Delicious

Delicious was interesting to me. I had never heard of an online bookmarking resource until class. I love the idea of not having to be at your computer to see your bookmarks. Since I am a bookmarking queen that would come in handy. I constantly find myself bookmarking stuff though and having no idea why I did in a couple weeks or I will find that it is no longer useful. Whitney and Alex did not show us if there was a way to maybe annotate your bookmarks or delete them when you don't want them anymore.
Also, when we began working on our lesson plans Katy and I found delicious useful in WebQuests and other online activities.

Wordle and Twitter

Though I don't think the two compare, as far as applications in the classroom go, I feel that Twitter has more. Wordle seemed to have very little purpose but to look cool. They had a good idea of using it as an icebreaker of some type by putting all the students names in it. I also liked the front page of a binder idea. However, I would teach high school so I feel like this is something they can do on their own.

Twitter seemed more useful for a secondary classroom setting. It would be a great discussion tool as well as a way to communicate with my students in a manner that they are interested in. I will likely use twitter in my classroom as a discussion bored, a place to post homework questions, as well as possible bonus point opportunities.

I thought both tools were very fun and interesting. As far as application in the classroom though, I found Twitter to be more useful for my age level.

Webquest

Today in class we explored the uses of a WebQuest and the way they are structured. I could see how this could be used in classrooms especially for group projects. A possible WebQuest could be to teach them how to use functions on their calculators to graph a picture. We could set up the instructions and steps for the project by using a WebQuest with possible links to pictures on the internet. Projects such as these would get the students on a computer where they are typically most comfortable.
The WebQuest I found today would be more for a geometry class. Still, I loved how it pulled the students everyday lives into the classroom. When you make math applicable to the student I feel that is when it becomes more interesting to the students.
There are very useful sites out there that can be used to find WebQuests for all grades. I never knew these were available. I will definitely be interested in bringing WebQuest projects into my classroom!

Birthday Weekend

This weekend I am going home to celebrate three different birthdays! They all happen to fall on February 9th. One of the birthdays is my aunt and the other is her son. The last birthday is for my boyfriends dad. For him we are having a huge surprise birthday this Sunday! It is going to be very exciting. For my two family members we will probably all go to their house and have a big lunch with cake and ice cream. Since my cousin is only turning 5 it will be mostly about him. I am exciting to get home and celebrate the birth of so many people I love!