Thing #12

I honestly did not realize that Google had so much to offer. I had never really played around with most of the tools.  I am very partial to Picasa though.  I love photography, and have used Picasa to edit all of my pictures and albums.  I really like the fact that you can upload web albums for friends and family to see also.  We recently took a family trip to Disney, and it was great to be able to create web albums to share with the entire family, without having to send each one tons of pictures individually.  I will definitely use Picasa as a teacher, because I want the parents to be able to enjoy the memories of their child's school year.  I know that as a parent I really enjoy getting to see pictures of my children doing activities at school, and I want to afford that opportunity to other parents.  I will have a web album for the class that only parents of the children will have permission to see.  This will allow parents to feel more involved in their child's education.
      Google Translate is also a very cool site that will be very beneficial for a teacher.  I was thinking of all the uses this site has, and while playing around on the site I thought what if I received this note one morning as a teacher:

Por favor, espere José para viajar en el autobús a casa hoy.

Well...I don't speak Spanish, and lets say I couldn't get someone to translate for me quickly.  I could go to Google Translate and type in the message and get it translated.  I would then know that the note said:

Please allow Jose to ride the bus home today.

This would have been a very important note that could not just sit on my desk unread until I found someone to translate, and Google Translate can help in those instances. 

Thing #11

I really liked the Technorati blog search tool the most.  This site allowed you to see the most visited blogs, videos, and latest articles.  I found things of interest on this site, that I would not have normally searched for or been looking for.  I couldn't always think of the correct wording to get the results I needed from Google blogs, and found technorati much more efficient for my needs.  I think my favorite way of finding blogs will still be the beloved Pinterest!  I love...did I mention LOVE Pinterest.  I find so many neat ideas and cool blogs that I would have never found otherwise on Pinterest.  I did really like the blog directory from technorati though.  I found many websites that will be useful in my personal life that would not have been found on pinterest.
 

Thing #10

Okay...so now I am asking myself WHY haven't I subscribed to Google Reader before now?  I have so many blogs that I am...well...addicted to!  I spend lots of wasted time looking to see the latest and greatest cool ideas or crafts that are being blogged about.  The Google Reader is such a time saver, and I had just never taken the time to check into the RSS thing before.  I am kicking myself for it now.  I will be subscribing to way more than 5 blogs! 
     I will be using the RSS feed to keep up to date with educators and other blogger's new ideas and creations.  I love to look at cool teaching ideas and lesson plans that other great teachers create.  Instead of going to each blog or website everyday, now I will just check out the latest post from Google Reader.  Such a time saver!  Other educators can use the Google Reader for the same purposes, or to feel connected with other educators through the online community.

Thing #9

I used ImageChef to create the football jersey.  My twin boys are beginning to play ball this year,and when I found the sports jerseys on ImageChef, I thought this would be a lot of fun for them. A neat way this could be incorporated in the classroom is to divide your class into teams.  For reading groups, each group could be a team (Ex. Mets, Braves, Yankees) and to identify each member of the reading "teams" the jerseys could be displayed under the team name with each child's name on a jersey. 


The smiley face was created with Happy Face generator.  I did not find as many useful ideas or applications in the Happy Face generator as I did on the other sites, but it would be fun to incorporate the smiley face on the bottom of a worksheet or homework assignment.

Thing #8

 

  

 

     I created the image above using Spell with Flickr.  Why haven't I heard of this before?  I LOVE Spell with Flickr.  I think it would be so fun to incorporate these word Graphics into my classroom.  We could spell MATH and have a math wall with all things math on it.  These word graphics could make the classroom learning centers very interesting and inviting.  I am excited to use these in my classroom and in my personal life.  I have discovered a new friend!

 

    I also played around with Mosaic Maker.  This would be a very neat tool to use in combination with Spell with Flickr.  You could do a poster on something like diversity, make all of the students pictures into a mosaic and incorporate the word DIVERSITY from Spell with Flickr into the mosaic.  I would enjoy using this Flickr app in my classroom as well. 

 

Thing #7

     This was my first time using Flickr.  I am very familiar with online photo hosting sites, but never have chosen to use Flickr.  I found flickr very interesting with unlimited possibilities of keyword ideas and cool pictures.  There are tons of images that would help bring a classroom lesson alive with the use of visualization. 
   I did have a hard time finding a picture and copying the url correctly.  I understood how to use the click share this, but the URL I was receiving was not the one with .jpg 
I believe for my own personal use, I will continue to use Picasa to host my photos, as well as edit them.  I have an online web album and photos can easily be shared with family and friends, left public, or made private.  I see both sides of the coin with personal pictures being on public websites.  I do not mind this for images that do not contain my children.  I am very careful about allowing pictures of my children to be on random public websites, because of the child predators lurking.  I want to make sure every precaution is taken to protect my children, but otherwise, I do not mind the public being able to see any images I have taken. 
    I chose this photo because I am doing my PowerPoint on Science and the chemical properties of a common substance.  I plan on teaching about water and the different properties it has.

Photo Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cubagallery/4383817955/
Belongs To: Andrew
User Name: â–ºCubaGallery

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Thing #6

Etsy is the site I chose to explore from the Web 2.0 Award nominees.  Etsy is a great site for buying or selling handmade items.  Etsy is very easy to use, and anyone can set up a storefront to sell crafts, paintings, web designs, or anything handmade. Etsy makes it possible for the average person to have a place on the web to sell their goods without having to develop a website and have a domain.  It is very user friendly, and easy to navigate.  Etsy has also developed an app for smart phones.  On Etsy, you can browse through the pages of different categories, or you can use the search box to find a specific item.
The website is great for finding unique decorations or items for the classroom or teacher.  This site would probably not be useful in the classroom or library of the school though.
     

Thing #5

     Web 2.0 term used to mean the new, user friendly, interactive generation of the Internet.  Now, not only are businesses developing webpages,and the Internet being used for business and research purposes.  The Internet is now a part of almost everyone's daily lives.  Men, women, and children are very fluent with the use of the Internet, and use it to network with people all over the world, and do things that before were very intimidating, if not almost impossible.  Ordinary people are now opening online businesses, becoming writers, meeting their future spouse, and going to college online, all of which would have been impossible before the shifting of the Internet to the Web 2.0 philosophy.
     Schools must embrace the technology and Web 2.0 that the world has now become accustomed to.  Children are now very fluent in the use of technology and the Internet.  Educators must begin to use this to their advantage, and not fear the shifting from "traditional" teaching methods to new and more innovative approaches.  I loved the idea of gaining more professional development using technology resources, rather than the traditional in-services.  The idea of using podcast to expand on learning opportunities, is a great idea.  The teacher could listen to the podcast at her own convenience, and listen again at anytime.  This would allow much more information to be presented to the faculty of a school, when an in-service or faculty meeting did not have to be scheduled to present the information.  Blogs are another way to collaborate and brainstorm with other teachers over classroom ideas, curriculum, teaching strategies, etc.
      I am excited about Web 2.0 becoming more "traditional" in the classroom as time goes by and technology is more common in the classroom.