The Looking Glass

1.  I learned how to subscribe to an RSS.  YEAH.  It has really pricked my interest in using either pagesflakes or netvibes as my homepage.  It has everything that I need to be entertained and well informed.

2.   I will change my internet homepage to be either pageflakes or netvibes.  It is so convient and easy to use.  I can keep up with new blog posts.  When I setup my new teacher blog.

3.  I love this tool.  I am so ashamed that I have not taped into its power sooner. (didn’t make time)

4.  I’m still exploring this tool.  I have not tapped into all of its resources.

5.  I plan to use this tool as my Internet homepage so that I will be connected to everything on one page.

6.  Most definitely in my role as an ITS.

7.  Still exploring – I haven’t had the opportunity to add new pages yet. 

I chose to continue with the netvibes RSS since I already had an account, but I did explore some on pageflakes and setup an account.  I might consider switch over to it at a later date.  I agree that it very pretty to look at.  My excitement has been renewed and I hope to be able to incoporate it into my daily activities.

The non-classmates blogs that I subscribes to are the following:

http://teachertechtalk.edublogs.org – I chose this blog because I can really relate to the struggle of intergrating technology into the classroom.  Hopefully by subscribing to this blog a lot of new ideas can be formulated.

http://ericah.edublogs.org - It has a lot of  deep “technology reasoning and thinking”  articles and video behind what we do.

http://4oops.edublogs.org/ - I thought that this was cute – blogging about educators on a budget who like to wear prada.

1.  I learned how to successfully insert a picture.

2.  I would like to have teacher training session on creating and using blogs effectively in the classroom.

3.  I feel very comfortable and confident in starting this blog. 

4.  I don’t want to forget the effort and sometime frustration that it first took to create the blog.  I will have empathy.

5. I would like to train teachers on setting up a blog.

6.  Yes

7.  RSS feeds

From the sample blogs that were given, these 2 blogs caught my interest.

• http://allbarknobyte.edublogs.org/ - technology how to blog.
• http://principalmiller.edublogs.org/ - used as an informative website for parents

I’m Vickie and I am the ITS at Hopewell. This year will mark my 20th year in education, nineteen of which has been with Round Rock and taught one year in my hometown or Corpus Christi, TX.. This will be my 5th years in the ITS position. My husband Patrick of 12 years is the general manager for Rebreu and we have a daughter, Maleah who is 6.  I graduated from Southwest Texas State University in 1989, with a degree in secondary education.  My major was Biology with a minor in Earth Science.  I have taught in grades ranging from 6th-9th, but 7th grade is my favorite. 

As stated earlier, I am the campus based Instructional Technology Specialist for Hopewell
Middle School. Not only am I a fix-it person, but my primary job is to  help teachers integrate technology into their curriculum.

I chose the mirror to represent my blog because mirrors of course are a reflection of the image that is in front of it. We use mirrors to assess our appearance and make necessary adjustments. The purpose of this blog is a reflective writing instrument by which I can examine,  document, make necessary changes, and demonstrate the learning of this technology tool.

•  I hope to learn how to help teacher effectively use blogs as a communication and teaching tool. 
• I want to become an expert with blogging tools