Thursday, April 23, 2009
One last thing....
It's the end of the road. I have learned many things during this journey. By far my favorite has been learning to make videos from animoto. Being a part of this program has given me the determination to be a life long learner and always aware of what is going on in the world of technology. I think this programs is designed perfectly, and I wouldn't make any changes. I think it hits upon some of the major concepts that teachers should know about technology. I will take the concepts I have learned into my classroom and make sure technology is just as much apart of my classroom as English is.
Thing #23
This 23 things blog is based on the website 43 Things and Stephen Abram's article 43 Things I might want to do this year and is an example of using Creative Commons.
As a teacher, I think I will get the most out of Creative Commons by using approved photos from sites like Flickr. Off the top of my head, I can't think of how I would take someone else's work and try to modify to suit my own needs, but I am sure this situation could come up. However, I do know that I will need the use of photos all of the time, and will use them from Flickr.
As a teacher, I think I will get the most out of Creative Commons by using approved photos from sites like Flickr. Off the top of my head, I can't think of how I would take someone else's work and try to modify to suit my own needs, but I am sure this situation could come up. However, I do know that I will need the use of photos all of the time, and will use them from Flickr.
Thing #22
I listened to a couple of podcasts about the tv show Lost. I found them using Podcast Alley . Of all the directories this one was easiest to use because the search features were in plain sight, and it had the most categories of things I was interested in. I do think I will use podcasts with my students and even have them make some of their own, but I would never make one in my own spare time. I think I might start listening to these Lost podcasts regularly.
Thing #21
I think this site is fabulous! Students could do so many things in my English class with this. They could make their own movies in pictures where they act out scenes from a book. They could make a video of pictures showing their understanding of grammar concepts. The site was extremely easy to use and navigate. I had no idea this kind of website existed. I will probably make several of these for some time to come.
This is a video I made of just a few pictures I have of me, my fiance, and some friends getting ready for our wedding.
This is a video I made of just a few pictures I have of me, my fiance, and some friends getting ready for our wedding.
Thing #20
This is a video of Maya Angelou reading "Still I Rise" with accompanied pictures.
I love youtube and have sometimes gotten lost for hours watching one video after another. I chose this video to show how I can use youtube in the classroom. Poetry is sometime difficult for high school students. It might help their understanding if they can hear the author reading the work to get a feel of where the words are stressed and how it should sound. I could also pull clips from movies based on literature.
Thing #19
I am a member of a few online forum communities, but Facebook and Myspace are the only social networks that I am a part of. I would not regularly look for other sites to join, because Facebook and Myspace meet all needs I would want out of an online community. I don't have a desire to network with people I don't already know, and with many of the examples, the people I know wouldn't be on them. I was however interested in BackSpace because I love cooking and baking. Now, for that, I see the pros of joining such a site. Not alot of my friends cook or bake, so I don't have many people to exchange recipes with.
Thing #18
I have been a member of myspace for six years and facebook for four. I love social networking sites. I like to keep up with not only my close friends, but people I haven't seen in a long time. Educators need to know about social networking site because they should always be on top of what technology is out there and the technology their students are actively using. I prefer facebook to myspace, because it feels more professional to me. I know that the school system does not allow access to either of these websites, and I would be nervous as an educator to be friends with my students, because I don't want anything that goes on online to be misconstrued, however, I do know that their are social networking sites made specifically for school aged children for education purposes. I could see using one of those sites because they are safe and monitored. Students need to use this technologies because it is part of the culture and what is currently happening in technology.
My facebook page and myspace
My facebook page and myspace
Thing #17
del.icio.us could be used in the classroom. In the tutorial for the website, they suggest teachers can use del.icio.us for creating a reading list and making a syllabus. That got me thinking about the research aspect. My initial thought was that this would be a good site for finding information on my own personal interests. Then, I realized, students could do research with this website and maybe get better results than with google. Sometimes, when I am researching information on google, I don't always get credible resources. But, I would think if someone took the time to tag a website on del.icio.us then is should be reliable and useful to academic needs. Students could use this site for writing research papers and to get extra help with literature.
Thing #16
I chose igoogle for my start page. I like to stick to a brand name when I use products. If google has an option, it is the one I will choose. I will make this my permanent homepage, mostly because I immediately check my gmail account when I get online. This way I can check what news interests me, look at the weather, and anything else I choose to set up and then check my email from there.
