Thursday, January 26, 2012

Thing 8

I hope this one is easier than 7!
Phewwww! That was easy! I orginally tried some different ones and they didn't work. This one was rather easy. This is a picture of a home lit up like a ginger bread house. I took this picture while me and my boyfriend were driving around looking at Christmas lights one night. I think the puzzles would be very cool to have printed out in the classroom. In pieces, the students would never know that it was a picture of them, the classroom, a favorite class book, etc. This program is a really neat idea! I feel okay about sharing pictures online. However, I have to make sure they are not offensive to anyone before I upload them.

Thing 7

My flickr experience was a nightmare! I tried adding a picture to this post I bet one hundred times. I enjoyed looking through flickr. But, when it came to adding a picture I could not figure it out! Hopefully I can get some help on this and add the picture that I want. (I didn't get the one i wanted, but this one is cool too!) It is called HDR by an photographer on photobucket that goes by the name xoxomayra94. Click here to see the picture on photobucket.com!
I finally got this to work on photobucket. I couldn't get it to work with flickr. I kept getting an error message that blogger could not find my picture. 

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Thing 6

I explored Dropbox! It is a website (dropbox) that allows you to store your personal things on the internet! It is great for storing pictures, term papers, or emails that you need to get to. Since Dropbox is a part of the internet you can access it from anywhere with internet (and who doesn't have internet these days?). Another cool feature/tool about Dropbox is that you can share your folders with other dropbox users. So if you have 72 new pictures of your baby you can send them all to Grandma Lou so she can decide which ones she would like to print! If you invite someone to join dropbox you get more free storage space. Also, when you invite someone to join they recieve free storage space! When first signing up for dropbox there are seven steps to complete and you will recieve 250 mb of free storage. Basically Dropbox helps you to share, file, and store your memories, papers, or reminders. It is an easily accessable feature to help keep your life organized.

Thing 5

The idea of building on top of what is already on the web is a great idea. As many authors mentioned in their articles Web 2.0 is not re-doing the Internet. It is simply building and advancing. I think this is a great idea. As we watched in the "clicker" you tube video, technology can enable us to teach students better. In turn, students would learn better. School 2.0 means that schools are going to move further into technology. This is already the case. "Overheads and transparencies" are a thing of the past. Now we have smart board and markers that write digitally. Personally, I find it inspirational. I think about the chalk boards in my elementary classrooms and then Smart Boards at Austin Peay and wonder what new technology will they come up with next? School 2.0 means that as a future educator I am going to have the privilege of helping students to understand and use technology efficiently. Also, it may make my job a lot easier! I think classrooms in the future will be taught electronically. One teacher may teach five classes at once. However, with devices like the computer and clicker the instructor will be able to receive feedback from all of his students. Virtual school will become more popular in the future. Writing with pencils and pens on homework will eventually become obsolete. Students will have something like an Ipad where they can download homework and write on the work sheet with a digital pen. When the students are done with their homework they will be able to submit it to a drop box that will appear on the instructors computer/Ipad. Chalk boards are a thing of the past, dry erase boards are walking into the past, soon instructing and learning in the classroom will consist of a large use of technology.

Thing 4


Commenting on others' blogs helps to create a sense of community. This is because it makes the blogger feel as if people are reading and care about what the blogger is saying. Also, by doing the commenting you know that you are making them feel good. Therefore, on both sides of commenting there is a positive gain. The cool cat teacher blog talked about how people are basically miserable and find entertainment in posting mean or rude things on other people's blogs. I find this very believable since you find theses type of people on other social networks. The "Top Ten Ways to get More Comments on Your Blog" mentioned that some comment sections require you to log in to comment or to register before commenting. I find this interesting. Because, like the author mentioned, I would skip past the login or registration and move onto a blog I could comment on.

