I thought for my second blog of the week I would tell a Google Docs story. My mom called me from church last week to tell me that they needed a sign that says that mass is at a different time. The problem with this simple task is that my printer is broken and my mother doesn't have a Microsoft office suit. Then I remembered about a little program that I learned about a while ago called Google Docs!
When she got home I showed her how to use Google docs and made her an account and she was amazed that what they charge you $150 for she can get for free thanks to good ol' Google. She also loved all of the templates that they already have made that you can use.
Soon Google might just run for president.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
bloooooging
I was thinking during this last week about how nice it is to be able to have a computer wherever you go. Between smartphones, laptops, and tablet pc's you can write a blog, update a website, or read a paper anywhere you go! I went to an auction last week and used my smartphone to look up the value of items online as the auction was going on to see what was a reasonable price to pay for that item. What a time we live in.
Other than that I would say that I am ready for this school year to start. I have gained all this knowledge over the summer between the two Clarion classes that I took and I am ready to set this new found knowledge into action.
Another side note, I sent all the special ed teachers in my school the cooltoolsforschool site and they loved it!
Other than that I would say that I am ready for this school year to start. I have gained all this knowledge over the summer between the two Clarion classes that I took and I am ready to set this new found knowledge into action.
Another side note, I sent all the special ed teachers in my school the cooltoolsforschool site and they loved it!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Number 2
Well here is my second post for the day due to Verizons 5 day internet outage on my street.
Until you have to live without the internet for 5 days you don't really realize how much we rely on it. When I came back alive this morning sometime I had 79 e-mails in my inbox. Most of these were of course junk but sprinkled through them was some important ones from Clarion University!
I was also concerned that I wouldn't be able to complete my assignments for this class. I would've called someone and explained the situation but where are the phone numbers kept? Well online of course!
Who can I send an e-mail too to tell them that I am out of service for a while? Oops! Can't!
Probably the best part of the whole situation? When I called Verizon 3 times to ask when it was coming back, the nice gentleman on the phone told me they would send me an e-mail and let me know......thank you
Well I'm done for now, lets hope I have some better luck next week.
Until you have to live without the internet for 5 days you don't really realize how much we rely on it. When I came back alive this morning sometime I had 79 e-mails in my inbox. Most of these were of course junk but sprinkled through them was some important ones from Clarion University!
I was also concerned that I wouldn't be able to complete my assignments for this class. I would've called someone and explained the situation but where are the phone numbers kept? Well online of course!
Who can I send an e-mail too to tell them that I am out of service for a while? Oops! Can't!
Probably the best part of the whole situation? When I called Verizon 3 times to ask when it was coming back, the nice gentleman on the phone told me they would send me an e-mail and let me know......thank you
Well I'm done for now, lets hope I have some better luck next week.
Internet Problems
To make a very very long story short I have been without internet from Tuesday until this morning. Isn't technology grand sometimes? To make up for almost a week without the net I will be posting both of my blogs for the week today.
Looking back at the lesson plan I am working on for our last assignment it has made me realize how much teaching has changed in the last 10 years. I am too young to remember what it is like to teach without a projector, computers, power points, etc. Frankly I would have a very difficult time teaching without all of these things! Looking at it like this I can see how and maybe why older teachers in my district and in other districts across the state I'm sure, are resistant to the change of technology. I grew up with it, went to college with it, and now use it everyday of my life.
Eventually I imagine there will come a time where what I do is considered old fashioned and obsolete and the young teachers will look at me and say "wow what a dinosaur" but what can we do in our districts to keep people on the same page?
I think no matter what is done, from useful in service days, to one on one lunch training with the "tech guy" there will be teachers who are resistant to change, but who are we to say that technology has made things better? Maybe the teachers who came before us had it right in the first place?
Just a thought.
Looking back at the lesson plan I am working on for our last assignment it has made me realize how much teaching has changed in the last 10 years. I am too young to remember what it is like to teach without a projector, computers, power points, etc. Frankly I would have a very difficult time teaching without all of these things! Looking at it like this I can see how and maybe why older teachers in my district and in other districts across the state I'm sure, are resistant to the change of technology. I grew up with it, went to college with it, and now use it everyday of my life.
