Thing #4 (Out of Order)

Commenting is important for several reasons. Obviously it gives feedback and hopefully allows people to improve their blogs. Most importantly, I think it is important because the great strength that the web has over all other previous media is the extreme ability it has to facilitate the networking and distribution of information. There is just not enough time for any one person to sift through all of the information available. By blogging and commenting on blogs, we can take advantages of our peers as information filters to bring exciting things to our attention and share the task of weeding through the tons and tons of chaff to get to the good stuff that is out there. Commenting makes the communication of a blog two way, thus making it much faster and more effective.
Two points that I got from the readings were the fact that it lets others know that their Blogs are being read and thus encourages them to keep it up and the fact that it can call attention to ones own blog. These just go back to the points I made earlier about how the more connections in both directions we make out here on the internet, the more effective this amazing new tool will be to us.
Miranda's Blog: I commented on how he seemed unimpressed with the mind maps in thing fourteen. I suggested that he try to do an actual project with them instead of just clicking around. I found that it actually helped me think about the complex process of to do things in planning a field trip. the key is how FAST the thing works so one can write stuff down as fast as one thinks and it is neat and savable and organized.
Mechelle Scotts 23 things: I commented the following:I like the design of your flow chart and this blog page in general. They look nice! You produce good stuff! You should put in some more pictures and examples! I have gotten great practice by putting in pictures and things whenever possible. It is not that hard. I liked her stuff but noticed that she had not put in too many pictures or examples. I hope my encouragement helps
Candi Ciola's Blog thing 12: I checked out Igoogle. I liked your phrase "internet command center" very apt. I made one too. I wish she had put a picture of her igoogle page up there.
Rebecca Curtis's blog, Curtis 2009 on thing nine: I checked out phototrix and it was fun. I hadn't noticed that when I did this "thing". Pretty cool. I liked the website that I had skipped over when I did thing 9.
CheyenneLuther's blog, Thing 13 I appreciate the review of the word processor feature. I did my project on the slide show maker. I did miss the ability to do drawings. It is a pain to make a drawing and save it as a picture and then insert it. still it is good for the price... free Maybe she can come up with a better way of putting drawings into these Zoho documents.

OUT OF CLASS BLOGS This was kind o fun.
I found about a new place to hike in this blog:http://www.zevonprice.com/?p=35 Here is a link to it.
http://www.baysmountain.com/
I just thanked her for the review.I enjoyed reading about bays mountain. I used to live in Ktown and never made it up there. I'll have to check it out.

I found out about a place that sounds awesome!!!. No doubt I'll need to shape up before I try this one, but I'm gonna do it!!! Beats the heck out of blogging! :) Check out "The Walls of Jericho hike at this blog
http://timothyeggstuff.blogspot.com/2009/04/kevins-jericho-report.html?showComment=1239772980000#c7067540000989804923 intimidating review. Here is my comment: Nice read. I'll think about getting into better shape before I try this one.
I never knew about Blogs as such a resource for finding hikes! I can get into this!

Thing #12

The morning half of my weekly calendar looks about this bad too. If I had a cell phone with Internet access this would be more practical. I do, however, like this Google feature. I keep a mega-super Mom calendar on my fridge, complete with stickers, and that's where everything goes. Unfortunately, I can't count the number of times I wrote something down on paper, had good intentions of taking it home and writing it on my handy-dandy calendar, and then washed that important bit of info along with the rest of the laundry. If I could access this from anywhere, I would definitely use it. Clearly, this is perfect for things like classroom management, parent contacts, appointments, etc.

The absolute coolest thing I've discovered in this class has to be the Google Book Search. Granted, I prefer book in hand, but I found some hard-to-find books using this tool. B.H. Carroll is my favorite Biblical commentator. He lived in the 1800's and books containing his sermons and teachings are hard to come by. When you are fortunate enough to find his works, you pay a pretty penny for them. I was surprised to find several full text versions of some of his writings using this tool. I also searched for my fav-o-rite political cartoonist of all time, Berkley Breathed. I was disappointed to find that even when it said you could preview his work, it was purposely obscured in order to protect the copyright. Crapola.

I played with Google maps some too, but I wasn't as excited about it as I was the above two things.

Good stuff! Lots of good Google stuff! I really liked this one.

Thing #11

Wow. I'm brain dead. Where do I start?

I set up a Google reader account, and everything there is self explanatory, thank God! (Even idiots like myself can use it with ease...) I accidentally clicked on coolcatteacher's blog, and I must admit she (he?) did not impress me. There was too much information there all crammed together and I felt like I wasted a lot of time reading things that don't interest me in the first place. Too confusing and frustrating for me. That's one blog I will not be subscribing to.

I used Technorati, which was user friendly, and ended up subscribing to several blogs that relate to those out there that teach calculus. (Even found some videos!) I did have to weed out, but overall I found this useful. I did not enjoy Edublog's award winners at all. Again, the overall complaint I have is that there is simply waaaaaay too much stuff I have to look through in order to find what I want. Google Blog Search was the same way. Although it was easy to use, I (personally) don't enjoy this process. While I see the benefit in collaborating with others within my field, or custom tailoring the news that I want to read about, the process of getting it all set up is a pain.

