Thing 10

Google readers make blogging so much easier. I have one, and I am glad I do, because blogger made me when I left my first comment. I love how organized everything is. It is easy to keep up with friends/people you follow's new posts because they are all right there for your reading pleasure. You can read the title and first couple sentences to see if in fact it something you are interested in reading or not. Since I plan to use blogging in my classroom one day I will have every student subscribe to a reader so they can keep up with each other and their assignments. Also, I will require my students to comment on a few friends blogs each week so this will make it easy to find blogs they are interested in and quickly comment without wasting precious classroom time to find a blog. In my personal life I follow quite a few blogs, have facebook, pinterest, homework, and I waitress, SO any time that I can cut back on I will. My google reader makes checking out my favorite websites quick and easy, PERFECT for my busy life. :]

Thing 9.

Unfortunately, Kenna (a best friend and 3040 buddy. :]) and I have not met Zac Efron BUT by using an image generator I was able to photo-shop in our faces to make it look like we were BFF's with Zac, just hanging out in 1000 dollar dresses. :]

http://www.faceinhole.com is a really awesome web 2.0 generator tool you can instantly use FOR FREE to put you and your friends in scenarios similar to this one. You can even decide how many holes to have (like if you have 3 friends and only want to view scenarios with 3 holes).
I am not exactly sure how to use this in a classroom except maybe for cute powerpoints. I did see lots of text generators that would be a fun cute way to post instructions, information, etc. online.

Thing 8.

I LOVED this aspect of Flickr. You may have read in my last post that I really do not care for flickr, but this THING has changed my perspective a little. I loved making this because it was so easy (you just type in your name in the generator) and it makes your name using cute letters. You then can click on each letter individually until you get one that you really like. I think this would be a fun activity for students to do for fun but I really do not see myself using flickr often in the classroom. A cute idea would be to upload pictures of the classroom from time to time in a flicker account specifically for classroom use and then at the end of the year generate a collage to give to each student. I feel that if the account is private except visible parents and students only it is safe to host pictures online. Also I could frame each collage individually and collect them throughout the years of teaching! Much better than the simple classroom yearbook photo you're given!

Thing 7.

baby panda, a photo by ecalbert on Flickr.

Flicker is a pretty good site, however, I prefer photobucket. I got a flicker account sometime during high school during myspace days and thankfully I remembered my password to it! I only posted a few pictures using my username, ecalbert. Flicker is difficult for me to use. I do not like the layout of it very much at all. Photobucket is a site with the same concept, but is much better and easier to use. I do not like not being able to save images on my desktop. However, Here is a cute panda ever remember uploading, but he must have been on my myspace! I just want to pick him up and hug him! I also tagged our class "apsu23things" on it.

Thing 6

One of my favorite award winning web 2.0 sites is Etsy.com.



Etsy is a website that you can use to make your own little online store or shop in other peoples. Using the easy search options you can find anything (accessories, home decor, gifts) from tons of different shops, different styles, and different prices. There is really something for everyone.
I have always had great experience on Etsy. People are so friendly with their shops and usually work with you to customize any order. I shopped in one lady's shop and got my sister vinyl window stickers with her monogram. I don't think there is really much use for Etsy in the classroom but there are lots of cute gifts for teachers, coworkers etc. Personally, I love ANYTHING with my monogram on it which Etsy has a ton of. :]

Romona has her eye on this ADORABLE cat collar on etsy that is only $11.50! I just might have to order it for her!





One day I hope to have my own etsy store (it's free and very easy to use) to sell the cookies I make. People can customize their shapes and colors and I can mail them overnight. Overall, I love Etsy. It is a great tool and you can find anything at a great price!

Thing 5

Web 2.0 is amazing. While I was watching the video I realized just how much I use in my daily life. Facebook, youtube, skype, blogger, google, and wiki, are just a few of the websites I use each and every day. My favorite way to use web 2.0 is on my iphone. I love when I am in the car or out shopping I can find the answer to anything on the go. It is so great to be able to look up movie times when my boyfriend and I are out and randomly decide to go see a movie. I am able to "facetime" with my friends from home in Memphis via our iphones and it is a great way for us to stay connected. To me, Web 2.0 means to constantly be connected and informed with up to date information that is constantly changing on the internet. For instance last night I watched the Mrs. Universe pageant for ONE HOUR and 48 MINUTES and all of the sudden NO SIGNAL. But, don't worry. I waited 5 minutes and there she was, Miss Sao Paulo, on the Yahoo homepage. :] Without the internet I would have had to wait until the morning and go BUY a newspaper. In the future there will be no need for paper newspapers because you can access them immediately online for FREE! You can even read newspapers from different states with just a quick google search. Its amazing what we are to do now, and I can't wait to see what the future of the web will be like. Can you imagine web 3.0?!?!

Thing 4

I really love commenting on other peoples blog and I especially love to read comments people write to me. Its nice to see that someone is actually reading and enjoying your thoughts. By commenting and not just reading you help to create a sense of community and learning through eachother's thoughts and ideas! Sometimes
reading blogs can help you learn from other peoples mistakes and experiences and others can even help you learn how to do something.

Here are some blogs that I enjoy reading written by some of my classmates. :]

Jessi Wright: http://education3040-wright.blogspot.com/
I have known Jessi since APSU 1000. She is a sweet girl but I have never gotten to know her very well. By reading her blog I learned we have a lot in common including a love for baking and wearing dresses. I told her about our similarities and will probably continue to read her blog because of them.

