my students will be great.
Thing 14
I really like both mind maps and flowcharts after going through the steps to create them both! Again, another source to use in my classroom that I had no idea about. They are both very easy to use, and will be very helpful in my English classes, especially the bubbl.us website.
I found many similarities in flowcharts and mind maps. The 2 I chose were flowchart.com and bubbl.us. Flowchart.com did seem to be a little more complex with more options to change formats, fonts, and many more tools to use. For bubbl.us, it was very simple with not many options to personalize your mind map. However, I liked bubbl.us better. I think for brainstorming in my classroom, this tool will be fun an effective. I hope to have Ipads in my classroom for the students to use, or at least enough computers for them to work with if needed. These programs will help make the lessons easier to understand, and alot more fun!
I chose the family tree format on Flowchart.com because it seemed like fun. I think this would be a great way to get my English students interested in writing. We could do a project on their family, and that would make it more personal to each student. I used some of the fault tree analysis options to make it more visual. I added different events and things to my family history tree. It was a fun little project for myself! As for bubbl.us, it does not have much to work with but I did create a nice brainstorming mind map for persuasive writing.
I found many similarities in flowcharts and mind maps. The 2 I chose were flowchart.com and bubbl.us. Flowchart.com did seem to be a little more complex with more options to change formats, fonts, and many more tools to use. For bubbl.us, it was very simple with not many options to personalize your mind map. However, I liked bubbl.us better. I think for brainstorming in my classroom, this tool will be fun an effective. I hope to have Ipads in my classroom for the students to use, or at least enough computers for them to work with if needed. These programs will help make the lessons easier to understand, and alot more fun!
I chose the family tree format on Flowchart.com because it seemed like fun. I think this would be a great way to get my English students interested in writing. We could do a project on their family, and that would make it more personal to each student. I used some of the fault tree analysis options to make it more visual. I added different events and things to my family history tree. It was a fun little project for myself! As for bubbl.us, it does not have much to work with but I did create a nice brainstorming mind map for persuasive writing.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Thing 20
Ok, the video I chose was kind of boring but I chose it for a great reason. The teacher in this video allowed her students to be in a very relaxed environment and to discuss what was going on in class. None of the students looked bored or tired. They were all involved and seemed to know what was going on in the class. This is exactly how I want my classroom to be! When I found this video I thought well, no one else may think this looks all that great, but to me it is perfect for the point I am trying to get across. I do not really see how this video would fit into my library, just because it is not very informational, and like I said, it is boring if it is not exactly what you are looking for. This video was about 2 minutes long, but on Youtube you can watch the entire class period.
This video is actually part of a teaching and learning program called "Powerful Teaching and Learning." Therefore, I am certain that if I had the whole series, it would be much more informational and helpful in my classroom.
This video is actually part of a teaching and learning program called "Powerful Teaching and Learning." Therefore, I am certain that if I had the whole series, it would be much more informational and helpful in my classroom.
Thing 18
I think teachers need to know how social networking works because so many of their students will be using a social networking site. I think there are many positives about social networking. We can connect with old friends, talk to other teachers about teaching techniques, post pictures of projects that are being worked on, and even post homework assignments. The negatives I can see in these sites are potentional bullying between students, inappropriate pictures, teachers being accused of things they did not do, and parents not seeing pictures that teachers post and not liking them or finding them inappropriate. This goes for Twitter and Facebook. I actually deleted my Facebook because if I am going to be in schools, I do not want any pictures from my teen years or early 20's to be posted on my page and me tagged unwillingly. What if a student saw that? Or a parent? That does not look good for a new teacher, even if the pictures aren't that bad. What I see in a picture and what a student or parent may see are different things.
I really do not like Twitter. Having so many people updating about each and everything thing they do is honestly annoying. I am just not into it. What I do like is I can follow my favorite celebrities, and that is pretty cool. The thing about that though, you have to be sure they are who they say they are and not just another fan. So, to be sure, I check out their official websites and get where to follow them off of that.
Facebook is ok. I think it is great to be able to talk to friends and have their birthdays and anniversaries handy so I do not forget. I think there are too many ways to get around the security features if you are smart enough to figure it out, or know someone who is. But, it is all in all a good social networking place.
I personally do not see myself using any of these for classroom use. I think that would get too personal, and is not a good plan.
