And I Like To Read ...

but I am just about read out! I have spent close to eight hours just in the past two days reading. The day before it was close to four hours. And I still am not done. I have just articles left to go, but my eyes are going cross-eyed. I will shower and see if I can read a little before falling asleep. Holy Cow!!! We thought KIN 730 had a lot of work; that was nothin' compared to what we have just this first week with the new classes. I will survive though. Time to go!

My Digital Portfolio

I keep searching the KIN 710 blog for where to post the information, but I just cannot find the question Scott said to look for. I have added the address as a link in the sidebar as "Jill's Digital Portfolio". I guess I will also add the address here http://sites.google.com/site/hafaadaifromguam/. Let me know what you think.

Which Method Do I Prefer for a Professional Portfolio?

I have enjoyed putting together my personal website.  I had always wondered how people did it; I had heard it was very easy, but I never had the knowledge.  I think I will share this with my administration so they may set up a webpage for our school.  I think that I prefer this method over LinkedIn and Plaxo.  I am able  to post documents easily on the website, as opposed to the other sites.  

Professional Social Media Network vs. Social Network

In the use of social networking, I would choose Facebook over any of the other sites.  It allows me to connect in a personal way.  I would keep LinkedIn and Plaxo solely on a professional level.  We must differentiate between our social circle of friends and our professional circle of friends.  At times these may over-lap, but on emust decide which site to use.

Facebook is more for meeting up with old friends.  If one were to post pictures here, they could include pictures of their family and fun activities (more informal).

LinkedIn and Plaxo ask for information that is more for professional use.  One would use these sites when looking for a new postion or to re-locate to a new area.  Pictures one posts here should be of only themselves and looking professional more formal).

15 Years Ago .....

What famous happening was going on 15 years ago? In addition to the birth of ... Tony Boy. I remember getting home from the hospital and the ONLY thing on TV was O.J. Simpson being driven in the White Ford Ranger down the Interstate. Hard to believe that that whole thing transpired 15 years ago!

The birthday boy is holding brownies made by his sister and mother and decorated by his sister. She could not wait long enough for the brownies to really cool, so the frosting melted a bit. Oh well, it still tastes good. Happy 15th birthday, Tony Boy!!!!

LinkedIn vs. Plaxo

In browsing through both sites, I prefer LinkedIn. I feel it is more on the professional side, where Plaxo was not. LinkedIn gives a person assistance in creating a portfolio and other links that will assist them professionally. I know more people who are LinkedIn than those on Plaxo. I also believe that these sites would be used more by people who are searching for a new job. I am perfectly happy here on my little island of Guam, so do not really forsee me utilizing the sites much.

SKYPE

This is pretty gosh darn tootin' neat. Barb and I spent almost two hours at our own houses working on our individual projects, but were on Skype and could ask questions as we worked. We did not have to have the phone line tied up or be sitting next to each other at some place where neither one of us was too comfortable. This was wonderful! I feel like I accomplished a lot tonight, eventhough I still a ways to go. We ended our Skype because I was the one starting to wilt. I will get some sleep so that I may be fresh and good to go in the morning.

Now if I can just connect with my mom in Oregon sometime. Cool!!

Good night ;-)

It Is Starting to Click

The more I use the Blog, the more it seems to just "come". I figured out today how to add links on the sidebar. I have not figured yet how to do it in the post, as Michelle and Maika did on their Blogs. I guess just give me some time and I will figure it out.

Flickr-part II

I do not see myself using Flickr for school purposes. Here on Guam, we must get parent permission in order to photograph or video students prior to doing so. Many of our parents will not sign off permission to photograph his/her child. I think it would be useful should I do Special Olympics again. I would be able to share with all of the parents that pictures that were taken at the event. We could also put all of the pictures from different cameras in one place, to share with each other.

I do, on the other hand, see Flickr in the future of my person correspondence. It allows me to share photos with family and friends immediately.

What Technology Might I Use In My Class In The Future?

I can see myself using possibly the Blogger in order to open another form of communication with the parents of my students. I can also see a great use for the Google Docs with my colleagues. We can use the same document and not have to worry about what format or what version of Word was used. This will allow a better utilization of our time. We can also send it to admin. without having to worry if Admin. can open the document in a timely manner or not.

