One Last Thing...

I often felt that many of these activities were redundant and tedious, though I did learn a few interesting things I did not enjoy this program too much. I fear I am too much of an old soul to want to use all of this technology for my classroom, especially since I am teaching art and art is all about the physical, tactile expression of making. I do however know what things I will want to utilize to my best abilities and with how the world is progressing now, if I don't understand a program I can always look it up on YouTube or Google! Though I was disappointed that we didn't spend more time discussing how to actually use the physical technology of the classroom, I was very pleased with the organizational tools like iGoogle, which I am now using as my homepage and the use of a wikipage to provide information to my students. Maybe one day I'll get a liking for blogging, but as of right now with so many other things to be worrying about other than posting my discoveries on the web about the web, I'll be placing blogging as a teacher on the back burner. The experience was interesting overall however, so please do not take my negative take personally! Everyone is different after all. I do know that I will be using some of these tools as I progress through my residencies, such as the live binders and maybe animoto to make a fun introduction video of myself : )

Thing #23--Creative Commons

Creative commons is a topic that was gone over this class, watched a video and made a PowerPoint example on how we would teach it to our selected grade level/audience. I also watched a video about creative commons and copyright in my electronic imaging class three years ago. In the art world especially, knowing from who and where you are pulling your ideas from is very important so the proper credit goes to that person and no toes are stepped on in the process. You also have to make sure that it is legal to use the photos/videos or other media associated with someone; also known as getting their permission. This is a problem rampant on many art sharing websites of today... so one website, deviantART began to offer a creative commons license to place underneath a work after it was uploaded. The artist could then choose how a work could be used, or how if it could be used at all. The website also offered a "watermark" or light mark (usually the deviantART logo) that runs across the entire picture so that if it is stolen, that mark will remain on it no matter what and everyone who sees the image will know it was taken from that person on deviantART.

I will definitely be teaching my students about appropriation of things found online, and stressing the importance of copyright as they create their own work; most especially if we are creating digital images. Their English teachers will already be telling them about plagiarism so hopefully it will be easy for them to connect those ideas.

Thing #22--Live Binders

Well there is much to do with this webtool! It's definitely something very cool that I plan to use in the future. Akin to diigo but with a lot more bells and whistles! I plan to use these two sites together to organize my thoughts as I go on hunts for lesson plans and ideas.

Thing #21--Animoto

This was very quick and easy to do! Very fun and would make for a fun surprise for your classroom to play a video about them : ) OR if they are old enough to do the work on their own, it would make for a super fun project for them to have to create a 30 second video showcasing whatever topic it is you are going over currently. It makes it more relatable to the students because it uses technology and they would have a blast doing it.

Here's my video using the song "Furr" by Blitzen Trapper, showcasing some photos from my camping trip to the Grand Tetons over the summer.


Make a video of your own at Animoto.

Thing #20--YouTube

YouTube's lack of a filter can be quite alarming, as I was giving a presentation and went to search for a video about the color wheel but a porn star popped up instead. I was beyond embarrassed but luckily my professor has good humor and laughed it off saying "We're all adults in here it's ok, just double check your work next time." But my first video about the primary colors showed up just fine without any incident! Here it is below, and remember to send yourself a link that you KNOW works before openly searching in YouTube's search bar! That's my advice! But other than that I really enjoy the website, there are so so many awesome instructional videos made by teachers and hobbyists alike!

Thing #19--Teacher Pop

I am waiting for approval from Teacher Pop for now, so I will publish this not so finished entry so my "things" don't get out of order.

Thing #18--Facebook

The pitfalls of having a facebook is that it can be public and if you're not smart your students will use the things that you post against you, as well as your peers. You must always be professional, or attempt to be, keep your facebook private and watch what you say/post at all times! Even if you're not friends with someone, people can see your page so long as they know a person that is commenting on something on your timeline. Happens to me all the time; my mom always sees the things I post to my friends, because on facebook you can "subscribe" to people and see their every move! The only good use facebook could have in a classroom is by using a "group" to keep your class updated on assignments, group projects, homework, presentations, school functions/meetings, etc. With groups now you know who has read your post and who hasn't. You as a teacher can also monitor the students in this "secure" space and even invite parents/guardians to the group so that they can participate with the class and give their input. Creating a group for the PTA would be very helpful I think, especially with the way facebook seems to have taken over so many social aspects of our culture now.

