THING #7 - Google

I am a Google type of person. I've used Google for so many years and not only the search engine. I have to admit the only search engine I use is Google, and quite a bit of it. I had never come across Google Scholar, which now I will certainly use a lot more. iGoogle was an application that I had not seen before. I like that it gives you your "own" home page. I can certainly see myself setting up an iGoogle home page for the classroom and have my students help set it up. google earth is one of my personal favorites. I stopped asking for directions and landmarks since I discovered Google Earth. It is really cool to zoom in and see where you are going. I have used tis application in the classroom when teaching my students about countries, states, cities; It is a concept that is hard for some of my students to understand and zooming in and out between continents, countries, states, and cities makes a connection for some of my students. The last Google application that I want to mention is Picasa. I am not a scrap booking type of person plus my husband and I have family all over the world. We find that uploading and managing our pictures on Picasa allows us to share more of our lives with our families and friends plus it keeps our memories somewhat organized (sorry no link to this one, set as private).