Thing #6

http://www.pandora.com/

The site that I chose to explore was Pandora.  I actually already have a Pandora account because I have the app on my iPod.  I love Pandora.  You can type in any artist, song, or genre and it creates a radio station with music by the artist you chose and similar artists as well or music of the specific genre you want.  You can save these stations if you have an account with Pandora, and it is free to do so.  You can access these radio stations anywhere that you have internet access.  You can also either use the website itself, or if you have a phone or iPod that can use apps, it is a free app, or at least it is in the iTunes store.  It is amazing.  I think that Pandora could definitely be used in the classroom.  If you were doing a history lesson, you could provide examples of the music of the time period.  Or, if you were to have a lesson on influential individuals in music you could use Pandora to find examples of their music.  Pandora is just really neat and I think that it is a great web application.   

Thing #5

School 2.0, to me, means that the environment of learning is changing.  With so much new technology, and with how quickly new technology is developed, there are so many ways for students and teachers to find and use different resources.  These resources can be accessed virtually anywhere.  Learning is not confined to the classroom.  In the future, technology will be even more groundbreaking and there will be even more resources for students and teachers.  One of the perspectives I read on Web 2.0 was from the Guide for Educators.  It talked about how the Internet is now second nature to kids.  Many children today have easy access to a computer and the Internet and can pick up how to use its many features much quicker than most adults can.  If educators use concepts that are already familiar to students, then they will stay tuned in to a lesson and be excited to learn.

Thing #4

Commenting creates a sense of community and interaction because it allows for an exchange of ideas. Through commenting on someone else's blog you can let someone know that you agree or disagree with their ideas in a thoughtful manner, if you are using proper commenting etiquette.  Commenting also lets a person know that their ideas are being heard and that they have a voice.  In the posts about commenting, one of the things that I thought was important was the idea that comments should be meaningful and if that you do not care, do not comment.  The blogs of my classmates that I have chosen to follow and comment on are Tammie Smith, Morgan Garton, Natasha Pentecost, Olivia Rhodes, and Derek Carroll.  I have chosen these at random so that I could learn about my classmates.     

The two outside blogs that I chose to follow are The Pioneer Woman and ZooBorns, and I have chosen to follow them by using the RSS Feed. 

On the outside blogs, I commented on ZooBorns on the post about the Pygmy Hippo http://www.zooborns.com/zooborns/2012/03/south-africa-welcomes-prince-harry-a-brand-new-pygmy-hippo.html#comment-6a010535647bf3970b0168ea6600ed970c. 
and on the Pioneer Woman, I commented on a recipe http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2012/04/oatmeal-whoopie-pies/comment-page-2/#comments

On my classmates blogs, I just commented on some of their posts, making agreements with many of the things that they have posted.

Thing #3

I think that a blog can be used in many ways.  In the teacher education program, it could be used to track your progress and to post about your experiences.  It could also be used to follow your peers and communicate about your similar interests and what they are experiencing during their time in the program.

I believe that in my future classroom, I could use a blog to communicate with parents about what is going on in the classroom.  I could write about what the students are learning and about upcoming lessons.  I also agree with many of things that Anne Davis posted on Edublog Insights.  I think that it is a very interesting idea to use a blog to showcase student artwork and short stories.  I also like her idea of using a blog as a class newsletter with student generated content.

Thing #2

I had fun setting up my blog and creating my avatar.  As I stated in my previous post, I have been wanting to start a personal blog.  Now that I know how to create one it gives more incentive to do that for myself.  I think that a blog could also be an effective tool in the classroom because you could use it as a way to communicate with parents about what goes on while their children are at school.  The name I chose for my blog does not reflect much about me personally, it just states what it is for, which I think gets straight to the point.  I tried to reflect my personality more with the template and my avatar.  I chose a pretty, pink template, because I like to think that I have a bright, bubbly personality most of the time. My avatar looks as much like me as I could get it to look.  I wanted to present myself as accurately as possible, and I believe that I created my avatar with that in mind.  It may not be a perfect representation, but I feel that I did the best I could.  It was a neat experience to set up this blog.  I think that future assignments with it are going to be very interesting.  

Thing #1

I think that the easiest of the 7 1/2 Lifelong Learning  Habits, for me, is Habit 1, which was begin with the end in mind.  I always try to start an assignment with the idea of completing the task on time and knowing that once I complete the assignment I will be finished.  Habit 6, which is using technology to my advantage, is also something that I can do fairly easily.  Once I figure out how to do something with a new piece of technology, I can usually use it to help me with different sorts of tasks.  It may take me a while to learn how to use it, but once I do, I can use these new skills to learn even more.    The hardest of the habits for me is having confidence in myself as a competent learner.  I am always second guessing myself, and this is a habit I am very much so trying to break.  The other habits I also have a pretty easy time with, but they do not affect me as much as the ones I have previously mentioned. 

As for setting up this blog, I thought that it was quite easy.  I have been thinking of starting a personal blog for myself for some time now but thought that it would have been too hard.  Now that I know how to set it up, I think that may be something I want to accomplish.  I want to learn how to use Web 2.0 tools to my advantage.  I think that I am proficient enough with technology and the Internet, but I know that I could learn more, especially to find ways that I can use this technology in the classroom.