Reflection

I thought I never get done. I spent so much time playing, reading, and exploring that my assignments took longer to complete. I am so glad that I took this course during the summer. I'm not sure I would have had time to finish each thing and get all that I could out of it during the school year. I had a blast learning all of the different programs. I want to stay updated on all the new technology programs and use them in my classroom. I would definitely recommend this course and take another one like it. This course allowed us to get connected with networks and gave us the resources. I was never a member of a social network before this course. I surprised myself in liking it. I was amazed to see a lot of people on Facebook that I had connections with. It is a fun way to keep in contact with my friends. I want to set up a blog for my parents to keep them updated. This will be a great communication tool. My favorite is the google tools. I can't wait to put my documents that are already on my school computer into Google docs so that I can access them from any computer.

Thing #23

I did not know these other networking sites existed. I like that they are based on your educational interest. One blogs leads to another and your linked to more groups. I came across a networking site for elementary teachers that gave some ideas about reading groups. I also found a neat teacher tool on Classrooms 2.0 that allows you to create your own games. I could use the game site with those who are struggling with math and make a flash card game. I like how you can post a question and receive several answers or different insights. These networks will be a great resource.

Thing #22

I have never had a social networking account. I was always afraid of joining these type of sites in fear of invasion of privacy and the safety of my family. This was my first time to explore and create an account. I am still not so sure of putting my information on there, so I just put my name and posted a picture of my kids. I never knew so many people were on these networking sites. There are a ton of Mesquite ISD employees on Facebook. I thought this was a great place to post a question or a comment and get responses from many sources. I thought Facebook was a little safer than Myspace. I do think that Myspace has more useful features when it comes to creating your home page. It seems more like the blog page that we created for this class. You may be able to do more with Facebook. I just didn't see any of my friends pages that were done with music, video, etc... This would be helpful to our older students with projects, homework, and assignments if they could get help through networking. I also like it as a parent, you could be a friend of your child's networking site and keep tabs them. :]