Blog Post 12

I loved looking at the PowerPoint screen shots that people had. It was really interesting to see how everyone has different creative abilities and took their own perspective on the assignment. I also enjoyed listening to every one's podcast and the stories they told.


I really want to learn how to make a website. Even though we learned about using Wikispace, I want to be able to create a website that is completely my own and I can control all aspects of it, such as a site like this (http://bellaandedward.com/) or (http://mugglenet.com/). I think it would be cool to be able to have your own website that you can create to be popular.

I've been thinking about taking some type of web designing class at FSU or for fun somewhere else. I think one of these classes could give me the tools needed to be able to create my own web page. If that doesn't work, I'm sure there is online tutorials of ways to make one.

Blog post 11

I actually never used Twitter after the day we made it in class. I went home and found my friend and celebrities to "follow" but I never logged in again after doing that. For me, Twitter was kind of confusing. It was easy to post tweets, but I had problems seeing who responded to what. I just never really grasped it.

I don't plan to use Twitter again. It's pretty much just like using Facebook status updates. Also, Twitter is good if you have a phone that supports it, but my phone doesn't have Internet on it anymore so I won't receive tweets until I log onto my computer.

Twitter could be a useful educational tool, but I think there are better ways to communicate in the classroom. Twitter allows the teacher to communicate almost instantly with their students if the children have phones that enable them to use Twitter, or allow the student to look up tweets once they log into a computer. This could be done with emails or instant messages as well. The main benefit to using Twitter is the fact that everyone can see the same information at once.

My Ballin Podcast

I'm hungry

Blog post # 10

I chose to review this website (http://www.easybib.com/) I found it to be extremely useful while citing papers in middle and high school. Every student has had to cite a paper in either MLA, APA, or Chicago formatting, and this site makes the process a lot easier. It allows you to cite almost any source imagineable, including books, websites, encyclopedias, magazines, and newspapers. Although some teachers would encourage their students to learn how to cite without using a computer resource, there's just so many little things to remember when citing sources that it would just end up causing a lot of errors to cite from memorization.

The site first allows you to pick your source from over 50 options. When you pick a source, you have to fill out a little bit of information and then the site produces a bibliography for you. This can be done for any source you have, so when you're finished, you can easily copy and paste your entire bibliography into your paper. The site is easy to use, but is kind of crowded with text and advertisements which make it hard to navigate at first. The color is simple and isn't overwhelming to look at.

I think web 2.0 tools are really useful to use in that classroom. There are so many options to choose from that any teacher could find benefit in using one. I think that the photo sharing website Flickr would be useful for teachers, because it provides them with a page to share all the pictures the students may need in doing a project, or to show all the pictures from class events.

Blog post #9

I chose to review this website (http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx). I have used this website before, for a project I had to do for my Biology Lab class. I find it to be extremely helpful and easy to use. The website lets you create graphs that you can then save and paste onto a project. The graphs can be saved in many different formats, including pdf and jpeg.

The website allows you to create bar, line, area, XY, and pie graphs. You're allowed to change the color of each part of the graph, and allows you to use more than one line or bar (so you can graph multiple groups of data for comparative purposes). This website would be used in math or science classes, for all ages, to reflect data collected.

I don't really like using Excel, but I feel like once I practice more with it, then it will be easier to use. I would use it to make attendance charts and to record data collected from my students. It would be useful to use for grading purposes, if other methods were unavailable. The program can not only help you record grades, but to easily figure out letter grades for each student. For younger grade levels, work searches and crossword puzzles can easily be made using Excel.