Thing # 5

Web 2.0 means that in today's world, I have a great amount of sources that I can use online and have at my fingertips at a moment's notice. This is something that teachers of the past did not  have. This could make my job a lot easier and in many ways it is a blessing. There are many tools online that I can use such as blogs, online teaching sites, educational resources, and library websites with article databases. I have been using technology for a long time and the students that I will be teaching will very likely be so used to using technology that it could be of great benefit for them to exercise what they know about it. I see the Web 2.0 tools as things that can be used for me as an educator to further my knowledge and for students continued learning.

Schools of the future will probably be even more technology oriented and I believe with the rapid progress that technology makes everyday now, it will be even better for the schools in the future.

Thing # 3

My goal is to teach high school English and though before now I would have never used a blog in my class, I now think it could be a good idea for becoming a catalyst for good discussion. Many times, teenagers are afraid to speak up in the classroom, but by creating a blog and making it count as a small percentage of their grade, I could get the class to discuss literature in their blogs. This would make it fun and I could really get to see what each and every students' opinions were. Though I had some confusion setting up a blog, I could teach the students to create one and walk them through it in one day of class. I believe once they get started, it would be easy for them and could encourage pure and un-intimidated thought from my students.

Thing # 2

I finally figured out how to work this blogging thing after a little while of confusion.

To begin, I chose to display only my first name to the public and chose the name "School Blogs" for my title because..well..that's what they are. In the beginning processes of creating this blog, as I said, there was much confusion. Though I do have a bit of experience with computers, I do not usually do much on the internet except check email and get on D2L for my school work. This is my first experience using a blog and I have to say it is not so bad once I figured everything out. :)

I created my avatar to look a little bit like me, though my skin is not really that tan. I would like to get my tan back, but I live in Tennessee. I thought about adding a dog to sit next to my avatar because I love dogs, but the dog looked funny and awkward. I would like to think that my avatar looks relatively like me but others may disagree. I do have a different view of myself than others obviously. I created my avatar with a smile because I am a friendly person and I'm almost never so serious that I look like the serious face on doppelme.com. I wanted people to get a sense of how I really am without having to look at a real picture of me. Hopefully I have done a good job with this and my post finds everyone easily. :)

Thoughts on Thing # 1

The lifelong habit that I believe I am most capable of is beginning with the end in mind. In my head, I am always thinking of how things are going to turn out in the end. I usually set goals for myself and work to achieve them to the best of my ability. The goal that I think would be the hardest for me is viewing problems as challenges instead of having a major melt down before I can figure out how to deal with the problem. I know that each problem or challenge will be a good learning experience for me, no matter how difficult it can get.

By using the tools in Web 2.0 I would like to gain a better understanding of working with technology and computers as well as discover new things I can do on a computer that I've never been able to do before. While I was setting up my blog, I had a bit of trouble and got a little confused, but that is not a suprise with my lack of computer skills. But, once I accepted the challenge and stuck with it, I finally figured everything out and now it's a breeze! This blog looks like it could be a lot of fun! I really enjoyed the template and design part, though I wish you could create your own background for your blog posting.

All in all, it was a somewhat confusing experience, but now it looks to be a good experience and a fun one too. :)