Thing 24: The Final Frontier

This definitely was a journey but an enjoyable one. I honestly never realized how many useful tools there were out there on the world-wide web. It was nice to have a program that allowed me to tap into several of them that can help me in my future career as a teacher.

My favorite discoveries in this program included all the photo sharing programs, such as Flickr and Animoto, because I love to have pictures of everything. And in the classroom, parent permitting, I would love to keep a yearly photo journal of all the activities we do in class so parents are able to be involved when they aren't able to be there physically.
This program has affected my lifelong learning goals in the way that I feel a little silly not knowing about so many of these sites. It has made me want to explore and create more than ever because there are so many wonderful tools to make my future classroom a warm, loving, and educational environment for kids to be open and grow. I have had a taste of what is out there and I want more!

There were several unexpected outcomes to this program because I learned so much, not only with the sites listed on the blog, but on sites that I found while working on the others. I was able to take-a-way a wealth of knowledge and physical experience with these program, so when I go into teaching, I will be knowledgeable and ready to present these sites to my students for assignments. I honestly do not think there is anything I can think of changing in this program. No part of it was absolutely dreadful and dull and I learned something with each individual assignment. It was well formatted, wonderfully instructed, and I didn't even feel the need to ask the instructor additional questions because it was extremely instructional.

This program will influence my practice as a teacher because I will be able to keep up with the newest innovations in technology, which will also benefit my students. My future students will be growing up in a world that requires ten times more technological intelligence than when I was in school. So understanding these programs and knowing how to properly instruct my students on how to maneuver them will be a wonderful experience.

Keeping up with Web 2.0 will no doubt be a challenge because it is ever growing, but I will do my best to keep up with most or all of the websites I have explored and find ways to create new and interesting assignments for students to keep them interested and excited about school. Symbaloo, once of the sites discussed, would be a wonderful program to help with this. I can bookmark several of the sites on one page and make it my homepage so that I can access them with one click of a button.

Where do I go from here?

I like the idea of placing a blog URL into the signature on your teacher e-mail or even sending out a letter at the beginning of the year with the web address so that parents are able to keep up with what is going on in the classroom. The majority of parents loved to be informed and involved in what their children are doing and learning, especially when they aren't able to be there physically, and this allows for them to access the class from anywhere. Even parents who are overseas in the military would be able to see their kids building their first science project or decorating the class for Halloween or winning an award for Spelling.

The options are LIMITLESS! And the more I type about it, the more ideas come flooding in. The opportunities are endless and I can't wait to get started!

Thing 23

"Learning 2.0 - 23 Things for Teachers is based on Learning 2.0 - 23 Things, a staff development program for the Mesquite Independent School District. That program was based on the Learning 2.0 program that was designed by Helene Blowers and adapted by the California School Library Association and others. Content and style for Learning 2.0 - 23 Things for Teachers has been borrowed and duplicated with permission, under a Creative Commons License."

This is located in the credits section of the 23 Things blog and it is extremely important because it gives credit where credit is due. Crediting sources is just as important on a website as it is in any document you create. Plagarism comes in many forms and crediting an edited work helps to prevent any complications. 

*Note: This project is loosely based upon the website 43Things (which allows you to set and track personal goals) and the Stephen Abram article titled 43 Things I (or You) might want to do this year (Information Outlook - Feb 2006). 


The above credit is located at the bottom of the blog page, allowing for credit to the original blog that has been edited to our specific needs.

Creative Commons licensing will be something I use often in the classroom because there is such a wealth of knowledge on the internet and so many templates available to teachers. When using a program or template created almost entirely by someone else, but editing small aspects to fit you and your class, you want to make sure that you supply to credit to the original. Creative Commons can assist with that.

Thing 22

Live Binders is another new online resource that I got to explore and I can see how it can be very useful. The three binders I created were:
Classroom design
Special Education
Elementary Lesson Plans


My Classroom Design binder includes websites that have wonderful ideas for cheap and fun ways to decorate a classroom, as well as websites where you can buy items for your class. LiveBinders can be used in the classroom because you can allow students to have an online binder to keep important documents or websites that you use often. You could also supply them with a subject area or specific idea and instruct them to search the internet for websites pertaining to those topics and placing them into their binder. Then they could share them with you for grading or share them in front of the class.

Thing 21

Make a video of your own at Animoto.

