Thing #17 - Delicious

Before joining Delicious, I perused the site; it's easy to use and has a similar background to Facebook...hmmmm.   Honestly, once again I find myself not impressed.  While I understand I would be able to access my bookmarks anywhere instead of just on my computer, I find it just as easy to just type whatever it is I'm looking for into a search engine like Google or Bing.  Many of the same websites will come back, and quite frankly, I don't care what other people say about sites; I will be the judge of whether or not they are useful TO ME.  I saw all the comments on the right side of the page, but again, just because some people find the sites useful doesn't mean I will.  I would rather explore something on my own than go by the comments of strangers.

Personally, I have no interest in sites like this or Pinterest, although I do see some value of using it in the classroom:  teachers and students can share information and it can be useful when writing a research paper.  It's also an easy way go back and quickly access the information one has gathered.  Will I use it in a Special Education math classroom?  Probably not.

Thing #16 - Organizing with Web Tools

I chose iGoogle since I use other Google products and find them to be really user friendly.  I doubt I'll make it my homepage since my Mac has all that information already available on the Dashboard.  However, it is a handy tool - it's like a one-stop for everything you need.  I added widgets for quotations, moon phases, movies, translation and currency converters.  Here is a screen shot of my iGoogle page:

I'm not a fan of creating online to-do lists; pretty sure I mentioned that in a previous blog.  I like to have a tangible list I can carry around with me and manually cross things off as I go.  It gives me a sense of accomplishment and I feel it takes WAY less time to write things on my list than it would be to input them into a device of some sort.

Thing #15 - Wikis

The first time I encountered a Wiki was about 5 years ago when I was working as a one-on-one instructional aide to a 9th grader with autism.  His English class was presented a lesson by the librarian on research, emphasizing MLA citation and the pitfalls of some websites when doing research.  I already knew about Wikipedia, but I had never seen a classroom Wiki before that.

I thought it was pretty interesting that students from all over could collaborate without actually having to be face-to-face.  I think this is a valuable tool.  Of course students must be aware that other students are editing these Wikis and not all information may be 100% reliable.  It is important that they cross-reference items to be sure they have the most up-to-date and useful information.

I may or may not use a Wiki...with all the other possibilities out there it may not be worth it.  Also, some schools require the teachers have a personal website, so why would I stress myself out running two?

The Sandbox thing was actually a bit annoying.  I did not find it user-friendly at all and spent too much time fumbling around on the site just to figure it out.  But I did figure it out and posted something about Thing #7 on the front page.  I think it may just be easier to create a Facebook page for my class.

Thing #14 - Go with the flow

I had some fun playing around with Gliffy, as you can see by the image above.  To me, it was quite user friendly and intuitive.  I can definitely see some uses in my classroom.  In math many times we have to take steps to work through a formula and a 'map' would be a good way to illustrate these steps.  These flow charts are useful for specific items that depict a sequence of activities.

I also enjoyed using Bubbl:

These types of mind maps are visual and can help my students structure their information and ideas.  I think this is useful for brainstorming ideas because they aren't as structured as a flow chart.

Thing #13 - Web-based applications

I found Zoho and Google Docs to be quite similar and both user-friendly.  I don't really prefer one over the other and since I have Microsoft Office on my computer, I doubt I would personally use them.

However, I have been in groups before that prefer to use the online web apps because it's easier than downloading the document from an email, editing it, saving it and then uploading it to an email to send out to your group members.

If everyone has access to it, than anyone in the group can go in and edit it easily.  I see the value in having our students use this when they are working on group projects because not everyone will have Microsoft Office at home; but if they have the internet, they can get to Zoho or Google Docs!

here is one of the documents I created in Zoho:

https://writer.zoho.com/public/bdbd51b85b9d8b8e07304f5e0dd452f3b1010d9fecb8b4ee1fba11c44bbf3cbc9ece6500d2ba5d8a

Thing #12 - Google

I have been using Google for a long time now and have been aware of all the options it offers.  I'm not one who likes online or digital calendars, I prefer them to be tangible.  I like to be able to write on them and carry them with me.  Since I don't have a smart phone and I don't carry my iPad around with me, paper will have to do!  But, for many people digital calendars are a good thing, so I decided to play around with it.  I created a calendar with some upcoming assignment due dates.  I also set a 'test' alarm for 10 minutes later, with a pop-up reminder for 5 minutes before the 'start time'...and sure enough, an alert popped up, even while surfing another page.  Definitely good for someone who is often on their computer, or has alerts sent to their phone, and who takes the time to enter in appointments and other important reminders.  I may be able to make a group calendar for my students; however, when I clicked on the 'share' link, this is what popped up:

I don't know how to share it with anyone that's not on Google, besides having to enter their email addresses.  Another student put the URL to his calendar in his blog, and when I clicked on it, his didn't come up for me, so I'll give it a go, maybe it will work for you:

https://www.google.com/calendar/render?tab=mc


I also played around with translator, which could assist students who speak multiple languages.  I have a translator app on my laptop, so I compared the one I have to Google...here are the results of the following sentences:    Welcome to the United States; my name is Adrienne and I will be your tour guide for the next three weeks.  I'm really looking forward to our trip together!

Google translate:  Bienvenidos a los Estados Unidos, mi nombre es Adrienne y yo seré su guía para las próximas tres semanas. Tengo muchas ganas de nuestro viaje juntos!

Mac app translator:  Recepción a los Estados Unidos; mi nombre es Adrienne y seré su guía turístico para las tres semanas próximas.  ¡Estoy mirando realmente adelante a nuestro viaje junto!

A little bit of a difference!  :)

Again, I didn't see anything to share this, so here's the URL...

http://translate.google.com/?hl=en&tab=cT#en/es/Welcome%20to%20the%20United%20States%3B%20my%20name%20is%20Adrienne%20and%20I%20will%20be%20your%20tour%20guide%20for%20the%20next%20three%20weeks.%20%20I'm%20really%20looking%20forward%20to%20our%20trip%20together!

Thing #11 - using RSS

The three sites were all pretty easy to navigate; my least favorite was Topix - I didn't find their search engine (Blekko) very impressive and didn't find anything interesting to me.  Google was definitely easiest, and I'm sure some of that comes from using Google frequently over the last several years.  Technorati has some cool features, but not much under the search "education"...when I searched for "teaching" I found some good sites that I added to my RSS feed:

http://www.teachthought.com

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/2013/01/insiders_not_sanguine_on_feder.html

On the Google blog search, I found the following:

A technology blog by Jennie Magiera, a digital learning coordinator for a group of 25 public schools in Chicago.  Her site is easy to navigate and it has useful and appropriate links to other education websites:

http://teachinglikeits2999.blogspot.com

A lot of the special education blogs I found were people sharing stories, I guess in some way to blow off steam.  Nothing inappropriate really, just talking about the difficulties of special ed, some of the behaviors of students and what NCLB means for sped.

Here is an example of a blog I probably would NOT follow... I can't find a name or any other qualifications for this teacher... and it's more of just stories of things that happen day to day.

http://tennesseesped.blogspot.com

This special education law blog seems to have some useful information, although it is geared towards parents, it may be a good thing for teachers to be aware of:

http://blog.jeffmarcuslaw.com

Most of the sites I came across did not have the RSS feed symbol (or one did, but when I clicked on the symbol, it wouldn't connect); they did have a share button for Google +, but I did not utilize it.  I was able to add two blogs to my feed.

I liked how Technorati had different categories for blogs; that makes it easy to focus in on your subject of interest.  I didn't really find anything unusual or confusing; except maybe the Topix website; that just seemed like another Yahoo or something similar.