As for Facebook, Flickr and Twitter, I do not see a professional use for these sights. I will, however, continue to use Flickr and Facebook in my professional life. At this time I still do not seem to understand or "get" the purpose behind Twitter. I will continue to try and increase my use and knowledge of technology.

RSS Feeds and are they useful?

RSS feeds seem to be useful. It allows a person to get all the websites in one place. One can check the updates from one place instead of going from place to place. It is also a much needed time-saver. In this day and age, one does not seem to have much "spare" time in which to sit and wait for each individual site to pop up.

One can pick all of the "importanat" sites and not have to mess with all the other extras.

I think this is great. I can easily and quickly get news feeds from Guam and from where my parents live in the States. I can also get news feeds, should I want, from where my friend lives in Germany.

KIN 710 Wiki

I spent some time last night trying to work on that assignment. With some combined brain power with Barb, I was able to get the map widget added. I still am not sure, though, how I can be writing on the site, other than threads. I saw the message from Scott today, but I still am sure I fully understand. I have clicked on the "Request to be a Writer" twice and still no reply, at least none that I am aware of. Will need to check that out again, maybe tomorrow.

Image Generator-2nd try

I hope this works. I will see.

Library Thing

Here is the link for my Library Thing... http://www.librarything.com/catalog/JillWhite68. I have had fun looking through this site this evening. I have an auntie and a cousin who are published authors and I was able to find many of the books they have written and gotten published. This site is handy to share with relative who want to buy books; the can visit the site to find out who a favorite author is or a favorite book. This site can allow for a very broad, yet quick search. One can read what others have said about a book before they buy it should they want. I also like that English is not the only accessible language. This could be quite fun!!

On-Line Image Generators

It took me a while to finally get this picture, actually any picture, to be able to up-load to my blog. I enjoyed looking at the sites and had fun seeing what is out there. Since I had posted my son's video the other night, it was fairly easy for me to get the picture in to the post. Had I not already spent time with him, I think I would have been frustrated. This is a great way to show the world some of Guam and have fun doing it. I will definitely try this on my computer at home to see what other images I can use. I first went to http://generatorblog.blogspot.com and just had fun scrolling up and down. My daughter kept looking over my shoulder and trying to get me to go to different sites that looked interesting to her. Again, we will try it on our computer at the house. This can be a fun way to grab students' attention for assignments. This would be great especially for those that need visual cues. I would like to try and get some of my students to use these site to create some visuals for my room next year. We shall we see!

Putting It To Use

I have been given a task this summer. I will be using some of what we have learned in the past couple of weeks in KIN 710. I will be creating a Google Reader with websites for a couple of classes at UOG (University of Guam) for one of the professors. In addition to doing the Google Reader, I will also do a short write-up of each of the websites that I find that are applicable to the class. Should be fun, yet educational at the same time. I'll let you know how it goes. I will try and start it tomorrow, as I am kind of tired for tonight.

Life on Guam-Episode 1

This documentary was done by my almost 15-year old son. It was taken in our backyard, with Daddek the puppy. Enjoy! See what can happen when Mom and Dad are gone for a few hours and a teenage son is left alone with a digital camera, time on his hands, and a puppy who does not know any better?

While trying to figure out how to upload the home-made documentary, Tony and I had fun discovering what else could be added to by blog. As you may notice, I have added the weather and a few quotes of the day. I am hoping that the weather stays programmed for Agat, Guam, where I live.

Let me know what you think.

What Was I Thinking?

Obviously I was not. I had the brainstorm this evening, when I am overly tired, that I should utilize some of the sites we worked on this week to help research the laptop that I am thinking about purchasing. Why do these thoughts usually come when I am too tired to do much of anything?

Today started at 4:30 a.m. We left the house about 4:50 a.m. to go to Tamuning to participate in the Army 5K, which will benefit the JROTC program at my school. We arrived home about 8:30 a.m. and then I fixed breakfast for 4 hungry teenage boys, my daughter and myself. At about 11:00 I had enough and took a nap. Maria woke me up at Noon because she was hungry. I then spent about 1-1/2 hours working on my Physical Education Mission Statement and Outcomes assignment. It was then time to get ready to go to graduation. Drove to Mangilao for graduation, where it was long and hot. Stopped at KFC on the way home and bought dinner. After dinner I thought I should spend some time working some more on my KIN 730 assignments and before I know it, it is now 10:00 p.m. and I am pooped! I will sign off for tonight. Good night!

