I did not find this activity as much fun as previous ones, but I do think it could be used by teachers. Teachers can create wikis for their class(es) to share and learn. The class can post things that they learn from different lessons and it can also create a sense of community with everyone sharing information in the same place. There are various types of wikis out there and I did not know that some could be more carefully monitored by having to sign up to use them (like APSU 23 things sandbox). But it seems like there could be a problem though, when I went to add to the front page everyone else's posts came up to, giving me the impression that I could change their stuff. I did not actually try to do this so I do not know for sure. I would not want someone to change the things that I put on there.
I have never been a fan of using Wikipedia because anyone can edit the information, therefore it is not always reliable and my teachers/professors have always said not to use it. The other wikis I think would be better to use for teachers or for personal reasons. In this activity I copy and pasted projects from thing 8 and 9 but for no particular reason. I wrote just a bit about why I created those projects for my 23 things (my love for children and just liking the pictures). I changed the text color to match my pictures because I like when things match. I kept it simple! The way I like everything!
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Thing #14
The two tools I used were Gliffy.com and Bubbl.us but for no particular reason. I just clicked on them and had some fun creating charts. I really liked how Gliffy has a variety of organizers and charts that you can create online like venn diagrams, and floor plans (to name a couple). It was not easy to figure out how to create an account and get started because on the page you get linked to there is no option to do so. However, one I got in there was just so much to experiment with and I definitely will use this in the future. It is a great way to create the kind of organizers it takes to prepare for essays or just to organize your thoughts on any topic/project. I could play around with Gliffy for hours I think and not get bored with it. Bubbl.us was pretty enjoyable to, except I did get a bit frustrated trying to figure how it works (connecting bubbles and moving them around). I do like the simplicity of it...there is nothing that can create a distraction, it is just bubble maps. These tools will come in handy as I continue in my own education and in my future classroom. I can provide good examples of maps and charts for my students, and they won't have to read my awful handwriting. I used both tools to make a flowchart and map of idea for the unit plan that we are beginning to work on in my 3070 class. I have been kind of torn between a few idea and I used these maps to see how they would play out day-to-day. I though it may help me decide if I saw the break down more clearly for each.
I do not see there being too many differences between mind maps and flowcharts. There are many ways to set them up and various types. A person can create either to look however they want, a way that best helps them sort their thoughts and have a visual representation of them. I had always been under the impression that the terms where pretty interchangeable (like synonyms). Both have the same general purpose and are effective in acheiving that purpose.
I do not see there being too many differences between mind maps and flowcharts. There are many ways to set them up and various types. A person can create either to look however they want, a way that best helps them sort their thoughts and have a visual representation of them. I had always been under the impression that the terms where pretty interchangeable (like synonyms). Both have the same general purpose and are effective in acheiving that purpose.
Thing #13
I had never heard of Zoho before this activity and I do like the fact that it s a free way to create documents, but I like Google Docs even better. I like that it allows you to create different types of documents not just ones you could produce in Microsoft Word. Google Docs is like a combination of some of Microsoft Office programs; it lets you make spreadsheets like excel as well as word documents. I have had previous experience with Google Docs that contributes to my preferring it over Zoho and Microsoft. Every semester I go on religious retreats held by other universities and as a staff member I get a lot of emails. The most important ones involve staff assigments and tranportation, which come in the format of Google Docs. The thing I love about it is that when someone sends you a Google Doc you can open it and add to it, and it will save automatically. Everyone puts thier information in and it all stays nicely in one place that you can go back to and change if necessary. Google Docs also has the benefit of being free. All you need is a Google account. I am not so sure I would use Zoho much in the future when I have other options. I found it more confusing and harder to navigate for some reason.
These programs will be great to use in the classroom. When a teacher assigns group projects, students will be able to share them easily and can edit them from home. They do not have to be in the same room even though it is still good to communicate in person. Google Docs will definitely make collaborating on projects and other assignments more fun and less stressful for students. They do not have to worry so much about scheduling a time, date, and place to meet. I think even the students who do not do well in groups will be motivated and active in doing group things. We have all had that experience when given a group project/presentation where there is one person (at least) that does not participate and makes everything harder for the other group members. Being able to share documents and such through technology may just help with that problem because those people can at least do their part while they are sitting at home.
