Flickr appears to be a nice tool to store photos so you never lose them! It reminds me of any photo download spot, with the exception of the creative commons search tool. I have attached a photo that reminds me of my summer vacation. This boat used to be in the harbor, but has since been deported to Martha’s Vineyard. Here is the URL for my photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/3566681836/

and the photographer -

wallyg’s photostream

Creative Commons is a great tool that is flourishing on Web2.0. It is going to make educating on the web much easier and more flexible. I think it is great that someone can tag a site, photo, or movie as “some rights reserved” instead of “all rights reserved”. Teachers will still have ownership of their sites, blogs or powerpoints, and be able to share it over the web with anyone. I have actually never seen the CC symbol on a website, but I will be sure to look closely as I am browsing. I think one downfall of the Creative Commons is putting your information out on the web. I think that is a little scary with your name on it. But once it becomes familiar it will be easier. CC will help the students to produce their own creations on the web and be able to share them with other students, family or faculty. This in itself will be very beneficial in the classroom and make it much more fluent for the students to produce their own work. I look forward to using CC.

I think that wiki’s are a great idea. I would love to integrate one into my class someday. I observed on some of the examples that you can have chat room spaces. I feel like this would be cool to be able to show students problems on line, “live”. I still do not totally understand how to manage the wiki, but once I log in and get my own, I will be able to check it out. I liked the idea of people being able to edit the page, but from my understanding the page has to be public.  The wiki was set up sort of like a blog, but had more interactive things to do.  One area that I could use a wiki I think would be for review sessions before a test. The students could ask questions about a review sheet and practice problems. I look forward to exploring more into a wiki!

I have been looking through the google reader and the subscriber information. It is overwhelming, but very addictive. You can honestly look up anything you want and subscribe to get articles, words, comics, weather, anything. One that I really enjoy is the word of the day. http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/

It is very neat, and I wish I had something like this when I was studying for the SAT’s!! I highly recommend it for any high school student. It helps build vocabulary and reading/writing skills. The google reader is going to be a beneficial tool for me.

I read the article “At MIT, Large Lectures are going the way of the blackboard“. This article was very interesting because it discussed how top colleges and universities are doing away with 300 person lecture seminars. MIT is starting to have more intimate physics classes. They will be more hands on and have more student involvement. I went to a private college where my biggest class was maybe 30 students. I had great relationships with all of my professors and felt I could talk to them whenever I needed. My college experience was all hands on, and I am very glad to hear that top universities and big schools are starting to do this! This is a great quote from the article to show that the schools are really turning to smaller classes so students learn more and get to be involved with physics. “Just as you can’t become a marathon runner by watching marathons on TV,” Professor Mazur said, “likewise for science, you have to go through the thought processes of doing science and not just watch your instructor do it.”

The article “Why I don’t assign Homework” was fascinating. It really made me look at homework in a new way. I teach 6th grade math and I agree with Mr. Meyer tremendously. The A students will do the homework and do it well. The C and D students are the ones who need it the most and will not complete it or have some excuse the next day. I love the idea of giving practice problems in class. Then, whoever does not finish them in the 40 minutes (or however long you set aside for problems) they take it home as homework. This way the top students will not be punished with homework and the lower students will benefit from doing practice problems. I am obtaining my masters right now and my professor agrees that homework in 6th grade should not take up a students whole night. It can reinforce what lesson was taught, but should not be set out to write a book. I am going to try and implement this method into my classroom and see how my students react.

Web 2.0 is a wonderful tool. It has really improved the way that children and adults view the Internet and web pages. It has connected people through many different resources. Some of the most common ones being, my-space, facebook, linkd, and there are hundreds more. In the classroom I truly believe that having computers and Web 2.0 readily available to all the students has raised the bar for learning. There is no reason why a student cannot get on the web and surf for any information they might need for class. All questions can be answered now. Students are always linked to the teachers. I also know that the web is only going to improve and receive more gadgets to make it faster and better.

The most challenging habit for me is “create your own learning toolbox”

I think this was challenging because it forces you to think outside the box. I am striving to do that this trimester by implementing games, projects, and quizzes. As I become more comfortable in the classroom, these ideas come to me on a regular basis.

The easiset habit for me is “viewing the problem as a challenge”

Everyday I tell my students that the activity will be hard if you do not give any effort. As a class we need to overcome our fears and tackle word problems, variables and other tough stuff with confidence and will power!

The most important habit for me is “have fun”

The classroom needs to be a warm, safe, and happy place for children to feel wanted and like they are really learning.

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