Thing #4

Commenting helps to create a sense of community because it -is- the community. Without comments there is no exchange of ideas. Without comments there are no new opinions or feedback. A blog without comments is just an online journal. I found the "Be Controversial?" technique helpful and the idea that not responding to comment could be a form elitism. I love to put controversial news articles onto my SarahLiz.info site to see what other people's opinions are. This may be a bit more dangerous for your class website since parents can be (sometimes) easily offended.

I chose to comment on fellow students' blogs of people I actually interact with during class time. I think this helps because I have already been introduced to the person. I can put a face to the opinions and voice behind the words. I commented on Kelsi Clark's blog, Alex Hilton's blog, Catherine Barlow's blog, Samantha Fargis' blog, and Andrea Watt's blog.

For the non-student blogs I commented on Literacy and Laughter's post about their Book Lovers Bash and on 2nd Grade Stuff's post on Classroom Dojo (A classroom management app).

I think that I may be in love with the Classroom Dojo app. I commenting on the post about how I think it could be used to inform parents of their student's behaviors in class. I all looked at some of the other comments and found that several of the teacher's that used it loved it. On the Book Lovers Bash post I commented about how I liked to contrast of being rewarded for doing a good job on a quiet activity could be rewarded by allowing them a very active and noisy activity - like a dance party.
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I commented on a different thing of each of my fellow students. I wanted to pick some that I felt I could offer some assistance on and a new perspective. I tried to ask at least one question in each comment to try and encourage a reply and help build a connection. I think that it is very important to ask for feedback when you are giving a person feedback. It's great to know if what you said helped or if the connection you were hoping to make failed so that you can learn and grow and try different methods.
-On Kelsi's I commented on her thing 5 about school 2.0 and the possibly that good, traditional practices might fade away in favor of technology.
-On Alex's I commented on her thing 7 about various methods of learning and creating stories from random pictures.
-On Catherine's I commented on her thing 3 about how much I liked her idea of using a student run blog about school difficulties. I also warned about relying too much on student guidance and to remember that you are the leader.
-On Samantha's  I commented on her thing 1 about how context clues have influenced my confidence in absorbing the right/important material. I asked if she thought her lack of confidence might be a gap in her early education, and something teacher's might should stress to their students to learn.
-On Andrea's I commented on her thing 4 about how I view my internet identity as separate or as only a small portion of my true identity and how that assists me in my management of my blog.

Thing #12

Google Translate is, to me, an obvious choice for the most useful of the four Google tools listed. Google translate can work for any grade level. High school students could translate websites to expand their horizons and young children could use it to help them master numbers and simple words or phrases in other languages. Google Calendar would also be quite helpful for sharing a class schedule to parents and other teachers. It would incorporate well into a blogger site, or just about any other type of blog site because Google tends to make very universal tools.

I stumbled across some other tools that Google offers, and they actually have a page just for Educators. I absolutely LOVED Google LitTrips. It's a free service where other educators have taken their favorite book (across all grade levels) and incorporated that different places that the characters visit in that book into Google Earth. Students can look at real world pictures of the different places and learn trivia as well. I would love to play around some more and see what else Google offers, and I would encourage my classmates to do the same.

Thing #5

Web 2.0 refers to how to internet/websites have changed. It is used to describe the new level of accessibility that the internet provides to its users. Social media and blogging have changed the way the internet is used. Anyone can start up a blog without having a background in web design. The takeover of Facebook and Twitter into how we connect to one another is also a part of Web 2.0.

School 2.0 refers to the varying opinions of modern schools and education should approach and use new and ever-changing technology with today's students. It refers to school reforms, with regard to technology. There is not just one widely accepted School 2.0 belief/plan/attitude. Each person holds a different view of what education should look like in relation to all of the new technologies and in how our students can keep up with "the global job market". However, I believe that it is vitally important for every new teacher to decide where they stand and to take action to see their vision of School 2.0 come into reality.

Thing #11

Of the three tools given (Google Blog Search, Technorati, and Topix.net) I found Technorati to be my favorite. Google Blog Search was the most helpful for finding blogs, but Technorati actually found news article and other information that I would have never found on Google. Topix.net confused me too much. I didn't understand how to search or what I was searching for. I found that it said that it didn't search weblogs, and  didn't really understand why it was even an option to look at. It had a terrible layout and was very ad-heavy. The easiest method was to search by topic on Google Blog Search; I found a really great website called Literacy and Laughter through that search. It didn't actually have an RSS feed button that I could find, but I book marked it because it's a really great class website that's updated frequently. I also found a great article on how to properly use Wikipedia in the classroom via Technorati.

Thing #10

RSS seems like quite a practical application, in theory. I think that RSS feeds get harder to search and expand everyday since more blogs are created everyday. I also find it hard to locate blogs that I find credible. I would worry, a little bit, about my RSS feed becoming stagnate if I weren't searching other avenues for new information and ideas. So, at that point I wouldn't find the feed very useful anymore because I really love to search. I bookmark sites that I like and check back periodically, and I like being able to control what I see and when I see it. I would use a RSS feed if I found a site (or sites) that updated daily or close to daily, and I was interested in almost every single post. Other than that I like to make rounds through my bookmarks once a week or every few weeks.

Thing #9

I found this "comic strip" at the comic strip generator website. I think it is a great way to show students that even if you find it on the internet, and the website indemnifies itself - that does not permit you to use a copyrighted image any way you want. Disney is not known for being understanding when their characters are used without their permission.

Thing #8

I thought that this made a pretty mosaic. I used the mosaic maker. I don't see any really useful application for this educationally, especially not in comparison to other technologies that can be used in the classroom. I also would not use this in my personal life, because I am not a fan of changing photos. Either the photo is good by itself or it isn't. I would rather make a mosaic or collage in real life that I could touch and display anywhere I please.

Thing #7

I found this photo by rasamalai on flickr. It is of a montessori style school classroom, and even though it is a Spanish speaking school, probably in a different country than the U.S. the objects speak for themselves. You can tell all of the different things children could learn by playing and interacting with these items. I love the low open shelves for the students, and the interactivity of Montessori story education.

Thing #6 - WordPress

Back in 2009 CNET hosted a contest for the most useful websites/apps. I chose Wordpress from the list of 100 sites. Winner: WordPress.com

I chose this winner because over this past summer break (2012) I wanted to make my own website. So, my husband added my new domain to his account and I began to add different posts about my son or news stories that caught my eye. I was hoping to include research that I found interesting once the semester began. I find that the WordPress system has a lot of options, and I like the interface. My website isn't everything that I want it to be quite yet, but I do really like it. I find it easier to use than the blogger system, but that may just because because I started with WordPress first. The most useful feature is the plugin finder. You can search by the most popular the find what everyone has for the backbone of their website design, or you can search for something specific that you may need for one particular need.

If you are interested here is a link to my website