Promethean Boards

Recently in my Classroom Computer Application class we went to Lincoln Elementray School in Cedar Falls, Iowa at Lincoln we were introduce to the Memo board which is much like the Promethean Boards except much cheaper. I had never seen a Promethean/Memo Board in action so it was really nice of the staff and students to let us come and look at how they use the software. The concept that surprised me the most was that the students were actually helping out the teachers, they knew how to things on the board that the teacher didn't even know how to do! It blew my mind!These boards have the power to challenge not only our students but our educators as well and I just thought the whole concept was outstanding. Overall I can't wait to use a Promethen/Memo Board it makes me even that much more excited about teaching!

Kindles

Recently I have received a Kindle from my boyfriend for our four-year anniversary..but through all of this I found out that he was torn between the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes and Noble Nook. So what makes one better than the other? What is so great about each e-reader. To find the answer my boyfriend said he turned in this website.




Now I am not biased by any means but after looking at what both e-readers are capable of I am sure glad that he went with the Kindle. I believe the Kindle is more practical for myself.

(Flickr Creative Commons)

Killing Us Softly

After watching Killing Us Softly in my Visual Literacy class I really started to notice how ads/images really do objective women in our society. The presenter in the movie Killing Us Softly really got into the ads/commericals that are on our televisions, she really pointed all a lot of different ways we objectify women that I didn't understand. For example this ad:

What does this image intill? It is condom ad that is being used in magazines today. When I look at this ad I see that the condom is labeled XXL which means that the woman's mouth was stretched. Everyone can probably tell why or how it got strecthed. This picture really made me upset when I first saw it I couldn't believe that companies would run this ad in newspaper/magazines. Granted this is only one ad and one way that we as a society objectify women.

Visual Symbols in my Life

When I think of visual symbols the first thing that comes to my mind is the row of symbols on our laptop keyboards. I use those symbols daily for, passwords, when I write sentences,for usernames. That row is a apart of my everyday life.

Along with that are the symbols that I use when I text when using my phone. I use the @ ! and smily faces the most. The use of symbols in text messages is very important because it can show your expression. Obviously you can't express emotions very well through text messaging so the use of symbols is very important because you feel like it will give the other person some sort of knowledge of how you feel about a certain situation.
When using a computer visual symbols are everywhere. When you read you are seeing visual symbols. Everything we do in life involves visual symbols.