Reflections

• What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey? I really enjoyed Flicker and learning about different and creative things to keep my class interested and focused on learning.

• How has this program affected your lifelong learning goals?this program really hasn't affected my goals it has just reaffirmed my idea that one can never stop learning.

• Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?I had no idea how many websites and programs were out there to help teachers. This has made me feel like I am not alone and that there are people out there willing to help me.

• What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?I believe that having to create so many different accounts on various websites was time consuming and unnecessary. Especially for the websites I did not enjoy and know that I would never visit again.

• How will what you have learned influence your practice as a teacher?This has taught me that there are no excuses for a boring classroom full of lecture. Teachers need to be on the hunt all the time for tools that will help their children.

Thing #23!!!!!

I believe that Creative Commons is a good tool to show students that you can legally use someone else's work for themselves. It is nice that in this day and age there are still people who want to share their ideas and ask nothing but to be mentioned. This is a god-send to teacher's who trade ideas all of the time. Now it is legal and easy to find ideas for the classroom

Thing #22

• Which podcast did you listen to? Math is Easy on Podcaastalley.com
• Which of the directories did you find the easiest to use? All of them were pretty easy to use I just had to update some of my software.
• Has this Thing inspired you to create a podcast yourself or with your students?I actually have already created a podcast for this class. I believe this is a fun way to have your students get involved with technology. I would love to have my students create their own podcasts. Also, for students with a visual or hearing visibility might benefit from having podcasts that the teacher has created just for them,
• Did you find a podcast that you might subscribe to and listen to regularly? I really didn't find one that I would use on a regular basis. Honestly, I am just too busy to be able to reap the benefits of podcasting.

Thing #21

Cesar and I

Hope you enjoy. I loved this site. If I was not a poor college kid I would be the pro version. But this is useful inside and out of this classroom.

Thing #20

I love YouTube. I use this site a lot. It is amazing to me how one can find educational videos and people pulling pranks on each other all in the same place. I chose this video because I created a lesson on the order of operations and thought it would be cool if I could find a video to share with my class. This website will be very useful in my classroom to show videos like this one about mathematics. Attached is the video that I chose. ENJOY!!

Thing #19

• Are you a member of any online communities?I became a member of TeacherPop and I am also a member of Facebook.
• Are any of these social networks appealing to you? I believe that teacher pop is a very cool idea. I love anything where teachers can come together and share ideas to help make there class more successful.
• What did you find that was interesting and that you might use later?I would use teacher pop a lot when I become a teacher. I think it is so cool how there are so many teachers who comment and tell others about useful websites and things for the classroom. I love how close teachers are. They stand together and really try and help each other succeed.

Thing #18

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/profile.php?id=1302841003

Facebook is a fun site for teachers to connect with each other to share ideas and frustrations with their job. However, it is important to keep in mind that anyone can see these posts so one needs to always have a certain sense of professionalism when posting or commenting. Also, I believe that teachers do not need to become friends with their students. There needs to be a barrier so that student's and teachers know their role in the classroom.
I do not believe that these social sites should be in the school at all. There are too many negatives that could come from these sites and I believe school's should not encourage these sites any further.

Thing #17

Bookmarking seems like a good idea if you can save information by bundling and sharing it. On Delicious the tutorials helped me to understand why using features can be helpful in working with groups of people. Sometimes we are not able to look at always look at everything we want to and this bookmarking gives us the opportunity to come back at a later time and finish exploring or share what we have found with others.

Thing #16

• Which start page did you choose? Why did that one appeal to you? Will you make it your permanent home page? I decided to use igoogle to create my start page with. I added several gadgets to play around with like the weather gadget.

• How can the online calendars be useful to you?
  Online calenders can be helpful if you use your computer a lot and find it easier to see your calender as soon as you open up your Internet browser.

• What about the to-do lists—helpful, too much work…? I did not like the to do lists. I like to use pencil and paper and make out my lists. I have a laptop that I use for homework and things that require me to use my computer but i do not like to have to use it everyday and just find it must easier to carry around my list on a post it  note. if someone is attached to their computer this may be useful for them.
  
• Did you find a tool that has some uses for you at the school or at home? Which tool(s) would you recommend to others? I do like the weather gadget and there are many others that are fun and interesting for people. I just would not recommend this for anyone who does not plan to get on their computer everyday. To me it is a lot of unnecessary work.

Thing #15

I like the idea of wiki's. Being able to share and post experiences with friends or fellow teachers. I believe that it is just important to keep in mind that anyone can post on a page and this does not make them an expert in their field. It is the people's opinions and suggestions. I feel like their are many ways to have your voice heard now more than ever before which is a very good thing. However, I do not believe that I will use wiki's in my professional life at all. I just do not like the idea of having everyone see my posts and commenting on them. It is just a personal issue that I have. I believe some things I would like to ask my colleagues and not have them posted on the Internet.

