Thing #17

I visited Delicious, and after searching for "educational technology", I clicked on Classroom 2.0. I was able to see the comments made. Most of the comments gave a description of the site, which is a social networking site for educators and those interested in Web 2.0 and other such tools.

This was just one of many links that would be so very helpful and interesting to educators. I think being able to bookmark sites like this, and search for others' bookmarks, would act as a personal library for a teacher. Anytime the teacher wishes to discover more about a subject, learn how to use a certain tool, or interact with other educators or knowledgably people, he or she can turn to a site like Delicious or Diigo to access mounds of information.

Thing #16

• Which start page did you choose? Why did that one appeal to you? Will you make it your permanent home page?

I chose to use iGoogle, because I'm familiar with Google and I liked how quick n' easy the set up was. I would certainly consider making it my homepage, but I noticed a banner at the top that said iGoogle would not be avaiilable after November, 2013.

• How can the online calendars be useful to you?

I tend to use my iphone calendar pretty frequently to save dates for appointments and other scheduled events. I also use it to keep track of when certain events occurred. I don't access my pc as much as I do my phone so I'm not really interested in creating an online calendar, but I do think one would be very helpful to someone who uses their computer frequently.

• What about the to-do lists—helpful, too much work…?

Most of the links listed where for dead or dying sites. My belief is that most people are like me, and use their phone or tablet for everything these days. I use the app Paperless. It has multiple default lists like Groceries and Today to do lists, but you can change them and add more.

 

• Did you find a tool that has some uses for you at the school or at home? Which tool(s) would you recommend to others?

I explored a bit of the other tools listed, but wasn't too excited to sign up for free trials. I really think that apps are the way to go. I know one of the first investments I'll probably make as a teacher is a tablet dedicated to my work.

Thing #15

I took some time to explore the wiki links. I particularly liked the teacherlibrarianwiki. http://teacherlibrarianwiki.pbworks.com/w/page/19823570/FrontPage
If I were to describe a wiki in my own words, I would say it's a collaborative and informative blog that is authored by everyone! I think it could be very valuable in education as indicated in the wiki mentioned above. Teachers could combine ideas or spin off of other ideas written about. Students could get together with a subject and each new link could delve further into it. It seems to me that students are more confident participating in online interaction then in a classroom, at least academically. I think wikis would be great for an active conversation about literature, history, or any other subject.

Thing #14

For the flowchart, I chose Gliffy. I loved all the tools available on this site. There was so much to see and do. I played around quite a bit with the templates. I really enjoyed viewing the flowcharts. There were silly suggestions about Lady Gaga and figuring out who ate someone's lunch. There was an interesting and exciting variety. I also enjoyed the Venn Diagrams and Floor plans. Not only would these type of tools be functional in a business or educational setting, but also for personal use. However, I did notice that I only had a free trial, so eventually I'd have to make a purchase in order to continue to have full access to the tools on the site.

For the mindmap, I chose Bubbl.us. I played around a bit with the tool, but didn't find it very user friendly or interesting. I would liked to have had access to premade templates and more options overall. I'm not sure that I would use this site again.
I included a photo of a Venn diagram I came up with!

Thing #13

Students could use Google Drive or other such applications to share ideas and outlines for projects and papers. Group work is commonly assigned in schools, and much of the time students decide to work on portions of it on their own time. These applications can help students share, collaborate, and combine their work.
I definitely prefer Google Drive to Zoho. I had a difficult time with the Zoho writer. It would not allow me to paste into it. I had other issues with it as well. I probably will not attempt to use it again with Google Drive available.
I shared a document containing a recipe from one of the blogs I shared in an earlier post.

Laura Vitale's Coconut Chocolate chip cookies

Thing #12

http://translate.google.com/#en/es/

I think in this day and age, Google translate is a vital tool in the classroom. I am from the southwest, where the Hispanic culture is almost no longer a minority. In education, and in any career field, it is useful to know another language. At least, one should be able to communicate on a basic level with someone who doesn't know English. As a prospective teacher, it would be in my best interest to become fluent in Spanish. If I had the time and resources, I certainly would do so. However, tools like Google translate can give a teacher the head start he or she needs to communicate with students who are still learning English.

Thing #11

*Which method of finding feeds did you find easiest to use?
To find feeds, I used Google Reader. This is a new process for me, but I didn't find it too difficult. Although, there may have been a simpler way. I decided to start my RSS using a search on early childhood. There were several as one could imagine, but I clicked on a few that seemed relevant.

 *Which Search tool was the easiest for you?
I found Google blog search to be the easiest for me. I am already so familiar with Google and its style that typing in my search and clicking "blog" instead of "web" was a piece of cake. Technorati took a touch for getting used to but I really liked using it after I realized how simple it was to find the blogs on subjects that I wanted to know more personally.

 *Which was more confusing?
I didn't really enjoy searching Topix.net. I found it to be too "busy" and confusing.

 *What kind of useful feeds did you find in your travels?
I found quite a few newsfeed on Google concerning early childhood. That is a subject I intend to keep updated on. More interesting to me though were the blogs I found created by actual teachers. I used both Google blog search and Technorati to search for blogs concerning Kindergarten. I found so many great ones.

 *Or what kind of unusual ones did you find?
I didn't come across any that I would consider to be unusual. I did find a blog entitled "Mr. Kindergarten" and browsed it for some time. It was fun to see the perspective of this age group from a male teacher since it is pretty uncommon.

 *What other tools or ways did you find to locate newsfeeds?
I did attempt to use Feedzilla but found it to be more trouble than it was worth.