Thing #23!

I'm still working on a few bits of the other Things, but they're pretty small, and I can answer these questions!

1) My favorite discoveries were the sheer number of tools and how they all work together, but mainly the Rollyo seach engine and then how to use an RSS feeder.

2) I think I have received a boost in my technological and learning abilities, since I didn't know much about almost all of the Web 2.0 tools. And I guess I still don't, really! But I've liked what I've tried. With more practice, I can post my own videos to TeacherTube and share with all the teachers and librarians out there!

3) My main unexpected takeaways were just how many things out there a teacher can use, and how many things are already set up to help us (like TeacherTube). It's exciting to see educators being so actively involved in new technological developments.

4) I think the concept is good, and I think the format is good...some of the sites/videos don't work, but most of them are flagged or have a note by them at least to that effect. Otherwise, it was very easy to use.

5) I would like to be told about any new programs coming up.

6) 23 Things taught me a million great ways to become a better teacher!

Thanks!!

Thing #22

A Ning could be very useful as an outside source to connect all of my classroom parents. They're currently connected to the goings-on for school things, but since many of the students also do extracurricular activities together (or have friends that do), a Ning for each class would not only allow parents a non-affiliated way to be in touch, but it's also something they could keep using throughout the schoolyear and beyond, as my students become someone else's students. Miss S's Ning would be useful during the schoolyear, but it would also give that group of parents and students a way to stay in touch in the future if they wanted.

More important, it's a pretty easy thing to set up, and I could do one for each year to keep my new class plugged in!

Thing #21*

Photostory is a really easy way to make a multimedia presentation! It's so simple to use, and even comes with some effects and things to put on the pictures. You can make a slideshow about anything in just minutes! Easy cheesy! And a lot of fun! I liked it.


But I couldn't get my photostory to upload, so I just took some of my recent pictures of random things, added some effects, and since I don't have a microphone I uploaded a song as the background. Not as exciting, but still fun! It definitely took the video FOR-EV-ER to upload, though.




*I came back to this post, so I changed the time stamp to keep them in order.

Thing #20

Wow! Obviously, videos have been an important teaching tool since I was in 3rd grade, but instead of checking out a VHS or searching for the right DVD, you can pretty much find anything you need online.

Youtube has a lot of silly or frivolous things, but it also has a number of learning resources on educational technology (not to mention all the how-to's on Web 2.0 tools)!

I found the following video on TeacherTube. This is a speech from a 9-year-old prodigy/author named Adora Svitak, discussing her book "Flying Fingers" at Stony Brook University!

Thing #19

I did not have to look far down the list to find my winner: #1 in collaborative writing and word processing, Google Docs! It really is amazing what you can do online, and even for free, which so recently was limited to what you had on the computer. I remember my parents working on an old computer with Windows 3.1 and the first versions of Word; now, I can co-write a paper or make a spreadsheet with friends in real-time, online, with just a few clicks.

It goes anywhere you do with an internet connection, and obviously has many useful academic purposes. For students old enough, it allows them a fast and easy and FREE way to write papers or work on group projects. For me, it is a useful way to stay on the same page with my coworkers and even friends on a variety of projects.

Thing #18

I actually read a news story about this recently... the rumor is that the next version of MS Office will be web-based, and that they will eventually be migrating to an all-web format. Maybe the situation was that you can get a "free" web version of Office that has ads and reduced features in it, and the desire to get more features and get rid of the ads will inspire people to buy the real version. But why do that when you can get them already??

I am more familiar with Google overall, so I prefer Google docs, but it looks like OpenOffice is more in-depth. Obviously some disadvantages are that if you lose internet you lose access to the online materials. But I think there is major advantages, in that 1) things are migrating to open-source and online anyway, and 2) open-source and free beats paying a whole lot of money for something you'll just have to pay to upgrade in a year or two anyway!

Thing #17

I have never heard of Rollyo before now! It is amazing! And a fun name to say! To be honest, I will probably use it most for celebrity gossip. But for my example, I chose squirrels. Rollyo came up with a Wikipedia entry, as well as links to exterminators, squirrel repellant, whatever that is, and even a link to the "Stupid Store" (I did not go there, but I guess I can't really blame it for popping up on a search like that). Parenting sites thankfully didn't turn up any results, but home repair search focused the results down to relevant topics. Pretty neat!

For comparison's sake, I also did a squirrel Google search, and the results were definitely much different. Rollyo is a good thing to know about, yo!

Thing #16

Hey wiki you're so fine... that was the title to my wiki contribution! Like I said on there, I've used and read wikipedia, but never even thought about making my own or using one for the school. My students are probably too young to use it themselves, but they can try to learn or get help from a parent. It would be a neat project for them to collaborate on a classroom activity and then post it to their own wiki. I'm pretty excited about implementing this idea this year!

Thing #15

I think the "Icebergs" piece is dead-on in terms of what to expect in the near future. Like it or not, the world is and will continue to change in dramatic technological leaps and bounds. And despite their steadfast importance and purpose, a library full of print books is already archaic to younger generations. In my own experience, I remember taking a Library Science course in college and being challenged not by learning the technological tools, but the old search-by-card and microfilm techniques. I did not realize until then that I had not used those skills since I was little, and just how computerized the modern world has become.

