Thing 18

It is important for educators to know how social networking works because it is becoming so popular. Tons of teachers use social networks, and they all can talk about educational topics or even have pages just for education talk. I have a Facebook, and I have had it for awhile, but I don't check it often. I enjoy it for purposes of sharing things with my family or connecting with my youth girls who don't have cell phones yet. However, I don't generally like getting on it because it seems to be a good place to waste time when I could actually be spending time with someone or doing something productive somewhere else. I don't find Facebook or Twitter to be particularly helpful for education purposes because they are mostly just for socializing. The ability to post links and things of that nature could be helpful though. I will be teaching early elementary grades, so this is not something that I will really be able to use in my classroom.

Thing 17

Delicious appears to be a good tool. I bookmark a lot of websites, and I have folders they all go in, but since there are so many I get unorganized. Also, there are times when I want to access my bookmarks, but they are on my laptop, which I don't always carry with me. I enjoy the tags on the websites because when you go onto Google sometimes things you don't want pop up. Teachers can take advantage of a social bookmarking site by seeing sites other teachers use that they find effective.

Thing 16

For my homepage I chose iGoogle. I chose this because my homepage was already Google, and I like opening my web browser (Google Chrome) and having Google Search open automatically, and with iGoogle I still have the search bar pop up. Also, I like that the weather is on my iGoogle because I check the weather quite frequently and that I can add a recipe "gadget". I love cooking and am constantly looking for new recipes. I'm not fond of the idea of having everything online for multiple reasons. If I can't get internet access and I have everything like my calendar or notes online, I won't be able to access them. I keep a planner with me during the school semester, and when I don't have a planner I just use my phone calendar. Also, I have one in my room on my wall that I keep up-to-date. I don't need another one. I also feel it would just be easier to stick to paper and pencil for a to-do list. Generally I can type a to-do list on my sticky note application on my computer or on my cell phone.

Thing 15

I think using a Wiki is interesting for me. All through high school we were told to avoid websites that just  anyone could edit. I think it is great that you can create items with different people, but I see it more as something that is just for fun things to do. 

Thing 13

When using the Zoho Writer, I noticed it is a lot like Microsoft. I don't entirely see the point in using it. I prefer to use key strokes as much as I can, and I'm used to Microsoft. Also, if you need an e-mail to sign in to Zoho, then you can just e-mail your documents when it comes to sharing them. Zoho, to me, is like mixing Microsoft Word and Dropbox. It is a nice tool, but I probably will not use Zoho Writer although it was an east site to use.  If I were to pick between Zoho Writer and Google Docs, I would definitely choose Zoho Writer. There are more options on Zoho Writer and it seems more user friendly.

My Project from Google Docs:

Thing 14

I used Bubbl.us and Gliffy.com. I really enjoyed using the mind map on Bubbl.us. It was an extremely easy website to use to organize my thinking. I typed a topic and then hit Ctrl + Enter to make a subdivision of that, and just kept going. I will definitely be using that website again for upcoming papers. I like all of the different options that Gliffy had.  You can choose from a blank document, Venn Diagram, flow chart, floor plans, and much more. Bubbl would be more efficient for my particular thinking process; however, I enjoyed both websites and could use them both frequently.

Thing 12

Picasa and Google Translate were the Web 2.0 Tools I chose to further explore. I was really impressed with the Google Translate. It had any and every language. This could be helpful if I have a student who has at least one main care taker that does not speak English when a letter needs to be sent home. All I would have to do is type it up in English, paste the letter into the text box, and it would translate it so I could copy and paste it to a document to print and send out. I found Picasa to be very interesting as well. It had a lot to do. I think it would be really helpful so I could connect with the parents of my students online. When I do activities in my classroom, I plan to take pictures of the students as they do things. Using Picasa would be an easy, efficient way to have the pictures in a place where the parents could view them and see what all is going on in the classroom.