Thing 23 The End

Not really an end but just the beginning. I think this experience has been a great opportunity to play with some of these tools that I had mostly heard about but never had the time or inclination to explore.

1. My favorite discoveries and exercises were photostory, rollyo, rss feeds, and flickr. I had heard of all of these except rollyo before but never really used them. I had set up a flickr account but never did anything with it after that initial posting of a few pictures. I love my rss feed and use it several times a day and it really helps me keep up with my blogs. I also really liked the Big Huge Labs which I did not know about and will use with my teachers and students.

2. This program has been great for my life long learning goals because it provides me opportunities to continue to explore new technology tools and share them with my colleagues and students. It also provides an ongoing opportunity for me to explore these tools on my own time and for my own development. It is very open ended and is changing constantly.

3. One unexpected outcome was The Library Thing. I have read about it and seen it several times on various blogs but it never struck me as anything I would really be interested in but once I actually went there and explored the site I really liked it. I am not interested in cataloging my books there but many of the other services would be helpful and of interest to me. I thought all it did was catalog books for people but the lists, forums, and book groups interest me.

4. I have no suggestions to improve the Library2play project. I like the setup and freedom of working through the different exercises.

5. I would definately participate in future projects setup like this one. In fact I plan on keeping Library2play bookmarked in my delicious account so I can go back and work through some of the exercises for a refresher course in the future.

6. In one word or sentence I would describe this program as: 23 things to build your technology muscle!

Thing 22 Ning

Nings are pretty cool. I think they would be great to use with students esp. as, like the article stated, students often feel inhibited if teachers use facebook or myspace for school related activities.
Nings are easy to set up and it looks like there is one for everything. I searched for 4 different things and found at least one for each subject of interest. But they are often very small and fall out of use quickly. For example the greyhound ning I found is several years old and the forum only had two messages.
I am a member of the Texas School Librarian Ning but I don't often visit (I wasn't even sure I was a member but I found myself in a search). So I don't often use this resource. I guess because there are just so many others out there like the library listserv. I did like the Education of the Future ning and I will continue to check it out. I might be interested in joining it.
I do think that this would be a great tool to use with a class if one didn't want to set up a wiki or build a whole webpage from scratch.

Thing 21 Podcasts and Vidcasts

Okay I have been flirting with Photostory for a couple of months now so I am glad to finally get a chance to really get down and dirty with the program. I went to a workshop at TLA on photostory and I really liked the idea of using this technology to make book reviews. I am definately going to do this for my schools. I think this is something I can create and then put on a loop to replay throughout the day so students can see it as they come to library. It is also something that can be easily shared on the library website and with teachers who can share them in the classroom. I am really excited about trying this. I have already choosen some books and I am in the drafting stages of my book reviews so I will be ready to create the film when the time comes.
I chose to use some of my photos from a trip last summer to create a video as I had them on hand on my computer. I haven't gathered any pictures yet for a book review but I wanted the experience of doing one for this project so I will know better what to do when it is for my school audiences.
So enjoy a video of some of the varied Lions of Europe.

Thing 20 You Tube and Teacher Tube

I have of course heard of both of these resources but they are not really ones I think about when I am trying to find resources for teachers. I will definately put them on my list for this year. I do look at United Streaming most often. I guess I always thought of youtube as just being unprofessional and just for fun videos. But there are some great videos there. I likes the Cookie Monster in the Library.




I had a teacher last year looking for videos of scientists to share with 5th grade students. I didn't really find anything useful but looking at teacher tube I found a few that might have worked. I will definately share these with her and I will definately remember these video resources.

Thing 19 WEB 2.0 Awards List

First I looked at Zango (Games category) but it is a closed community so bummer.

I've used Urbanspoon before -or well I've tried to use it. At TLA in Houston this past Spring we were looking for a restaurant and wanting to be adventurous too but really we were just HUNGRY so we gave up on the randomness that is Urbanspoon and just settled for finding anything that was open. Harder than one would think in downtown Houston.

So I looked at Lulu (Books). This is a self -publishing site. It looks like one can do print to order books as well as self published. I liked the photo book idea. I think this is a really cool idea and I have never seen this before. I would like to take some of my photos from my European trip last summer and make a little book for myself. So I could see using this site personally. There is a community aspect of the site to offer support to self published writers and the like.

