Friday, March 19, 2010

Thing 1 and Thing 2

I have always felt I was pretty competent on the computer until I watched the video and read the article in Thing 1 and realized how much I really don't know how to do. I have been relying on my 10 year old daughter to help me when I get stuck with programs, which really emphasizes the need for me to take this class. I teach 8th grade English which I find kids either love or hate it. If I can use some of the technology in my classroom, I am hoping to get more to move over to the love side. My librarian was sharing with me the idea of using Wikis to make book reviews. That would really be something that I am eager to learn how to do.
I am a little nervous about remembering all the things we are going to learn, but excited also. I am getting a late start due to the typical school flu that went through my family of 6. But now I plan to dive in and hopefully swim rather than sink. I got hung up a little because I couldn't remember my gmail account user name and password and if wasn't attached to my email. Oh swell, I thought, but I got it done.
Thing 2 was pleasantly easier than I expected. Thank goodness. I am hoping that looking at the other members of the class's blogs spots will be inspiring to me. The idea of the whole learning community collaborating that was presented in the 2.0 article was a dream to aspire to. I feel educators need to "use" each other to cut down on the work load. I know there is an endless supply of information that I can use in my classroom, I just don't know where to find it. Hopefully, this course will help me find them.