Thing 12

I am guilty of using Google for everything! Anytime I am unsure of something, I "Google" it. I use Google as a verb on a weekly basis. I used Google Calendar to make a calendar with my quiz dates, homework, anniversary, etc. It is VERY easy to use. You simply click on the day of the event, type in what the event is, edit the time, maybe even the color, and save. It reminds you through email. I thought this would be very helpful when I become a teacher. Teachers could make their calendar, with the syllabus included on the days, and then make it public for all of their students to see. It is easy to access and very easy to read. I obviously did not add all of my important dates, but I did get the month of February on mine. Here it is. .

Morgan's Calendar

I also used Picasa Web Albums. Being that it is Valentine's day, I was in the mood to show off some pictures of me and my sweet fiance. It was very easy to upload the pictures. Also, I had the choice to choose whether to make it private, public to the web, or public to only people who have the link. I chose "public to only people who have the link" Here is mine...

Morgan's Web Album

I thought that this would be a great website for special education teachers. A lot of times parents of special needs children like to stay updated on how their kid is progressing in therapy, classroom activities, and classwork during the school day. It would be great if I, as a teacher, would have time to take a few snap shots of the children, upload them to this website, and only provide the parents with the link. I think it could be very useful. :)

Thing 11

The method that I found easiest for finding feeds that interest me was to simply go to google reader and search from the subscribe box. It is simple to type in a key word there, and many different blogs come up that relate to your search.
The easiest tool for me was the google blog search when just typing in random subjects that interest me. The received tons of results and had a lot to chose from. It was hard to keep from subscribing for too many. I also liked using Technorati. It was pretty helpful and reliable in finding just what interested me and what I was looking for.
I didn't find any of the search tools very confusing. I guess the most confusing part (which wasn't very confusing) was finding where on the website was the link to subscribe to the blog. Some were easier to subscribe to than others.
Overall, I found a lot of useful feeds. One of my favorite subscriptions that I find very useful in my personal life is Daily Devotionals : Baptist Bible Hour. I have a very hectic schedule, and sometimes I don't find the time like I should to pull out my Bible. This blog makes it easy to simply click on and read a great daily devotional without having to get to my Bible.
I also found Lucky Dog Rescue Blog . It shows how powerful a blog can be when reaching out to the public. I encourage you to visit this blog and view the stories of all the sweet animals that have been rescued because of the information provided by this site.
I came across a blog titled Weirdomatic . It is a blog that is a bit unusual but in a way very interesting. It is a blog that is "A resource for most interesting, funny and weird pictures gathered from around the web". It is a fun time passer!
All of the tools I used to find blogs and resources were very helpful and I am sure that there are many more! It seems like there are way too many blogs to ever run out of information for any topic.

Thing 10

I like several things about RSS and newsreaders. RSS allows me to view a live feed of topics that I am interested in without all of the in between. It is easy to log in to Google Reader and immediately start reading what I have subscribed to which is what I am interested in. Also, it suggests other blogs and informational sites that I may be interested in based on what I have already subscribed to. I thought that was pretty neat because it is always introducing me to new information.
This technology could definitely come in handy for school and my personal life. All of the blogs that I chose to subscribe to are about education or teachers. I also plan on subscribing to a few for recipes and maybe a wedding blog or two.
Teaching special education is all about networking between family, the student, and other teachers. I will be taking advantage of RSS to stay up to date in my field. It will also help me to view updates from other teachers and people who can relate to special education almost immediately instead of having to search for a while before getting to the information I need.

thing 9

Comic Strip Generator

Happy Face Generator

Image Chef

I made the 3 images above using 3 different websites. There is a link beside each picture that will lead you to the website it is from. I loved exploring these different generators. I feel like I could use all three of these generators in teaching. Decorating a classroom is a big deal to me because I have been in many boring classrooms, and I hated it. I love to look around and see color and animation. These would be helpful in making bulletin boards, class projects, and decorating the whole classroom. The generators are also neat for your personal life. I could think of a lot of things they could be used for starting with just trying to make a friend smile. Many of the images I came across were humorous.

Thing 8

As I was exploring the different Flickr Mashups, I couldn't decide which ones I wanted to use. I love creative stuff like this. I made my name from the Spell with Flickr and then I made a little photo mosaic from Mosaic Maker. I would love to use these two apps in the future with teaching and in my personal life. I thought the "spell with Flickr" would be neat to make classroom name tags and bulletin boards. My mosaic is several pictures of me and my little brother whom is my inspiration in becoming a special education teacher. This would be a fun project for a classroom when everyone is getting to know one another. It would also be fun to get to know what the kids are interested in by what they included in their picture mosaic. I have mixed feelings about sharing photos online. I think it is an awesome way to stay in touch with family (by showing pictures of your kids and family), and if I was a photographer I would totally show off my photos online. The only problem is making sure nobody else can take credit from your work. I've also heard about people using your personal pictures as their own, and that is also a little scary. However, I obviously like the idea of sharing pictures online enough to love apps like these!