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This is the Sugar Bear. She is one of our Elkhounds. Most elkhounds are gray, but this little lady came out yellow. My mother in law to be named her Sugar Bear and it just kind of stuck. She is a wild woman! (Sugar Bear...not my mother in law). This was my first time using Flickr. And I haven't really used many other photo sharing sites except for like walgreens.com so that I can send albums to people and they can buy their own photos. Flickr was really easy to use and I will probably continue to use it.I'm not too concerned with sharing my pictures in a public place...I do it all the time on Facebook. I do however make sure that only friends can see my pictures on Facebook instead of just anyone. And of course, I am careful about what pictures I post. I was going to post a picture of my fabulous nephew instead of my dog, but then read the part about photo posting etiquette and how it's not too cool to post pics of minors (he's 3). So, Sugar Bear it is....
For this "thing", I picked the Web 2.0 category of "Events" and picked http://upcoming.yahoo.com.I picked this website because since I am still new to Clarksville, my fiance and I are always looking for cool things to do in this town. Upcoming.yahoo.com is a pretty handy little website. All you have to do is put in your town and an entire list of events will come up. You can also narrow the events down by only clicking on sub categories such as "family", "comedy", "music", "politics", "social", "sports" etc. There is also a calendar that you can click on to see what events are going on during a certain day. So, say you were going to be in Atlanta on October 16th and were interested in what was going on in Atlanta that day. You can go to this site and pick the date and location to see a listing of events going on in Atlanta when you will be there. Or if you know there is a particular concert in Nashville but not sure when it is, there is a place to type in keywords. So, if I was looking to see when the next Taylor Swift concert in Nashville was going to be, I would just type in "Taylor Swift", change the location to "Nashville", and it takes you to it along with the date, time, and a place to click on to buy tickets. It's all right there. You can also set it to include events nearby. I think this is really cool and would have liked to have known about this sooner! How convenient! Plus, if you join, (which is free with a yahoo account) you can form your own calendar to hold a list of your events that you are interested in or will be attending. If you are a member you can let the community know you are interested or going to a particular event. Plus, you can see what your friends are going to. Plus being a member means that you can actually add an event. But even if you aren't signed on as a member, you can still find out the important things and find out what is going on where and when. While the first use of this website that comes to my mind would be entertainment, it can also be used in education because there is an actual "education" category. I clicked on education and had it show me all education related events occurring in or around Clarksville over the next 30 days and events such as financial freedom seminars, lectures, free PSAT practice tests, free college counseling, and more popped up. This could be used in the classroom if I was going to require my students to attend some of these events or if they wanted to attend for extra credit. It is also a way for the student themselves to explore what is out there and what could be beneficial to them. Plus educators can add events such as lectures or seminars.I will be using this tool a lot in the future from here on out!
Web 2.0 refers to the "read and write" version of the web rather than the "read only" web. People refer to the "read only" version as Web 1.0 and now we have built on that platform to create what we refer to as Web 2.0. Any "regular person" can be a part of the internet where it used to be where all we could with the internet is use it to find and look up information. Now, ANYONE can create a blog, have a facebook account, post videos on you-tube, create websites, etc, etc, ETC. There really isn't much we can't do. I'm a late learner on most technology and always have been. I still have a pretty basic and boring phone, but it works for me. I also still listen to cd's....even though I have an IPOD. I'm learning though. And I don't think I'm as behind as I could be....I get all my news from the internet. Anytime I need a phone number, I go to the internet. I'm surprised we still have newspapers or phonebooks...who uses them? Technology has replaced all of those things including libraries. I had to write multiple research papers in my online classes last summer and not one time did I step foot into a library. That brings up another point...online classes! Who would have ever "thunk" it?Technology is the future of our education. It's hard for me to grasp how much has changed as far as technology in schools in just the 6 years that have gone by since I got my undergrad. To stay ahead, we have to incorporate it as much as possible in our schools. All the kids are already doing it, so we as future or current educators have to as well. With technology changing all the time, there is no telling where our schools will be in a few years. There probably won't be any more hard copies of anything. Everything will be on computers.
Commenting on other people's blogs shows writers that someone is actually reading their blog! Not only that, but they care enough about what the writer is saying to comment on it. When you comment on a blog, it brings attention to your blog which creates a sense of community. If someone agrees with your comment, they are likely to check out your blog, then you check out theirs, and so on. Joining in on a conversation is the right thing to do when you care about a topic. It gives bloggers a chance to discuss common interests and concerns and share advice. Other points about commenting on blogs that were brought up in the reading discussed "commenting etiquette". One blogger said it's important to say "thanks" to a comment or at least respond to it in some way. The writer should let their readers know that he or she is listening. Looking at the other side of blogging brings me to my next point that was brought up in the reading...the readers commenting on the blog. Don't just comment just to comment....comment only if you really care about the subject being discussed! It's almost rude otherwise. While a "I agree with you" is nice, tell the writer why you agree or care. Makes for much more interesting comments which could lead to more interesting topics of discussion.
