Thing 7: Flickr...woah

I never used Flickr before this assignment. At first I was unsure of how I felt about the site. I found that I needed to be pretty specific in order to get the kind of image that I was searching for, but one thing I do enjoy about the site is how many images it has. It surpasses google images! I think it is something that could be very useful for students while blogging or creating projects, and it would be vital in teaching them about copyright and fair use! Students and teachers will have to remember to give credit to the photographer. However, I had a great deal of difficulty trying to upload the image.
I did have to ask another student for help, but now that I know it will forever be engrained in my brain!

                             Credit goes to cyberimaging http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyberimaging/

The picture I chose to upload is an image of ballet. I am taking an intro to dance class, and though I am not the best at it, I see some of the people in class doing it correctly. I find it so beautiful. It is simply breath taking to witness. I think it is important for someone involved in one aspect of the fine arts to have a respect for other aspects of the arts as well.

Here is the link!
 http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyberimaging/4414132038/

Thing 1: Lost but not forgotten

Habits, every single one of us have them! It was extremely easy to pin point the habit that I have the hardest time with. I have always had trouble having confidence in my work. Habit four is my kryptonite! It is something that I have always dealt with and will have to continue to deal with. You learn best when you are confident in yourself! The habit that is easiest for me is PLAY! I am a firm believer in using a good time for an educational advantage. There is no better way of learning than getting up and getting involved. The things you remember most are the things you associate with an activity or something that you have done. It is important as a future educator to know your strengths and weaknesses!

Thing 12: Google it!

Oh, how I love google!!! I use it for pretty much everything. The two tools I found most useful are google translator and google alert. Google translator would be significantly important to me as an educator. If I end up teaching theatre at a high school level I may have plays with foreign phrases in it. I will not only need to know what is being said, but I will also have to know how to pronounce what is being said. Google alert is important for keeping up with notifications from blogs and the news! I can be in touch with everything going around me. Sometimes it feels like I am so caught up in everything that I do not know what is even going on where I live. It will be a great way to make sure my students are aware of what is going on as well. A big part of theatre is knowing what is going on in society. It will encourage my students to use google as more than just a search engine!

Thing 11: Feeds. Feeds. Feeds.

I used all three methods of searching for feeds, and I found that I enjoyed the google blog search the most. I had a lot of trouble finding the blogs that interested me using Technorati. I may not have been specific enough. It is definitely something that I will have to continue to play around with. I found quite a few blogs about theatre education and theatre in general that I think I will really enjoy. They will help me with some ideas to use in the classroom, and they will keep me involved in the theatre community. Any time you search theatre, you can find some crazy things. So, of course, I  ran across some crazy blogs and feeds on theatre! People create wild shows and write about their experiences. Some how when i searched theatre blogs, after a few pages I started getting some blogs on the middle east, and that definitely blew my mind. I searched for blogs using my google reader, and then I would look for blogs related to ones that I found interesting. It was a big web of blog hunting!

Thing 10: RSS...WHAT?

Well, this is pretty awesome! It will be so easy to keep up with blogs that I want to read now! I know I would have never actually kept up with any blogs, because it would have been difficult to remember all the ones I enjoyed. I could introduce this to my students in order for them to find blogs that they are interested in and have them introduce the blogs to the class as well. It will cause the students to get on the internet, involved and active! This technology is especially important for educators because it will bring all educators closer and communicate new ideas to each other effectively. This is something that every educator should have in order to stay up to date with all the new research and technology in education. It is a great way for fresh teachers to get ideas from seasoned veterans as well!

Thing 9: Generators!!!

http://www.warningsigngenerator.com/

http://memegenerator.net



 

 

 

These are two of my creations! I had a lot of fun looking up different kinds of generators. The first one is a sign that I would use in a younger classroom. The signs would be useful in creating a positive classroom enviroment. The second generator I used was a meme generators. I see these things all the time, and they crack me up! This would most likely be used in an older classroom to bring some comic relief to the room. The students could use these to create signs and sayings to hang around the room. They would feel more like a community.

 

It was so easy to create them! All you needed was to know what you wanted to say. On both sites you just pick whatever image you want, and then you add your text. It is something anyone with basic knowledge of technology can figure out!

Thing 8: Mash up!

I had a lot of fun exploring all of these sites! I created a mosiac. There are so many ways that students can use these tools in the classroom. They can be used in a project to show a connection between common ideas. (Everything in my mosiac is about New York.) Or they could use these tools to give their projects a little something extra. They are a good way to encourage creativity using technology. Students now have a way to be artistic without the extra pressure of drawing. I know I always got stressed out when drawing was involved, because I knew it was not my strongest talent. It also encourages students to use real life images and examples! Personally, I am not a fan of uploading my images and making them public. However, it depends on the content. If I took some amazingly beautiful scenery photos, I would definitely not be opposed to uploading them. It all depends on the content and situation, I guess.

