THING 12!

I only chose to set up one of these Google tools. Not because I was to lazy to explore the other but because iGoogle is so awesome that it includes the other tools. When setting up iGoogle, YouTube, date and time, weather, and CNN are included on the home screen; however, the user has the options of adding other gadgets. These gadgets include Google Alerts, Google Calendar, Google Translate, and Picasa Web Albums. The user can add all the Google tools to one screen similar to RSS, AND RSS can even be added to the iGoogle account. The iGoogle home page has a place for virtually everything a person may want to regularly access on the web. 

The following are a screenshots of my iGoogle account.

This could be useful for a teacher in many ways....

...an RSS feed linking to other blogs

...News reports to keep the classroom update on current events

...YouTube videos that could be used in lessons

...quotes of the day could be used for journal topics

... inspirational quotes may be necessary for keep sane :)

...the weather to know how your class might be effected

...to do list to keep up with tasks

...Google calendar for keeping up with appointments

...Google translator for looking up language information 

...Google alerts for necessary reminders

...AND many, many others

This is an awesome, resourceful tool that I am glad to have discovered! :)

THING 11!

I found that Google Blog Search is probably the easiest to use. It is basically a keyword search. We are all generally accustomed to using google search; so, blog specific google search is basically the same. I think it is safe to say that Google Blog Search is the easiest to use. I found Technorati to be a little more confusing. This search tool was a little more complex; however, I found the site very beneficial. 

The following are some really neat sites from these search engines:

English Free Style

Professional Learning Board

One Literature Nut

I found this blog very interesting/unusual....

English Teacher X

I found these blog search engines useful.

Blog-Search

Blog Search Engine

Blog-Discovery is a great post on 10 different blog search sites!

Just a side note I LOVED this.....

"The next best thing to be wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are." CS Lewis

I believe the great men and women of history would look upon us with envy as we now have the greatest opportunity in human history to immerse ourselves in a circle of the wise.

....from Cool Cat Teacher.

THING 10!

I love that RSS shows all the updates from the blogs you follow at the click of a button. It is so easy to see any updates by simply going to one website as opposed to wasting time looking up each one individually. This technology would be awesome for school because I can keep up with all the educational blogs I follow in a time-saving way. I know when I am a teacher I will have a lot to look up and worry about, and checking for blog updates might not seem like a high priority. This way I can easily stay connected and generate ideas from awesome blogs.  Teachers can also follow co-workers' blogs or even the school's blog. This is an awesome, stress-free way to keep updated!

THING 9!

These generators were really easy to make and kind of fun! I just googled online generators and click on a few. The first two images are from http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/comic/index.html.

This website allows you to create comic strips. The comic strips can also be printed when finish. This could be used in all classrooms to illustrate the content that has been taught. I found the signs from Red Kid. This website allows anyone to create many different types of signs. I thought these would be neat for displaying information or reminders. For example, the iphone remind to leave phones at home is a creative way to publish a rule. It also helps relay information in a way that is familiar to students.