Comments I've made on classmates' blogs:
1. Ashley Kettle: I commented on Thing #5 because it seems she and I share feelings of being overwhelmed by Web 2.0. I'm a late learner with most technology....
2. Danielle Murphy: I commented on the fact that she is done! I've been checking her blog out a lot along the way since she has continued to be ahead of everyone. I let her know that I've been reading it and how great it looks.
3. Anita Hicks: I commented on her avatar and on her thing #2. Someone else had commented on recycling so I kept the conversation going since I'm a pretty big believer in recycling.
4. Tiffany Burghardt: I commented on her blog because she cracks me up. She and I both don't get the whole blogging thing. Neither one of us are too terribly interested in reading people's random thoughts....
5. Jake Null: I joined a discussion about posting pics on the internet.
6. While I was working on assignment for another class, I came across Kathy Schrock's Blog. She has her own website where she lists several helpful websites for educators and her blog is all about using web 2.0. Good stuff. I left a comment on how I can use her blog as a learning tool!
7. The Pioneer Woman: I was introduced to this blog in class and I mainly like it for the recipes! I'm always looking for good recipes...not that I have a lot of time to cook these days, but STILL! :) So, I commented on one of her recipes.
I've never really thought about all the ways blogging could be useful in a classroom until now. Keeping a blog can keep my students informed as well as their parents. I can post a calendar of events, classroom expectations, assignments, examples of assignments, and more. It can always be a source for students to refer to if there are any questions. It can also be used as a place for students to post questions, concerns, and comments especially if it is something the students think of while we are not in class. It can keep parents, students, and teachers connected at all times. It would also be great to post photos and small write-ups from class events such as field trips, class projects, and more. I could also provide links for my students to other sites so that they can refer to those sites for an assignment or for their own education advancement. It could also be a way for me to post ways to earn extra credit. I would encourage my students to set up their own blogs if the students were old enough to do so. That way, they could post their own ideas, writings, and photos. Keeping kids involved is one of the major steps to keeping them in school. Having a blog and keeping everyone excited will give each kid ownership in their class and a way to feel like they are a part of something great. Each student having their own blog will also allow them to communicate with other students in their class so that they may do group work. It's also a way for students to communicate with other students around the world. Keeping a blog would be beneficial to me not only to keep my students and their parents involved but also to help me interact with other educators. It will allow me to share ideas and communicate with other teachers.
Setting up the blog was pretty easy for me (fortunately) and fun. It was a little hard for me to come up with a title. I wanted something with my last name in it (and had to do so because the class instructions said to do so). I decided on JAMGRANT because my initials right now are JAG. I am getting married in November and I will then keep my maiden name as my middle name so that my initials will be JGM. My fiance loves my middle name now and thinks I should keep it and throw out my maiden name, because then my initials would be JAM and that's amusing to him. :) So, there you have it, JAMGRANT. Setting up the avatar was pretty entertaining. Lots of different options to play with and experiment with, but in the end, my avatar looks pretty closely to me with blonde hair and green eyes.
7 1/2 HabitsThe hardest habit for me is #3: "View each problem as a challenge". I view problems as problems!!... Something else for me to have to figure out and work through. However, if I am able to train myself to look at problems as challenges, I think I will have a more positive outlook on the task at hand. If I can view these curve balls as challenges, not only will it help me on my problem solving skills, but once the challenge is met (or problem is solved), I can look back and feel good about my accomplishment and my ability to tackle the challenge.The easiest habit for me is #6: "Use technology to your advantage". I use google for everything...everything. If I don't know how to do a math problem, I google it. If I need help in a home improvement project, I google it. I honestly do not know how we survived without the technology we have available today. Everything is at the touch of a button. Things that used to take so much time in finding in a library, now only take a few minutes of surfing on the net. With that being said, I am very excited about learning about the Web 2.0 tools as I work on my masters and work in this class. The world is constantly changing and technology is changing every day. It's a huge part of life and the more I can use it in my classroom, the better it will be for my students. While I do use the internet and facebook and such, there is still so much I do not know. For instance, I've never set up or used a blog. I found setting up my blog to be fun! I hope it is something that I will continue to use. I've looked at other people's blogs but just never felt the need to set up one of my own. I'm happy this class is requiring me to do so so that I can learn more.
