thing 17

Tagging is really pretty cool. I can really see how it will help me in my education career. As a french teacher, I won't be able (most likely) to just walk across the hall and get advice from another french teacher. So, tagging and searching tags will probably be my new best friend in a few years. Seeing as how the tags can be accessed from anywhere, I will be able to easily find and use anything I (or someone else) have tagged. One thing I found was this site that focuses on learning French by way of using catchy songs. I remember when I was in high school French class (and even now) we would listen to songs. At the time, I thought it was just supposed to be a change of pace from the same old lecture. But, hearing the songs and trying to sometimes repeat them helped me remember the language and give me more confidence when speaking. The problem is that I only know of a few songs. Now, I'll be able to use social tagging to help me find about as many songs as I could ever want that range from learning body parts to learning the days of the week. And, if I forget the name of a website (which we all so easily do sometimes) all I have to do is search a tag and there it is so that I'm not wasting valuable class time on a search for something that should always be easily accessible  but, for some reason, it isn't.

Thing 16

I chose iGoogle for my first ever personalized start page. It was pretty nifty and easy to use. I chose this one because I already have a Google account, but, I have never really explored it. I'm pretty sure that Google will one day rule the earth... either that or Amazon. Either one would be fine as long as it isn't Wal-mart. But, I digress. The gadgets were really easy to use. I just kind of looked at the page and knew how to use it. I browsed through and changed the background a few times, too, to make it stand out a little more. I did a search for some kind of link for 23 Things to put on there, but, there wasn't one which made me kind of sad. Seeing as how I'm almost done with it, though, I guess it doesn't really matter.

I don't normally make to-do lists or mark a calendar. But, I guess it would be a good habit to get into if I'm going to have to follow a written lesson plan. As far as my daily schedule goes, I'm going to keep that as loosey goosey as I can. But, I did make a to-do list with Remember The Milk. It was a little confusing at first because I started putting in my events for the day, and, it just put them all in alphabetical order. Well, it just so happens that French class doesn't come BEFORE philosophy class chronologically which is what matters. But, pretty quickly, I figured out how to set priorities which took care of that problem. It also had an easy to use "completed" feature so that I could mark off what I did as I did it. I am one of those "why waste paper?" people, but, as far as making things like grocery lists, I just use my phone's notepad. It's a little more practical.

Zamzar is AWESOME!!! I know there is a way to convert documents to different formats without using an outside source, but, it never works for me. Zamzar makes it easy! just upload the document, tell it what to convert to, and that's it. I kind of wish I had done this a few weeks ago, now. My mom was working and had to convert a file into another format. If I had known about Zamzar, I could have helped her more instead of feeling completely helpless. Furthermore, it will help later on in my teaching if I have students submitting anything electronically via Mac/PC that I may not be able to open depending on the system I'm using because it converts to/from any format for any hardware device! Kudos to you Zamzar! Jolly good show!

Thing 15

As I was learning about wiki's, I was thinking about how I could use these as an instructional tool and it came to mind that the PBL project I took part in last semester was pretty much a wiki. The only difference is how it looks and how it is delivered. I got to thinking that maybe I could have all the students create their own wiki in the form of a massive research project due at the end of the semester that counts as 20% of their final exam grade. This particular "thing" really speaks to me because I wrestled in high school. How, you might ask, can I make such a leap? Wrestling is an individualized team sport. All the team points are scored by the individual in their respective matches, and, it is the only sport where, on paper, a team can lose, but, when the scores are fully interpreted and things that are out of the control of the team (like forfeits) out of the score, the losing team ends up winning.

Where am I going with all this?

What is interesting about wiki's is that it is one document that is the collective work of multiple people that are easily identified and verifiable. In other words, If the project suffers, it is easy to see who is to blame for the failure. So, the class can work on it as a group, but, it will be graded individually based on the quality of the information and the amount contributed. Is it possible to do the same thing in other formats, sure. But, using a wiki eliminates all the "he said, she said" and allows me to tell at a glance who did what and who didn't do anything, and, it would create a different dynamic as far as group projects go because the students wouldn't just be working in groups of three or four. They would be working as a class or, possibly, as a community. By using the wiki format, I could make a bigger project for more advanced students that crosses single classroom boundaries and allows all of my classes to work together. All of this might seem idealistic, but, I really think it could work! 

Thing 14

While it is sometimes necessary to describe certain portions of my life using a flowchart, I found actually creating one difficult to do with my original topic. Eventually, I dumbed it down a bit and made one about to pros and cons of pet ownership and whether or not someone should get a pet. That one turned out pretty good, I think.

What I'm most proud of is the mind map I made. Before getting more into this one, I'll say that it really is true that a mind map is more for the creator than it is for the reader, but, on the other hand, isn't what is good for the creator just as good for the reader as it is for the creator? Just some food for thought... Anyway, I am by no means a professional writer. But, I do like to write. I was even published in the annual creative journal "Perceptions" while I was at Columbia State. I'm not trying to toot my own horn, I'm just saying... ANYWAY, I started a book about a year ago. In my mind map, I mapped out a lot of the dimensions of the main character. Here, I'll show you...

Here you have Mason in a nutshell. By no means is this his entire story. But, this is a broad overview of his surface issues. I think this would be a great tool for an English class or any other class where there is being literature taught. I am only recently (within the last two years or so) really getting into reading. I don't know what came over me, but, one day, I just decided to pick it up. Now, I can't wait to get back to it. I think one reason I was never big into reading was because it was hard to see the symbolism and hidden meaning in what was really going on with the characters. A mind map helps to cut to the heart of what the story is really all about which would have really helped me in my earlier years. From the first grade class room talking about Corduroy Bear to the Senior English class talking about Beowulf, mind maps are awesome!

