Thing 7-Flicker

For this blog post,  I chose to explore Flicker and not create an account. I already post to Instagram so I didn't want to create an account that I would most likely not use.

The range of photos on Flicker is unending. Beautiful landscapes,intriguing abstracts, clip art, and portraits were all there. From an educators perspective, the vast amount of photographs could be great asset in the classroom. Photographs can bring to life a topic being discussed and allow students to make connections to real life.

 I selected a photo from the "A Year Ago Today" photo reel. I'm very introspective so the thought of looking back in time at what others posted a year ago intrigued me. I selected the photo entitled "Morning Rays" by Andrew Curtis because it's simply stunning. I can only imagine what the photographer felt and experienced taking the picture. I would love to know that a year ago today, I was standing in that same spot, taking in that view.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewandsarah/6192083789/

Note*-I was unable to attach the image because the photographer has not enabled that option. The link, however, will take you to the beautiful shot.

Thing #6

I selected the website Hulu to explore because I was curious about the website. I've heard great things about it, but I've never actually explored it myself.

Hulu allows viewers to watch full length movies and shows from their computer with little commercial interruption. It is a free site, unless you would like to purchase Hulu plus, which allows for unlimited commercial- free streaming. The site was created by NBC Universal and Fox Entertainment in hopes to help curb online piracy. It had a large variety of movies and shows broken down in several categories.

I think this site could be beneficial in the classroom. Teachers could use the site to show students current news reports, documentaries, and shows that are relevant to a topic being studied. My high school American History teacher often used videos and documentaries during lessons and I personally felt it helped create a greater connection to the material. Teachers could also use clips as an opening for class. Show a selected clip, and then have students write a personal response to what they just viewed.


http://www.hulu.com/

Thing 5: School 2.0

Richard Macmanus' article on Read Write Web best summed up the idea of Web 2.0 . "Web 2.0 is everyday, non-technical people using the Web to enhance their lives and businesses. The fact that so many people are now creating and building on the Web is what the '2.0' signifies."

School 2.0 is, in my opinion, the same thing. It isn't a new version of school, but a great opportunity to take advantage of today's technological gifts.. So many of us had great ideas regarding blogs being used in the classroom. We took just a teacher blog one step further, and made it an interactive living piece of the classroom. I think that epitomizes the idea of School 2.0, which is taking current ideas to new heights.

Schools of the future will be moving forward with greater access to technology. They also  must embrace new and current trends that so many students are comfortable with so as to not appear archaic and out of touch. I fully expect social media, blogs, pod casts, and other technological aids to make an appearance in most classrooms.

Thing 4-Sharing my two cents

I'm really not much for reading blogs.  Other than my few friends who write blogs, I rarely search the Internet for blogs to read or follow. So of course, I rarely comment on anything online. Most of the time, I only see troll like comments that make me want to scream anyway, or they are just one word comments like "yea" or "good point", so this assignment took me out of my comfort zone as a infrequent blog viewer and even more infrequent commentator.

Good meaningful comments can greatly increase the dialogue started by the blog poster. They can allow the blogger to hear other points, or add validation to their original post. I think the two points from the assigned reading that were the most beneficial to me were to leave a meaningful comment and to not be afraid to leave a comment. As I previously said, I never like reading blogs where people only put irreverent one-word comments or ridiculous comments that were totally rude and so far off base that they took the post on a completely different path. I wasn't ever scared to leave a comment per se, but I've just never been in the habit of commenting.

I did comment on the following blogs for the assignment:
CoolSchoolMcCoy -Thing #3
Saragusa- #3
Crane #1
FrankE #3
Cleanup Thoughts #3
I commented on these blogs because we shared similar viewpoints and they had additional ideas to compliment my own blog posts.  I made a point to make a meaningful post and let them know what and why I enjoyed about their post.
Outside of of our class I found blogs of two middle school teachers that I found interesting.
http://middle-school-teacher.blogspot.com/2012/08/no-longer-middle-school-teacher.html
http://www.makingitteacher.com/search/label/Social%20Studies
Middle school teacher's blog talked about the change in enthusiasm from 3rd to 6th grade students. As someone who wants to teach middle school, I have heard this from many educators so I was interested to hear her thoughts.
Making it as a Middle School Teacher's Blog was extremely interesting. Her post on incorporating math into science and social studies lined up directly with the other class I am taking this semester. It was great to read that a teacher has been able to do this and have success with it.

Thing 3-Blogging for the classroom

 As a teaching professional, setting up a blog(s) would be beneficial in several areas. I would create a personal reflection blog where I would list tips, reactions to lessons or methods used in the classroom, share ideas and lesson plans with fellow teachers, and discuss current trends and issues facing today's teachers and schools.

Aside from a personal blog, I would also create a a classroom blog to allow parents to stay informed of important news such as homework assignments, class activities school events. It would also be an excellent avenue to display student work, highlight exceptional students, provide additional resources for student's to explore that compliment class activities.

For older students, a blog could also be a way to facilitate class discussions. Students could even be encouraged to create their own blog to record responses to books or topics, and post assignments.

Thing 2-I think I'm blogging now

As I said in post one, I never thought of myself as a blogger. Although I think I'm pretty interesting, I highly doubted that others would care to read about my daily activities. Not only that, but my technical skills leave a lot to be desired. I always assumed creating a blog would be more trouble than it was worth, but I was pleasantly surprised. Creating the blog was very easy. I already had a gmail account, so setting up the blog took less than one minute! Naming it took a bit more time as it's hard to come up with a clever title with a last name like Samples.

The avatar creation was also simple, but actually getting it to the blog was another story. The instructions posted on 23 things either wouldn't work or I was doing it incorrectly, but nevertheless, I spent a lot of time trying to figure it out. I was finally able to upload the image by saving it to my computer and uploading it as an image. The appearance of the avatar is slightly similar to me, at least as close as I can look to a boxy-cartoon character.

Overall, the blog creation process was extremely simple, but I'm still not sold that a personal blog will ever be in the works for me! Unless, I decide that I'm super interesting after all.

Thing 1: The Lifelong Learner

 'Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death" Albert Einstein

Welcome to my first official blog! I'm excited for this new avenue of my educational training. Creating this blog is very indicative of being a lifelong learner as this is my first foray into the blogisphere. I've never really considered my life to be exciting enough to blog about (unless you're a total fan of kickboxing, potty training, making lunches, and being a child's personal taxi driver!) I also thought it would be much more difficult, but I'll talk more about that in post 2.

When I think of lifetime learning, I imagine a living thing-a plant, a tree, a flower. The moment you stop watering it, it begins to wilt and die. I think of the human mind the same way. When we choose to stop learning, we begin to wilt. We're droopy, not as sharp, we begin to decay. The 7 1/2 habits of lifelong learners are the fertilizer to our minds.  Those who practice these habits have green thumbs and flourish as individuals, team members, and  leaders.

When it comes to my own path of lifetime learning, I think I follow most the habits on a regular basis, although, I struggle with habit 3. Viewing problems as challenges is easier said than done for me. I just view them as a giant problem daring to derail my plans!  Habit four is probably the easiest for me; I do have confidence in my intellectual ability and so far it hasn't failed me yet!

I am looking forward to this class to enhance my technology skills. I'll be the first to admit, when my computer acts crazy, I start looking for CTRL, ALT DEL buttons. The ease of setting up the blog helped start the class off to a good start. Setting up the avatar was a different story, but that's another story for a different post!!