Thing #12

Creating Community Through Commenting
After looking through the suggested sites for blogging/commenting, I found the Cool Cat Teacher Blog to be the most helpful to me. For one, it seemed to be written in a more simple way, which I need when it comes to technology. Another reason I like it was because it had tips for how to apply your new skills to teaching.
The first point I really liked was to make sure you are typing meaningful comments. Educational blogs aren't exactly facebook pages and probably need more thought put into commenting. Your comments should show the blog author that you hear them.
Another point on the Cool Cat Teacher blog that I liked was that you should actually teach commenting to your students. They need to know the etiquette and tips on commenting since they are also trying to navigate through this 21st century technology stuff!

Thing #11 - Library Thing

I am no stranger to Library Thing! However, in the past I have only used it to find books and look at the reviews listed for the books. On this visit, I checked out the groups. I found a few interesting ones, like "Librarians Who Library Thing." This one will be good to frequent to keep up with what other librarians are doing or what they think about library issues. I also liked the group YA Lit, as that is something I'm interested in and now that I'm not in YA Lit class, I need to hear about new titles! Another interesting group I found was 1001 Books to Read Before You Die. People in that group have posted lists of books they think you should read - another good resource for finding personal reading suggestions!
I also started a list of my favorite titles, but after adding a few, I realized I could be adding titles all night. So, that will be something I will go back to at a later time, when I have more time!

Thing #10

I played around with Cartoon Generator. What a fun tool! I can see myself really getting lost on this site! And having fun doing it! The kids will really like things created from here.

Thing #9

I looked around at some of the educational blogs. I added Cool Cat Teacher Blog and School Library Journal to my Google Reader. I also added a few of the book reviewers' blogs to my reader. This will make checking those blogs better. I often will not search out blogs to read because in the past it has taken so much time to get to each one. With the Google Reader I can subscribe to my favorites and just click on the ones I want to read. This tool will help me keep up with what's going on in the educational world and allow me easy, quick access to new book reviews.

Thing #8

RSS feeds and readers make it very simple to combine all of your favorite information into one place. Instead of having to search all over the internet to go to your favorite sites for news and blogs, all of that information can be located within one reader. I chose to set up a Google Reader account. It is so much easier to simply go there, rather than scroll down my favorites list to find things. My favorites tab was getting really long! I have been able to clean that up and get some of the news sites and blog sites off of there and put them on my reader for easier access. I have always seen notes at the bottom of blogs, saying "subscribe to this blog," and I did not know what that meant. Using the Google Reader will be very beneficial.

Thing #7 - All Things Google

I wasn't aware of all the things that Google has to offer! I have recently used Google Advanced Search and realize how helpful this tool will be - not only now as a grad school student, but as a teacher. When I need to find something specific and presented in a specific way, I can use Google Advanced Search to narrow down what is out there.
I also love, love, love Google Earth!! I play around with it at home - looking up my own address and places I have been and places I'd like to go! At school, I use this to show my students where in the world things are. They get to take a virtual trip and see where things are in relation to where they live. Great tool!

Thing #6

I have been playing around with the mashups and 3rd party sites for a few days now. This will definitely be something that I will need to practice more! This afternoon, I have been looking at the mosaics website and trying to create something through that one. I will probably go back to school in the fall and ask our fabulous computer lab teacher all about these sites and if he knows any tricks to making it easier for the students to use. The mosaic maker would be a great thing for the kids to create supporting something in the curriculum or just on their own using Flickr photos they like.

Thing #5

I enjoyed looking through Flickr. There are so many things in this site that I can add and use in my blog, lessons, power points, etc. I teach fourth grade and these pictures will be great when researching things about Texas or science topics such as animals and their habitats.

Thing # 4

I have now registered my blog - I think! I am still trying to figure my way through the technology maze! I am looking forward to exploring all the things that are out there and discovering cool new tools to use.

Thing #3

Creating this blog has been both fun and frustrating. Selecting the colors, format, and designing the avatar were all the fun parts! Actually applying the avatar was a bit frustrating, but with a little help from my fellow bloggers, I was able to figure it out. I hope with more practice and exploration this blogging process will become easier.

Thing #2

As a lifelong learner, I find setting goals and making a plan to achieve those goals the easiest habit. I enjoy the planning part the most - I am a list maker! And I love to cross things off of the list as a go along! The hardest habit for me is to view problems as challenges. I would much rather things go smoothly and easily and not have any snags in my plan along the way.