Thing #4

Blogs are like old school journaling and teachers could post comments at the bottom and pass them around for other classmates to comment on as well. Except blogs are a little more open to a larger audience then just one class of students. Blogs are more to the point and easier to just set down and spend time scrolling to read. You don't have the thickness of a book to discourage you or pages to count you just keep scrolling down so what an advantage to people who are easily distracted. Blogs are still writing for a purpose so that makes a connection to other types of journaling. Blogs can be very informative and full of strong opinions and great debates. You can easily see how there can be so many comments quickly to a heated topic. All writing is purposeful so to me it's similar to all types of writing... prompted or free writes. When someone comments to a blog they add their knowledge and it gives a deeper understanding to the subject and new ideas for all the readers. Blogging is fast pace and to the point so it makes me feel like I have time to get something accomplished and learn some new up to date info in a quick way. You have to read what is written and also it makes you question some of the things that were posted so you have to research some of the ideas to ponder hmmmm does this technique really work? Sometimes this will facilitate learning because it makes you question and search looking to justify what you have read or giving you information to contradict what has been posted via a blog.

Thing 2 Thoughts about web 2.0

I'm very excited and nervous about web 2.0... I have a lot to learn and am eager to continue on this journey. Creating a classroom blog is just an idea or way this has already changed my thinking... it would be awesome to post stories, activities and I'm sure teachers and parents use this all the time and I'm excited that now I know how. Using short clips and videos to teach the kids web skills is a great idea to catch todays digital learners. Everything revolves around technology so the kids love anything to do with videos and exploration. I even love watching the how to videos so this is going to help me branch out and search for anything I hear about in the world of technology. Instead of acting like I've heard about something I can search and go to you tube to watch a video on how to podcast or whatever it may be.

thing #1 Reflections of lifelong learning

Most challenging will be view problems as challenges because I just want to conquer a problem and solve it ... I like to avoid problems. Another challenge will be using technology to my advantage because I am trying to learn new technology to use with my students but slowly incorporating it into everyday use with all that I teach.
Habits that will be easy for me are beginning with the end in mind... because I love to set goals and accomplish them so that is the way my mind works. Accept responsibility for my own learning is also easy because I love to learn and am constantly trying to challenge myself. Teaching and mentoring others is done on a daily basis so this will be another habit that I am already on board with and trying to do consistently.
Most important habits for this course will be creating my own toolbox and making time to play.