After exploring the Google Tools, I realized that I have not been using Google to all of its advantages. I have always used it to view pictures and of course to search the web for something.
I explored Google Translate and it is really amazing. I wish I knew about this when I was in my Spanish class, it would have made learning the language so much easier. It not only has translation to Spanish, it also has Vietnamese, Thai, Dutch, German, Greek, and so many more. The way I would use this tool in my class room is to have my students write out a letter to a 'pen pal' in the class and then translate it using this tool and see if the other student can figure out what language they used. The student will then have to translate the letter. Of course they would have to use the vocabulary words and underline those so it would be easier for the younger ones. The tool also has a great function of being able to speak the words typed in most of the languages.
Using this tool I found out how to write "Hello, my name is Sabrina Miller" in dutch, which I have ancestors from. It is like this: Hallo, mijn naam is Sabrina Miller.
The other tool that I explored is Google SketchUp. This tool is awesome and other teachers found this out too. They have a gallery on it that has some of the sketches that were made, there are some from a few high school students.
http://picasaweb.google.com/gallery.sketchup/EducationK12#
This program is to sketch a 3D drawing. It even has a SketchUp for K-12 Education page that explains everything. Students can even use it for free, and nothing beats that in today's school system. There is a video of a high school history teacher that had his students read the first few weeks then they had to design the town using this tool.
When I become a teacher, I plan to use this tool whenever I can. Having my elementary students read a story then have them design the house that they think the character lived in. Such a fun tool and great for our students to use technology to learn.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
Thing #11
The easiest feed that I found was a toss up between Google Blog and Topix. They both work very well but Topix is for those of us that don't really know what we are looking for. Google Blog is a great tool to use if you are searching for something specific and it works just like the search engine Google, which is also a very handy tool. Topix gives you more of the news and top stories, not blogs.
Technorati was confusing to me. The home page looks just like the Yahoo! home page. Then whatever subject of blog you are searching for you can either search for it in the bar at the top of just go clicking on buttons. They even have a blog directory of more than one million blogs. Of course they are all in categories but that is still a lot of blogs to go searching through.
During my travels with the feeds I found a new blogger, Dave Sladkey. He is a math teacher from Naperville, Illinois. He not only has a blog about the fun he has in his math class but in his other blog, Energizing Brain Breaks, he gives some very interesting moves to perform in your class to energize your students.
It was very informative to see all the different styles of searching tools that are out there in the great beyond of the internet.
Technorati was confusing to me. The home page looks just like the Yahoo! home page. Then whatever subject of blog you are searching for you can either search for it in the bar at the top of just go clicking on buttons. They even have a blog directory of more than one million blogs. Of course they are all in categories but that is still a lot of blogs to go searching through.
During my travels with the feeds I found a new blogger, Dave Sladkey. He is a math teacher from Naperville, Illinois. He not only has a blog about the fun he has in his math class but in his other blog, Energizing Brain Breaks, he gives some very interesting moves to perform in your class to energize your students.
It was very informative to see all the different styles of searching tools that are out there in the great beyond of the internet.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Thing #10
RSS Reader is a great tool to use. I get tired of going to different site to see what, and if, they added since the last time I went to their page. I subscribed to:
Cool Cat Teacher Blog
Free Technology for Teachers
TED Talks (Video)
Teaching Ideas Additions
Latest Activity on Elementary Tech Teachers
Each of these sites post ideas and new projects that teachers will be able to use in their classroom. Teachers do not have very much free time to try to come up with new great ideas to show their class something fun and great to help with learning. Of course, all teachers can look at something and think to themselves the wonders things they could do with a roll of paper in order to teach the class.
Now that technology has improved then we, as teachers, have a huge bag of tricks we can pull from. We can add our own ideas to the bag of tricks for another teacher to use. Teachers have to talk to each other and share ideas since the world continues to change and the students we teach are becoming smarter every year.
RSS can help every teacher become a great teacher as long as they are willing to put in the effort and use the wonderful technologies that are available to them.
Cool Cat Teacher Blog
Free Technology for Teachers
TED Talks (Video)
Teaching Ideas Additions
Latest Activity on Elementary Tech Teachers
Each of these sites post ideas and new projects that teachers will be able to use in their classroom. Teachers do not have very much free time to try to come up with new great ideas to show their class something fun and great to help with learning. Of course, all teachers can look at something and think to themselves the wonders things they could do with a roll of paper in order to teach the class.
Now that technology has improved then we, as teachers, have a huge bag of tricks we can pull from. We can add our own ideas to the bag of tricks for another teacher to use. Teachers have to talk to each other and share ideas since the world continues to change and the students we teach are becoming smarter every year.
RSS can help every teacher become a great teacher as long as they are willing to put in the effort and use the wonderful technologies that are available to them.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Thing #9
I used ImageChef to create the two images above. ImageChef has many different types of creators that is offered. It ranges from photo frames to word mosaics. This is a very fun site and you can even create your own design.
Using this program in the classroom will be very fun for the students. We could take pictures of the students and put their picture in one of the many photo frames. Making signs like these and hanging them around the classroom is a wonderful way to make it more personal.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Thing #8
I used Hockneyizer to create my photo. It was really easy to do. I could have made it look like a bunch of Polaroid frames to make up my photo. Using this tool would be a new way to show the students how to create a new image out of something plain. The other flickr tools would be handy in the classroom to see if the students could create something new out of something old. On art projects, since funding for that has gone down, we could have them use Spell with flickr to create a word then print it out and they would get to color it how they want to. This would be great for Mothers and Fathers Day.
As for sharing pictures online, I think if we were to make a class flickr account then it would have to be private and only give access to the pictures to the parents of the students. We would have to have the parents permission to upload the pictures of their child first.