The document I created with Google Docs was the first thing that came to mind: a preadsheet of all 12 grandkids on my Dad's side of the family from oldest to youngest, our ages, birthdays, and where we fall in the order. I thought it would be interesting to figure out the average age and to my surprise it was a lot higher than I expected. But I did realize that would be because most of us are right around the same age. As you can tell if you look at it there were 8 of us born within a matter of 7-8 years...I like to refer to it as "the original 8". That is how many grankids there were until one of my uncles married a woman who had a child from a previous marriage, and before another uncle got remarried to someone ten years his junior. We have a couple of very new editions to our family that have really stretched out the age difference, but did not really effect the average. I did even realize as I was putting in birthdays that Google Docs was putting the full birth year (I typed 89 and it put 1989).
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqVYGyWKgaqgdGRPdGZIeU5jZDNzMGxOMzYzRlBmVGc#gid=0
These programs will be great to use in the classroom. When a teacher assigns group projects, students will be able to share them easily and can edit them from home. They do not have to be in the same room even though it is still good to communicate in person. Google Docs will definitely make collaborating on projects and other assignments more fun and less stressful for students. They do not have to worry so much about scheduling a time, date, and place to meet. I think even the students who do not do well in groups will be motivated and active in doing group things. We have all had that experience when given a group project/presentation where there is one person (at least) that does not participate and makes everything harder for the other group members. Being able to share documents and such through technology may just help with that problem because those people can at least do their part while they are sitting at home.
The document I created with Google Docs was the first thing that came to mind: a preadsheet of all 12 grandkids on my Dad's side of the family from oldest to youngest, our ages, birthdays, and where we fall in the order. I thought it would be interesting to figure out the average age and to my surprise it was a lot higher than I expected. But I did realize that would be because most of us are right around the same age. As you can tell if you look at it there were 8 of us born within a matter of 7-8 years...I like to refer to it as "the original 8". That is how many grankids there were until one of my uncles married a woman who had a child from a previous marriage, and before another uncle got remarried to someone ten years his junior. We have a couple of very new editions to our family that have really stretched out the age difference, but did not really effect the average. I did even realize as I was putting in birthdays that Google Docs was putting the full birth year (I typed 89 and it put 1989).
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqVYGyWKgaqgdGRPdGZIeU5jZDNzMGxOMzYzRlBmVGc#gid=0
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Thing #12
Google Calender can definitely be used in the classroom. I would use it to keep track of assigment due dates, field trips, parties/special events, and meetings. As one of my classmates mentioned in a blog post the calender can be posted on the teacher blog so parents can see what is going on. It may even get more parents to be involved in class activities. This was fun to explore and figure out. I like that you can color code events and such as I did on the calender I started. I used one color for my classes, one for social events, one for games coming up, when I plan on going to the gym, and one for my Newman Club meetings. I did not make it a very detailed or descriptive schedule because I just wanted to get a feel for this tool and what options it has. It lets you see your schedule by the day, week, month, etc which can really come in handy (you can look at whatever view you want). Google Calendar can also be connected to a mobile device and will give you the option of receiving email reminders for the events. This tool is a good one for teachers. Here is the link to my calendar https://www.google.com/calendar/render?tab=Tc&pli=1
I had a lot of fun using Google Translate! I really like how it translated as you typed and that when you were done you could highlight different parts of of the translation it would also highlight in the section you typed to show the correlation. I think it would be useful in trying to learn to get the general idea of how to speak another language. I mostly played around with English to Italian translation just because a large part of my ancestry is Italian. My grandfather's parents (on Dad's side) were 100% Italian and it is a language I have not really been exposed to. I could have played with this Google for a long time and not get bored. I think this would be useful in the classroom because it would introduce students to different languages and possible prepare them a bit for when they actually have to learn a foreign language. It would just be a nice activity to imcorporate in a lesson at some point in time. It could even show students how similar some words are in different languages and help them understand prunciation and sentence structuring in an English class like I plan to teach.