Thing #14

Well I tried out bubbl.us and Gliffy. I like both the flow charts and the mind maps. I found the flow charts to be a little more organized and easier for me to sue and understand myself. These tools would be great for students who are trying to  map out how to write papers. I am wanting to teach at the middle school math level and could therefore use these tools to create charts on how to correctly solve math problems. the flow chart would be a perfect tool for the children to easily see the steps and how they relate to one another.

Thing #13

For this activity we had to create an account with Zoho Writer and play with the different features that the website offered. From what I can make out of it one can create different documents and add fun images or graphics to them. It reminds me a lot of Microsoft Word. It  may be just a little easier for someone to use but I actually found it a lot harder to navigate since I am so use to using Microsoft. It also had lots of little apps and one can use to organize their ideas or plans. This website was very interesting but not really sure on how I will use this in my classroom.

Thing #12

The calender was a nice tool but I believe that I will use a planner more often that getting on the computer to write down dates. However, I just fell in love with the itranslate tool. My long time boyfriend is from Mexico and speaks fluent Spanish. In this age we are living in it is becoming very important to be able to know another language. This tool will help you learn Spanish and also maybe write letters to parents in Spanish if that if their native tongue. I believe this will help break down the language barrier that teachers might face in the classroom. I already had an iGoogle account and love all of the personalization that is possible. You can add all sorts of things to y our home page and therefore makes it an easy go to page for lots of current information. This would be good for teachers if they were to add things to their page that they will need for their classroom so they have it all in one place.

My Calender

https://www.google.com/calendar/render?pli=1&gsessionid=pPnsVmk7T48hVfKsuC9m2A

iGoogle

http://www.google.com/ig

itranslate

http://translate.google.com/#en|es|hello%20how%20are%20you%20doing%20today%3F%20I%20am%20very%20well.%20I%20do%20however%20have%20lots%20of%20homework%20left%20to%20be%20done.%20

Thing #11

I  used the google blog search which I found to be the easiest. I just typed in education and it brought up tons of feeds that I could subscribe to. Also I used this to subscribe to cool cat teacher. Topix.net seemed to be the hardest for me. There was lots of information but I could not find any feeds that I was interested in. I do not know if this is because of what I was searching for or if it was just the site itself. I found several useful feeds that dealt with teaching in general and also zoning in on teaching mathematics.

Thing #10

I like the layout of RSS but I did find it quite difficult to find feeds that relate to math education. The feeds that I did find I think will be very useful in my classroom because they contain games, activities, and worksheets which I can use in the class. Teachers can take advantage of this technology by posting their experiences and helping out new teachers by giving advice and ideas for activities. It is hard to try and check all the different feeds everyday. I have a pretty demanding job which leaves little free time to do anything else but school and homework. I feel like RSS will be helpful in the future but not helpful enough now to try and create my own page. It's hard enough for me to try and get all these things done :(

 

Thing #9

Creating the first image was very simple. I just found an image and added a caption to it. The next slide show was a little more difficult to figure out how to make it post correctly to the blog. I finally figured it out by editing the HTML and just pasting the code that the website provided. This can be used in the classroom to create interesting images to keep students interested in lessons. I believe that the more technology used in the classroom the more interested the students will he. However, this also makes it more difficult because students can get distracted and may lose focus on the lesson.

http://www.fototrix.com/upload.asp



ImageChef.com I Am Awesome

Thing #8

This mashup was very easy to use. I found it very interesting that there were so many different mashups that were available through this website. This particular mashup could be used in a art lesson but not too useful in math. However, the mashup where one can create words with the pictures would be a good addition to a power point to make it more interesting or maybe even using pictures to create simple equations. I believe that the students will be much more willing to learn if they are given the freedom to create something that they can be proud of.

Thing #7

I searched for several images that I found to be interesting to me. I finally settled on picking a butterfly picture. I always thought that butterflies represented freedom because of how beautiful and delicate they are. Using Flickr was actually quite easy to use and the pictures on the website are beautiful. I was afraid that because anyone could post pictures that the quality would take a hit but I was wrong. This image was taken by Guiseppe Di Rocco  and actually won several awards for this picture. http://www.flickr.com/photos/giuliasilvia/4522523107/

Thing #6

I explored a site called www.woot.com This site sells one special item usually an electronic gadget, a day and at the end of 24 hours posts a brand new item. It has a continuous blog ,where people can discuss the special item of the day. The site also posts a video of the week and has several other blogs that were created for specific goods. I like this website a lot because it has tons of information about one specific thing and it changes everyday. The only negative I can think of is that the format of the website is a little overwhelming. There is a lot of information on one page with tons of links to other sites and blogs. It was a little scary when I first started to look into the site. I really could not see any use in the classroom. The only way I believe this site could be used would be to purchase technology for the school.

