Stop #12: 1,000 ways to Google

As the most popular search engine on the Web, it is hardly surprising that Google is not a one-trick pony.  It seems that the list of things you can accomplish on Google increases everyday, and I would not be surprised if that was their goal! As an avid user of Google Translate, to help me with Spanish, and Google Drive, to help me collaborate on group projects, I was really excited about this Thing.  There are some parts of Google that I find myself to be pretty savvy on, but there are several that I didn't even know existed before this assignment.

Google Alerts for instance.  This is a highly useful tool that I really wish I had discovered sooner.  Keeping up with the Government Shutdown is way easier with email alerts about the most current stories, granted there is an excessive amount of them at the moment.  However, this tool is essential for keeping up with current events that are important to you.

Another tool that I never really used is Google Calendar.  This tool would be great to use in the classroom to keep my classroom schedules in one place.  I can also share those schedules with my students if I create it with a school-only email address.  This would ensure that all of my students have access to the most up-to-date schedule, and have no reason to miss a deadline because they "forgot" or "didn't know it was due."

The tool that I most plan to use in my classroom is Google Scholar.  Many high schools do not get the funding to have access to massive online databases like colleges can, so few high school students learn how to conduct online searches for scholarly sources.  It is important to be acclimated with the uses of such sources, so I would like to be able to teach my students how to use Google Scholar when they write research papers in my class.

Stop #11: Finding new blogs

In order to fill up my new RSS feed, I needed to do some internet exploring.  There are many places to search for cool blogs to follow, but I started at Google Blogs.  Not surprisingly, this yielded expansive useful results.  I also tried blogsearchengine.org and Technorati, but I found that Google blogs was certainly the most easy to use.  Technorati was a bit confusing because the homepage was so busy to start out with that I could barely find where to search.  I also used the Feedly search engine which was the most convenient method.  One really cool feed that I found using this method by searching "educational technologies" was freetech4teachers.com which is a site about emerging technologies that cost nothing and can be used to enhance the classroom experience.  There are a lot of unusual feeds that come up when you only use the search term "education" because most times political blogs will come up.  These blogs have mentioned education before, perhaps, but are not dedicated to the topic.  The search for sites to include in my feed will probably last a long time, but at least I now have some useful tools with which I can conduct these searches.

Stop #10: RSS feeds?

What? What is that? Random Silly Stuff? Ridiculously Slap-happy Seals? No, RSS is this cool thing that puts all of your favorite websites in ONE PLACE.  Crazy right? I never really knew what it was until I took this Educational Technologies class and now I feel like I have been out of the loop!  RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.  And that's it.  So simple.  All you have to do is sign up for a Web Syndication site and start adding your favorite sites.  They will pop up in your feed and you can access all of the web content you personally want to see in one click.

I love everything about this, so I really wish I had known about it earlier!  There are so many websites that I really want to keep up with, but they get lost in the riptide and I never see them again.  With my new RSS feed, I can instantly add any sites that interest me to my feed and access them when I feel like it.  I can also categorize them so I don't have my DIYs mingling with my Educational Technology's.

This technology is also great for the classroom.  If I require that my students make blogs, I can easily keep up with their progress by adding them to my feed.  I can also have my students make a feed to keep up on current events or follow educational blogs or websites.  Oh the possibilities.....

Teachers can use this tool to keep up with technology in the classroom and educational policies in government.  By tracking certain news sites or edublogs, teachers can stay informed and increase their opportunities for implementing new things in the classroom.

RSS feeds are my new future.

Stop #9: I saw the sign

Creating silly or informative signs is an easy way to make lessons a bit more interesting.  

The first sign I made is a warning sign; the link is included in the caption.  This generator allows you to choose many headings like BEWARE!, notice, CAUTION, etc.  You then get to choose a photo to display on the left that is meant to display the danger.  After choosing that, you can input any text you want on the right.  This is the warning descriptor.  Here is my silly outcome:

It's possible.

For my second sign, I used a website that happened to be in German.  In spite of the language barrier, I was able to easily navigate the site and create this lovely depiction of my feelings about Monday.  There were several templates for the smileys holding the sign and you can customize the text, text color, and background color.    

Oh, how I detest them.

This is a generator that I think would be pretty cool for students to use when doing a project on another country.  There were a ridiculous amount of countries to choose from, and you can customize the face on the smiley and the text.  The website was high contrast, so that wasn't my favorite, but the generator was pretty awesome.

In honor of the Shutdown.

I am crazy addicted to these now, thanks to this lesson and I can think of so many uses for me or my students.  I am already mentally decorating my classroom with grammar warning signs. :)

Stop #8: Getting those creative juices flowing

To create a mash-up for this activity, I chose to use Bookr, a Flickr user-created app using the Flickr API.  For this app, you can search Flickr tags or users and insert the photos from the search into a book.  There is a section on each page to place a caption and you can create up to a 36 page book!

This would be really cool in the classroom because my students could create books using photos that they upload or that are free to use.  The search within the app automatically searches for only Creative Commons content, so there is no fear of copyright infringement.  This is a really cool resource for projects.

Because of my love for Autumn weather, I chose to create a mash-up of Autumn pictures for this post.  Have a look!


My book about Autumn.

Stop #7: FLICKR!

Flickr is one of my favorite photo sharing websites!  Although I do not have a personal account, I spend a lot of time scrounging for photos that express what I am feeling for my computer background or for my Facebook cover photo.  The easiest way for me to find photos that I can use is to use the advanced search and click the "Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content" button.  This ensures that I can find any pictures that the creators want me to be able to use and share without having to type in weird search phrases.

One of the photos I found during the exploration of the site was under the search phrase "autumn."  Autumn is my favorite season, and since it is October, I figured it was appropriate.  Being from Illinois, I am used to long, distinct Autumns with crisp air and falling leaves (much unlike Tennessee).  I always get a little homesick when Autumn rolls around for that exact reason.  This photo makes me so very happy that I can almost forget the homesickness:

Photo by ClifB

When looking at this photo, I can smell the autumn air with the fresh, moist ground from a recent rain.  I can feel the chilly breeze blow through the holes in my sweater and whip my hair around my face.  I can imaging laying across the bench with an anthology of James Joyce and relaxing in the soft glow of the afternoon sun.  This photo exudes beauty and happiness to me.

I think I am going to keep browsing through the "autumn" tags. :)