Thing #16

My favorite start page would have had to be Google. I have used Google for many years now and it is simply the best. I looked at all the others and honestly I just couldn't see myself using the other tools on a daily basis. I like the different tools it offers and I know how to use them all well.

I also really like the Ta-Da list. It was really simple and straight forward. However, I already have a planner with all my lists and I don't think I need the Ta-Da program.

Quite a few of the programs I got frustrated with because I could not figure them out. So obviously if I can't figure it out then it probably is not the best tool for me to use.

I think that some of these tools I found would be really helpful in helping me stay organized and on task.

Thing #15

In terms of research, Wiki can be a teacher's worst nightmare.

The whole point of a Wiki is that many people can contribute. So for example if there is an article about JFK, I (having no history expertise) can go in and change major facts that the article states. This feature makes using Wiki's for research almost completely impossible because there is no way for anyone to be certain what information is coming from a reliable source.

Now although it is a horrible reference, Wiki can be an awesome tool in the classroom. I think it would be awesome to set up a Wiki and have it become a class project. All the students would be researching and collaborating and would gain a vast amount of knowledge.

I think with enough monitoring that it would be a great way to have group or class projects.

Thing #14

I chose Gliffy and Bubbl.us.

I love these tools! I think that by far these charts would be the most useful for actual activities in the classroom. The flow charts could be used to help students brainstorm ideas for writing a paper and they could map out different alternative scenarios.

I feel that for the most part the charts followed the same basic concepts but they could both be used and interchanged in a classroom. I also think that these charts would be excellent study guides for history tests because the student will be able to place the event in order of occurrence.

Thing #13

Zoho is not my friend. I had so much difficulty with this activity. I realize that the point of this class is for us to find new resources but this one is not one that I see myself using at all. I think that Microsoft Word does just fine for me. I do like some of the features and can see how some people would use them very actively. However, I am not going to be one of those people.

I can see how this could be used in a classroom. I think that Google Docs provides an excellent way to allow students to collaborate and work together. However, once again I did not find this to be very user friendly and I feel that students would have a hard time understanding how to use this tool.

 In my opinion both of these tools can be easily replaced by other tools which are much easier to figure out.

Thing #12

I never knew Google had so many useful tools! My favorite is the Google Alerts I think that it is a fantastic tool to use with students. It would make sure that I as a teacher am up to date on different subjects in the news. It would also be good for the students to do Google alerts on their own. For example if we were doing a science project then they could have alerts set up for any new information about that subject.

I also really liked Google Translate. I took Spanish in high school and it is very hard to find a reliable translator online. I entered a variety of phrases and they were all correct.

So as far as I can tell this is a very good resource for a accurate translation of words and phrases. I don't think it will be overly useful to me because I do not think that 3rd graders will use Spanish too much. In my opinion Spanish is a little more upper level than I will teach.

Thing #11

I am not completely new to the Google Reader or blogs so for this activity I added feeds that I already knew I was interested in however I did add a few that I found through the suggested searches.

As I was using these search methods I must say I was not extremely impressed. I felt that for the most part they were not user friendly. However, I found Google Blog search to be the easiest by far. I felt that the others were dated. I ran into many links that the site was no longer even active. I did not find many good ones through the searches. The only one I did find was one that I already knew about and had simply forgotten to add it.

Thing #10

I am really impressed with the concept of RSS Readers. I think that they definitely have a major place in classrooms and personal lives of teachers. Google readers really can save me a whole lot of time searching around blogs and other news. However, I think that I would rarely use it in my personal life. I like to wander around the internet in my spare time and I think that using a RSS reader in some ways limit your opportunities to find other sources that you might find while just wandering around different blogs. In the classroom this would help me tremendously to stay organized and find my resources quickly.

Thing #9

I chose to use the generator on www.happyfacegenerator.com/ because I felt that I could really use this in my classroom in the future. I played around with this generator for quite a while and found myself thinking of more and more ways to use this in a classroom. I think that it would also be a good way for students to be able to express themselves. I found that the generator was extremely simple to use unlike other generators I have used in the past. All you really have to do is choose a face expression and then place your caption in the lines shown. This generator is very user friendly.I think this would also be a cool way to decorate a classroom so the students could participate.