Online calendars can help me remember the things I have going on in the month. If someone sent me an email that regarded dates, I could easily look up and see if I had an engagement planned on that date. I could also access the calendar anywhere, in case I forgot my actual hard copy planner.
I absolutely love to-do lists. There is no other feeling nearly as satisfying as marking a completed task off of a to-do list. Remember the Milk seems like a really neat to do list and even comes with an iphone application. I have an ipod touch, which will work the same. Through this site you can send yourself text message updates, which would be helpful, too. I think I will explore this site further and start using it on the regular.
Joe's Goals is a neat website I found where people can track their progress of a goal they are working on, or sometimes multiple goals. You can rate how well you did that day achieving your goal. This could be used for personal reasons, but also in the classroom. Students can create goals for themselves at the beginning of the school year for what they want to achieve in that class. Then throughout the year they can mark and follow their progress.
Online calendars can help me remember the things I have going on in the month. If someone sent me an email that regarded dates, I could easily look up and see if I had an engagement planned on that date. I could also access the calendar anywhere, in case I forgot my actual hard copy planner.
I absolutely love to-do lists. There is no other feeling nearly as satisfying as marking a completed task off of a to-do list. Remember the Milk seems like a really neat to do list and even comes with an iphone application. I have an ipod touch, which will work the same. Through this site you can send yourself text message updates, which would be helpful, too. I think I will explore this site further and start using it on the regular.
Joe's Goals is a neat website I found where people can track their progress of a goal they are working on, or sometimes multiple goals. You can rate how well you did that day achieving your goal. This could be used for personal reasons, but also in the classroom. Students can create goals for themselves at the beginning of the school year for what they want to achieve in that class. Then throughout the year they can mark and follow their progress.
Thing #15
I've never participated in a wiki before, only read them. I could see exactly how this would be a great tool in the classroom. Students could work on collaborative projects. In one example, a 10th grade English class made a wiki for a literary circle. Students submit assignments via the wiki and the entire class can see their work about literature. I could do similiar assignments in my classroom and students could build databases of literary terms and share their work.
I want I find the most interesting is the collaborative effort involved. I understand that some people could occasionally put false information on wikis, overall the information is quite helpful. I like when multiple people gather to put their ideas together, so the wiki idea appeals to me.
I want I find the most interesting is the collaborative effort involved. I understand that some people could occasionally put false information on wikis, overall the information is quite helpful. I like when multiple people gather to put their ideas together, so the wiki idea appeals to me.
Thing #14
I explored a flow chart and a mind map. I used Gliffy and bubbl.us .
After playing around with the features, I doubt I would use either for my own personal use. My mind doesn't think out concept in pictures, and I would just get frustrated trying to do so. However, these could be useful tools for class activities.
Gliffy is a good tool for students to stay organized and could be used when giving directions for an activity or doing an experiment.
Bubbl.us would be a great tool to use in front of the students for mapping out concepts and showing the relationship between items. It could also be used to map out a family tree for a family in a novel. Some students benefit from seeing relationships visually, than just being told why two things are alike.
After playing around with the features, I doubt I would use either for my own personal use. My mind doesn't think out concept in pictures, and I would just get frustrated trying to do so. However, these could be useful tools for class activities.
Gliffy is a good tool for students to stay organized and could be used when giving directions for an activity or doing an experiment.
Bubbl.us would be a great tool to use in front of the students for mapping out concepts and showing the relationship between items. It could also be used to map out a family tree for a family in a novel. Some students benefit from seeing relationships visually, than just being told why two things are alike.
Thing #13
Online word processing applications are a wonderful tool. I love the universal use to the program. More than once I have had trouble presenting a document that I created at home, because the formatting is not the same. I have also forgotten to print off a document from home, and turned assignments in late. With these types of application, those problems are non existent. I personally use Google Docs quite frequently. For a group assignment, we set up a document for the four of us, so that outside of our group meetings, people could work on the project.
Zoho Writer seems to be quite similiar to Google Docs. It has most of the features of Microsoft Office, including word processing, spreadsheets, and slide show. The features within these programs are comparable, such as double spacing, font types, and position. This is an application I did not existed, and I will put use to it in the future.
This would be a great site to use for keeping student work in a location where parents could look at it later, or so the student could work on it at home or school with ease.
