Thing #10

For my reader I decided to choose sites of things that currently interest me.

I selected two sites about teaching, two sites about Spain, and one site about cooking!

http://guiriguidetomadrid.com/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/

http://www.epicurious.com/recipesmenus

http://teachyoualesson.blogspot.com/2008/09/officially-nyc-teacher.html

http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/the-good-part-of-sad-by-teachermum/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SoYouWantToTeach+%28So+You+Want+To+Teach%3F%29

I love that articles about the three topics that interest me the most will be organized neatly in one website for me to easily navigate!

In regards to its use in my school life. It provides resources that could pertain to potential research papers! As for my personal life, I have taken an interest in cooking lately. As I discover new hobbies I will be able to add sites to this reader to further explore those interests!

Teachers can assign their students to create a Google reader and use RSS to keep up with current events pertaining to subjects that interest them. Teachers can use RSS to promote being culturally aware of what goes on in the world!

Thing #9

ImageChef.com Poetry Blender

These are some cool little images that I created using the generator site. I could easily use these generators in the classroom! There used to be a "no whining" sign in my elementary classroom. If a student began to whine or complain the teacher would point to the sign to remind us to change the tone of our voice! She was okay with us expressing disagreements, as long as we remained calm and the requests were explained coherently.
I pasted the text of a Shel Silverstine poem in "The Poetry Blender". In the classroom, students could create their own poems and insert them into the poetry blender!

Thing #8

My Mash Up

I created this mash up of my family with flikr mosaic!

The center photo is my siblings, my parents, and I at my sisters wedding! The surrounding photos are each of my siblings ( I have 10). The couple pictures are my siblings and their spouses! It was very hassle free to make this!

Mash Ups in the Classroom

Another mash up tool I enjoyed was the spell with Flickr. It's a cute fun way to display a word!

I can see the flikr spell being used in the classroom to help children with spelling words. I draw inspiration from Flikr spell for a more hands on activity. I could have my students cut letters out magazines or newspapers and form different words! Flikr Mosaic could be used in several ways. Students could use it for a story board when brainstorming to write a narrative paper. I had a lot of fun with these programs.

My Thoughts on Sharing Pictures Online

If the picture is artistic and not a personal family photo I do not see an issue with sharing it online! However, I understand how some people may not be comfortable sharing their personal family photos on the worldwide web for everyone to see.

Thing # 7

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59657627@N05/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59657627@N05/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sftrajan/

These three images are of various spots in one of my most favorite places in the entire world: El Parque Del Retiro in Madrid Spain. These images were quite easy to find, I just typed in the search bar of the home page "Parque Del Retiro Madrid Spain" and I was immediately flooded with several very well taken photographs! I was able to even download the pictures to my computer! When I typed this same phrase into "Google Images", I didn't not receive the same quality of options. I love flikr! Its easy to use and is full of creativity!

Think #6

http://www.ehow.com/
http://www.ehow.com/how_7334250_teach-long-division-fourth_grade-students.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_2047046_teach-study-skills.html

I chose to look around Ehow.com! I have used it before and find it very easy to use. Its the ultimate how to guide. It literally has everything!

Likes:
Easy to read and find what you're looking for.
The website is divided into various categories from health to money!
Not only does it include how to articles, but how to videos as well!
Every article has a "top 5 try" menu to the left of the article. These are links that are related to the subject you are reading about.
Dislikes:
Honestly, there's nothing about this website I dislike. It fulfills its purpose perfectly! Its instructions are clear and easy to follow.

There are endless amounts of applications for its use in a school or library setting for the teacher and the student. There are several articles to help teachers teach mathematics or language arts, including fun activities and links to other helpful websites. Students could use the website as a helpful resource to help work on homework!

Here are some helpful articles I found
http://www.ehow.com/how_7334250_teach-long-division-fourth_grade-students.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_2047046_teach-study-skills.html
http://www.ehow.com/video_4983876_teach-writing-sentences.html

Thing #5

• What does "School 2.0" mean to you?

School 2.0 means progression to me. If you can't beat them join them! The internet should not be frowned upon or treated as an obstacle by teachers. We should be utilizing it to enhance the learning in our classrooms. The web is evidence of technological progression. It will continue to progress, making it a significant part of our future

• What does it mean for schools of the future?

Because the schools have started to embrace technology so passionately recently, I believe more technology tools will be produced to aid the classroom. The smart board has been very successful from elementary teachers through college professors. I believe the smart board will be developed more in the next few years. However, we must embrace technology with caution. The internet and cellphones in 2nd grade mean fast easy sharing of information. This means gossip and bullying are that much easier to share and receive. The internet and children in the classroom can be difficult. The teacher must monitor each student to be sure they aren't on social networking sites or playing games that have nothing to do with the assignment.

I believe web 2.0 is a great idea and I will definitely be embracing it.

Thing # 3

"For your Thing #3 post, write about ways that you might use a blog in your teacher education program or your future classroom"

A blog can be very useful in the classroom.
A blog could be used as another way to keep the parents involved. I could blog about the lessons I am teaching their children, post pictures, videos, talk about developments. Of course I would make this blog only viewable to the parents, to ensure security.
A blog could be used to connect the teacher with the students outside of the classroom. Students could create their own blog to share ideas with each other, post learning links, or questions! This blog would have to be only viewable by parents, the teacher and classmates.

During my teacher education program, a blog could be used as a journal, recording do and don'ts I've learned in the classroom, questions or answers I've stumbled upon.

Thing #2

Creating this blog was not a difficult task for me, because it was not my first. Personalizing the blog is an aspect I am not familiar with however. For example, I had to read the directions on creating an avatar carefully in order complete it and place it in my profile. I don't believe it is a completely accurate cartoon version of myself. The clothing options were limited and not really my style, so I was forced to choose a pretty basic outfit. I definitely think the avatar is quite adorable however =) . The big blue eyes and the hair poof adds personality for sure. As for the name of my blog, I chose to go for something straight forward and self explanatory. I titled it "teaching and learning with technology". I believe this class will help me utilize technology to teach and learn. This blog will be a great tool for me to track my progress!