Bridgette Elmore: http://belmorejkl.blogspot.com/
Bridgette has been my roommate for the past two years up until this year. However, we do live in the grove just in different buildings so I see her all the time. Her blog is fun and cute like her. :] Bridgette made a reference to Finding Nemo on her blog which I love so I commented on her post that I thought that was clever and cute. :]

By the way, Blogging can also be used to share photos. Here is a favorite of Bridgette and I.



Kenna Gupton: http://kennagupton.blogspot.com
Kenna and I have been really good friends for a few years now. Kenna helps me in Sped and I help her in this class. We sit together and work really well together. I am so lucky to have her as a friend and classmate. Kenna mentioned my name in her blog saying that I helped her create hers. So I commented her to tell her that I appreciate her help in subjects that I struggle in.

Blair Offutt: http://blairoffutt.blogspot.com
Blair is just such a funny person so I knew his blog would be exciting to read. He named it Blair's 23 Happy Things. SO Blair. I told Blair that I liked his avatar because he gave his a puppy and I gave mine a kitten.

Rob Keith: http://keithr33-keithblogger.blogspot.com
I do not yet know Rob but he is in my section of this class so I am sure we will meet soon. By reading his blog I can see some of our ideals are the same, and I like how he is already on Thing 6! I told Rob that he had some great ideas about blogging in the classroom, which I agree is a fabulous idea.


http://summerssweettreats.blogspot.com/
This is a blog I found when I wanted to make sugar cookies for my boyfriends fraternity. This woman makes gorgeous cookies and was kind enough to explain step by step how to make her beautiful cookies. By following her instructions I was able to make my own and have been doing so for about a year now. Hers are much more beautiful than mine however, she is just so talented!! I commented to tell her how amazing i think her cookies are and to thank her for putting directions on there for people like me to learn from.

Here are some cookies I made using her recipes and instructions for my boyfriends birthday and my best friend Hillary's cousin Peyton's Birthday.




Finally,
thelemondsfamily.blogspot.com

This is actually my favorite 6th grade teachers blog. She has a beautiful family and has such sweet thoughts and posts about her family, her hobbies, and her God. I have commented on hers before to tell her how cute her kids are and how much I enjoy reading her blog.

Reading and commenting blogs is so fun and easy to do. Unfortunately I could get lost reading blogs for hours just by clicking on peoples friends, links, and followers. :]

Thing 3

I would LOVE to use blogging in my classroom. Since most children have access to computers I think it would be a wonderful tool to implement in the classroom. I have actually been thinking about this quite a bit. I think I would like to make one blog post be due each week during the year totaling approximately 33-35 things over the course of the year. The whole class would be linked to my teacher blog so that all of the students can see each others links on the sidebar. I would post each assignment one at a time on my own blag and they would be in charge of checking the blog and posting the assignment sort of like what we are doing in this classroom. The first assignment would be an introduction in which they tell about themselves, their interests and families. They can include as many pictures as they want but I would like at least one picture on each post unless specified otherwise. Their assignments would vary by subject area. Maybe some dayds could be to give a brief summary of a favorite book, or list their 10 favorite songs and why. They could pick a character trait such as "kindness" and write about how someone they know has shown kindness lately. I think this would be SUCH a great tool that could benefit the class greatly. It would teach them to be accountable for checking the teacher blog and writing their post each and every week. I could even have them respond (appropriately) to three different students posts every week. This would be a great way to make friends and keep the class interesting. Plus, who doesn't love comments!

Thing 2

I loved making my blog. I get really excited to do the posts because this is something I enjoy doing. My post-name is simply my name, Claire Albert. I already have a personal blog (same URL minus the 2) that I used to post on frequently just as a kind of online journal. Since I have already used blogger before this comes really easy for me and I find that I am able to help friends in my class. I used a cute website called "thecutestblogontheblock" to personalize my blog, add my signature, and change the font. I would love to have the kids in my class make a personal blog linked to a classroom blog and do a post each week of school. I think they would really enjoy that! It could even be a center or something they could work on during spare time or at home. I could make my own version of"23 things.
I do not like my avatar. They didn't have very cute hair choices, but I did enjoy making it. I even gave my avatar a kitten because I adore my kitty, Romona.

"

Thing One

So, it turns out I am already a life long learner! :] I enjoy using technology to its full potential and can not wait to implement new technological ideas into a classroom of my own. I am constantly google-ing tutorials to learn new things. Recently, I have learned how to braid a fishtail ponytail, perfectly ice a cupcake, and program a universal remote all by watching tutorials on youtube. The internet is full of valuable information that we as potential teachers could use everyday in our classrooms. I would absolutely LOVE to have a classroom set of Ipads/computers/laptops to do fun projects in my classroom like making their own tutorials, or creating online interactive stories using characters and words from our lesson that week.

Unnnfortunatelyyyy, I am not perfect.:[ I get so angry and so upset when things do not go as I plan. I do not see things as "challenges" but rather as annoyances and failures. I give up way to easily. As a teacher I need to better myself in this area because each day will present itself with new difficulties, new "challenges", I should overcome and adjust to meet. This will be extremely difficult for me but I can do all things through HIM. :]