Zoho Writer seems to be quite similiar to Google Docs. It has most of the features of Microsoft Office, including word processing, spreadsheets, and slide show. The features within these programs are comparable, such as double spacing, font types, and position. This is an application I did not existed, and I will put use to it in the future.
This would be a great site to use for keeping student work in a location where parents could look at it later, or so the student could work on it at home or school with ease.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Thing #12
I set up an iGoogle page. I have been reluctant to set one up in the past, because I thought it looked cluttered. I like to have my internet space clean for easy access. However, after setting this up, I can see the pros. I like that right at my finger tips I can find information such as the weather and movie times. I also never know what is going on in the news and that information is right there, too. To be honest, I do not know how I would use this in my classroom. I can't imagine having all of my students create their own page, because I don't know which of these tools they would use for English purposes.
I also looked at Google notebook. I could see using this in the classroom. Students could set up accounts and share information together for a variety of reasons. If students were doing a group project they could collaborate over the web at home, and they would have a place to store information electronically instead of trying to keep up with it on real notebook paper. The tutorial also suggested using this for personal reasons such as recipes. I like cooking and sharing ideas. This would be a neat way to stay connected to friends and create a virtual cookbook with one another.
I also looked at Google notebook. I could see using this in the classroom. Students could set up accounts and share information together for a variety of reasons. If students were doing a group project they could collaborate over the web at home, and they would have a place to store information electronically instead of trying to keep up with it on real notebook paper. The tutorial also suggested using this for personal reasons such as recipes. I like cooking and sharing ideas. This would be a neat way to stay connected to friends and create a virtual cookbook with one another.
Thing #11
I found this "Thing" to be the most overwhelming. I did not really feel some of these resources were easy to use, and I felt like I was drowning in information overload. However, I did like Technorati. I thought it was the easiest to search for other blogs. Some of the other sites such as Google Blog Search and Topix felt like the information was all over the place, and with Google, there were not very many options to search by. Technorati felt intuitive and the search categories got specific enough. I like reading blogs about people's day to day lives, and with the other sites all I could find were blogs about either the new, celebrities, and the like.
With Technorati I found The Happiness Project which is a blog written by a woman who is striving to do and share everything she discovers in life to find happiness.
I also like browsing throughout Blogger. I have searched by Clarksville and actually stumbled upon people that I know. I would rather use these search tools than some of the other sites, just based on my interests.
With Technorati I found The Happiness Project which is a blog written by a woman who is striving to do and share everything she discovers in life to find happiness.
I also like browsing throughout Blogger. I have searched by Clarksville and actually stumbled upon people that I know. I would rather use these search tools than some of the other sites, just based on my interests.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Thing #10
I am the most excited I have been yet after learning about RSS. I already follow several blogs, and I am always frustrated with having to check each one individually. Sometimes, I forget to check and will come back to notice there have been several new posts. The best part about this all is, since my personal blog is set up through my Gmail account, I already had Google Reader set up and I didn't even know it! I went to Google Reader, and it showed all of the blogs I have subscribed to. I just can not believe that this existed and I had no clue. I will really use this to my advantage and start subscribing to more sites, and checking the Reader will apart of my daily online repertoire. This is going to be a huge time saver.
After reading some of the information on RSS and education, I can see how using one could be useful in the classroom to monitor the online behavior of students. One of the examples from It Really Is Really Simple: RSS for Educators was to monitor when students make updates to a classroom wiki. It would also be good if the class was following different blogs or other sites for some sort of projects to keep tabs on any new updates.
After reading some of the information on RSS and education, I can see how using one could be useful in the classroom to monitor the online behavior of students. One of the examples from It Really Is Really Simple: RSS for Educators was to monitor when students make updates to a classroom wiki. It would also be good if the class was following different blogs or other sites for some sort of projects to keep tabs on any new updates.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Thing #9
image chef
I browsed through so many of these sites for a long time. These three were my favorites. I tend to pride myself on my wit and cleverness, but this was the best I could come up with. I am a little disappointed I couldn't think of something better, but these will do. There were just so many to choose from. Some of the options were a tad confusing. They didn't have a clear way of uploading a photo, so I started giving up on them. On the first two, the site said they couldn't generate me a html code because of some technical issue with the website, so I just saved the images to my computer and uploaded them through Blogger.
