Thing #23

Well, I must say it has been a process to learn about so many Web 2.0 features! I think right now I'm a little overwhelmed at the number of discoveries I have made since beginning this program. I think I am going to make the most use of my blog site and plan to post it on my website during the school year so that I can interact with my students (the ones who are interested). I would like to continue learning more and plan to continue discovering new websites, etc. that will enrich my classroom experiences. This has definitely taken me out of my comfort zone!

Thing #22

I visited the first three Ning sites and found the Ning for Teachers the most useful. Since I teach 6th graders, I found out that they can't legally use their email address on a website like this. So, I think I would use the Teacher Ning for sharing and receiving ideas to help me in the classroom. I had never heard of this until I took this online course!

Thing #21

I'm trying to save my Photostory project, however, it's not letting me record my voice so I will upload it as is and then go back later to try adding the voice. My microphone was messed up and my son was helping me fix it!

Thing #20

I found a cute video about Web 2.0 in plain English! I have used Teacher Tube and YouTube videos in my classroom already many times. They are both great resources for lessons.

Thing #19

Wow! I had so much fun exploring Lulu... what an awesome place for libraries and a great place to publish your own creative works for classroom or school wide use. This would be a great place for those who love writing to be creative and have their works published and even avaiable for purchase. It's even great for photo books and music too! There were many other Web 2.0 Awards sites I visited in the past and have enjoyed as well. I think Google Maps is one of my all time favorites and I use it weekly.

Thing #18

I explored both Open Office and Google Docs and I have to say I think Google Docs is awesome! I love how you can collaborate with a "team" to create/edit documents, spreadsheets and diagrams. Maybe this could be useful in group projects for class. I would like to experiment more with it first. I couldn't access Open Office even though it was downloaded on my laptop.

Thing #17

I registered for Rollyo and started a searchroll.
Here it is!

Thing #16

Wikis are actually fun and useful! I can think of many ways to use them as a classroom teacher and plan to set one up this year in my class.

Thing #15

I was intrigued by the Library Web 2.0 concept. After reading the post "After the icebergs", I am concerned that the wave of the future is to take most books out of print though. It appears as if the library of the future involves mostly technology and Web 2.0 as the primary source of information. I guess I am having trouble visualizing this type of library. I wonder if it would just be a bunch of laptop cubicles with an ActivBoard and some desktops. Maybe keep the couches? Just curious.

Thing #14

After exploring Technorati, I realized that there is so much more information out there in blogs than I would ever have time to read. I typed in the iphone4 as a tag to see what blogs there were and I came across a visual representation of how the iphone4 works and information about the similarities and differences with other iphones. This website would be useful if I would like to find out what other people experience with certain objects or people that I'm interested in and their opinions and thoughts. I typed in School Library Learning 2.0 in all three locations and got 0 hits. I thought this was odd. I think I need a lot more experience with this before I would be comfortable using it regularly.

Thing #13

Social bookmarking through Delicious is a very new concept for me. I have it bookmarked in my browser, but I only have two bookmarked websites. I think I would like to try using this to show how to research a topic in my classroom. I will have to experiment around with it a lot before I would be comfortable doing this.

Thing #12

This is the part of blogging I am most uncomfortable with. However, I think with some practice, I will begin to enjoy participating in commenting. I do appreciate the instructions on how to deal with negative or inappropriate comments. This gives me more confidence on how to handle this type of situation. I also thought the different ways to encourage blogging were interesting. I plan to add my own blog to my school website so I can encourage and teach my students how to comment on a blog.

Well, I commented on the following blogs:
Sunshine
Laura's 23 Things
Becoming Mary Poppins
Flower Power
Firefly Flight

The other blog I commented on is ms teacher. I read some interesting information posted by other teachers across America. I would recommend following this blog to anyone.

I learned how to do something new from Sunshine's blog. I will attempt to do this in a few minutes. Can't wait! I also found out about some very interesting people.

Thing #11

I joined LibraryThing today! I added five book titles and joined a group. I checked some of the messages about a book to see what people thought. I can see the value of using this site to get feedback about new books before I recommend them to my students. I plan on visiting this site a lot during the school year.

Thing #10

Thing #9

I researched RSS feeds and found Topix.net and Atomic Learning to be the easiest to use and most interesting. Syndic8 was most confusing. Couldn't get into the school library blogs. I added the Atomic Learning website to my RSS feeds since it is educational.

Thing #8

Today I opened up a Google reader account and subscribed to several of my favorite personal websites. I think this is more efficient than opening several different windows of websites at a time. I think teachers could use this reader to set up a list of subscribed to language arts websites, such as Teacher Tube to access information for the students in one area. I think everyone in education could benefit from this technology breakthrough!

Thing #7

I loved looking at igoogle and personalizing my home page for google. My favorite is the hamster! I enjoyed making him my own unique looking one! I plan to change this often and will keep changing out everything:)

Thing #6

I found this cute book of children's faces on Bookr today!
I also made a trading card from the Trading Card maker site. I think this would be a lot of fun to add as an illustration to my students' projects. Can't wait to integrate all this technology in my classroom!

Thing #5

I visited Flickr today! I found a cute picture of a Similes poster that I can use to include on a flipchart for literary elements.

Thing #3 Avatar

Today I got to set up my Avatar! I was so impressed with all the choices that I could have to personalize my blog. This was actually easier than I thought it would be. I'm looking forward to all the fun I will have next year with my students showing them how to blog and use technology more.

Thing #2

I agree with the philosphy of the district that one goal of education is that everyone would become a lifelong learner. I enjoy being a lifelong learner myself, however, the most difficult habit I struggle with is #3: viewing problems as challenges. Sometimes I would just rather not have the problem because it can be so tiring to come up with a solution. I seem to find #7: teaching and mentoring others as an easy one, since I am a teacher and I also have done a lot of private tutoring. I'm excited to encourage my students to become lifelong learners as I am!