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.

Thing #9

custom sign generator

custom sign generator

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.

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

Trip Around the East
Originally uploaded by mshoulders

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.