Thing 6

I chose this photo for several reasons. I was looking for a photo that depicted tranquility. I liked the way the water looks so calm, and how the sun is starting to peek through the clouds. I am not sure if it is the beginning of the day or the end of the day. I also loved the picture of this castle. It almost looks as if the castle is floating on the water! Water has always fascinated me. I love sitting by an ocean, lake or river. I think watching the water is very soothing. I also feel very close to God when I am by water. This is why I chose this picture.
I enjoyed this lesson. I can see how using Flickr will be fun. I can also see the benefit of saving your pictures online so that nothing happens to them. The only downside to this, is that I could spend too much time clicking through all of the beautiful images!

Thing 5

Hurray! I completed thing 5 in less than 30 minutes. I feel as if I am finally making some progress. I am really excited to having the capability of organizing websites that I am interested in in one place, so it is easy to access. Again, I think the amount of information on the Internet is so overwhelming. I can see why many of our students have difficulty staying focused during a class lecture...when they are used to being able to control the speed at which they receive information. If one site is not appealing to them, they can click and instantly be linked to another site. I am sure many of our students wish they could click their teachers and instantly be transformed to another classroom and then go back when they are ready for that information again! I am joking, but I guess that is what an e-classroom might be like. Imagine if teachers could deliver their lessons via the Internet and students could access that information at their own pace. I guess that is what online classes are like; similar to our 23 things course.

Thing 4

Okay, thing 4 about did me in today!! I am home, with my cup of coffee, in my comfy clothes ready to learn. I was thinking I could breeze through at least 3 or 4 things today! Well, here I am finally blogging about thing 4 after about an hour and a half!!! I could not get a confirmation from bloglines on my work email, even after trying several times. I took a break and played scrabble on my computer. When I went back to bloglines, and my work email, I had still not been confirmed. Frustrated, I set up my blogline through my home email address. I got an immediate confirmation, so I could go on. Then, I accidentally signed up for some of the blog line subscriptions before I set up my four folders! I didn't see the 3rd. instructional video until I did that. So I finally saw the last video for thing 4, set up my folders, and am now blogging about it. I really am having difficulty keeping all of my sign ins and passowords straight, even though I write them down. I really hope this all gets easier. Technology is still not second nature to me. Okay, I think that I have vented enough. Now on to Thing 5....

Thing 3

I have been surfing through the many different blogs that were listed for us, as well as those of my fellow "23 things" classmates. I am amazed at how many different types of blogs there are and how many different ways they can be used. Recently, I saw the movie Julie/Julia, about the person (Julie) who blogs about how she made all of Julia Child's recipes in one year. As someone who likes to write, I was intrigued about how she began her blog, which became a novel, which became a book! I was delighted to see that that was part of this course! As a speech language pathologist at a high school, I would love to use my blog to communicate with some of the students who are seen on a consultative basis. I see most of my students directly, but a few are taking all general education classes, don't have a resource room time, so need to see me on their lunch time. While most of them do come, occasionally, they cannot. A blog would be a great way to keep in touch with those students. It would also be a great way to present a weekly "language lesson," or study skill, memory technique, ect. I am very excited to begin this journey of using blogging!

Thing 1 & Thing 2

I just finished reading the article in thing 1 and watching the video called, "Pay Attention!" Both gave me a lot to ponder. As the mother of an 11 year old boy, I agree that my sons technology experience is very different from that of mine and my husband's experiences! Since we had our son relatively later in life, there is a HUGE technology gap between us and our son. I have a picture of our son sitting in front of a computer playing a Winnie the Pooh game at about age 3! His preschool had computer time built into the porgram. As a speech language pathologist at Canton High School, I am very interested in learning how I can use more technology in my speech/language sessions. I think it would be great to use a podcast of an interesting subject as a jumping off point for discussions. This could also stimulate many language lessons/activities, such as: summarizing, stating the main idea, paraphrasing, comparing/contrasting to written material, news, etc. I am very excited to continue this class! To show just how far I need to go, however, this is the SECOND time I posted my blog....when I tried to edit my original post, I accidentally deleted it! I guess I have a lot to learn!!