More on my PLN adventure...

Hey everyone! 

I thought our Google+ hangout was definitely a success.  I must say it felt a little intimidating and weird to talk on it.  I don't really like that you can see yourself LOL (I've never used skype and anytime I've done a webcam chat I've always felt uncomfortable) but I thought it worked out perfectly for our situation.  It's definitely a great tool!  Well, while I was recapping my PLN activity for the week I got caught up in what I was talking about (especially the Rhizomatic Learning post) that I didn't mention a few other things that I did. 

First of all, I read a few of the blogs from the #eci831 class and they were really amazing.  I commented on all three of them and I'm including the links here if you want to check out the blog posts and my comment and hopefully you'll be inspired to comment yourself!


Digging Deep into the Soil of Education


Professional Learning for Educators


Do You Bring Your Students to the Edge? (This one is just a quote, but I really like it and I commented)

I also created a Prezi with my group for another class (EDUC 517-Multiple Literacies) and I think it's such a GREAT tool and is definitely an alternative that you can teach vs. powerpoint.  In my opinion powerpoint can get boring and is very "in the box" whereas Prezi is more chaotic (and therefore more frustrating at points) but seems way more "out of the box" and some students might respond to this presentation tool more.  I actually told my fiance about it the other day and he checked it out and loves it!  He's decided to use it for a project for one of his classes rather than a powerpoint like he planned on.  I was excited that I got to introduce a new tech tool to him (he's more technologically savvy than I am)!  The prezi is on Emotional Literacy and here is the link if you would like to check it out:


Emotional Literacy Prezi Presentation

I like Prezi a lot (even though it has also been very frustrating for me!) and I'm thinking of using is as the presentation tool for our final presentation for this class.  My plan is to use this as the main format, but to include other formats within this presentation as well.  We'll see how that works!

THIS WEEK, my main technological advancement was a personal one, I got the new Iphone 4S and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!  Siri is awesome!  I've been messaging on Twitter back and forth with Jeff and he's given me a couple suggestions, such as "Ask Siri to tell you a story" and I did and it took a few tries, but eventually she told me the story of how she became the personal assistant at Apple.  Mike asked her where she lives and she said "her"e.  He asked her again and she said, "Wherever you are, that's where I am".  I laughed pretty hard.  She also responds when you say thank you, and she uses different responses each time.  It's seriously really cool technology.  And just in general this is pretty big for me because I've never had an Iphone and this is only my second smartphone.  I'm noticing that in the few days I've had this that I'm relying on technology even more because I'm starting to use the calender on it, there is a notepad that I can write on, and I downloaded a school app in which I can put in my assignments for certain days and create school-specific checklists.  It's pretty awesome and I'm excited about it!  :)

Hope you enjoyed my post and seriously check out those links, the blogs are pretty awesome!

Thanks, and if you have any questions you would like me to ask Siri, please post them and I'll reply her answers to you!  :)