Thing #15

       Wiki's are wicked cool. So I am personally a big believer in wiki's, especially Wikipedia. I can't tell you how many arguments wikipedia has settled between me and my friends and how many papers I've turned in using references I found at the bottom of Wikipedia articles. While I do understand why teachers generally bash the site, I've found, more often than not, that the articles are actually pretty accurate. Wiki's allow people from all different backgrounds, with different skills, mindsets, and knowledges, to weigh in and write about something that they are very well educated about. They're collaborations of people's brains! Everyone's heard the old saying, "two heads are better than one," well how about 2,000 heads that all know a whole lot about one specific topic?!
       I, as a teacher, would create a wiki page for my classes to write. It could be about anything. Just let them write about whatever they feel like they are "experts" in. This would encourage writing, creativity, social interaction, and help improve their grammar and spelling because they know that the whole world can read that article including their friends and family.

Thing #14

       I choose to sign up with bubbl.us and flowchart.com for my two accounts that I was required to make for this "Thing". I chose bubbl.us because it was fairly simple to navigate and create "mind maps". This site will be very handy for me as a teacher/coach because it will give me a way to organize the chaos that is my mind. It'll help me stay on task and keep my plans in order.
       I choose to join flowchart.com because any website that has what it does in its URL must know what they're doing. They too were easy to navigate and get started and offered many different kinds of flowcharts and ways of making them. This will be good for making graphic organizers for students so they can follow along in class and make them think and analyze information right as they hear it.

Thing #13

       After looking at both Google Docs and Zoho I like them both for different reasons. I feel that Google Docs is good for students because they can directly share their work with myself our their fellow classmates just by sending it to their individual Google Accounts. Google Docs also works hand-in-hand with Google Drive which is like an online flashdrive, and is similar to Dropbox. This is useful because students can create a file with Google Docs and then save it in Google Drive and will have it on any computer they sign in to. This way a student can start working on a paper or powerpoint in class in Google Docs and can save it to their Google Drive account and access it at home and continue working on it without having to have any special expensive software like Microsoft.
       I personally prefered Zoho over Google Docs simply because it offers so many more apps. It can help me be productive or advance a business I might run on the side of teaching in the summertime. I feel like Zoho has a much greater amount of potential in that category. On the other hand I am already fairly familiar with Google Docs, so there is that to consider. Since this "Thing" required me to make something with Google Docs and post a picture of it, here's a picture of a soccer lineup I made using Google Docs Drawing app for my old intramural soccer team.

Thing #19

       I am currently a member of Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Path, Instagram, Snapchat, Foursquare, Foodspotting, and YouTube. However, I am always interested in other social media sites and being involved with them, so this "Thing" was really interesting for me. I especially was interested in the food social networks like Open Source Food or Tasty Kitchen
       I am not currently a member of any of the social networking sites that were mentioned in the post above but I'm sure as my career progresses I will join many of the teaching and education social networks to learn from my fellow educators and to bounce idea's off each other.

Thing #18

       As a member of both Facebook and Twitter for many many years, this "Thing" was a breeze. Facebook and Twitter are very important for educators to use. By adding your co-workers and fellow educators on both Facebook and Twitter we can bounce ideas off each other, learn tips, post videos, and post links to certain helpful sites to aid our fellow teachers. Twitter also is becoming a source of instant news. When events like the Colorado theater shooting, Sandy Hook shooting, and the hurricane in New York, I was able to follow along with facts and happenings in almost real time. So instead of waiting for the evening news at 10 after things have been watered down and edited, I am getting the news from eye witnesses and first-hand accounts of what they are seeing, hearing, and feeling as fast as they can tweet. It is such a useful tool and allows the user to connect with people instantly all over the world. Both of these sites are very easy to used and navigate. So much so, that both of my parents are on these sites and use them on a daily basis. So with all that being said, here's a link to my Facebook profile and to my Twitter profile. Feel free to check em out and follow me on Twitter and add me on Facebook!

Thing #11

       So since I didn't create a Google Reader account because the service is being retired by Google, this assignment is a little tough to do. Instead of subscribing to blogs I'll just talk about which blog search engine I liked the most and which was easiest to use. My favorite blog finder was Technorati it was easy to use because it was broken down into categories of interest and also had a search bar in case you couldn't find what you were looking for in the multiple tabs they had to look through. I personally liked thumbing through the technology tab. I'm always interested in new and useful technology and am trying to find creative ways to apply it to education.

Thing #4

       Commenting is important to the blogosphere because it creates a sense of community and interaction between posters and readers. Commenting helps people bounce ideas off one another and gives feedback to the writer. This helps the writer adapt and to better write for his intended target audiences. People like getting feedback on their work. How would you feel if a teacher handed you a paper you wrote back to you with nothing written on it but a letter grade? Wouldn't you want to know why you received the grade you did, or things that need improvement, or things you did well? The same goes for bloggers and their readers. WE WANT FEEDBACK! It helps us improve as bloggers and will make us feel like people are actually interested in what we might have to say. With that being said, I'm a firm believer in practicing what you preach, so in order to lead by example, here's a list of seven blogs that I personally visited and commented on. Feel free to follow the links and read what they wrote and what I had to say on their blogs. And feel free to comment on this post or any other one of my posts!

1) Michelle Terry
2) Meghan Wagley
3) Alexandera Tolbert
4) Pam Hankins
5) Jennifer Watt
6) Mr. B
7) http://www.techsavvyed.net/