Module 4, Assignment 7

     Whew, I'm done with Printerest for the purposes of this class, but I'm now officially addicted.  I could spend all day on this site.  I have used Pinterest before to find lesson plan ideas and resources, but this is the first time I have had my own account.  I'm afraid, really afraid.  I will spend way, way to much time on Pinterest this summer. 
     I followed two people in our class on Pinterest.  Jodie Rakes and Terese Slate are the people I followed.  Jodie and Terese both had some wonderful recipes on their boards.  I love to cook; however, summer and the holiday season are the only times I seem to be able to find or make the time to do so.  I loved Jodie's board on prayer.  Prayer has become so important in my life.  In my home, we join hands and pray every morning before we leave the house and go out into the world.  I also turn off the radio, CD player, or iPod and pray on my drive into work every day.  This has been a habit of mine for the past few years, and it always starts my day off with such peace.  It has helped me be thankful for the good times in my life and get through the bad.  I chose to follow an inspirational board. 

Module 3, Assignment 4

     I must stop spending so much time on Pinterest.  I don't seem to be able to get on this site without spending an hour of my time.  I followed Rosanna Munoz, and pinned four new pins on my preschool math board.  I teach math, but I don't feel it's my strongest subject.  This is why I seem to be pinning so much on my math board. 
     One of my favorite pins in this assignment was to the website, "Preschool Powol Packets, Teaching Math Skills to Preschoolers Through PLAY!!"  This site has many wonderful ideas for teachers and parents.  The site has freebies that you can print and use.  However, some of the content must be purchased.  I teach High / Scope.  This is a curriculum for preschool that stresses hands on learning and teaching through play.  The use of worksheets and flash cards as used in the traditional classroom is discouraged.  This site has so many play based games and ideas, and it is perfect for any High / Scope classroom. 

Module 3, Assignment 3

   I have become a bit more enthusiastic about Twitter, but I'm not sure if I will ever be one that tweets constantly.  I'm just learning the many uses of this site.  I just don't see why anyone would be interested in the mundane happenings in my daily life.  It would be wonderful bedtime reading. 
     I did enjoy the GreatQuotes page.  I'm now following this.  Sometimes a person just needs an uplifting message from time to time.  I believe so many people, especially public figures and sports teams tweet today because it's a tool to get name recognition and your views in front of the public that costs nothing.  In our cyberspace world today, most of these people can not afford not to be on Twitter.  Let's face it, newspapers are shutting down and going online because our society gets their news from their smartphones, laptops, and iPads.  Many sources credit Barack Obama's early use of Twitter and social media as a key factor in his first election.  I just wonder what the new online craze will be next. 

        

Module 2, Assignment 7

     I just spent another hour on Pinterest.  Wow, I love this.  I made a new board for preschool math ideas and followed another person.  All of the pins for my preschool math board came from Christine Gretz.  I'm convinced she must be and elementary math teacher somewhere.  She has so many great ideas. 
     I added five pins to my board.  My five pins for math were one for number poems, directions for making number bean bags, a carrot crunch number game, the race to the top number game, and a site on learning math in the outdoors.  Both of the number games are free to print out, and the race to the top game can be changed for use in teaching letters or sight words. 
    

Module 1, Assignment 9

     I finally got into Pinterest and it works.  I'm glad I just now discovered the joy of pinning on my very own board.  This is addictive.  I have just spent an hour looking at pins and repining.  When I have more time, I will get nothing done if I don't limit my time on this site. 
     I created a new board about learning letters.  I found five pins to add and followed one person.  Three of the pins could be used at any time of the year.  The pins are one from drjean.org with instructions and free activities to make letter vests, another with five great resources for learning ABC's, and the third gives fourteen ways to explore the letters in your child's name.  I will make these letter vests over the summer. 
     Two of the pins I added to the board are for use during the Christmas season.  The first of these pins gives you all of the instructions and recipes needed to make scented letter ornaments.  The second one is how to make letters with candy canes.  These look like fun. 

Module 4, Assignment 8

     In this assignment, I created a new folder and uploaded some preschool lesson plans to share.  I will say that for text documents, I prefer to use Google Drive because of the simplicity of use compared to Dropbox.  However, Dropbox outstrips Google Drive when sharing presentations or graphics. 
     I added two lesson plans into my preschool lesson plans folder.  I have one differentiated lesson on letters and letter sounds inside the folder that most early elementary instructors my find useful.  It is typed into the Henry County Public Schools Form, and it could be modified if necessary.  Preschool teachers would find my basic preschool lesson plan for early dismissal useful, but teachers in other grades would not.  Preschool teachers in our county have to use a different lesson plan format then teachers in higher grades.  I will continue to put lessons, especially differentiated lessons within this file. 
     I will continue to use this file in Dropbox because I have already created it and many teachers throughout the county use this application.  I do feel that Google Drive is much easier to use and upload to, one click and you're done.  That is what I don't like about Dropbox in comparison.  To me, Dropbox isn't as user friendly and simple.   

Module 4, Assignment 6

     In the article, "Google Drive VS. Dropbox - In Depth Review," the author is a graphic designer who works with large picture files and graphics.  This may explain his preference for Dropbox over Google Drive.  While both programs have sharing capabilities, Dropbox works better with pictures and graphics whereas Google Drive interacts with documents better.  However, this man needs a basic writing class.  I'm no Robert Frost, but I just wanted to take my red marking pen to my computer screen when I read this.  However, I am the woman who did take a red grading pen to a former fiancé's letter and corrected it before reading it.  He was not amused.  He never wrote me another letter again.  Now, back to the subject at hand. 
     The writer points out that the user can organize folders in both Google Drive and Dropbox.  Google Drive is more user friendly in it's organization and navigation of these document folders.  Google Drive also has more options to manipulate files and a better search feature.  Dropbox is not as user friendly when searching for and manipulating files.  You must go through steps with Dropbox that you do not have to when using Google Drive.  With Google Drive, storage space is not an issue because you don't need storage space when sharing documents with this application.  With Dropbox, the person must have the storage space to use files that have been shared with them.  This could become an issue if you are manipulating large amounts of graphics or data.  As for usability with other devices, Dropbox has been around much longer than Google Drive, so it works with more devices.  Google Drive, at the moment, doesn't work on as many platforms.  I'm sure this will be remedied soon, as more apps for Google Drive are developed. 
     In my opinion, your decision on which program to use will depend on what you are using it for.  As the article pointed out, Dropbox works well with graphics.  I found this out when making my end of the year slide show for preschool.  Google Drive didn't want to upload a 200 slide show filled with pictures.  Dropbox was much easier to use when going between my home computer and school laptop.  However, I love Google Drive for its form feature and the ease of sharing and sending documents.  My conclusion, Google Drive is a better system for using documents, but I prefer Dropbox when manipulating graphics.