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Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Week 3, Thing 4, More Google Features

When I clicked to see more google features, I knew about some already. For example, Google Earth has always been a favorite of mine. Before I began traveling, it was fun to type in an address or landmark in Italy or France and see what the streets looked like in that place. It's also fun to type in my home address and watch the picture zoom into my home :-)
There were also some that I didn't know about. Google has a couple of photoediting programs! I remember seeing pictures on Facebook and asking my friends, "How are your teeth so white?!" They would laugh and tell me their secret was Piknik. Today, I finally found out what Piknik was! I played around with it. I uploaded a picture from my cousin's wedding. I was a bridesmaid, and the picture is of the bride, her two sisters and myself. First, I added a red nose, beard, and Christmas hat to all of us. If I did this for my family, We'd have a cute Christmas card! Then, I whitened all of our teeth. I even found an effect that narrows the photo to make us all look thinner! How handy is that?!

Once I figure out how to upload photos to Blogger, I will share my creations. Until then, I highly suggest trying Piknik. It's really fun!

Monday, November 29, 2010

Week 2, Thing 3, QUIA!

I had a lot of fun creating my game! I really think I will use this website when creating activities for my future students. Because I want to teach history, I made a Word Jumble for the U.S. presidents. Here it is!

http://www.quia.com/jw/424190.html

Week 1, Thing 1, Setting Up a Blog

Hello!

I am a little late in doing this. As many of you know, I just started working at Mercy about two weeks ago. So, I will do my best to catch up with the previous things and jump in with the new ones!
As a new member of the Mercy faculty, I almost decided to opt out of 23 Things. What's the point when I'd be coming into a nine week program in the sixth week? However, I decided to challenge myself instead. I am going to be starting a Teaching Credential program in the Fall of 2011 and, as technology advances, so do teaching techniques! So I decided to dive in. I am, unfortunately, a little technologically challenged. Whatever things I learn here will hopefully help me to become more understanding of new technologies.
I used Blogger this past summer for a History class I took. I complained about using it a lot. I would have rather used a pen and paper for my notes, fostering my ignorance of technology, instead of blogging. However, my experience with Blogger during the summer helped me to set up my blog this time around with ease. It seems my History professor knew I'd be using Blogger in the future. I'm hoping with 23 Things, I will have a similar experience learning new things and applying them later.
Thank you to all who have been so welcoming during my first weeks at Mercy. I've appreciated the e-mails and introductions from everyone. I look forward to becoming a more active part of this community!

--Gianna