Animoto was a fun and really easy to use website. To make videos longer than 30-seconds, you have to purchase the type of video that you want to use. But to me, 30-seconds is long enough. The upload and sharing process was extremely simple to operate and if you wanted, you can add text to the video alongside the images. I chose to make a video using the "Life's a Beach" video template and I added photos from our trip to Mexico a couple years ago, since it fit the theme. 

Teachers could create videos for the classroom using this program and add in information just like Powerpoint. Teachers can make videos on any subject or maybe just make an end of the year video from pictures of all the fun activities and events the kids took place in for the parents and kids to see.

Thing 20

Youtube has become an essential part of many classrooms because you can find videos on nearly ANYTHING. You can search historical documentaries, nature videos, or just informational videos on whatever you are currently studying. I chose the video that I did because I am currently studying Special Education and Autism is such a large part of that. The video attached above is about a family learning how to raise their son with autism and the struggles and wonderful moments they go through. I always find these videos touching, inspirational, and educational. The components to this website are very user-friendly (which by this point you should know is very important to me) and as a teacher, you can create an account and add videos to it that you want to share with your class. 

Masher is a website where you can create videos by mixing photos, videos, music, and text. This could be great in the classroom because you can assign a project to your students to take pictures of their family and life and create a video and put it to music to present to the class as a beginning of the year get-to-know you project. Also, you could assign students to work in groups and gather videos and pictures of historical events or science subject and then create a video that they can add informational text to.

Thing 19

Aside from Facebook and Twitter, I honestly never realized that there were so many social networking sites out there. In this age of technology, it is wonderful that teachers have the opportunity to use these resources to reach out to their students and parents on a different level and keep in better communication than we have been able to in a long time.  I have been a member of Instagram for a couple years now and I love it. I love to take pictures of my animals and their crazy antics and just have a network where I can keep and share pictures from fun events in my life with friends and family. It is not necessarily a social networking site I would consider using in the classroom because it is difficult to add text information. 

While looking through the sites, I found Good Reads, which is a social networking site devoted to sharing book recommendations between friends. I think this is wonderful because I love to read and I am often looking for the next wonderful thing to feast my eyes on. However, I am often baffled as to what to read because there is so much out there and I could spend hours at the book store reading the backs of books just trying to find one to read. This site allows me to create a profile and read others recommendations of books and communicate between others as to what I enjoy and let them help me in the search. 

Thing 18

I used to have a Twitter account when it first came out and I used it a few times but I really didn't find the appeal in it. Now a days, it seems to be every single place you look. If you watch television, even the news, you will probably see a #hashtag pop up at some point during the program. Even public figures, such as actors and sports players, are getting in trouble with the public over what they put on Twitter. It seems silly to me, especially since you are limited to very few characters to type with. 

Since it had been so long since I used Twitter, I completely forgot my password and username so I made a new one. I enjoyed looking into the hashtags that were related to special education, like the Center for Autism and Living Autism. I think Twitter can be very useful when looking into programs and being able to see what they are up to at a quick glance. 

My Twitter Account

It is extremely important that educators understand social networking because it is such a prominent aspect to our society today. Every kid, all the way from 5th grade to high school and maybe some before, use social networking. Understanding the aspects of it and how it works will benefit how teachers relate to their students. I didn't necessarily gain anything from Twitter that I didn't already know, and it just is not a social networking site that interesting me, nor would I really like to use it in my future classroom. Classrooms applications could include a Twitter account created by a teacher where they update it daily with assignments or quick notes to students and parents about activities. You could even post a question nightly or weekly and require a response from your students. 

Thing 17

Delicious seems like a really interesting and useful website. In the classroom, this has endless possibilities. Whether it is an individual or group project, kids could have the task of finding one category and finding a smash up of different websites to stack on Delicious. They could be given topics on different subjects like famous events in history or a certain type of animal or habitat and then be instructed to stack different websites on the site and present what they found to their classmates.

While searching through the "educational technology" search, I found a really cool site for teacher resources that has a tons of printable documents and templates for classroom games and activities. When looking through all the different stacks available, it was apparent that this website is a valuable asset to a classroom or just to teachers as individuals. 

Thing 16

The startpage I chose to explore was Symbaloo. It was the most visually appealing and user-friendly to me. I was able to move the tiles around and categorize them as I wanted and I added Amazon.com. I was going to add several other websites but the template they gave me to start with already had nearly all the websites that I visit, including Blogspot. Although I have a strong attachment to my Google chrome start page, I may have to finally change over. It is almost like having your iPad apps directly on your computer screen. I placed my name in the Google search bar in the snapshot so that it was apparent it was my page.