Eventually I imagine there will come a time where what I do is considered old fashioned and obsolete and the young teachers will look at me and say "wow what a dinosaur" but what can we do in our districts to keep people on the same page?
I think no matter what is done, from useful in service days, to one on one lunch training with the "tech guy" there will be teachers who are resistant to change, but who are we to say that technology has made things better? Maybe the teachers who came before us had it right in the first place?
Just a thought.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Sunday Night Reflections
Looking back on all of our classes I realized that the tools that I now have at my disposal are worth far more than what I payed for the class. Many of the websites we went too not only were fantastic themselves but also had many links to other fantastic websites. But now moving on to our latest assignment.
I loved many of the websites that we were introduced to to make our storybooks. Some of them were were awesome for making interactive plays where you had many different options for pictures to pick from. Others were good for using your own pictures. I really liked the substitute powerpoint program and am looking foward to using it in the classroom this next year.
I loved many of the websites that we were introduced to to make our storybooks. Some of them were were awesome for making interactive plays where you had many different options for pictures to pick from. Others were good for using your own pictures. I really liked the substitute powerpoint program and am looking foward to using it in the classroom this next year.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Awesome!
I am so happy that we were introduced to all that information yesterday. I left class last night and went to my girlfriends house to show here all the photo editing software I found on the cooltoolsforschools website. Then today at summer school I sent all of my fellow special needs teacher a link in their email to get to that same website. I couldn't find enough people to share all my new found knowledge with. Now on to other things.
Google maps is a great tool, in theory. As I've posted before I use it to drop pins in the woods so I know where I can find my stands and cameras but trying to plot out a course on it seemed unnecessarily difficult to do. I realize that trying to do these activity's with 20 other people on the same connection at the same time probably had something to do with it but it still seemed awfully slow. I wonder if one were to download the Google earth program if some of these things would work faster instead of trying to stream them like we did?
Google maps is a great tool, in theory. As I've posted before I use it to drop pins in the woods so I know where I can find my stands and cameras but trying to plot out a course on it seemed unnecessarily difficult to do. I realize that trying to do these activity's with 20 other people on the same connection at the same time probably had something to do with it but it still seemed awfully slow. I wonder if one were to download the Google earth program if some of these things would work faster instead of trying to stream them like we did?
Sunday, July 17, 2011
A little late!
Well I know this post is a little late but after class on Thursday I thought of a fantastic personal use for Google maps and I thought I'd share my experience. My friends called me Wednesday afternoon and told me we were going to the mountains which means going on a kayak fishing trip. I figured that on Saturday afternoon while floating down the river I would drop pins on all of the spots we caught fish at on that day using Google maps on my I phone so that we could fish those same spots hard the following day.
Sunday arrives and I am excited to see if my plan would work. I started by placing myself on the first pin starting the day at the boat launch. As we floated down river I was able to see exactly where we were and how far in feet it was to the next fishing spot. While our success this afternoon was not as good as on Saturday I thought it was still a neat way to use Google maps for myself.
I also used it on Friday when I placed a game camera in the woods, dropped a pin, and now I will not forget what area it is in when I go to look at it later this week. Overall becoming more proficient in Google Maps last week as come in handy as I realized all the cool things that I can do with it myself.
I am excited for this school year knowing this information because we are doing earth science and it will be very neat for my students to go on virtual field trips of volcanoes and see where fault lines are across the planet.
Sunday arrives and I am excited to see if my plan would work. I started by placing myself on the first pin starting the day at the boat launch. As we floated down river I was able to see exactly where we were and how far in feet it was to the next fishing spot. While our success this afternoon was not as good as on Saturday I thought it was still a neat way to use Google maps for myself.
I also used it on Friday when I placed a game camera in the woods, dropped a pin, and now I will not forget what area it is in when I go to look at it later this week. Overall becoming more proficient in Google Maps last week as come in handy as I realized all the cool things that I can do with it myself.
I am excited for this school year knowing this information because we are doing earth science and it will be very neat for my students to go on virtual field trips of volcanoes and see where fault lines are across the planet.
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