Thing #23

Well I have finally completed my journey of 23 Things and I would recommend others do this also. As I look back I thought about several things.

1. My two favorite discoveries during this were mashups and third party sites. I think these have so many classroom and library applications. I will be sharing these with teachers on my campus.

2. 23 Things makes me want to learn more about what is out there as well as to look more in depth at what I have already done. To me, this is the definition of lifelong learning.

3. There were some unexpected outcomes in this journey. The biggest one was how difficult #21 was to work. Everything had been so easy up until this point, so it was a little surprising. I also find myself wanting to use every one of the "things".

4. The only improvement I could think of is there were some broken links. Other than that it was fantastic.

5. I would participate again without a doubt. In fact, I will be signing up for 11.5 Things very soon.

6. If I could describe 23 Things in one word it would be: enlightening!

Thing #22

A ning is better than a website, it's a social network. One neat thing is it combines the best of everything. I looked at Texas School Librarians Ning and Teacher Librarian Ning and I found some really good blogs on both. I am going to need to join both of these nings because there is so much good information.

Thing #21

This is my first time to use Photostory and I really liked it. It was incredibly easy. I can see how this could be adapted for a book review. This could be used so many ways in the classroom. I didn't add any music, maybe I'll do that next time. My only downside is I don't like recording my voice. I know that's a funny quirk to have, but it's my thing. I used my spring break pictures from Sequoia National Park for my Photostory. I am having a very difficult time loading my Photostory. Hopefully it will be up soon.

Thing #20

So many good things came up just by typing in libraries! I found several videos I want to use with my students. I really want to use "No Cookies in the Library" from Sesame Street as part of library orientation. There are other really good videos to be used. I also searched TeacherTube for science and came up with so many hits. I am going to share these with our science lab teacher. I chose the video I did because it was made by a teacher at my school, he made it for a class he was taking and I love it.

Thing #19

Web 2.0 Awards is something I didn't know anything about. I like how it is organized in categories. There are many reasons this awards list could be helpful in the classroom and library. It's kind of nice to see what websites are considered the best in their categories, it can really help narrow down your search for good sites. The most useful categories I see for classrooms and libraries are books, collaborative writing and word processing, education, maps, mapping applications, photos and digital images, and search. These are the ones that stick out to me the most, but I'm sure others may be just as good for classroom applications.

Thing #18

I think Google Docs is fantastic. I have used it several times before and I am constantly referring others to this option. I like it because it has the flexibility of a wiki that more than one person can log in and use this application. I have used this for several assignments and the whole group would take turns accessing it and adding to it. Another big advantage is it can be accessed from any computer. One of the biggest disadvantages I can think of is not that big, it's formatting. There are not tons of options and if you download a document into Google Docs the formatting may change. That is the biggest problem I can think of.

Thing #17

Now that I finally figured everything out, Rollyo is awesome. I had a hard time finding how to share my search. This allows you to build your own search engine. I created a search engine about something I'm interested in: home organization. This is not something I am good at which is why I picked it! I found some really good sites this way. I can see myself using Rollyo more in the future.

http://rollyo.com/laurie8/home_organization/

Thing #16

I think wikis may be one of the easiest tools available. This may have the most possibilities. I found in Mesquite ISD nearly all of the libraries have wiki pages. One of the library wikis I looked at had the monthly schedule and teachers could sign up on the wiki. This could be a great place for a book discussion or a great place for research to be posted. I want a wiki space for my library to have Animoto videos and post the latest news in the library.

Thing #15

I watched the video A Vision of Students Today and it just amazes me to see all of these facts. I loved how all of the tasks equaled 26.5 hours. I sit here and think "How can I best serve these students?" These are the people that will use instant messaging to ask a librarian a question. The best thing I can do is stay current with latest trends, follow blogs, and keep learning. After I read several articles I read from the OCLC newsletter I noticed a general theme of the look of the library is changing! It is more about customer service, whatever the hour. I can go to the library at UHCL without ever leaving my house, I can talk to a librarian without seeing their face, and I can do research without ever opening a book or magazine. School libraries are going to have to do the same thing if we want to reach our students, which are very different students than we were.