I chose to work with the calendar on 30 Boxes. It was appealing because it was so simple to use and edit. There was a bar at the top that was a quick way to enter information into each day. However, I thought that I would be able to edit the colors and layout of the calendar like I am able to do on others, but I was not. It was a very bland calendar but it would great for a quick look at your scheduled activities. I enjoyed the set-up to it because I was able to just type in a list of names and birthdays and it automatically entered them into the days for me, which is very convenient. The calendars are useful to me because it is always wonderful to be able to list out activities and scheduled events for each day. In a classroom, you can place a calendar up on a Smartboard and allow students to see what is planned for the day, week, or even month. You can also post a calendar online or make it public and allow parents to have an updated calendar of events so they know about tests, when homework is due, field trips, etc.

The other tool that I found and explored was Life Hacker.  My husband has actually been a fan of this site for a long time and we found out about so many wonderful shortcuts for things through it. We found out about a program on Amazon where you can subscribe to products like air filters or batteries for smoke detectors and have them shipped to you once a month or once every couple weeks. It is a really efficient way to keep track of things you need to change often around the house. I would strongly recommend Life Hacker to anyone who loves to find new ways to make their life more efficient and organized.

Thing 15

Wikis are an interesting development in technology. It allows people to post and edit on a public forum type set up. Wikis are controversial though because often people have tried to use them as a credible source of information, such as Wikipedia, but considering the public is often allowed to edit the information posted, it has become an extremely non-credible source. Most schools specifically ban Wikipedia from being used in research or to look up information. 

However, wikis can be used for so much more. They can be used in a classroom to allow students to post and edit information about different topics or they can all post projects in one location online that is accessible to all of them. It can even be used as a forum for discussions between students and they can even post questions and allow others to answer. Some wikis, I believe, allow for an administrator to view the posted content before it is accessible to everyone which would be ideal for teachers to prevent inappropriate information being placed on the site.

Thing 14

Gliffy is the flowchart program where you can create a step-by-step instructional or diagram to represent different aspects of decision making and much more. I didn't enjoy this program as much as the others because it seemed extremely tedious to set up. 

The following mind-map was created with Bubbl.us and it is a much more friendly program. It prompts keyboard shortcuts that make creating new boxes and limbs extremely simple and easy. Once you pick a starting color, the program automatically chooses new shades for continuing limbs. It is a generally pleasing design and the faster a teacher is able to create something effective and aesthetically pleasing, the happier that teacher will stay. 

These could easily be used in a classroom setting. When looking at cause and effect or just following instructions, flowcharts and mind-maps can help present information in a much more understandable way. Students are able to see the information set up in an easy to understand way.

Thing 13

I have always been an avid Google user. I use their e-mail, calendars, and search engine, but after working with several of their other programs, I realized that I haven't been touching the tip of what they offer. Google Drive is one of those programs that I honestly never even knew existed. I see the button everyday when I check my mail, but always thought it couldn't possibly pertain to me.  However, it is an awesome utility that I can definitely see using in a classroom. With older students, you can help them to create their own Google e-mail accounts and access Google Drive to create documents. They can create drawings with specific instructions from the teacher, or type up papers in the document sections to share with the teachers account for grading, or even create class presentations through the program and log into the program in front of the class to present it. 

I created a drawing in Google Drive as a "Welcome" sign for the day that can be put up on the board. 

Google Drive Drawing

As well as exploring Google Drive, I also looked through Zoho. I prefer Google Drive because Google to me is just so user-friendly. I am sure that if I explored Zoho for a long period of time and learned every little thing that I can do with it, it would be a beneficial program. But Google is just so easily laid out and presented so that it is easy to find what you need. 