Students would have lots of fun creating these and I am sure there are tons of neat ways to use them in the classroom. Again, with Literature students could use them to show their understanding of a book and a character. With some of the sign generators they could create picket signs if there was a controversial issue with in a book. For instance, in the novel The Giver, the students are introduced to the world of a Utopian society. They could create picket signs protesting the world of sameness. They could use the news story like I used in my third picture to make news flashes about literature such as "Breaking News: Ophelia Perishes From Drowning" for Hamlet. These are only a few ideas off the top of my head, but by being creative, the student can show just how much they understood the literature by showing character's motivations and major plot points.
Students would have lots of fun creating these and I am sure there are tons of neat ways to use them in the classroom. Again, with Literature students could use them to show their understanding of a book and a character. With some of the sign generators they could create picket signs if there was a controversial issue with in a book. For instance, in the novel The Giver, the students are introduced to the world of a Utopian society. They could create picket signs protesting the world of sameness. They could use the news story like I used in my third picture to make news flashes about literature such as "Breaking News: Ophelia Perishes From Drowning" for Hamlet. These are only a few ideas off the top of my head, but by being creative, the student can show just how much they understood the literature by showing character's motivations and major plot points.
Thing #8
I could definitely see myself using the comic strip in my Literature classroom. Students could find photos that resembled scenes in the stories they read and narrate their dialogs, or create alternate endings to stories and such. I am interested in continuing to explore these different mashups and finding uses for them.
As for myself, I love creating new things, but I don't have the artistic abilities to do it myself. I think I will use these for my own enjoyment on a regular basis just for fun.
I also do not see any problem with sharing photos online. I am a big fan of sharing communities. I believe in recycling goods among friends, sharing music, and now photos. I like the culture that this creates and I am happy to be apart of it. The way I see it, I understand artists want to be paid for their work, but if I can find free beauty, I'll take it!
Thing #7
Well this is my first photo using Flickr. I started this weird ritual of taking pictures of my food when I started using these lunchtrays. I bought them because they looked neat and reminded me of being in school. I really started using them when I decided they might be useful for portion control to try to lose weight. Not only that, but they help me eat a variety of different kinds of foods I normally don't eat enough of like veggies and fruits.
The site was fairly easy to navigate, although not everything was as intuitive as other websites I use. I had to look at the instructions for several things such as how to post this to my blog and how to attach photos to a group. Other than that, it seems pretty easy and fun to use.
I could see using this in a classroom for several reasons. One could be to build an inventory of stock photos for students to use for powerpoints or other online activities. As an English major I could start taking pictures of things related to the literature, such as if I visited an author's home or I could take photos of images from different novels (like a picture of a mocking bird for To Kill a Mockingbird). This way I would know my students had a controlled spaced to find appropriate pictures- and I could use them for my own web creations.
I currently use Picasa and Photobucket. I only use Photobucket to store items I want to post in other places such as online forums. I use Picasa to organize my own photos for just my viewing. I will continue to use these programs for my personal use, but I could see myself now using Flickr for the purpose of sharing. I kind of like the idea of putting all of my quirky tray pictures on Flickr, in case anyone other than myself thought they were neat to look at. I don't have a problem sharing my photos- as long as they are photos I choose to share with others.
The site was fairly easy to navigate, although not everything was as intuitive as other websites I use. I had to look at the instructions for several things such as how to post this to my blog and how to attach photos to a group. Other than that, it seems pretty easy and fun to use.
I could see using this in a classroom for several reasons. One could be to build an inventory of stock photos for students to use for powerpoints or other online activities. As an English major I could start taking pictures of things related to the literature, such as if I visited an author's home or I could take photos of images from different novels (like a picture of a mocking bird for To Kill a Mockingbird). This way I would know my students had a controlled spaced to find appropriate pictures- and I could use them for my own web creations.
I currently use Picasa and Photobucket. I only use Photobucket to store items I want to post in other places such as online forums. I use Picasa to organize my own photos for just my viewing. I will continue to use these programs for my personal use, but I could see myself now using Flickr for the purpose of sharing. I kind of like the idea of putting all of my quirky tray pictures on Flickr, in case anyone other than myself thought they were neat to look at. I don't have a problem sharing my photos- as long as they are photos I choose to share with others.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Thing #6
I recently discovered urban spoon . This website allows people to find restaurants by city. When going to the address, the websites automatically populates the city by the users ISP. From there they can choose to narrow the search field by either surrounding cities, type of food, or just search an alphabetized list. However, if the user wants to find a restaurant in a different city than where they live, they can choose any other city in the United States. The website also lists the top voted restaurants in the city and has feedback from users who have been there. Once a person has selected a restaurant, they can see the phone number and address of the establishment and then click on a hyperlink to a map for directions.