Thing #17--Delicious

Social bookmarking is an interesting tool, I do find it useful in the way that I can bookmark things on one computer then pull it up on another one later. I can only see practical use for it in the classroom if I use it for a similar purpose as we do in this class; website of the day. I could ask the students to find appropriate websites for the topic we're discussing, or artworks related to the artist/movement we're learning about.

Thing #16--Getting organized

So a few of the applications that caught my eye were no longer in use because of iPad applications that took over their function. So I chose to stick with my first choice, iGoogle. I recently have created a gmail account while working on my 23 Things and I use it to keep track of videos on YouTube that are both entertaining and educational. I will most likely use this email as a more professional one than my current yahoo mail. Ever since I had to sign up with RSS feeds I've been gravitating toward Google apps, so using iGoogle was only natural! It took literally 10 seconds to set up, and only a few minutes more to organize it into something fun and useful for me to use. These calendars and to-do-lists can be very helpful to me once I make iGoogle my homepage, so that everytime I turn on the internet--which is often--I will see my priorities laid out in front of me. This way I won't forget things, or I'll be reminded of things that need to be done or prepared for. I would definitely recommend it to others!

Thing #15--Wikis

Well I could not get the sandbox to work for me, therefore I opted to do the optional assignment. I keep getting angry at the blogging/page technology, so why not learn to like it by playing with it and making it truly useful? I spent a little too much time exploring the wiki page, and through much trial and error I was able to translate a timeline assignment from my art education methods class into a viewable webpage. It was pretty cool I must admit! And I'm most likely going to use this as my own website once I am a full-fledged teacher; it's just so cool and very useful! I can store all sorts of information about history movements, artists, class assignments and everything inbetween on this wiki page for my students to view. This assignment was very fun and turned out to be an eye-opener for me. I hope everyone makes their own wiki page!

Also, here's a link to my wiki page, it's still under construction so any critiques or advice someone has for it would be greatly appreciated : )


Ms. Parker's wikipage

Thing #14--Flow/Mind charts

I honestly have not used a brainstorming web chart thing since I was in middle school and that was quite some time ago. When I brainstorm, I sketch, I do not make bubble charts or anything else, therefore this process was very, very difficult for me. I had a hard time coming up with a thought to brainstorm, as silly and redundant as that sounds. Although I am no good at figuring out where to start with something unless a pen or pencil is in my hand, the program bubbl.us was really fun to work with! It's very organized and after a few trial and error clicks I figured out how to connect thoughts, add onto a "parent" bubble as well as a "child" and "sibling" bubble. The other program I used, gliffy was nicely organized as well and really easy to use. I can't quite find a good use for it just yet as I am not good at brainstorming on the computer!

Thing #13--Web-based Applications

     For this assignment we had to create a free account at Zoho.com and test out the application's features by creating a document. I wrote something kind of random, just so I could have a sample document there. It's a very well organized site, and I like the set-up; just about the same as Microsoft Word. But seeing as most computers have Microsoft Word I don't see any practical use of this program unless you have no access what-so-ever to Word and need to get something done asap. Sharing files online is useful however, simpler than email most likely.

With google I decided to make a drawing. Sadly I did not have access to a tablet, so I had to draw on my mouse pad. It was very difficult, but it was pretty cool. The line that you are currently drawing will glow until you let go of the mouse, or click it, therefore if you're overlapping it's easy to tell what line you're drawing at the moment. It can get confusing sometimes! Very fun program.

The only practical use I can think of for the classroom is that the students can share work if they are working on a group project. It would be more organized and easier than using email.

Thing #12--Google tools

The two tools that I have explored already are Google Translate and the Picasa tool. I often use translate while working on my Spanish homework; NOT to cheat! Often times I plug in a sentence I just wrote to make sure it translates correctly, or sounds right. I also use it to translate sentences or questions that I have a hard time understanding, for example if I can't figure out what it's asking me how can I answer it? So I just plug it into Google translate to make sure I can figure out how to answer it. Or if I'm in a hurry and I forget what a words means and my dictionary isn't nearby I can quickly type in a word for it to translate. The really cool thing is that Google Translate picks up on the language you type in and if you often translate to English to Spanish or Spanish to English it picks up on that and will jump back and forth without you clicking too many buttons to change things. It makes it super easy to use and I'm impressed with how smart the program is! It can be very helpful for students that have a similar problem understanding questions, but I would not give it to them the first day of class, I would show it to them after they've learned to conjugate and translate on their own. Otherwise it's like giving them the teacher's edition of a book and telling them to do the assignments without looking at the answers on the page. There's also the danger that things won't translate correctly, so they need to learn how to do it properly first before asking a translator things.

