Thing #23

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey? My favorite exercises were: creating my blog, exploring Flickr, using comic strip generators, exploring TeacherTube, and creating podcasts.
   
2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals? I always want to keep up to date on new technology and ways to incorporate it in my classroom. I plan to use many of the things that I learned about in Library2Play this upcoming school year.
   
3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? I was surprised at how many things that I had no clue about! I am a young teacher and I felt like there was not a lot that I was missing out on. I was so wrong!
   
4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept? I love the format and do-it-yourself pace. I really don't have a suggestion for improving the concept. It worked flawlessly for me.
   
5. If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate? I would DEFINITELY participate. I signed up for Library2Play because my librarian recommended it and am elated that I did. This has been a wonderful learning experience. Like I said before, I like that I was able to work at my own pace and convenience.
   
6. How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities? Convenient exploration of the Internet's best new features.
   
7. Now go and comment on some of the other Players' blogs? Done!
   

Thing #22

I thought that the Teacher Librarian Ning was an interesting social networking site. The forum was a great place to read about upcoming conferences, program ideas, research, etc. It is an easy way to communicate about the library profession while picking and choosing topics of interest or concern. There is also a spot to share blogs. I also liked the different interest groups. There is everything from a Harry Potter Discussion Group to a Librarians 2.0 Group. I was impressed with the user-friendly set up and vast array of groups, discussions, and forums. Social networking sites, like nings, are great places to share and discuss ideas with ease. I searched Google for "nings" and found a site that lets you create your own social networking site! Here is the link.

Thing #21

So, I created a podcast using Photostory. I downloaded the program for free and got started. It was simple. I added photos of my amazing chihuahuas, added titles and captions to some pictures, and added a song. After I was satisfied with my video, I saved the file. Badda-bing badda-boom. Then, I went to Switchpod to upload my video as a podcast. I registered with the site and uploaded the file. Here is a link to my podcast. It was a painless and fun experience that was much easier than I had anticipated. You should definitely check out the disgustingly cute creatures I get to share my life with! Yes, I am a crazy lady with a pack of chihuahuas to call my own. I use them to do my evil bidding, so beware. Muahahahaha! :)

Thing #20

I added a YouTube video to my blog and titled it "Use Commas With Caution." It's a silly video, but gets a point across. Commas are ridiculously misused today. (I'm one of those people who loved Eats, Shoots, and Leaves)

There are a lot of great videos out there that can be used to gain students' interest and teach them something at the same time. I love having access to these videos to use them at my disposal. The only thing that I wonder about is if SBISD will allow access to these sites at school or if they will be firewalled. I'm going to have to play around with that at school.

Thing #19

My first Web award goes to a little site called Docstoc. I love Love LOVE Docstoc. I found it on the Web 2.0 Awards page filed under education. It's a site that allows you to share professional documents. I searched for "language arts" and came up with oodles of information. There was a cool language arts and math jeopardy game, a PowerPoint presentation on idioms, and all kinds of other useful tools. It would be a great site to post and share my creations for the classroom as well as pick up others' contributions.

Aside from teaching language arts, I teach health fitness. I decided to check out some sites filed under the health category and found PEERtrainer. It's a FREE site that offers small group support for weight loss. You can count calories online and log the meals you ate throughout the day. There is help for workout program design and healthy goals. I just thought that this was a cool site that does what sites like Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig pay for you to access. I was thinking that this could be a great site to help students set personal health goals and become aware of the foods (healthy and unhealthy) that they are consuming.

Thing #18

So, I tried out Open Office and thought it was great. It's easy to use, which is always good, compatible with Microsoft Office, and free. It's the total package!

I decided to pass on Google Docs because I just don't want to register for something else. Too many login pages! Sorry to disappoint, but I feel like I have entered my name, birth date, location, picked a username, and decided on a password too many times this week. I will just have to come back to this one later.

