Pintrest can be used in the classroom, in several different ways.  For one, pintrest could be used by the teacher to come up with lesson plans, project ideas, ideas to decorate the classroom and so on.  For a teacher this can be a very good thing because instead of trying to rack your brain to create ideas that are fun for the students, you can just log onto pintrest and find ideas that are available to use.  Another way pintrest can be used in the classroom, is that it could be used as a project in class.  Much like the way that we used it for the final assignment we had.  Students could look on pintrest and repin ideas for what they would like to do, and then recreate one of the assignments or experiments they saw.  These are just a couple of the ways that pintrest could be used in the classroom.

Homemade Ice Cream Experiment Link

 

Prezi

http://prezi.com/

Prezi is a presentation tool that can be used as an alternative to Microsoft PowerPoint.  It has the same features and functions as PowerPoint and I believe is a little more simple to use.  Presentations can be efficiently and creatively designed using this tool.  In my classroom this can be used in a way such as when students have to do a project in which they have to present to the class.  It can also be used when giving a discussion to help organize thoughts and keep the discussion flowing smoothly.

WolframAlpha

http://www.wolframalpha.com/

WolframAlpha is problem solving software that allows you to enter in a math or science problem and will calculate an answer.  All you have to do is enter the problem in the search bar and hit enter.  It will then work the problem and show you the answer and how to work the problem step by step,  This would be good in class if a student misses a problem, he/she could then go back and look at how they messed up and where.  This would also give them better examples and more of an idea how to work problems if they can see where the messed up and how.

Spezify 

http://spezify.com/

Spezify is a creative research database that captures pictures as well as quotes, flickr photos and wikipedia pages.  It can create collages, as well as pages with nothing but pictures.  As well as pictures and internet pages, it also has definitions on it.  This could be useful in the class on projects or as visual aids.  A student or a teacher could find a definition as well as pictures to go with it and create a cool collage that can help better understand the topic being discussed.

Hot Potatoes 

http://hotpot.uvic.ca/

Hot potatoes is a webpage that can be used as a teachers tool to create many different things for a class.  The webpage is designed to create things such as quizzes, crosswords, and word searches to help students study.  It also allows you to create interactive multiple choice questions for studying purposes. This can be great for a teacher, because it allows them to create ways students can learn without having to lecture students.  This can also be used for teachers the day before tests to help students review for the test.

eQuizzer

http://www.equizzer.com/

eQuizzer is an easy way to create online quizzes that allows students to study at home.  It can create quizzes with multiple choice, fill in the blank, true false, and short answer questions.  It can also track students grades as the take the quiz so teachers can see how long each problem takes.  This would be useful in the classroom, when there isn't enough time for quizzes in class.  It would also be useful if a teacher just wanted to give the students extra credit opportunities outside of class.

i Speech

http://www.ispeech.org/

i Speech is an online media converter.  This webpage allows you to convert text files to audio files to be listened to.  It also allows you to embed them into web pages so that more people can view them.  This would be useful as a teacher when there is an article or something that you want students to view, so that they could listen to it.  You could also save it to the webpage so that students can listen to it and read along as it goes.

Websperation

http://www.mywebspiration.com/

Websperation is the online version of Inspiration.  It allows you to create and organize documents quickly and efficiently.  You can also diagram processes and publish finished products online or to Websperation site.  As a teacher this can help you create diagrams for processes such as the cell cycle or electrochemical processes.  Also as a teacher it gives you another site to allows students to create things and aids for projects and presentations.

Decide  Already!

https://decidealready.com/

Decide already is an online decision making tool.  You ask the website a question, and then propose answers, get solutions, and make decisions.  It makes decision making pain-free and easy.  As a teacher this can be useful when having a debate on a question.  The students could then go and look up the question and find the answer or decide the answer as a group.

