Ah, more ways to waste time. As if I needed anymore distractions from getting things done. Well, now I have them. I already have a Pinterest account. I used to have the app on my phone, but had to delete it. I was wasting FAR too much time. IMDB is something I have used quite frequently. When I'm watching tv or a movie and see someone familiar, if I cannot figure out where I have seen them, I immediately head to IMDB in search of an answer. This can be a rabbit hole as I then find myself looking at other things he/she has starred in if I like him/her. Then, I find myself reading synopsis after synopsis of television shows or movies to see what I should add to my never-ending list of things to watch. I have also used yelp on rare occasions to look at reviews of restaurants or businesses. I have mostly used this when traveling to a new city to find the best places to stay, eat, or visit.
I can't say that I have every thought about the sites listed for completion of thing 19 as being social networking sites. I have used some of these sites before and never thought of them as being social networking. To me, social networking sites are sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. These sites seem less interactive and more impersonal than what I would consider social networking sites to be. Social networking sites are something that educators will inevitably have to use, regardless of how opposed to them they may be. Social networking appears to be here to stay, so we may as well embrace it as much as possible. Using it may also make learning more appealing to students who will inevitably belong to social networking sites at some point or another.
Classroom 2.0 Ning is something I could actually see myself using in the future. This site has suggestions of how to use web 2.0 tools in the classroom and provides ideas for how teachers can incorporate technology into their classrooms. Social networking for educators is something that will be essential as I enter the classroom. Technology is here to stay and will only become more and more integral to the classroom as I enter the classroom and finally begin teaching. Using social networking can allow educators to connect with other educators around the world to share ideas and learn new things.
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Thing 18
I have resisted Twitter for years, and I am not too pleased that I now have an account. From what little I know about Twitter, people post their every waking thought for the world to see. I'm not really interested in reading about what someone did today or what someone ate. I waste enough time and procrastinate enough. The last thing I need is something else to make me waste more time. I have Facebook. That's enough for me.
I feel like I probably went into this activity with a bad attitude. I wasn't very open or receptive to learning more about it. I went into it with a negative attitude. I looked around a bit at the educational hashtags. I think social networking (or at least understanding it) is extremely important for today's educators. Kids are using social networking, so educators may as well take advantage of these sites and appeal to students. Social networking has advantages and disadvantages and the more educated teachers are about their inner workings, the better prepared they will be to use them. I had never considered using Twitter to look at educational things. I didn't love the hashtag search. Most things seemed so broad and people can put a hashtag on anything, regardless of whether or not the information in the post is actually relevant to the hashtag. I don't really see me ever using Twitter in the future or in my classroom. I think there are other social networking sites that would be more useful. I'm sure there are applications for Twitter in the classroom, but I don't really see me finding them or using it. Twitter is simply not for me.
As I sat up my Twitter account, I clicked the "skip" button as much as possible, not wanting to find people to "follow". I will probably delete this account as soon as I can. I just don't see myself ever using it. Here's the link to my profile, though there's no point in following me because I have not tweeted anything (nor do I plan to). I didn't even come up with a creative profile or user name. I kept the generic suggestion Twitter gave when I created the account.
https://twitter.com/Emily65212302
I feel like I probably went into this activity with a bad attitude. I wasn't very open or receptive to learning more about it. I went into it with a negative attitude. I looked around a bit at the educational hashtags. I think social networking (or at least understanding it) is extremely important for today's educators. Kids are using social networking, so educators may as well take advantage of these sites and appeal to students. Social networking has advantages and disadvantages and the more educated teachers are about their inner workings, the better prepared they will be to use them. I had never considered using Twitter to look at educational things. I didn't love the hashtag search. Most things seemed so broad and people can put a hashtag on anything, regardless of whether or not the information in the post is actually relevant to the hashtag. I don't really see me ever using Twitter in the future or in my classroom. I think there are other social networking sites that would be more useful. I'm sure there are applications for Twitter in the classroom, but I don't really see me finding them or using it. Twitter is simply not for me.