This is the link and it's rather long because I kept typing http://translate.google.com/#en/it/my%20family%20is%20Italian%20and%20I%20would%20love%20to%20go%20to%20Italy%20one%20day.%20I%20would%20like%20to%20learn%20how%20to%20speak%20the%20language%20and%20eat%20a%20lot%20of%20Italian%20food.%20Lasagna%20is%20my%20favorite%20food%2C%20but%20I%20do%20love%20pizza%20and%20pasta%20as%20well.%20It%20would%20be%20amazing%20to%20see%20the%20Vatican%20and%20other%20famous%20landmarks%20in%20Italy.%20I%20think%20this%20translater%20is%20so%20awesome%20that%20I%20just%20want%20to%20keep%20typing%20and%20reading%20the%20translation.
I had a lot of fun using Google Translate! I really like how it translated as you typed and that when you were done you could highlight different parts of of the translation it would also highlight in the section you typed to show the correlation. I think it would be useful in trying to learn to get the general idea of how to speak another language. I mostly played around with English to Italian translation just because a large part of my ancestry is Italian. My grandfather's parents (on Dad's side) were 100% Italian and it is a language I have not really been exposed to. I could have played with this Google for a long time and not get bored. I think this would be useful in the classroom because it would introduce students to different languages and possible prepare them a bit for when they actually have to learn a foreign language. It would just be a nice activity to imcorporate in a lesson at some point in time. It could even show students how similar some words are in different languages and help them understand prunciation and sentence structuring in an English class like I plan to teach.
This is the link and it's rather long because I kept typing http://translate.google.com/#en/it/my%20family%20is%20Italian%20and%20I%20would%20love%20to%20go%20to%20Italy%20one%20day.%20I%20would%20like%20to%20learn%20how%20to%20speak%20the%20language%20and%20eat%20a%20lot%20of%20Italian%20food.%20Lasagna%20is%20my%20favorite%20food%2C%20but%20I%20do%20love%20pizza%20and%20pasta%20as%20well.%20It%20would%20be%20amazing%20to%20see%20the%20Vatican%20and%20other%20famous%20landmarks%20in%20Italy.%20I%20think%20this%20translater%20is%20so%20awesome%20that%20I%20just%20want%20to%20keep%20typing%20and%20reading%20the%20translation.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Thing #11
I think all of the methods of finding feeds were easy: Google blog search, topixs.net, technorati, and Edublog Award Winners. However, I did like Google blog search the best because it brought up exactly what I was looking for and did not have a lot of stuff to distract me. Topixs.net and technorati had political news story and various heading and sections that made me loose my focus a bit. I was not really sure where to search and it did not produce as many results as Google blogs. I found feeds through Google that would be helpful to me as a teacher when I first have my own classroom and could use for ideas and information. There was a blog called Life as a beginning Teachers and I started reading it; I realized she had some great ideas and insights into life as a new teacher. There was other blogs for new teachers that I found interesting and that could be encouraging for those going into education as well, like Reality 101 is a place where new teachers share their thoughts and stories. I did find any unusual feeds in the activity or other tools to locate newsfeeds. Google blog search really provided all the help that I needed and it did not take long to find blogs I wanted to subscribe too.
I really liked reading The Cool Cat Teacher Blog post about creating your circle of the wise. I agree with what he says about finding the people who inspire you. As a teacher it is important to inspire our students and that is exactly why I want to teach: to inspire youth to read and want to read. If we do not find the people who inspire us, then why would we want to read what strangers think and have to say? I have never been one to just read autobiographies unless I was interesting in learning about a specific persona life. For instance, I read Shania Twain's autobiography by choice because I had heard about how tough her childhood was and her whole success story. But it was totally different hearing it and then reading her words for myself, her thoughts, and stories. I am truly inspired but what she has overcome and the outlook she has on life after what she has been through; her story made me appreciate what I have and not to take any of it for granted. I found it quite humorous that in his blog Cool Cat Teacher says, "Life is too tough to have real AND virtual people dragging you down". He is so right and creating a circle of the wise is a good thing to do.
