Thing Twelve: Google

In this learning activity we learned that Google is more than just a search engine.  I chose to look more into Google alerts and Google translate.  Through Google alerts, one can do many things like follow a product, celebrity, or any topic of choice.  You can select to receive emails about this topic as information develops on it over time. Here is a like to creating an alert: Google alerts page.
Google translate is another great tool.  With the amount of ELL students in classrooms on the rise, this tool could be used to translate directions, or notes home to parents who may have a different first language.  Of course this tool could not serve as your only basis for translation and understanding but it is a good foundation to get you started! Here is a sample translation:Sample translation

Thing Eleven: Searching

This thing revolved around using different search engines to find blogs and relevant feeds.  Personally, I found Google blog search the easiest to use.  I use Google on a regular basis and searching for blogs was just as easy as searching for anything else!  I was amazed at how many blogs were found upon doing simple searches like "Web 2.0 for teachers" and "technology in classrooms".  Topix was a little harder to use but I imagine that is only because I am not as used to using it as I am Google.  With time and practice I think I may be able to get a better grasp on it.  I found so many feeds leading me to lesson plans, fun activities, and stories of other teachers experiences that I could use to shape my own classroom and teaching methods in the future.

Thing Ten: RSS

I like that RSS readers allow you to get all of your updates in the same place! As the into to this activity stated, it really does help you stay updated while saving time and keeps things more organized ( which I can greatly appreciate).  Since this activity I have also found out that my tablet and other devices have access to similar programs as well that I now take full advantage of.  Teachers can take advantage of this by subscribing to feeds that are relevant to their subject matter and grade area allowing them to keep thoughts and resources organized and see quickly and easily when they have been updated.

Thing nine: Image Generators

News paper generator

I enjoyed working with online image generators in this exercise.  One of my favorites was this news paper generator ( as shown above).  I could see this as being used to create fun ways to give the students various writing assignments or to make cute notes to parents about things the class has completed. Making this was super easy! All you had to do was fill in the blanks of what you wanted your title, heading, date, and story to be and it did the rest for you.

Another generator I liked was this warning sign generator:
Warning Sign Generator

This could be used to remind students of upcoming events and important academic dates.  This one was also quite easy to use ( as I am seeing many of these tools are).  You simply select your sign template, warning symbol, and then enter up to six lines of text.

Thing 8 : Mash ups

 For this learning activity I chose to play around with Spell with Flickr.  The application could  not have been easier to use.   All you do is type whatever it is that you want to spell and then click on each letter to change the image shown! I could see myself using this to spice up news letters, presentations, and even my classroom blog.   The lettering is a cute and different way to add a bit of diversity into your work. Here is what I created :



            

I like the idea of using this in the classroom because it reminds me of the different clips they would have on childrens shows where they would piece together words and numbers of different sorts.
           

Thing 7: Flickr

     I went into exploring Flickr with no idea of what I was going to search.  I wanted to look for something worth while in order to get the most out of the exercise when classroom layouts came to mind.  I am not sure what made me think of this but I thought it would be a good start.  I had never used Flickr before and creating the account was very easy.  I actually set it up straight from my current yahoo account which was great because I hate creating all these different user names and passwords and what not!  I was amazed at the numerous classroom ideas that were present on this site! people had uploaded layouts, organizational ideas, activities, and so many more.  You name it they had it!  This was certainly not what  I had expected and I found myself exploring the site much longer than I had planned! Here is the link to a group I found interesting!
http://www.flickr.com/groups/k8computerlabs/ I plan on coming back to this website often in order to find ideas for my future classroom.  It is almost like finding Pinterest all over again :]!

Thing 6: Pandora

I chose to review Pandora Radio.  I like this tool because not only is it free, but the amount of stations out there are limitless!  I easily made a free account and was able to explore many different kid friends stations.  I played around with creating a collection of playlists that would be good for transitions, test taking, and even inside recess to brighten up those rainy days!  I had heard of Pandora before but had never thought of relating it to education and I am now so surprised I never realized its potential before!
pandora.com

Thing 5: School 2.0

     To me, school 2.0 has some appeal to it. I like the idea of there being multiple paths to learning.  Only so much learning can take place in the classroom in the short span of a school day and the even shorter class period.  Allowing learning to be expanded into the home life, and community involvement could offer countless possibilities if done correctly.  Of course each area has different resources based on different factors such as location, SES status, and so on, but that does not mean that they could not use what they did have available to expand upon learning activities.  The web 2.0 tools that we have covered in this class have already opened my eyes to countless activities that I am dying to bring into my classroom.  Schools in the future will have access to not only these tools but so many more as time goes on and technology continues to advance!  These tools are key in tying in learning as far as community and home life are concerned.

Thing Four: Commenting

     This "thing" was centered around the importance of commenting on blogs.  Commenting on posts does more than just show that you have read the post, it also allows you to take a stance on what was written, offer up suggestions, and show the reader you care about what it is that they have to say.  As I touched on in thing three ( guess I got a little ahead of myself) commenting can create a since of community by allowing people to feel involved in what is being said.  I enjoyed commenting on other peoples blogs.  Each time I did so I tried to expand upon something they had mentioned or offer support or suggestions.  My goal for my comments is for them to be helpful to the author regardless of the topic at hand.


Blogs I commented on within the class:
 I tried to pick blogs of people who were not in my class or people who I had never met before.  I did this so I could practice getting my thought s out there to a new group of people and maybe even open future communication webs for those of us with common goals.

kellishoemake3040 ( thing 8)

A new educator's 23 things ( thing 3)

Teaching's a Journey(thing 2)

Things: 23 of Them. ( thing 2)

23 Stehle HOOTs

I found many personal blogs through Pinterest to comment on, both education based and ons of other topics.  Using pinterest allowed me to start by clicking on something I found interesting, and go from there.