I could see using this site in a school setting to "professionally" publish a class book or something to that effect. I'm not sure the money it would cost (actually it ranges from $369-1,369) but I could see some schools being able to do something like this. Obviously this is not an option for many schools or communities.

A librarian might use this site to search for a niche book that he/she has been unable to find elsewhere. I am not sure it would be useful as an everyday source for books/materials. There are no reviews on site so one would have to take a chance on the material and review everything oneself before adding it to the collection.

Photo: From Castle Hill, Budapest June 2008

Thing 18 Online Productivity Tools

I have used Google Docs before many times. It has been esp. helpful in keeping working and final drafts handy. I can access from anywhere and work on the same doc from multiple sites. I like being able to share with others and even the ability to let others work on the same document with me.

A con with Google Docs is formatting is off sometimes when I print. Also I feel it is best used for plain wordprocessing documents and small powerpoints.

I liked the open office tools. They were easy to use. I will definately look at these tools more closely esp. since I got a new hard drive for my home computer and couldn't find my microsoft office disc. I have been using the google docs for wordprocessing at home but I find the open office tools more user friendly. Maybe because it is set up like the standard office tools? Anyways it just gives me a second option esp if the internet is down. I can still get to the open office tools and work at home as needed. Yeah!

I've added a picture of the Cadillac Ranch just because it's Wednesday.

Thing 17 Rollyo

Wow this is really cool. I didn't think I would like it. I tried to make a search engine with google and it went okay but I didn't really have any place to put it that would be useful to my students. These are really easy to make and easy to post on a blog or wiki. So I will be able to make some of these for school and put them in my school wiki or on the school website. This is great!

I also like that we can use and adapt searchrolls created by other people. So I don't have to reinvent the wheel from scratch.

The searchroll I created is called Kid Lit Reviews and you can find it on my blog. It has several review sites and blogs that I use and read frequently when I am making my purchasing lists.

Thing 16 Wikis

I like the idea of Wikis. I was very interested in starting one last year but with three schools it became a back burner idea. Also our district created new webpages for us to use that I thought I could use instead. They aren't turning out to be very user friendly so I am revisiting the idea of a library wiki that I can use with teachers and students. This will be especially helpful as I travel between my two schools. It will be more manageable and I will be able to keep up with multiple lessons and ideas more readily as I start developing lessons and activities with my teachers.

I like the idea of the subject guide wiki and a community wiki to help coordinate district events and opportunities. I think I will start with a lesson (resources) wiki that I can share with the teachers and my fellow librarians.

Thing 15 Library 2.0

It is very exciting to be a librarian now - everything is constantly changing and changing fast. It is also a little scary and challenging too for the same reason.

Several things struck me as I was reading the articles.
First I was interested in the 2 cents blog post on "schooly games". It brought up an important point that while we want to use these exciting tools and programs kids are interested in we also need to be careful that we don't become gimmicky. Often times we take these exciting technologies and water them down so much so they can be used in the schools that they become unrecognisable and just another chore for students. It is important that we are using the best tool for the job and not just the "newest" thing just for the sake of trying to be "cool".

I was also interested in the "Away from Icebergs" post. One thing that worries me about the point the author makes for getting rid of the "just in case collection" is the existanc eof the digital divide. There are still many, many families who don't have access to computers or the internet at home. There are still many, many schools who have insufficient computer access for students. I am afraid students aren't learning the old ways and don't really have access to the new ways either.

I do think it is important that libraries continue to be open and accomedating to our patrons. I think that this is something that as a profession we are good at and willing to do.

Thing 14 Technorati

I like the idea of a blog search engine. If I want to find blog posts or specific blogs on a particular topic this would be a great tool. Searching tags narrowed the results quite a bit from 235 posts to 64 tags. I liked how the results include a time reference so I know how current the post is. Sometimes that makes a huge difference. The web 2.0 in the directory is located under the tech subject heading. So the results aren't specific to library or school web 2.o so some sorting and evaluating will be needed.

