Thing #8

I absolutely loved the “mashup” that I chose to do, which was the Mosaic Maker. The image that I created is posted below. Although I used the Mosaic Maker, I used my Facebook photo album to make the image that I created. However, you could also use Flickr images to make something as well. This would be great to use in classroom at the end of the year when you have collected many pictures of your class over the year and want to capture all of those pictures into one image. A teacher could also use Mosaic Maker to combine pictures that the students want to share with their families. It could be used as a “fun” project to do together as a class. You could use Facebook or Flickr to make this image. You could also use it personally to create images for yourself or even make a collage of photos from a specific event. Mosaic Maker can be used in the classroom and outside of the classroom for personal use. I think sharing photos online is great, as long as you are safe and cautious about what you are sharing with the public.

Thing #7

            Flickr is a totally new web site to me. I have never used it before or even explored it. I decided to do option one. I really enjoyed searching and looking for photos! I chose to search for fall images. I chose to search for fall photos, because fall is my favorite season and I love all of the beautiful colors! All of the pictures were breath taking! There were so many to choose from that I had a hard time deciding which one I wanted to share on my blog, although I finally found the one below that I absolutely loved!

I’m not sure that I would ever use Flickr in my classroom. I think that it is a great web site, but I feel like if I wanted to share pictures with the parents of my students, I could do that through a blog or even a classroom Facebook page. I also do not think I would use it for personal use either. I use Facebook and Instagram to store my photos now, and I really like both of them. Flickr, Facebook, and Instagram are all alike because you can share and store pictures on these web sites, but I did not feel like Flickr was as easy to navigate and understand as the others. I’m also not sure how I feel about my pictures being available to the public. I keep Facebook and Instagram private, so having photos available for the public to see makes me kind of nervous.

This photo was taken by: Kees Straver

Flickr Image Link
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tropical-blizzard/3990217417/

Thing #6

            I chose to explore Pandora! I absolutely love Pandora and use it every day! Pandora is a way to listen to all genres of music for free! Yes! I said for free!! Pandora is also very easy to navigate! I use Pandora in my car all the time! I have an auxiliary cord that allows me to listen to my own music and I am almost always listening to it. You can listen to all different kinds of stations and can start by choosing a specific genre or artist that you would like to listen to. There is not a single thing that I dislike about Pandora! I love the variety of music that is offers and the fact that it is free! A teacher could definitely use this in a classroom. I remember listening to music very frequently all throughout school. It was usually given to us as a reward for behaving well or making a good grade on a test. Pandora can be a great resource for teachers and people in the everyday world!

Pandora Link
http://www.pandora.com/

Thing #5

I loved learning about Web 2.0!! School 2.0 means various different things to me. First, it means having access to many different Internet sites in the classroom. It means that students can do more than just read information on the Internet. They can interact with their peers and broaden their knowledge about many different things by having access to the great educational sites the Internet has to offer! School 2.0 also means using supplies other than pencil and paper. It means showing and developing the skills for children to become comfortable with technology. School 2.0 also means many different things for schools in the future. First, it means that technology is being incorporated more and more into teacher’s lesson plans. Students are becoming more adaptable to technology and using it all the time to learn concepts and standards. Students are using School 2.0 for blogs, podcasts, and even student/educational networking. I think that one day in the future, pencils and paper will be completely obsolete from the classroom. It is amazing to think how far the world of technology has come in just the last few years!

Thing #4

            Commenting is a great way to build a sense of community and interaction, because this allows people to build on one another’s blogging and offer great insight and advice to someone’s blog. Commenting also allows bloggers to connect with one another. One thing that I found important and interesting from reading about commenting was to invite people to comment on your blog. I had never even thought about that, but it is such a great idea and way to get people to comment and offer their input on your blog. Another thing that I thought was really interesting was privately e-mailing people back when they comment on your blog. I also had never thought about that. I think that would make it more personal to your commenters when you respond back.

            I chose to comment on Wendy, Marianne, Kala, Alexis, and Alana’s blogs. I selected these blogger’s randomly. There was no specific reason why I chose to comment on their blogs. I commented on Wendy’s blog post about Thing #2. I commented about how we both found it easy to make the blog, but had trouble getting our avatar on the blog. I also commented on Marianne’s blog about Thing #3. I commented about how we both want to teach lower elementary grades and also how we both had similar ways to incorporate the blog into our classroom. Another blog I commented on was Kala’s. I commented on Thing #6 on her blog. I commented about how we both love to use Wikipedia. I also commented on Alexis’s blog about Thing #7. I chose to comment on hers because I have yet to do Thing #7 and her information was very insightful. Lastly, I commented on Alana’s blog. I commented on her blog about how technology is becoming more and more prominent in the classrooms. I made all of these comments because I felt that I made a connection with all of their posts. They all had great information and interesting posts.

I also commented on 2 separate blogs outside of our classroom community. I chose to comment on http://preciousscraps.blogspot.com/. I chose this blog because it is a blog for a store in the community that I am from. The blog is for a scrapbook store and she posts her products, supplies, and scrapbook pages on this blog. I commented on a product she posted, because this allows me to know what new merchandise she is receiving in the store when I do not have time to actually go to the store. The second blog that I chose to comment on was http://christysstudio.blogspot.com/. I chose this blog because I visit it at least once a week! It is a blog of photography from a lady in my home town. She takes gorgeous photos and I absolutely love to look at all of them! I had never had the guts to comment on her blog until now, but this assignment gave me the push to do it!

Thing #3

There are so many ways a teacher can use a blog in the classroom! Since my ideal grade to teach is Kindergarten, I could use this as a place to post calendars, upcoming events, and even the homework and assignments I do in class with the students. This could also be a place to post what is going on in the classroom. I could even post pictures of the activities we are doing together as a class. Since my ideal subject to teach is reading, I could also use the blog to post links to stories we are reading and the worksheets, activities, etc. that we are doing in class. It could also be used to post extra practice activities as well, so that parents can practice standards with their children outside of the classroom. Some other ways to use a blog in the classroom include: reflecting on teaching experiences and posting a specific lesson plan for your students and parents to view. This will help keep the parents involved in the classroom and make them feel like they always know what is going on. A blog is so beneficial in the classroom once everyone is familiar with the purpose and benefits of it!

Thing #2

My experience with setting up the blog was great! I did not have any trouble getting it set up, since you just follow the steps. However, I do have mixed feelings about the blog. I am not used to putting information like this on the Internet where it is available for everyone one to see. I think this will be a great experience though, and help me become more comfortable with the idea! I came up with the name of my blog, “My Learning Adventure”, because this is an adventure for me. I have never used a blog before and this will truly be a learning adventure! I chose my posting names to exactly reflect which “Thing” I am posting about. I tried my best to create an avatar that looked like me, but it was really hard to do with the options that were given to choose from. I think she looks similar to me and reflects my looks the best it can. I did have some trouble getting my avatar uploaded on here, but I eventually got it figured out. Ultimately, I think this will be a great experience and help me learn more about blogs, so that I can possibly use them in my own classroom one day!

Thing #1

While exploring the 7 1/2 Habits of Lifelong Learners, I discovered that Habit #2 was the easiest for me. I find Habit #2 the easiest, because I understand that the only person that can make me learn is my own self. No one else can learn something for me. I must apply myself and want to learn whatever the task is at hand. The ultimate responsibility relies on me, and no one else. I also found that Habit #1 is the hardest for me. I have a hard time seeing the end in sight at times, especially when I am learning something that is difficult. I think that if I kept the end in sight more, I would see that just because something is difficult does not mean that I will not be successful. Overall, learning is fun and challenging all at this same time!