Final Thoughts

My two favorite exercise were the mashup and the animoto. I have learned that there are a lot of websites out there to help with incorporating technology into the classroom and to help me as a  teacher with lesson plans. There weren't any unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised me. In the future, I will look back at my blog and see how I can use the websites that I learned about in this program to help with my classroom. There were so many different tools that we learned about that I could see myself using in my teaching. I plan to keep up with technology by staying current with what is new on the internet.

Thing 23

While exploring the Creative Commons website, I learned that if I want other people to be able to legally use my work, then I have to add a creative commons. I will use this in my classroom by putting a creative commons only on worksheets, lesson plans, or any other work that I created that I want other people to be able to use as their own. If I come up with a worksheet that for some reason I don't want to share with others, I will just not put a creative commons on it.

Thing 22

The titles of my binders are Math, English, and Science. http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=661609&backurl=/shelf/my is the link to my Math binder. I could use LiveBinder by looking up lesson plan ideas and worksheets. Once I pick a few lesson plans or worksheets that I want to use, I could put them into a specific binder that pertains to a specific subject. I could then use those worksheet and lesson plans and put them in my lesson plans for my classroom.

Thing 21

Best Friends I had so much fun using this!! I played around on the site for at least an hour. It is a great tool to make pictures into a video and have fun!

Thing 20

I really like youtube. I think that it is a great website for many reasons! Youtube can be used for almost anything. You can find educational things on there, music, communicate across the nation, and much more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoyQPEx3xRI&feature=plcp The reason that I chose this link was because it is a video of a dance that I competed 4 years ago. There was a girl that was in Los Angeles and she was in the dance, but she had to learn it in a short period of time. We decided to post the video on youtube so that she could learn it while she was away. I thought that this was a really neat idea and an awesome use of youtube. I could see youtube being useful for my library website. The school could post pep rallies and different events on there as well as going around the school and taking short videos of each classroom. Kids would love this because they would feel like they are famous for being on the internet.

Thing 19

I am not a member of any online communities. I really liked the crafts link under hobbies. I would use this in my everyday life, as well as in my classroom. I could use it to get ideas for when I want to do crafts in the classroom to incorporate with what we are learning that day. I really enjoyed going through all of the sites and getting fun ideas for everyday life.

Thing 18

Link to my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/taylor.engel.37

It is important for teachers to know how social networking works because it is a way for them to stay connected to what is going on around them. I did not know that schools had their own pages on Facebook. I thought that was really cool because parents can like these pages and always know what is going on at the school and in the community around them. I liked that almost all of the sites gave me an address and map for where the school was. My Junior High school had the most useful information. Out of all of the schools that I looked up, it seemed to be the one that was updated the most. I couldn't really seeing me using this for my specific classroom, but I could see it being useful for my school to have one.

Thing 17

I thought that Delicious was a pretty cool tool. I like that you are able to share it with other people so that you can get ideas from other teachers. I think it is always good to  be open-minded and willing to see what other people have to say. I could see myself using this for ideas for my classroom. I am the type of person that likes to get ideas from others. It is also nice that you can access this from anywhere and not just one single computer. Teachers could take advantage of social bookmarking sites by putting there ideas out there for other people to use in their classroom. It is also a good way for teachers to keep their classrooms current. They would always have new ideas and know what is the trend and how to incorporate that into their classroom. I really liked how there were tags. That helped my transfer from one idea to another and branch off of that.

Thing 16

For my start page I chose Netvibes. Netvibes stuck out to me because you could make it your own. You didn't have to chose from an example homepage that they had, you could just type in any word and it would create one for you. I also like how it gave you a little tutorial as to how to use it once you signed up. I probably wouldn't use this as a homepage because I already have a set homepage that I don't want to change, but I would probably visit this page on a regular basis.

The online calendar was pretty cool. It already put in national holidays and what the temperature is for the next 5 days. This could be helpful so that when I do my lesson plans, I can have an idea for if I want to take the kids outside one day, or when they will have off school. I also like that this is always handy and right at the click of a button. The online calendar that I chose was MSN calendar.

I think that the to-do list could be helpful, but I would probably not use it. If you are the type of person that is always on the computer and likes to have everything documented, then I think that this would be a good idea, but I am not that type of person. It was cool  to be able to set it up and play around with setting up when different things are due. For me, it was kind of the same thing as having a planner, but I would rather have a planner to write in and carry around with me than a to-do list on the computer.

The tool that would probably be the most use to me would be the online calendar. I wouldn't use this as my calendar at home, but I would recommend it for teachers. I  think it is a great way to plan out what you are going to be doing each week in the classroom.

Thing 15

I always knew that anybody could add, delete, or change things on wiki, but I never knew how it was done. I enjoyed learning how to play around on it and getting a little more familiar with it. As a teacher, I could post a class page and let students and parents communicate with me that way. I could also get some awesome ideas from other teachers on wiki. Wiki was something that I had always known about, but never took the time to work with. Come to find out, it could be really helpful for me in the future.

