Thing #19

Wow!!! It was nice to see sites we visited during the 23 Things process (Goggle Docs, Library Thing, Technorati, Wetpaint, Ning, Flickr, Piscasa, Rollyo, and del.icio.us). There were so many sites that interested me, I didn't know where to start. So, I scrolled through the list and noted the ones that seemed to appeal to me.

I first tried SpringWidgets. It looked like a neat site to "add some fun" to my blog. I went to the widget gallery and created a count down widget for summer vacation. Yes, I truly am counting the days until the end of this school year. School uses could be to create a timer until a project is due, a teacher returns from maternity leave, or when a grading period ends.

Next, I visited Minti. This was a site for me, as a parent. I liked how it offers advice from parents, as well as articles about different aspects of parenting. This site will be one that I continue to visit as my husband and I raise our 3 princesses!

Finally, I visited DonorsChoose. This is a site that lets donors choose where their donation money goes. It profiles teachers who need particular items for their classroom, why they need them, and the donor can choose which teacher/project to fund. Donations can be any amount and the site calculates how much money is still needed in order to completely fund a given project. This is amazing - impact of student learning is so far reaching. I have read several profiles that have touched my heart.

I found several other sites that I interested me: Be Green, picnik, Med Story, One Sentence, and Wufoo. When I have some downtime, I'll be looking at these sites to see what they have to offer.

Thing #18

Well, I did not like OpenOffice.org. It took SO long to download and once it was downloaded, I had a very difficult time maneuvering around the application. I hope that with more practice, I will become better at using it.

Features: Writer is similar to MS Word; Impress is like MS PowerPoint; Calc is like Excel.

On the other hand, I LOVED Goggle Docs. I found it very user friendly and easy to maneuver around the site. It too is similar to MS products. I'm planning to upload some of the files I created in MS Word to see how that function works when I have more time to "play."

Thing #17

Okay, I just left my mark in the sandbox - what fun! Wikis have so many possible uses in the educational setting - note taking, collaborative project planning, or research - to name a few. Since wikis are new to many, a "sandbox" like we used would be a fantastic way to practice wiki skills before utilizing them for meetings, collaboration, etc. Once people are hooked, they will be more willing to use them for other purposes. I can't wait to set up my first wiki!

Thing #16

When I first looked at the syllabus for the course that required Learn2Play as an assignment, I was terrified. I had absolutely no idea what a wiki was and nearly had a "breakdown" as I read that I would have to create one. Thank goodness I decided to stick it out until I attended the first class meeting and learned what a wiki was. It really was nothing to be feared - just something new that I needed to learn about. I loved "Wikis in Plain English." This is the second time I had viewed it and the way wikis are presented makes learning this new technology easy, fun, and something to not fear. I really enjoyed reading Library Success - A Best Practices Wiki. I could see this being an excellent wiki to tag and read. It offers such wonderful ideas - weeding, job seeking, etc. As a librarian, I would like to have a wiki to use to increase collaboration with my teachers. Since time and different conference periods are such big factors, wikis would help to eliminate the need for common planning times, as either party/parties could update information at their convenience.

Thing #15

The video "A Vision of Students Today" was very interesting and has me thinking about the statics/information offered. I see how students today are immersed in technology/video games and have to be lured into learning. With their technology-savvy ways, they are not always grabbed by a lesson that does not involve technology (that they get to use instead of the teacher or peers) - Sitting and watching others is not the same as them being the ones clicking, searching, etc.

Now, I'm not that ancient, but I still remember sitting in typing class in 9th grade with typewriters. I did not have my first computer class until I was in high school. However, my oldest daughter started on the computer when she was a little over 3 and is very good finding her way around the computer/Internet at 5 years of age. With that said, we, as teachers and librarians, have to be mindful that students today are very much into technology and probably know more than we do, but with everything we've been learning through the 23 Things, we are sure to be up to par.

Library 2.0 is a wonderful way to keep technology infused into our program. It seems to be the way of the future. I loved "Into a New World of Librarianship" by Michael Stephens. His views/traits about Library 2.0 are easy to follow and mold into my library program.

Thanks Learn2Play and the Kickball captains for the opportunity to learn about this new world of libraries.

Thing #14

Technorati is a neat way to organize blogs using tags. I did a search about School Library Learning 2.o, as suggested, and was amazed by the amount of "hits" I found. This would be an easy way to keep track of blogs that interest you. Tagging is an easy, quick, and effective way to mark entries with "key words" that help to jog your memory about what a particular site/blog has to offer. I decided not to register/claim my blog at this time. However, I did add a News Widget to my blog - Read to see what is happening!

Thing #13

Using del.icio.us was very interesting. I did search using "clouds" as a tag and found many wonderful photos to share with my students showing the different types of clouds we have been learning about. This site is awesome as it is easy to bookmark/tag your favorite sites, as well as look at what others have marked as their favorite. This could be used in the classroom to tag favorite sites that you use frequently or those that you use to teach a particular unit/lesson. The same could be used in the library to tag important sites related to library information.