Thing 23

Wow! I am so proud of myself! Although I had several bumps along the way, overall, I enjoyed 23 Things. Some of my favorite discoveries include flickr, image generator and podcasting. I can't wait to try these and some of the other discoveries with my class. It has been a goal of my to become better with technology and I feel this program has helped me tremendously. I am by no means an expert on any of these Things but at least I have taken the first step. I didn't think I would get so excited about the activities that I would have my own children try out some of them. They loved it! I commented earlier that, personally, I would like to take this class with people in a classroom. I would feel much more comfortable being able to ask questions. I know that would defeat the whole purpose of 23 Things but it would help me. If another program like this was offered I don't think I would be able to participate. I think the "Things" would be too advanced for me and for my first graders.
To sum it all up I would have to say this learning experience was...challenging.

PS. I did the survey and a blank window came up after I clicked the submit button. I wasn't sure what that meant or if my survey actually went through but I did complete the survey.

Thing 22

I thought Nings was very interseting. You can ask for ideas on just about any subject or lesson you might be teaching and get suggestions from all over! I did read a few blogs that seem to be getting pretty personal and the tone was very heated. That is one thing I have noticed about blogging. People start getting irritated by another persons comments and then the banter starts. I plan on using Nings for Teachers throught the year and incorporate others ideas into my lessons.

Thing 21

I have attempted to upload my video multiple times on various days but Blogger just won't have it. I created a podcast on Gossamer by Lois Lowery and been anxiously awaiting the final product. It's just not happening. I will try again at a later date. Any suggestions?

Thing 20

I found this cute little video on Japanese kids cleaning their school on Teacher Tube. My class will love it when we are learning about Japan. A problem I ran across with You Tube, more so than Teacher Tube, is finding videos for primary students. Most things seem to be geared toward high school students. I guess I just need to look a little further. It seemed like when I tried to be more specific on a search it would come up with nothing. I think both of these sites are very useful to teachers and students.

Thing 19

As you can tell by the date and times of my posts, it's Thursday, July 24 and it hasn't stopped raining yet. I thought I'd sit down and do a few "Things." I checked out several of the Web 2.0 sites, some personal, like the best restaurants in Spring Branch, and some for school. I had to return to flickr because it's so cool. There are so many things to do on it. My girls have loved using it as well. I think this is my favorite tool yet because there are so many fun, educational uses.

Thing 18

I played around with Google Docs and thought it was pretty easy to navigate through. I saw that they had some new templates and tried to find a newsletter template for our grade level to use. The search found no results. I'm sure it was operator error (me.) I did not download open office to our home computer because I read that it was on our district issued laptops. For some reason, I can't get a connection on my SBISD computer at home even though we are wifi. I will definitely play around with it at school.

Thing 17

OK. I finaly "got it" after watching the video again and getting some help from California Dreamin'. I made a Rollyo search on Japan websites for my first graders to explore. After I added the second site, it disappeared and said the web page had expired. I guess I need to start all over? Or is there some way to retrieve it? I can see how this will be a great time saving tool for the students. Instead of leading them through kids.yahoo to get to the Japan sites, they can now just pull up the Rollyo engine and explore!. Too cool. I will attempt to create for other topics as well.

Thing 16

I enjoyed the wiki Thing. I would like to attempt to create a class wiki about Japan or insects or something. I think the kids would love this. I believe it is manageable with first graders but can see multiple opportunities for older students. I will observe some of my colleagues using wikis and see if I can bring it down to a first grade level.

Thing 15

Wow! Whatever happened to the Dewey Decimal system and card catalogues? I think this new aproach to libraries using this for research, etc. is awesome if the libraries are equipped. First of all, I dont' think teachers are prepared to use this. That may be one our biggest issues: students are ready for this technology but teachers don't feel comfortable using it (and many have no interest.) Another issue holding us back is our actual computer labs. Going to the computer lab with 21 first graders is usually one of the most stessful hours of my week. Computers don't have the same programs, they freeze, the students hit something and lose all work, etc. It completely makes my blood pressure rise. Woah- sorry. Didn't mean to get off on a rant. I think library 2.0 will really help students!

Thing 14

Ok. I admit to being the "Village Idiot," but this site was a bit confusing to me. I did look at some blogs and got totally side tracked and ended up spending time reading "stuff" that really wouldn't help me with this post. I'm not sure how I could use this site with my first grade students. I am always up for suggestions. It seems I am usually just trying to get them to be able to use the mouse correctly, create a document and then most challenging, finding their folder in the system and saving their work. It is all so overwhelming! Again, any help in helping me keep up with technolgy so my students don't surpass me is welcome.:)

Thing 13

del.cio.us seems like a great way to organize favorite sites. Being from the dark ages of technology I'm afraid I don't have many bookmarks so I'm working on adding some. Tagging is so easy and I love anything that helps me organize things. It's so interesting that you can just type in something that you find really cool and find others that feel the same way. I can't wait to spend some time tagging ideas for various topics of study in my class.