Thing #7
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smiller2010/6866880307/lightbox/
Using Flickr was a new experience for me, I have never used just a photo sharing website. I have shared photos on Facebook before but it just takes so long to upload pictures from different photos in different folders on my computer. With Flickr I just kept picking photos from the different folders and when I picked all of them, I clicked 'upload' and all the pictures were uploaded at the same time. The system went down the list, one by one, and gave it a green 'check' when it was uploaded. I really liked the option of marking on the map where the picture was taken.
Using this site in the classroom would be very nice. Showing the students a picture of a different culture and having them guess where and when the picture was taken. Looking at the older photos and discussing the background and the clothing would be a great way to show the class how the world around us has changed and the change in the fashion world. We could even compare an old photo and a more recent photo of the same location and have the students tell us what has changed and why they think that changed between the times.
Using Flickr was a new experience for me, I have never used just a photo sharing website. I have shared photos on Facebook before but it just takes so long to upload pictures from different photos in different folders on my computer. With Flickr I just kept picking photos from the different folders and when I picked all of them, I clicked 'upload' and all the pictures were uploaded at the same time. The system went down the list, one by one, and gave it a green 'check' when it was uploaded. I really liked the option of marking on the map where the picture was taken.
Using this site in the classroom would be very nice. Showing the students a picture of a different culture and having them guess where and when the picture was taken. Looking at the older photos and discussing the background and the clothing would be a great way to show the class how the world around us has changed and the change in the fashion world. We could even compare an old photo and a more recent photo of the same location and have the students tell us what has changed and why they think that changed between the times.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Thing #6
messenger.yahoo.com
I choose Yahoo! Messenger because it is so easy to use. Being a military spouse, I was able to talk to my husband while he was deployed. I had an app on my phone so even if I wasn't at my computer and he was online then we could still talk. The useful features on this site that can be used in the school or classroom are to be able to connect two different classrooms from different parts of the country or world. It could be like a modern day pen-pal. The different students can talk on the computer in the classroom or at home. Some of the features include being able to send videos, picture, making phone calls, and being able to video chat with someone. I adore Yahoo! Messenger for all these reasons.
I choose Yahoo! Messenger because it is so easy to use. Being a military spouse, I was able to talk to my husband while he was deployed. I had an app on my phone so even if I wasn't at my computer and he was online then we could still talk. The useful features on this site that can be used in the school or classroom are to be able to connect two different classrooms from different parts of the country or world. It could be like a modern day pen-pal. The different students can talk on the computer in the classroom or at home. Some of the features include being able to send videos, picture, making phone calls, and being able to video chat with someone. I adore Yahoo! Messenger for all these reasons.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Thing #5
I read Web 2.0 is not about version numbers or betas and Web 2.0: A Guide for Educators. Both of these articles were very informative. Tim Bray explained what Web 2.0 is all about, I didn't really have a firm grasp on the idea of it until I read this article. Once I figured out what exactly it was I realized that I already knew what it was, in short it's similar to Yahoo! Answers. For myself, viewing the collection of people sharing ideas and discussing issues is just like asking your neighbor a question and getting back an answer from your whole street. Some people will give you a bad answer but you will get the right answer back from someone.
The children today were raised on electronics. Our students were raised by computers, video games, and the TV. Most kids can operate a computer easier than most adults. With this in mind then we as teachers would bring in what they relate to the most to help them learn better. Students in schools today can come home and not have any homework yet they can always get on the internet and work on math or can read a book and take the comprehension test on the computer.
If the students in school right now are doing all this with computers then just imagine that by the time our grandchildren are going to school they won't even have to get out of the house to go to school. They could be sick at home in bed yet not miss a day of school. We may not have to wait that long.
The children today were raised on electronics. Our students were raised by computers, video games, and the TV. Most kids can operate a computer easier than most adults. With this in mind then we as teachers would bring in what they relate to the most to help them learn better. Students in schools today can come home and not have any homework yet they can always get on the internet and work on math or can read a book and take the comprehension test on the computer.
If the students in school right now are doing all this with computers then just imagine that by the time our grandchildren are going to school they won't even have to get out of the house to go to school. They could be sick at home in bed yet not miss a day of school. We may not have to wait that long.
Thing #4
I commented on Kelley Poole, Alyssa Kniffen, Shelby Lynn's, Ashley Paul, and Lincoln Farmer blogs. Commenting on other peoples blogs helps them know that they have reached someone. If someone was to just create a blog and just wanted to write their own thoughts, that's great, but most people that start a blog is because they have something they wanted to share. People like to know that they are not just talking into space. When we read or hear something that moves us in a good way or a bad way, we like to voice our agreement or disagreement. Just like our mothers use to say "if you don't have something nice to say then don't say anything at all," yet we can disagree with other people but we have to do it in a respectful manner.
I commented on the five people that I did because they had something to voice of their own and I just felt the need to tell them that they were not the only ones in this big world that felt that way.
I am following On an e-Journey with Generation Y and Coolcatteacher. E-Journey is a teacher from Australia that works in a school in the middle of nowhere. She takes her students to far away places by using technology. That is a wonderful way to use technology in the classroom. Coolcatteacher is a woman that has taught for many years and I believe that I can learn a lot from her.
I commented on the five people that I did because they had something to voice of their own and I just felt the need to tell them that they were not the only ones in this big world that felt that way.
I am following On an e-Journey with Generation Y and Coolcatteacher. E-Journey is a teacher from Australia that works in a school in the middle of nowhere. She takes her students to far away places by using technology. That is a wonderful way to use technology in the classroom. Coolcatteacher is a woman that has taught for many years and I believe that I can learn a lot from her.
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