Google Sites

Have you ever felt the urge to create your own website or use a website for your classroom? Websites can be used for many reasons including;a new business venture, a place to bring your style and information to the world, or even as an online portfolio for yourself or students. As an educator there can be a lot of benefits to creating and using a website in your classroom. Students can also create their own site that can be used for an online portfolio.The solution to these desires can be met for free with Google Sites.

The good thing about Google sites is that you can instantly add files, links, and resources that you already have on Google. Presentations from Google Slides, surveys from Google Forms, and documents from Google Docs can easily be embedded, linked and added to your Google Site. I have found that Google sites can be hard to navigate around the first time you use it. It is something that you will have to play around with in order to find what settings, templates, and gadgets you will add to your site. The editing feature is nice in the way that it auto saves. 

As usual the first thing I did when I discovered Google Sites I went to Youtube to look for a quick tutorial on how to create and use a Google Site. 

Per usual Youtube offered many videos and a lot of these videos are very complex and discussed the marketing aspect of creating your own website. After looking at many videos I found two good videos that will give resources to create an organized website. The first is the basics for how to create a Google Site. This video will give you a step by step tutorial on how to create a website, find the right template, and add resources to your website. The second video is a more advanced tutorial. This video focuses more on creating a template that can be used for an online portfolio. The teacher used a portfolio with her students and creates a template that the students will then use on their own created website. Both videos were very helpful. 

1. Beginners

2. Portfolio and Templates

I have created my own website but I have not tried creating my own template. I will be looking at using a portfolio since I will be teaching APUSH next year. An online portfolio will be a great way for my students to create and show their process of the essential questions to help students see their understanding of material as we go on. The website that I created can be seen here.

For whatever reasons you can think of for creating a website using Google Sites will undoubtedly be a good resource for you. As I have mentioned at numerous times Google has so many resources for teachers to use in the classroom and Google Sites can be uses in many ways. No matter what age you teach a website can enhance your classroom and be a way to give students the opportunity to create information and show their knowledge.

Finding Answers

As mentioned in previous posts technology is a vital part of education and can be a tremendous blessing in the classroom. Google is the driving force in searching for information. Google provides amazing resources and access to information.

Google finds links and the next steps for acquiring information and as I have mentioned they have taken over the world with this model. I use Google for almost everything that I do in the classroom. whether it is finding ideas, researching a topic, or using one of the apps for education. With that said I have been introduced to a new type of search engine called Wolframalpha.com 

So what is the difference between Google and Wolfram Alpha. First of all Google is a search engine and Wolfram Alpha is a computational knowledge engine. Wolfram Alpha finds the answers and gives relevant and reliable information for whatever it is that you are looking for. 

This video shows a quick overview of the what Wolfram Alpha can do. 

Some of the things that I like about Wolfram Alpha are:

1.  There are specific categories- With specific categories you can find answers for a particular subject or category.
   
   For instance I wanted to compare Stephen Curry and Lebron James. Wolfram Alpha computes stats and information comparing the two that is quick, easy to understand, and relevant.  Below is a quick snapshot of the comparisons between the two
    
     
2. Wolfram Alpha is a computing engine and not just a search engine- The website computes formulas and other functions that help to solve equations for students taking upper level math and science. Wolfram Alpha can graph as well as compute.

Some of the concerns that I have with Wolfram Alpha are: 

1. Students could use this to answer their questions instead of learning the information. 
2. I also think that Wolfram Alpha can almost give you information overload. As always the technology needs to be taught to the student as well as the expectations of how to use the technology. 
3. You have to pay for the pro version of Wolfram Alpha

As always research the product in order to know how to use Wolfram Alpha best for you. I do think that Wolfram Alpha is a nice addition to Google and something that you will have to research 

Take your class on a tour.

As educators we all have the goal of teaching our students to create things. Creation is one of the ultimate forms of showing knowledge. One of the tools that I have found that allows for you to create and also helps you foster student creation is the Google Tour Builder.

