Thing 13

After trying out the Zoho writer, I begin to question why I even bought the Microsoft Office software. I made a FREE account with Zoho and it is so shocking to me how much it is like Microsoft word. I loved this feature. It is great that you can save the material online much like LiveText. Only, with the Zoho account, it will never run out. Livetext has an expiration date and it is quite costly. Zoho is such a great website because it is free and so easy to use. I loved this tool and I will definitely continue to explore and use this tool in the future!

Thing 11

For Thing 11, we were suppose to read about all the ways of finding RSS feeds. Of all the different ways, I think the easiest for me was just basically searching through My Google Reader. Many of the others were confusing and I was sort of lost when using them. I like the simpleness of just searching in Google reader and being able to find what I am looking for or what interests me. Of the ones I tried, I think that the "Syndic8.com" was the most confusing. I guess I will just stick to the simple way.
Almost done with the midterm Things!!! Only 12 More Things! WhoopWhoop!

Thing 10

For Thing 10, I created a Google Reader account since I already had a Google Account. It is so much more convenient to be able to access all of those things from one area. I suscribed to many feeds. Some of them include the Leaf Chronicle-Clarksville, Cool Cat teacher, and Fox News. This is a wonderful resource. Not only is it super easy to use but as a teacher I can suscribe to a blog pertaining to a certain lesson and the students can see things from point of views others. Personally, I can use this to stay up to date with happenings around town or the world as well. I will definitely take this Thing with me throughout teaching and life especially since we, as a society, are becoming so advance through technology.

Thing 12

Google is now one of my new favorite website!! I love it. I did not realize until now while doing Thing 12 really how much google has to offer. I choose to explore the Google Calendar and Google Notebook. I tested each out. I really feel like I will continue to use Google Calendar. It is all completely free. You can get updates and events sent to your cell phone and email. It is such a get organizing tool. I really really like it. Google Notebook is something that I may not use everyday. But I can see how we as educators could use this in the future. There is a sharing tool that allows you to send your notebook to email addresses. I didn't send myself my notebook. But I could see us asking our students to write in their Google Notebooks during Bell Ringers in the morning and then send them to our teacher email. I think that Google has so much to offer Education. I love that these things have opened my eyes to this in a whole new light.

Thing 9

Thing 9 was to explore other image generators. Image generators are a great tool for the classroom and personal life. It is very simple and easy to do. It only takes a couple of minutes to have a completely personalized image on your personal picture. It is a great way to enhance any presentation used in class.

Thing 8

I loved this Thing!! I loved looking at all the different mashup options. I choose to use bighugelabs.com. I, also, choose a picture of my lovely little dog. I took this picture not too long ago. Using these different photo websites gives you more to put into your powerpoint. For example, I could change the main picture to a picture of the United States for a Social Studies lesson. And in the powerpoint, I could say something like putting the pieces together. It is just a great idea to give a little extra to your lesson plans.

Thing 7

For Thing 7, We are suppose to explore Flickr. I have explore Flickr before and actually used some of the pictures for projects or powerpoints. I find it very interesting what people will put on Flickr and how much you can use Flickr for. I had no idea until today that you can join groups on Flickr with the same interests that you have. For example, I choose animals as one of my searches and you can join all types of Animal activist groups. You can even join like a Vegan or Vegetarian group. In these groups, you can participate in group discussions. It was so interesting. Another picture that I found that I absolutely love is the O.P.I nail polish!! I love getting my nails done. So I search nails and found this adorable picture!
I would be a little worried about using this in a classroom though. You can upload anything to Flickr. Since I intend on teaching elementary school, I may pull or use pictures for the website but I would not just let my students go exploring. That is to risky...

Thing 6

For my Web 2.0 Awards site, I choose RememberTheMilk. I choose this one because I was rather curious about it. I explored the site and I really like what I found. I created my own account. This website is much like a to-do list. It has a personal, study, and work link. So, for example, if you have an assignment do in class the following day, you can just type in the assignment and then it will notify you when the assignment gets closer to time. This would be a great web 2.0 because since we are looking so forward to the future. This website could substitute a planner in schools. I loved this website and I am pondering continuing to use it.
More Things to come shortly...