I really liked reading The Cool Cat Teacher Blog post about creating your circle of the wise. I agree with what he says about finding the people who inspire you. As a teacher it is important to inspire our students and that is exactly why I want to teach: to inspire youth to read and want to read. If we do not find the people who inspire us, then why would we want to read what strangers think and have to say? I have never been one to just read autobiographies unless I was interesting in learning about a specific persona life. For instance, I read Shania Twain's autobiography by choice because I had heard about how tough her childhood was and her whole success story. But it was totally different hearing it and then reading her words for myself, her thoughts, and stories. I am truly inspired but what she has overcome and the outlook she has on life after what she has been through; her story made me appreciate what I have and not to take any of it for granted. I found it quite humorous that in his blog Cool Cat Teacher says, "Life is too tough to have real AND virtual people dragging you down". He is so right and creating a circle of the wise is a good thing to do.
Thing #10
I really like that RSS is a way to keep up with all my favorite sites and stay informed. It is great to have everything in one place that I can look through and read without having to switch between tabs or type in the website everytime I want to go back to it. It was aggravating when I had went to google reader in internet explorer and my browser would not support the page, but I quickly found out on google chrome it worked just fine. I sort of had a field day with subscribing to sites. I think this could be use in the classroom setting when teaching students about current events or ideas that are out there about certain topics. If there is a video or news story I want to share with my students (that pertains to the lesson) I can go to my reader and fid it there. It is a good way to keep track of blogs you follow and any other website that can help you when you are teaching. RSS is also beneficial to my personal life because I can once again stay informed and updated on what is happening with my favorite sports teams and tv networks. This provides entertainment for me and is very convenient to have everything in one place. Teachers can definitely take advantage of this technology by subscribing to blog, news sites, etc. that will be helpful in running a classroom and learning new ways to teach. They won't have ot go searching for things and will be able to quickly find the page or infomation they are looking for. I am glad this was a discovery activity because I will be using RSS in the future for personal use as well as in my prefossional career.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Thing #9 continued
created_at_www_FotoTrix_com_jpeg, a photo by lexibri on Flickr.
I found the process of creating this image rather frustrating because a certain size picture needs to be uploaded and there are only a few on my computer that were small enough. I could have looked for a random picture on google but I like using my personal pictures better. After I uploaded this pictre of my cousin Jacob, all I did was look through the many layouts/magazine covers they had on the website. I put this picture into a few different kids magazine and liked this one best. I thought it was slightly humorous that it's called Little Tikes Adventures and Jake is at the mall eating a donut. That counts as an adventure, right? It probably was for my cousin because he loves food and is eating all the time. I am entirely sure how I would use this in the classroom other than to make my students laugh by creating these types of images with their pictures. This might get them to read even if they do not realize it; I found myself reading the little headings on some of the magazine covers I looked at and children will probably do the same. I image they would want to know what silly or comical "stories" might be in a magazine like that. I see more practical use in these generators in my personal life.
the link to where I created this http://cmtk3.webring.org/l/rd?ring=signgeneratorima;id=2;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ecomicstripgenerator%2Ecom%2F
Thing #9
harryandemmy_at_www_FotoTrix_com_jpeg, a photo by lexibri on Flickr.
The process behind this was just uploading the picture, looking through the images on the website, and after looking at sveral picked the one I liked best. To get it on my blog I saved the image to my computer and then uploaded it on Flickr (because it is connected to my blog). I sent it from Flickr to here; it was easy that way. I know see that Flickr can be more useful to me than I thought, especially when I want to add pictures and other types of images to my blog.