Thing 13

Today, I was asked to use Zoho writer and Google Docs and compare them to see which one I liked more. To be honest, I couldn't pick. They both performed well and there didn't seem to be any real difference between the two other than their abilities to share. Because Google his its fingers in practically everything, It is able to be shared through more mediums. Zoho, however, appears able to only be shared wish other Zoho users.  So, I suppose if I HAD to choose which one I like more, I would have to go with Google Docs just because it can be shared to a wider audience with less hassle.

Either one is great for collaborative work. I say "is" because, while I only have about as much experience with Zoho as could fill a thimble, the overall set up is the same as Google Docs. So, I would think that would be just as effective as  Google Docs as collaborative work. Last semester, I had to do a PBL project in a group. Because we all lived so far apart and had such different class schedules, Google Docs came in very handy. We were always able to access it from wherever we were and meet our deadlines that we set for ourselves. Without Google Docs, we would have had to try to fabricate more time in the day to dedicate to our group work or run the chance of things getting lost in e-mail and not being able to get our points across which would have caused an insurmountable communication barrier.

Thing 12

I have to say that I have found the last few things VERY easy, and, I am really kicking myself right now for not having done all of this sooner. I think, though, that all of this is coming so easy because I already had a Google account, and, I'm always logged in to it. So, all I do is click the link, and, that's it.

 Being a language major, I must say that Google translate is an amazing resource. There are some things that it can't do, though. The biggest one is understand context. A lot of times you can type something in and it spits something back at you that it might as well have not even translated. In other words, it helps to have some kind of general understanding of the language itself before you even open it up. One example of this is that I have a friend that was a Latin major. Granted, that is a dead language, but, one would think that Google translate wouldn't care one way or another if it was dead or alive and kicking. Well,... not so much. She said that Google translate is terrible at translating Latin. From my own experience, it's not all that great at translating English into any language. In order for it to be right, the order of the English that is typed has to be the same as the sentence structure you are translating to. It has gotten a lot better over the last year or so with French. But, it still doesn't do too well with Spanish. As far as Latin goes, my friend is no longer in school, so, there is no follow up to that one. The problem with using Google translate as an educational tool is that it can make you kind of lazy if you aren't careful. It's really easy to fall into that kind of trap with something that easy to use. I don't use it as much now as I used to just because all it does is give me a word. It doesn't help me remember that word or how to use it. Plus, in the case of Spanish and Latin, it often comes out wrong. Granted, that is mostly due to operator error, but, another thing it doesn't always do is explain how to fix what's wrong or why it is wrong in the first place. I will say, however, for someone just needing to know a word or short phrase, Google translate est très bien!

I set up an alert for the Green Bay Packers draft news. I love my Packers. I do my best to keep up with their draft picks, but, some years, I get too caught up in more important things to remember to check in on them. Thanks to Google alerts, I will now be able to keep tack of who they are leaning toward picking up which will help paint the picture of what they might be able to do next year. As far as the benefits to education that Google alerts brings to the table, it can help teachers stay up to date with current trends in education and areas related to education. Just as an experiment, I set up an alert for education. The first site that came up was an article about how the senate GOP's education bill has faced a lot of hardship as of late because of cost concerns and thoughts that education has undergone a lot of changes too recently to be making any more just yet. So, I guess what I'm saying is that it's more for the teacher than it is the student. But, what benefits the teacher usually benefits the student too. 

Thing 11

Well, it turns out that Cool Cat Teacher agrees with me on a couple things: 1. just because someone subscribes to a million websites, it doesn't mean that they are well informed, and, 2. we tend to teach others what they should be learning rather than how to learn. The second part is neither here nor there. But, it's something I have been talking about for the last year or so ever since I finished my Associate's Degree and began looking forward to my time at APSU. The first point, however, is more recent for me. Like... within the last 24 hours. 

So far, the best search tool I have used for this assignment is Google blogs. The other search engines didn't even come close to what I was looking for, but, none were as bad as Topix.net. When I searched something in Google blogs, there was something there that was what I wanted to read. Topix.net, though, would search my key words and itself. It was like Google searched the world and Topix searched its bedroom. It could be that I'm just more used to Google. I hear people say all the time that Bing is a better search engine than Google, but, I just don't see it. I know bad engines. Back when I first started using the internet, I used Yahoo! for everything. Then I saw the light that is Google. But, I digress. 

Thanks to Google blogs, I found several pretty good political blogs. My favorite one is more along the lines of European current events through CNN. I read an article about how some Swiss investment banks are saying that if the salary cap is not raised on their executives, it could drive them to take their business overseas to Asia or New York where there are no caps to speak of which would cripple the European economy now rather than steadily raising the cap over the next several years (because when people give in to the requests of those who claim to have a bargaining chip, that's what happens) and crippling it later. Again, I digress. 

During my "travels", I searched for "french culture" and came across a blog begging the question, "Why are French people so rude?" He says that he went to France and noticed that the their manners were like those of animals and that the men could pass for "queers." My first reaction to this blog was "No wonder they were rude to you. You are judgmental. That's what happens to judgmental people in France! They get treated as if they shouldn't be there!" But, I held my tongue. 

My opinion still remains the same as it was in Thing 10; these are great tools for us as future educators. But, we have to be very selective about, not only the information we find and use, but also, the search engines we approve for use while our students do research. Students are highly impressionable at any age. The last thing we need is for them to come across something bashing other cultures for being a little different from us and carrying that home to their parents or, worse yet, on into their own lives. It's things like that that lead to a life of ignorance and bigotry. If that doesn't speak to my point about teaching students how to learn, I don't know what does.