Thing #19

Except for MySpace and Facebook (and now TeacherPop), I am not a member of any social networks. I did explore 43 Things a little, but I chose not to join this network. 

43 Things is a network that people join and leave their experiences or opinions on certain things that other people may want to do in their life time, such as, save money, lose weight, work from home, etc. Although some people may like the idea of this site, I personally did not. (Probably because I rely on Google for a lot of these "things" and can type any questions I have into Google's search engine and get just as much, if not more, information).

Thing #18

I have had both a MySpace and a Facebook for 5+ years.

I had a hard time understanding Facebook when I first set up my account, probably because I was so used to MySpace, but it didn't take long for me to get the hang of it. I now like Facebook more than MySpace for many, many reasons! The only thing I really like about MySpace is that you can personalize your profile.

I can't think of any reasons as to why either of these sites should be used in the classroom. I'm planning to teach 2nd grade and doubt any of my students will have an account with either MySpace or Facebook. Although both are a good way to stay in touch with people and also keep up with certain businesses, schools, artists, etc., I don't think either of them should be used as a way to communicate with your students.

Thing #17

I have always heard of "tagging" but I've never been too sure of what it meant. I know how to tag my facebook friends in photos and status updates, but that is about it. Del.icio.us is a great way to organize classrooms or lesson plans. I am a very organized person and love learning about new things that can help me to organize things in a different, and possibly even better, way! I can't think of any ways this can be used in an Elementary classroom, but it would definitely come in handy with some of the older grades.

Thing #16

I decided to use iGoogle for my start up page. I use Google quite frequently, but I've never customized it or played around with all the extra things. I was able to pick out a cute, bright colored background for my theme and I added a few games to my page as well. I also added a countdown so I could countdown the days until Christmas :) My current home page is Yahoo (because that is who I have my e-mail account with), but if I ever switch to gmail, I will definitely use this as my homepage.

For one of the previous Things, I set up a Google calendar and I have been using it ever since! Between 30 hours a week at one job, 20 hours at another, and 12 hours of school, I get a little sidetracked! My calendar helps me keep my days straight and my bills paid. I have little things like birthdays and what day(s) my dog gets her medicine in my calendar as well. I would definitely suggest anyone that has a semi-busy life (and that uses computers) to set up an online calendar!

I've also found another helpful tool to help you keep things in order: Jott! Jott allows you to record something important then send it to your cell phone in the form of a text message.. And I would suggest this to anyone with a semi-busy life and a cell phone! There is also an application for those cell phone users with an iPhone. It does cost $3.95/month, but there is a "try it for free" button, too!

Thing #15

"A wiki is a collaborative website and authoring tool that allows users to easily add, remove and edit content."

 

I definitely do NOT agree. I was so confused with while working on this thing! Maybe if I spent more time exploring wiki I would understand it better -- but for now, I do not have anything good to say about it.

Thing #14

"Mind mapping is a popular planning technique with applications across all business sectors and industries. It is used by individuals, corporate teams, students and teachers alike for various purposes."

For Thing #14, I chose to explore "MindMesiter" and "Gliffy" -- and I found them both to be very confusing! I created an "All About Your Teacher" map on MindMeister just to see if I could get the hang of it. Creating the map wasn't too difficult, but I had problems saving and sharing it. I plan to teach Kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade, and I do not think these maps could be useful in my classroom.

Thing #13

Zoho?

Until today, I've never even heard of Zoho,
but I think it is a very helpful site!

 I work on a Dell at home and a Mac at school and unfortunately the software versions have more differences than similarities. Using Zoho writer would allow me to edit my documents on either PC without worrying about the different software / settings, etc.

Zoho is "an online word processor that allows you to create and share documents online. You need not install any software in your desktop, all you need is just a browser and an internet connection."

Zoho supports Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari, so you should be able to access it from just about any computer without installing a single thing. I wish I would've heard of this a little sooner!!

Thing #12

For Thing #12 I decided to explore Google Calender and Picasa Web Albums, and I believe that both of these can be used in a classroom.

Teachers could use the Google Calendar to help keep their job (and even their personal life) in order. If progress reports are supposed to go home on Friday, the teacher can put "record grades at 5:00 pm" in the calendar for Thursday as a reminder. Parent-teacher conferences, test days, and teacher inservices are just a few of the many things a teacher could put in her calendar to help keep her days / weeks straight.

With parents permission, Picasa could be used in the classroom as well. The teacher could upload pictures from a field trip, Halloween party, etc. to Picasa and the parents could see exciting pictures from all the events or parties their child attended while they were at school. The teacher could also set her album on Picasa to private and use it as a "keep sake" to look back on year after year.

Here are my creations:

Calendar and Album 

Thing #11

I tried searching for feeds a few different ways, and somehow stumbled across a very fast and easy method after about 10 minutes of being confused! I did find some interesting feeds while using the search tools that were suggested on the 23 Things home page, but I found this way to be the least confusing when I found a feed I wanted to subscribe to:

I went to my Google Reader homepage and found a button that said "add subscription." When I clicked on this, a search box popped up and I was able to search and subscribe to the feeds I needed.

I wanted to subscribe to a few more of my classmate's blogs, plus other things I found interesting such as Channel 4 News, Clarksville News, and teaching sites.

Clarksville Online has all the local news, events, and information any Clarksville resident would need to know! Any Clarksvillian interested in what's going on in their community would definitely benefit by subscribing to this feed!

WSMV 4 News, just like Clarksville Online, covers local news, events, information, and weather.
I'm always going back and forth between 
http://www.theleafchonicle.com/
and
http://www.wsmv.com/
Now, thanks to Google Reader, I can view all of the updates from both sites in one screen!

I also subscribed to some feeds for teachers, like PBS Teachers: Resources For the Classroom. Although these sites may not help me much right now, they will in a couple of years!

Thing #10

Although I have never used Google reader, I knew that I would like the simplicity of it the minute I logged into my account. Anything that I decide to subscribe to is right there on the main page. This definitely saves time! Instead of going from one website to another, you can add them both to your RSS feed and see them at the same time!

I do believe that this could be used in the classroom. If a teacher has a specific website that she wants her class to look at, she can post it in her feed and the students will have a direct link to the website. I think this would save a lot of time and confusion for everyone!