Looking at the popular blogs I was surprised that I knew of a couple of them and even read them sometimes (Boing Boing and Huffington). Nothing very surprising about the top searches. They seem pretty random. I had never heard of Kerry Howler so I followed the link to see who she was. I hadn't heard her name in the news or anything so I was surprised enough people were searching her name that it came up in a top search. I haven't been listening or watching too much news with the overload of Michael Jackson coverage. The popular tags looked about what I would expect-blogging variations, music, politics, relationships etc... although "life" seems a bit ambitious!

I like the idea of searching the blogs but I was a bit disappointed by my personal search. I searched a favorite author (Ellen Kushner) and got a few results. I wasn't expecting huge results -she's not hugely popular so that was okay. I followed one link to a blog but was unable to find the reference to her. So not so successful for what I wanted. I did find a new blog to read (like I needed another one!) and discovered a reading challenge I might try. So not totally wasted but not what I needed. I won't give up though. I'll try again.

Thing 13 Tagging

I have a delicious account that I have been using this year. Again it has been very helpful as I had three school last year. I could save a webpage at one school and access it at another. I do need to clean up and organize my tags a bit though. Some are a little haphazard.

I could see using this with students for research or exploring a unit further. But it looks like you have to open the whole site to the public/students so I would have to have two accounts one for personal bookmarks and another for school. Some sites are not safe for school or apropriate for elementary/middle school. It would be a good way to organize and put all web resources together in one spot. Students could easily search and find the appropriate sites using the tags.

I liked the DIGG site. It is interesting to see what other people are reading. It has a search tool that was helpful for finding relevant articles. Furl went to giigo which doesn't seem as user friendly as DIGG or delicious. Magnolia is down right now -the database brokedown. It will be a by-invitation community at the end of the summer.

Overall I can see how these would be helpful in compiling sites for students to access for research or lessons.

Thing 12 Commenting

I am a huge lurker. I read many blogs but seldom comment. I will challenge myself to comment more this summer. The two most important points I took from the successful commenting lessons were:
1)Leave meaningful comments. Be relevant and use real world examples. Create a dialog with the blogger and other commenters.
2) Criticize kindly. Don't be a Darth Commenter. Be positive. Be professional.

One blog I read regularly is that of my friend Monna. She was my housemate in Monterrey, Mexico when I was teaching there. She is now in Barcelonna, Spain and will be in Bangkok next year. She blogs mostly about her daily life and travels while living and teaching overseas. I comment infrequently on her blog. I will commit to commenting once a week to her blog.
http://teachermeetsworld.blogspot.com/
I also read a favorite author's blog but have never commented there. I have challenged a friend and myself to comment on her blog.

Thing 11 Library Thing

This is a fantastic site. I have heard people talking about it on other sites but I have never visited. I think it would be useful for anyone who is interested in keeping track of what he or she has read (I'm not really into that). It is also a great site to connect with other readers who share your interests (I am into that). There are opportunities to post to message boards and join an online book club which is cool. I also like the idea of being able to find recommendations and new authors.
I am watching a group and I joined 3 groups. I added a few books but I don't think I will be able to keep up adding all the books I read. I may challenge myself to do this for the summer.

Thing 10 Online Image Generator

I like the comic strip generator that will be fun to use with students. The Image Chef is cool too. I like all the different options. If you choose to post to blog you don't have to register with the company to get your picture. So that is nice. I revisited Big Huge Labs -great stuff there. I have already bookmarked this site. I have heard of wordle but never had a chance to do it. I wasn't able to get an image from my home computer. I will have to try it from school and see if it works.
ImageChef.com Poetry Blender

Thing 9 Blog Search

The easiest tool for me to use was Technorati. It has a directory and advanced search which is easy to use. I found an interesting and useful blog: Omnivoracious (an amazon blog).

The others were not so useful for me. Bloglines returned 28,000 results -too many to go through so I would need to narrow my search considerably. Edublogs just was voting for nominated blogs. You have to search out the blog as there were no links. The one that looked interesting to me ended up being a political blog and not a library blog as advertised. So that turned me off right there. The others seemed geared toward older students and seemed more useful for middle and high school teachers, librarians, and students.

