Thing 7: Cool Google Tools

It was hard to set up an iGoogle page due to the fact that there are so many choices I had a hard time deciding what to put on my page. I find that I will go to it to search for something and end up getting playing with the gadgets I put on my page. A lot of fun but I think it makes me less productive as I am easily distracted.

I also explored Google docs and think it will be great to use this coming school year. I plan on creating a website using Google and then uploading assignments that the students can easily access from home. Several of the teachers in my building have used Google docs and love it.

Thing 6: Mashups and 3rd Party Sites

Wow! I am absolutely amazed on how many cool things I found. The kids would have a blast incoporating tools into their projects. They could create a magazine cover for their research project, mosaic for a visual and a lot more. Letting them pick which tool they use for the project would be fun and they all seem easy enough to use that I feel comfortable being able to help them.

Creating My Avatar

I have to admit I enjoyed creating my avatar. It was fun just looking at all the options available. Getting the avatar to show up on my blog was a little frustrating but the comments with suggestions on Thing#3 were helpful.

Thing 5: Flickr

It was enjoyable searching all the pictures. I can see how a person might spend hours looking at them, it seems you could find almost anything you want on the site. I chose the picture of El Capitan because it represents part of the geology of Texas. Land formations is part of the curriculum and I could find some really beautiful picutres to show the kids.

Seven Habits

All humans are born with a natural curiousty. Some people continue with the intrinsic love of learning and others need some sort of extrinsic reward. I belong to the former group. I believe the more we learn about different subjects the more people we are able to communicate with and understand our world.

I have not utilized technology to my advantage. When encountering a problem or question, I tend not to think of how technology would be able to assist me. One of the reasons I am participating in 23 Things is so I will be better able to use technology in my classroom and make it a regular part of my life.