Thing 17
I think tagging is a great way to involve people in what you are doing, or if the picture or file you are tagging involves a friend, it is a great way to share it with everyone. Sometimes people love to be tagged in things, unless of course it is a bad picture right? But, for teachers, being able to tag information that they feel a certain person or group of people would find helpful, this is a great tool. Being able to access this information from anywhere will be so helpful as a busy mom and teacher. I know that I will be grading a ton of papers, talking to parents, tutoring students, and much more! I will need something like this to be able to log on to and connect with other teachers and even parents about ideas for my classroom.
I think the more we incorporate technology the more we connect with each other. Sure, we still need to have face to face conferences with our student's parents, but wouldn't it be great to tag parents and teachers when you find helpful information for them and their children or students?
This is a great tool, and I will use it in my classroom.
Thing 16
I chose IGoogle as my start page. I chose this one because it is my personal permanent home page. I love being able to customize it with weather, comic strips, different background themes, sports, and entertainment. IGoogle is so much fun, and the best part is, it is all about me! Any of my interests can go right there on my page and be there daily. There are even calendars and list makers you can add. (But for the sake of this assignment I chose a different site for that )
I checked out 30 boxes, and although a little boring, it gets the job done! I found that I can add any of my social networking sites to it and connect with all of my friends if I wanted to. (This would make it a little hard to say no to friends who have full access to your calendar :p) It seems to be great for keeping track of what is going on in my life, and I can even use it on my phone. Let's face it, we all use our phones more than a computer anyway.
The to-do lists are great, but I do think they are too much work. I would so much rather have a piece of paper and a pen to scratch out each thing as I get it finished. For some reason, that seems so much more satisfying than having it done digitally. Maybe I am old fashioned in that way.
I would say that I definitely use my IGoogle page daily, but the 30 boxes and to-do lists, probably not. As I said, I would rather use paper for to-do lists, or write them all in an actual planner than to have them on a computer or phone. They are probably useful to some though. I would recommend them to anyone who uses their phones or computers for everything in life. This would benefit them alot.
I checked out 30 boxes, and although a little boring, it gets the job done! I found that I can add any of my social networking sites to it and connect with all of my friends if I wanted to. (This would make it a little hard to say no to friends who have full access to your calendar :p) It seems to be great for keeping track of what is going on in my life, and I can even use it on my phone. Let's face it, we all use our phones more than a computer anyway.
The to-do lists are great, but I do think they are too much work. I would so much rather have a piece of paper and a pen to scratch out each thing as I get it finished. For some reason, that seems so much more satisfying than having it done digitally. Maybe I am old fashioned in that way.
I would say that I definitely use my IGoogle page daily, but the 30 boxes and to-do lists, probably not. As I said, I would rather use paper for to-do lists, or write them all in an actual planner than to have them on a computer or phone. They are probably useful to some though. I would recommend them to anyone who uses their phones or computers for everything in life. This would benefit them alot.
Thing 15
Sandbox was a fun way to communicate with other students and make changes and corrections to anyones posting. I chose to include pictures from my "Thing 9" because it was one of the most fun we had to do. It was one of those assignments I did not mind doing. Anytime I can make something fun for my students, I will.
Using sandbox could get kind of sticky when dealing with high school students, however. Some may not like it that someone changed their wording or pictures. I think it would become like a war online, but I would use it because I think we could keep it light hearted. Did that sound too negative? I think it would be very important to explain to the students that others have permission to change what they have worked on. Since I will be teaching English, this would be a great way to put up a document and have students correct it online. I could also use it to have students post what they have written, and have others change what they feel is wrong and be sure and leave comments as to why it is wrong, or even leave positive feedback.
Using sandbox could get kind of sticky when dealing with high school students, however. Some may not like it that someone changed their wording or pictures. I think it would become like a war online, but I would use it because I think we could keep it light hearted. Did that sound too negative? I think it would be very important to explain to the students that others have permission to change what they have worked on. Since I will be teaching English, this would be a great way to put up a document and have students correct it online. I could also use it to have students post what they have written, and have others change what they feel is wrong and be sure and leave comments as to why it is wrong, or even leave positive feedback.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Thing 13
While checking out Zoho, I found something I wouldn't have ever thought to look for: A function that allows me to type documents online, and then while offline be able to pull up the document on my laptop and make changes. The best part? You can save these changes, and when you reconnect to the internet later the document syncs with the online version and it is saved online. I LOVE this website. Technology amazes me, and this is just another thing I love about being able to get online and find literally anything I need.
I drew this while playing around on Google Docs, and while this is just a silly image I drew in a few minutes, there are many other functions with Google Docs. The one thing I did not like about this is that there is no easy way I found to share the image. I wanted to just save it to my desktop and put it on here, but I cannot find a way to do that easily. I tried the share function, but it just emails the image to whomever you would like. But, all in all, it was a neat website, and I am all about Google!