Thing 12

The first Google application I tested out was the Google Calendar because I am an avid scheduler. I am constantly making lists and calendars for myself to keep myself on top of my assignments and daily activities and work. It is a really easy program to use and I generally love anything Google comes out with. I was able to place in my work hours that I work each day and put in my classes that I attend Thursday nights and Saturday. Since it is a public calendar, I decided not to put in my personal schedule that I attend to in between school and work, and I did not put in my work name. This is just a precaution for personal safety. In Google Calendar, you are able to label your event as detailed as you would like to, make it repeatable so that it continues each day or every other day or only weekdays, and you can also color coat it so different events stand out.
My Google Calendar

The next application I decided to explore was the Google Alerts. This was an application that I have never even heard of and I think it is AWESOME! I am a huge sports fan and I love sticking with my hometown teams, so I watch the Tennessee Titans and the Nashville Predators. So, with Google Alerts, I was able to set up alerts where anytime there was breaking news on either sports team, Google will send me alerts about it and I can sync it up to my phone so they come straight to it. Along with that, I put alerts for special education news and educational jobs so that anytime there is news or information on either, that will be sent to me as well. It reminds me a lot of RSS but a little more friendly and less confusing at points but also a lot more broad. I could not find where I could share my alerts or make them public, so I took a screenshot of my alerts.

The educational uses for both of these are endless. The Google Alerts can be used to keep track of everything and anything that is going on with education. You can also type in educational activities or projects and every day you will be notified when new posts are made. The Google Calendar can be used by teachers to put up a schedule of their daily classroom routine and make it public so parents are able to access it. You can adjust for field trips or fluctuations in the schedule so parents know when kids are engaged in activities and when they are playing. One important thing that comes to mind is it can help parents to know when children are busy in and classroom and it may not be a good time to pick them up early or they can use the calendar to help them schedule doctors appointments and other scheduling.

Thing 11

It was really interesting looking through all the options for searching for blogs, and even just discovering how many blogs there are. It seems like an endless amount! I found Google blog search to be the easiest to maneuver and after reading some of my fellow classmates blogs, I see that it seemed to be a unanimous consensus on that. It was so simple to use and I was able to just type in "special education" and "elementary school special education" and find blogs on so many issues and topics. It would be a wonderful tool as a teacher.

I found Technorati to be the most confusing method because it was a lot more complex and I am sure that avid RSS users would probably maneuver it with ease. However, for us first time users, I think that we need something a little more straight forward and user-friendly.

 I found one blog in particular called "Teaching With Love and Laughter" which was a wonderful and adorable blog that covered so many topics of education and how to teach with love and compassion for your students. It gave examples of stations to have in your classroom for writing, art, math, etc., and it even has this wonderful tab on the right side of the website that has common core standards. The best part about this site was that as a teacher, you can create a site like this and have it available for parents to visit daily and see what is going on in the classroom and see the standards that their children are learning. 

To find more blogs and posts, I just continued to use my Feedly account because to me, it is the easiest of all. There are definitely some limitations to what you can find just on Feedly, but it is very user-friendly.

Thing 10

My Feedly

I consider myself somewhat technologically savvy, but I honestly do not think I have ever encountered or seen RSS or newsreaders. It makes perfect sense that something such as this would exist because in today's society, we have so many sites that we check on a daily basis so why not have them all combined in one spot. 

Although I do not really think that this is something that would benefit me in my personal life, only because I do not visit very many websites, but I do think this would be wonderful in the classroom. As a teacher, you want to always find new and fun ways to explore standards with you kids. RSS and newsreaders allow you to save your favorite sites and blogs to one location and scroll through all the different posts and updates to save you time and effort. That way you are not spending hours a night going from website to website trying to find a new lessons and activities. 

This can also be used in a school since usually grade levels are usually grouped into "teams", which is where all teachers from that grade keep up with communications and plans with one another. The teams can maybe host their own blog each day or week where they share stories or issues with standards that they are having. Then, the teachers are then able to place all the additional teacher blog on their RSS and see an updated list daily and respond in an effective manner.

Thing 9

This was a lot of fun and most of the sites were easy to access and work. I chose two that I thought could really be used in the classroom. The first one I chose was Comic Generator , where I was able to go in and place one of my own pictures. Then I was able to choose what I wanted it to say in the word bubble and what the actual word bubble was shaped like. I chose another picture of my dog, because well, she's awesome. She is pulling "The Most Interesting Dog in the World" pose while I was trying to complete some homework. This would be so much fun in the classroom. There are an endless about of projects you could use this for. You could have a different kid each week who maybe did an exceptional job or did something nice for someone else and put what they did in the bubble with their picture to be displayed in the classroom. Or just have silly animals or characters with thought bubbles about activities for the week or maybe to display the homework or morning work each day.