Thing #14

Technorati was eye opening. It really made me see just how important tags are. The more detailed the tags the easier it will be to find what I'm looking for. Searching Technorati led me to Mashable: http://mashable.com/ this is a great site about social media. It reviews different web 2.0 tools. I also came across iLearn Technology: http://ilearntechnology.com/if you type in free podcasts in the search box it will list 20 free podcast for education, some of them sound really good.

Thing #13

I have been using Diigo for over a year now and I love it. It is so easy to use. I think one of the things I like the most is the ability to access my sites from anywhere. It is alot like delicious. I have the Diigo toolbar on my computer and I am constantly tagging something. This has so many classroom applications. Not only could teachers create a list for students on specific subjects, but students could also create lists and tag sites for their research. It also seems like this would be a good way to organize a webquest.

Thing #12

I haven't been much on making comments. I usually don't feel as though I have anything to add. But in this case, I found some blogs that I felt I could add to. I really like the reading from Cool Cat Teacher Blog "How to Comment like a King (or Queen). Out of all the reading this was my favorite. The two points that spoke to me the most were comment to let the blogger know someone is listening, and don't be afraid to comment.

Thing #11

I really liked LibraryThing. I am constantly trying to remember a book I have read and this is perfect for that. This would be great for students also to keep track of books they have read. They could even make a shelf of books that go with a certain topic. I looked at some of the different groups, but did not join any. I will probably go back and look at the groups again.

Thing #10

You can spend alot of time with online image generators. They are fun to play with. Students would really like this. There are so many ways these could be used. I really like Wordle this could be used several ways in the classroom, with a biography students could use adjectives to describe the person they have studied. I played with all of the image generators, but ultimately used big huge labs to create mine. I created this using Photo FX and I chose radial swirl.

Thing #9

Searching for blogs is both easy and hard. I am not sure that I used good search terms. I liked the Edublogs, I thought these were the easiest to use. I found some really good blogs there. Technorati was easier to use than I thought it would be at first. It turned out to be easy to navigate. I wasn't crazy about Topix or Syndic8. I didn't like the layout of either one. I especially did not care for Topix. Maybe I didn't spend enough time on these sites, I may try them again later.

Thing #8

When I first read the intro to Google reader, it didn't make sense, I don't know why. When I came back to it everything made perfect sense. I even was able to post this directly to my blog. I like how these feeds are to the heart of the matter, no wading through tons of stuff. You can also tailor this to work, hobbies, or interests. These news feeds can easily be used in either professional or home environments. It's great to be up on the latest information. This has so many practical applications for education.

Thing #7

I really like all the Google tools available. The one I use the most is iGoogle. I have my iGoogle page set up with my email, youtube video, headlines, weather, and calendar. I am forever adding and taking gadgets and changing the theme. This is an incredibly useful tool.
I also use the Google calendar tool. My husband and I set up a calendar so that we know what each other has planned. We even have color coded each other, so I can glance at the calendar and if I see blue I can see my husbands plans or purple for my plans. This is a great alternative to having to carry a calendar with you. If you are like us, you are always online anyway, so it makes it convienent.

Thing #6

Mashups are alot of fun. I could spend hours playing with all the different applications. I used the Waholizer app with a picture of myself. Then I made a trading card with a picture of my daughter holding her "driver's license" from Lego Land. I could easily see classroom applications for the trading card and magazine cover. There are so many mashups, they could be used many different ways.

Thing #5

I have used Flickr many times before and am fairly comfortable using it. I looked at a bunch of different pictures. There are some very interesting pictures when you type in library. The Seattle Public Library looks very modern, I would like to see it in person. I ultimately decided to look for a picture of my very first computer an Apple IIc and I found a good picture of one!

Thing #3

Creating a blog is so quick, I had created one before. I like creating the blogs because you can create and be posting in less than five minutes. This was my first avatar to create. I really like playing with all the different options. I thought adding it to my blog would be more difficult, but it wasn't. I looked at several of the other blogs before getting started to see how others had done it. I really like looking at the other blog postings for ideas.

Thing #2

When going through the online tutorial for 7 1/2 habits, I found that I have several of the habits. I think habit 1: begin with the end in mind comes easiest for me. I am one of those big picture type of people. I always know how I want it to end, but I don't always know how to get there! The habit that is probably the hardest for me is habit 7 1/2: play. It should be the easiest. I don't think as adults we spend enough time playing, we would probably all be much healthier if we did.