Thing #17

I went to Rollyo and created an account. You do not have to register to use the site, but I created a login. I made my own search engine that focused on language arts lessons. Here is a link to the search engine (I searched for "grammar"). It was really easy. I chose a name for the engine and decided which sites it would search through to find my results. This way I only search through my approved sites and filter out a lot of garbage and advertisements. This would be great for a web-hunt for my students. I could give them a list of questions they need to answer or fact hunt and have them use MY search engine to look at pre-approved sites. This would cut down on time they spent searching pointless sources and eliminate the risk of them ending up on racy sites. This will make an excellent resource for my classroom.

Thing #16

Wikis are a lot less complicated than I had known. I used the Spring branch Library Wiki sandbox portion without any trouble. I actually figured it out on my own and then realized that there were instructions on the Library2Play site afterward. Something that I am thinking about is creating a Wiki for each language arts class. As we study new authors and their works, students can compile lists of facts, ideas, thoughts, or conclusions about the author/text. It's a great way to gather information on each author and store it somewhere that the students can easily access it later. After information in gathered, we could make trading cards for each author or piece of text. These trading cards can be used to study for quizzes and tests or as a reference for a writing assignment.

Thing #15

The video "A Vision of Students Today" really got me thinking. Everything has already changed so much since I was sitting in the classroom in the role of "student." In college, the professors pushed how important PowerPoint slides would be. Boy has the technology surpassed PowerPoint! I'm impressed with all of the new tools I am learning and want to keep students engaged and interested. I think that Library 2.0 embodies my goal completely. Something that I think is important is that Library 2.o is not just about using technology. It's about incorporating meaningful technology that will help students learn. It's focusing on what is best for students, educators, and librarians.

Thing #14

So far I have been unimpressed with Technorati because I get error messages about "hiccups" and slow loading when the search does go through. After trying to search for "School Library Learning 2.0" several times, Technorati came up with all different kinds of results. There was everything from "Online Safety for Educators" to a blog called "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

I think that tagging is a great way to save and access information. I had more success with de.licio.us than Technorati. However, I will try accessing Technorati tomorrow and see if some of the kinks are worked out.

Thing #13

Tagging using de.licio.us makes bookmarking easier to access and categorize. The beauty of this new feature is that I can access the pages that I feel are important from any computer. This is very cool. I often find things on the Internet while browsing at home. I used to just e-mail myself the links so I could bookmark them on my school computer. That is over! This will simplify searching for resources for me and save valuable time.

Thing #12

An important point I found was made on Drape's Takes: Edublogger Etiquette blog. It explains that it is important to respond to comments made about your posts. After making a post, it is important to revisit it and respond to any comments that are made in order to maintain active communication. Making a "post and run" is a punishable online offense!

Another point that I thought was valid was found on The Blue Skunk Blog. Basically, every blogger enjoys comments from other users and feedback. Follow the rule of treating others as you would like to be treated. Comment on other blogs and participate in online discussions. Your contributions will be appreciated and most likely reciprocated on your blog.

I commented on 5 participating Library2Play blogs. This was an easy task. I was impressed with everyone's blogs and ideas. It made me want to step my game up! (I'm a bit competitive)

I commented on 2 non-Library2Play blogs that I stumbled on in my online journey. One was a trashy entertainment/celebrity blog. (My guilty pleasure!) The other was a blog about public education. I commented on a post about standardized tests. Oh, TAKS! You are so controversial and always the source of great debate!

Thing #11

I am now an official member of Library Thing. It's an interesting site. At first I thought that it was just going to be a way to sell me more books, but I quickly found that it is about appreciating books not peddling them. I joined a couple of groups/clubs. It's good to see that people still care about reading! I think that I could use this in the classroom for finding books that interest kids or for online book journaling. It could be a good way of integrating technology and reading. I could even make a private group for my classes. My mind is just wheeling over the ideas!

Thing #10

I used this Comic Strip Generator to make my "Manorexic" and "Help" comics. It was an easy and creative process. Basically, you get to pick the picture that you want to create into a comic. Then, you add a title for the comic and text for the speaking bubble. Afterwards, you click on Customize Comic Strip. Finally, you right click the image and save it to your computer.
Comic strip generators can be used for all kinds of things. I am thinking about printing some out with classroom rules to hang up. The students could use them in various writing projects when working on dialogue, using sarcasm, or persuasive techniques in my language arts class.