To explain this photo: these are two of the kids I babysit regularly when I am at home in Massachusetts. Harry is currently ten and Emme is eight, and I have been watching them since they were really young (practically babies). This was one of the few images that was small enough to upload on the generator, but I am glad I got to put there picture on here. These kids have had such an impact on my life and are part of the reason I decided I want to teach children. They are two of the sweetest kids I know, even though they have tendencies to be a little defiant (as all kids do). They always run up and give me the biggest hugs and it just makes my day every time. Watching them grow up is not easy because one day I won't be able to babysit them anymore but they will always have a special place in my heart.
the link for this image generator http://cmtk3.webring.org/l/rd?ring=digitalleonardo;id=34;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ecustomsigngenerator%2Ecom%2F
Thing #8 continued
This is the second mashup I used...Puzzle maker. I really enjoyed playing with these mashups and 3rd party tools, more than I enjoyed Flickr by itself. These tools could be used in a classroom to make learning more fun by creating these puzzles and other tools. Every student likes the opportunity to do something more interactive than simple listening to the teacher speak, and it keeps them focused and paying attention. I would use these more in my personal life just to entertain myself and share my pictures in new and creative ways. I have no problem sharing photos online (I do it all the time on Facebook as I mentioned in thing 7). I have always loved experimenting with photo editing and I like making collages with my pictures. I actually have several that I made on the walls in my room. I like seeing images change from color to black and white to sepia, and other effects. Each brings something different to the picture without distorting the memories behind them. Ever since I got my digital camera a few years ago, taking pictures has become more or less a hobby of mine. I just love capturing moments in my life that I can look back on someday and share with my childrem (if I ever have any). I may use these tools to bring something new and exciting to my classroom, but for the most part I will use them for my own personal amusement.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Thing #7
010, a photo by lexibri on Flickr.
From left to right: my brother Austin, sister, Amanda, and me. You may not be able to guess it by looking at this picture but my sister is older than I am and my brother is younger. This picture was taken this past summer while I was home and I put it here on my blog just because they are both so important im my life. Being a middle child is never easy, but I got lucky enough to have a sister who has always set a good example for me and a brother who makes life joyous and full of laughter. He is the most optimistic and good-natured person I have ever met; there is no way to bring this kid down. My sister, being not much older than me, was my best friend growing up. We played Barbies, house, dress-up, and pretty much everything else together. I cannot image my life without either of them!!
I am not sure I will use Flickr much in the future, even though I did create an account. I find it even easier to upload and share pictures on Facebook. Plus there is games, and other things you can do on Facebook (so many apps). I may use Flickr to share pictures of my class and activities we do on a blog since I know how to connected the two now. That is how I posted this picture, by using Flickr's blogging tool. I found that to be a really easy way to get pictures from there on to my blog. Other than that feature I was not too impressed by Flickr, in all honesty. I have been using programs like Picasa 3 and Picnik to store and edit pictures before I upload them to Facebook. I have a lot of fun experiementing with the different colors and tools like red-eye, blemish removal, and text that you can add. There are several other things you can do too and I love that aspect of these programs. I do not mind having my pictures in a public place because I have them all over Facebook, but I am also very careful about what pictures I put on there. While Flickr still allows for categorizing photos, it only lets you upload a certain amount of pictures at a time. On Facebook you can upload as many as you want at once and Picasa automatically adds any pictures recently imported on my computer when I open it.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Thing #6
There are so many choices that it was actually hard for me to pick one. I did not realize that their are over 3,000 tools that are a part of Web 2.0. Some of them like Amazon I use all the time; that is where I buy all my school books from to save money. I was also surprised when I saw Picasa and Picnik on the list. I just discovered them a few semesters back in a class I was taking and I love using them too...they are free! And there really is nothing better than that.
The tool I did finally choose to discover was Pandora. I am a big music lover and would be totally lost without my iPod. Pandora is an online radio station you get for free. YES! MORE FREE STUFF! The only thing I do not like about this tool is the ads and commercials that come up. I rather dislike commercials, especially ones I can't see. When I am listening to the radio in my car and a commerical comes on I change it everytime until I find a station playing a song. Thankfully it never takes that long to find something, but with Pandora you can't really skip over the commmercials. That is a bit of a problem. Other than that I really like this tool. It is useful because you can create your own channels, whether it be country (my favorite) or rock and roll or Christmas music, Pandora will play only what you want. You can even create a channel for your favorite artist(s).