Google books, or Amazon's Kindle reader are good examples of this. But to get back on track, the three "icebergs" mentioned are all related to my experience I mentioned above. Technology seems to be making a print-copy archive unnecessary, training for patrons is a burden that librarians just don't have the resources to keep up with, and people searching for information want to be able to access it passively, not have to "go to the library" to research it.

I find myself thinking that technology has made it possible to distribute a library's worth of information to anywhere with an internet connection, and that is a good thing! But a part of me is whistful and resistant to that change, based really more on tradition and experience than a thought-out principle.

Then again, the next time a hurricane comes through and knocks the power out for days on end, reading that RSS feed will be pretty tough! There will always be a need for a good book...just in case!

Thing #14

Technorati is another one of those "things" I had heard about before but didn't really understand. Though Google and other search engines search blogs, it seems like a logical step to have a search services dedicated only to blogs. The popular searches and sites didn't surprise me much: The blogs were mostly tech blogs like Wired (which seems like Technorati would be up their alley), and the searches were for things like "cheat codes," "Paris Hilton," and "men".

There was a strong focus on taskbars, news, and tech-related items, which fits with the Web 2.0 concept that many blogs utilize. Tagging, whether it is on Technorati, RSS, blog posts, or Flickr, makes searching for specific information (or maybe more important, finding specific information among a lot of unrelated content) easy. At the same time, it presents topics or items that are related to your search but not something you thought of at the time, which is a big bonus. It's a pretty neat thing, especially considering how small a period of time it took to invent/popularize these things as well!

Thing #13

I have heard of Delicious before (after it took me a while to figure out what "del.icio.us" is!), and I'd also heard of metatags before, but I didn't know there were so many tagging sites out there! Sometimes I see websites with a lot of little icons in the corner, and now I understand what many of them are!

I can see how tagging, along with other resources such as RSS feeders, create an almost separate, "living" version of communication on the internet. The difference between a Google search and reading a tagged Tweet on an RSS reader is a big one! It helps focus the range of a topic when I'm seeking information, too. My students are (probably!) too young for me to use this with them, but I can definitely see where parents could this resource in school/classroom discussions. I could share information with them and/or they could do the same amongst themselves in a pretty streamlined format.

Thing #12

I chose Cool Cat's "How to Blog Like A Queen" and Passion Quilt's "Share" as my two points to discuss. "How to Blog Like A Queen" was helpful because I am new to blogging in general and it provided a very easy-to-learn list of how to build a successful commenting community. For instance, when commenting, it is best not only to leave a substantive comment, but also to link to a relevant post I wrote...or at least to my blog, so people can get to know me, too!

I like Passion Quilt's because it was more of a narrative, and also a more personal take on why sharing knowledge is important. So next up is to comment on other blogs!

Separately, I already commented on two blogs: one is a humor site about about college football (I have to stand up for my Aggies! WHOOP!), and the other is written by a friend of mine. He is a former political consultant who basically does news and political punditry, but he is also very funny so it's pretty enjoyable (even when the subject isn't!)

Thing #11

Well, I had a mixed experience with Library Thing. I wasn't able to open their site, though I did explore their highly interactive Facebook page and other sources. I don't know why I couldn't open the actual site, but they clearly have an active reading community. Since I try to read many recently published and popular titles, I have no doubt I could find many like-minded groups of readers to join. Library Thing, when I can access it, will likely be a new addition to my RSS feeder. And also the groups of my class's favorite books!

Thing #10

I ended up choosing fototrix.com (after being redirected from Image Chef, I think), because it allowed me to make a funny picture that I know my class can enjoy! I was thinking that I might be able to make all of my students a picture with something they like in it with them (cool sunglasses, or their favorite animal, or food, or a princess' tiara, or even just a simple frame). It didn't take long to do once I got to the site, and they have a lot of templates pre-loaded, so it can be a fun thing I do for them on a regular basis! My best shot is below:

Thing #9

Locating additional feeds for my RSS reader was a little bit more difficult than I expected. The Google blogsearch turned up some sites related to my school district, but some of the other feed searches were harder to narrow down. When I searched Topix, for instance, for "3rd grade," the first two matched articles were on Neal Boortz and the coach of the Denver Broncos. Admittedly, it did have an article on a school play in the third spot.

I think the hard-to-use aspect of the readers is also the exciting thing about the internet...and internet 2.0: the wealth of information. Searching for 3rd grade turned up articles on Neal Boortz being elected into the Radio Hall of Fame! It may not have been useful, but it sure is interesting. You don't even have to master these tools; just using them brings the world to my lap(top)!

Thing #8

I like the RSS reader because it does just what the name says: really simple syndication. I like that I can get updates from a lot of websites in one easy place. It looked/sounded a lot more complicated than it actually is. Hopefully other people can see that if I can have one, so can they!

For starters I see RSS as having more of an impact in my personal life, as a convenient aggregator for the things I want to see, but I can definitely see librarians and teachers like myself using RSS as a tool to keep parents in the loop when it comes to certain web sites or sources of information I want to share with them. In addition, it allows librarians and administrators to provide the same service to us as teachers.