Thing 14

I chose to us Gliffy as my flowchart and Bubbl.us as my mind map. I preferred to use the mind map because it helped me organize my thoughts better. When I used Bubbl.us, I liked that each level was determined by a specific color. Some of my sections would have a lot more ideas branched off of them than others, and sometimes I would get confused on where I was, so then I just looked at which one was what color. I used this to help me organize my research paper for another class and it was really helpful.

Thing 13

I started out just using Zoho Writer like I would typically use Microsoft Word. Once I got a little more comfortable with it, I realized that you could add shapes and all different kinds of things in there. This could be really beneficial for a teacher like me because I want to teach third grade math and I could use shapes in a lot of my worksheets that I print off and on tests. Zoho Writer would make it easier to compose these worksheets and tests on a regular basis.

The link to my Google Doc is: https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/18HtaftO7k8gaSw1HtljfaOa1_r3XeJK0p_-UEVRjViU/edit my students could use the program to work with new shapes and equations. In the document that I created, I just used shapes, but you can create equations and all kinds of things in there. I think that students would enjoy doing this because for one, they would probably like to change things up from using paper and a pencil all the time, and two because now a days technology is taking over the world. Kids love to use computers and play games, so this would be a fun activity to do with them, while they are learning at the same time.

I think that I would prefer to use Google Doc because you can do more things with it than Zoho. Even though Zoho would be very helpful, it is still pretty similar to Microsoft Word.

Thing 12

The two Google tools that I chose were Google Alerts and Google Translator. I chose Google Alerts because it is a really cool tool to keep you updated on whatever you want. For right now, I chose to get updates on the Chicago Cubs because I like to follow what they are doing,  but as a teacher, I will probably follow things related to teaching. I also like Google translator because you can use it to look up pretty much any language. A lot of times words have a Latin base, so you could look up the Latin base to figure out what that word really means. Both of these could be helpful as a teacher, but I think that I would use the Google Translator more than Google Alerts. http://www.google.com/alerts/manage?mqm=c&q=Chicago+Cubs&x=AMJHsmVDiJW3qcP3OQXWcfhWDvwwVSrvrg:1349726620099 is the link to my alerts for the Chicago Cubs.

Thing 11

I liked the link to http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/ It was helpful because it gave me a start off to some really good links related to teaching. Once on that website, I looked for links like lessons plans and 12 Ways To Teach During the Crazy Days of Christmas. The one that was more complicated for me was http://www.topix.net/ because it didn't show me links that were specific to me. In my findings, I got some great tips on how to keep focus on days where the kids are crazy and some really cool ideas on lesson plans. I found that by going through other people's blogs, I found some great links that are helpful to me.

Thing 10

Something that I liked about RSS was that it was easy to find websites to subscribe to. Almost every single website that I looked up, I was able to find. I think that this could be very helpful for a teacher. Even though I had a hard time coming up with websites to subscribe to now, I think that as a teacher it would be a lot easier. As a teacher, I would want to know what is going on in the world around me. Children are really curious and nosey, so more thank likely they will always be asking questions about things that don't relate to what we are doing in the classroom. Also, I'm sure that there are many helpful websites that relate to teaching. It is always important to be open to other people's opinions.

Thing 9

The reason that I chose to post two different license plates was because I am originally from Illinois and that is where I started dance, so Illinois is very important to me. I chose the Tennessee license plate because I now live in Tennessee and APSU is what brought me here. I made each one specific to me and showed the importance to both within the license plate. The link that I used was http://license.plates.txt2pic.com/. This  could be a fun activity to do at the beginning of the year to get to know your students as a teacher. They could do something that relates to them and it is an ice breaker activity, and also a way to get to know your students.

Thing 8

As a teacher you could use Flickr to make unique posters that nobody else will have. It makes things more interesting thank just looking at a poster board with letters on it. You can make it have fancy colors and pictures, you can make puzzles, or a collage of pictures. It would be a great thing to make your classroom more decorative, but I don't think it would benefit you very much in actually teaching. I think that if you want everybody to see your pictures, then it is OK to post them online, but if you don't want your pictures out in the public, then don't put them online.

Thing 7

I found it very interesting while looking through Flickr. There were so many awesome pictures on there. I think that I could use Flickr in my teaching to get pictures in order to  help teach lessons. I chose this particular picture because it is an inspirational quote. I strongly believe that it is important to inspire the children that you are teaching and make them believe that they can do whatever they set their minds to. To ensure that my students keep a positive attitude, I could post a picture every day with something inspirational on it, or just have a bunch of pictures all around the room. Whichever way I want, I would like  to keep the atmosphere positive and keep things up to date, and I could do so by finding new things on Flickr.I give credit to odekfloresmedia for this picture that I found. http://www.flickr.com/photos/61752848@N07/6708311179/

Thing 6

The site that I chose from the list was iTunes http://www.apple.com/iTunes. The reason that I chose this was because I know that kids love music. I think that it is important to incorporate things that kids can relate to into your classroom. There are many ways to use music in your teaching. For example, you could start off everyday with a different song, and that could be the theme of the day. This will get students interested in what they are going to learn that day and enjoy listening to music at the same time. You could also use music to come up with catchy songs so that students could remember. When I was in elementary school I learned a song about the 50 states, and to this day I still remember it. One useful feature about iTunes is that it will suggest songs for you that are similar to the one you picked. If you purchase a song about the 50 states, it will more than likely suggest other songs that relate to the 50 states. This could be very helpful when it comes to looking for ideas to use in your classroom.

