Thing #12~Amy Rutledge

Thing #12 is "Google is not just for searching anymore". I used the Google Translate and Calendar. The translating was great! I typed in "learning is fun. Then I chose translate to German, this is what it gave me: Lernen macht Spaß. You can even click to listen to the interpreter say the phrase for you. I really enjoyed the Calendar tool as well. I chose to share it with some of my family members since we are away from them. Now they can see what goes on in our neck of the woods. I think these are great tools for both personal and professional use. In the classroom I can create a calendar to share with all the parents. Then they will know when we ware having tests, going to the library, have special events or days off. I also think the Translation tool will work if I have students who are ESL students or have parents who don't speak English. Both of these tools will be excellent in helping me have a greater connection with my students and their family.

Thing #11~Amy Rutledge

This blog covers Thing #11: Finding Good Feeds. In the last blog, we learned about finding and using RSS feeds and readers. The one I found the easiest to use was definitely Technorati! I think the website for them was much easier to navigate. It was easy to follow along and search things. I found the Google blog search confusing. It may have been just me, but I was a little dizzy looking at that page! I really enjoyed looking over the top edublog award winners. I read most of the blogs from the top teacher blogger. It was amazing! I never realized there were so many different tools for finding blogs. I thought that you could only follow news feeds through the RSS. Now I will have a lot of fun looking up different topics for helping me along in my studies and even personal hobbies as well.

Thing #10~Amy Rutledge

Thing #10 covers setting up an RSS Reader and adding Feeds. I am receiving multiple RSS feeds and they are great! I love that I don't have to go and track down each blog I wanted to follow. With the Google reader, all of the blogs that are important to me are all in one place for me to read. As a mother/student, and eventually as a teacher, efficiency is key. Time is always in short supply and these tools help me tremendously. In my classroom, I can use this tool also. I may have a student with problems and after researching some blogs or posts that can give me support or information, I will be able to stay on top of new ideas to help me. Also, it may help me with keeping up with new technologies or tools to help with class instruction, lessons ideas, or fun activities. I think this will be a great addition to my growing list of teaching tools!

Thing #9~Amy Rutledge

Thing #9 is working with online image generators. I used the Smiley Generator to create these neat images! It was super easy to do. Just type in what you want to say, choose the font size, and choose what you want the letters spelled with. When you have your choices made, it generates the text. Then, click on the image and right-click save as and it saves on your computer. Then to put the image in my blog, I just followed the Insert Image prompts. Super easy!! These image creator tools will be a great asset in the classroom. Children will enjoy the different elements you can use to spell out words. Using them on bulletin boards or class walls will be a great attention grabber!

Thing #8~Amy Rutledge

Spell with flickr: Education
Thing #8 is Flickr Mashup, a follow-up from Thing #7. I think this is a great tool!! When I am teaching children different words, it would be a great tool to spell the words out with the different photos to make it fun and entertaining for the kids. I think they would also like to take one spelling word from their list and play around with different images, whether from magazines or the Internet, to spell out their chosen word.

Thing #7~Amy Rutledge

An Old Barn Along The Hwy. In Tishomingo County, Mississippi.
Originally uploaded by msmudcat2001

Thing #7 is all about exploring Flickr. I have heard of Flickr before and I have skimmed over the website before. This was my first real interaction with the site. I liked how all of the photos can be tagged with different key words for easy cross-referencing, and you can choose to belong to groups with related interests. I chose this barn because I have always loved old barns. While I was looking through the "barn" photos I decided to try so more tags, like "Mississippi". I ended up finding this photo and more of the county in Mississippi that I am from. What a find!! I love that I can just type in a few key words and get a ton of result and see what others are thinking of when they take the pictures!

Thing #6~Amy Rutledge

This blog is about Thing #6~Discovering Web 2.0 Tools.  The list of sites for the Web 2.0 awards was great. I didn't realize just how far advanced this Web 2.0 had gone. Now I see that there is practically a category for every topic imaginable. Since I plan on going into elementary education, I chose an award winner from the Education category and selected from Elementary Teachers. The site I went to is Docstoc. This website had a vast amount of tools and resources for every topic related to education. The main website has many different documents for business and professionals with subcategories for more focused sections. One thing I really liked was the amount of worksheets you can access for the classroom. I think I could find a lot of extra fun stuff to supplement each of my lessons so that I could make sure each child understood the content and had fun learning.