The only way I see this tool being applicable in a school or library is if a teacher wants to play music for the class while working on an assignement, or if they are having a celebration of some sort. It could be really useful in a music class to have students listen to different artist and composers. Otherwise, I just don't think there are any practical uses in a class or library (those are supposed to be quiet). http://news.cnet.com/8301-13546_109-10236913-29.html?tag=mncol this link is to the page about Pandora
www.pandora.com this link os to the Pandora website itself if any has not checked it out yet.
The tool I did finally choose to discover was Pandora. I am a big music lover and would be totally lost without my iPod. Pandora is an online radio station you get for free. YES! MORE FREE STUFF! The only thing I do not like about this tool is the ads and commercials that come up. I rather dislike commercials, especially ones I can't see. When I am listening to the radio in my car and a commerical comes on I change it everytime until I find a station playing a song. Thankfully it never takes that long to find something, but with Pandora you can't really skip over the commmercials. That is a bit of a problem. Other than that I really like this tool. It is useful because you can create your own channels, whether it be country (my favorite) or rock and roll or Christmas music, Pandora will play only what you want. You can even create a channel for your favorite artist(s).
The only way I see this tool being applicable in a school or library is if a teacher wants to play music for the class while working on an assignement, or if they are having a celebration of some sort. It could be really useful in a music class to have students listen to different artist and composers. Otherwise, I just don't think there are any practical uses in a class or library (those are supposed to be quiet). http://news.cnet.com/8301-13546_109-10236913-29.html?tag=mncol this link is to the page about Pandora
www.pandora.com this link os to the Pandora website itself if any has not checked it out yet.
Thing #5
I have been well aware of how much I use technology, especially the internet and social networking sites like Facebook, but there are so many other tools and resources online that I never really thought much about. It is interesting, to say the least, to read about the perspectives on Web 2.0, School 2.0, and the future of education. It is not hard to see the changes that are already occuring; when I observed last semester in a 4th grade classroom the teacher was using powerpoint. In my 4th grade classroom we definitely did not have something even that simple. Powerpoint is used all the time now and in every class. To me school 2.0 is the increase in technology being used in classes and all the changes that are taking place in such a short amount of time. It's this technological revolution before us! I think it is amazing how far technology has advanced even in my own lifetime and it will be interesting to see where technology ends up before I die (which hopefully won't be until I am like 90). School 2.0 is inevitable and will benefit future generations because information will be at thier fingertips moreso than it is even to us right now. The click of a button opens many doors and opportunities for learning...it has been said "if you don't know it, just google it". We can find absolutely anything we want to on the web! It is wonderful! It is great for the future of education that informations is easily accessed and can be indentified as reliable or not without too many problems.
I found some of the points made in the different perspectives on education and web 2.0 intriguing yet not surprising. In A Guide for Education it mentioned that a 2007 survey that was done by the Pew Internet and American Life Project showed 55% of youth in America between the ages of 12 and 17 use social networking for communicating. I can only image, 5 years later, how high that number must be. Even generations before us our social networking...MY OWN GRANDMOTHER HAS A FACEBOOK! It's crazy! She just got a laptop for the first time over the summer and is now a daily Facebook checker. It really is incredible what we can do on the web these days and I think it is a really good way to stay connected and get reconnected with people and not just on Facebook. Skype is a free way to live chat with people on your computer, from a completely different country even. I think this article was right about how education should take advantage of Web 2.0 and maximize student learning and interaction in the classroom. Technology is far more helpful than hurtful in teaching students. The comment Teacher 2.0 makes about the popularity of twitter overtaking more blogs, podcasts, and forums was also interesting to me. The writer seems to think it is a bad change and she may be right. I know nothing about twitter since I do not have an account, but I wonder...do twitter users think it's a good change? What benefits would twitter have over blogs, etc? Or is this person wrong?