The next image creator I chose to use was the ID Card- Image Chef . I was able to upload a photo of myself (I try not to take myself too seriously if I can help it), and place it in a business card and edit the top and bottom section to my specifications. I was also able to add a little emblem beside my name. Of course, if I were using this in the classroom seriously, I would put a more professional picture of myself but for this, I decided just to have a little fun. This would be a lot of fun to do with kids. You could have them place their picture, name, and grade inside and even print them out for them to wear around for the first week or so of school so you can get to know them better and they can know each other better as well.

Thing 8

Holy cow! Since I have never used Flickr, I never knew about all these mashup tools that you can use to explore and create. It is actually really cool. I chose the word "Special" because I think every child in education needs to know that they are special and wonderful. I also explored the Colr Pickr which was really neat. You choose a color from a color wheel and it selects about 11 pictures from Flickr that are that color or have that color in it. Then you are able to click on each picture individually and see the Flickr in which it comes from. 

This would be a fun tool for kids to use because you could create a project where they have to spell out their names or each child is given a color and they have to find and source where they got all the pictures from. It seems as thought there are endless activities for nearly every subject that you could use these tools. As a teacher, you can use these tools as a neat way to decorate documents or even your classroom. 

I touch on the photo sharing topic in my previous post but I believe that as long as you as an individual have nothing to hide and stay appropriate, sharing photos online can be fun and create a wonderful sense of community. You can find others who love and appreciate that same things you do, like movies, art, or food. Then share your experiences through photos. However, people often do not know where to draw the line and as teachers, we need to stay professional and respectable.

Thing 7

My Flickr

I loved the idea of sharing pictures with my classmates and I knew exactly which two. As I have mentioned before, my husband and I are nerds. We enjoy comic books and television shows about traveling through time and space. It is something we share and really have fun with together. My husband works with computers and travels quite a bit but when he is home, he is also an artist. He is really very talented and our house is filled with his wonderful paintings. He does a lot of beautiful pieces but he also does some really fun ones. Lately, he has been working on a series of Star Wars back stage shots that are super cool.

The other picture that I wanted to share was of our dog. I am a huge animal lover and we used to have two dogs and a cat. My dog passed away last year so now we just have our welsh corgi and cat. My cat is awesome (don't get me wrong) but our dog is some kind of special. Her name is River and she is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi. My husband had her as a puppy before I met him so I really got lucky with her. She is the most affectionate, loving, hilarious dog I have ever met and I am just so proud to be her owner. It seems silly to some to put so much love into their animals but mine are truly special. When my husband travels, they keep me company and make sure I don't get too lonely or sad. I am just very thankful.

Flickr could be a wonderful tool in the classroom. You are able to find pictures on nearly everything and it may even be fun to do some sort of photo scavenger hunt with the kids to help their searching techniques. The program I am going into is Special Education, and I would love to work with the severe and profound, which may not allow me to work with Flickr as much as other classrooms. It would be great to work with for personal photos or just photo searching in general. Like most photo hosting websites, you can usually find some pretty amazing photography. I used to use Photobucket when I was younger to hold my photos in one online, safe place. However, I haven't used that in a very long time. Now the only photo sharing websites I use are Pinterest and Instagram. 

Pinterest is where you can pin photos you find on your page and sort them into boards. You are also able to upload you own photos that can be placed in a category for others to explore and search. Pinterest is very much like Flickr except the set up different and a little more organized and structured, which I enjoy. Instagram is a photo sharing social network that allows you to post pictures of anything you would like to (expect inappropriate post) so your friends can see them. 

I have a few different views on having my photos in a public place. My Instagram account is usually public because there is nothing that I place on there that is inappropriate or incriminating. It is usually just pictures of my animals doing funny things or me or my friends and family. However, I do understand that more and more, companies and schools are looking at social networking sites (especially Facebook) to see if their employees or applicants are posting inappropriate things that can be seen by others, including parents or students. It is an interesting dynamic to today's society but it is clear that people need to watch what they put on the internet. It seems to be getting people in more and more trouble.

Thing 6

The site I chose to explore on Go2Web2.0 was called Path. Path is a new brand of social networking site that is ad-free and if focused around sharing moments in your life and experiences with your closest friends and family. It has options for private messaging, sharing photos, music, and videos. the application focuses more on your private and personal life rather than the overly public life of some social networks like Facebook. 