If you have not figured it out by now I have a little bit of an obsession with Google and the multiple ways that they enhance the classroom. The Google Tour Builder allows for you to create a tour and use Google Images, Google Maps, andYoutube videos to enhance your tour. The Tour also gives a space for students to describe their location with history, a personal story, or any information they want. The tour is very easy to use. 

1. You simply start by giving your tour a name and a quick description.

2.  You then add a location

3. You type in a city or landmark and a pin will be placed on the map. 

4. You then add all of the information that you want from that location. You can add a video or pictures that enhance the importance of the location.

5. Repeat for every new location that you want to add. 

As I mentioned this could be a great tool for students to conduct their own research, or for a teacher to create a visual timeline of battles, landmarks, places, etc. As educators we have to always be on the front end of teaching students to be creative and to learn how to create. Here is a link to one of the tours I have built. Hopefully this will help to enhance your classroom.

Below is a video of a quick tutorial of Google Tour Builder

A New Way to Use A Familiar Tool

There is a very popular saying that states, "you can't teach an old dog new tricks". As I continue to get older I realize that this saying can be true. I am thirty and have developed some pretty strong habits. These habits tend to be hard to break. Things that are new tend to be met with disdain, skepticism, or disgust. Previous experiences lead us to see a situation with prejudice instead of something that is fresh and new. A wise man once told me, "once you stop learning you die". We should never get to a place where we are unwilling to learn new tricks or gain new ideas. In a way, this blog has been that for me. I have learned how to blog and to express myself in a productive way. I tried blogging before but didn't really like it. Now that I realize that I have a voice and the capacity to have thoughtful rhetoric, I have found a new appreciation for blogging.

Another new trick that I have learned is a different way to use Youtube. I have used Youtube the last couple of years in my classroom. With different online tools, I give students videos to watch and Youtube has become a pretty important part of my classroom. Honestly it has been hard to find ways to use Youtube and for it be productive, not just a filler. I use Youtube the same way that most of the world uses it. I look for one particular video and find myself going on a bunny trail by clicking on the next video or similar videos. I also find myself looking through the comments and either getting mesmerized by them or getting upset. Either way, these can be distractions that can pull the attention of the students away from the desired intention of the video. The new trick that I have learned is called Quietube.

Quietube is an add-on that allows you to create a new url for a youtube video that blacks out the advertisements, comments, and similar videos. This allows for students to see the video that you want them to without the added distractions. Quietube is very easy to use and can be accessed by simply going to the website quietube.com. I look forward to using Quietube next year in my classroom.

Quietube takes your Youtube video from this:

To this:

As you can see, the rest of the screen is blacked out to alleviate the distractions that normally accompany a Youtube video. This Quietube allows for a more focused viewing experience and can help to keep a student on task.

Check out Quietube by looking at this quick tutorial and continue to try and find new tricks in whatever endeavor you take.

To Tweet or Not to Tweet? That is the Question.

In a world consumed with technology the question remains how should it be used in the classroom? As mentioned at numerous times during this blog, finding the balance of technology in education is vital to a 21st. Century classroom. Whether we like it or not technology is here to stay and is a vital part to education in today's schools. When I think about using technology in my classroom I constantly ask myself these three questions:

How can I use technology to help influence others in the most important way possible? 
How can I use technology to better myself and my students? 
What is technology replacing and is it worth it?

Using these three questions as a barometer has helped me to not only use the latest fad or trend but also make my use of technology relevant and useful for myself, my colleagues, and most importantly my students. After discovering more technology tools recently there has definitely been a shift in the amount of technology I plan to use next year. I plan on using a Learning Management System and Google Apps For Education (GAFE) in my class. I also plan on using different resources such as Pinterest, Diigo, and others to help me collaborate with other teachers. I am honestly still trying to figure out how much I am going to use Social Media in my classroom. I haven't found the need for Twitter, Facebook, etc. in my classroom at this point. That is not to say it doesn't serve a purpose. I have seen more harm than good come from social media and believe that school should be a place of solace from all the distractions around us throughout the rest of our day.

