Professional Portfolio

Plaxo and Linkedin really reminded me of Facebook and MySpace. They were more focused on connecting with people in your work place or industry of work, but I still had the same feeling when I was looking around the options of the sites. My advise would be, pick the one that you are most comfortable with (MySpace, Facebook, Plaxo or Linkedin) and go with it. I feel that they all have the same capabilities, just some are more sophisticated then others.

The google sites was pretty interesting. I like the fact that you can set up a portfolio online and share it with others. Much better than mailing, emailing or faxing your information over to someone. Plus you can get creative with the set up and the way the information is displayed. I think I will find this useful in the future. http://sites.google.com/site/teprofessionalportfolio/

Library Thing

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/TEspinoza

Another fun tool. Allows you to interact with people that have the same interest in books. I could see this being really useful when it comes to a new classroom text book. Maybe interacting with other teachers that have used the book and discussing likes and dislikes.

Image Generator

Pretty fun tool to play around with. Easy to use and easy to save images. Something to introduce to our athletes that help run our website.

www.imagechef.com

Podcast.com

I used Podcast.com to search for a podcast of interest. The website is very easy to use and the search process was easy to conduct. The podcast that I found was on exercising and it discusses ways to include exercise in your life and what is best for each individual.

I still like using ITunes the most because I have an account and I can add it to my IPod or IPhone and carry it around with me.

Steroids - Bad Idea!!

YouTube - Thumbs Up

The video I chose to share is about a vice principal in our district (was a fellow teacher at Stagg a few years ago) that won a gold medal in the 1988 Olympics. Great athlete!! Thought it was relevant to both our KIN710 class and our KIN730 class since we are all working on our interviews.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgbI6SM0ujE

I really enjoy YouTube. I have used it before for my classroom, mainly for my Drivers Education class. There is a lot of useful videos that relate to car crashes and vehicle safety. I have also used it for my health class to show clips related to obesity and weight management. I've been able to find clips of specials that I saw on TV and I really wanted a copy of, but instead of requesting a copy of the whole video I just go on YouTube and show the clips I find. It really allows me to keep current information in my class because some of the videos we have in health and drivers education are pretty old.

I guess the only downside to YouTube is that anyone can post on their site. There is some really bad stuff on there that serves no purpose. Like everything though, you take the good with the bad. Overall entertainment and educational use is a big thumbs up!!