Web Resources

My favorite Web Resources that we have covered in class is using the cell phone to answer questions the teacher gives the students, Google docs because the students can work on a project and might not have to meet as a group as much, and social bookmarking and blogs.  The things that I would use the most is the social networking and blogs because the students can work on a project and also go to their social bookmarking page and all of their websites that they need will be there and then they can access them on whatever computer they are working at.  I would also like use blogs a lot in the classroom because the students in the class can use it as a journal and in their spare time talk to other classmates about the journals they wrote.  Another way I would be able to have students use a blog is contact another school that is using the blogs and have the students use them at a pen pal and the students could write blogs back and forth to each other. 

Inspiration

Yes Inspiration is something I would invest in for my classroom.  The ten ideas that I could incorporate inspiration in for my classroom are: make content maps for my organization of a unit, make diagrams for worksheets as well as tests, the students can use it to help them brain storm ideas for a paper, help the students compare and contrast characters in a story, help students compare and contrast books that they have read, help students break down a poem and find its meaning of them, help students organize information for a project or paper, helps students organize their notes into a diagram format, students would be able to make their family tree and then be able to put their family member’s picture where they are in the tree, and the students will be able to make a life cycle of an animal.

Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking does have an application in my classroom.  The ways it could benefit me and my students is that I can give them a worksheet with questions and tell the students that they can only use the website that I have in a certain tag subject on my social bookmarking site.  Another way that it is a benefit in the classroom is if you show the students how to use it the teacher can go and look for the students social bookmarking site and she/he can see what websites the students book marked for a report or project they are working on.  This will allow the teacher to see if they are using creditable sources to find the information for their report or project.  If the students are not finding creditable websites then the teacher knows who she/he has to help on their project or report. 

Yes, this can help me now as a student because if I am working on a project in the computer lab I do not have to copy and paste the websites URL into a word document and then save it to my hard drive, so I can retrieve the websites in my room on my personal lap top.  This lets me not have to worry about having my hard drive to save the websites I have found.  Social bookmarking will allow me to get the websites I retrieved for a project on any computer.  Social bookmarking will also help me as a student by letting me tag the websites I found and organize the information I need for the project or report I am working on. 

advantages and disadvantages of GoogleApps compared to Office apps

The advantages of using GoogleApps over traditional Office applications are that students can work on there papers whenever they want to.  All the students have to have is the internet; they do not need a specific program.  If working on a group project everyone can work on the same document and make changes to it.  Another advantage is that if the student’s hard drive crashes on the computer there reports or projects are gone, but using GoogleApps there reports and projects are saved on the internet instead of the hard drive.  GoogleApps is also free compared to other programs that are out on the internet.  The disadvantages of using GoogleApps over traditional Office applications are that there are not as many choices to choose from.  For example, in power point you have many different layouts and animations to put in your presentations compared to the GoogleApps power point. 

Opinion of GoogleApps

My opinion of GoogleApps is that they are really cool.  I believe it is a great idea for students to be able to access there papers online.  I also think group papers will be easier to do with the Google Docs application.  This could be a very good tool to use in the classroom.  I think I would have a hard time using it because I have to print the information out because I do not like revising or reading papers on the computer.  I believe this is because I grew up with technology but not like the students of today.  I also think if something happens to Google I do not know what everyone that is comfortable using it going to do. 

Advantages and disadvantages using blogs in the classroom

Some of the advantages to using blogs in the classroom is that the students use technology all the time and they absolutely love use it.  Blogs are something new and are not of a traditional classroom style of teaching.  This gives the students a type of outlet because they know how to use a computer and they are comfortable using it whereas some of the students today are not comfortable using paper and pencil to do things.  Another advantage to blogs is that if the parent and guardians and or other family members can see what there student is doing in school they can look to see on the student’s blog.  Some of the disadvantages to using a blog in the classroom is that students can put information that they should not be put out on the internet.  The teachers have no way to read the student’s blog before being posted on the internet; this means there could be grammatical errors in the blog which would be published for all to see.  Teachers can have a hard time managing the blogs of all the students because the teacher may not have internet all the time, whereas before if they carried there papers around all the time with them they are able to read and comment on them. 

Incorporating blogs in the classroom

The way I would incorporate blogs in my classroom is having the students use the blogs for reflective writing on what they are learning in reading class.  The students would have to answer questions I would give them, just like I am doing now.  I would then go in and leave commons on them.  Another way I would use the blog in the classroom is for a student’s journal.  The students can go to their blog in there free time and use it as a journal.  The students would also have the option of commenting on there classmates blog and maybe if there classmate does not understand something they can try and explain it to them.