With that said I can see how some teachers would use Twitter or Facebook in the classroom setting. As I continue to search for the best ways to enhance my classroom, using technology and social media will be one of my priorities. One of my favorite education blogs is edutopia. They have a great post about the myths, fears, and uses of social media here.

One of the great things about technology in education is that it is unique to you. Use the things that are productive for your growth and your classroom. Find your guiding questions. For those that are still on the journey on whether or not to use social media in your classroom, I found this video below that has great tips on how to use it.

Enjoy!!!!!

Organization only helps.....well Everyone!!!

As mentioned in the title, organization is only helpful to anyone that has a job, goes to school, has meetings with anyone, has goals, or wants to be more efficient. If you do not fit into any of the previously mentioned categories than you can stop reading right now. I find myself always struggling with being more organized. I have begun to really look at the methods that I use to get things accomplished and notice many flaws when it comes to my organization.

I think what makes organization so difficult for many people is that every person is wired differently. For instance some people like the more old school approach of writing down a list of tasks on a piece of paper or keeping Post It Notes in business. Others like to use technology and continue to find a plethora of resources whether it be from Google Tools, Apps, Task list or online resources. No matter which method you prefer there are many ways to help become more organized.

As a teacher I have discovered a lot of resources that can help with my organization. The one that I am going to focus on in this post is called Teachers.io. Teachers.io is both an application as well as a website. This is pretty much an online planner that a teacher can fill out and automatically sync with the students that are signed up in the particular class. Unlike a learning management system which I mentioned in a previous post, Teachers.io is purely a planner. Students do not turn in work on Teachers.io and you cannot grade on the app. It is to be used as a planner. My school has become a 1:1 with Ipad school and the students do not have planners anymore. I have found Teachers.io to be very helpful to have my assignments, resources, and announcements in a place that the students have access to. Another thing that I have noticed is how important it is that the school uses one platform. Every teacher at my school uses Teachers.io and that has cut down on the confusion from the students and the need for students to remember multiple passwords.

Teachers.io also works hand in hand with the MyHomework app. Students will use the MyHomework app and see it as a planner and teachers use the Teachers.io app or website to create the assignments. You can also create assignments for the week and month depending on how far you have planned ahead.

An overview of Teachers.io can be found here

An overview of MyHomework can be found here

Here is a quick tutorial video over the tool and how to set up your class.

As I mentioned if you think this is something that you would use in your classroom talk to your technology specialist or principal about implementing school wide in order to have continuity for the students. 

Using Google Tools to Enhance Brain Breaks

So one of my biggest pet peeves since being in Grad School is feeling that there are certain aspects of the program that is not pertinent to my classroom. Being a high school teacher comes with a different set of challenges compared to a middle school and definitely an elementary school classroom. I find myself getting jealous of the resources for elementary school teachers compared to myself.

My view of elementary schools

Side note- I have the utmost respect for elementary school teachers. I could not be paid enough to teach in a classroom with the amount of energy, emotions, and irrationality that comes with an elementary school classroom.

One thing that I have heard numerous times is the term "brain break". A "brain break" is a designated time to allow students to actually relax. To take a break from ingesting information and take some time to digest and process. I have constantly thought about how great a brain break would be in my classroom but the things that I have seen are very geared toward elementary classrooms with  items like go noodle that gets students dancing for example. There is also the time constraint of the high school classroom and the content requirements. This week I finally discovered something that I can quickly use in my classroom that could be a brain break. Google Maps Smarty Pin is my new discovery and I can definitely see how I can incorporate it into my classroom.

So what is this Smarty Pin?

• It is a new trivia game built on Google Maps
• Students will have to answer questions by dropping a pin on the location of the answer.
• Players begin with a bank of 1,000 “miles” and try to see how many questions they can answer before they run out of miles.
• Miles are taken away based on how far away the pin is from the actual answer.