Thing 8 RSS

I like the RSS in that it allows one to put all the blogs in one central place. I like that it keeps track of updates etc... I will need to put it on my iggogle page otherwise I will forget to check it. I just added it to my phone so this will help me use it more often. I set up a bloglines account in the past and I just never got in the habit of checking it regularly. I just continued to check my blogs and sites individually.

I will need to set up folders for professional and personal sites. I think that will help me better organized and I can use the feeds to work more efficiently.

I think this would be very useful for teachers who use blogs with students. It would be a great way to keep track of posts etc... I could also see it being helpful for keeping up with curricular and professional blogs. I also like the idea of being able to follow blogs that interest me esp. those of friends and colleagues. On the elementary level it would be interesting to follow an author blog as a class.

Thing 7

I do have an igoogle page already. I like it because I can customise it to me. I have quotes and puzzles as well as art and travel sections. I've played around with some of the tools but haven't found them very useful yet for teaching. I made a customized search engine but I haven't figured out how to allow students access to it without letting them go to my igoogle page. I also use the idocs but haven't got the knack for sharing yet. I've invited coworkers to work on a doc with me but they have trouble accessing it. I haven't tried it from the other side so I don't know what we are doing wrong.
I like idocs though because I am able to work on the same document at my different schools without emailing it to myself. The district has a shared space to save these things too but sometimes I get get bumped from the network and I can't get in. So it is great backup for when I need something and don't have access to the district server. I think this would be helpful for students who are working on a group project to be able to work together remotely.

I did use the google calendar for a while. It was very nice because last year I traveled between 3 schools so it was great to have a way to keep up with what I was doing at each campus without lugging a book around. I have a calendar on my phone now which I can set to alert which I use now because I don't have to worry about having access to a computer with it.

I think google alerts would be useful esp. as a current events device. I could see using it to track information for socials and science esp. I also want to play around with google Earth. I htink that would be a great resource for the elementary and middle school levels esp.

Thing 6 Revisited

Okay I wasn't able to load my picture from Flickr so I will keep playing with it to see if I can figure it out. I cut and pasted but nothing showed up. I also wasn't able to add a picture after I published or even add text but I know I did before? Maybe not sigh... anyone know?

oh double click on the edit page will bring you to the full "edit" but I am still not getting my picture. I saved to my pictures and uploaded from there. There has to be a way to do it straight from flickr though right?

Thing 6 Mashups

Wow this stuff is great. I know what I'll be doing this summer. I like the Flickr Color Pickr. It was a bit hit or miss to find uncopyrighted photos though.
I like mappr. I think this would be a great tool to use with geography lessons. I could see doing fairy tales or folk tales and then having students mapping them. Check out 14 lenses (I'm a guest photographer) http://14lenses.blogspot.com/ . There is a map option where you can see on the globe where many of the photos have been taken.

The trading cards are an awesome idea. I could see making a trading card for a book as a mini review or shelf talker. I am going to do this next year with my 6th graders.

Thing 5 Flickr

I enjoyed looking at the pictures. It is interesting to see what photographs people like to share with the world. I chose the cat picture because these are the kinds of photos ( pets) I would share.

I do think this would be a site that would be great to use with students if one set up a group for students to interact with. I like the Calgary Public Library Photography Group. I think that is a cool idea.

My photo was taken from brytness

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brytness/3608097014/

Thing 3 Setting up a Blog

It is fairly easy to set up a blog. It took some playing around to get the avatar uploaded. The can can girl will not be posted for long -so enjoy it while you can. I started these lessons at school and once I am home for the summer I will be up to upload a picture or something else from my desktop at home for a better avatar. It was fun to play around with creating one though.

Thing 2 Life Long Learning Reflections

I believe in life long learning. I am always interested in learning new things. This thirst for knowledge is why I became a teacher and later a librarian. My father always teased me that if I could be paid to go to school that is what I would do. Luckily I found a career that enable sme to go to school and learn new things every day.

The hardest habit I find for me is the habit of play. I find myself interested in many things but without much time to play and explore these new things. A perfect example is this blog. You may notice I did start this last November with the intent of posting photos every other week. It lasted a week I think. Other things came up and while I continue with my photography I am not posting them to a blog and writing about them.

The easiest habit for me is to teach and mentor others. I am a die hard teacher and I am always eager to help others even if I am learning along with them.