Thing #17: Tagging and social bookmarking with Delicious

 Using the social bookmarking sites was easy.  Delicious had a very easy format and was intuitive to use.  It was great to explore and see how many results came up.  It can be a great tool to find teaching resources.

I could see the potential in using this hand in hand with a webquest.  It would be a great way to help students research a certain topic.  There is a lot of information out there and sometimes students have a difficult time deciding what is accurate information.  By using the bookmark or tagging you can have students use a certain phrase that you looked at previously so they can be confident in the information they are gathering.  

Thing #16: Get Organized with Web 2.0 Tools

I picked the Symbaloo start page.  I like the format of the page.  The others seemed cluttered.  I like that it had google features since I already have a google account it made it easy to navigate.  I do not think that I will use this start page much.  By the time I remembered to log into it I most likely will have logged into my usually pages.  I do not use that many on a daily basis.  

Online calendars are great because you can access them anywhere with internet.  Something that always aggravates me is when I need to check my calendar and I do not have it with me.  In this day in age when everything is go go go, I dislike making people waiting on me to check my schedule.  

I think that the PDF Converter and Zamzar will be useful when teaching. It is always frustrating when you have a file in an incorrect format and you cannot open it.  I think the Remember the Milk to do list.  It is a great tool because your to do list will always be with you(well as long as you have internet). 

Thing #15: What in the world is a Wiki?

I have surfed wikis before but I have never added content to a wiki.  It was fun to be able to add something for everyone else to see.  I really enjoyed the suggested wikis.

• Book Lovers Wiki 

• ICT Magic
  
  
• Resources for History Teachers
  
  
• Educational Blogging Wiki
  
  
• Westwood Schools Computer Science class wiki
  
  
• Educational Origami Wiki

• Texas School Librarians' Wikispace

They are great examples for wikis that I will use in my teaching days.  They are great resources for teachers because the suggestions are coming from other teachers.  It really makes a difference when you get advice/resources from someone that is currently in the field.  

I do find the concept of wikis fun but they can be dangerous if they spread false information.  One must be careful when documenting information from a wiki. 

Thing # 14: Go With the Flow

I always used the terms flow chart and mind map interchangeably.  Now I know better.  A flow chart seems go in sequential order and have a definitive end.  A mind map seems more like a brainstorming process with ideas going in different directions.  I agree with Anne Wall in her instruction for Thing # 14 of the 23 Things Project she mentions that a flow chart seems more for the reader and a mind map is more for the creator.  I tested bubbl.us and gliffy.  They are both easy to use applications.  They have a lot of design options.  I like that they both have preloaded formats for those of us that are less creative.  The only reason why I liked gliffy better was because I think I like the idea of flow charts better than mind maps. 

I think both mind maps and flow charts have their place in class rooms.  I plan on teaching Social Studies and a flow chart would be a great way to teach cause and effect in class.  It would also be a great way to create unique timelines. 

Thing # 13: Google Drive

Google Drive Document


Google Drive Form


Google Drive would be a great way for students to collaborate on projects and assignment.  When you edit a document in Google Drive it tells you who added the material or made changes.  This would be a great way for teachers to be able to tell who did what on a group assignment.  It is also a great way for students to help each other when it comes to editing.

It appeared to me that Zoho had more options and features.  The chat and discussion feature would be a great way for students to be able to communicate when at home without having to give out personal information such as phone numbers.  I like the Google Drive because I am comfortable with Google in general.  One thing that Google Drive had up on Zoho was that I did not have to sign up for yet another website. Sometimes it can be overwhelming having to many logins. 

Thing #12: Google is Not Just for Searching Anymore

I chose to set up a Google Alert for Teaching in Tennessee. I have used Google Alert before.  It is a great to to keep up to date on a currently changing topic. I think this will be a great way for me to keep a watchful eye on the ever changing teaching field in Tennessee. 

I made a Google Calendar.  I currently use Outlook to keep track of my appointments and school assignments.  But the Google Calendar seems to have an easier format when it comes to using the calendar on multiple devices.  There was an easy link to add the calendar to my cellphone and to use offline for when there is no internet access.  This would be a great tool to use with my future students.  I could help them organize their time and add the assignments to the calendar with them.  

Finals Week Looks like fun!!

The Google Books and Google Scholar are great research tools for students.  I frequently use both of these when researching.  This is a great place to start which attempting to find sources.  I will share this will my future students. 

Thing # 11: Finding Good Feeds

I felt that all of them were easy to use. Google Blogger Search and Blogging Search Engine had a lot more results than Technorati.   But Google Blogger Search and Blogging Search Engine had results that were not blogs.  These results were still great resources for what I was looking for but I found it odd that they were not blogs.  I found that slightly confusing but like I said they were still useful. 

I found some great feeds about teaching middle school social studies.  I found some from teachers and some from students.  The students ones were interesting they were mostly class projects and homework helping feeds.  This is something that I would encourage my students to use in the future. 

I follow a blog about cooking healthy.  I had never searched the blogs that they had her blog.  It was a great tool to use to find more blog posts about healthy cooking.  I feel like the more sources you have the more well rounded you will be. Following this method I did find that the more I clicked the slightly further I got from my original topic of cooking healthy.