Thing #8: RSS

This is a great time saving, organizing device. Obviously it is great for following news stories and updates but for me it is a fast way to check for updates on sites that I forget what I have already looked at or don't visit very often. For example after going through a site looking for relevant flipcharts in my classroom, this would quickly allow me to check for all updates. Similarly for at home for topics for which I am only interested in updates. For example looking for new vergetarian recipes or weekly commentaries on bible stories or holidays for kids. I love being able to have all areas of interest go to one account/address.

Thing #7 Google

I am amazed at all the features available through Google.

I created a google calendar. I would love to get organized enough to use this tool for our family as it was very user friendly. Being able to display the calendar in different formats is nice and being able to access it remotely by multiple family members is very useful. I can see setting up a course calendar in Google for the students to be able to view with particular assignments and test dates.

I also set up a Google alert to follow summer kid activities in Houston. Again tracking a news topic is a great classroom activity.

I played a little with Google docs and can see how it would be useful for student write ups that were done in groups.

Google Advanced search let me get some very specific references. It was helpful in looking for videos in Algebra which I could integrate into my classroom presentations next year. I can also see having the students look for 2-3 relevant videos on a specific topic and then have them present them to the class as way to increase student interaction.

Thing #6: Mashups

The mashup applications seem endless. I am amazed at all the ways you can organize and integrate photos by combining Flickr with these other applications. I am way behind the times! I'm lucky if I get the photos off the camera and printed at Walgreens once or twice a year!

In addition in the classroom setting, I can see having each student generate their own trading card as a way to introduce themselves to the class or as a component of our Social, Emotional Learning Curriculum. They could also use them to present step by step procedures for solving different algebraic problems. The Motivational print option would be great for creating posters for the classroom as well. The FD Toys site has some great applications that would turn photos into wonderful gift ideas as well. Mappr also is interesting with its geographic tie in and Trip Planner is a great tool.

Thing #5: Flickr

Flickr looks like a great site to organize student photos and comments for class projects. I liked that the privacy settings for the geo photo option could be different from those set for general photos. There are so many photos under each tag that searching for certain photos on a topic would be very time consuming. It is fun to just look through and grab what ever attracts your attention that you think you might use later on. The descriptions of the copyright types was very clear.

Thing #4: Registering

I have now registered on line.

Thing #3 thoughts on setting up blog.

The only difficulty I encountered was in getting the avatar to post. I could not do it with the html/java script option. I had to save it as jpeg and copy it. My kids had fun helping design the avatar.

Thing #3: Comment on 7 1/2 Habits

The easiest one for me is is to "Begin with the end in mind". I am very good at organinizing things and planning projects to achieve a goal in an organized manner.

The hardest one for me is "Viewing problems as challenges". I tend to get frustrated with problems that interfere with my achieving my goal in a timely manner.

I am a firm believer in Life long learning and am very excited to explore some aspects of the world wide web that are not familiar to me.

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