Thing #15

I have always been aware of how Wikis worked, but I have never worked with it before other than reading what others edited. I assumed it was too difficult for me to even attempt! I was so wrong. It was one of the easiest things of the 23 things to do! Adding photos and comments to the APSU wiki is a great example of student collaboration. I can see myself assigning a wiki for my students to use as a tool in collaboration assignments. I find it interesting that not only can you add things to a wiki, but you can take away things, such as text and pictures. In some situations I see this as a plus, but there are scenarios where this could be negative. What if someone erases important information or photos? ll in all I believe a wiki is a good tool not just in the classroom but in everyday life as well.a

Thing #14

FlowCharts and Mind Maps

I chose to use the Mindmeister and flowchart.com.

I have never understood how to use flowcharts and I still have trouble figuring out the most effective way to use them. I see they're purpose but I've always preferred other tools.

On flowchart.com I had fun playing around with the venn diagrams with the concept of how shapes relate to each

other. Venn diagrams could be used as a visual to help students understand how to categorize and define things.

I really enjoyed using the mind map feature on Mindmeister. I can see several uses for this feature in the class room. It could be used as a tool to help students brainstorm for a research paper, oral presentation, or even a science project. I first learned about making a mind map in the fifth grade and I have used it ever since whenever I have a project coming up!

Thing # 13

Zoho Vs Google Docs

I created a document in each program and began to type what I discovered in each program as I was typing. Here is my Google Docs test document and my Zoho writer test document

I prefer Google docs over Zoho for several reasons...

• 1. I use Google blogs, email, Google +, photo album and calender. It makes it easier to have all my online apps and features in one website. Google provides that and Zoho does not.
• 2. Google docs has page numbers, if zoho does, I couldn't find it nearly as fast as I discovered it in Google docs. Page numbers are a must for my papers for my classes.
• 3. Spell check is just a right click away in Google docs. It is offered in Zoho but not quite as simple!
• 4. Sharing is easy as pie in Google docs! It pulls contacts from your email to choose from. With Zoho there is no previous compiled list of contacts to pull from. You have to store those contacts in the site or hope that who you want to share with is a part of zoho already.

Google wins simply because it is simple. Zoho has its features but I prefer to stick with google for all my online needs =)

I see several uses for Google Docs in the classroom. One in particularly is that students assigned to write a group paper can use Google docs to edit each others work and brainstorm together outside of the classroom. The comment feature could be used to share ideas or point out mistakes!

thing #4

Commenting helps create a sense of community and interaction, because it is a form of feedback. It turns a monologue into a duologue or a lecture into a discussion. A health coach might post a blog on how to count calories properly. With comments the health coach may be reassured that the information he is giving out is valid and useful. With comments other readers may be provided with additional information


Ask Questions – Including specific questions in posts definitely helps get higher numbers of comments. I find that when I include questions in my headings that it is a particularly effective way of getting a response from readers as you set a question in their mind from the first moments of your post.As a blogger, if you want comments asking questions is a great way to open doors! It makes the readers feel involved and encouraged to contribute to your blog!

Write a meaningful comment-
As an language arts nerd, I find meaningful comments important. A comment or sentence in a paper such as "I don't like this." or "I do like this." is one of my biggest pet peeves. WHY do you like/dislike "this". WHAT exactly do you like or dislike. A "if/then" sentence or one that ends with a "because" phrase transforms a sentence or comment into a meaningful one. Bloggers and teachers appreciate more than just thumbs up feedback. They want to know what specifically perked your interest or made you think.

I chose to commit on Kelsie Penick's blog because her use of the picture generators were adorable. Especially the Dalmation comic strip in Thing #9! I was sure to let her know in my comment that it made me smile.

I chose to follow Jessi Wright's blog because I had met her this summer on our study abroad trip to Spain =)
When I happened to come across her blog the first time she had posted some pictures from said trip in thing #7. The pics were linked from flicker. I absolutely loved them! They really captured the personality of the trip. I commented
"I did a post on Spain for thing number 7 too! Except I found pictures other people had taken on Flickr. Now that I think about it I love your personal touch better! This post makes me miss all the crazy adventures in Spain!"

I chose to comment on Candice Casaday's blog because of her organization on her blog. The layout was adorable and the photos she chose to post seemed to coordinate very well. It was the prettiest blog I've seen yet! I discussed this further in my comment on her thing #7

I chose Mallory Stewart's blog because she includes all sorts of creative ideas in her posts. I commented that her post on thing #9 inspires me with ideas for activities in my future classroom!

I chose Bridgette Elmore's blog because her posts have a unique personality. Her character and voice is very clear in the blog! She defiantly is a conversationalist blogger. I informed her of all this in my comments!

I chose to follow Yeah, That'll Teach You A Lesson not only because of the creativity in the posts, but of all the knowledge in the posts. This new New York City elementary teacher blogs on her hardships during her first years of teaching. There are lots of "do's" and "don'ts" mentioned throughout the post that I will be able to learn from. She hasn't posted anything new since 8 though. I begged her to post some updates for me because I'm curious as to how she has further developed.

I chose Mrs Cassidy's Classroom Blog because not only does she share the activities done in her classroom, she provides pictures and videos of just about everything!

Thing #11

*Which method of finding feeds did you find easiest to use?

I found looking for the "conversationalist" in blogs was the easiest method to use to find feeds for my Google reader. A conversationalist blog is easy to read and relate to. They usually provide the best advice and easy to follow tips on how to accomplish tasks relating to the subject (e.g cooking).

*Which Search tool was the easiest for you?

Google blog search was the easiest. It gave me links that related to specifically what I wanted. It provided blogs and articles!

*Which was more confusing?

They were all pretty easy for me to understand, except for Syndic 8. When I typed in my keyword for searching I was linked to another website, and another website, and another website until I found what I was looking for. It's results were vague and I had to do a lot of revising of my search terms to find what I was looking for.

*What kind of useful feeds did you find in your travels?

I found 17andcooking, TravelMashUp, and LanguageWrangler !

*Or what kind of unusual ones did you find?

WorldofWierdthings and StrangeAnimals

*What other tools or ways did you find to locate newsfeeds?

I found that the more specific I was when searching with less words the more successful I was! For example instead of searching "What are some good tips learn spanish" I typed "tips learn spanish". I was provided with several useful sites on the subject.

Thing #12

I am a frequent user of the tools Google has to offer. Especially the translator, email and now the blog. I decided to explore the photo album and calender tools of Google for this project. The calender was fairly simple to figure out in terms of uploading images. The photo album had already saved photos that I have posted in this blog and previous ones! I love the layout of the calender! I set it to email me a reminder for each event whether it be an exam this week or work!

Possible Educational Uses?

The calender would be the most useful! I could easily use it to teach organization skills to the students. It's a planner they would never loose. I would have the students put in their assignment due dates in the calender, that way an email would be sent to them as a reminder.

For the photo album, the students could use it to store photos they found online relating to a research project or a presentation. There are endless possibilities for these tools! I look forward to using them in my classroom!