Picasa Web Albums

This is my Picasa web album for shapes.     This week, we learned about Picasa. I had never heard of Picasa until this week. I really liked using Picasa because it was an easy and fast process uploading pictures. Like Dropbox, it is one way for me to store pictures without taking up memory space on my computer. Through exploration, I learned that you can rearrange the order of the pictures and write captions for each. This will help viewers easily see and identify the pictures. I also learned how to embed my Picasa photo web album into my classroom site. I can see this program being used very often in my classroom as I prepare powerpoints, make presentations on the smartboard, and introduce new topics.

Shape Scavenger Hunt

 

This week, Monica Vesselles, Amy Starnes, and I participated in a scavenger hunt for shapes. I thought that this was a fun and useful activity that can be done in my own classroom. To modify this activity for children in my classroom, I will have the children search for objects inside the classroom or encourage them to bring in objects from home. Once items are found we can use a camera or Smart Board overhead projector to take pictures of the objects found.


The hardest part of this assignment was uploading and editing the photos. Since Amy took the photos of the shapes on her iphone, she had to share the photos with Monica and I through Dropbox. Once the photos were uploaded I drug each picture to my desktop for resizing. After much practice, I learned how to resize and crop photos so that they can be easily uploaded and seen online.


Today was also the first day I have ever used Picasa. I really liked using Picasa to upload my pictures because it was a very fast and easy process.

Wordle Presentation

 

This week, Sandy and I presented step-by-step directions on how to use Wordle. This task was not as easy as I thought it would be. Before we presented, we had to make sure that the Web 2.0 tool wiki we created was presentable and easy to follow for all in the class. I realize after presenting Wordle that there are even smaller steps that should be mentioned that usually are not listed in the step-by-step directions such as how to use the tilde to keep two words together or how to enable Java on the computer. I also wish I would have taken the time to print out one of my word cloud artifacts to see whether or not it prints a black background. 

As far as presenting the Web 2.0 tool, I found out from my classmates that I need to speak louder and slow down. My classmates probably could not hear me well because I was facing the computer screen while I was talking. Next time, I will face the class to give directions and then turn to the computer screen afterwards. I will also slow the pace I am presenting at so that all are on the same page as I am. I will also rely on my partner to let me know if I can move forward to the next step or not. 

Overall, I learned a lot of information about Wordle and how it can be used in my own classroom. I look forward to learning about more Web 2.0 tools and how they can be used in the classroom in the weeks to come!

Web 2.0

The Web 2.0 tool I was assigned and am responsible for presenting to the class is Wordle. Before this assignment, I had never heard of or used Wordle. However, I have seen advertisements that look very similar to the word clouds that can be made through Wordle. After using this Web 2.0 tool, I found it to be a very helpful tool that I can use in my own classroom to introduce new topics, provide word searches, and for individual/group projects.

 

I really enjoyed using this tool because it was register-free and it allowed me to use my creativity. One of my favorite editing tabs to use was the "randomize" tab. The "randomize" tab automatically rearranges the words, fonts, and layout for you. I liked using this tab because it showed me several different ways the word clouds could be arranged. The only downfall to using Wordle was that it requires Java. If one does not have Java enabled on their computer then they have to enable it on Wordle and then restart their computer. Overall, I believe that Wordle is easy to use and is a fun and creative way of grouping a collection of words!