Comment 1: I chose the first name at the top of our list for class. That was Courtne Hunt. I commented on her post for thing 3. I commented on this post because she had a great idea to have students use a blog as an online journal for improving grammar and fluency. This assignment would be for a grade. I think this is a wonderful idea, it actually reminded me of the book "Freedom Writers."
Comment 2: I chose to comment on Abby Thompson's post Thing 1. I chose this post because her hardest habits and my hardest habits were completely different. However, I can identify with the fact that she gets frustrated when she is not able to solve a problem.
Comment 3: I chose to comment on Jared Sexton's thing 1 post as well. I chose to comment on his post because he said the easiest habit for him was to play the part. He also made a comment about who doesnt love to play. However, for me playing the part is very hard. I have a hard time not defending what I believe in or conveying how I feel on the inside. Playing the part is a tool that comes in handy in life, so I am currently working on mine! Smile, and stop tapping your foot Cherie, because they can tell your bored! :)
Comment 4: I commented on Kim Messer's thing 7. What originally lead me to her page was the fact that she had trouble with thing 7, as did I. Also that she had completed alot of THINGS. However, I made a comment on her thing 7 post because she had a snid-bit in her post about her children's pictures being so public and that she was going to keep them private. This spoke to me because I am planning to have children once I graduate. Also, my mom is constantly preaching at me to be careful what goes on the internet. Lastly, I watch TOO many crime shows. These shows show you the most horrid things, especially dealing with technology today. So, I guess my shows have made me over protective of myself and those around me. When I read Kim's thing 7 I though "Good for her retaining some privacy."
Comment 5: I commented on Mellissia Troyer's Thing 1. I think thing one interests me the most because it is actually about the blogger not about an experience on the internet. However, her post interested me because she said her hardest habit was to have confidence and that she constantly second guesses her writing. I thought this was a great way to full-fill the assignment for commenting and give her advice! So, I told her to plan out her writing and prepare herself to write in her head while doing a leasurely activity. It is less stressful than sitting down with your keyboard or pencil and trying to force out ideas.
Comment 6: I commented on a blog entitled MOTIVATION the post was titled "Put the glass down Today." This is a blog post about a professor who is holding a glass of water and asks his students how much it weighs. The students don't know. Then, he asks what would happen if he help it for an hour, two hours, or even a whole day. The students reply that his arm would cramp, and things like muscles aches, and possibly (if he held it long enough) that he might become completely paralyzed. The professor follows up with a question about did the weight of the water change. The students say no, obviously. Then the professor relates it to every day distress. That if you hold onto stress for an hour, it begins to make u experience discomfort, for many hours it cause severe aches and then if you hold it for days it can cause you to be paralyzed. So we should "put the glass of water down" every night before we go to sleep to avoid aches and paralyzation.I chose to comment on this blog because it was very inspirational to me. Also, I have the same problem with lettting my stresses go. Therefore, this blog was true motivation and inspiration for me. I hope to learn to put the glass down at night!
Comment 7: I commented on a blog titled Vitamins for D Soul. The blog post was called Drowing Man. The post was about a man who was in a ship wreck and was praying for God's help. As two boats came by, the man turned down their help saying "I am waiting for God to save me." When he got to heaven he asked God "why didn't you save me" and God said "I sent you two boats dummy!" I love stories like this because it shows that God is everywhere. I commented on this post because it spoke to my spiritual side. I only commented to say I love the story and that it is inspirational that I have found someone who blogs "For the Soul."

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Thing 3

I could use a blog in my classroom. I knew alot of teachers in high school who would post extra activities on their blogs. I will definitely try to make this available to my students. In my blog I would try to include past exams, pre-tests, and due dates. I could also include examples of past work from other students. This always helps me when beginning a project. If I can look at a project done by a student last year and know that it was worthy of a B letter grade then I know the type of things my instructor is looking for. I hope to be able to do this for my students This way the students would always be able to access this information from anywhere with internet.

Thing 2

I decided to use my last name in both my posting name and the name of my blog. I thought creating the blog was rather hard. The step by step instructions were not that clear. I think this is because the blog website probably updates every two weeks just like facebook. My avatar reflects my personality because I am girly, I love the color pink, and flip flops! My avatar looks like me. I have green eyes, and brown hair, I am usually smiling, and I wear alot of pink! I assumed the avatar was supposed to represent who I was and I couldn't put non-physical properties on a cartoon character so I chose to make it look like me.

Thing 1

The hardest lifelong learner task for me is to begin with the end in mind. I think this is the hardest task for me because I am so young. Most of my friends are already married and have babies. But, I am the one who is just stuck in the college life waiting to graduate so I can continue with the rest of my life. So, it's hard for me to keep my eye on the end. The easiest life long learner task for me to do is to view problems as challenges. I have a lot of academic/problematic self confidence in myself. No matter what comes my way I am constantly telling myself that I will do my best and do well at whatever comes my way. I want to work with 2.0 tools because I think it is going to make things easier!! I actually thought setting up my blog was difficult. I got really confused and while everyone else left class early I stayed until 9:25 just to figure out how to get my avatar girl on here!!