Thing 12

I have to admit that I typically am not a commentor. As I read some blogs, I often get turned off to commenting due to foul language used or the way people have worded their thoughts. I believe building a community is very important in this setting just as in my classroom. Being a teacher and the wife of a journalism major, I also really focus on the grammar in blogs/comments just as I do when people are speaking in person. I find it hard to take someone seriously that has multiple grammatical errors in their comments. I guess I also don't comment because I don't spend much time on the computer. Teaching, raising two children and being married keeps me very busy. All in all, I see the importance of commenting and as well as with all of the other Things in Library 2 Play, it is my goal to use them more often.

I read and commented on a blog about children's literature. This lady was making a set of alphabet card with pictures of characters from well known childrens literature. Amazing! I also commented on a blog about cooking light since that has been a goal of mine this summer. I found a recipe for some white bean enchiladas that sound yummy.

Thing 11

What an amazing resource, not only for personal use but for classroom use as well. We do a lot of author studies in class. The students will love the author chats. I like the young adults literature group. I was also looking for a children's literature group. There are so many new titles to try in addition to using the oldies but goodies. This is a great way to preview them. I read more children's literature than adult literature. I love reading others peoples thoughts about the titles I have enjoyed.

Thing 10

This was such a fun "Thing" to do. I played around with the image goodies and found that Image Chef was quite simple to use. I think the students would love creating these images! Since my family just returned from Cozumel, I decided to create this image:

Wish I was still there!

Thing 9

I thought Bloglines search tool was pretty easy to locate feeds. I used Google Blog Search and entered Library2play and got all kinds of feeds. Pretty cool. Technorati is quite confusing. After reading several blogs, I see I'm not the only one that feels that way too. I wish I felt more comfortable using the computer in this way. Hopefully, my confidence will increase here soon.:)

Thing 8

I think the RSS is kind of confusing. I can see where it could be really useful if it were a little easier to use. I do, however, like being able to read other blogs about things that interest me like camping. I got some easing camping recipes from one blogger. I can also read other peoples opinions on meaningless things like the dancers on So You Think You Can Dance. Libraries could use this technology to recommend (or not recommend) literature and gain information on various topics to share with teachers. Overall, it confused me a bit.

Thing 7

Google

igoogle is too cool! I enjoyed making my "personal" google homepage. I had no idea about these things and am glad I have learned about them. Another google goodie I love is Google Earth. My class thinks it is so awesome when we locate our school and they can see the playground and everything. We also used it to locate my home, some of their homes and Japan during our study. Unbelievable possibilities with the google tools!

Thing 6

Too cool! I love the Mosaic Maker. I made one for my first graders with pictures of the things that begin with m (or are associated with .) I even threw in a picture of a cat and a cow to see if they would get it. The Color Pickr Wheel was also cool. I saw several blogs from people guessing what each picture on the wheel was but I never saw where anything states what the pictures actually are. What a cool guessing game!

Thing 3 again

I forgot to add Thing 3 in my title for my avatar "I did it." I hope to get the hang of all this soon.
cneal

Thing 5

I really enjoy using Flicker. I prefer it over Google Images. I wish I had more time to just sit and "play" with it. Here is a picture of some sushi. I love sushi! Well, some of it anyway. I can't wait to have my students use the site.

I did it!

I created my avatar. That part was pretty easy. However, for some reason, I had difficulty actually posting the avatar on my blog. Somehow, I magically appeared! It only took 2 hours. I must be getting better. I'm off to Flicker now.

Thing 3

Creating the blog page was really easy! Silly question- To access my blog page, do I have to first get into Library2Play? Not sure of the procedure. I'm going to need a lot of help.:)

Thing 2

Habit 1, Begin with the end in mind, is the easiest for me. I have always wanted to be more technologically advanced. I want to be able to use various activities with my students.
With that said, Habit 4, Be confident in yourself as a competent, effective learner, is definitely the most challenging for me. I'm always scared to "click" on things because I'm afraid of messing something up. I've really got my work cut out for me.

Concerned again

See- Can anyone tell me how to change the time on my posting? I am Central time. The time on my post show 2 hours behind.

Concerened

I am totally freaked out. I always feel like I'm going to do something wrong on the computer. I just don't feel comfortable. I hope these activities will help put my mind at ease.