Photo Credits:  1. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/0belix/8063680973/">air</a>, 2. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenwalford/6280799021/">New York City</a>, 3. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kali-kold/5756890544/">New York New York</a>, 4. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cubagallery/4091796133/">New York Subway People</a>, 5. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcdead/3754311905/">New York - Brooklyn Bridge Sunset</a>, 6. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/i_travel_east/3451296269/">New York Memories...</a>, 7. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmiers2/465662237/">Horse drawn carriage - Central Park - NYC - New York</a>, 8. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattmawson/4240499261/">New York</a>

Thing 6: And the Award Goes To....

The tool that I selected from the Web 2.0 Awards nominee list was the app called Remember the Milk. It is a really nifty, free app that allows you to create a goal setting list or to do list. The list can be accessed from pretty much everywhere without having to go back to the website. It is a good tool for students to use that will keep them up to date on their assignments and upcoming projects in the classroom. It can been set up with google calender and reminders can be sent directly to your phone or email. It would be a tool to better increase productivity outside of the classroom. One thing I do not particularly enjoy about the site is that in order to explore you have to become a member. It is not too much of an ordeal because it is free, but it would be nice to be able to just look around. The site I accessed the tool from is http://www.rememberthemilk.com/ .

Thing 5: Web 2.0???

Before I read these perspectives I had never even really heard of the term Web 2.0. I read Web 2.0 A Guide for Teachers and Web 2.0 is Not About Version Numbers or Betas. Both of these discussed the importance of the web becoming bigger and better than ever. In the past, the web was just used for research. Now, the web is used to communicate and to educate! Web 2.0, to me, means a better community on the web that allows for connections and communication between people from around the world discussing and sharing beliefs and knowledge. Web 2.0 means so much for the future! Schools will be able to use the web to have students, parents, and teachers all connected on the web. It will create a better and more cohesive learning enviroment. Parents will be able to learn what is going on in the classroom, participate in discussions, and maybe even be able to see the final products of their child's hard work. Web 2.0 means an interactive learning enviroment unlike any other before!

Thing 4: Commenting Community

It is very important to comment on other blogs in the blogosphere because it creates a sense of community. You know that you are being heard, and it allows you to hear feedback on your posts. You may find people who agree with you wholeheartedly, and then you may find people who can open your eyes to completely new ideas. A point I find very important in one of the readings is that people want feedback, no matter how much they proetest. If we did not someone to comment on our blog, we would have chosen to keep it private. Another point I find interesting and important is you comment because it is the right thing to do and you want to join the conversation. The purpose of commenting is not to attempt to "troll" or destroy someone's belief; the purpose is to talk about something that you care about.

The five student blogs I commented on are : Belofatto's Blog, Cookie's 23 things blog, Finger's Blog, 23 Things Every Future Teacher Should Know by Samantha Fargis, and Tori Hickman's 23 Things. The two outside blogs I commented on were Preparation and Problem Solving by Maggie Perrino and Are We Writing Loud Enough? The Diary 21 Project by Nicole Lorenzetti. In the student blogs, I focussed on the things I liked that they had done in their blogs. In Samantha's I talked about how I enjoyed her mash ups, in Cookie's I commented on the use of comic creators in the classroom, in Finger's blog I commented on having confidence in our work and how we share a common problem, in Samantha's blog I commented on our avatars, and in Tori Hickman's blog I commented on using a blog effectively in a classroom. In the outside blog, Preparation and Problem Solving, I commented about my apprehensions on entering the profession of theatre education. In the other outside blog, Are We Writing Loud Enough? The 21 Project, I commented on the importance of inventiveness and creativity used when students create their own work.

Thing 3: Blogs and the Classroom

I never truly thought about using a blog as an aide in my classroom until I looked at the EduBlog Insights. A blog created by a teacher can be used in an infinite amount of ways. If I were to keep a blog as I continued my career in teaching, I would use it to monitor my progress and the students' progress in the classroom and to keep the parents involved in everything that is going on. I can express whether or not I felt a certain subject area was fully grasped, and I can state whether I feel we need to go back and review a certain topic. The blog could be used as an effective tool for me to communicate with parents about any concerns they may have and keep them involved in their child's educational journey! I definitely see myself having a classroom blog in the future!