Thing #12

I chose to explore Google Alerts and Google Translate.  I have used Good Translate in the past and I am familiar with the tool, therefore, it was pretty easy.  This is obviously useful for students taking a foreign language, although most teachers warn against it.  I agree.  However, it would be useful as a starting point.  I believe Google Alerts would be an awesome tool in the classroom.  Things you've researched and perhaps couldn't find could be found by Google at a later point and can be made known to you.  I think that saves time and makes it a lot easier for students and teachers alike.

Thing #11

I honestly like the Google search tool for blogs. "Why?" you may ask... Because I use Google everyday.  I use it to find information on video games, artworks, for my classes, for pretty much anything.  I think that everyone, everywhere uses it and it would probably be the best for me and the best for my students if I were to use this in the classroom.  I didn't really find any of them very confusing, they were all pretty straight forward, and if I ran into any trouble all that needed to do was play around with it and figure it out.  All in all, I would just use Google Blogs search:)

Thing #10

RSS is very convenient.  All your subscriptions are in the same place so it is easy to follow.  I could see it being useful in my personal life, but as for the classroom?  I'm not sure. I honestly don't think students will follow blogs with the zeal I would want them to unless it was something they were genuinely interested in.  For example, a kid who plays video games would defiantly follow a blog written by EA, but I doubt that this kid as my student would follow a blog I assigned.  I may use said blogs on Google Reader for a higher art class when I know students would have the interest and zeal to follow, but not for a lower art class when the students are there because they have to be, not because they want to be.  Overall, I like the Google Reader, but using it as a tool for teacher in my future classroom?  I'm a little iffy

Thing #9

I loved all these little tools, they are a lot of fun and an easy way to excite your students or grab their attention.  I think I need to explain my first image, the text if "Fear no ART!" but I put it in a image of an skull to kind of contradict itself.  I just thought it was fun:) http://www.imagechef.com/ic/word_mosaic/

The original image is a CD cover I created in high school, so i just looked for a magazine cover that had to do with music. I really enjoyed doing this and I think this could further the project I did in high school. As a teacher, I could assign my students to crate a magazine cover with their CD cover. Good idea:)
http://www.customsigngenerator.com/

Thing #8

I really like Moasic Maker... I thought that was a pretty nifty tool, so I decided to make one of me and my best friend Brittney Terry.  She is with the Lord now, but I keep her in my heart.

I really liked the tools, I think they are very fun and would be a useful tool in the classroom.  Kids love the internet, so allowing them to play with them would be a good idea.  As for the teacher, I think I could use these to grab my students attention.  I think sharing photos on the internet is a good idea, but one must be careful about what they post.  People can steal images, so I think it is wise to understand copyright laws. As an artist, I know what I would feel like if someone stole one of my photos... NOT happy. So, I think people need to be careful!

Thing #7

First of all I would like to say that I love Flickr!  There are so many images to explore, I think I could poke around that website all day.  I have some experience with photography myself (won some competitions, shot some weddings) so I know what makes a good photo.  When looking through this website I saw so many images I liked, it was hard to pick just one. But, I decided on this photo by TrevinC:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevin/2873630467/in/photostream/

I like this photo because of its simplicity and its color.  It draws the eye and offers a very interesting composition.