Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Thing # 23 - I'm done!!

I can't believe that I made it. There are still several that I want to go back and revisit because I didn't have the time to completely research the program as well as I wanted to. Some of my favorite experiences were the image generator, Delicious, and Flickr. They are some of the many that I feel I will be using this coming year.

Through this program I have learned that I am a lifelong learner and that I actually desire to be more of one. I think that once I get through my Masters I will feel a little more free to explore different things that are out there. Unfortunately right now I feel that I am just trying to keep my head above water and get everything done for my classes. I feel that the entire program was a take away. I learned something from every exercise and activity. There are somethings that I wouldn't be that interested in using but nevertheless I learned about them and I appreciate that experience.

I think that the entire program was very well thought out. I really didn't expect anything different. I think that with me personally it was difficult to complete in the time I had allotted. I found myself glued to the computer for hours and not spending it with my daughter which I hated but I realize that it was just for a short time.

I would participate in another program that was set up. I actually would really like to look into setting one up for my district so that others can have the same experience as I have. I really don't have a word or sentence that would sum the experience up. I do know that I have enjoyed learning the different things that are out there and realize that there are so many more to enjoy and discover. I also realize that whether we like it or not everything is moving in this direction and we need to stay on top of our own learning so that we can be useful and needed in the future.

Thing # 22

Nings are a lot like Facebook and My Space with a little more protection from what I gather. A Ning is a social networking of people with commonalities all over the world. Say for instance the librarians in my district and myself wanted to start a network because we couldn't meet as often as we want to a Ning would be a perfect place for us to network so that we were all connected. A Ning is great for getting and sharing ideas. Overall it helps people stay connected, in touch, and networked through common grounds and unlike Facebook or My Space it is narrowed down for a specific purpose.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Thing # 21

Podcast - coming soon!

Thing # 20



This was a cute video that I found on YouTube. I can see that using YouTube and Teacher Tube could be very useful in the the library and classroom. I had only seen silly videos before posted on YouTube and through this activity I saw other various videos that would be very useful this coming year.

Thing # 19

I really enjoyed Flickr and Wikis hosted by Wetpaint. I like that they are free and very easy to use. I like Flickr because of the different options that it offers it's users. I will personally use it for my own pictures and like the fact that I can share them with my family and friends. I liked that students and teachers can find images that are easy to use and upload and safe.

I also enjoyed the wikis hosted by Wetpaint. Wetpaint gave such an easy to use instructions that even I could set it up easy. The video that explains what a Wiki is and how it works is not only easy to follow but it also has some added humor that definitely helps when watching "how to" videos. Wikis are so useful and I really think that the teachers, students, and parents will love when I set this up for my school.

Thing # 18

I think Google Docs is really neat. I can see that it would be very useful to a college student or families that do not have the money to purchase Windows. I personally like Windows better just because I have used it more frequently and don't want to waste it now that I have bought it. However, I can that sharing documents would be easy to do with Google Docs. I liked how you were hooked up to your Google calendar, photos, and reader on the same page. It seemed very easy to share the documents that you were working on as well. Overall I would give it a great rating. It would be beneficial for the students and teachers. I'll have to check and see if our district blocks this or not.

Thing # 17

http://rollyo.com/mindyr/mindys_library_help/

Rollyo is very cool. I think that this would have to be one of my top favorites. I didn't really understand how to use it at first until I just finally jumped in. I think that the teachers will love this as well. We can easy collaborate on what they want their children to explore and then we can create a Rollyo for that specific assignment and not worry that the students will get a lot of sites that they don't need or sites that we don't want them to see. I plan on introducing this one to my staff and I can't wait to see the results.

Thing # 16

Wikis I was a skeptic, but now I am a believer. I really enjoyed the wiki project that my partner and I did for the midterm and everyday I am seeing more and more uses for it. This next year I have plans to start a book club for my second grade GT. I will probably expand it to the entire 2nd grade the following year with other variations. Since my school only contains Pre-K - 2nd grade I have some limits, but I feel that if I start with the GT students this will not only give them a challenge it will help me work out any kinks that may come up. I also want to create a wiki for request for resources. I think that it would give everyone a good idea of what resources are needed and what other teachers are requesting. This will also expand into collaboration. I actually just thought that adding a wiki site for collaboration. Maybe teachers would find it easier to collaborate and send their ideas through a wiki. I'll have to try it and let you know how it works.

Thing # 15

Library 2.0 is scary yet very exciting. I say scary because it doesn't leave a librarian any other choice but to learn the latest and greatest that is out there or be left behind. Library 2.0 sees how society is changing and what it needs to do to keep up with it. I can remember the days of card catalogs, micro-film, and micro fiche and even though still in existence in places these things have been replaced with the new technology that the library 2.0 brings. Even though Library 2.0 is still a little difficult for me to wrap my head around because I am still so new and still discovering so many things that are out there I feel that it is essential for me to stay up to date and informed not only for my job and my students but for my own children as well.