Thing 5

I think that "School 2.0" is great. It explains very well the idea of what is going on today. In the article Web 2.0 is Not About Version Numbers or Betas, it explains that Web 2.0 is regular people that use the web everyday for their own benefit. I could not agree more! Personally, I do not know much about creating things on the web, but I do use the Internet in a regular basis to benefit myself. I think that this idea will benefit schools in the future because it refers to how the web is just normal people that post things on the Internet, and then normal people look at that information and are influenced by it daily.

In the article Web 2.0 Is the Future of Education, it gives specific links to ways that Web 2.0 is already used in classrooms today. My favorite link is the one referring to skype. It amazes me that skype is being used in classrooms because when I think of skype, I think of chatting with friends or family, not for education.

Thing 4

Commenting can be helpful in many ways. Reading what other people interpret from your post can let you know if you need to be more specific about something, or if you need to clarify what you are trying to say. It is also a good way to get feedback. Feedback is a great way to improve on your skills and let you know what works best for your audience. After all, your audience is the one you are trying to get the message across to, so they need to be able to understand what you are saying.

I found from the reading that it is important to comment back on what someone has said and say thank you. If you do not respond to their comment, it could look bad on you. It is also just the polite thing to do and could spark up a good conversation about your topic. Another  thing that I found to be important is to be open ended. In being open ended, you are allowing for people to leave comments, which is what the whole idea is. If you just state what you think, there isn't really any room for somebody to tell you what they think.

I commented on:
Samantha Fargis- Thing 2
The reason that I decided to comment on this particular post is because I could relate to it. I am not very good at technology and had a bit of a hard time starting up the blog, and she did too. It is always nice to know that there is someone out there having the same struggles as you.
Stephanie Moran- Thing 3...Blogging for Education
I commented on this post because it was a great idea that I had not thought of. She talked about how down the road, she can always look back on what she did when she first became a teacher and how she has improved since then. This is an awesome idea and I might do it too!
Amanda Blankenship- Thing #4
The reason I chose to comment on this was because I found it really interesting. By using a picture of her comments, she did not have to retype everything. This is a great way to save time and also make your blog look neat.
Katie Shaffer- Thing 1
I chose to comment on this because I also struggle with technology. I found it inspiring that she is willing to try and learn about new technology to help out her students, even though it isn't something that she is comfortable with.
Brionna Rand- Thing 2
I chose this post because again, I could relate to it. I was not too fond of the idea that we had to create a blog. It scared me at first, but now I am becoming more comfortable with it.
Danielle Witter- Thing #3
I commented on this post because I had the same idea. It was cool to see that somebody else also wanted to use a blog to post homework and calendars.
Jessica Pickering- Thing #1
I chose this one because we both had the same easiest habit for thing 1. It is easy to relate to people that share the same things as you.

Thing 3

When I become a teacher, I could use a blog for many things. I  think what I would use it for would be to give the students and parents an idea of what I am like and who I am. I would also use it to let parents know when they could volunteer for room activities. This would be a great place to always let the parents and kids know what is going on in our classroom on a regular basis. I could post what homework is due the next day, a schedule for the upcoming week, and any announcements I may have. Sometimes kids forget to tell their parents important information, and a blog could be a great way to insure that this information gets delivered to them.

Thing 1

While watching the 7 1/2 Habits tutorial, I felt as though the easiest habit for me would be to accept responsibility for my own learning. I am the type of person who likes to get their work done and make sure it's done right. If I don't know the answer to something, I will try everything until I can figure out what to do. The hardest habit for me would be to have confidence in myself as a competent, effective learner. If I see a problem that we have not gone over in class, I will freak myself out and make myself believe that I don't know how to do it. It is very difficult to have confidence after you have been starring at a problem for a long time and have not gotten anywhere with it.

Thing 2

I decided on my posing name because I have been a dancer all of my life. Tap dancing has always been my favorite and it is something that people recognize me for. I identify myself as a dancer, so I figured it would make a good posting name. The name of my blog is just simply my name. There wasn't really anything special about it.

I experienced that creating a blog is not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. At first, I was confused on how to work a blog, but once I started to understand it a little more, it became easier for me. I never thought that I would have a blog because I am not very good at using new things on the computer.

My avatar reflects my personality because it has me wearing a shirt with one sleeve. This is something that I would wear because I think it is cute, but also I feel like it shows that I like fun and different things. I created an avatar that looks like me. I did this because I like people to have an idea of who is putting their ideas out their. I also am comfortable with myself and like to express who I am.