Thing # 6

I love music, so the site I chose to blog about is http://www.pandora.com/#/. It's a really cool site, because you can type in a band or musician that you really enjoy, and the website will compose a list of artists that you may like based on what you entered. The songs will then play, and you have a virtual radio station based specifically on your musical tastes. I could see this site being used in music classes. The teacher could encourage their students to discover new artists that they like based on their favorite musicians. A music teacher could also try to get students to learn about the history of music, and what people from the past have played a large role in shaping music throughout the years. Ultimately I think this site is more suited for personal use instead of educational, but it could be utilized in some cases.

Thing # 5

I read Web 2.0: A Guide for Educators and Wikipedia-Web 2.0. These sites just talked about how important the integration of technology is to the future of education. I believe School 2.0 is about the same thing. School 2.0 refers to the technological trends that our school systems should begin to form. There are a lot of technological tools out there that we can use to enhance the learning experience for students and teachers alike. Blogs, websites, discussion boards, etc. are all examples of the tools that we can incorporate into our teaching methods.

Thing # 4

Well, I've made my first comments on other people's blogs, and I think it went pretty smoothly. It definitely helps to kind of make a connection or network between all of our blogs. If I read a comment from someone else, it definitely makes me want to check out their blog too. Besides being a good way to create a "community", I also thought it was kind of cool to read about the commenting "etiquette". One thing I've noticed about online discussion boards, etc. is that sometimes people tend to be a little rude, or say things that they wouldn't say to a person's face. It's important to get your opinion out there, but to also do it in the right way. I only commented on five people's blogs so far, and they were: Shanna's, Laura's, Pam's, Christie's, and Kenneth's. I'm sure I'll continue to comment, but that's all I've done so far. I commented on stuff these people said mostly because I know who they are (from previous classes), or because they commented on my blog. I basically just read all of these people's blogs and commented on stuff I either related to, agreed with, or thought was a really interesting perspective that I hadn't thought of before.

Thing # 3

I think I'm starting to get the hang of this a little bit better each time I do it. I'm sure that there will be a lot of good to come from this experience. I can see how this would be beneficial, especially to a new teacher who's trying to get as much (good) advice as possible. As far as Thing # 3 is concerned, I didn't run into any hangups when I registered my blog, so no problems there.

Thing # 2

Well, honestly I didn't put too much thought into the names of my blog. Like I said before, I've never done anything like this, so I was too worried about whether or not I was even setting it all up right. Even though it was pretty easy to set up the blog, I just stuck to some basic names for now.

As far as my "avatar", (which I honestly had no idea was even a real word before the James Cameron movie came out) I ended up being boring there too! I wanted to create a cool looking dude, but there was the "coins" issue that I wasn't sure about, and then I couldn't find all the "perfect" elements to create my characters. At one point I was trying to make the comic character Wolverine, I tried a Monopoly man, I even tried Jim Carrey's character from Dumb and Dumber, but I couldn't pull any of them off to my liking, so I stuck with a boring cartoon version of me. Maybe I should have tried a Dog the Bounty Hunter character! Maybe I will...

Thing # 1

I think the easiest lifelong learning habit for me will be creating my own "toolbox", which was Habit number five. I've had a lot of teachers in my life, and not just the scholarly sort. I've also learned from family, friends, co-workers, other military members, and fellow students. I think that it's key to be able to take all of the best lessons I've learned in life, and gather them together in my "toolbox". I'll be able to draw from those lessons as I face different challenges throughout life, and when I reach a new challenge, I'll add whatever else I've learned to my "toolbox". I think I'll be challenged by the teaching aspect at first. I know I'll be able to teach, but I just want to have great confidence in my personal knowledge of the subject I'll be teaching. I'm planning on teaching History, but when I sit back and listen to my History professors rattle off dates and events without thinking twice... I realize I'm no where close to being able to store all of the information that they can. I'm sure all that will come with time.

This is the first time I've ever "blogged", or done anything like this at all. I don't have a Facebook or MySpace or any of that mess, so I was a little behind when setting up this blog. I think I've figured it out for the most part, and I'm sure I'll get the hang of it soon.