PodCast

This could become addictive. This is a great tool to use to find useful information, both for the teacher and the student. I preferred PodCast.com when I looked at the two different recommended sites. I looked up kinesiology, fitness and raising a teenager. I was able to find interesting information on all three subjects. This is a great tool for those of us with long distances to travel to use to listen to relevant information, as opposed to only music. One could even download books to listen to while exercise, driving, or long flights between Guam and wherever.

YouTube Post

Holy Cow! How easy was that? The hard part was figuring out the steps and then it was all cruise control from there!

I can definitely see a use for this with my classes at school. My problem will be utilizing them at school because GPSS has that site blocked. Any suggestions out there how to get around it? We are also VERY limited on internet access on our campus.

Adios Tatan Mame

Library 2.0

Library 2.0 takes the library services to the consumer wherever he/she may be. If a student has a research paper to do, they no longer have to enter the library building itself. One just need to sit at a computer and go to the library's site to request needed information. This also allows for more than one source of information to be accessed.

What happened to curling up on the couch with a good book? Or sitting out under the mango tree enjoying the breeze and a good read?

Technorati

This site allows one to search either broad or narrow. When I searched Guam on just the Post, there were over 2,000 sites. I narrowed the search to Blogs and tagged and there were only about 500 sites to look at. One can refine the search without continuously starting over.

This all is just a bit overwhelming for me since I am not so in to what all is available in technology, although I am slowly trying to learn. This could be a very valuable search tool when one does not quite know where to start and needs a broad base with which to start. Once they find some information, then they can use the same site to narrow down the information within which to look without continually starting over.

Del.icio.us

I was pleasantly surprised while checking this site out. It allowed me to have access to multiple sites that have been tagged by multiple people. I can see a great use for this when doing research, especially if I need a starting point.

At this point I am not so sure about using it in my teaching, but I am sure given enough time to sit and soak it all in I might eventually find a use. At my school we are working on motivating our kids to first dress out and then to participate. We could set up one site for all of the teachers to ahve acces to. if someone finds a useful site, then he/she could add it to del.icio.us site for the rest of us. A site like del.icio.us could be very useful so that each of us would not have to remember the site to tell the others, we could just put it on one site and then the others could have easy access.

I will take some time to continue to absorb the new information that I am getting this week.

Monday in Guam

I did minimal technology today. I was just looking at Mac website, Lenovo website and Toshiba website. So much information!!

Friday

I took a little more time to look at Web 2.0 tonight and it is a pretty nice tool. Definitely a time saver when you are looking for something specific. Not much energy for anything tonight. Woke up at 4:30 worrying about Synopsis for KIN 730. Looooooong day at school today. We had to sit through the most unorganized and time waster of a faculty meeting. I, of course, utilized my time. I set up off to the side and completed my second synopsis, now I just need to proof it tomorrow with Barb before sending both of them off.

Searching for a good, but not too expensive laptop computer. Any suggestions where to look?

Jill

Web 2.0

Just spent time browsing at what is on Web 2.0. It could really simplify life. If a person knows exactly what he/she is looking for and wants the top sites, that would be the place to go. One of the travel sites, though, was unable to use Guam as a destination :-( I will look at it some more at another time.

Flickr

If you want to see what Daddek looks like, I just uploaded about 6 pictures to my Flickr account. I also invited a TON of my family to join.

Jill

Google Docs.

I am not really sure at this time what the advantage it is over the software I have on my computer already. I do understand that it is easier to share documents because one does not need to worry about what version of an application the receiver has. Other than that, I am not sure if I would switch over at this point from my Microsoft to Google Docs. Of course, I could very easily change my mind in the future. If I did use it, I would definitely do my grades on the spread sheet and use it to e-mail memos for school purposes.

Enough for tonight. Time to hang wet towels. Jill

Google Reader

I guess I jumped the gun and did not quite get all of the directions. I remembered in one of the tutorials talking about Google Reader to manage Blogs, so that is where I went. I spent about 45 minutes getting blog addresses added. I guess tomorrow I will try the Bloglines account. I'll keep you posted.