From a teaching perspective, this could eventually be a useful endeavor. From a personal perspective, I doubt I will ever read a blog just for fun. This will definitely be a work-related thing only.

Thing #10

I know i can be somewhat of a cynic when it comes to technology, and it's no secret that I abhor sitting at a computer for more than 10-15 minutes, but I must admit that this assignment was meant for people like me, and I like it. Anything that cuts down on my time here, at this very keyboard, is a plus in my book. The key words are Really Simple Syndication.

I appreciate the efficiency and ease with which it works. This will be great in the classroom, once I find a few bloggers that teach the same subject matter I do. I'm always up for new ideas...I just don't like to wade through a lot of useless garbage to get there. Google Reader cuts out the useless garbage! I found it very simple (Really Simple) to use (thank goodness) and I've subscribed to 6 blogs. (5 from class and also my crazy cousin's that lives in California.) This is most definitely something I will share with my department at school because I know other teachers will be interested as well.

As far as the optional part of this assignment goes, it's safe to say I'm not up to the challenge. This class had made me cry twice today, and multiple times in the past several weeks as well. Actually, some might say the second incident today could be classified as an "emotional breakdown" when the computer locked up and I lost all my work, but there were no witnesses, so I'm sticking with crying. It sounds more professional.

Thing #9

Haha! These were fun to make. I teach Algebra II, which, in my humble opinion, is the most difficult math class a high schooler can take. Yes, there are higher levels of math, but Algebra II is the first time they are really asked to think "outside the box", so to speak. There is absolutely no sense in sugarcoating the fact that the class is hard. The students hate it, for the most part, so I don't try to convince them that they will feel otherwise. I often joke with them about exactly how much they hate it. (I usually start my power points off with a slide that says, "I H8 ALG2".) It softens the mood, and i think it helps them to know that I don't expect them to love the subject like I did; I just expect them to do their best. Anywho, I would hang these up in my room. They would go well with all the other signs that complain about math difficulties. (Although, upon second glance, I'd probably scrap the tarot card of the devil that says "Ms. Spicer" at the bottom. There are nudie parts showing, and I could foresee me getting into deep doo-doo over that one.)

I tutor every morning. My tutoring students are funny. They actually want to pitch in and get T-shirts, like its a club. Go figure. Anyway, when i asked them what they wanted on the shirt, they came up with, "The only thing better than Algebra II is Algebra II at 7:00 a.m." I actually have that hanging in my classroom. Confucius makes it look even better.

I created all of these at the following addresses:

http://www.customsigngenerator.com/
http://www.imagechef.com/

Thing #8

"Have some fun discovering and exploring some of these neat little apps, but be careful. Playing with these tools can be habit-forming. You may discover that you have a new hobby!"

OK. While I can see some practical applications that can be utilized within my classroom, this is far from a hobby for me. Gardening...now there's a hobby. Or the guitar. Or the banjo. The piano. Backpacking. Photography. Those are my hobbies. Yes, there are some neat pictures and things you can do with Flickr. For example, I used Retrievr by System One Labs and sketched an ellipse and it generated several examples of real life ellipses, such as the girl with the hula hoop above. This would be a good assignment for some of my Algebra II students when we cover conic sections in class. They enjoy seeing how conic sections appear in everyday life.


However, sitting in front of this computer is not a hobby for me. I want to be outside so bad I can hardly stand it! (Maybe I'm ADHD. My mother thinks so.) Technology is what I call a necessary evil. I understand the need to be fluent, but it in no way, shape, form, or fashion falls under the umbrella of what I consider "fun". Surfing the Internet is laborious to me. I could throw my TV and computer out the front door and never miss either one. (However, take away my ipod and I'd probably cry. Best darn invention since the wheel.) I guess what I'm trying to say is that the linear and nonlinear power points were much more applicable for the subjects I teach. Those are something I will use. To be honest, I don't know that I will ever explore Flickr again after this class. I'd rather be somewhere taking a picture instead of looking through someone else's. I don't see anything wrong with publishing pictures on the Internet, but it's just not what I want to spend my time looking at.

The above image of my name was made with Spell by Flickr. My daughter thinks this is "ultra-cool".

Thing #7

Check out the colors in this photo! I love photography, especially landscapes, and this caught my eye because of the purples in the image. There was probably a small window of opportunity for this shot, and he got it! Bruce McKay published this photo on Flickr March 15th of this year. He says it was taken the first day of his spring break. I should take a photo of a miserable, raw, rainy afternoon and publish it as the first day of my spring break, which currently starts tomorrow. I'd rather be there.


Here is a link to this black and white photo of Mount Rainer, taken by Jeremy Chen.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremychen/58229721/
After exploring Flickr, I just couldn't pull myself away from the landscape pool. Not only do I like photography, but I find black and whites to be elegant, soothing, and dramatic all at the same time. I chose to search for Mount Rainer, the pride and joy of my backpacking career. Yes, I climbed this bad boy about 15 years ago. Check out the Mount Rainer climbing blog below for lots of cool stuff. I wish I could find data for female climbers. At the time, someone told me the number of female climbers was far fewer. Regardless, I remember this view, and it was life changing. For those who have never been to Washington State, you have to see it to believe it.
http://mountrainierclimbing.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html