Thing # 14

My husband and I have never been big on blogging. I guess we saw it as a waste of time that only people with time did. Through this discovery of 23 Things I have realized that yes there are people that have way to much time on their hands, but overall the blogging community is very helpful. I really like Technorati because it tends to take a lot of the search out of searching and gives you what you need. I especially liked using the popular blog and the keyword searches. I liked how it gave you the top 100 blogs and popular things of the moment. You would still have to filter but I can see how students would really enjoy some of the things that are found. I also liked the fact that it gave you different popular topics like movies, music, news, DVDs, and books. Like everything else on this 23 things I plan to tag and research Technorati more during the next couple of weeks.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Thing # 13

I really like Del-icio-us! It was fun and really easy to use. I am so glad that someone thought of this. I always have difficulty remembering why I have flagged a particular website especially if the address doesn't go with the subject matter. I will introduce this to my teachers at the beginning of the year so that they will be able to use it for themselves as well. I can see the ability of teachers being able to share useful sites not only with other campus members but as a district and teaching community as well. I really enjoyed learning about this thing.

Thing # 12

I really enjoyed the 10 Commandments of Blog Commenting. It was short, sweet, and to the point. It had some really good ideas about commenting with a few that I hadn't thought of. I like the fact that it tells you to try and use a little humor. Sometimes a cute little comment or word of encouragement will help you get through a rough day. I enjoyed commenting on the other blogs and still have a few more to comment on. I found some scrapbooking blogs that I think will be a lot of fun. I love to scrapbook in my spare time. HA HA and love to see what others are doing or are creating. I also would like to set up my own personal (not librarian) blog for my family and friends. My sister in law has one and it keeps everyone up to date on the latest with her kids.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Thing # 11

This was really fun. I really enjoyed LibraryThing and it was really easy to use. It would be very helpful to organize my home library of over 500 children's books. I liked that there were a vast amount of others that talk about books daily. If you ever wondered if a book was good or not it would be easy to find a group of individuals that have probably read it and will give you opinions on it before you even read it. I also like the fact that when searching for books for my school library I can get opinions on some of the lastest and greatest. I found several groups that interest me, but now I just have to find the time to participate in some of the groups. I did link this site as one of my RSS feeds because I found it so interesting.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Thing #10 addition

I forgot to tell you the generators that I used.

Happyfacegenerator

and

Kid Friendly Image Generator

Thing # 10

This was really alot of fun. I always wondered where others were getting their cute little pics to add to their sites and now I know. I can see using this on our schools website to catch the attention of something important and I can also see using it on blogs, wikis, and other sites to add a cute comment or again bring attention to something that you want the reader to notice. Teachers would love it because it shows voice and that is something that students have a hard time doing in their writing. I think that the students would not only love playing with this site but they would learn from it as well. I liked the smiley face and children's generator just because I tend to lean more towards cute since I teach grades Pre-K to 2nd. It was fun I will really use this!

Thing # 9

After spending a few hours on this activity I am still trying to figure out all of the things that each will do. I needed to get on with the other activities so I am going to leave some thoughts about this one for now and hopefully will revisit it at a later time because I really can see the vital importance of the RSS feeds but can't really determine which ones are better for me at this time. I really enjoyed the blog from Cool Cat teacher. I thought her ideas and suggestions for "wise" bloggers was great. I thought that bloglines, school library blogs and Technorati were the most useful to me at this point but again you tend to get lost when discovering new material that is out there and all of a sudden 3 to 4 hours has passed and you haven't finished your discovery. I found alot of the items confusing because some of them didn't connect as easily as I thought they should. Again I want to revisit this and read others that have blogged about this activity and see what I missed in it.

Friday, August 1, 2008

Thing # 8


O.k. I can see the usefulness of RSS feeds but you really have to get use to using it. I am hoping that after summer school is complete I will come back to this and update it even better than it is now. Some of the sites that I was trying to attach wouldn't work and since it got late I was ready for bed. I really think that this will help me in the rest of my career as a librarian just to stay current and making getting information for my graduate classes easier.

Ways that I found that it would help in education would be that teachers, librarians, parents, students could set up sites that are useful for current or historical events. Basically anything that is being studied in the curriculum can be researched and sites can be saved for easier, safer, and timely research. I found it very useful and look forward to using it more.
p.s. the picture is where I want to be! Anyone else want to come along?

Thing #7

I was surprised that Google had so many things to offer. I didn't realize that you could share and do that many items. I really enjoyed the calendar and the Picasa photos. I could see using this for our school's website to keep parents up to date on the things that are happen around our school and when. Teachers could even have one for their classrooms to use for homework or the days they will be testing, having parties, etc... The school could also obtain permission by parents and as we take photos of our students and activities they could be posted to the site and shared as well with the Picasa photos.

Even though I was suppose to be looking at this as more from an educational standpoint I actually think that I will use it for personal as well. It would be so useful to have a calendar on the computer that you can access when needed. I also would like to share more photos with my family of my daughter's dance and through Picasa I would be able to do just that. I really enjoyed learning about these.

Thing #6

I love the mosaics, but I does anyone know how you can paste them into other places like your blog? I hope to really get a chance this year to introduce Flickr and all the different things you can do with it. The students and teachers would really enjoy the games and things that you play and create on these sites. I am going to introduce the trading cards to my principal as something that we could do as a faculty to introduce ourselves to the parents and community. I think the teachers will think it's fun once they learn it.