You can check out Google Maps Smarty Pins here

The idea that I have for using this is giving the students five minutes and whoever has the most miles left will get an extra credit point or a prize of some sort.

I also like that there are different categories of the trivia

It is always great to find something that can be used in my classroom from the vast resources that are given to elementary school teachers. I also like the fact that it is giving the students a chance to brush up on their geography as well. 

The following video will give you a quick overview of Smarty Pins:

 I hope you enjoy Smarty Pins and good luck beating my high score of 17

Wearing Many Hats

Life is pretty fun. If you are anything like me the responsibilities are endless and the expectations have the potential to be overwhelming. As I have mentioned in previous posts I wear many hats as most of us do. I am glad to wear these hats and have these different responsibilities. I keep thinking that once one thing ends I will relax. In reality I find something else to fill that time. I think I might actually be a glutton for punishment but it's my choice and I have to live with it. All of us human beings are complex individuals with multiple gifts and strengths as well as weaknesses. The hats we wear stretch us and ultimately make us better. 

One thing that I realized is that adding different administrative roles one of my glaring weaknesses is organization. I kind of fly by the seat of my pants a lot in life. This makes life fun when in the middle of a class something isn't working. I can easily try something different and move on without much trouble. This can also be a huge weakness when it comes to remembering to email someone back or when a meeting is. The problem with wearing many hats is that you also have many people relying on you. I want to give those people like me a new tool that could help with organization. 

The newest tool that I discovered is Google Keep. This app allows you to create notes and write things similar to Post it Notes. What I like about it is that you can create things on your computer, phone, or other device due to the Google Keep app. You can also create an extension on your Chrome toolbar which allows for easy access. 

What I like about Google Keep:

1.  The ability to share a note with other people. This would be great to give your class a reminder or even a spouse. 

2.  The ability to be reminded at a later time.

3. Color coding of notes to create different list.

The following link will give you a quick rundown of the different features of Keep.

This tool will help me to be more organized and help me to be better at my biggest weakness.

Below is a tutorial on Google Keep and how to get it.

Google Classroom

"Change means that what was before was not perfect. People want things to be better." 

-Esther Dyson

I think it is important to stop and think about what we are doing in the profession of education. We are called to enact change. The biggest way to enact change is to embrace change in our lives. One of the harder things to do is to change our style of teaching and it is refreshing to be reminded that the goal of change is to Make Things Better.

So as I continue to look at the Learning Management Systems from previous posts I began to look at Google Classroom. This LMS makes a lot of sense if you or your school primarily uses Google. With different features like Google Forms, Google Docs, and Google Slides Google Classroom makes a pretty seamless transition for a management system. As I continue to try and find the best system moving forward. I feel overwhelmed by the similarities of the different systems and the fear that I am going to choose the wrong one and be stuck with it for an entire year. 

Side note: I have been told many times that "Variety is the spice of life". While I agree with the notion that variety and switching things up keeps me engaged and keeps things fresh, As I continue to search for things having so many options can almost be paralyzing. So if you are an administrator it really helps teachers for you to make a decision, stick with it, and support teachers to help them learn.

(Whew, sorry I had to get that off of my chest)

Google Classroom definitely has its flaws (Mostly because it is still relatively new). It is important to look at what Google has to offer in the learning management system game. As I mentioned earlier, most schools use Google Apps for Education (GAFE) in some capacity and having Google Classroom will help with that.

For a review of Google Classroom check out this link.

For some of the practical tips and tricks to use Google Classroom check out this link

After looking at the review if you want to create a Google Classroom here is a video tutorial that has been a lot of help for me.

If you are feeling overwhelmed or even anxious about making these changes in your classroom I would like to remind you to look at the quote at the top and take a deep breath. Enjoy the day and know that everything will work out. Not perfectly but the way it is supposed to work.

