Google Site-Professional Portfolio with link

I don't know if I did this exactly right. I had a lot of trouble with this assignment. First, I couldn't get the picture inserted. With the help of my fiance I was able to find the problem. I had to re-size the picture because it would not appear. Once we figured that out, it was simply putting the information I wanted. Wasn't too bad at all. It took more work than using Plaxo or LinkedIn, but I think it's better. I feel more comfortable and feel like I have more options.
https://sites.google.com/site/gabrielvacakin710/

Professional Portfolios

I did not like Plaxo very much. I don't know if it was just me, but I had trouble with that site. I didn't feel like there was much direction, which is what I need when I'm dealing with technology. I found Linkedin to be easier to navigate, perhaps my experience with Plaxo helped. With the personal website, it was a little more work but I felt as though I got to tailor the specifics exactly how I wanted. I would definitely prefer a personal website, I just need a little more practice with it.

Library Thing

I like this site. It's pretty cool to find all the books that I like, and owned at one point, until I lost them somewhere. It really did make me want to think about more books to buy. Now I want to find or re-purchase all the books I lost. Here's the link to my catalog.
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/vgvaca

Image Generator

 

I used letterjames.com  to generate this image. I had never used an image generating website before. It's pretty cool. I tried some of the magazine covers on another site, but it kept saying the file was too large. I don't know why, it was just one picture. Anyhow, I'll keeping messing around with it when I have more time. But it's pretty cool that this is all free. Sorry this wasn't posted earlier. I was delayed by the moodle shutdown.

Bloglines

I found these podcast search engines to be pretty cool. I actually found a website called PE TALK. It's a decent site. This particular podcast gives lesson ideas, rainy day lessons, etc. I am interested continuing to search other podscasts that might be able to aid me in my teaching. It is pretty cool to know that you can probably find answers to almost any question.

Trunk Lift.mp4

YouTube Post with Embedded Video

 I like YouTube and have used it many times, for education and entertainment purposes. I chose this video because it something that relates to physical education teachers. The link below leads to the "Trunk Lift" segment of the FitnessGram videos that shows how to conduct each phase of the FitnessGram. This is something that you can play for the students before you test them. If you need the rest of the videos they can also be found on YouTube. It's a good thing to have because if your school is anything like my school, you can come back from summer break and things are sometimes missing.


<iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="640" height="510" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Q2AzAKTV2Wk?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen></iframe>

Technorati Post

I did not understand this website. I got results when I did a keyword search for Kinesiology in Blogs, but I didn't get anything out of the other searches. Maybe it was just me not understanding how to use the website. Just seemed like a little too much to figure out for a website. Not something you want your users to feel when they are accessing your site.

Blog About Delicious

I looked through this website. It's an okay idea, but in all honesty, I don't see myself using this website. It's a fancier version of the bookmark toolbar on any browser. The only thing it offers in addition to bookmarking your favorite sites is the ability to see other people's bookmarks or find the most popular tags or bookmarks. Nice idea, cool if you want to keep up with the trends, but not really for me.

Module Three Technology Discussion

Of all the technology resources that we have discussed in this class, I found the podcast and Google Docs resources to be the most interesting and useful. I don't currently use either of these resources in my teaching, but I do think I will use them in the future. Podcasts can be used to guide students and give directions for assignments, and Google Docs can be used to create documents and have students complete individual and group assignments. I tend to think that these may be better suited for high school or college-age students, but it wouldn't hurt to have middle-school kids give it a try.

Web 2.0

The most interesting websites I found from the Web 2.0 awards list were found in the genealogy section. I've always wanted to build my family tree and discover new and interesting things about my family that I may not have known. It's pretty cool that there are safe and secure websites that can actually help you with that process because you can go about it on your own pace, save it and know it's secure, and come back to it when you want to. The genealogy websites were the most interesting to me.

Google Docs

Google Docs is pretty awesome. I had heard about this before but never attempted to use it. I think it's pretty cool that we can edit or create documents from anywhere....even with a phone! I like the fact that we can just save documents to our computer and edit it offline as well. Pretty cool....I could see myself using this resource for this class and any other classes I take, as well as trying to implement this into the classes I teach. I can post an assignment and students can sign on and edit and create documents as a group project. I want to explore this and continue finding ways I can utilize this resource.

RSS Feeds

I like the RSS feeds. It's pretty cool and could be useful, but it just seems like a fancier version of the bookmarking function on any internet browser. It does go a step further and allow you to see the details such as headlines of your favorite websites. I don't know if I would use it personally, but that, of course, may change as I continue to explore its different uses.

Article Responses

Examining Social Software in Teacher Education
 This is article to me does a good job of presenting both the good and bad of social networking and the role it plays in education. The anecdote in the introduction of the article provides a major drawback of educators attempting to use sites like Facebook and Twitter because they are too closely associated with social networking and not so much for educational purposes. As a middle school teacher, I don't ever see myself using Facebook or Twitter or any other social networking site to communicate with my students for those very reasons. However, the article does point out the benefits of using blogs, wikis, etc. because it allows for immediate feedback to students and allows students to share ideas without having to always be face to face. I would consider using my own blog to post assignments and give feedback because I feel as though it would give me a little more control over what is posted.

Web. Library, and Teen Services 2.0:
      This was a very interesting article. I really like the idea of making content more accessible and easier to understand for all parties involved, especially the community with a special emphasis on teens. For libraries to be able to take the feedback and ideas of those that it serves, the community and teens, and use this information to develop a more efficient and enticing system is awesome. However, I am skeptical that the powers that be will actually relinquish the control that they need to to make this happen. To me that is the single biggest obstacle in having this idea come to fruition.

Emerging Technologies Changing Public Library Service Delivery Models:
     This article pretty much picks  up where the above article ends. It details the need for libraries to keep up the current technological trends in order to stay relevant with their target audiences and customers. The failure of libraries to do this puts them at risk of becoming less and less useful. I like this article because it goes more in depth about what the current Internet trends when it comes to sharing information. The article details exactly how libraries can use blogs, wikis, rss feeds, podcasts and vodcasts to serve the public. I like this because it is a break from tradition in how it serves the public, without losing site of what it serves the public.

Flickr Photo

This is a photo of my dog running around my backyard. It was really pretty easy to upload the photo. It was pretty clear-cut and self-explanatory. Not difficult at all.

Technology

I enjoyed learning how to create a podcast. When I initially read the directions and read up on it, I thought it was going to be pretty complicated. However, with the assistance of colleagues, I was able to find that with all the software and applications available, it was not a big deal at all. I think the hardest part of this podcast was having to listen to myself when I was finished.

Test Post

Testing 1-2-3, testing