Thing #9

This task took me significantly longer to do than the previous tasks because there is an overwhelming amount of blogs to sift through. I spent a considerable amount of time just "window shopping." I found new blog feeds while browsing topics in Good Blog Search and Topix. Both sites were easy to navigate and search through. I had some trouble with Technorati, but I think that it was due to site maintenance. I kept getting error messages and loading problems.
I found some great feeds with news on education and technology in the classroom. There are definitely some strange blogs out there. Three toed sloth fan club anyone? It was an interesting journey through the tangled inter-web.
My searching was done mainly through the examples listed on the Library2Play page. However, once I was exploring a blog I was able to transfer to other blogs listed on that particular page. The Internet is not hurting for blog postings by any means.

Thing #8

RSS and newsreaders are fabulously efficient! As a teacher, I am constantly finding new ways to multi-task. I am astounded that I have not heard of this before. It is simple and excellent for time management. I don't have time to look up all of these sources of information separately, so this is great.
In my personal life, I can keep up with the less important topics like trashy celebrity news and sports scores. At school, I can keep up with new technology, lesson ideas, teaching trends, etc. It would be cool to have students in my classes set up their own newsreaders and subscribe to news blogs of their choice. It would be a good opportunity to incorporate technology with independent reading. Also, it could introduce the idea of genres to the kids. They could learn to organize their subscriptions into appropriate folders.
Our libraries could organize newsreaders for students and parents. The students' readers could have links to news that concerns them and the parents' readers could, too. It would be a great way to get kids reading and create family conversations about important matters.

Thing #7

I found the Google Calendar tool extremely user-friendly and convenient. I love it! It would be a great way to map out each 6 weeks and have it public online for parents and students to see. I made a personal calendar with important dates for the summer like professional development dates, staff development times, and summer camp information.
I checked out Google Earth and thought that it was fascinating! I found my school, house, etc. It was neat to see the images from the satellite. Using it in the classroom can help students see/visualize areas of the world that we are studying and have them at their fingertips in seconds! I think that it would draw the students in and make learning more meaningful to them because they can see what they are learning about.
Google has some amazing tools that can bring learning to life and help me stay organized. I had no idea that there was so much more to Google than a search engine. Bravo Library2Play! Thanks for the heads up.

Thing #6

I went to the site http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/deck.php to
make a trading card. I had some fun and made a card for my chihuahua, Hula. The card in on the right. This site is one mashup that I think can be very useful in the classroom. I have some different ideas on how I can use it with my class. At the beginning of the year, we could use it as a "getting to know you" tool. It could also be used to make study materials. Finally, it could be incorporated into a characterization project or visual aid. This is an awesome addition to my new technology toolbox!

Thing #5

Flickr is a great site with tons of pictures! It was awesome to explore all of the different pictures the site has to offer. I searched for Harry Potter because it is a novel that I teach in Language Arts. The search resulted in NUMEROUS pictures, but I thought that the "Harry Potter Dog" was adorable. I was impressed at all of the pictures that popped up in the searches I entered on the site. I think that Flickr will be a great resource for me to utilize in the classroom.

Thing #4

I officially registered my blog with the kickball captains! I am ready to learn everything that I can from this online course! Hooray for learning!

Thing #3

Setting up a blog and making an avatar wasn't too tough. It was fun picking out a blog name and setting up the page. The avatar creation process was funny! I had a blast trying on different outfits and funky accessories. The best add-on in is the pet feature. Now I've got my pooch on my page!

Thing #2

One of the 7.5 habits of lifelong learners that struck me as the hardest is viewing problems as challenges. Sometimes I focus on the negative aspects of things rather than embracing them as obstacles to overcome. I'm not one to give up when I encounter problems and begin to struggle, but I will complain using colorful language along the way. I am now going to try to look for the "silver lining" in tough situations and examine how they will make me stronger and better.
The habit that I know is easy for me is using technology to my advantage. I am a proactive person who seeks out information, skills, teachers, etc. I'm not afraid to ask for help and am good at helping myself. Do-it-yourself projects do not scare me. I often use the Internet to find how-to instructions, recipes, and instructions. Hence me taking the course 23 Things!