Learning Management Systems

This post I am going to be discussing some dreaded "Buzzwords". Buzzwords is defined as "a word or phrase, often an item of jargon, that is fashionable at a particular time or in a particular context." dictionary.com. These words get thrown around a lot and often is followed with disgust or disdain. The Buzzword or phrase I should say that I am going to mention in this post is "21st Century Skills." Gone are the days of just teaching content to students (Thank God). Now educators are responsible for not only teaching the relevant content, but also equip the students with the necessary skills that will lead to success in today's globally connected world. 21st Century Skills are defined by edweek.org as,

"core competencies such as collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking, and problem-solving that advocates believe schools need to teach to help students thrive in today's world."

Learning Management Systems allow for you as the educator to facilitate learning in a way that will create the opportunities for students to learn these different skills. There are online features that allow for students to collaborate on projects using Google Slides. Students can be assigned tasks to upload files or create videos teaching them digital literacy. Students can be asked to create solutions to a problem with online resources teaching them both critical thinking and problem-solving skills. As we all know the internet is endless and these systems help you as an educator tap into these resources to enhance your classroom.

Students of today are different from the students that we were at one time in the stone age. Students don't even know where their lockers are because everything is digital, they are coming into the classroom with laptops instead of books, online applications instead of notebooks, and online learning platforms instead of planners. As an educator we have to not only meet the student where they are at but also continue to advance our own craft. The biggest wave of the future in classrooms are Learning Management Systems (LMS). These systems will help you to connect with students and actually cut out on the unnecessary grading, papers, and stress of trying to keep everything organized for 20-30 students per class. Some of the popular LMS's are Edmodo, Schoology, Moodle, Canvas, Google Classroom, and Chalkup. Each of these systems offer different things and I am not going to advocate for one over the other. Instead I wanted to bring awareness to the different systems.


The top five benefits of a Learning Management System are discussed here.

I wanted to give you information on a two LMS's that I am debating between for my class in the next school year as I move forward with using a Learning Management System in my classroom.






1. Edmodo- You can set up a free account at edmodo.com

2. Schoology- You can create a free account at schoology.com  

As I mentioned earlier, I am still in the process of deciding for myself which LMS I will use next year. Here is a comparison of the two and a pros and cons for both Edmodo and Schoology. I hope you can find one that will work best in your classroom.

Using Google Add-ons to enhance the classroom.

As you know by now I am becoming more and more obsessed with Google and all of the ways it can help enhance my class.  As amazing as Google is with all of its functions it is also a little scary that anytime I think about doing something I realize Google has a way for me to do it. In a way Google is literally taking over my world. I also find myself becoming very envious of today's students and find myself having higher expectations for them and less patience for excuses.

Google Add-ons offers many features with some of the top add ons featured here
Some of my new favorite add ons are Easybib and Flubaroo

EasyBib allows for quick and easy citations of resources in MLA,APA, and even Chicago. This is a great source for students that are writing research papers, presentations, or using any kind of citations. The add on in Google Drive allows for citations on the document and the opportunity to create a running citation page that can easily be copied into a Works Cited page.

Watch the quick video here to see how to get the add on and how to use Easy Bib.

Flubaroo is an add on that I plan on using a lot in the future in my classroom as I move to using Google Forms in the future. Google Forms in itself is something that should be checked out. It allows you to create surveys, responses and quizzes. Flubaroo will actually grade those quizzes and create a spreadsheet that can easily be used. The Video below shows how to get Flubaroo and its features.

So as you continue to use Google Chrome and discover more features always check to see if any add ons or apps can be used to enhance your class or work. Happy Hunting.