Many of the aspects of Path are the same of other social networking sites, like you can choose who sees your posts, posts moments in your life and filter your feed to just your family and friends. But there are several other interesting factors to Path. You can message your friends and family with text, voice, or stickers. It allows for so many expressive and creative ways to communicate with those you love while expressing yourself and your individuality. Below, I placed a picture of what the front page of my Path app looks like. It seems very user-friendly as well.

I love the expressive and private nature to Path. I think it allows for communication on a much smaller network with fun features that provide expressive creativity. However, the one aspect I don't like right off the bat is that they have a store where you have to purchase all the stickers and even filters for your photos. As an avid user of Instagram, the idea of purchasing filters is absurd to me. They should offer a start pack of stickers and filters like several apps do so users don't HAVE to purchase them in order to see how to use them. Other than that, the app seems really wonderful and creative.

Although it seems this application may not be useful in a school or library setting, I believe there are many ways it can be used. Teachers can use Path to directly communicate within smalls groups, message each others, share videos and pictures of maybe their classrooms set-ups for ideas. They can ask questions to each other and share stories and ideas online when they aren't able to speak in person. It could even create a stronger bond between teachers.

Thing 5

School 2.0 appears to be the inevitable development of education and technology. As a society, we are advancing further and further into the age of technology that education was clearly next. In classrooms, we already use so much technology, like smart boards, laptops for power points, and computers for student activities and projects. School 2.0, to me, means that we are about to embark on a new and adventurous form of teaching that will takes us to places we have yet to explore, and it will bring new benefits to both teachers and students. 

School 2.0 is going to explode in the future and many of the articles represent some of the new aspects to teaching that this program will offer. This includes distance learning programs, free and open source software, and video conferencing. Since School 2.0 is basically a combination of home, school, and community, there are other tools offered through several websites that combine these areas. They have community tools which will enable teachers and students to communicate, share their work, and collaborate on programs and assignments. They have mobile tools for pod-casting, blogs, media sharing, and even quizzes or tests. 

There are so many benefits to School 2.0 because it makes work interactive and allows all students to participate. It also creates a huge tidal wave of information and endless amount of activities and assignments that can be offered. The only downside to School 2.0 that I can think of, is that there may be a disconnect with some students who do not translate their work through technology well, such a special education students. There would have to be seperate guidelines for special education classrooms to allow the students to complete work with the help of their teachers or parents, if they are not able to manipulate a computer well.
Other than that, I think School 2.0 is a wonderful way for students to get interactive with their work and great for parents to get involved with every aspect of their child's education, as well as keep track of their progress and work.

Thing 4

Commenting is such a crucial aspect to blogging because it is what connects each blogger to one another. They are able to discuss and relate to one another's posts and comments, all the while connecting with one another through their words.

The reading touched on two points that I thought were especially important. The first one was to write something meaningful. People tend to put their entire beings into their blogs and so when someone comments something simple, like "neat blog" or "I like this", with no real content to it, it can make the blogger feel that people aren't relating or understanding what they are writing about. It is important to write a comment that describes what you like about the blog or post and relate to the blogger on a personal level as much as possible. 
The second point I thought was really important in the reading was to remember the power of your words. To me, this is the MOST important of all. As I said before, people put themselves and their lives into their blogs, so when people read them and then comment negative or hateful words, that can be extremely hurtful. Even when you do not agree with something written in someone's blog, remember that you don't have to read it if you don't like it, and nothing good comes from attacking someone's personal beliefs. The words you choose to express can have a profound effect on others, so we need to watch what we say.

I decided to choose to following these blogs:
Miss. Lorrie's 23 Things
Teddy's 23 Bearable Things
Miss I's 23 Things in Government
Mrs. K's 23 Things
Ms. Peterson's 23 Things About Teaching

Additional blogs:
Special Education Strategies and More...
Adventures in Tutoring and Special Education

The five blogs up top are created and managed by my classmates. The additional two blogs are both involving special education. The first blog is a teacher who posts about her experiences, as well as links to literacy and math games for the special education classroom. The second blog is a tutor who works directly with special education students. She also posts several fun and beneficial activities and art projects to do with the kids. 

Since my classmates posts are on the same topics as mine, I just commented on the things I enjoyed reading about in their posts and commented on the similarities in mine. On the additional two blogs, I commented on their activities and expressed to them that I was working to get my special education degree and that their blogs are something that I can continue to follow and use throughout my profession and how much I admired their work.