Texting with picasa...

Mary the Musubi -

My mom took this picture of Mary in the hospital and commented on how she looks like a musubi.  Mary is now 6 months old and everyone calls her Mary Musubi.  I'm glad I have this picture so that when Mary gets older, I can show her how she got the nickname, Musubi.  I've cropped the picture and made it a little brighter so that you can see the outline of Mary's body.  She was so small...you should see her now!!!

Woo hoo Picasa!

Running with daddy -
This picture was taken at the Korean Bell of Friendship in San Pedro, California while we were on vacation. I really like the background and tried to use the rule of thirds to keep the focus on my husband and daughter while still keeping the beauty of the background in order. I straightened the picture out a little and was also able to sharpen the picture so it doesn't look so misty. If you look closely (or just click on the links below), it appears as though Eva only has one eye in the first picture. Woo hoo for picasa!

Missing an eye...

Now she can see!

I love Picasa!!!

My little flower girl -
This is a picture of Eva just before she walked down the aisle in 2009. I really liked the picture except for that guy walking in the background. I'm fairly proud of myself for cutting him out of the picture.  I was able to crop the picture to focus on my little girl and retouch it to fade the guys' feet out.  I love it!!!

Technology in the Classroom

First Apple Macintosh (1984)

It’s so hard to keep up with technology in the world we live in today. I remember when the internet first came out. I would run home from school every day to jump on the computer and chat with my friends who I had just spent the whole day with. The computer was very slow and had a long delayed reaction time, but it was cool to be able to “talk” with them through the computer. Now, kids don’t have to run home to jump on a computer. They have cell phones that they can send text messages on. Some phones even connect to the internet. As times are coming and going, it is important to keep up with technology and to teach it in our classrooms.

Children are interested in the growing technology and this is a good way to help them to learn. Using the internet to integrate technology in the classroom also helps teachers gain some instruction on how to incorporate learning for their students. As an elementary school teacher, I plan on using the computer in my classroom for a number of things. I still believe that text books are an important part of the teaching environment and hope to be able to continue to use them in a way that the students will enjoy. I feel that using the internet to cross-reference the text books is a good way to keep children interested and plan on incorporating it in some way. I’m big on using themes to teach different lessons and think that the internet can be a big help when preparing lesson plans. There are many different sources out there that have the information we need. Another main thing I would like to focus on is communication with the parents. One of my biggest fears about becoming a teacher is working with the parents. I believe that if I work to keep communication open with them so that they are updated on what’s going on, then I will have an easier time coping with my fear. The more they know, the less I have to explain! I am so glad that we are learning about blogging in this class and I definitely plan on taking what I learn and using it in my classroom. I hope to spend enough time on blogging and photo editing so that I am a pro by the time I get into my own classroom. Another thing I am excited about learning about is the wiki’s and prezi presentation. I’ve never worked with either one and am anxious to see how they work. I may even want to use these two tools in my classroom as well.

Blogging in Education

Web 2.0 can be defined as the online tools used in order for people to connect and communicate with one another.  Teachers should know about it because it is a good way for them to communicate both with each other and with the student's parents.  It's a good way to help teachers work together and to keep parents involved.

A Blog is an online journal which allows people to share their stories and ideas with others.  Every teacher should have one because it is a great way to capture the student's attention.  It's something that they're in to and can be used in the classroom to complete assignments as a class or in groups.  They can learn to work together while having fun!

First of all, blogs can be about a number of different topics.  Student driven blogs can be about anything and might even be just for fun between friends whereas a teacher-created website focuses on certain subjects being taught in the classroom, for the students.