Thing #5

I believe that Web 2.0 means that anyone and everyone can share their ideas and information with the world now. You can type anything into google and are guaranteed tons of results. This is not necessarily a good or bad thing. It all depends on how one takes the information. Because anyone can make a website or post answers to questions never assume that it is a fact. This is why children get in trouble for using wikepedia; because anyone can add or correct the information on the site which makes it unreliable. I believe that because of the ease of technology and that the cost to have a computer and Internet in a house is decreasing that in the future students will no longer bring a pencil and paper to class but instead bring their laptop, ipad, or who know what else. It is our job as educators to keep track of this technology and make sure it is used in the proper way for the classroom.

Thing #4

Commenting on other people's blog helps create a sense of unity because they believe that there are people out there that care what they have to say. I know when I looked and saw I had comments I was happy. Well until I figured out that everyone had to comment on blogs for an assignment; then I sorta felt used. :( I found that by reading other people's blogs I was able to learn about myself through their writings. This was evident when reading their Thing #1 post which was about learning habits. I was able to see why a habit I thought was difficult or maybe not as important was something that could really benefit me as a teacher. I also believe that it is a good way to get to know the fellow students in your class on a more personal level.
5 from my class:
Devin Huser- #2
    I selected his because his quote immediately drew me into his blog and made me what to read what he had to say.
Matt Ciezki- #2
     I selected his blog because he is in several of my classes and I believe we share many of the same thoughts when it comes to teaching. I feel like he would be a very good person to keep in contact with.
Sarah Labean- #1
     I went to high school with Sarah and she is also in several of my education classes. I thought that reading this post I was able to learn more about someone is five minutes than what I have learned in 5 years.
Brittany Menees #2
     Her post attracted me because of her because we both struggled in creating a title for our blogs and maneuvering through the site. It seems like we might be able to learn from each other and who knows we might just figure this all out.
Megan Artz #2
     I chose this post to comment on because it was very straightforward and honestly because she said the word coffee and I know right now I could use a cup or two.
Two from other classes-
Lindsey Cotton-#2
     I chose to comment on this post because she is in one of my other classes and I feel that by reading her blog I would be able to get an insight into her personal thoughts on why she wants to teach. I feel like she would be a very good study partner and even a colleague someday.
Kayla Davis-#2
     I went to high school with Kayla and we both graduated in the top ten percent of our class. I think that it is very interesting that a lot of the people who graduated from our high school have decided to become teachers. I believe that  my reading her blog I was able to get some insight into her personal reasons and better understand that the reason we all wanted to become teachers was because we had some of the best in that school and they inspired us !!

Thing #3

     There are several ways that a teacher might be able to use a blog or for us still going through the program there are advantages to that as well. A future teacher can use a blogging site to obtain ideas for their new career and also helpful tips on how to study and what they might expect in their upcoming classes.      For teachers they can use blogs to share lesson plans and to share ideas on ways to improve classroom management. It is also a good idea to make sure that teacher's of the same subject in the same school be on the same track so that every student is learning the same material at the same time. Blogs can be very helpful as long as they are taken in the right context and the reader always knows that these are just opinions and not actual facts.

Thing #2

For thing number two  I had to create my own blog and an avatar. I decided to name my blog Michelle's Thoughts because it seemed like a very straight forward name that explained exactly what my blog is about. It is all about my thoughts. I found it very east to create my own blog but I am also very grateful to my teacher who suggested to have a pencil and paper handy to write down all of these different accounts that I will be creating. My avatar reflects my personality because she is wearing a kimono which relates to my extra curricular activity which I pursued in high school. I was involved with martial arts for 4 years and received my black belt. So the way my avatar is dressed reflects my love for martial arts and the Japanese culture. Other than the way my avatar is dressed I would say that it looks like me in real life. I believe I am a pretty decent looking person so why not have my avatar look like me?

Thing #1

     After hearing all of the different habits that life long learners should have it is very clear that number 7 was the easiest for me. I want to be a teacher of course or I wouldn't be taking Education 3040 so one can conclude that I love to teach and mentor to others. I have found that I remember more information if I try and quiz my family or friends over the material I need to know. The habit that is going to be hardest for me to learn and utilize the number 3 which is to view problems as challenges or learning experiences. It is hard for me to stay positive when life throws me a curve ball. I  know that this habit could benefit me in my life if I would just try and be positive and realize that god won't give me anything that I can't handle. My mother always told me that she has learned the most from her mistakes and having to fix them on her own. This is just something that will take time to implement in my daily life.