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.