I found some of the points made in the different perspectives on education and web 2.0 intriguing yet not surprising. In A Guide for Education it mentioned that a 2007 survey that was done by the Pew Internet and American Life Project showed 55% of youth in America between the ages of 12 and 17 use social networking for communicating. I can only image, 5 years later, how high that number must be. Even generations before us our social networking...MY OWN GRANDMOTHER HAS A FACEBOOK! It's crazy! She just got a laptop for the first time over the summer and is now a daily Facebook checker. It really is incredible what we can do on the web these days and I think it is a really good way to stay connected and get reconnected with people and not just on Facebook. Skype is a free way to live chat with people on your computer, from a completely different country even. I think this article was right about how education should take advantage of Web 2.0 and maximize student learning and interaction in the classroom. Technology is far more helpful than hurtful in teaching students. The comment Teacher 2.0 makes about the popularity of twitter overtaking more blogs, podcasts, and forums was also interesting to me. The writer seems to think it is a bad change and she may be right. I know nothing about twitter since I do not have an account, but I wonder...do twitter users think it's a good change? What benefits would twitter have over blogs, etc? Or is this person wrong?
Thing #4 (part two)
I chose to comment on the blog's of names I recognized in my other classes. They are not in the class I am keeping this blog for, but are in my other classes (whether on line or in a classroom). I was interested to see what they would have to say about this project. I read The Brennan Breeze blog and Rand's 3040 Reflection blog. On both I made comments about parental involvement, as they discussed it in the ways blogging can be used to create community and interaction. I agreed that it can be a great way to get parents involved but also included my own experiences of parents who do not want to be involved. I work in a preschool back at home and I know that some parents do not care so much. However, I do feel that they may be interested in looking at a blog for thier child's class and I know there are lots of parents who do care. I wrote that they had good ideas of how a blog creates community and I said all of this because I think it one of the more important aspects of blogging about the classroom.
I also really like the cleverness of the blog name The Brennan Breeze and it made me want to change my blog name to something a little more original. I enjoyed her blog because she put so much of her personality into it and her posts. You can get a good sense of the kind of person who wrote it with her little jokes and commentaries. I think I will incorporate some of that in my blog from her on out...this I did write in my comment on her blog as well.
I commented on blogs from our class by just clicking on five that were listed. The first one I read was Marianne Spencer's and my comment was about how touching I found her story that went with the picture she posted and the importance of personalizing and sharing yourself in your blog. It's kind of the whole point, along with creating discussion and community. I agreed with her statements about the preciousness of life and how God calls us to life. I have very similar believe and enjoyed reading her story. The other point she made that I agreed with was the goodness of putting pictures on your blog because it tells people more about you. I shared a story with her about my aunt and uncle that related to the one she shared and I did that because it may not be my story but I understand where she was coming from in her comments.
The second blog I read was Kala Thomas's and I wrote that I also like the idea of sharing comments and experiences on a blog. It is a fun and great way to learn things about your classmates and get to know them as people through their blogs. I felt that an art class, as she plans on teaching one, would be excellent to have a blog and that I would be interested in looking at those types of blogs to see what young people are creating. I then looked at Ashley Saunder's blog and really connected with her first post. She talked about the habits of lifelong learners and how number 4 was one of the big ones for her. I shared with her that I struggle with it as well and why I think it has been a problem for me; it's the one about being a confident learner. I wrote how I feel I could overcome this habit and referred to the saying about people being their own worst critics. I find it very true and that to fix that anyone should try to be like the little engine that could.
