thing 23

This has been a wonderful learning process! I started this journey because I felt so far behind with technology, little did I know how right I was. The wonderful part though is realizing how easy it is to learn what is out there and the resources to make learning easy. I will pass the information on to everyone I know (is that called passion?)

I think the most helpful will be the understanding of how tags work with Technorati and to find information as well as using del.icio.us to save sites that I will use later. (it has changed the way I process information on the internet) I also liked the googledocs and a small bit of wiki, I think I will have to play with that more.

I was surpirsed to find how helpful the TeacherTube were as well as the finding of ning. Most of all I was surprised to see how interactive all of the Web 2.0 actvities are, the internet is really a new creation bring people together in community. (oh I also liked the widgets! so cool.)

I'm not sure I would change anything, but I think it would be helpful to add and interactive portion (like a help desk?)for those people like me who would just like to call someone to get the answer instead of get frustrated for three hours before I get something to work. Sign me up for the next discovery program!!! I'll bring my friends. I think this is the perfect format for those who can't do professional development at specfic times, but is allowed to have flexiblity.

Library 23 things is scary to start with, but worth every minute! What rewarding experience isn't, right?

thing 22

I investigated the Teacherlingo ning and like how they have combined all the essentials to bring teachers together. I know that I will use the teacher blogs to get help with other teachers about specfic issues that I have during class. I also enjoyed seeing the lesson plan portion and how they are attached to tags, making it easier to find what I need faster. The final thing I like about nings is that it brings people together who have a common intrest, so you don't have to muddle through those people who don't connect with me.

thing 21

I am having trouble getting the photostory video to upload onto my blog. Based on the previous assignments, I'm sure it's either my computer running slow, or me missing a small, easy step. I'm going to move on, but will come back to fix/retry after I complete the other two things. I'm so close to make up so much in two days to stop now!

I love photostory though and have used it in class. The conference I went to showed many good ideas using photostory. One activity had the students watching a unitedstreaming video to learn about the topic, then document their experiment using a camera and produce a photostory assignment where they added their voices to explain the process.

thing 20

I have always thought that I would just find junk on YouTube, I have been wrong. It was also refreshing to see the TeacherTube which is focused just on educational information. I will be using this to teach my different subject areas. I love that students can teach students.

thing 19

Several of the 2.0 programs I am familiar with, such as craig's list, an online classifed program which allows you to search and sell products within your city. Facebook is also a social networking program that allows you to stay updated with your friends online. The new ones that I searched were meebo, a program that connects all of the instant messaging programs together so that you can contact everyone at one time. I also looked at Wufoo, a program that helps your create forms. The video I watched had the guy creating a contact form. I can see how that would be helpful at the beginning of the year to gather parent information. I also wanted to point out the zillow website, amazing! It has real estate linked to virtual maps, with a comparison to any house sold within the last few months. Really a lot of cool things for buying a house, or selling.

thing 18

With the accessibility of internet, it doesn't make any sense not to save your documents online. Once the document is saved, or even if you are not done and don't have time to finish, you can access the document wherever there is internet. These programs do not tie you down to one specific computer. I opted to look at the googledocs, just so that I didn't have to download another program and I already have my google account. So I have already stated the obvious advantages to the online documents. In the classroom, I can see using these documents as a dropoff or working document area. The students would be able to work on their paper and then when finished, the teacher has all the papers to grade without taking a single paper home. I think one of the disadvantages, is if you ever get stuck without internet access and don't have the document saved anywhere else.

thing 17

My brain is overloaded with all the possiblities of student-teacher-student interaction. I can see that by using a wiki, the students do not have access to the internet like they would have to for a blog. The students can also edit each other's work while at the same time adding their own thoughts. I can see how setting a sandbox up for the classroom would allow students to share about their personal lives, while at the same time fostering community. It would take the place of my community circle time that I dread having to hurry along each day, while still cramming in all the curriculm. The kids love sharing and I love learning about them, but we have no time to share. Setting up a sandbox could accomplish two things at one time!

thing 16

Wow! I love it. I remember thinking that this would be one more search engine assignments and have even been avoiding investigating wikis (I didn't go to any of the conference sessions a couple of weeks ago)

I can completely see how we can use this in the 4th grade revision process for writing. The students who hate to write can instantly not have to rewrite just to make their changes, they can even see who makes the changes for them. I also love on one of the sites how it has the questions posted and the students just go into the document to answer the question and can even tag the sites they used for proof.

I will be trying this out in the classroom. I wonder how I could use it in math?

Thing 15

The relevance of Library 2.0 is connected with the growing and changing environment of technology. In browsing through these perspectives, it is apparent many of the current library systems will have to change in order to be any service to the patron. I think that problem then becomes of having well trained library staff to help the individual use the technology in a manner to find the information they need. I can see how less time will be spent researching with all of the other "things" I have discovered along my way and more time spent applying what is learned. In John J. RiemerHead article, To better bibliographic services, he discussed the helpfulness by using technology to combine many of the resources available to make learning more relevant. A huge change is coming in the way we "go" to the library.

thing 14

In looking at Technorati to do a keyword search for “School Library Learning 2.0” in Blog posts, in tags and in the Blog Directory, I found the results are different. Through using these different avenues to search, the results allow the user to be more specific with what they are looking for. I thought the video with the founders of Technorati was very informative and useful. I could see their passion for the product as well as insights into the usefulness of how to use the different components. I learned through this thing why the different tags were bigger or smaller than others, based on the popularity of each item. Technorati will be helpful when teaching students how to research different topics. It is often hard to show students that not every website contains accurate information, so by using this site, I can show them how easy it is to post your own thoughts about a subject.

