Thing 7

Flickr is interesting and very similar to Photobucket, which I use for all my photo/graphics hosting. I am hesitant to make my photos public because I don't want the general public to have access to pictures of my child. It may not bother others, but there are just too many pedophiles out there for me to be comfortable opening it up like that. I am going to add a picture of my son to my blog. It is being hosted by Flickr.

Thing 6

I picked Stumble! It's a really fun way to kill time and I am amazed at the websites it brings up. You have the chances to either give it thumbs up or thumbs down. It chooses what comes up based on your likes/dislikes. It is an add-on you can have in Firefox and I've found several good games, books/literacy information and tons of recipe sites.

Thing 5

Education 2.0 was very interesting and informative. I've been on websites that have links to del.icio.us and had wondered what it was. I now know that it is a way to bookmark things I find interesting and can view what other people are tagging. I teach 1st graders and it would be hard for most of them to do advanced technology applications but it occurred to me that I could set up a website for my parents. I'd have to manage it from home since everything is blocked at work and I hate having to override. I get a nagging feeling that if you override too often, you will get in trouble. Parents would be able to access information I post and ask questions. Invisionfree boards are free and amazingly easy to set up and administer. I could list ways parents could help their children become technology literate outside of school hours.

Thing 4

Blogs where I've left comments:

1. "Twenty-three things" -I work with A. Chavez and know her daughter. I've also been to San Antonio and was agreeing that it is a great place to visit.
2. "A Teacher's Summer"- I don't remember what I said, but I think it was encouragement after her surgery.
3. http://katybugsplace.blogspot.com/2008/04/beautiful-day-in-garden-today.html
This blog belongs to a friend of mine who has started doing photography as a hobby. Her pictures are just amazing! She has also been an inspiration and encouragement in my walk with Jesus.
4. http://www.mymusings.us This blog belongs to a girl on a board I visit. She's newly engaged and hasn't yet posted pictures of her beloved or her new ring and I was hoping she had on her blog. I left a comment under the Leave a Note section.
5. Read and Giggle-I read her final entry and got a great idea and told her about it.
6. Cricket's Corner- I commented on her beautiful horse.
7. gigiread- I also had my inbox completely wiped out of all important things and it wasn't MySpace or Facebook but Outlook Express. I shared that with her and gave suggestions on how to avoid it in the future.

Thing 3

I had trouble sleeping last night and lay awake thinking about ways I could use a blog at school. I may set one up and include it in the "How to contact me" section of the beginning of the year parent letter. I always give my school email and a couple of parents will use it. I'm just not sure how many would visit a blog to get information about what is going on or to ask questions but I'll give it a try next year. I've also been mulling over setting one up for our entire grade level to use and add to but am not sure. We are going to have a get-together before school starts and I'll ask then.

Thing 2

The hardest part about setting up the blog was choosing a template. I have a message board so I wasn't intimidated by the setting up process. It just involved some trial and error in figuring out what looked right to me. I choose my title because teachergirl is my username on my board and it seemed to fit for this project. The avatar looks as much like me as I could get it. It wasn't hard to make but exporting but I got so frustrated trying to figure out how to get it to blog yesterday that I just quit and came back to it this morning. The export button isn't a button or a rectangle and that is what I was looking for. Once I found it, it was pretty simple to put it where it needed to be.

Thing 1

I enjoyed listening to 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners. I think the easiest habit for me to do is to begin with the end in mind. When I get bogged down (like with a graduate class I really hate!) all I have to do is to think about the end goal in order to refocus and push my way on through. The hardest thing for me to do is to create my own learning tool box. I do not own a digital camera, an ipod, an M3P player, a webcam, etc. To be honest, I don't know what I would even do with them if I could afford them, but learning about them is why I took this class. If I understood how to use them, I might be more apt to save and purchase them.