As for Picasa I explored that in the web 2.0 tool exercise and I loved all of the effects and such you could use. So, to brighten up my blog here's another example of how you can play with a photo in Picasa!

Woo-hoo! Me with long hair and a few pounds heavier. This fun effect emulates a polaroid, a thing I don't think our students will recognize but well, it looks cool to them right? Again I think this tool is more fun for personal use and can be a fun intro into photoshop and effects for students (especially the younger ones since photoshop can get complicated very fast).

Thing #11--More feeds

 I honestly do not like this subscribing to feeds thing, so I'm having a difficult time finding much of anything. There are a few teacher blogs out there that are interesting, such as Adventures of an Art Teacher, Mrs. Art Teacher! and Deep Space Sparkle: Art Lessons for Kids. I used the google search bar to find more art teacher blogs and I'm still figuring out how to use the feeds.

Thing #10--RSS Feeds

I honestly did not like the process of figuring out what an RSS Feed was. All of the links provided came up with errors of "not existing on this page" and such so it was frustrating to learn about. The embedded video would not play, but I was able to to view it on YouTube instead so I finally learned what the RSS button was on websites, where to find it, what it does, and how to use Google Reader. Not really knowing what I wanted to follow daily, since I have a small bookmarking system already, I simply followed two of the webcomics I read that update regularly, a teacher's blog I discovered last year while searching for lesson plan ideas, and a fun journal blog I stumbled upon while googling about a female animator I look up to.

This RSS Feed thing could be useful if I find more teacher blogs to follow to help with ideas in the classroom, and as for use in the classroom, I could find some fun art blogs that are age appropriate that I could follow with the students as a class. It could become something of a bell ringer, or a privilege to be earned by good behavior during the class period. It'd be like "Let's check today's feed! What ideas can we get today?" But, I don't think it has any real practical use for now. Not until I fully understand it that is!

Thing #9--Image Generators

I used image chef to create these images.


This can be used more for personal use, to make silly pictures and such but it could have some slight practical uses for the classroom. Such as if you were reading a book, maybe look up a picture of a character and find a frame that fits with the character, or not like the character so it makes the students think of why such a frame is not a good fit. They have to explain the character to you and maybe you can pick out a frame together on the website. Or, if you're afraid of inappropriate ads popping up have alternate pictures saved with different frames; some that are sillier and some that are more fitting to the character. Me personally, I'd save photos of artists and come up with silly frame and decorations to use so as to quiz my students on a person's background or personality.

Or I'll just keep putting my pets in these silly frames to give the kids a good laugh for the day.

Thing #8--Flickr Fun

Here is my mosaic made from fall photos I took last year. I created this image by letting the mosaic maker merge with my flickr account; it was pretty cool! I feel like these mash-ups seem more practical for personal use, but there are endless possibilities to how this can be used in the classroom! Being an art student, I love to rely on visuals. But you could create mash-ups of the students in the class, or with elements of a project, a mini mosaic to show at the beginning of every year to introduce yourself to your students, concepts of an activity and so so much more. It can be a fun and useful tool for the classroom. As for sharing photos online, I'm comfortable sharing my own photos, and certain photos of my person that show me working or looking professional; nothing too casual should be shown in the classroom, but just online in general is different. Facebook has private options for a reason! I want to be casual with my friends, but not with everyone, and I don't want my students to know that their teacher may go out with her friends on Friday evenings. So if this privacy was breached I could potentially lose my job if someone deemed any of my photos as inappropriate or unfit for students to view. I took a nude figure class, so even my personal drawings could be a cause for attack... so I have to be careful and make sure my profile stays private! Yet again, the things we can use this site and other sites for to share pictures online can have just as many pluses as it does minuses. One just has to be smart, and be aware!