This site would be great for new comers to a city or for someone looking for something new. The website is easy to use and navigate. However, my only dislike is that the alphabetized list does not have a short cut to search by letter. I was interested in seeing just how detailed the list was and searched for some obscure restaurants in Clarksville, one being Silke's, and I had to scroll through all of the 100+ other places to find it.
This website could be useful in a statistic class, math, or even economics. Each restaurant lists a percentage of how many people liked or disliked it. A math teacher could use this to find averages of restaurants liked in Clarksville. Each restaurant also lists the expected price, so students in an economics class could figure out a budget for a family to eat out on.
This site would be great for new comers to a city or for someone looking for something new. The website is easy to use and navigate. However, my only dislike is that the alphabetized list does not have a short cut to search by letter. I was interested in seeing just how detailed the list was and searched for some obscure restaurants in Clarksville, one being Silke's, and I had to scroll through all of the 100+ other places to find it.
This website could be useful in a statistic class, math, or even economics. Each restaurant lists a percentage of how many people liked or disliked it. A math teacher could use this to find averages of restaurants liked in Clarksville. Each restaurant also lists the expected price, so students in an economics class could figure out a budget for a family to eat out on.
Thing #5
I chose to read Web 2.0: A Guide for Educators and New Literacies: Enrichment or Essential. First of all, I am glad to be apart of this class and an educational system that promotes the process of utilizing technology and putting emphasis on that this is the way of not only the future, but now. These resources stress the emphasis that using technology is essential to life and must be essential to students. Web 2.0: A Guide for Educators says that today's students are already on board with what is new and happening in technology, and educators have to know what they are learning and show them how to use this in the educational setting to prepare them for life. The second website shows how to use these ideas such as blogs and wikis in the classroom, which is also what we are doing in this class.
School 2.0 to me means keeping technology in the classroom to prepare our current learners for the jobs they are going to have. Teachers have to keep this in mind. Not only do they have to teach students the fundamentals of learning, but they are preparing them for the world. New jobs are created everyday, and without these tools, the students will not have the opportunities to get on board.
I would like to see a future for schools that includes all access to technology at all times. Students in every school SHOULD have their own laptops. Assignments should be virtual so that they can get ready for tasks in the work place that are all online. Parents should be able to have access to student's work on the web, as well as communication with teachers online. Technology should not be a privilege, it should be a requirement.
School 2.0 to me means keeping technology in the classroom to prepare our current learners for the jobs they are going to have. Teachers have to keep this in mind. Not only do they have to teach students the fundamentals of learning, but they are preparing them for the world. New jobs are created everyday, and without these tools, the students will not have the opportunities to get on board.
I would like to see a future for schools that includes all access to technology at all times. Students in every school SHOULD have their own laptops. Assignments should be virtual so that they can get ready for tasks in the work place that are all online. Parents should be able to have access to student's work on the web, as well as communication with teachers online. Technology should not be a privilege, it should be a requirement.
Thing #4
Blogs exist for people to share their ideas with the community. They want and encourage other people to peak into their thoughts and ideas. Commenting is essential to this community because it allows the blog to continue into a conversation. People with like interests can discuss what that blog entry was about, and the blogger knows people are reading and how they feel about the material. Without this transaction, that encouragement to continue blogging doesn't exist.
From reading Brown Thoughts, I learned that with almost every other social interaction is there is a proper etiquette that must take place. I never really thought about this before. I comment occasionally on my friend's blogs, but I never thought there was a standard practice. One, that I was surprised to learn was the practice of being polite. I know this goes without saying in a face to face interaction, but I have unfortunately become accustomed to the "hide behind the screen" attitude from some online forums and message board I frequent. People tend to be meaner with their hands on the key board than in person. I would hope I would never say mean things to someone else, but I never thought to myself that I shouldn't under any circumstances.
From ProBlogger I learned that a responsible blogger interacts with the people who leave comments. I have never done this, because I always thought it was slightly vain to bring attention to people posting on my blog, but now I can see how it is quite the opposite. By interacting, you can show your appreciation for the comments people leave and that encourages them to leave more.
I have yet to comment on any blogs from my class, but I will update as I do.
However, I have already left comments on other blogs I frequently read.
