Pinterest and its many uses!
  

Pinterest is a cool way to spread different ideas with the entire internet connected world. It can be used in many ways, but one specific way that is important for many people is....THE CLASSROOM! That`s right as technology makes its way deeper into our school systems so does neat internet innovations that come along. Teachers can all be very creative when it comes to coming up with new and exciting ways to teach their students, and Pinterest can be utilized to share these ideas with other educators in the same subject field. It can also be used as a type of research outlet for students through the use of photographs. Basically all subjects are shared and discussed through Pinterest and the possibilities to find cool and fun pictures to share with classmates is seemingly endless. 
I made a cool assignment that follows the subject of physical education, the link is posted as following....

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FlmPUGNHsjPvMK_5LhMe_EYx69dymfDfW0qy3ZPHWfo/edit
 Feel free to visit my blog and use this cool assignment.
Anyways as many physical educators may know, technology sure is difficult to find useful in the gym.  But with this assignment i utilized the blogging aspect of google, and also made it applicable the share on Pinterest. I made the Assignment to make students and athletes aware of the importance of sportsmanship and how it have be shown to others. The pictures below are an example of me doing the assignment myself as an example for my students. 

 Picture 1- Helping an opposing player up when they are hurt, even if it means losing a game or an advantage! Good sportsmanship is so much better than just winning a game.

 Picture 2- Giving an opposing player a hand when they fall is a true sign of sportsmanship, and should be exhibited by all players, all the time.

Picture 3- Shaking hands with a good attitude after a match is a sign of sportsmanship, and it makes you feel better about a lose, or a win!

Cool Tools for Schools!

1. PreZentit

http://www.prezentit.com/

With this tool students will be able to create presentations very easily and quickly! This tool allows for students to work together on a presentation at the same time. The presentations can be downloaded and used without internet connection and can be kept private or made public for others to view! I would use this in my classroom during group presentations so that my students will be able to work together even when they are not at school. Also since the presentation can be made public I can view their progress as they work, this would make it easier for me to give students guidance if I see they are struggling or falling behind.

2. iNetWord

http://www.inetword.com/

This tool is very cool and could be very beneficial when used for collaborative group works. The tool allows for different people to work on a project separately, showing their own personal work, and the changes that other group members have made. This means a teacher can evaluate the work and see if some students did not help. I would love to use this tool in my classroom, because it would allow me to see if some students aren't performing and putting all of the work on their classmates. This tool changes the group project atmosphere completely, because each student can be graded individually for their own work and then graded for the overall group collaborative work.

3. Wolfram Alpha

http://www.wolframalpha.com/

This tool allows for a student to search a question and get reliable information in turn quickly. The website that is wolfram alpha is a self computing computer that has been compiling information at a high pace for some time. The tool is always gaining new information and ways to answer questions. I would use this in my class specifically for research papers to get my students away from the idea of just goggling everything. This website will help my students not only get a few answers to the questions they have but also keep them from plagiarizing someone else's work from a random website they find on Google.

4. Tubechop

http://www.tubechop.com/

This tool allows for a student to find specific videos that interest them. Then it allows for the student to chop and edit the video down to the part that specifically is interesting to them or a project they are working on. After a student chops the video they can share the clip they've made with others. Using this in class would be great for students to use in a multimedia class. They can use videos and clips to create montages that help teach a lesson to other students.

5. Authorstream

http://www.authorstream.com/

With this tool a student will be able to create a publish a slideshow. They will also have the ability to upload the slide directly to YouTube. They can also create there own "showcase," to share their presentations with other students or a teacher. I would use this in my classroom because it would give the students a chance to show me their presentations as they work on them, giving me an opportunity to give hints or suggestions. Also other students could see all of their classmates slideshows anytime after they are presented to see the information presented by another and comment on them.

6. Audacity

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

This tool is a free way to record and edit different sounds or audio clips. It is available in many different operating systems. This tool provides an easy way to share new sounds with others. I would use this in my class room for multimedia projects so my students could add audio clips to slideshows or videos. This would allow for them to advance a slideshow and allow for more creativity.





 

7. Montage

http://montage.cloudapp.net/gallery

This tool allows for students to group together different visuals of web based materials to share with others what you find interesting. The montage can be made from many different web sources and can be easily pieced together. Some websites include YouTube, Newsfeed, Twitter, and Bing News.

I would use this in my classroom with research projects for my students to create an online collage of their topics. This would allow the student to share the information to others in more than just words, but pictures as well!

8. StudentPublishing

http://www.lulujr.com/teachers.php

This tool allows a student to create their own hardback or paperback story books. The site allows a student to publish their own works. Also the tool lets a student share this information with others! I would use this tool in my classroom to allow students to research a topic and compile a large amount of easily readable information into a hardback or paperback book. This would make the student take pride in their work, and hopefully will encourage them to work harder on the project since it will be made into their very own book.

9. Yacapaca

http://yacapaca.com/

This online tool allows a teacher to post previously uploaded or newly made quizzes to this site. The tool allows students to take these quizzes, and see how they did. The tool also allows a teacher to easily grade and collect information on how well a student did, and what they are struggling with.  I would use this in my class so that I can see how my students are doing with the information I have presented them. Also I would use it so the students can have almost immediate feedback on how well they did on the quiz.