As I sat up my Twitter account, I clicked the "skip" button as much as possible, not wanting to find people to "follow". I will probably delete this account as soon as I can. I just don't see myself ever using it. Here's the link to my profile, though there's no point in following me because I have not tweeted anything (nor do I plan to). I didn't even come up with a creative profile or user name. I kept the generic suggestion Twitter gave when I created the account.
https://twitter.com/Emily65212302
Thing 17
Tagging was not something I knew anything about outside of tagging photos on Facebook. I don't often bookmark pages when looking for things because the list of bookmarks can become a bottomless pit that sucks me in and I end up wasting more time looking for something than I do actually using that something. Delicious.com was extremely easy to use. The video I watched was very informative and I learned a lot about tagging through watching it.
I could see using this type of tagging website when I become a teacher. As the video mentioned, you can network with other educators through tagging. If I found a topic that I was about to teach, I could tag websites I found under that specific topic. Then, I could search for other people who had tagged websites for the same topic. This could save me time as I could use someone else's research to get ideas about what to teach or how to teach something.
When I searched "educational technology" on delicious.com, I found http://www.infoplease.com. This website has an encyclopedia, almanac, atlas, dictionary, thesaurus, etc. There is up-to-date news information for students to refer to for homework help or researching topics. There are also links for students to read about study tips and research tips. This could be useful in an elementary classroom when teaching students how to research topics. I may teach students how to write their first papers, depending on what grade I teach. Writing is something that can be scary and intimidating for students. Providing them with a wealth of information and resources may lessen the anxiety of such a task. Since this website is geared towards children, the information on this website would likely be more appropriate than other resources and will likely provide students with level-appropriate information to refer to. I like the idea of delicious.com because whichever sites I bookmark can be accessed from any computer. I don't have to be at home, on my laptop, to access things. This would be very useful when I start teaching since my home computer and school computer will be separate.
I could see using this type of tagging website when I become a teacher. As the video mentioned, you can network with other educators through tagging. If I found a topic that I was about to teach, I could tag websites I found under that specific topic. Then, I could search for other people who had tagged websites for the same topic. This could save me time as I could use someone else's research to get ideas about what to teach or how to teach something.
When I searched "educational technology" on delicious.com, I found http://www.infoplease.com. This website has an encyclopedia, almanac, atlas, dictionary, thesaurus, etc. There is up-to-date news information for students to refer to for homework help or researching topics. There are also links for students to read about study tips and research tips. This could be useful in an elementary classroom when teaching students how to research topics. I may teach students how to write their first papers, depending on what grade I teach. Writing is something that can be scary and intimidating for students. Providing them with a wealth of information and resources may lessen the anxiety of such a task. Since this website is geared towards children, the information on this website would likely be more appropriate than other resources and will likely provide students with level-appropriate information to refer to. I like the idea of delicious.com because whichever sites I bookmark can be accessed from any computer. I don't have to be at home, on my laptop, to access things. This would be very useful when I start teaching since my home computer and school computer will be separate.
Thing 16
I created a calendar using 30 Boxes. It was very easy to use, but it is not something I see myself using in my daily life. I use my calendar in my phone on basically a daily basis. I am constantly updating it with reminders and events. I like having it in my phone because it's always at my fingertips. I can't see me switching to do the same thing online. However, I could see using this in my future classroom. I don't know if there is a feature that allows you to make the calendar public or at least to share it with people. If there is, a classroom calendar could be created and shared with parents to keep them apprised of upcoming school events, field trips, projects, tests, etc. I'm not really sure how this is much different from the google calendar we did in one of our earlier postings.
I chose to use Symbaloo. It was really easy to use and I liked the way it looked. Also, I have heard of symbaloo prior to now. I never really understood what it was, but now I do and I see how it could be useful. I am guilty of wasting a great deal of time on the internet when I get online to do something that needs to be done. Once I'm online, I suddenly remember every "important" thing I need to do and think of all sorts of things that "must" be read or researched immediately. Symbaloo might help curtail these bad habits. Having necessary links compiled into a central location could help me stay on track and ultimately save me time in the future. I don't think I'll actually make it my homepage simply because I'm a creature of habit. I don't like change. I just like things to stay the same, and I'm not really interested in making such a change right now. Maybe in the future, I will revisit such a change.
