Thing #12

Google is Not Just for Searching Anymore
 

Picasa reminds me a lot of Flickr but would be a better option for those who prefer to use Google since they provide so many services! And again on Picasa I looked under the tag “Wedding” and found a beautiful picture!

Google Translate is a tool I have used before! This would be a great website to introduce your students to if they were wanting to learn a new language or traveling to another country.

Thing #11

Finding Good Feeds

• Which method of finding feeds did you find easiest to use?
  I think going to websites that you already know and love then looking for their RSS button works best for me. 
• Which Search tool was the easiest for you?
  I like http://technorati.com/ the most out of all the suggested ways to find interesting feeds. 
• Which was more confusing?
  Topix and Syndic8 both looked very boring and confusing to me. Not visually appealing. 
• What kind of useful feeds did you find in your travels?
  I love http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/ and found out I can subscribe to the page and get movie reviews on my Google reader! Super cool! 
• What other tools or ways did you find to locate newsfeeds?
  You can always do a Google search! That is a way to find things that never fails me.

Thing #10

Set Up an RSS Reader and Add Feeds

• What do you like about RSS and newsreaders?
  I like that it puts all of the latest updates from all of your favorite websites on one page.

• How do you think you might be able to use this technology in your school or personal life?  
  I think this is a tool I will be using at home from here on out. A lot of sites update you on things, like Facebook with your friends, and now, with the Google reader I can get updates from all of my favorite websites and news sources.

• How can teachers use RSS or take advantage of this new technology?
  With all of the interesting online resources for teachers that we have been exploring in this class, such as chatboards & blogs, it makes it easy for a teacher to explore all of the newest updates on those sites in a much faster and effective way.

Thing #9

Online Image Generators

I love these image generators even more than the Mashups! So much fun! They would be great to use for humorous birthday cards, silly posters in the classroom, or any one of the themes they have online. I found the link to both of my images on http://www.customsigngenerator.com/. 

They’re very different from each other but I think it gives a good idea of how versatile you can be with them.

 

 

Thing #8

Flickr Mashups

    
     

Spell with Flickr is so fun! Being creative is a major part of being a teacher and I could seriously see myself using these little Apps in the future! I had to have the site write “Will You Marry Me?” haha because it’s so cliché yet adorable. I also really wanted to see the Clockr site but I don’t think it works anymore. Using pictures to display the time sounds like an awesome little tool you could use in the classroom. The Mosaic one would be great to show students in an art class. Then you could have students collect magazines and newspapers to make their own collages.

 

As far as sharing photos online, I think it’s a bad idea. I know Flickr says they have privacy settings but it still makes me weary. Personal photos are just that – personal! The idea of the whole world having access to my images is very scary. In my eyes, privacy and the internet just do not go hand in hand.

Thing #7

Explore Flickr

I took the Flickr tour first and that was pretty informational. I do not have a Flickr but I think I had a Photobucket at one point in time. I mainly post all of my pictures on Facebook. 

So I was looking at all of the most popular tags on Flickr and “Wedding” caught my eye since I was just at a wedding this weekend! It had a lot of pictures of this one couple who are Asian and I immediately fell in love with the bride’s beautiful dress :)  

Here is a link to the picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevenxi/6238309411/