My forth experience commenting on a classmates blog was reading Danielle Witter's and I found it very insightful. She had a lot of good ideas and ones that had not occured to me. I put that in my comment and how I will remember her great thoughts. She suggested putting a calendar on a blog to keep parents informed about what is going on in the classroom, discussion questions that finish what was said in class or gets students to write what they did not get to say, and interaction with classes in other states and countries. This last one really interested me and I think it is an excellent idea and can defintely help students learn about other places and cultures. The last blog I commented for this post was Alana McLeroy and I simple answered her question of the day. Which I thought was a great way to start discussion and communication. I wrote about this being my first experience and how I am enjoying it. Also that I plan on using it the future and I am glad I have the chance now to explore blogging, commenting, and following other people's.
I was compelled to write comments because I found ways to connect to my classmates through their personal stories and ideas. I learned a lot of other ways to make blogging useful for a teacher and his or her class.
I also really like the cleverness of the blog name The Brennan Breeze and it made me want to change my blog name to something a little more original. I enjoyed her blog because she put so much of her personality into it and her posts. You can get a good sense of the kind of person who wrote it with her little jokes and commentaries. I think I will incorporate some of that in my blog from her on out...this I did write in my comment on her blog as well.
I commented on blogs from our class by just clicking on five that were listed. The first one I read was Marianne Spencer's and my comment was about how touching I found her story that went with the picture she posted and the importance of personalizing and sharing yourself in your blog. It's kind of the whole point, along with creating discussion and community. I agreed with her statements about the preciousness of life and how God calls us to life. I have very similar believe and enjoyed reading her story. The other point she made that I agreed with was the goodness of putting pictures on your blog because it tells people more about you. I shared a story with her about my aunt and uncle that related to the one she shared and I did that because it may not be my story but I understand where she was coming from in her comments.
The second blog I read was Kala Thomas's and I wrote that I also like the idea of sharing comments and experiences on a blog. It is a fun and great way to learn things about your classmates and get to know them as people through their blogs. I felt that an art class, as she plans on teaching one, would be excellent to have a blog and that I would be interested in looking at those types of blogs to see what young people are creating. I then looked at Ashley Saunder's blog and really connected with her first post. She talked about the habits of lifelong learners and how number 4 was one of the big ones for her. I shared with her that I struggle with it as well and why I think it has been a problem for me; it's the one about being a confident learner. I wrote how I feel I could overcome this habit and referred to the saying about people being their own worst critics. I find it very true and that to fix that anyone should try to be like the little engine that could.
My forth experience commenting on a classmates blog was reading Danielle Witter's and I found it very insightful. She had a lot of good ideas and ones that had not occured to me. I put that in my comment and how I will remember her great thoughts. She suggested putting a calendar on a blog to keep parents informed about what is going on in the classroom, discussion questions that finish what was said in class or gets students to write what they did not get to say, and interaction with classes in other states and countries. This last one really interested me and I think it is an excellent idea and can defintely help students learn about other places and cultures. The last blog I commented for this post was Alana McLeroy and I simple answered her question of the day. Which I thought was a great way to start discussion and communication. I wrote about this being my first experience and how I am enjoying it. Also that I plan on using it the future and I am glad I have the chance now to explore blogging, commenting, and following other people's.
I was compelled to write comments because I found ways to connect to my classmates through their personal stories and ideas. I learned a lot of other ways to make blogging useful for a teacher and his or her class.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Thing #4 (part one)
Commenting on other people's blogs creates a sense of community and interaction because it creates conversations about all sorts of subjects and can also creat relationships. It seems to me that blogging would not be as much fun and worth doing if it did not spark a debate or start conversations between people with similar ideals and perspectives. Commenting gives the person who created the blog something to think about and allows them to learn how other people see things. I thought it was important that in How to Comment like a king (or queen!) the blogger says, "meaningful, relevant, real world comments add power to the blogs that you frequent". Where would the world of blogging be if people did not comment on each others' blogs? How could it possible have any real meaning if it just sits there with no one interacting? I also found it imporant that Drape's Takes Blog includes a piece about ways to respond to a post's comment. It says, "giving your readers a sense of validation, building a deeper relationship of the reader, and actively participating in the dicursive field we call the blogosphere". These are all reasons why commenting creates community and interaction. Comments do not always have to validate, but they should not annilate either. They should be constructive and kind even in opposition.
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