Thing #7--Flickr

Will you use Flickr for classroom, library or personal photos, or in some other way? How? Have you ever used another photo hosting service besides Flickr? Which one? How do the two compare? How do you feel about having your photos in a public place (note that you can mark your photos private too) -- any concerns?

Well, as I said in my last post I've taken a digital photography class here at Austin Peay. We were required to get a flickr account so we could turn in our assignments (easy storage and viewing for the class and professor). Therefore I'll simply post a few of my favorite pictures from various assignments to share with you, my education class! Flickr is an amazingly fun website and I used it for more than just storage and school, I frequent this site also because I love to draw and so many wildlife photographers upload their works here; therefore I can find hundreds if not thousands of references to save to my computer for later use OR to draw from that instant if the image is not downloadable. Actually, the elk drawing I'm using as my background, as seen here was referenced from a photo found on flickr and drawn in photoshop on the spot because I could not save it. Now I have a gesture, or quick sketch capturing the pose and basic shading so I can reproduce this with more detail later on!


To continue with the referencing idea, I could use flickr as a place for my students to look up references for their own works, seeing as I will be teaching an art class. What better way to learn how to draw something than looking a preexisting image? It's how we learn; first we copy, then we practice, and then finally we are able to draw simply from our minds. By allowing them to use these public photos on flickr I can also teach them about appropriation and copyright, how it's appropriate to use references in their school-related work because they are using it for learning purposes and not making money off of it. But they must learn the difference in referencing, and stealing.

I could also use a flickr account in the classroom as a storage site, much like how my professor had us upload our homework, I could ask my students to upload their homework assignments to flickr for me to grade, as well as use flickr to review the students' works with their peers (if I get so lucky to teach a digital photo class of any sort, or even a media class). Flickr is so wonderful, I'm sure I could find many more uses for it in the classroom!

Color092Edit

Color092Edit, a photo by Krissy_Parker on Flickr.

Color043Edit

Color043Edit, a photo by Krissy_Parker on Flickr.

Thing #6--Web Tool Discovery

I decided to explore the web tool Picasa, because taking photos and editing them is a small hobby that I have. As of late I don't have time to focus on photography as I would like, after taking a digital photography class just knowing what you can do to get a photo to look it's best... it's just so cool! Yet I've always had the mentality that a good photo truly needs no editing, so a good camera and good eye is all you need. But, until I reach that point in my artistic career I'll rely on the cool techniques and tools available to me! So, back to Picasa, this web 2.0 tool is attached to Google and it's used to edit photos with very simple tools and effects. Like a mini photoshop, but not as advanced. Fun if you need to do something quick or on the go!

Here's a photo I played with, original first and the edited photo beneath it for comparison:

 I did a very simple edit here by sharpening the image, bringing out the shadows, giving some more contrast and tweaking colors a bit. Then I found the effects button, and who doesn't like to use that? So here's an example of a the same photo edited with an effect below:

This process or effect is supposed to imitate a holga camera which if you read here you can find out all about these nifty little cameras~! I love the effect they give, and the old, timeless quality of the photo. That and I just love mountain flowers. I could throw tomato juice all over the photo and still love it haha~

But now it's time for a critique! I really love the availability of this tool, it's easy to access so long as one has a google account, very VERY simple to use, anyone with no photo knowledge can figure out what the tools mean and have fun playing with the effects and processes. It's a basic tool and could possibly be used as a jumping off point for photoshop; in other words if I needed to teach my students how to used photoshop, I could let them edit photos with Picasa to entice their interests in photo editing and creating, then let them slowly work into photoshop once we've discussed what each tool does and how using this small program can help you get ideas before you jump into the high quality world of photoshop. The only problem I had was uploading photos; it would take them a minute to show up in my albums, but they were easily edited, saved, and put into blogger with ease! I'll give it a 7 out of 10. The quality of the photos are to my liking, but it's because it's a free program, so you got to work with what you get!

(all photos in this post belong to Christina Rose Parker, all rights reserved!)

Thing #5--Web/School 2.0

Web 2.0 was defined as a "new" web that's ineractive as opposed to an older "read-only" web where users could only look up information and read it... not respond. And that's what web 2.0 seems to be all about! Interacting, reading and responding to what you read through comments, or maybe even pictures or videos! The possibilities seem endless with all of this new technology. But the idea of web 2.0 seems to focus soley on participation. Everyone that stumbles across a blog can read it, chose to respond, and keep a conversation going with people that could live down the street, halfway across the country, continent or the globe! Getting perspectives from all over the world is something invaluable, because our way of life can be very different to those far away, so interacting with them online is a very good experience. But I'm getting a little off topic here...