Jill

Memorial Day

Not much technology today. Finished up school grades, then Barb called. She came over for about 2 hours and we worked on assignment for KIN 730. I then tried to help her with her Podcast, but was unable to. She will see what she can do at home. The rest of the afternoon and early evening was spent doing manual labor in the yard with Tony and the kids. I will definitely sleep good tonight. In fact, good night :-)

Podcast! UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes two brains are better than one. Barb and I spent about an hour or more trying to do our Podcast this morning. I had to leave to go to a family gathering and we agreed to see what each of us could accomplish on our own. We will reconvene should we need tomorrow. After arriving home from the gathering I was trying to do the recording, but Audacity was giving me a hard time. I discovered that we have a recording device already on the computer. My son helped me to record it. He then also helped me find and download a converter program so that I could send the file as mp3. I was successful, now I must just wait for a response from Scott to find out if I really was successful.

No school tomorrow, so will try and finish up end-of-the-year grades.

Technology Update

We stopped at Bank of Guam today because Maria wanted to get out $100.00. When I asked her why she said she was going to trade in her DS for a DSi. The kids had to explain to both their dad and me why the DSi was better than the DS. Oh well, so goes technology. We did go to GameStop and Tony Boy assisted her in the process. The clerk was pretty cool and made sure he was talking to Maria the customer, not Tony Boy or Mommy. She had hardly put the DSi down since we have been home.

The Pacific Daily News

I was reading the PDN (our local newspaper) this evening and found the following article:
Indonesian clerics want Facebook rules
Surabaya, Indonesia-
Muslim clerics are seeking ways to regulate online behavior in Indonesia,
saying the exploding popularity of social networking sites like Facebook
could encourage illicit sex. Around 700 clerics gathering in the world's
most populous Muslim nation on Thursday were considering guidelines
forbidding going online to flirt.
The Associated Press

I re-typed the entire article because I could not find it on-line. It is from Friday, May 22, 2009 edition, pg 14.

Kind of ironic to find this article when that is exactly the topic were are dealing with this week.

What do you think?? Jill

"Editorial: Examining Social Software in Teacher Education"

This article assisted me in finally learning some of the definitions of sites I actually use and some of the terminology that my children use. I am better able to understand the function and use of social-networking site. I was apprehensive at first to join Facebook, when a friend first invited me a few months back, because of the stories of how teachers and other professionals have gotten themselves in trouble with what was on the site. I now realize that it is lack of knowledge and even ignorance to a point that leads people to post inappropriate pictures and posts.

"Getting their iLessons"

I am a visual learner, so trying to get everything at one time may be difficult. Being able to re-listen to, or even re-seeing, any or all parts of a lecture could have been very helpful to me in college. I also see the value for athletes who may miss class due to being off-campus for games. On Guam the athletic competitions are able to take place outside of instructional time, but Podcasts would be very helpful for the athletes when they travel to off-island Far East competitions. The athletes would be able to receive the same lectures as the students sitting in the classroom.

This Week's Readings

I found "History to Go: Why I Teach with iPods" very interesting because within the past two weeks our department chairpersons have been discussing the use of iPods on campus. I found out that the iPod can be used for more than just listening. Many teachers do not want the iPods to be on campus, but maybe that is because they do not understand how iPods can be used for more than just listening to music. I liked how the author's class used the iPods to collect data about the history of the Cuban population. This would also be a good way for us here an Guam to work with the Man'amko (the elders) and collect the oral history from them, especially since oral and written histories are not always the same. Reading the article made me want to learn more about the area in which the authors lives and works.

Jill

Wednesday Evening on Guam

Tony Boy has been following the NBA playoffs. His teams have all been eliminated, so he now is rooting for either Denver Nuggets or the Orlando Magic. He just does NOT want Cleveland to win because they already have their season's MVP in LeBron James. He also does NOT want the Lakers to win because he just doesn't like Kobe Bryant and company. Who are you rooting for? As for me, I could really care less who wins the NBA championship.

Technology is SOOOO confusing!!!

I am trying to learn about Blogs, but it just ain't working. I want to post to another Blog, but I keep getting my own. UGH!!!!!!

Welcome to My Blog

My name is Jill White and this is my first experience at having a Blog. I hope to be able to utilize this more in my everyday interactions with parents of my students.