Thing 12

My favorite out of the Google apps are Picasa and Google Translate. These are particularly fun for me. Picasa you can download onto your computer and it automatically updates every single picture on your computer and then allows you to "tag" people in it and then eventually learns peoples faces and can identify them for you. It's particularly useful if you're trying to find a picture of a certain person. You can just go on there and it will show you every picture of that person that is on your computer.

Google Translate is another favorite of mine (remember, I'm a French major) because it helps if you're in a hurry to translate or you're in class and you don't know a word so you just google it on your phone. It's very useful.

Picasa doesn't have a lot of educational use, in my opinion. It's more for personal use on your computer. Most foreign language teachers hate Google Translate and other online translators because for one the student isn't doing his/her work but expecting the answer to be handed to them and another the translators don't always translate correctly. With this said, I think there's a time and a place for it. You have to use it effectively.

Overall, I think that Google has a lot of apps that are useful and enjoyable online. You just have to spend a little time using them to figure them out, but when you do then it's worth it.

Thing 11

I found the http://www.google.com/blogsearch the easiest to use. My things with websites is that if I click on it and I automatically don't understand it or it doesn't look interesting then I'm probably going to exit out of the page right away, but with the blogsearch it was easy to use and I like that you can just type in whatever kind of blog that you want to see and it pops right up with suggestions.

I typed in something broad and basic, trying to get a wide variety of blogs. The first thing I typed in was "cats". There wasn't anything that interested me; so, i typed in the word "food". The first blog that I saw was this, Gizmodo: 20 Amazing Photos of Food as Art. This was very interesting to me and I didn't have to go through a hundred blogs to find something that I liked.

Another way that I use to find different blogs is when you're viewing your blog then at the top in the left hand corner is a button that says "next blog". If you use that way you can't control what kind of blogs you get but I think it's kind of interesting to see all the different kind of blogs and to sift through them and find the ones that you like.

Thing 10

RSS and newsreaders are definitely a good tool to have if you're into blogging. Like I said before, you need a blogging community to get a lot of readers and feedback on your blog and by using this tool you can see when blogs are updated and that gives you more of a chance to be able to comment on their blogs and hopefully get some feedback yourself. I'm not sure that I would have a lot of use for it unless I kept a blog myself. But a lot of teachers do have blogs and to keep up with others they could use this RSS and newsreaders to do that.

Thing 9

www.imagechef.com

I liked these, they were very light and fun to play with. My favorite site was imagechef because the first two were hard to understand and the last one - well, I'm not really all that into smiley faces.

These could be useful to use on school websites, blogs, powerpoints, flyers... they could be used for a lot of purposes to make things seem more fun and interesting (as long as you're not in a VERY professional situation, like a press conference). The students will like them and pictures (if used right) can make a powerpoint or anything of the sort a little more interesting, because it makes it to where you're not just looking at a page of words but the pictures break it up a little so all the words aren't so overwhelming.

Thing 8

 I thought that these Flickr apps were interesting, but I couldn't figure out how to put them on here so I tried each picture at a time and it took me a long time and was very annoying. I probably wouldn't do it willingly on here again. I think that they can be used to add some fun types of images in a classroom setting like on slideshows and things like that. In a personal setting you could use them for flyers, blogs or websites.

Thing 7

Byron and Lacy, a photo by lacymay31992 on Flickr.

This was my first experience with Flickr. I'd heard of it, but never used it. It was an okay experience overall. It wasn't that hard to figure out and reminded me a lot of Photobucket and Picasa. Though the thing I like on Photobucket and Picasa that I didn't see on Flickr was an editor so you can edit your photos in unique ways before you post them. I think if I spent more time with it I'd like it more but on a scrunched time frame I didn't have a lot of time to "play" with it. 

I uploaded some personal photos, photos of my little brother and I and photos of my boyfriend and I, but I think that Flickr has potential to be used for more. I'm not exactly sure how I could incorporate it into the classroom, but I'm sure I could eventually think of some ways to use it in a more professional environment.

I don't mind having my pictures public. If I minded then I wouldn't have posted them. These photos were already on Facebook and that's public. I think that if people don't want others to see their pictures then they shouldn't post them online, but most people want others to see their photos. Photos are memories and almost everyone wants others to see a glimpse into their life and what better way than through pictures? 

Thing 6

The tool that I selected is called Smore. It's a tool that's used to make flyers easily. The tool seems like a good idea. It's a good way to save paper and seems more efficient with the ever-growing technology in our society. Plus, people are more apt to post something online then they are to go out and post flyers.

The  thing that I thought could be added to the site is I think it would be more effective if there was a place where you could select your state and then your city and see what people are advertising in your area. This would organize the site better because who wants to see what's being in advertised in South Dakota when you live in Tennessee?

I think this could be used in a school setting to advertise for school bake sales, school fundraisers and events going on in the school. And if they would divide it up into states and cities then people could easily find their school and see what's going on.

Thing 5

I think that "School 2.0" just stands for the idea that schools should adapt to the new expanding technology. In my opinion, it's sort of inevitable. School's are going to bring in new technology because it's available and is, in some cases, helpful to student learning. School's are already adapting to this in assigning students with homework that has to be turned in online, papers that are assigned that need online resources, and by bringing in computer labs and smart boards.

