Thing # 17

The Delicious social bookmarking website can be used as a tool for the classroom. Teachers can tag certain sites and share them with other educators or even with their students. Students can also use this site as a helpful resource to gather information and keep it all in one location. It's great because information that you need can be accessed from any computer. You never have to worry about being frustrated with finding that one site that is hiding under your favorites! Teachers can use this site to search for topics under their own subject area or what interests them and they don't have to worry about going through sites that are going to be a waste of time. I would personally use this site for myself in my free time to do assignments or find information. I would also use it in the future as an educator.

Thing # 16

I chose to use iGoogle as my start page because I am familiar with Google. It's a good way to stay connected with news and information. You can customize it to your educational interests with iGoogle and take away or add things that you want to display. I would use it as my homepage because as soon as I logged into the internet I would be informed on current events in the educational field. Online calendars and to do lists are very useful to me! They help me stay on track with my goals and standards. I would definitely use them for the classroom. For example, you could print off a blank calendar sheet and have the students fill in their homework assignments or you could even scan them yourself and print off copies for the students. I love to use Remember the Milk. It is a great to do list, and even comes in app form, which I use regularly. They are great to use for personal reasons as well. I don't think they are too much work, but that is my opinion. It might vary for different people, but I try to stay organized as much as I can. It can be hard to sometimes when things get stressful, so these sites and calendars can be helpful. I would recommend them to others for sure! Google Docs is also a great site to use for your own personal use and in the classroom. I would say it best comes in handy when you don't have access to a reliable word document, excel, or PowerPoint. It is so similar to those documents that you can hardly tell the difference.

Thing # 15

By using, Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki, it can be useful for librarians and educators to collaborate with each other on different ideas and thoughts. They can manage, organize, share, and edit each other’s thoughts on different topics and issues. They can also post advice on book discussions and recommending books. Teachers can be involved with the site by collaborating with them and editing information when new updates are out or have been changed. I would use a Wiki for sharing my own personal experiences and information on certain topics. I would use them in the classroom to share my educational advice and get helpful tips from other educators. I thought that it was interesting that you can edit another person’s information. It can be helpful when others are collaborating on the same topic at the same time, so the information is current and up to date.

Thing # 14

I chose to use the Venn diagram from gliffy.com. Since I chose third grade reading to be my main area of focus for the class, I created a diagram that displayed the similarities and differences between the characters of Charlotte's Web. If I were to use this diagram in a classroom setting, I would print off blank Venn diagrams, and have the class fill in what they thought were differences between the three characters and what they thought were similar characteristics. The mind map from, bubbl.us, is a great site to use for mapping out ideas or outlines of a certain topic. It can be helpful if you are studying something to plan out the different characteristics and what categories go where. I would use this site for personal studies to study dates or methods.

<iframe src="http://bubbl.us/view/7c5f9/ec3a1/50ciYyjUHoM7A/" width="600" height="400"></iframe>
Each can be used in a classroom setting or for your own personal use!

Thing # 13

Zoho is like a huge Microsoft word document that is easily accessed throughout the web. It's a lot like Word and contains formatting tools and font specialties. It even has ways to publish your file through Zoho to your blog. The fact that one can use this site to create and share documents over the internet without the need of the installation of desktop programs, for example, Microsoft Word, is a great resource. It makes things so much more convenient and easier! In the Google Docs, I was able to create a PowerPoint. I wanted to make it simple, so I just listed a few things on the slides about Google Docs, and how they are useful to us. Students can collaborate using this site because not only can you create power points, but you can make spreadsheets, documents, forms, and also draw! Students can work together to share information and it's very convenient because these documents can open easily through Google Docs, so there is no worrying about if your PC will be able to run the programs or if you will have to find a computer that has them already loaded. I prefer to use Google Docs out of the two, because I am more familiar with the spreadsheets and PowerPoint layouts. They both are extremely easy to work, and I am fortunate that I have the opportunity to use these sites to my advantage. I unfortunately have never used any of them before!
https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=dgp7qmbs_0g3jvp6gr

Thing # 12

This has so far been my favorite activity out of the 23 things! I really enjoy using the Google Translator. I have used it before, when translating from English to Spanish. It's a great resource when it comes to the classroom because if students are having trouble with an assignment, they can translate a phrase or word. Teachers can also use the site as a reference to other translations of different languages and they can teach their students about it. http://translate.google.com/#en|es|Hello.%20My%20name%20is%20Kellie.%20I%20really%20love%20to%20use%20
the%20
Google%20Translator!%20It's%20really%20fun!
The iGoogle site is very resourceful as well because you can display all of your favorite interests or categories in one location. If you're an educator then you can have all of your important sites and favorite references right at your fingertips and receive constant news feeds and updates. http://www.google.com/ig

Thing # 11

I found that by using Google Blog Search, that is was definitely the easiest. I am assuming that since I have just always used Google in the past to search for topics, that I am more familiar with it. I did actually find several good resources for blogs by using the Google Blog Search. Topix.net was a good site to use as well; I found a few sites that can be useful to me as an educator. Syndic8.com was confusing and not very helpful to me because I couldn't really find my way around the site. I did not like Technorati because everytime I opened the site it would kick me off the internet. I found the Google Blog Search to be the best for me personally, because I was familiar with it and it's easy to use. I discovered that the article, http://www.brighthub.com/education/special/articles/107737.aspx, could be very useful to me in the future as an educator. It discusses different books that a special education teacher can choose for their students.