tHING #12

The first Google tool I decided to utilize was Google Calendar. It is so user friendly and am glad that this activity encouraged me to explore it. For purposes of familiarizing myself with it, I added my work and school schedule, along with my daughter's extra curricular activities. It allows you to view it by day, week, or month. I like the agenda view the most! It displays all upcoming commitments. The aspect I liked most about it was the ability to copy and paste the the browser address to share content via email. The second Google tool I chose to explore was Google Translate. It allows you to translate all languages from and to and vice versa. In addition to being a valuable personal organizational tool, Google Calendar can also be a valuable tool in the classroom. It can help you stay connected with parents on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Google Translate will definitely help in the classroom if faced with a child or family who is not fluent in English. Google Translate should also be made known to the families of a child who do not speak English.

tHING #11

I liked the "Google Blog Search" tool. It allows the user to type in any topic of interest. For example, I typed in "American Idol" and a blog by the name of "mjsbigblog" came up amongst many others. I chose this one because it also highlighted other current shows of interest. In my previous post, I said that I was a little disappointed in the user friendliness of RSS feeds. However, after spending a little more time navigating my way through the available website tools, I am more optimistic! I will definitely be able to stay on top of my news and entertainment all at the convenience of 1 website!

tHING #10

After watching the youtube video, I was really excited about the possibilities of RSS (really simple syndication). However, after searching my most often visited sites, I was a little disappointed to learn that they did not have an RSS link. In a couple of other instances, there was an RSS link, but for some reason, it would not load onto my google reader. Lately, I don't do much surfing on the net. I get most of my news via satellite radio on my way to work. I am currently taking four graduate level courses and working 30 hours a week. Therefore, when I'm on the computer it's either to check my personal, work, and educational email, check online banking, d2l, and Facebook (my guilty pleasure). My 1st grade daughter's teacher uses shutterfly as an online forum to communicate with the parents. So I was VERY excited to see that it had an RSS link. However, it must have been a broken link, because every time I clicked on it, it would just freeze up. In addition, I was also disappointed because Facebook didn't offer any kind of RSS links. In summation, I may have been disappointed to how RSS feeds worked for me, but at least now I know what they are and how they work. Now, I will definitely be looking out for the little orange symbol for I feel teachers can really benefit from sharing information via this method!

tHING #9

This website was fun...relatively speaking of course! It allows you to choose from several different text designs, font style and size, and background color. For a small fee, it will allow you to download these creations without the "www.txt2pic.com" advertisement on it. Not sure exactly how I could use this particular component in the classroom, perhaps I could use them in classroom blogs with students and parents. These graphics can be created at: http://www.txt2pic.com/glitters/43.htm

tHING #8

My creation, a photo by msikes1 on Flickr.

In my last blog, I stated that I probably wouldn't use Flickr because I didn't think I had a use or need for it. However, after exploring some of the mashups, I am convinced that I will probably use it sometime in the future. As you can see, I made a magazine cover. It was a really neat application found on http://bighugelabs.com/ that allows you to upload to flickr that allowed me to upload to blogger. I think it would be fun to chronicle academic events of a classroom on a magazine cover, and can definitely see myself doing something like this. I also think my daughter would have fun poking around with some of the other applications found on bighugelabs.com. Although I don't normally publish public photos, I don't see the harm in sharing them with friends online...as long as it's nothing incriminating ;)

tHING #7

My Kids, a photo by msikes1 on Flickr.

I'm not sure that I would ever use Flickr. While it seems to be a useful sight, I just don't think I would use it. I suppose the main reason for this is because Facebook offers similar capabilities, at least the ones that I would be interested in using. Overall, I found it easy to upload photos, add tags, and edit titles and captions. I would probably recommend this sight to someone if they were "anti" Facebook, and were interested in sharing photos with friends and family.

tHING #6

I chose Pandora Radio, and I absolutely fell in love with it!!! It is one of the best websites I have ever been on! While assisting a teacher in a 3rd grade classroom, she mentioned this website to me for she often plays music in the classroom when the students are independently working. However, I never went on it myself until this blog requirement came about. It is a free website that does not require registration to start benefiting from its wonderful features. It gets all its money from advertisements. It's quick, easy, and fun! All you have to do is enter an artist or song that you like. Then it will create a radio station for you based on that information. I love love love it! I can see myself using this in the classroom to stimulate creative thinking or just use it for fun around the holidays. 


http://www.pandora.com/#!/stations/play/737966126082864085

tHING #5

To me, web 2.0 means an alternative way to utilize the information provided to one on the world-wide-web. Unlike the "regular" web, web 2.0 allows instant access to information without all the windows. Access to this information is incredibly fast and EASY! One can gain access through their phone or computer. Web 2.0 also allows a group of kindergarteners to learn interactively through video games. In the literature we were required to read for thing #5, it stated that web 2.0 may even be utilized on the microwave oven someday! Could you imagine gaining even quicker access to information while waiting for your popcorn to stop popping???