Connecting Voices

Sharing Ideas and Responsibility

I feel like the image above is the ideal situation in most areas of my life. Many people with their own voice and their own ideas coming together and eventually those circles overlapping. I love that this image is not just individuals with their own individual thoughts. Instead community is a mixture of individuals and their thoughts. Eventually each person has multiple colors representing voices and ideas in their bubble. This post is about connecting our voices. Of course collecting voices can have its down side. There are times when a decision has to be made and you have to have a clear voice. Many voices in those situations can be very detrimental to a task or an objective. The situations that I am mainly talking about are those where there is a collaboration. What I have noticed is that in those situations having only one voice can be detrimental. As an educator I am a part of a lot of collaboration that is actually just one voice. This one voice can have great ideas but everyone falls in line with their vision and normally take a back seat and don't feel responsible for the growth of a community. The many ideas and visions get lost and everyone seems to be focused on one person instead of the many skills and tools that the collective group can bring to the situation.

The image below shows a great example of what this one voice tends to look like:

So I am going to show you tool that I have begun to use to bring about a collective responsibility and a collection of voices. The first tool is something that we are all familiar with and that is Twitter. Social Media in general is a great tool for connecting with people all over the world. We decide how to use that tool to enhance us or bring us down. There are definitely many ways that Social Media has been used negatively, especially among high schoolers, but I am going to show you how to use Twitter in a productive way. 

Twitter allows you to use specific searches to find more information. These searches are used by hashtags (#). These hashtags are used to carry on a conversation with a specific theme. I have seen them used at weddings to tweet about the festivities to research projects that are used to connect with others that are familiar with the topic. 

1. The first thing you need to do is create a Twitter account. You can do that here.

2. Once you sign in you can then search for any topic you would like. For example I chose to look up espn by using #espn

After you select your topic anything with #espn tag will come up for you to explore

There are many groups and other things you can look up on Twitter. Below is a quick video tutorial on how to use Twitter for beginners.

Hopefully you begin to use Twitter and get connected with other people and hear many different ideas. Feel free to follow me @gbuckman4 and Happy Tweeting.

Custom Search Engine

This search engine is designed to give credible websites for historical research.

Hidden Google Gems

There are certain moments in life when you realize that you have been doing something completely wrong. Today was one of those moments for me. Google is taking over the world. Everyone is impacted by Google in some way whether it be using Google Drive, Gmail, Google Calendar, and most commonly the Google Search engine. Even this blog is connected to Google. Google has caused for an extremely streamlined society. Google has very basic and easy to use features like emailing or searching for whatever your heart desires. Google also has some very complex features that can make life very easy. This post is going to look at three of the hidden gems that I discovered recently in Google; Google Task, Authentication Verification of emails, and Custom Search Engines.

1. Google Task- If you are anything like me you wear many hats. For example I am a teacher, husband, basketball coach, club moderator, assistant athletic director, and graduate student. (breathe in, breathe out) I have been running around stressed out for the past year due to the disorganization of my life. This disorganization is not intentional I just forgot an appointment here and there, look at my schedule at the last second and realize I have double booked myself.

We've all been here

Google Task is a hidden gem that will help to organize your life. It is a part of Gmail and helps to create a to do list. Here is a quick video tutorial on Google Tasks uses as well as how to get Google Task here.

After downloading Google Task you can download the app on the Android and Apple Store by searching "gTasks"

You can also create a tab on your toolbar. by doing the following
1.  Searching for Google Task in App Search Bar      

2. Click on Better Google Task

2. Authentication Verification- The next Google hidden gem is a simple authentication verification. This verifies the sender of your email to make sure that the sender is actually the real and not a virus or a phishing scam.

This is a simple way to help protect yourself from identity theft as well as well as keep you safe from any phishing scam. You can see how to enable this simple feature here

3. Custom Search Engine- The last Google hidden gem that I discovered is a custom search engine. As an educator this will be very useful in the coming years, especially for projects. So what a custom search engine does is allow you to put parameters on the content that is being searched. For example, if you are wanting your students to research a particular topic you can add filters and specific websites that will direct the search engine. This will help to create relevant and reliable sources.

Let's say you want your students to research about Richard Nixon and Watergate and use a regular Google Search. The third link down is wikipedia.com which is not a credible website because of the ability for anyone to edit the page.

