Thing 8 - Mashups

I explored Spell with Flickr and Flickr Color Pickr. I really liked Spell with Flickr. I tried different letters until I found the combination that I liked the best. The Flickr Color Pickr was okay, I was not overly impresssed. I like the idea of putting notes on certain parts of a picture.

Below is what I made on Spell with Flickr.

Thing 7: Flickr

Picture courtesy of zensmom1 via Flickr.

Flickr looks interesting and some place that would be nice to keep your photos and in an organized order. It would be a great place to showcase your photography if you were just beginning or already involved in the photography business. You would be able to get your photos out there for lots of people to see and comment on.

I did not sign up for the free account as I do not want or need another email account to keep up with.

From the short tour that I took of Flickr, I do not think that I would use it professionally. My main use would be personal. I could organize photos in groups by activity, date, family, etc. However, I do not think that I would use it very much personally.

I love how fast the pictures uploaded and it was very easy even if you are not a technological person. I chose this picture because it reminds me of my dog, Hoss, when he was a puppy. I have a picture that looks very similar to it because Hoss also had a teddy bear that he slept with when he was this size.

Thing 6: Nings

Ning is a great tool for educators vs. Facebook or just a Blog as it is geared more toward teachers. You are able to ask questions and get responses from other educators on how they teach or what has or has not worked for them. Ning seems to be more of a tool for people interested in helping today's students learn.

I visited a couple of Nings pertaining to music, entertainment, and sports. It was interesting to read what other people's questions and the comments to those questions. I especially liked the 2.0 classroom Ning. I visited the group site for ELL and Technology because I am on the ELL ACSIP plan at my school and we have been looking at what tools we need to help our ELL students learn. I also looked at the New Beginners, Connecting Content and Technology, I Heart Google and Teach Tech. I may join it at a later date. I joined the K-8 Computer Lab Ning as I thought this could help me with teaching computers at Eagle Mtn.

I did not get to look at all the sites on 2.0 Classroom Ning, but look forward to checking more of them out and possible joining.

Chapter 4: Design

It was interesting to have design put into utility and significance categories. I never thought of design as being broken down like this. A brochure must be easy to read or a piece of furniture must be sturdy, but yet that same brochure has to produce ideas and emotions in place of words or the piece of furniture has to be attractive to the eye.

When I was in WalMart the other day, I was amazed at the bright colors (fushia, lime green, orange, purple, red) of the small applicances, towels, college dorm items and etc. They definitely caught my eye more than the normal colors (brown, yellow, white, blue).

The CHAD school section was very interesting. To think that before coming to this school, these same students read on a 3rd grade level and then to have 80% of them go on to a 2 or 4 year college is amazing. They are learning Art, Math, English, Science, and Social Studies and how to solve problems using all of it together. How great would it be to have a school like this in every city for kids that have home problems, lack of money, etc.

Reflection on Ch. 3 Creations

This activity taught me to work as a team, communicate, cooperate and research the information needed to create a photostory about one section of Ch. 3. As teachers, we have to equip our students with the ability to use both sides of their brains and think outside the box. The skills learned in this activity will be skills that students will use not only in their jobs, but their everyday lives.

Homework: Chapter 3

21 clc has made me think more of R vs L brain thinking so I took an online quiz to see which brain I am. I found that I equally use both sides of my brain. When reading Chapter 3, I was surprised to learn that MFA's are harder to achieve than law degrees. Machines are taking over many jobs today because they can be done cheaper, quicker and more efficiently than a person. Universities are implementing classes in their cirriculum that make the student use their creative and emphatic sides rather than their "smarts". I have always thought that our education system relies too heavily on tests scores. Lots of time, a student is a horrible test taker, but knows the information probably better than the student who aces the test.

Today's kids love technology in any form. We as teachers, need to "grab" that love and use it. If we incorporate more technology into our classrooms, our students will "grab" the learning. Regardless of how old or set in our ways we are, we need to learn along with our students. After all, how can we expect them to learn new things if we are afraid to do it ourselves.

Thing 4: Commenting on other blogs

I liked commenting on my fellow co-workers blogs. I especially enjoyed reading their thoughts. So far the only thing I have found that I do not like is that everytime I post a blog, that stupid verification code thing comes up. But I feel like that is because we are all using the same IP address during this inservice. Overall, it is pretty cool. I was excited when I found my first comments. Commenting is important because it allows you to voice your opinion. I think that students would be excited to see students from other schools or states commenting on their writing. I belong to facebook mainly because my students were always talking about it in class and I didn't know what they were talking about. Since I teach computers and technology, I felt that it was important for me to know what they were discussing in my class so I joined.

Thing 3: Adding widgets

I edited the "About me" widget to add my personal info pertaining to my school and what I teach. I did not initially add much info, but I may add more as I get more comfortable with all of this. I also added a subscription widget. My only problems that I encountered was initially finding how to add the widget/gadget. With the help of my teammates in 21 clc, I was able to find the appropriate button.

Thing 2: Reflections on Web 2.0

My thoughts on Web 2.0 are that machines (computers, cell phones, etc.) are the trend of today's children. What we need to know is that we are the machines. The internet is a 2 way avenue for people to communicate, learn and collaborate with each other. Today's audience can get content overload. We have to learn how to sort out the information. As teachers, we have to know enough and feel comfortable enough with technology to teach our students and then we have to let them do it.