Google Docs Drawing
I personally like Zoho the best out of the two sites simply because it was easier for me to navigate and use.
I drew this while playing around on Google Docs, and while this is just a silly image I drew in a few minutes, there are many other functions with Google Docs. The one thing I did not like about this is that there is no easy way I found to share the image. I wanted to just save it to my desktop and put it on here, but I cannot find a way to do that easily. I tried the share function, but it just emails the image to whomever you would like. But, all in all, it was a neat website, and I am all about Google!
Google Docs Drawing
I personally like Zoho the best out of the two sites simply because it was easier for me to navigate and use.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Thing 11
The method I found easiest to use was the Google Reader. It is easy, and makes it less frustrating to find what I need. Sometimes the internet can seem so overwhelming because there are so many links, it gets confusing. This made it so much better for me. I also like Google Blog Searcher. I am a fan of Google, as you can see, so it really makes sense that I would love these two seachers.
I really didn't find any to be confusing, although I may have found some I like more than others. Topix was kind of cool, since it actually uses my hometown events using a locator, but I did not like the way the page was set up. It is kind of generic.
There are SO many feeds that I found useful! From activities with my little girl, to cooking, to teaching my English class! They will all be useful in both my personal life and of course at work. Finding resources like these online really makes me 110% more excited to get into my classroom.
I found that anyone can just go to Google(ok, maybe I have an obsession), and just type in RSS and many many many of the sites that offer this pop up. The list goes on for quite some time. This way does seem silly though, considering there is a wonderful way right around the corner at Google Reader.
YAY GOOGLE!!!
Thing 10
What I really love about the RSS and newsreaders is that it is really easy to search for things that interest me and will be useful to me. I despise it when there are websites that are terribly made and not user friendly. It is frustrating! This site actually makes it super easy to find what I need. I also love that it is incorporated with my Google account. So many things now link to my Google account, and simply signing onto it can open up many places for me to go. It is nice to be able to keep up with the one password versuses 104 different ones.
I think I can use this in my classroom on a daily basis. Keeping current on news, weather, and even the newest trends in what is fun will be helpful to have in my classroom. I chose NOAA Weather, Clarksville Online, The Pioneer Woman(because she is so much fun), Easy Toddler Fun, and ABC News. While I cannot use the toddler one in my classroom, I can use the others every now and then, or even daily at the beginning of class for fun.
As for my personal life, I can use RSS everyday as well. I need to know the weather, activities to do with my toddler, new recipies, and what is going on in my community and around the world.
What a great discovery!
Thing 9
Here is an image I made from
and I thought it was alot of fun. Using this is a classroom setting would be easy and fun. For example: maybe using it to display good news, good behavior, or even creating one for a specific child daily to point out something positive would be fun.
This next one I thought was perfect for February! I had alot of fun searching through these generators and finding neat ideas to use in the classroom.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Thing 8
As I was looking through the different Flickr mashups, I changed my mind some on the whole Flickr usage. In thing 7, I talked about how I didn't like Flickr at all. I changed my mind when I found some things on there that I actually found really fun. Spell with Flickr was great. I attached my photo from what I made above. I would use this in my classroom for sure. I would be able to use it to make my bulletin boards, assign some assignments to my class to make them more fun and creative, and I could even use it through Ipad or Smartboard for class activities. I think it would make class a little more interesting.
Thing 7
http://www.flickr.com/x/t/0090009/photos/chevywally/4589556958/
The above link is to the picture I found on Flickr. To be honest, I do not like Flickr at all and more than likely would not make my students use it to do classwork unless they really liked it. I found it kind of annoying because none of the links I tried to put on here to upload a photo would work. This is why I went ahead and just copied the link and put it above for everyone to click on and go to the link.
I chose this picture of the beach because when I see pictures, I like to imagine myself there. When I think of a place like this, I think of my favorite place to be, with my favorite people.
Here is where I had to send the image to my hotmail account, and then save it to my computer, and upload it to my blog. Isn't this place serene? I could sit right in that sandy spot all day and watch the clouds float by. This image was taken by "The Family Dog" This person takes many great pictures of the beach, and they are all pretty amazing. I love any kind of photo that makes me feel this happy! Searching tags and such was ok, and I did learn how to do so, but it was not something I would probably use much. Maybe on an assignment in class I could have the children email me pictures of their favorite places to read and write, or even do homework. I just did not personally like the site.
