Thing #13

So I can see how Zoho writer can be a useful tool both in and out of the classroom.  If you have a student who has a computer with internet but no word processing program this would be perfect for them to use.  As for in the classroom, you can have students create different projects or papers and have them publish their work on a web page or through a blog.  I think this is the kind of application that a teacher would be able to incorporate into a lesson they easily.

Thing #15

So I signed up for wiki and I tried using it but I could not figure it out.  However, I can see how it could be a useful tool for teachers to share information and material with each other.  You could also set one up for your class to allow the students to post pictures and information.

Thing #14

I would use flowchart.com and bubbl.us for mind maps and flowcharts.  I think that they had the best appearance out of the four.  I would defiantly use these in a classroom, because I know that I learned from flow charts and I think most student will as well.

Thing #4 (I know out of order, again)

By commenting on other peoples blog you in a sense having a conversation with not just that person but each person that has commented on that blog.  It creates a community because it can take people from all over the country and turn them into a online community interested in the same things.  I agree that comments should be meaningful and not just one or two words.  If you just post a few words the blogs author might not know how to respond to that and it will not help further the conversations going on between other people on the blog.  I also think that comments are important because it will keep the blogger going.

Thing #8 (I know I'm out of order)

http://bighugelabs.com/jigsaw.php

Using Flickr in the classroom would allow you to make fun images and posters to post in your room.  You could also use it to make puzzles for different lessons.  It would work very well for map lessons or art.  As for personnel use, it is just fun to make all sorts of different pictures and posters.

Thing #12

I thought already thought that Google had a lot to offer and that was before I drove further into to.  The alert option I think is great, because it can save you from having to look at 40 different news site to find an article on your subject, by using the alert feature Google does the work for you and delivers it straight to you email.  I chose to make an iGoogle page and I thin it's kind of a cool thing.  I was able to customize it so it displays information about the things that I am interested in.  Both of these features would work great you educators.  Teachers could use the alert feature to have current articles sent to them on new teaching strategies, their content area, or anything that they feel would benefit them.  The iGoogle page is great because a teacher could create one and post news links, you tube videos, and anything else that they feel would assist their students in learning.  So in closing thank you Google I look forward to the day that you can clean my house for me.

My iGoogle Page

Thing #11

I felt that the Google blog search was the easiest site to use to find blogs.  You don't have to click on 28 different things just to get to the search option.  I did not like Syndic8, just seeing how it looked when the page first came up it looked like it would not be that easy to use.  I found some special education related feeds that I think will have some useful things on them that will help me over the coming years, I also added some news feeds because I like to read the news.  Of course there were the usual random feeds that people post that really have nothing to do with anything.