Using Zoho Docs was very simple.
This is my gradebook for LiveText, I imported it into Zoho Spreadsheets and then used the published function. I did note that you can actually still work within the spreadsheet. Publishing the work was as easy to figure out as publishing this blog! I think that being able to access these documents via the internet is very beneficial. We will now be able to do without any type of portable memory device if need be. These documents could be sent to colleagues for review, editing and input. I was interviewing for a job at one point where I would have been a personal assistant for a contractor... I would have been able to work from home, he kept all of his work on Google Docs and I could view everything that he had and work within the document and/or retrieve any information that he may need over the phone if he was on a job site.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
Thing #12
I started with the Google Calendar. I found the calendar very easy to use. My first thought was that I need to figure out a way to get the alerts to my husband, he never can remember what I am doing. There are times when I get done at an interview, doctors appointment, etc, I will find a dozen missed calls and voicemails wondering where I am. After that initial thought I began thinking how important this would be for myself as a student and once I start teaching. There will be many deadlines, steps to a project or meetings in the coming years. It will be important to keep track of them. If I made a public calendar as a teacher it could have all of the assignments, projects, tests or reading for each class and be accessible to he students and/or parents.
I found iGoogle to be very exciting too. The first thing that caught my attention was the weather 5-day forecast. I am obsessed with always knowing what the weather is. At first glance it reminded me of the way the Dashboard can be set up on a Mac. I have never worked with it very much but my husband has is account set-up, when he clicks on his dashboard the weather shows, calendar, sticky-notes, etc. I think the gadgets were the most fun. I added ones that were silly, simply because I like them, like the turtles and penguins, I love turtles and penguins. Then I added the important gadgets such as FOX News and the weather radar. Even the To Do List gadget, I am the queen of lists, especially to do lists, then there are the shopping lists and the items to bring lists. It is a sickness, I have lists everywhere, I blame it on my mother. I then spend a large portion of time moving, minimizing and deleting the assortment of gadgets all over my iGoogle page. I believe that this is a great resource for us as educators but for our students as well. We are moving into times where we do not need to know all sorts of information, we need to know how to search for information. Making an iGoogle page like I have creates every possible type of search, weather, news, movie times, recipes, sports, etc.
I found iGoogle to be very exciting too. The first thing that caught my attention was the weather 5-day forecast. I am obsessed with always knowing what the weather is. At first glance it reminded me of the way the Dashboard can be set up on a Mac. I have never worked with it very much but my husband has is account set-up, when he clicks on his dashboard the weather shows, calendar, sticky-notes, etc. I think the gadgets were the most fun. I added ones that were silly, simply because I like them, like the turtles and penguins, I love turtles and penguins. Then I added the important gadgets such as FOX News and the weather radar. Even the To Do List gadget, I am the queen of lists, especially to do lists, then there are the shopping lists and the items to bring lists. It is a sickness, I have lists everywhere, I blame it on my mother. I then spend a large portion of time moving, minimizing and deleting the assortment of gadgets all over my iGoogle page. I believe that this is a great resource for us as educators but for our students as well. We are moving into times where we do not need to know all sorts of information, we need to know how to search for information. Making an iGoogle page like I have creates every possible type of search, weather, news, movie times, recipes, sports, etc.
Thing #11
I started with Bloglines to search for special education related blogs. I began my search with "special education" I was hoping to find something relevant to follow. I did not find their "search"to be very useful. Maybe because I had a broad topic, but I was looking for bloggers that were only special education related, not just scanning the blog titles for that phrase, I would come across items that were just news feeds of who the new special education head of the department was for such-and-such city.
When I was reading the Cool Cat Teacher Blog I found a bit more success, and not through any search engine. When it suggested that we look at the "blogroll," I did. From there I started looking at other blogs on that roll and adding the ones I liked to my RSS feed. I was traveling from blog to blog when I came across a post that was titled Stop Reading-Skim Dive Skim. I clicked on the blog, began reading, then stopped, and started cracking up as I realized I was literally doing, letter for letter, what the blog was discussing. So often we read anymore by skimming, stopping and reading or "diving" more in depth at key points and then skimming on.
With Technorati I had a little more success in my search for a significant special education blog. At first, searching for "special education" turned up nothing, but without the quotes I had some results to search through. The one that caught my attention was Teaching All Students I found this to be a mix of good usable information and a good source of personal tales. The writer is a special education teacher and often blogs about using technology with his students.
When I was reading the Cool Cat Teacher Blog I found a bit more success, and not through any search engine. When it suggested that we look at the "blogroll," I did. From there I started looking at other blogs on that roll and adding the ones I liked to my RSS feed. I was traveling from blog to blog when I came across a post that was titled Stop Reading-Skim Dive Skim. I clicked on the blog, began reading, then stopped, and started cracking up as I realized I was literally doing, letter for letter, what the blog was discussing. So often we read anymore by skimming, stopping and reading or "diving" more in depth at key points and then skimming on.
With Technorati I had a little more success in my search for a significant special education blog. At first, searching for "special education" turned up nothing, but without the quotes I had some results to search through. The one that caught my attention was Teaching All Students I found this to be a mix of good usable information and a good source of personal tales. The writer is a special education teacher and often blogs about using technology with his students.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Thing #10
I found the RSS to be an incredible piece of technology. I am a little crazy about things. I check the weather every morning. Whenever I have down time I am on my phone reading the Top Stories and the "Strange News" from the Associated Press. Now if there was a way to link the RSS feed with my Facebook and my banking accounts I would be set. I must spent 20-30 minutes every morning.
I think that this would be a great resource in a social studies or current events type of class. If the class had a Google Reader and subscribed to certain reliable and credible news sources it would be a great way to start each class. I think that an English or Language Arts teacher might use an RSS feed if they assign blogging to their students, they may use it as a journal assignment, having the RSS feed will help check each students entries. In the same manner, if a teacher uses a blog like I suggested in a previous post they may set their RSS feed to monitor each blog related to each class period to just monitor if the students or parents are commenting.
I created the public page. I am currently sharing two funny stories from my "Strange News" AP feeds. My Public Page
I think that this would be a great resource in a social studies or current events type of class. If the class had a Google Reader and subscribed to certain reliable and credible news sources it would be a great way to start each class. I think that an English or Language Arts teacher might use an RSS feed if they assign blogging to their students, they may use it as a journal assignment, having the RSS feed will help check each students entries. In the same manner, if a teacher uses a blog like I suggested in a previous post they may set their RSS feed to monitor each blog related to each class period to just monitor if the students or parents are commenting.
I created the public page. I am currently sharing two funny stories from my "Strange News" AP feeds. My Public Page
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Thing #9 cont. again
This image was created with Fortune Cookie Sign Generator. I discovered it through the Sign Generator link posted on 23 Things. I believe that it could be used to create scavanger hunts or other activities in the classroom. Little messages can be put on the fortunes. I also think that any of the other sign generators have the potential to be used in the classroom, its great to cover the walls with unique quotes or rules, especially with younger ages.
Thing #9 cont.
This was created with PhotoFunia. This is a fun website for creating creative images. This is the same type of image generator that you would use to create magazine covers. This could be used to highlight a new student, or student of the week. The way that my image is represented in this book could be a creative cover for a students project or report, with an image of the subject in the image generator.
Thing #9
I used FunPhotoBox. This is another image creator. This website also offers the ability to put a face on another head or a head on another body. The image generating possibilities are endless but it spans creativity. These can be used in projects, in the classroom for artwork. In the younger grades the children faces can be put on bodies of a professional they want to be when they grow up and displayed in the room.
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