Another of my new favorite things!

thing 13

This was my favorite thing yet! I have already used it for my personal information. I found myself wanting to copy the information into a word document just so that I could have the information for later, but then realized all I had to do was TAG the information in del.icio.us and it would be there later. I am also an organized person, so love how the information can be tagged and then found with ease. I have already started tagging math websites to use and find games/centers. All of these sites continue to bring community to a place on the web where it's easy to get lost.

Duck Hunt Game

thing 12

UPDATED BLOG!!!!!

(I figured out how to add the rollyo widget with my information.) :)

Okay I like the concept of rollyo, but haven't had time to play with it. I will add more searches when I have specfic things from school to look for. I can see how it will prevent pulling up the same sites at different times, but getting them all at once.

thing 11

Thing 11 is my favorite thing yet! It's so simple and easy to use. :) I can see how I can use this to catalog my classroom books and then let the students read my library to choose a book based on my rating and information. It will save them from randomly picking a book from the shelf! Here's my growing favorite books from school and home.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/growingreaders

thing 10

Some of these generators I could not get to work properly. I love the example of the dog with the comic strip word bubble. When I tried to add my own picture to Comic Strip Generator, I had trouble manipulating the added images.

I did like the smile face generator, and created two images, but then had trouble getting the coding to copy over for my blog. It's so frustrating when I don't understand something that should be so easy. (Suggestions anyone?)

I also liked the trading card generator and remember looking at it earlier in the things. We will use this generator in class for our business cards instead of making them by hand this year!

Thing 9

The keyword or phrase searching for finding feeds was the easiest to use. The Topix.net and Syndic8.com focus on news and media feeds making it relavent daily, so I felt they were the easiest search tool for me.

Feedster would not load on my computer, and I was disappointed because I would love to see their feeds for podcasts.

I found Atomic Learning with the lots of video clips on RSS feeds very useful and practical.

thing 8

I like how RSS and newsreaders will provide me with information that I care about, but have no time to sit an search for during the day.

Adding newreaders will keep me informed about technology in the classroom. I love that other people are creative enough to come up with the idea and then humble enough to share with those of us who are willing, but just can't come up with an original idea. I will just have to not be overwhelmed in reading all of them.

I think libraries can use RSS to show students how valuable staying connected to other can be, as well as using for researching across the world.

thing 7

I was so excited to go to the TCEA conference in Austin the same week I was working on the things for this week. One of the sessions I was able to attend was about using google in the classroom! (I'm so far behind in technology. ) The instructor walked us through the advantages of using advance searches( limiting the number of hits to make it useful for students and also searching for powerpoints with advance searching!), how to make an igoogle page, and google maps. I have also tried this week the google notebook and have set up a google alert. I am wondering if I can use the google notebook to lead students on more narrowed searches by giving them the pages I would like them to read, I guess it would be like a webquest.

Here' the igoogle page I created and a powerpoint I found using advance search in only powerpoint format.
http://www.google.com/ig


TEXAS HISTORY
File Format: Microsoft Powerpoint - View as HTML
www.floresville.isd.tenet.edu/elementary/teachers/kburks/powerpoints/4thppts/texashistory.ppt

thing # 6

Mashups are something I had never heard of before, but in looking at Mappr, how you can make pictures into a jigsaw and Mosaic Maker, I can see the possibilities are endless. I'm just glad there are creative people out there who are willing to take a risk and "mash" things together for us to use. I can't wait to use these both in class and home. We make trading cards for our Texas Hero project each year and I can see how the name badge maker and trading card would be fun.

thing # 5

The assignment for this thing was to explore Flickr and I must say that I enjoyed seeing all of the intresting pictures from different photographers.

The idea of tags makes it easy to find photos by a certain topic and can be useful when researching particular subjects.

Groups make it easy for people who have common interest to share their work and then discuss the things they have found.

I liked the 365 day library project idea. It had librarians commit to taking and posting 365 pictures of their library. That would then give them a historical record of the libraries during this time. I can see how this can be integrated into making a classroom time capsle. It also makes me wonder if I could use the idea of taking post office pictures from places I have been and comparing them to the town.(every town has a post office!)

Thing # 4

I have now registered my blog and it is very exciting to see the name posted on the sidebar with everyone else. I like the idea of blogging, but am still not sure I am comfortable with the idea of everyone in the world being able to read my posts.

thing # 3

My final post for the day, since I have decided to "cram" all of my learning into a shorter time frame. This post is to reflect on my experience with creating a blog and using/creating an avatar. The blogger program made creating a blog profile very easier. I am thankful for those you have put in the time to make this technology free and user friendly. I had more trouble however, creating my avatar than I did my blog. It seemed that my internet connection was running slow and so I was frustrated with having to scroll through and find the "right outfit"(how similar to real life). I am done with my person and although frustrated through the process, know I will have fun updating the look of my avatar, Star.

1/27/08

thing # 2

What a great reminder during this time in the process of learning about the 7 Habits! This is a learning path I have chosen, not been forced to complete, so the growth will be shown based on the effort on my part in the process.

Since the above is true, I think Habit 4 is the easiest for me to use. I can have confidence in myself as a competent effective learner.

On the other hand, I feel Habit 2 and 6 go together for me. Habit 2 is accepting responsibility for your own learning and often because of time commitments, it is hard for me to stay focused. Habit 6 is using technology to your advantage, and I think that this one is hard, because I often forget how useful it can be based on the time required to plan activities using technology.

1/27/08

Thing #1

This really is "a discovery adventure" as the first assignment has us reading about blogs. I haven't been out of college that long and remember when "webquest and email" were the big adventures in technology. I am so thankful Spring Branch has set up Library2Play, as I felt like technology was passing me by and I had no way to learn the newest creation. I am so excited to "remember, it's OK to play in school and have fun!"

1/27/08