GOOD, Many Eyes, and Reflection

I spent some time checking out both GOOD Labs and Many Eyes this afternoon. While GOOD Labs is incredibly easy to use, it obviously is just a rough tool. I tried using it for it's pie graphing feature, but as a mathematics teacher I wouldn't really be able to use it much in class due to it's lack of mathematical techniques in developing the chart. However, I do think this site would be helpful when making venn diagrams or when making a presentation where you just need to show the relationship between two categories of data. Many Eyes is definitely a tool I could see myself using in the classroom. I love how there are so many tools on the site to use to display data and all of the different graphing options the site has. I look forward to playing with it more in the future. Overall, I think 14 Things to Tame introduced me to some sites and tools that I will implement in my classroom, and some that I probably will not. In particular, I now use RSS Feed (Google Reader) almost daily, and have used Glogster and Creative Commons in my classroom. I also plan to use both Screencasting and Voice Thread next year as a tool. More importantly, I think participating in 14 Things to Tame has inspired me to be more adventerous in my teaching. I think this program has served as a catalyst for change. Our students do not respond well to tedious lessons taught in the same format daily. I think these tools will help me to liven up my classes and result in more engagement from my students. I look forward to continuing to play with these resources when time becomes more plentiful and using them to help me be a more effective teacher. Thanks Sara!