Thing 12

I use google calendar every day. This is the calendar I use to organize my life. It is my brain most days. I have it on my phone, my ipad, and my computer. I get text messages and email alerts for upcoming events. I love that on google calendar I can have multiple calendars in one calendar. I have one for home maintenance, my kids, my husband, my dogs, birthdays and anniversaries, and one for general purposes. I can look at all of them at once, or I can look at them one at a time. I also use google translator sometimes. I have friends of nationalities, and sometimes I need to translate what they say. As a teacher, I am sure I will have ELL students, and this device will come in handy.

Thing 11

I found that typing in a subject area that I liked and looking for the RSS button to add the feeds to be the easiest method. I like using the Google search tool. I have used Yahoo, Ask.com, and Dogpile, but I like Google the best. I enjoy cooking and knitting. I found many feeds that will give me daily recipes. I follow quite a few low-fat cooking blog. The easiest way for me to find RSS feeds is to search for blogs I like and then look for the button. I do like having all the feeds in one spot like google reader.

Thing 10

The thing that I like about RSS readers is that I can get all of the updates from the blogs I follow in one spot. Having everything in one spot helps cut down on time. If I go directly to each blog, I have a tendency to get sidetracked. If I get sidetracked then I will probably not accomplish the things I need to accomplish. The RSS readers help me from getting sidetracked by only giving me the latest updates to the blogs. Also, if I had to look at each blog daily I might forget one or two and miss something. In a school setting, RSS readers are great ways to see what other teachers are doing in their classrooms. I can follow their blogs and get updates via the RSS readers. I know as a teacher I will not have time to go searching through blogs for the updates. The RSS reader will cut down on time. Teachers can use RSS readers in their classrooms with their students. The students can get updates from their teachers blogs via their RSS readers.

Thing 9

Comic Strip Generator

I enjoyed playing with the comic strip generator. As a Language Arts Teacher, I can see using this in the classroom, and I think this would be a fun activity for a classroom. Students can practice their writing techniques by creating comics. 

Smiley Face Holding a Sign

The smiley face holding a sign could be used to relay important information to the students on the teachers blog. For example, tests or project due dates could be placed on the sign. 

Out of all of the thing challenges, I enjoyed this one the most. It was a lot of fun!

Thing 8

I like the Spell with Flickr application. This would be fun to use in the classroom for learning spelling words. Kids would enjoy seeing their spelling words mashed up into pictures.

This is from the puzzles app. This was a lot of fun! I think it would be fun for the students to see various pictures included into a puzzle. The students are work could be turned into a puzzle. This site can create real life puzzles from any picture you add to Flickr.

Thing 7

!

My dog Lola

My dog Joey!

These are my two dogs, Joey and Lola. I added photos of these two because they are part of my family, and as much my children as real children. I enjoyed exploring the various Flickr photos. I think Flickr would be perfect for the classroom. I would like to be a middle school Language Arts teacher and/or reading teacher. Flickr would be great in the classroom to explore different books. One way to use Flickr would be to show the students meanings of unknown phrases or words. For example, if the book is talking about a black lab, I could show them a picture like my dog, Lola, to see how a black lab looks. Also, I could show them a picture of a mountain or ocean and ask the students to write about a vacation they could take to that location.
I limit the photos that I have of my children on public locations. I do have a Facebook account, and I have some photos of them on my site. I do not mind adding photos of my dogs, flowers, trees, or items in my surroundings, but I do not think my children should be posted on public sites.

Thing 6

Remember The Milk




I chose to explore Remember the Milk. I wear many hats during my day, and I love having a to-do list to remember all of my tasks. With Remember the Milk, I can have my to-do list on my android phone, my ipad, my google email, and many other applications. I can share my list with my husband and children. I can also share my list others if we were working on a group project. It has various "folders" so that my school to-do list does not get mixed up with my home to-do list. I have enjoyed playing with this website.

Thing 5

Web 2.0 simply means using the Web as a way to communicate with and teach students. The internet is a rich source of information that can make doing research easier. As an older college student, I remember a time when encyclopedias were used for most research. My ten-year old son showed me how to build and make my power points more interesting. Teachers should be prepared to teach and understand the various technologies because students are very fluent in technology.