Things numero 13 and 14.

I found myself really bored with this project. I mean, for real. I have Microsoft Office on my computer, so I didn't really find these web applications very helpful. However, giving it the benefit of the doubt, I could see how it would be helpful to someone who doesn't have the luxury of having these applications accessible to them via the inter web.

Although I felt like I could access all of this fancy shmancy stuff on my own computer, I did find it handy that it was so easy to create a math document. Since I want to be a math teacher, I think I might actually use this in the future!

 

Creating this Ven Diagram, on the other hand, I feel like I would never do again. I mean, cool, it's handy that I can do it, but I'm not sure what I would use it for in the future. I'm sure something will come to mind eventually, but not right now.

Web 2.0 is handy and accessible for those that cannot access it on their own, but I think as of now, I could do without it. What are your thoughts? Am I just lame?
xoxo, k

Google; noun, verb.

Google is much more than just a search engine now. Google helps me organize my life through Google Calendar as well as translating documents, sentences, or words through Google Translate.

Google Calendar can be set to notify you ahead of time for any of the events on your calendar. Being the app junky that I am, I also downloaded the app to my phone. I quickly realized that my calendar, reader, and any other Google tool I use, were quickly applied to the app on my phone. This means that I have access to all of my information wherever I go. How fantastic is that?! This also means that when I am teaching, I can have all of my appointments, projects due, meetings, etc. in one place. I also know from experience that you can share your Google Calendar with other Google members and they can apply events of their own to your calendar. I have done this for classes, placing when I will do my presentation on a specific day and time or making an appointment with a professor. Doing this lets me view when a professor is available or not. That concept could easily be applied to teaching and communication with the parents.

Google Translate helped me survive my college foreign language experience. Don't tell anyone. I Google Translated (nice use of the verb there, right?) everything. However, I didn't realize that you could translate a whole document. That tool would come in handy if you had an ELL in your class that relied on turning in documents in their first language. Allowing students to do this would most likely help their grades... the assignment would be easier for them to complete. Although they shouldn't be allowed to write in their first language at all times, English should be a gradual transition and I think Google Translate would be an incredible tool to allow that.

The things they're coming up with these days.......
xoxo, k

Searching for love...

That's what I feel like I'm doing. I love blogs! I love reading people's opinions and reviews on things as well as hearing their stories and learning about them from a creepy distance. This assignment was about searching for blogs through different blog searching tools... Thus, I'm searching for love. For this, I tried Google Blog search, Technorati, and Topix.net. 

The latter just confused the heck out of me. I'm the person that, if I go to a site and it does not look well organized or professionally made, forget it. I don't even waste my time there. Topix.net felt like a cheap, amateur website. I did not have any interest in using it. Google Blog search was just as easy to use as Google. I found a blog to subscribe to from searching through Google Blogs. I also found another blog worth subscribing to through Technorati. I subscribed to these blogs because I wanted to follow more blogs that were education based; something I could use in the future... not just for my pleasure reading.

What I liked about Technorati was the fact that you could search for posts or blogs. I found myself searching for whole blogs because I wanted to expand my blog library... but I could also imagine that searching for posts would be helpful if you were looking for quick information on a subject.

Did you find any blogs that are noteworthy and worth sharing? I'd love to know about them!

xoxo, k

Really Simple, huh?

I created an RSS. Really Simple Syndication. And yes, it was really simple; really simple to set up and it makes following pages and feeds really simple, too! I already had a Google account (obviously, because I have this blog), so all I had to do was go to Google Reader and it automatically synced my blogs from my Blogger page to my Google Reader. However, I DID go to the ones that have a domain outside of Blogger and physically "subscribe" to them, the others are just simply on my reading list.

Teachers could use RSS to keep up with each others blogs as well as informational feeds and blogs. These blogs could spread ideas and information throughout the digital universe very easily through RSS. This will make it simple to read important posts in one spot, without wasting time to find whether there are new posts or not. I think there are plenty of informational education blogs that I will follow as a future educator and having my RSS will make it very easy for me.

Does anyone know how to subscribe to blogs that are in the Blogger domain? We don't have the orange RSS symbol, so how does it work?

I'm confused about that, but I still have an excuse to follow more blogs... :)
xoxo, k

I have a powerful generator...

NOT in my garage... on my computer! For this post I used two different image generators, one called Comic Strip Generator and the other called Image Chef. With these, you can create any sign or picture that you want. This, I thought, would be useful in the classroom for encouraging signs on the walls or name tags again. They also could be applied to papers given out in class, helping to attract the children to the paper.

These are the images I created:

I've never been a fan of The Simpsons, but with Comic Strip Generator was only letting me view these templates, so I went with it.

I'm still pretty undecided on how I feel about these generators. I'm sure I could find uses for them in the classroom, but they sure wouldn't be my first choice... What were your thoughts on them?
xoxo, k

Flickr Mashups...

Flickr this, Flickr that. Is this what my life is coming to? I supposed I did say that I was smitten over Flickr. Not anymore  This is just too much. I think we have a stage 5 clinger on our hands.

Anyway... this time I worked with what we like to call a "mashable". A "mashable" is a combination of Flickr pictures and any other website. The one that I used is called Family Art Studio. It's very similar to Spell with Flickr. I made this cute little thing, spelling my name:

It was pretty simple, but actually seemed like the website was not very well developed. I had a decent time making it, but thought it could have been more advanced. I would, however, use something like this in my classroom to create cute, colorful name tags for lockers, desks, etc. or to make attractive signs for the walls of my classroom. That though, unfortunately, is the only thing I really could find this website useful for.

Sharing photos in general, though, could be very helpful as a teacher. You could easily create a group that was made for teachers that allowed them to all share pictures that they've used in lessons, units, etc. and gave them the ability to use each other for ideas!

Is there more Flickr coming in these assignments? If I meet it one more time, it might call for a break up.

xoxo, k

Flickr!

If you keep up with my blog (which you totally should), you know that I explored Flickr for the last blog post. However, for this one, I went further into it; exploring groups, tags, etc. It was really something that I found would be useful in the future for showing accurate pictures to teach students. Many times, simply searching for a picture on Google can bring up inaccurate and sometimes inappropriate pictures. With Flickr, there is accurate pictures along with further information in each picture!

For example, I searched "Ameila Earhart" in Flickr and brought up one picture. It showed me exactly which person Earhart was in the picture and also labeled exactly who each other person was. This would be very helpful in a history lesson!

When it comes to "tags" on Flickr, it's very similar to #hashtags on Twitter, Instagram, etc. If I tag an Amelia Earhart picture with "airplane" on Flickr, it will show up for anyone who may search "airplane" in general. It's the same with #hashtags on Twitter and Instagram. If I tag a picture of the beautiful, autumn leaves with "#fall", it will show up when anyone searches the word "fall". Overall, I think it broadens the horizons of a search, not only including pictures of what the World Wide Web considers "fall" but also what you or I might consider "fall".

This site is legit... I have fallen in a completely smitten relationship with Flickr. Check it out!
xoxo, k