Big Huge Labs

http://bighugelabs.com/deck.php

Big Huge Labs is a webpage that allows you to design trading cards.  You take photos, either of your own or of the internet and pasting them to a card.  You can put facts, information, and all sorts of the things to make this a trading card.  As a teacher This would be a fun way to create a game to help students study.  It could also be used as a study tool, to help students remember things like the periodic table of elements.

Jumpcut

http://www.jumpcut.com/

Jumpcut is a website that allows you to create slideshows or short movies.  You can cut, edit, and insert video clips into the file as well as pictures. This is an easy way to create short videos.  As a teacher this can be used to substitute in the place of slide shows to be more fun and interactive.  Also it could be used as an end of the year kind of thing that allows you to make something for your students to view and remember all the fun times they had.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/oct/05/teens-social-networking-good-for-them

http://time.com/9207/social-media-is-making-you-stupid/

This article post from 2013, debates the issue of whether or not social media is a bad influence for kids.  Referencing adults and well-known people saying that they are afraid the younger generation will become detached from the "real world."  The author of on the other hand believes that not all kids are addicted to the social networking life as many believe.  He states that only 20% kids send more than 200 texts per day, and that 31% sends less than 20 texts per day.  To support his belief,  he uses evidence that suggests that the more social kids are the ones who text more often. He then uses evidence to suggest that the technology has enable us to become more sophisticated writers.  He says that according to evidence, essays have become more complex and longer than in the past.  Needless to say this writer is an advocate of social networking and doesn't believe it hurts a child's social life.
In the second article, they discuss a study that was done, that studied analytic ability compared to use of social networking.  In short, the study showed that social networking made it easier for people to find answers and copy them, requiring virtually no effort.  The author of this article, then states that he agrees with the study and that social networking withers away analytic ability.  In my opinion, which you can take as you please, social networking can both ways.  In many ways social networking and new technology might hinder academic ability by making it easier to cheat.  Also, social networking might actually improve socialization instead of hindering it.  In my personal experience people who use social networks frequently and text more often, have more friends and really are more likely to socialize.  Things like facebook have also been a positive thing, allowing people who havent seen each other in many many years to reconnect and actually meet in person as well as keep up with their personal life.  But they also have many downsides.  Cyber bullying has increased of late, because it allows kids to hide behind a screen and be mean or start a fight.  Both articles make good strong points and both may very well be correct, but when it comes to social networking, if used properly, can be a good thing.  

My name is Chase Davis, and I am a sophomore at HSU.  I am studying sports management here and hope to one day be an athletic director or be involved in a sports organization in some way shape or form.  I have lived in Sheridan, Arkansas for all years of my life and graduated from Sheridan High School in 2013.  There, I played baseball for 4 years and lettered 3 of the years.  During my senior year, I decided to go play baseball at Williams Baptist College.  While there I hurt my shoulder and decided not to continue playing and transferred to Henderson.  I am an only child, even though sometimes I had thought I wanted a sibling, but that always very short lived.  I enjoy being with my friends and having a good time with them.  College has been a struggle at times, especially my freshman year, but I have managed to find a routine and a system that works.  This blog will be about the college life and how to survive it.  Many kids in my opinion don’t have the right approach to college.  Some don’t take it seriously or don’t care, while others seem to care too much and spend all their time studying.   To me there needs to be a perfect balance of studying and having fun, because being able to kick back and relax without worrying about homework is a good thing.  Too much stress is just as bad for the body as eating unhealthy food or drinking alcohol.  Money management is also a hot topic for college kids because many of us are on tight budgets, while others have parents that can pay for everything.  I myself am on a tight budget, but also have a little parent assistance.  Many college kids can’t afford to eat out for every meal, because it is too expensive as well as unhealthy.  Also others can’t afford to pay rent on an apartment or house so that they can cook every night.  Many of us broke college kids are forced to take out student loans, and get meal plans at the cafeteria, and quite frankly eating the same thing all the time gets old and it gets old quick.  These are just a few of the topics that I can discus on this blog, and will try to hit as many of them as I can.