As the sun sets on the busiest semester of my grad school career I'd like to take a look back at a few of the technical programs that drove me to drink and that actually got me to think about the next school year while on summer vacation. This final blog shall follow in the illustrious foot steps of none other than Mr. Clint Eastwood. I present to you for you amusement and education "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly."
The Good:
While there are just a plethora of programs that I enjoyed using this semester I must say the learning how to create my own QR codes, Biblionaisum, and Pixton are the programs and applications that I feel will be the most useful for my students and I in the up coming school year. I truly think that incorporating QR codes as an alternative to copies of handouts is a great way to use technology in class as well as save on that precious copy paper. Biblionasium wasn't my personal favorite book community but I think as far as student use this one can't be beat. It is user friendly and has a fun layout. Finally, Pixton gave me ideas for breaking up the constant paper to pen writing assignments in class. I think students can have a lot of fun with this and so can I.
The Bad:
My bad list is pretty short and is mostly for personal reasons. Tumblr is not for me. I felt pressured and just plan didn't like it. It was too in my face for me. LibraryThing was also not for me. I thought the layout was boring and it wasn't what I would call user friendly. Just plain ol' blah.
The Ugly:
There is only ONE program that I would flat out say was ugly: Screenr! This program was awful for me. I had the hardest time using it and felt nothing but defeat, even after I finally was able to use it. Without a doubt this program was U-G-L-Y.
So there it is. My list. But who am I to judge? No one really. These were my findings, you may have other experiences, so I encourage you to get on that wireless mouse and keyboard and explore these programs for yourself. Even one can change your educational career.
Your blog reminds me of the adage, "it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog." You have a tenacious "I'll figure this out no matter what" attitude that will help you not only in your own classroom, but also as a librarian and advocate for other teachers to learn to use these tools for learning. And you noticed-- you were able to overcome! That's huge!
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