Social networking seems to be the biggest thing about web 2.0 now, with twitter, facebook, myspace, pinterest, diggo, etc. all of these websites have the common factor of sharing. Sharing interests, experiences, photos, etc. and it's amazing to see. I feel sometimes like the internet has taken over our lives, though I'm not really one to talk... ever since my mother created a facebook for me, I slowly have become addicted to posting daily, if not weekly and reading up on all my friends through a newsfeed, or doing what people jokingly refer to as "creeping" or "facebook stalking" people to get to know them better through their likes, interests, and more. Sometimes I feel like too much sharing is going on, but our society seems to be accepting this idea readily, and those that don't like it are left behind.

But as for it's use in schools, web 2.0 could be a very fun and cool tool for class. Children love being involved with technology, especially since this generation has never seen a time where a flat screen t.v. with the internet on it hasn't existed. Or something with a touchscreen so one can scroll through pictures quickly, and zoom with a simple tap. I read a study once that a baby walked up to a t.v. and tried to change the channel by sliding her finger across the screen... children are just so used to what we deem "new" advances in technology, it's time to jump on board and learn what we can so we can stay on top of it in the classroom! Therefore, back to how it can be useful... as I stated in an earlier post, a teacher could use a blog or other type of website to showcase a class and it's members, activities, achievements, projects, and many other things. If it was a blog, students could comment on what the teacher has posted, giving their opinions or asking questions. A chatroom could be set up and the teacher can let her students know when she'll be available online to chat with to answer questions students come up with as they do homework, or simply to give advice if one is struggling with an idea, or a paper, or anything really! It opens up the world of availability of the teacher as a resource. And it makes the classroom larger than just the physical place... a student could log on while they're out of town to stay updated, or if a teacher keeps some sort of a log, students could look back to their time in that teacher's classroom for memories, or for resources.

The use of web 2.0 and it's wonders are limitless. I feel like I could talk all night about it! (er, all morning...) so I'll just leave you with this... where do you think we'll be in about five years? Ten years? I'm so anxious and excited to find out!

Thing #4--Importance of commenting

Commenting when it comes to blogs, plays a very vital role! Without comments, no conversations can be held, or feedback given. Feedback offers peer-friendly critiques, as well as fundamental arguments that allow you to defend your ideas or see the other side of things. Commenting provides conversation with others, if thought and time is put into the comment itself; no one will want to hold a substantial conversation if all you can think of to say is "Yea, cool, I agree with this."

Commenting also allows you to interact with others, to state your opinion on matters, or even give your feedback to others to encourage them to continue writing. It is a valuable asset to blogging, for without comments or commenting you're just writing to an empty house. Might as well write in a journal!

As required I chose five of my classmate's blogs to comment on, and I chose these classmates at random, reading through each of their posts and commenting on a post that interested me. For instance, Ashley Saunders posted about google documents under one of her things and I commented on this post marveling at what cool technology this is! I myself already have a dropbox, a very similar storage system, and I recommended that she try it out as well along with google docs. I also commented on Alexis Wylie's blog about Pandora, giving my opinion on it's usefulness for the classroom. As for the two blogs, I'm still figuring out how to search for things... so I will get back too it! However, here are the names of the blogs I commented on in my class: Gonna Learn 23 Things, The Wylie Things, Miss McLeroy, Miss McLeroy, and 23 Things!. As for the two non-class blogs, I chose a fashion blog that was created by my friend and old roommate. I enjoy reading her thoughts on fashion, her thoughts on self motivation and seeing her outfit updates because she absolutely rocks the style that she has created for herself; she is just so unique and so inspirational! The second blog took me some time to find, I decided to challenge myself and search for a blog that covered an interest of mine: Yellowstone National Park. And I found one! It's amazing, and it chronicles a woman's one-year adventure in Yellowstone as a Park Ranger. She paints a beautiful picture with her words, and describes moving into the interior of the park and living there, something I dream of doing one day. She's even begun to raise a family there! I know there is a small schoolhouse in the park, so I'm crossing my fingers that I could possibly one day, move out there and teach!

