Thing #8

For this assignment I used Spell with Flickr. It was very simple. You just spell the word and they provide you with a plethora of letters from Flickr. You just click on the letters and they change until you pick the ones that you like. This can be used for labeling things at home or in the classroom. It can be used as headings for book reports or titles for stories. http://metaatem.net/words/History

Thing #9

For this assignment I first went with photofunia. I had the oppurtunity to make myself a superhero. Being a huge science fiction fan I chose to make my self a Jedi. I think that this could be used in the class rooms for projects. A student could create a picture of himself in a particular time period and report on it. I would use it for personal use for wall papers and signs. www.photofunia.com The next one I tried was fototrix. I know a lot of young men like wrestling so a chose Batista. If he told me to turn in my homework, I would not hesitate. This site had a lot of images to choose from and you could choose from multible fonts. It was very easy to use. I think it could be used in schools for signs and reminders. www.fototrix.com

Thing #7

For this assignment I chose option #2. The photo that I uploaded was a shot of the St. Louis Arch taken from inside the car on our way into the city for family vacation. Everyone was asleep until they heard someone say something about the Arch, then they sprang up.
I found Flickr to be a very interesting program. It was very easy to use. The step by step tutorial was very helpful. I would probably use Flickr more for personal use to share photos with friends and family. I like the way that you can send pictures to Facebook or other sites or even send them to your blog. I love to go to new places so I will try to master the "map out your vacation" feature. That way I can share them with family and the kids can see exactly where we were. I could'nt master the feature because I spent a lot of time looking through the galleries. My favorites were the "Portraits" and the "still life".
As far as using Flickr in schools and libraries the "Current Events"
to veiw the official NASA Goddard Space Flight Center or the White House photostream. This is the one that interests me because I plan to teach History. The "places" feature would be helpful also because I could show students the exact places we are discussing.

St. Louis Vacation

This picture was taken while I was driving.

No Excuses!

President Obama's Inaugural Address carries immense historical significance and provides an incredible amount of inspiration.  It also removes excuses for being unsuccessful.   Obama becoming President shows that anything is possible.  You can no longer make excuses for not succeeding if you are a person of color or otherwise.  Yes, you will run into obstacles.  Yes, there are "good ol' boy" systems that are firmly in place.  Yes there are still walls that have to be knocked down.  However, a black man holds the highest position in the land.  He had to fight through obstacles that you could not conceive.  So look to him as your example and fight on.  No excuses! 

Thing #5

We all must adapt to change.  I am a lover of music and I remember when music was changing due to the internet.  People were sharing music files instead of buying CD's and instead of the big music companies adapting, they tried to fight the change.  They sued the websites that shared the music, they sued the people who downloaded the music, they changed the CD's to prevent them from being downloaded, but none of this stopped the change.  They lost millions of dollars because they refused to adapt.
     Now education is changing.  It is changing from books, pencils, and chalkboards, to social networking, blogs, and wikis.  We as educators must change with it.  Education will no longer be bound to the schools.  It will expand to homes, libraries, or even your local Barnes and Noble because of Web 2.0. My only concern is for those students who do not have access to the internet once they leave the school.  I have children and I see everyday how they depend on the internet.  I have also visited some of the web 2.0 web sites and they are amazing and informal.  In just a few clicks you have acess to endless information.  You can provide students with imagery they could not get from a book.  As long as we can provide a way for everyone to receive this information I am on board.  

     I have already experienced video conferencing and distance learning.  Video conferencing can be effective because of one teacher can teach a variety of locations.  This works well also if you have a speaker who can only be in one location, but from that one location he can touch many lives.  Distance learning is also effective because it gives you the freedom to work from a variety of locations.  A person who may not have the time to sit in a traditional classroom can still get a quality education.  With both of these the only drawback is that you loose the personal touch.

Thing #6

The site that I decided to check out was Google Earth. (google.earth.com)  This website allows a veiwer to find and explore almost any location on Earth or beyond.  All a veiwer has to do is enter a name, landmark, zipcode or any other means to identify a location into the "fly to" box.  I was able to explore the tops of skyscrapers as well as the floors of oceans.  It has many incredibly interesting features.  For instance if you are exploring a particular place and you would like to see how it would look at noon you can click the sun icon and it will add time appropriate sunlight and shadows.  Clicking the North icon allows you to scan 360 degrees of your current veiw and everything you explore can be seen in 3D. 
     Google Earth would be excellent in a school or library setting.  A science teacher discusing the Moon could show her class it's surface.  Social Studies students could explore the entire Great Wall of China.  The uses for Google Earth in schools is limitless.