The only problem that I see in this is that not all students have computers at home. I think that if schools are going to make it required that students have to do online research or homework then they should provide each student with their own personal laptop so that way each student has a way to do their homework. Some schools have already started doing this and I think that it immensely prepares students for college and beyond high school because once you get out of high school you will be expected to know how to work computers, internet and technology effectively.

I think that in the future we will all be required to know how to use and understand a vast amount of technology, far beyond what we can even imagine at this day and time; and I think that students will know how to use it at a younger age, but I think that it's going to make some students rely more on technology rather than on their own brains. So, students will either benefit and add the technology to their knowledge or they will depend on it and not be as smart. I think it's up to each individual (and how they raise their children) to use technology in an effective way and not depend on it so much that they don't know how to think for themselves. 

Thing 4

In the blog world there are different kinds of blogs and I'm not just talking about the topic of your blog. There are blogs that are used for personal use (which are not made for the public eye) and then there are blogs where every blogger dreams of thousands of people coming to read about your personal words and interest. But in the real world, it's actually very hard to get people to comment and actually take an interest in what you are interested in. You not only have to be a good writer but you also have to have a topic of interest, not just something that interests you but something that interests a wide variety of people. 

Then there's your other problem, how do you get people to take notice of your blog? First you have to tell people about your blog and hope they like it. Another way is to go to other peoples blogs (preferably ones that have similar topics of interest) and you have to comment on their blog. This creates a sense of being a part of a community - a blogging community. If you take an interest in other peoples blogs then they will (maybe) take an interest in yours. 

You can write all you want but does it really matter if no one reads it? 

Also, like it says in this blog, http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com, criticize kindly. It's okay to criticize someone if you're being helpful, but you're trying to make friends here, so be nice! No one wants to know if you hate their blog. You wouldn't want someone else to tell you if your blog is the crappiest thing they've ever read so treat others the way you want to be treated.

http://www.problogger.net says that only one in every hundred readers comment on your blog. Do you know how many people would have to see your blog in order for you to get a steady amount of feedback? A LOT! This is where being part of a blogging community becomes handy. The more you read and comment on other peoples blogs on a weekly basis the more viewers you will get and the more comments you will receive also. It's a lot of work, but if you really want readers and comments you have to go the extra mile.

The blogs that I commented on:

• Elizabeth Howell's Blog
• Lesley's 23 Things!
• Jordyn's 23 Things.
• stephen smith's blog
• Karalina Roelle's Blogs

• Ramblings of a doula and more
• Pinstrosity

I commented on a lot of different blogs. First off, I looked at Elizabeth's and Jordyn's blogs first because they had already commented on my blog. I did not "pity" comment on theirs just because they commented on mine but I like to know more about the people who comment on. It's kind of nice to get a glimpse of someone else's life once in a while. 

On Elizabeth's I commented about how I liked that she mentioned using blogs for keeping in touch with others (especially in our community with so many in the military). This interested me because my boyfriend is in the military and everyone likes blogs that they can relate to. :) Elizabeth also writes very well, has a good vocabulary and is humorous with her "gondola driving, sheep herding wizard". These things are some of the things that I like in writers and are things that I like to see if I'm going to be sticking with a blog.

Lesley's blog was very well organized and easy to navigate. This is also something I like in a blog. No one wants to spend an hour trying to figure out what the blog is about, most will just go to the next one.

Jordyn's blog is very "happy". It's a bright color and that kind of draws people into it and gives an inviting atmosphere. She seems like a very happy and optimistic person and this doesn't just make her a good writer but gives you a sense that she would make a very good teacher as well. Being that this is a teaching blog, it will bring a certain type of reader and that type of reader would probably want to keep reading.

Stephen's blog is kind of simple which isn't a bad thing. It was also easy to navigate and even though he says he's a newbie at this it sure doesn't seem like it! His posts are short and to the point and are interesting to read.

Karalina seemed to have a little bit of a problem on her blog as she accidentally wrote her post in the comment section. I did say something to her about this but only to help and never to be mean! Her posts seem gentle and inviting. 

I think that overall everyone's doing such a good job getting through this new experience of blogging and hopefully it will help us with our future teaching experiences.

I started looking through different blogs and it took a little while to find some that interested me. I didn't want to use ones that I had already been following because I wanted to find some new ones to follow. The first one that I came across was the Ramblings of a doula and more. First of all, I have no idea what a doula is but now I'm interested to find out! The first thing that made me interested in this blog is the "flipcard" format. It's got these little cards that flip over and have each post with a picture. It's very intriguing and even though I only had the time to read one post I am VERY interested in reading more and seeing what this "doula" stuff is and reading about this woman's life. Reading about others is always fun for me because I'm a writer myself and everyone has their own story. I'm a firm believer that the more you read the better you become at writing.

The second one that I read is called Pinstrosity. Almost everyone knows about the site, Pinterest. It's a site where you can get different ideas about cooking, crafts, clothing and more. The site is mainly directed towards females and I am guilty of spending way too much time on there. Anyways, what everyone might not know is that there is a blog that posts about different pins that they have tried and if it fails it's called a Pinstrosity. If you're a Pinterest fan then you will be very interested to see how others have tried to copy the Pins and if you've tried some yourself you might know first hand that they don't always come out as expected. Also, if you have a Pinstrosity then you can tell them and they might feature it on their blog.

Overall, I think that blogging is definitely an interesting hobby if you like to write and if you have the time for it. Just make sure that if you do decide to do it to establish a blogging community and don't give up! :)