I follow a friend's girlfriend's blog http://badpoetry-ohnoetry.blogspot.com/ I do not know her personally, but we visit the same online forum. I started following her blogs when she started following mine. She has one that is just devoted to her own original poetry. I commented on one of her poems that seemed to be about the way she sees herself in a mirror. I left her a comment telling her I liked the poem and gave her some of my thoughts on why women see themselves critically, and reminder her that there is more good in a person than the flaws.
Another blog I follow is http://acruikshank.blogspot.com/ I found this blog completely haphazardly. I was looking at a friend of mine's blog and kept jumping through a string of other people's before landing on this one. I don't know her and she lives far away from here (New York) but I enjoy reading about her life, and she does a lot of craft projects and always posts pictures. I commented for the first time today on her blog after reading the importance of blogging. I was scared to at first because she doesn't know me, but I introduced myself and told her how I found her blog and why I enjoy reading it. I then commented on her most recent post where she explained that she had recently fallen in the subway and I told her how I, too, recently fell and sprained my ankle. I hope by breaking this ice we will continue to be in communication.
From reading Brown Thoughts, I learned that with almost every other social interaction is there is a proper etiquette that must take place. I never really thought about this before. I comment occasionally on my friend's blogs, but I never thought there was a standard practice. One, that I was surprised to learn was the practice of being polite. I know this goes without saying in a face to face interaction, but I have unfortunately become accustomed to the "hide behind the screen" attitude from some online forums and message board I frequent. People tend to be meaner with their hands on the key board than in person. I would hope I would never say mean things to someone else, but I never thought to myself that I shouldn't under any circumstances.
From ProBlogger I learned that a responsible blogger interacts with the people who leave comments. I have never done this, because I always thought it was slightly vain to bring attention to people posting on my blog, but now I can see how it is quite the opposite. By interacting, you can show your appreciation for the comments people leave and that encourages them to leave more.
I have yet to comment on any blogs from my class, but I will update as I do.
However, I have already left comments on other blogs I frequently read.
I follow a friend's girlfriend's blog http://badpoetry-ohnoetry.blogspot.com/ I do not know her personally, but we visit the same online forum. I started following her blogs when she started following mine. She has one that is just devoted to her own original poetry. I commented on one of her poems that seemed to be about the way she sees herself in a mirror. I left her a comment telling her I liked the poem and gave her some of my thoughts on why women see themselves critically, and reminder her that there is more good in a person than the flaws.
Another blog I follow is http://acruikshank.blogspot.com/ I found this blog completely haphazardly. I was looking at a friend of mine's blog and kept jumping through a string of other people's before landing on this one. I don't know her and she lives far away from here (New York) but I enjoy reading about her life, and she does a lot of craft projects and always posts pictures. I commented for the first time today on her blog after reading the importance of blogging. I was scared to at first because she doesn't know me, but I introduced myself and told her how I found her blog and why I enjoy reading it. I then commented on her most recent post where she explained that she had recently fallen in the subway and I told her how I, too, recently fell and sprained my ankle. I hope by breaking this ice we will continue to be in communication.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Thing #3
If I could have a classroom that had enough computers for each student, I would use blogs in the place of journals in my English classroom. I already plan on using journals as a daily bell ringer activity where students will respond to a posted topic. By using a blog, the students would be using technology and exposing themselves on how to use one. Also, students could post comments on each other's to create a message board like atmosphere and they could get feedback on the entries they have posted.
Also, by doing this the student's parents would be able to see what they are doing in class and monitor their child's progress in their writing skills.
Also, by doing this the student's parents would be able to see what they are doing in class and monitor their child's progress in their writing skills.
Thing #2
I have been an active blogger since my sophomore year of high school. I started off with a diaryland account, moved onto livejournal, began posting myspace blogs, and finally started a blogspot account for a more professional "home" for my blog. I enjoy reading other people's blogs and writing in my own. Because I have been blogging for ten years now, I have an easy way to review the activities in my life. It is fun to go back and see how much I have changed and matured. It is also a great way to remember small facts of my life and reminisce. My other blog is http://meghannshoulders.blogspot.com/ . I always enjoy gaining new readers!
I decided to keep the name of my blog simple and to the point of the assignment and named the url similar to my other blog for continuity sake. Creating the blog was very easy for me since I am already familiar with the format of blogspot.