I think I would actually use a calendar in my classroom, not for personal use. I like the idea of creating a to-do list, but I think I'm a little too old-fashioned to have my to-do list online. I like the act of actually crossing something off of my to-do list when I finish it. I get a sense of accomplishment from marking through something. I'm constantly making lists of things I need to do on my phone, but I never feel very accomplished because I can't physically cross them off. I like the idea of the sticky notes, but I didn't want to download the program to try them. My old computer had a sticky note application that I used quite often just to remind myself of certain things. I could see using that in the classroom to remind myself of upcoming events or of things I need to remember to do each day.
I chose to use Symbaloo. It was really easy to use and I liked the way it looked. Also, I have heard of symbaloo prior to now. I never really understood what it was, but now I do and I see how it could be useful. I am guilty of wasting a great deal of time on the internet when I get online to do something that needs to be done. Once I'm online, I suddenly remember every "important" thing I need to do and think of all sorts of things that "must" be read or researched immediately. Symbaloo might help curtail these bad habits. Having necessary links compiled into a central location could help me stay on track and ultimately save me time in the future. I don't think I'll actually make it my homepage simply because I'm a creature of habit. I don't like change. I just like things to stay the same, and I'm not really interested in making such a change right now. Maybe in the future, I will revisit such a change.
I think I would actually use a calendar in my classroom, not for personal use. I like the idea of creating a to-do list, but I think I'm a little too old-fashioned to have my to-do list online. I like the act of actually crossing something off of my to-do list when I finish it. I get a sense of accomplishment from marking through something. I'm constantly making lists of things I need to do on my phone, but I never feel very accomplished because I can't physically cross them off. I like the idea of the sticky notes, but I didn't want to download the program to try them. My old computer had a sticky note application that I used quite often just to remind myself of certain things. I could see using that in the classroom to remind myself of upcoming events or of things I need to remember to do each day.
Thing 15
I'm a little embarrassed to say that before completing the activities for this post, I didn't really know what wiki meant. I've heard the term. I've used wikipedia on multiple occasions. I really liked the video because it explained everything in simple terms and really simplified everything about wikis, providing a great overview and explanation of what wikis are and how they might be used.
As I explored the wikis mentioned on the homepage, I was introduced to a variety of ways that wikis could be used in my future classroom. For my post to APSU's sandbox wiki, I wrote about thing 14 and my experience with bubbl.us. I don't know if this stands out to me because I very recently completed thing 14 or if it stands out because it's something I could definitely see using in my future classroom and is something that the nerd in me wishes I had known about when I was a student. I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to post on the sandbox wiki. It took me longer than it should have to figure out how to sign in, but once I was in, it was easy to write up a quick post.
One way I could see using a wiki in a classroom is creating a class supply list for students to consult: we could have a list of what we have and what we need to ensure we don't get 25 boxes of crayons and not a single box of pencils. Another possible use would be for group assignments. Groups could use the wiki to communicate with one another about who has done what and what needs to be done. This would also allow me to monitor each group member's participation and provide input when needed.
As I explored the wikis mentioned on the homepage, I was introduced to a variety of ways that wikis could be used in my future classroom. For my post to APSU's sandbox wiki, I wrote about thing 14 and my experience with bubbl.us. I don't know if this stands out to me because I very recently completed thing 14 or if it stands out because it's something I could definitely see using in my future classroom and is something that the nerd in me wishes I had known about when I was a student. I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to post on the sandbox wiki. It took me longer than it should have to figure out how to sign in, but once I was in, it was easy to write up a quick post.
One way I could see using a wiki in a classroom is creating a class supply list for students to consult: we could have a list of what we have and what we need to ensure we don't get 25 boxes of crayons and not a single box of pencils. Another possible use would be for group assignments. Groups could use the wiki to communicate with one another about who has done what and what needs to be done. This would also allow me to monitor each group member's participation and provide input when needed.