The above link is to the picture I found on Flickr. To be honest, I do not like Flickr at all and more than likely would not make my students use it to do classwork unless they really liked it. I found it kind of annoying because none of the links I tried to put on here to upload a photo would work. This is why I went ahead and just copied the link and put it above for everyone to click on and go to the link.
I chose this picture of the beach because when I see pictures, I like to imagine myself there. When I think of a place like this, I think of my favorite place to be, with my favorite people.
Thing 12
http://translate.google.com/translate_t?hl=&ie=UTF-8&text=I+have+really+enjoyed+this+class%2C+and+so+far+have+learned+so+much%21+I+hope+after+taking+my+Spanish+classes%2C+I+can+incorporate+it+into+my+English+class+for+highschool+students.+&sl=en&tl=es#
The above link is to the page I used in Google Translate to translate a couple of sentences about this class. I really like Google Translate because it helps me to better understand another culture, Spanish inparticularly. In America today, Spanish is used almost as often as English. I find it important to learn and understand. I am taking a Spanish class right now, and although it is very difficult for me to grasp, I am trying because I want to know it so badly.
http://www.google.com/ig?hl=en
The link I posted above is my IGoogle. I love this because I can make it how I want it, and it has so many things to choose from to have on my page. I like to know the weather, it is on there. I like humor, they give me jokes. It is just really fun. I would definetely encourage my students to use this because it would help them to stay interested with lessons because they could put things on their page that they like, we would get good technology time in, and it is fun! Even though I will be teaching highschool English, I think even older children would like something like this. I know I do!
The above link is to the page I used in Google Translate to translate a couple of sentences about this class. I really like Google Translate because it helps me to better understand another culture, Spanish inparticularly. In America today, Spanish is used almost as often as English. I find it important to learn and understand. I am taking a Spanish class right now, and although it is very difficult for me to grasp, I am trying because I want to know it so badly.
http://www.google.com/ig?hl=en
The link I posted above is my IGoogle. I love this because I can make it how I want it, and it has so many things to choose from to have on my page. I like to know the weather, it is on there. I like humor, they give me jokes. It is just really fun. I would definetely encourage my students to use this because it would help them to stay interested with lessons because they could put things on their page that they like, we would get good technology time in, and it is fun! Even though I will be teaching highschool English, I think even older children would like something like this. I know I do!
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Thing 6
http://www.dropbox.com/
I chose dropbox for this "thing" because it is an awesome tool for any classroom. I cannot count how many times I was in school and had simply left my homework at home on the computer with no way of turning it in. Of course there were jump drives then, but to my knowledge, nothing like Dropbox. This site is great because it allows anyone to upload files up to 2G for free and have the ability to log on from anywhere and grab what you need from it. How great is it to have something like this for free?
I will definetely use this in my classroom because I want my students to turn in papers on time, and I want them to succeed. Having this available for free will be a great tool. I really like that students can log in from my classroom and edit their papers, print them out, or do their work in class and save it for later. I understand that some people do not have computers. There are many low income families that cannot afford computers. This is why I hope to allow my students enough time in class to use computers and get their work completed.
Drop box is awesome, and I hope you guys will check it out. It is so helpful!
I chose dropbox for this "thing" because it is an awesome tool for any classroom. I cannot count how many times I was in school and had simply left my homework at home on the computer with no way of turning it in. Of course there were jump drives then, but to my knowledge, nothing like Dropbox. This site is great because it allows anyone to upload files up to 2G for free and have the ability to log on from anywhere and grab what you need from it. How great is it to have something like this for free?
I will definetely use this in my classroom because I want my students to turn in papers on time, and I want them to succeed. Having this available for free will be a great tool. I really like that students can log in from my classroom and edit their papers, print them out, or do their work in class and save it for later. I understand that some people do not have computers. There are many low income families that cannot afford computers. This is why I hope to allow my students enough time in class to use computers and get their work completed.
Drop box is awesome, and I hope you guys will check it out. It is so helpful!
Thing 5
While reading the articles and watching the videos included in Web 2.0 A Guide for Educators and Web 2.0 Is the Future of Education I thought wow, this all sounds pretty great. Not only has the web brought us the ability to communicate with each other, send documents, write blogs, research, and discuss things without leaving our homes, but it opens up so much for education. The reason I chose these is because to me, they explained what I needed to know about Web 2.0 and what I wanted to know about School 2.0.
