Thing 18 Social Networking

I have both a Facebook and a Twitter account. My Facebook can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/hayley.leann

It is important for educators to understand and be able to navigate social networking sites because that is the prominent form of communication for students. Cyber bullying is a rising problems that schools and teachers need the tools to combat. If there are issues in the social networking sites, there will be issues brought into the classroom. Facebook has gotten better with some aspects lately. For example, users now have the option to attach documents in private messages. The most useful features about both Twitter and Facebook is that they make communicationg with others easy. Facebook makes it easy to share photos and statuses so that others can comment and like them.

Schools and classrooms can use social networking sites to show the parents and community what is going on at school. Schools often use Facebook in order to let parents know about upcoming events. Engaging parents and the community in learning is vital in the learning process. 

Thing 17 Introduction to Delicious

Delicious is a wonderful tool for teachers, for everyone really. It is similar to Pinterest; however, Pinterest is a bit easier to organize with the pinboards feature. Still, when it comes to education, I prefer Delicious because it is much easier to search using tags. I wish I had discovered this site sooner! It is definitely an easy way to create bookmarks and keep up with webpages that interest me. As for potential in the classroom, teachers can use Delicious to do research and refer students to Delicious for research as well. Once I searched “educational technology” I also realized that it gives access to tons of different ideas. Reading the other tags for the webpages is an easy way to see if that is the particular webpage that would benefit me. Users can see how popular the webpage is and read comments regarding it. Ideas, teaching strategies, teaching technology, handouts, worksheets, projects, and much more can be found using Delicious. Once again, this is a great way for teachers to “beg, steal, and borrow” everything they will need in their teaching toolbox. This is definitely a tool I will be using for now on and in the future for teaching. 

Thing 16

I chose the Galaxy theme for my start page on Google. This one appeals to me because it is colorful and an amazing scene, I have been using the start page for Google for quite some time now. It’s a bit outdated now, but I still find myself using it. After November of this year, it will no longer be available. This makes me pretty sad. The to-do lists help me out a lot so that I can remember what I have to accomplish within the  day, week, or even the year. As I’ve said in two previous blog posts, online calendars are important to me because they allow me to have one calendar that syncs with every device I use. I am always reminded when I have something due or a presentation coming up. I also enjoy sticky notes so that I can leave myself reminders all over my desktop and online. Students could use these and to-do lists to keep up with assignments and check them off as they're completed. I found and use Evernote and Pinterest frequently. Both of these allow me to organize and share ideas. Evernote will be helpful to students because it is a note taking tool that allows you to save and search notes. Pinterest is an amazing tool for teachers because it is a place to save or "pin" websites to refer to in the future. I have found many teaching ideas and lesson plans for elementary school that I plan to modify for my own classroom. 

Thing 15 Wiki Uses

I did not enjoy posting in the wiki page. I dislike the format and when you add your content, it brings up everything previously submitted. I had a page open that I was supposed to copy and paste one of my blog posts in. It was a mile long and hard to navigate. It was interesting to see what had been posted over time, but I wish there were a more effective way to post your own content without it being jumbled with everyone else’s content. I do enjoy looking at everyone's posts and experiences. However, there is the problem of others going in and deleting content without permission. 

In the classroom, I would use a wiki for parents to post questions and concerns. I could answer questions and other parents could also. I would also like to post worksheets and documents on a wiki page so that parents and students can access them from home. If a child is sick and the parent wants the work immediately, he or she can just go print it from the wiki class page. I also think it would be unique to create a class wiki with a page for each student. Every student could go post inspirational words and encouragement on other students’ page. Of course, this would have to be closely monitored for abuse. I remember doing a similar project in school. For this project, each student made a book with construction paper. It had the individual’s name on the front. The books were passed around the room and students were asked to write compliments about the student that owned the book.

Thing 13 Google Docs vs. Zoho

I prefer Google Docs because it is much more user friendly. I navigated Google docs much more smoothly than Zoho; I had not previously done much work in either. Zoho also required you to create an account. With Google Docs, it comes with your Gmail account which much more people have as opposed to Zoho. I found presentation templates in Google Docs, but could not seem to find them in Zoho. Zoho was not nearly as easy on the eyes either. Google Docs also has the option of installing Google Drive to your computer so that you can work while offline. However, both have positives. Google Docs has a “Draw” option, but Zoho has a “Planner” and “Notebook” that Google Docs does not have. Both have a calendar, but Google Calendar syncs to my smart phone. In the end, Google Docs is earier to access because of applications and easier for collaboration. Therefore, it’s the most efficient for education.

With Google Docs, students can use their Google accounts to share work. For a group presentation or project, each student could do their part in the assignment and send it to one another for review before combining it into one document. Another option is to have one student work with the project and complete his or her section before sending the unfinished project to another student to work on. More than one student can work on the same project as a shared document at the same time. Teachers can receive documents and presentations on Google Docs for review. Google Docs allows reviews/editing. They can also go to the shared document in order to track student progress.

Thing 12

I have been using Google tools extensively for some time now. I use Google Calendar, Google Alerts, Google Maps, Google Earth, Google Play, Google Bookmarks, and Google+. Alerts and Calendars sync well with my smart phone so that I can have my schedule with me at all times. Google Play allows me to get applications for my smart phone that can be useful in many different ways. Google Bookmarks allows me to save important websites and a description of each so that I can access them on any computer using my Google account. My Google account has my personal information already saved on it since I have been using these tools for a while; therefore, I can't really save links to much here.

There are many Google tools that are relevant to education. For example, during high school I was introduced to Google Earth by one of my teachers. We were able to look up different parts of the world from right there in the classroom. It gave us insight into where other countries were located. When studying History, I would just look up the area being studied. Google Maps even gives an ACTUAL image of the place you search. Alerts and Calendars can be used in education to keep up with schedules and due dates for assignments. School systems are moving towards giving students iPads. As a teacher, I could make a public calendar for the class I teach so that parents and students can subscribe to them. This would mean that nobody could say they had forgotten an assignment! This function has saved me quite a few times since I’ve been in college. Google Play has many educational apps available for Android smart phones and smart boards. I plan to use Google Play in order to find interactive lessons and educational games to use in my classroom.

Thing 11

Technorati is one of my favorite blog finding tools. It was easy to navigate and found only things relevant to my topics; however, it only has a few select topics to view Topix is the most confusing to me because of all of the ads, but it allows you to search ANY topic. Google Blogs is another helpful blog finder. I am already familiar with Google searching, so it came pretty natural to me. Another way I found blogs I’m interested in is looking at the blogs that I find other blog makers following. So, when I go to a blog I enjoy, I look at the blogs they read often in order to find more.

One cool blog I found was Geekologie. It is a blog devoted to new and upcoming technology. It gives tutorials and has reviews for tons of technology. I believe it is critical to keep up with advances in technology; this blog helps me tackle that goal.

Another helpful blog I found is Making Teachers Nerdy. It has a plethora of information for teachers. It gives links to other excellent blogs as well. It has tricks for commonly used programs such as Microsoft Word. It even has printables for teachers! This is one that all teachers should check out.