Google Reader

During my class, I have learned MANY new things about technology and resources that are on the internet. Part of this journey has been following blogs on Google Reader. I have enjoyed very much reading all of the blogs I picked to follow and learning so much from them. Many of them have all kinds of free resources that can be found on the web, most of which I would have never thought to even look for! The seven blogs I have been following are:

Free Technology for Teachers:  http://www.freetech4teachers.com/
A Media Specialist's Guide to the Internet:  http://mediaspecialistsguide.blogspot.com/
Cool Cat Teacher Blog: http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/
Elementary Teacher Resources, Get the Resources You Need:  http://www.elementary-teacher-resources.com/elementary-teacher-resources-blog.html
Larry Ferlazzo's Website of the day...For Teaching ELL, ESL, and EFL:  http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/
NEA-States Embracing PreK & Full-Day K Programs: http://www.nea.org/
Will:  http://willrichardson.com/

My favorite blog is Free Technology for Teachers. This website explains so many cool ways to be online and have a whiteboard, the Diigo accounts, and so many other technological advances that I didn't even know could be used in the classroom. My favorite blog this whole time was: "Video - The Last U.S. Veteran of WWI" via Free Technology for Teachers by noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) on 9/23/11. This is an amazing interview from the last live veteran of WWI. The veteran died in February of 201- he was 110 years old! I think it is so important to share historical information like this with our younger students. These students have no idea of what life was like during those times and it is amazing to have captured this veteran in a video interview explaining all of that to us. There are very few times in life where we can say,"I saw for myself a veteran from WWI talking about his experience"...that never happens!!!

Social Bookmarks

I LOVE using social bookmarks! I usually research so much material that when I do find great websites, I am too busy to remember what the URL was. With a social bookmark, it is so easy to just click the button and save the URL! I recommend using a social bookmark to anyone and for anything. I have personal items saved under my bookmark as well as school and career items. This is a website you can have access to from any computer. This is very helpful when you are away from home and need to know what website it is you use for a specific item. For example, I was at my mom's house one night and couldn't remember the website that had the labels I use for my son's snacks. I was able to log on to the social bookmark I use and the website was listed with a link to go straight to where I needed! You are able to list tags under your website links and this makes it much easier to search through your bookmarks when you are looking for a specific topic of information. I created and used a Delicious account for my social bookmark, and plan on using it for a very long time!

Here is my bookmark's URL:
http://www.delicious.com/heatherbarber?settagview=list

Good Digital Citizenship

It is very important for individuals to be good digital citizenships. All adults should be good examples to younger people. If every adult behaved online the way a good digital citizen would, then parents wouldn't have to worry about their kids getting online, sexual predators using alias ages and names to talk to young kids, or their kids identity being stolen. There are healthy boundaries set up to assure everyone enjoys their time online and gets the most out of it. A good digital reputation is very important for anyone that has a business online, works with other people in any area online, or just communicates online. A reputation online will carry over to the real world. Whatever someone does online, they are accountable for that action on the internet and in every day life. For example, if a student is being mean to others online, they should be held accountable for that action online, at school, and in the home. That child will also receive a bad reputation on the Internet that may discourage people from chatting with them; this reputation will carry over in day to day life at school. Being a good digital citizen is part of being a good citizen in every day life.

Roblyer pg. 201 #1

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to pull up the website: http://www.thinkingport.org/Technology/simulations.tp. Every time I typed in the URL, I was given an error page on the Thinking Port website. I read in my book and still explored the Thinking Port website, and decided my two favorite types of simulations are the Virtual Reality field trip tours and the 3-D models. I would LOVE to take my students on a virtual tour of the Egyptian pyramids and the Titanic. That is the first two places that come to mind for that activity. With the 3-D models, I would enjoy showing the students how the inside of an animal would look, or how the heart pumps blood! There are so many amazing things we can do with technology now, the simulations are just another step closer to bring the subject matter to life!

Software Reviews Online-Pg. 105 #1

I visited http://evalutech.sreb.org/, http://www.clrn.org/home/, http://superkids.com/, and http://educationworld.com/.

The evalutech website was not working. So, I am not sure about that website.

I was able to check the other 3 sites though. I found the Californa Learning Resource Network site very nice, but when I clicked on their reviews it said, sorry no blogs posted. I saw there was an area to give feedback if you were a member. The good news is annually they send out a feedback sheet to their members and ask what information is most useful to them.

On SuperKids website, there were TONS of software reviews to see. SuperKids is definitely a useful site when trying to find software to use in the classroom. When I clicked on their newest information, the most recent information was dated 5/5/11 so, they aren't keeping their website updated very well. I did not see a spot where you could give feedback for this website. You had to sign in to receive their free newsletter so I am not sure how frequent they send out their newsletters.

Finally, I went to Education World and LOVED this website. It is officially bookmarked as one of my favorite websites. There is information as current as yesterday (which was a Saturday) and already lesson plans pertaining to September 11th (which is one week away)! This website is full of lesson plan ideas, blogs for teachers, administration, and even parents. This website if very informational and alive. You can tell it stays updated with weekly newsletters to each group of viewers and a teacher of the day. There is a section on this site for software reviews, but that isn't the sites only focus. The site has tools for teachers like lesson plans, diagrams, Clip Art, and so many other things available.

Recap...My favorite websites were Education World and SuperKids! SuperKids has any type of software review you need while Education World has software reviews and everything else! California Learning Exchange would be great if it were updated with blogs, and unfortunately, the Evalu Tech website wouldn't work for me at all!  All of the websites I visited wanted you to sign up to receive their free newsletters and to send feedback.