School 2.0 means opportunity. It means being able to connect with students through online media, and be creative with teaching. Not only just using technology, but also the thought that there is not just one path for learning, but so many. With students all having different needs I think it is so very important to be able to give different paths of learning to all students.
For schools of the furture I think it means there will be more options in teaching. Not only will teachers have tools to teach with, they will have many more resources, and will have options to teach in new ways. I think as school 2.0 progresses, it will definetely open up many opportunities for schools of the future by being more flexible and interesting.
School 2.0 means opportunity. It means being able to connect with students through online media, and be creative with teaching. Not only just using technology, but also the thought that there is not just one path for learning, but so many. With students all having different needs I think it is so very important to be able to give different paths of learning to all students.
For schools of the furture I think it means there will be more options in teaching. Not only will teachers have tools to teach with, they will have many more resources, and will have options to teach in new ways. I think as school 2.0 progresses, it will definetely open up many opportunities for schools of the future by being more flexible and interesting.
Thing 4
As with social networks, blogs, or any kind of media online, commenting connects us all. It makes us feel like people care about what I have written and they like it. We never comment on things we don't like just for the heck of it. It makes socializing and working online so much more fun. It creates a wonderful sense of community and interaction because it is people getting together online that do not necessarily know each other very well, and they begin to get to know each other by commenting and discussing. In some ways, it's kind of like moving to a new neighborhood, and everyone starts introducing themselves and interacting. So in other words, commenting on blogs, facebook, etc. is like bringing over a pie to your new neighbor? Ok, maybe not exactly, but that is the general idea I am trying to give here.
Write to your audience- they love you. I liked this so much from the Cool Cat Teacher Blog on how to comment. The truth is simply that people read your blog because they love how you write, so write for them! You wrote before to capture an audience, and you captured them because you now have an audience, so why not write the same way you always have, because that hooked them, but write geared towards what they want to hear now that you have a greatly formed audience.
Write more meaningful comments, instead of just "yeah" or "right on" ask more advanced questions. This was kind of half and half for me. I guess for certain things, like facebook or twitter, just saying "yeah" seems just fine. For blogs, you expect people to read it that care and have more to say about it besides just "yeah". I would actually kind of be offended if someone just wrote that. I would think, well, why did you even comment? So, for the most part I think sticking to good meaningful comments is important.
I chose the following for my 5 student blogs to comment on:
Abbey Thompson's Thing 3, Chelsea Ninness's Blog Thing 9, Rachel Jones 23 Things Blogs Thing 6, Ashlee Boyds 23 Things Thing 4, and David's Mom Anita Taylor Thing 7. I chose these particular ones because they were interesting to me and I related to what they all said. I feel that if I am going to comment on something, it is going to be soemthing that I liked reading.
I chose two blogs that were not related to the class that I love! One is about cooking in a small kitchen, and this was the one I picked because my kitchen is in fact small! I am always looking for easy recipes and making my busy life a little easier. I chose the second one about engaging toddler activities because I have a two year old little girl and it has a ton of ideas on things to do that are not only cheap, but so much fun for little ones.
I used what I read from the Cool Cat Teacher blog to answer the last part of this post. Why did I write the comments I did? Every comment that I wrote was honest, and meaningful. I did not just write comments just to put something out there. I wrote them because I truly felt the way I wrote about. That is how I always write. Meaningful, and hopefully useful!
Write to your audience- they love you. I liked this so much from the Cool Cat Teacher Blog on how to comment. The truth is simply that people read your blog because they love how you write, so write for them! You wrote before to capture an audience, and you captured them because you now have an audience, so why not write the same way you always have, because that hooked them, but write geared towards what they want to hear now that you have a greatly formed audience.
Write more meaningful comments, instead of just "yeah" or "right on" ask more advanced questions. This was kind of half and half for me. I guess for certain things, like facebook or twitter, just saying "yeah" seems just fine. For blogs, you expect people to read it that care and have more to say about it besides just "yeah". I would actually kind of be offended if someone just wrote that. I would think, well, why did you even comment? So, for the most part I think sticking to good meaningful comments is important.
I chose the following for my 5 student blogs to comment on:
Abbey Thompson's Thing 3, Chelsea Ninness's Blog Thing 9, Rachel Jones 23 Things Blogs Thing 6, Ashlee Boyds 23 Things Thing 4, and David's Mom Anita Taylor Thing 7. I chose these particular ones because they were interesting to me and I related to what they all said. I feel that if I am going to comment on something, it is going to be soemthing that I liked reading.