I did not create the avatar for this assignment, because my picture carries over from my already existing blog. I am not sure if there is a way to create two, or if I will have to change it entirely for the purpose of this assignment. If I had made an avatar I would have made one close enough to look like me and designed it to show off parts of my personality that I wish people to see me for.
*****CORRECTION******
I just went back in and figured out how to create my avatar. I designed it to look as much like me as possible. Black glasses, hair in a pony tail, and a hoodie- that's me!
I decided to keep the name of my blog simple and to the point of the assignment and named the url similar to my other blog for continuity sake. Creating the blog was very easy for me since I am already familiar with the format of blogspot.
I did not create the avatar for this assignment, because my picture carries over from my already existing blog. I am not sure if there is a way to create two, or if I will have to change it entirely for the purpose of this assignment. If I had made an avatar I would have made one close enough to look like me and designed it to show off parts of my personality that I wish people to see me for.
*****CORRECTION******
I just went back in and figured out how to create my avatar. I designed it to look as much like me as possible. Black glasses, hair in a pony tail, and a hoodie- that's me!
Thing #1
I have always considered myself a lifelong learner without specifically knowing that such a title existed. I always approach the knowledge I seek with the first three Seven and a Half Habits. I can always visually see what end I have in mind. Without knowing this, how can someone achieve their successes? I also accept responsibility for my own learning by finding the means necessary to learning and I always view problems as a challenge instead of a road block.
However, I need to work on finding the confidence in myself to achieve these goals. Sometimes, I become discouraged, and I would never try something I "know" I can not do. I would never attempt to learn Calculus or become fluent in a foreign language. If I could tell myself that I could do these things if I applied the proper desire and assurance to do a task, I am sure I could, but finding that confidence is an essential key.
I also never considered building a "toolbox." Learning is a process and the tools required are imperative aides to getting to the end result. In order to achieve the goal, one must become properly equipped. I never considered this before, but this is a great strategy to getting started.
I have been fortunate to be young during this great age of technology and I have very vivid memories of learning about new computer and internet technologies as they have become available. I feel that people my age are almost predisposed to knowing how to use many of the technological tools from being exposed at such a young age. This habit is almost as easy for me as breathing.
Teaching and mentoring others would also be a challenge for me, however. I tend to like to do things at my own pace and by myself. I have never really run into a time when other would need my help, and I am sometimes shy to ask others. I would need to work on this, too.
With learning new tools automatically comes with play. One must play around with the new knowledge they have learned to become a master in that field.
Although I considered myself to be quite knowledgeable in technology, I am always learning. Through this process of the 23 Things I hope to learn about new features and functions for some tools I already know how to use, but did not know existed. I am also excited about learning these tools and to start preparing how I will use them in the classroom. While I do believe technology is important, I have always been under the assumption that there are few ways to use technology in an English classroom. I have already learned that isn't true, and I want to have all the tools necessary to use technology in my own classroom.
However, I need to work on finding the confidence in myself to achieve these goals. Sometimes, I become discouraged, and I would never try something I "know" I can not do. I would never attempt to learn Calculus or become fluent in a foreign language. If I could tell myself that I could do these things if I applied the proper desire and assurance to do a task, I am sure I could, but finding that confidence is an essential key.
I also never considered building a "toolbox." Learning is a process and the tools required are imperative aides to getting to the end result. In order to achieve the goal, one must become properly equipped. I never considered this before, but this is a great strategy to getting started.
I have been fortunate to be young during this great age of technology and I have very vivid memories of learning about new computer and internet technologies as they have become available. I feel that people my age are almost predisposed to knowing how to use many of the technological tools from being exposed at such a young age. This habit is almost as easy for me as breathing.
Teaching and mentoring others would also be a challenge for me, however. I tend to like to do things at my own pace and by myself. I have never really run into a time when other would need my help, and I am sometimes shy to ask others. I would need to work on this, too.
With learning new tools automatically comes with play. One must play around with the new knowledge they have learned to become a master in that field.
Although I considered myself to be quite knowledgeable in technology, I am always learning. Through this process of the 23 Things I hope to learn about new features and functions for some tools I already know how to use, but did not know existed. I am also excited about learning these tools and to start preparing how I will use them in the classroom. While I do believe technology is important, I have always been under the assumption that there are few ways to use technology in an English classroom. I have already learned that isn't true, and I want to have all the tools necessary to use technology in my own classroom.
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