Thing #12

I am certain that I would never make a personal or family calendar public, but for classroom purposes I think that a Google calendar would be a great thing to have for teachers, students, administrators and parents alike.  Instead of a child coming home to the boring parental posed question of “what did you do in school today”, they could be confronted with “how did your project on photosynthesis work out for you?” 

                I went ahead and created a calendar for family use.  Since I have to do the work for school anyway, it might as well end up becoming something that I can continue to benefit from.  I also took the opportunity to download the Google calendar app to my droid bionic so that I can continue to access everything on the go.  I shared my calendar with my family members, linking it to their email accounts.  I am sure that they will still claim to be unaware of everything that I post on it though, but it is definitely worth a try.  Google calendar has a neat function that updates the HTML code after changes are made so that you can embed a current version of your calendar in to your blog.  FYI, my life really is as boring as the calendar would lead you to believe I am sorry to admit.  I have attached a link to the calendar. 

https://www.google.com/calendar/render?cid=396a3t8q6r295oafv1shc2ls0s%40group.calendar.google.com

Thing #11

After working down the list of suggested search tools, I found that Google blog search was the easiest of the bunch.  Although you need to be somewhat specific, the results of the search are almost all content related and after some additional searching, you are bound to find what you were looking for. 

                Topix.net was great because it automatically generated an entire page of news, topics, and events that were specific to my current location.  After playing around there I subscribed immediately.  The page is not too busy, is easy to navigate, and most of the content is highly relevant to anyone living in the selected area. 

                Technorati is a very blog-specific site dedicated to everything “blog”.  The site is very user friendly and they have a very good help tab if you do run into any problems while negotiating the content. 

                I am somewhat of a movie buff and I was able to find some pretty good film-related feeds.  Instead of having to visit multiple websites dedicated to movies, these feeds roll up multiple stories and consolidate them right in one spot.  Some of the more unusual blogs were sort of politically centered and had to do with topics that were very ideological.  The bottom line is that there is a blog for almost any interest and although the content is almost bottomless, the blogosphere must be travelled with the knowledge that some of the content is based on point of view, opinion and bias.  As a tool for rapidly locating specific content-based information however, RSS feeds are unmatched. 

Thing #10

These RSS feeds are a great innovation.  The remarkable aspect of it all is the accuracy to which the suggested content interests me.  Not only am I able to instantly see the latest information relevant to my personal subscriptions, but having a Google reader account really serves as tool that automatically discovers sites which contain new and interesting ideas and information.  I could surf the net for 3 hours and not come up with the wide variety of content associated with a reader account.  Having a reader account is a great tool and it is one that I will use in my personal and professional life on a daily basis. 

                Teachers could utilize the RSS to remain current on all sorts of various technologies and information included in hundreds of different sites.  The feeds that I am receiving on my own reader page have served to introduce me to content on the web that I didn’t even know existed.   I have found some useful information on everything from home improvement to the latest movie-related news.  I am a big fan already and I have made my reader page my home page.  This has been a very useful Thing exercise. 

What a great idea......

Fitness information fed straight to me....

It will not end up looking this good, but I will give it a shot......

Thing #9

The image generators that I messed around with were ok.  I think that they need to be refined a bit, but I do have to remind myself that they are all free.  I found that I didn’t have much control over the layout and that users are pretty much relegated to the original templates when playing with these.  There is also a great free photo editing site called pixlr and I have attached a link for that site as well.  I am not entirely sure how I would incorporate the use of these image generators in the classroom, but I am always open to suggestions. 

http://www.fakemagazinecover.com/

http://license.plates.txt2pic.com/

Here is the link to Pixlr:

http://pixlr.com/

Thing #8

I think that students would enjoy utilizing some of the Flickr mashups for various learning activities because they are very visually interesting and relatively simple to use.  I really like the apps that involve mapping and geography.  The ability to easily insert a picture that serves as a graphic representation of a certain geographic area is a great learning tool.  I found that in order to utilize these tools more easily or at all for that matter, you really do need to set up an actual Flickr account.  I have mine set up now and will be using it both professionally and personally from here on out.  Thing 8 has served as another booster rocket propelling me out into the information highway. 

                After creating my Flickr account, I utilized the Jigsaw mashup by Big Huge Labs to create a jigsaw puzzle of a skyline shot of Las Vegas. 

 

Thing #7

Flickr is not only a data base for exceptional pictures, but the interactive aspects of it are very interesting.  They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, but with the tags containing great little tidbits of information that are inserted into many of the photographs, the word count in worth has risen dramatically.  I was able to effortlessly spend about an hour in Flickr initially and I found many exceptional pictures.  The one that I have attached and supplied a link to was interesting to me because I think that it represents a very early version of a web page.  The photograph was taken by a man named Jack Delano in 1939 in Brockton, Mass and it was part of the documentation process associated with the Farm Security Administration which later merged into the Office of War Information.

  The shop’s window is arranged very similar to what the results of a modern day Google search might look like.  It is interesting to see how the people casually gather in front of the window to look over the information. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2179041640/in/set-72157603671370361

Thing #6

 E-learning for Kids is a fantastic site for web 2.0 users.  It contains hundreds of premade lessons and tutorials for multiple subjects and age groups.  This is a very time management friendly site for teachers because all of the activities are 100% pre-designed and ready to go.  They are fun to do and the children gain computer experience while completing them.  Some of the activities even generate certificates of completion.  I especially like the fact that much of the content found here is designed to illicit parental involvement.  The life skills courses are fantastically done and the fact that they are interactive with multiple outcomes is a great way to involve the entire class at once.  This is a great site that I will definitely be putting into my toolbox for future use.   Here is the link to E-learning for kids: 

 

 

 

 

http://www.go2web20.net/site/?a=eLearning4Kids

 

Thing #5

I am going to go a bit against the proverbial grain concerning the advent of the technology associated with web 2.0 and the praises touted about it in these articles.  I freely admit that we are in an age of almost unlimited information sharing and that as a resource for information, web 2.0 is unmatched in human history.  There remains one critical aspect of this ever-expanding resource that has yet to be addressed and that is the difference between accumulated and applied knowledge. 

                I believe whole heartedly that technology is changing and will continue to change the way that we teachers operate in the classroom, but probably not in the way that most of us would consider.  You see, regardless of the quantity of information that is available, the ability to refine, shape, and apply this knowledge in an effective manner, usable on a daily basis in practical situations, will be the cornerstone on which effective teaching will be built.  It is no secret that children today are much more adept at assimilating and using current technology, they are born into it and it serves as a virtual extension of their own environment.  How then do we teachers supplement the data provided by web 2.0 tools and beyond?  It is simple, we teach by example, by experience, and by a demonstrated proficiency of application.  In the old days we called this by two words; experience and wisdom. 

                I am not fighting the advent of web 2.0, but simply raising a caution flag.  What is the use of a child learning about a chemical reaction if he or she is not allowed to conduct a hands-on experiment and then learn how these processes affect our lives and the lives of others on a daily basis?  There are numerous websites dedicated to forestry and conservation, with countless facts and statistics available to commit to memory for an exam, but what good do they do for the child who has never been in the woods?   The study of music history or theory is fantastic, but hand out some recorders, triangles and tambourines to a classroom of 3^rd graders and watch the magic happen.