Blogs I posted to:
Ashley Saunders: Gonna Learn 23 Things
Alexis Wylie: The Wylie Things
Alana McLeroy
Desmond Lymon

Amber Rose
One year in Yellowstone

Thing #3--Blogging in the classroom

How would blogging help my career or work in the classroom? This is an interesting and stumping question, so I referred to the site Dr. Wall provided a link to in order to get some ideas churning. So many things a blog can do according to this site! The immediate thing that came to me after reading a few of these ideas was communication. By starting a blog for specific classes or classrooms you could make class communication both fun and easy for students. You could upload assignments to a blog page with detailed descriptions, links to resources, other safe informative websites and even an educational game if you find one pertaining to your subject/topic.

Another helpful thing a blog can be used to do is record your teaching experiences. By doing this you can share with teachers all of the globe your time in the classroom, how you solve certain problems, your lesson plans, project ideas and so much more! It would be a great way to give back to your teaching community and receive some feedback from peers in the field, teaching in different environments.

Blogs can potentially be a wonderful tool AND resource if only you put your mind too it; and even if you have a hard time doing that there are plenty of helpful sites out there that can give you ideas like the EduBlog Insights.

Thing #2--Blog creating experience

I decided to simply use my real name as my posting name so that it is easy for me to remember, and not as embarrassing as using my online aliases. I'm a bit of a geek, so it seems like it would be unprofessional to use those names for this purpose. I chose my blog name for a similar reason; I chose to simply use my name and the current year so I can easily remember it and hopefully it will be easier for my professor to find and read : )

Creating the blog however was very stressful. I didn't keep up with my username, password and url so it was hard to find my blog. I therefore had to recreate it and start over, luckily I had only done things 1-3 so catching up isn't so bad. But this experience scared me, and taught me that I need to take better care of my many usernames and passwords. Blogging in general however looks really fun, but when you have no time it seems a bit silly. Especially since I already spend too much time on Facebook and Google as it is (when I can't sleep I google animals and draw them).

As for my avatar, or my "doppleme" I feel is a good representation of myself. I am often confused or find myself donning a look of surprise often. I prefer to wear comfortable clothing over something "cute"or professional when I can avoid it, thus she's wearing a simple t-shirt, some jeans and tennis shoes. It was hard to find a hair style that fit though haha, cause my hair is so odd. It's not straight, but not curly, a strange wavy mix that changes with the weather; flat in dry weather, and curly in humidity. She's not holding anything for now because although I love coffee, I'm too poor to buy it daily at Starbucks! So I make my own. Once I have another coin she'll be holding a pony though, I can guarantee you that, to show off my dorkiness. (I love My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic!)

Overall, the creation experience for the blog was alright, and I learned a valuable lesson: keep a record of all your passwords, usernames and url addresses! It was pretty easy to get this together the second time around though, so there's my silver lining. I hope I'm able to get the hang of this new technology and stay up to date with all the progress so I'm not behind my students in the future!

Thing #1--Lifelong learning habits

After reading the slideshow of Seven and 1/2 habits of highly successful lifelong learners, I have narrowed down the two habits that are easiest and hardest for me to deal with.

First is the easiest habit, habit number one: begin with the end in mind.
This habit is something that I've been doing ever since I started college; trying to imagine what the many, many possibilities lay ahead in the future. I am constantly thinking about what hoops I will have to jump through to get to the career I want in life, what I will have to do to succeed, what kind of job(s) can I take on to support myself until then, and I especially ponder the endless possibilities of where I will go once I graduate. There's nothing holding me back, the only place to go is up! But the end of my collegiate journey is where I always begin my thoughts.

Next is the hardest habit, habit number: have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner.
Having confidence in oneself is a very hard thing for many people. It's something I struggle with on a daily basis; some days I feel confidence, other days I'm not sure it exists at all. But these are ups and downs that any growing person has. I have confidence in my learning, but I'm not sure if I'm an effective learner. I have trouble remembering things, and I feel like this is my biggest weakness of effectively learning any subject. It's something I know I need to work on, and will continue to work on so that I can be a competent, effective learner.

This slideshow was very informative and fun, and I'm glad to know the seven and 1/2 habits of lifelong learning!