Thing # 7

Well, I was thinking that Flickr was pretty simple, and then my pictures didn't want to post to the blog.  I think that I will definitely spend more time on this site if I want a better appreciation of what it has to offer.  I decided to join Flickr and upload some of my own pictures.  I decided to post a picture that I had taken on campus in February 2012 to the apsu23things group.

 

I love nature and the immense beauty of the great outdoors, therefore, I take many pictures of... you guessed it, the great outdoors!

                        

Thing # 6

While scrolling through the go2web20.net website, I noticed many different applications and tools that would be helpful and useful to most of us in many ways.  The tool that I chose to select was CarrotSticks Online Math Games.  I liked this because it would be very helpful to any child that is learning basic math skills; however, after digging a little deeper I realized that it is only free for practicing addition.  If you would like to practice subtraction, multiplication, and division then you must pay $29.95 for the complete subscription.  I think that it is fun that the kids can make their own avatar, and compete against others in math challenges.  I also thought it was neat that awards were emailed to the parent upon their child's achievement.  I think that CarrotSticks Online Math Games would be a useful addition to any classroom that taught basic math skills; it seems to be a fun, interactive, and educational tool for children that want or need to practice their math.

Thing #5

To me, Learning 2.0 means that we have new technologies available to integrate into our classrooms, and we should learn how to use it.  I am a bit older than most of the students in my class, and my experience was that we had little interaction with computers in the classroom.  I actually remember one of my trips to the so called "computer lab" that our K-8 school was blessed with.  I was in kindergarten and I was so excited that we were actually going to go (I can only recall about 5 trips from grades K-8) and the large floppy disc that I was given to use was scratched, so needless to say, my experience was sad.  Today's classrooms are much different.  There are usually one or two computers in each classroom (that is, in our rural community) and the children are encouraged to use them.  Now, we also have smart boards in the classrooms that allow us to pull new sources of information into the classroom.  I am looking forward to learning how to use this new and improving technology in my classroom setting.  I feel that Learning 2.0 will be a great tool that we should all use, and I can only imagine what will be available in the years to come.

Thing # 4

Posting on other blogs is a neat way to interact with others that you may not typically get the opportunity to share ideas with.  It allows you to show others that you also share an interest in an idea, or way of life.  I have yet to get any comments on the posts that I have made, but I am looking forward to the chance to hear what others have to say.  I am new to the blogging world and any help on creating a better blog space is appreciated and welcomed. :)
I found the readings from the discovery exercise were very helpful.  I really liked The Blue Skunk Blog's encouragement on writing comments to the posts that you read to let the writer know how you felt about their topics and ideas.  I also liked ProBlogger's suggestion to invite comments.  I suppose that if you ask for comments then you are more likely to get feedback from others.  ;)
I commented on Sherry McNeily's blog because she had such encouraging words and she had many of her "things" complete.  I posted on Kayla Kitchens's blog because she sits next to me in two of my classes and I liked her idea of creating a classroom blog that also included crafting and game ideas for her students as well as making an interactive board for the parents to post on.  I chose to post on Jennifer Gilstrap's blog because she is in all of my classes this semester.  I found it to be very inspiring to read about her helping her cousin with her GED testing.  I commented on Ashley Hartling's blog because she too sits next to me in this class and I really liked all of the pictures that she has posted.  Shammontree's blog site was very unique and I chose to comment on her pinterest post.  Also, I commented on The Soap Sister's blog because I am a soap maker, and I love the soaping station that her husband had made for her.  I also found a very useful and informative special education blog called Life in Special Education; a teacher, Karla, shares many inspiring stories as well as useful downloads for others to share.
  

Thing # 3

I think that a classroom blog would be useful in many ways.  I plan to be a Special Education teacher, so I think that if I were to be placed as an inclusion teacher I could create a blog site that would allow me to post a daily review of class covered materials for any of the classes that my students attend.  If I were to be placed as a resource teacher with an actual class, then I could create a daily blog that covered my class, and of course, if I were to have both inclusion classes and resource classes I could cover them all!  I could see that blogging would be a useful tool to help emphasize important notes and class highlights.  It would allow students to ask questions or share ideas that would be helpful to others outside of class.