Thing #5~Amy Rutledge

This post is about Thing #5~ Some perspectives on Web2.0/School 2.0 and the Future of Education. I am from the Web 1.0 generation. This meant that when I began using the Internet, I mostly sent emails or surfed the web and read through the pages. Now we have evolved our Internet experiences to those that we can actually interact with and determine the content we receive. We have gone from reading articles written by one expert to finding articles with collaborative input from many people both professionals and those with real life experience. School 2.0 takes the best that Web 2.0 has to offer and extends this experience to the classroom. Teachers have a wealth of information and tools right at their fingertips. Students can also access more information, both at school and at home, to help them have a more in depth learning experience. By continuing to use Web 2.0 tools we can have a more interactive classroom where learning moves from the textbooks to the more "real-world" of Internet collaboration.

Thing #4~Amy Rutledge

This blog is in response to Thing #4~Why Commenting is important. Commenting is important for bloggers because it helps create a sense of community and unity among your followers. It also can lend clarification and depth to your posts. Having multiple people relate input to your topic can help by providing more information for your readers. Responding to your commenters lets them know you care about what they have to say and are interested in their ideas as well.

I found it interesting that it is important to have a set of boundaries within your blog for etiquette and remembering the impact your words can have on others. I have read a lot of comment type boards where people get tied up in their own response and forget that their posts can be perceived as a personal attack on others. Keeping a relaxed and respectful atmosphere is very important.

I have chosen five classmates to follow: Tammy Waters, Melissa Moore, Gage Morse, Kayla Bearden, and Walter Gott. I also chose two blogs to follow: Daily  Assignment and Criss Cross. I chose these students because I have previously had classes with them and I was interested in their learning experience along the way. I chose the other blogs because after reading some of their posts, I felt like I would benefit from their posts as well.

I commented on Criss Cross and Daily Assignment blogs because they had topics that were personal to me. These blogs were filled with information that is important in my life now and will still be valuable resources as I become a teacher. I think having resources to draw from along the way will help me better understand what the journey I am embarking on will have in store and also help me cope with various situations as they arise.

100 Awesome, Free Web Tools for Elementary Teachers

100 Awesome, Free Web Tools for Elementary Teachers

Thing #3~Amy Rutledge

Thing #3 covers registering your blog. I hope that I am really getting this and that I'm not experiencing a false sense of hope! So far we have looked at some great tools that can help us in the classroom. I had heard of a "smartboard" but never really seen one in action. Learning about these awesome tools that we have at our disposal help me realize that I will always be just a click away from finding resources to use to help my students learn. I think that by blogging my experiences and all of the resources I find along the way, I will have a great tool to look back at when I want a fresh idea or just something to accompany my instructions in the classroom.

Thing #2~Amy Rutledge

This blog is about creating and publishing a blog. I rarely read blogs so this was really unknown territory for me. When I created and named my blog, I wanted to keep it simple. Naming the blog "Rutledges23things" was the best way for me. After reading through the requirements, setting up the blog, and finally starting to write, I felt like it was much easier than I had anticipated. It is almost liking just writing about my experiences as I learn through the blogging process. I felt very apprehensive at first but now its almost just like I'm writing a journal about my learning. I tried to pick an avatar that resembled my personality not just my appearance. I think the avatar doesn't resemble me exactly but it does represent me as a teacher in my mind. Overall, I think that continuing this blog will be very therapeutic for me to see another dimension of my journey.

Thing #1~Amy Rutledge

Thing #1 had a great tutorial to view. This video tutorial discussed the 7 and 1/2 Habits of  Highly Successful Lifelong Learners. There were some really great examples of how to be the best lifelong learner you can. I was surprised at some of the tips included. The hardest habit for me to do will be #4: Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner. While the road to becoming a teacher is a long and stressful one, it is easy to get discouraged along the path. I must remember that each professional started out as a beginner and had to trudge along the learning  path just as I am. While I may routinely face obstacles, part of being a lifelong learner is facing the challenges and obstacles head on and learning from them along the way.

The thing that will be the easiest for me to incorporate will be #1: Play! I love to play and I think many of our learning opportunities are presented not in a formal classroom setting, but in the real world with those you love around you. Learning is fun, even if it is challenging. Taking the time to find the joy in learning makes it a lot easier! Hopefully, I will be able to revisit each of these habits and successfully apply them to my life as I embark on the journey to become a teacher.