I chose two blogs that were not related to the class that I love! One is about cooking in a small kitchen, and this was the one I picked because my kitchen is in fact small! I am always looking for easy recipes and making my busy life a little easier. I chose the second one about engaging toddler activities because I have a two year old little girl and it has a ton of ideas on things to do that are not only cheap, but so much fun for little ones.
I used what I read from the Cool Cat Teacher blog to answer the last part of this post. Why did I write the comments I did? Every comment that I wrote was honest, and meaningful. I did not just write comments just to put something out there. I wrote them because I truly felt the way I wrote about. That is how I always write. Meaningful, and hopefully useful!
Thing #1
The habits of being a life long learner were pretty helpful to me. As teachers we always need to be thinking of new ways to laern new things. In order to make that happen, we need these habits to be picked up so we can take everything in, yet it it habit so it comes easier.
The habit that I think would be easiest for me is using technology to your advantage. I feel this way because technology is everywhere, there is so much of it, and these days it is so easy to have access to technology and how to use it all. Even 20 years ago when teachers were learning, they had forms of technology that helped them. Granted, it may not have been as easy to come by or use, but it was still available.
The habit I found to be potentially hard to aquire is to teach or mentor others. Of course I understand this will be my job, but I also realize that it will not be easy. When considering the other habits, this one stood out to me as harder. Teaching is something that is going to take time to learn how to do well, even though I know it is what I will love doing. I do believe that having a great love for what you are doing helps tremendously, but that does not mean it will come easy. I believe that teaching requires hard work, love, and time, to name only a small few.
The habit that I think would be easiest for me is using technology to your advantage. I feel this way because technology is everywhere, there is so much of it, and these days it is so easy to have access to technology and how to use it all. Even 20 years ago when teachers were learning, they had forms of technology that helped them. Granted, it may not have been as easy to come by or use, but it was still available.
The habit I found to be potentially hard to aquire is to teach or mentor others. Of course I understand this will be my job, but I also realize that it will not be easy. When considering the other habits, this one stood out to me as harder. Teaching is something that is going to take time to learn how to do well, even though I know it is what I will love doing. I do believe that having a great love for what you are doing helps tremendously, but that does not mean it will come easy. I believe that teaching requires hard work, love, and time, to name only a small few.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Thing 3
Since I never used a blog while in school, and I plan to teach high school English I think that blogging will be a great tool for my classroom. Instead of doing a writing journal on paper, the class could easily use a blog to write journal entries, creative writing homework, or anything that I assign in the classroom.
Any way that I can use technology in teaching, I will. It will better prepare my students for the "real world". I feel that even though I completed high school with a great GPA, I still lacked in knowledge on technology. I think it is a shame we never used a blog, or were even introduced to them.
This little experience with thing 3 was good for me, because I actually understand it and like it.
Any way that I can use technology in teaching, I will. It will better prepare my students for the "real world". I feel that even though I completed high school with a great GPA, I still lacked in knowledge on technology. I think it is a shame we never used a blog, or were even introduced to them.
This little experience with thing 3 was good for me, because I actually understand it and like it.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Thing 2
For the name that I used as my posting name, I simply used April Bumpus. I thought about making it Ms. Bumpus, but changed my mind because I don't feel like a teacher quite yet and it sounded weird to me. Haha.
Although it did not take long to set up my blog, I really did like learning how. I have a Facebook, and have had other social networks, but never a blog. It is actually a lot of fun to learn how to make all of these things happen! I have always heard of people writing in blogs and sharing them, but I never really cared because I did not know how they were doing it, or why. So, I found it interesting after learning more about it.
I have not quite customized my avatar with extras to reflect much of my personality, but I did make her look a great deal like me. She has my hair and eyes, and I dressed her how I would probably dress myself. This means I will more than likely update her outfit every now and then. This experience was fun and funny, because I tried out a few different hair styles that are nothing like my own, and some crazy outfits. It was cute.
Although it did not take long to set up my blog, I really did like learning how. I have a Facebook, and have had other social networks, but never a blog. It is actually a lot of fun to learn how to make all of these things happen! I have always heard of people writing in blogs and sharing them, but I never really cared because I did not know how they were doing it, or why. So, I found it interesting after learning more about it.
I have not quite customized my avatar with extras to reflect much of my personality, but I did make her look a great deal like me. She has my hair and eyes, and I dressed her how I would probably dress myself. This means I will more than likely update her outfit every now and then. This experience was fun and funny, because I tried out a few different hair styles that are nothing like my own, and some crazy outfits. It was cute.
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