Thing 5

School 2.0 means that we had heading quickly towards the future. A future were writing with pencil/pen and paper will be something that only our grandparents did. There are many positive aspects to School 2.0 and Web 2.0. It gives educators a new way of instructing and teaching. Teachers can now add in interactive aspects to every day school life. Interactive aspects that include social networking and online demonstrations. It is truly amazing as to what all is out there in the worldwide web for us to explore and inform students about.

Thing 4

Commenting is a great way to express ones opinion about the blog. When commenting, one must remember to make the comment worth while. If you just leave a "good" comment, you aren't really giving the blogger any real detail or insight to what they are writing. Two other great points that I read were Don't be afraid to blog and You draw attention to your own blog. I had never really thought about how commenting on others blogs gives attention to your own blog. But it's true! By commenting on a blog, in return that blogger is curious about your blog. And the cycle just continues. The five blogs from class that I am following are Anna Canaan, Stephanie Pierce, Heather Atkins, Shanacia Thomasson, and Amanda Bradley. I look forward to learning how to add personal interest blogs in Thing 10 and 11. I did comment on all of the blogs that I am now following. Mainly, I agreed with them or I gave insight into my own decisions.

Looking forward to more THINGS to come

Peace Love & Happiness.

Thing 3

I feel that blogging in an education setting would be extremely useful and helpful. Not only could I use it for reflecting on a day of teaching or a specific lesson plan that worked really well, I could also use it for the students and parents. I think that it would be a great communication tool between the teacher and parents/students. One could start a classroom blog that includes the events and schedule of things to come in class. Students to blog about the different aspects of the classroom. It is always better to write about things to get your mind off of things and to let someone know so to speak. Students could post anonymously that way they would not have to deal with other students knowing that they felt this way. I am currently reading "The Freedom Writer's Diary" by: Erin Gruwell. It is an amazing book. It is comprised of diary entries from the students. Each diary entry is very detailed and some are even quite graphic. But it really does let you know what the students feel be it about lessons or life in general. Each student has a story to share and at the high school level I feel like this would be a great tool to use and instill in the classroom.
Stay tuned for more THINGS! to come :)

Thing 2

For Thing 2, we were to create a blog and an avatar along with posting both to our blog. I really enjoyed doing this. I decided to post blogs under the name of K. Worsham, my first initial of my first name and then my last name. The title of my blog is "Worsham's Junk in the Trunk". I chose this name because I wanted the title to be eye catching. The hardest thing when creating the blog was figuring out where to add/post the avatar. I loved playing around and creating the avatar though. My avatar does resemble me somewhat. However, there are quite a few differences. The easiest thing for me would have to be posting. I love being able to just sit down for a few minutes and post an assignment. At times, I am sure it will be difficult to think of what exactly to write but it is easy for me to reflect on an assignment. A blog is something brand new to me but I am looking forward to making use out of this bit of technology.
Happy Blogging!

Thing 1

After watching the 7 1/2 Things tutorial, I feel that many of the habits are great advice for educators. All 7 1/2 Things should be goals that we as educators strive towards. The habit that may be the hardest for me to adapt to is Thing 4: Have confidence in yourself as a confident, effective teacher. I think that at times everyone will doubt themselves. For me, this will be the most challenging. Having confidence in what I am doing will give me that ability to effectively teach and mentor my students in and out of the classroom. The Thing that I feel will be the easiest for me is Thing 1: Begin with end in Mind. This is a Thing that I try to strive for daily when making goals. Having a good goal means making it measurable. Goals that one sets should be set for a time period that is obtainable. When one has an end in mind, it makes that goal a little bit easier to pace oneself for the goal. I thoroughly enjoyed the tutorial video. I am looking forward more Things to come....