10. Zunal WebQuest Maker

http://zunal.com/

This tool makes it possible to make a WebQuest quickly, easily and without having to us HTML. The tool has up to 100 different templates that can be used. Also the tool allows one to attach unlimited pages, images, and videos. I would use this in my classroom because it would make making WebQuest for students very easy and fun to do! Also I could use this tool to have my students create their own WebQuest and have their fellow students follow along with them



Social Media!

Social media is deeply embedded into our society and its not going anywhere short of a apocalypse, or nuclear meltdown of our power systems. Below are two articles that i found that talk about social media



Facebook has been undoubtedly the most influential social media tool in the last 50 years.  Its founder Mark Zuckerberg has connected almost every single person in the civilized world to his website. Facebook is always taking social media to the next level, especially their newest app that they have made for people to anonymously chat about topics. The app is called rooms, and it allows a person to join a "room" and talk about different topics, while being anonymous, because before you can join a room you must pick a name that you want to be identified as. In a lot of ways this app is similar to "Yik Yak," in the sense that all of your post can be completely anonymous and the writer doesn't have to be worried about be criticized personally for their ideas.

http://mashable.com/2014/10/23/facebook-launches-its-new-anonymous-community-app-rooms/


Social media has made its way into the workplace! All bosses should be in fear for their productivity. This is not the case actually, according to the following article even though the social networks were created to connect friends, now they are being used by businesses to solicit responses from the public quickly and affordably. Before a company like sears for example, would have to send out things in the mail to reach their customer base, but now things have changed. It is so much easier and cost effective to send information about your business and its products over facebook or twitter. It is also easier for customers to let a business know that they are not happy with a particular product or how something is being sold. This for most companies can be solved in a quick and easy fashion but already there is controversy circling the net. Social media in the workplace is a good thing but it also takes away from the personal aspect of a good business and that is a shame.

http://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/social-media/social-media-workplace-research-roundup

        Hello fellow classmates! My name is Josh West and i am a 20 year old Junior at Henderson State University, and i live in Arkadelphia as well. I have been living in this town for the last two years, but i am originally from a small town in central Arkansas called Enola. The town that i grew up in has about 200 people in it, so moving here was a huge adjustment for me. I have the best family anyone could ask for, they support me in my pursuit of higher education, and also my love of traveling. My parents helped send me all the way, "across the pond," to Scotland and Ireland this past summer. Getting to experience that trip meant so much to my parents and myself because we love to go on trips and see the world! I have one older brother who is five years older than me, he is married and works with my Grandfather as a master electrician.
     
        I am a Physical Education major at HSU, and my primary reason for having this major is because i want to be a High School basketball coach. Basketball is one of my greatest passions, aside from fishing and playing the guitar, and i want to always be around it!
I started this blog last semester for a class, in which we were preparing to take the Scotland and Ireland trip i was talking about earlier, but now i am using it for another class, Education Technology. This class is so much fun! I have learned so much so far, but i plan of getting as much out of this class as possible. I am also very excited to be able to share things in my life through this blog with others, one of my greatest passions is writing, and this is one of my favorite ways to do it!

communication across borders

 Intercultural communications is the transfer of information between different cultures and different people. It is used to describe the wide range of communication processes and problems that naturally appear within an organization made up of individuals from different religious, social, ethnic, and educational backgrounds.

 It is a very important part of how our world works, it is great that we are able to spread information around so quickly and keep people informed about what is happening with the many different cultures in the world. It allows us to know other kinds of people even though we might not have met them we are able to understand there ways and there culture.

Intercultural communications has helped me prepare for our trip to Ireland and Scottland. I have done a lot of research on the culture and i feel that i am prepared to enter these great countries culturally aware and sensitive. I will be able to understand and hopefully be involved in the many traditions these places hold. Also from all my reading about the people that live there and how different there traditons are than my own i am so excited to meet many new people and hopefully leave knowing much more than i do now.

   New skills are being developed every day in every field of work in the world. It is every persons duty to take these new skills and apply them to their jobs and their everyday life. I want to be a teacher and a basketball coach. In my career i am going to have to exercise new techniques and use them to benifit my students and myself.
   
   Some of the skills that i am going to have to use are going to involve technology. Now you might ask how can a basketball incorporate technology into his classes and practices. Well i plan on using the new advances in technology. I will use slideshows, ipads, video to show my kids new techniques and fundamentals. I believe it is imperative that we use our new technology to teach our kids and our coworkers to be culturally aware.

Americans and Cultural perception

    As Americans we are surrounded by many different people and cultures, which explains why we are called the melting pot country. Many people in this country are satisfied with there own culture and don`t really want to broaden there horizons. Many Americans simply do not wont to leave or worry about another country.
     Most of our citizens only want to learn and speak English, or on some occasions Spanish. But in other countries it is a requirement to learn other languages, because it is important to be able to communicate with many different people. Many Americans are afraid of emerging Ourselves into the depths of the many cultures there are.

    Cultural lens is a tough thing for many people to know they have in day to day contact. Our perception of ourselves and others is based solely on how our society society labels us. Some people you might see may look very poor to you but to someone of another country they might be average. How we view money is different to many other cultures, to many middle to upper class Americans money is luxery, but to many of the poorer countries and the people in it see money as survival.