Thing # 8 RSS Feeds and Readers

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) makes searching so much easier. Now the topics and news that interest me come to me instead of me searching for them. This is such a convenient tool! It just takes a little time to set up. I can enter a topic that we are studying in class and receive the most current info. on it. This is great especially for us teachers since it is so vital that we are always current on the topics we teach. I set up mine to receive current news, a recipe a day, joke of the day, Mike Falick's Blog, The World's Healthiest Foods, and weather. I am going to enter my topics I teach now and see what I can come up with. This is great!

Thing # 7

The Google Tools were fun to explore and took a lot of time to learn about each one. It was difficult to pick two, but I ended up setting up a Google Alert for NASA updates. On the Google Advanced Search I found some great power point presentations I will be able to encorporate into our Flight Unit and Rocketry Unit.

Thing # 6: Mashups and 3rd Party Sites

OK....i finally got my trading card done, but I have not worked on getting it to my blog. This definately takes a lot of time and practice. If anyone reads this and can help me move my avatar to the upper right corner of my blog page I sure would appreciate it. I am just plugging along and trying my best here. I am taking ALOT if notes in my spiral notebook which is right next to my computer. I did not realize I would have to set up so many accounts. How does a person remember all of the user names and passwords? I have just been using the same one.

Thing #5: Flickr

Flickr is awesome! What a library of photos! I teach a rocketry unit and this is a photo of a 2-stage rocket I found.

Thing # 2: Avatar

Wow! That was pretty difficult and I don't know if I can repeat what I just did. I will have to practice importing pictures more often. Hopefully it will not be as frustrating!!

Thing #2: Lifelong Learning

OK - I am starting to get the hang of this blog thing. I would have to say that Habit #7 is the easiest for me. I love learning something new and then teaching it to others. It is very satisfying to be able to AHA something cool that you have just learned and then pass that AHA on to someone else. This is a habit I try to instill in my students and my own children. It is vital that in order to truly master something, whether it be a math concept or how to make a bed you need to be able to successfully teach it to someone else in order to master the skill. Habit #6 would be the most difficult for me - using technology to my advantage. There is so much new techie stuff out there that sometimes it can be so overwhelming to me. I want to learn about it and be comfortable using it, but it takes time to "play" and learn. That is why I am so thankful that this online class is available for me to do this summer. I am very excited to learn about blogging and photostories and attempt to encorporate these into my classes in the fall!