Thing 17

I really don't see myself using delicious after doing this blog. It's not that I don't see the usefulness of a site like this, It's just it seems to me that after looking at so many search engines and organization sites, I am more unorganized and scattered around than before. I have the Diigo account and will use it to see the websites my classmates find useful and i really prefer pinterest or google to find useful information. I really think by this point I am simply becoming overwhelmed with various accounts that seem to do the same things.Being able to search by tags is the one benefit I see of this over pinterest or a google search so results can be much more pinpoint of what you are looking for. I have used stumble upon just for phone as a smart phone app and enjoyed it for entertainment, but I don't really see using it as an educational tool personally.

Thing 16

YAY! one I am familiar with! Finally, having an android phone which uses google, I actually use the calender on a regular basis. Although it is great and sometimes being able to have an electronic device go off when you have something to do helps, I honestly prefer the post it note on my fridge method as opposed to online calenders. They are very time consuming to me. I have to log on to my computer, log on to my google account, create alarms and events and hope they actually go over and the reminder will go off. In the time this takes i could fill my fridge with post it notes that I know I will see many times a day because I am always going to the fridge. The one that I really like that is not on this list though, is one I use at home called grocery IQ, you put your grocery list in it and it organizes it into sections and looks for coupons for those items. This one is worth my time and I use it all the time. As far as online calenders...I will be sticking to my sticky notes. :)

Thing 15

I think wikis can be a very helpful classroom tool. Any sort of networking site is helpful because it is an easy way to get information to everyone who needs it and to allow parents or other teachers to provide immediate feedback. I think the most convenient tool in using a wiki is the ability to quickly receive and provide feedback. I tried playing around with the sandbox feature and actually had a lot of trouble. I am sure I made it more complicating than neccesary as I tend to do with technology. I think I may have edited some stuff I didn't mean to and have no idea what or if I added anything on my own. I need some work on this, but I think it could be helpful once I better understand it.

Thing 13

My favorite of these was Gliffy.com. I liked how there were many different charts you could use and it gave examples of each. It was easy to navigate because everything was right there on the side bar. It would be useful in the classroom not only for me to make diagrams for my students but for my students to complete assignments. Having said that, the one I actually used was the mind mapping one. I had my study guide for one of my midterms with me and decided to make an easier to read study guide. I like the color coding to keep things organized and easy to see.

Thing 11

I found the google blog search the easiest to use simply because I am used to using the google search engine. I was able to fairly easily find blogs that I liked using the suggested search terms in the 23 things. I was also able to search for some blogs for outside interests such as cooking and crafting blogs. The other tools given on here were confusing to me and after playing around with them, I still don't quite get it. My favorite way to find a blog though is still using pinterest. There are so many on pinterest and they are seperated by catagories so it is easy to explore what you are looking for.

Thing 12

I looked around on google translator and on google alerts. In google translator, I translated to french because my moms side of the family speaks french (well cajun french) but close enough. I don't speak it myself, but I can read enough of it to know if what I was typing was translating correctly. This could be a very useful tool with english language learner students because handouts can easily be translated into their native language. Students should not miss out on content because they dont understand the language. I also looked and google alerts. It is really neat how you can get updates on specific topics. I chose to get daily updates on childrens literature because I am taking that class right now, and my topic for this class is sixth grade reading. I am hoping to get some useful information for both classes through this.

Thing 10

When I saw this my first thought was "oh great, something else I have to create an account for". Thankfully though, when I clicked on the link, the account is through gmail, so everything was already there I just had to add my blogs. I added the suggested blogs first because I figured they must be useful if they were the example ones, but after looking around I plan to add many more blogs. I have blogs that I like to check from time to time, mostly cooking and crafting blogs that I will add. It is nice to have everything all in one place and organized. Rather than having to chase down a blog or wondering if there are any new posts, they are all right there. No more searching again and again for a blog if I am not on my home computer. I can log on and its all there. I think this is my favorite "thing" so far.