Delicious

My Plan for the week:

There are many different ways to share links used in the classroom. I wanted to look through the different social bookmarking sites to see which I liked the best. I looked through several after learning what they were and chose a few to look at and eventually use. Additionally, I needed to look through a few teacher websites to see what they do with their websites to gain student attention. It seems many of the teacher websites I researched lacked variety and a personal touch that would interest the students into using the website for their own personal use. Although the weekly assignment was to complete the contact information page, I want to finish my homepage and the contact page. It makes more sense to go one step at a time. On my homepage, I will be adjusting the photos that are displayed in the future. I needed to go through my science based photos and gather into one file instead of picking each one - plus, I learned I can drop and drag photos into the website. Since I use two monitors for all of my work, I am able to easily see the photos and my webpage at the same time. This really creates a work environment that is easy to use. For anyone without two monitors, you are missing out - if you have a laptop, attach a monitor - you will not regret the change. I have been doing school work like this for the last 5 years and get much more accomplished in the same amount of time. 

What I did/Where I went:

First and foremost, I went camping this past week in Arizona. As I mentioned last week, I was trying to make plans. It came to fruition and two days were spend in the Arizona wilderness. The campground was a very small place with only 12 sites. The trees hung low which blocked the hot Arizona sun. Although Arizona is known for its very hot weather by most, there are many places in Arizona that receive snow and temperatures are low year round. For example, did you know the Grand Canyon National Park is often in the 70's? When researching places to drag the camper, I realized that within four hours of my home in Las Vegas, I could enjoy 70 degree weather while looking over the edge of the southern rim of the Grand Canyon. How beautiful would that be? Well, as how my summer usually goes, I am looking at getting out for a 4 day weekend to the Grand Canyon. I just cant imagine going another year without experiencing one of the world's wonders. (FYI - I have lived in the western part of the country for 30 plus years of my life and NEVER visited the Grand Canyon). I did manage to take some photos of the scenery while camping. Here are some fantastic mountain photos at the campground and on the way home. And yes, I had to post the photo of the Cow (female elk) that came strolling through camp. 

What I learned:

I learned about social bookmarking. In class, another student suggested using Pinterest for social bookmarking and I immediately thought about how I have used Pinterest in the past. Honestly, I always thought Pinterest was bulky and unusable for much more than frilly pictures and ideas others have. Maybe its the people I have followed in the past or maybe I never really got into it to utilize its benefits. Either way, I wanted to research other bookmarking sites and found a few that were interesting. I still hadn't decided on a definite choice. I thought I would ask the technology specialist at my school and she was quick to say Pinterest!  I was shocked to say the least. She said that she has researched social networking for her degree and she insisted that Pinterest, when used right, has the greatest influence of all. She said if I could not use Pinterest, then Delicious was the best. I had looked at Delicious and thought it was pretty good but didn't realize how much I was going to like it until I started using it. My Delicious community can be found at www.delicious.com/mbrasser0001. Now, why do I think it is amazing - well first off, you have to add the "Delicious" symbol (lack of words here - kind of like a link to Delicious) to your Google Chrome browser. When you add a page to Delicious, it pops up with possible keywords and an area for you to add comments. Plus, if others have saved this to Delicious, it will tell you who and when. This can be beneficial when looking for websites others have found.  

There are so many websites out there that look good but are no good for research purposes. I have taken many classes on researching websites and the information you find on the internet. Because I am an English major in addition to Science, I feel I am quite versed in spotting a fraud. I do teach my students about proper use of the internet and I always insist they read the website from which they are pulling information before citing their sources. I love the comment in our reading, "You won't always be able to find exactly what you need right on the very first page of the first website you go to. Looking at different places and gathering information from them is what doing research means. But if it's very hard for you to find the information you need, and especially if it seems that information from one part of the website contradicts another part, you may want to try another site" (Multnomah County Library, 2010). If there is nothing more important, it is to understand that evaluating websites is necessary when completing research. Also, check reference dates. If the references are out of date (over 7 years old) you may want to look elsewhere. 

What I decided for my website: 

I love Weebly! There are problems with the way I originally designed my template. In order to add videos I would have to pay for Weebly. Since I am on a budget, I will not be embedding videos. Instead, I will add video's to a list on my links portion of the website. I have decided photos are important and the more color, the better. There are a few flaws I don't like about Weebly but I am getting used to it. I am hoping that when finished, it will pull my students in to using it.