With my custom search engine that same search topic will give you more reliable sources. I made the search engine to look for websites ending in .org, .edu and .gov. These websites are more credible. I also allowed for history.com and ushistory.org

The same search now garners these results:

Notice the top three results are from history.com and nixonlibrary.gov.
This video will help you create a custom search engine

I hope these little gems excite you as much as they excite me and as always use your voice to make a change.

I HATE USING TECHNOLOGY....Oh I guess it's not that bad.

Technology is one of those necessary evils for a lot of people especially educators.
Seriously think about a class where you have everything figured out to the minute. Your lesson is flawless, your video is completely relevant. You have even hyped the video up so much that a class of juniors are excited to watch the video (Honestly I had my class excited to watch a video over Nixon and Watergate). You go over to the computer to get everything ready and you can't get the sound to connect to the projector. You scramble, try to troubleshoot as fast as you can. Look up at the clock and realize Technology has won this round.  If this scenario sounds fresh that is because it literally happened 40 minutes ago and the frustration is still boiling in me. So how am I supposed to write a blog about technology when I am frustrated? It's easy because for the most part technology isn't all that bad. I mean technology definitely has its fair share of frustrations but it also has impacted and enhanced my classroom a lot. Like all things, technology has its good to go along with its bad.

One good technology tool is Google Chrome. I have used this browser over the past couple of years and can honestly say that I don't see how I ever used anything else. Google has a plethora of apps that can be used to help enhance both your personal and professional life. Google also has programs that rival Microsoft and allow for instant saving as well as the Google Drive which helps to organize your information. I believe that using a gmail account is a must when it comes to emailing especially if you are an educator or a professional of any kind.

How do I get Google Chrome? Good question!!
1. You can download Google Chrome by clicking on http://www.google.com/chrome/
There is also a video tutorial that shows the ease of downloading Google Chrome on your computer here.

2.Here are some great tips and features of Google Chrome here

3. If you are an educator like myself you will also find that Google provides a lot of services that will enhance your classrooms. Please check out the apps that come with Google and the ways you can use Google for educational purposes here.

Good luck and take your knocks while learning to use technology but don't let those knocks keep you down. Continue to explore new technologies and find ways to integrate them into your personal, professional and social life.

The Daunting Task

There are many things to do with a voice. Your voice can be used to shout loudly or to give the faintest of whispers. I am a coach, teacher, husband, brother, son, and a man of faith. I have very many voices. Sometimes my voices overlap and sometimes they are very separate. Each voice is very significant and what is more important is how to use your voice to inspire others to use their voice. As a coach I use my voice to communicate a common goal and the strategy to get to that goal. As a teacher I use my voice to educate and mold young thinkers. As a husband, brother, and son I use my voice to encourage and to love. As a man of faith I use my voice to share the things that I have learned in my convictions.

There are also many things that can happen with a thought. Thoughts bring ideas, passion, and ingenuity to the world. Thoughts help to make us who we are and help to dictate our decisions. What we think about something more often than not becomes reality about that situation.

With this blog I hope to share my thoughts in order to help expand my voice. Not because I have a lot of knowledge but as I gain knowledge from others I should be able to share that knowledge. The first thing that I have learned this week is the accessibility of using an RSS feed.

Feedly is a way to keep all of the blogs that you want to follow in one place and organized. Feedly has a very easy to use interface and also an easy way to categorize the blogs. The best thing about Feedly is that is free and has an abundance of categories and content. feedly.com

Setting up a Feedly account is pretty easy: 
1. You can link it to your gmail account for easiest set up.
2. Your search page is full of categories as well as a search bar for an actual URL.

3. After choosing different blogs to follow you can then categorize your blogs by content on your Feedly page. By creating different collections. For example I have a collection of education blogs.

4. After organizing your blogs you will then see any unread posts for the day.

Just like that you will have a Feedly account and a way to organize the blogs that you wish to follow. I plan on adding different categories between sports, cooking, and current news.

Good luck and please leave comments below of some of the categories and blogs you follow on Feedly after you set up your account.

Thanks.