Friday, March 21, 2014
Thing 14
For a flowchart, I used Gliffy. I was immediately unimpressed with the website. There were numerous popups and download requests. I didn't create a flowchart. I looked through the website and I can see how secondary teachers might use flowcharts, but I cannot see using a flowchart often, if ever, with lower elementary school students. I would like to teach 3rd grade. I can think of multiple uses for mind maps but none for flow charts. I prefer the ease and simplicity of mindmaps to flow charts. Flow charts seem more regimented and complicated whereas mindmaps are more brainstorming activities and allow students to simply jot down ideas as the arise. I didn't use flowcharts.com simply because I was too impatient to wait around for the invitation. Gliffy was instantaneous.
I used bubbl.us and created a mind map. This website was very easy to use. It reminded me of high school when we had to complete graphic organizers before writing an essay or research paper. I always liked them and thought they helped me get my thoughts together and sort of pre-plan what I would write about and how I would do it. Bubbl.us was really simple to use. I didn't have any current projects I am working on that I thought I could use with a mindmap, so I used information from a research paper I wrote for another class in a previous semester. I could use this website and mindmaps in my future elementary school classroom in helping students recognize similarities and differences in animals, texts, etc. (compare and contrast) based on what we were studying at the time. If students had to write a short story or essay of some sort (like to practice for the TCAP writing assessment), students could use this to help formulate their ideas and learn how to connect details to main ideas.
I used bubbl.us and created a mind map. This website was very easy to use. It reminded me of high school when we had to complete graphic organizers before writing an essay or research paper. I always liked them and thought they helped me get my thoughts together and sort of pre-plan what I would write about and how I would do it. Bubbl.us was really simple to use. I didn't have any current projects I am working on that I thought I could use with a mindmap, so I used information from a research paper I wrote for another class in a previous semester. I could use this website and mindmaps in my future elementary school classroom in helping students recognize similarities and differences in animals, texts, etc. (compare and contrast) based on what we were studying at the time. If students had to write a short story or essay of some sort (like to practice for the TCAP writing assessment), students could use this to help formulate their ideas and learn how to connect details to main ideas.
Thing 13
I had no prior experience with Google Drive. I was pleasantly surprised to find how simple it was to use. I created a short document (quiz) that relates to the standards I chose for my project for this class.
I think this application of Google could be extremely useful in the classroom. It makes the need for Microsoft Office products basically obsolete. It was very user-friendly. I could see students using this in the classroom to complete quizzes created by the teacher, to look at spreadsheets created by the teacher to complete projects. Students could even use the document feature to type required papers. This would be an interactive way to involve students in learning. Things created by the teacher could be shared with parents of the students to keep parents apprised of what students are learning in the classroom. Spreadsheets could be created about individual student performance to show parents areas of difficulty for their individual child.
I also briefly looked at Zoho. I prefer Google drives, however. I liked the look of Google Drives better and found it to be a bit more user-friendly. I'm sure that with a little work and effort, I could figure out Zoho, but Google Drive was immediately easier to use. I also like that with Google Drives, everything is automatically saved. Both Zoho and Google Drive seem to be fundamentally similar, I just found Google Drive to be a bit more aesthetically pleasing and easier to navigate.
Here's the quiz I created using forms on Google Drive:
I think this application of Google could be extremely useful in the classroom. It makes the need for Microsoft Office products basically obsolete. It was very user-friendly. I could see students using this in the classroom to complete quizzes created by the teacher, to look at spreadsheets created by the teacher to complete projects. Students could even use the document feature to type required papers. This would be an interactive way to involve students in learning. Things created by the teacher could be shared with parents of the students to keep parents apprised of what students are learning in the classroom. Spreadsheets could be created about individual student performance to show parents areas of difficulty for their individual child.
I also briefly looked at Zoho. I prefer Google drives, however. I liked the look of Google Drives better and found it to be a bit more user-friendly. I'm sure that with a little work and effort, I could figure out Zoho, but Google Drive was immediately easier to use. I also like that with Google Drives, everything is automatically saved. Both Zoho and Google Drive seem to be fundamentally similar, I just found Google Drive to be a bit more aesthetically pleasing and easier to navigate.
Here's the quiz I created using forms on Google Drive:
Continents and Oceans
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