Thing #22

I went to Educator's Ning and Ning for Teachers and explored the sites. I was impressed with how teachers were sharing their lesson plans and also talking with each other about solutions to problems in the classroom as well as successes. I think this could be a great tool for educators. I did, however, click on one site that had lesson plans geared to Kindergarten students and it was a series of worksheets, which we do not use with our students in Spring Branch.

Thing #21

I just returned from Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park. It was my first visit to the area and you better believe that I took lots of pics! Photostory was very easy to use. It leads you through the process step by step! I decided to make a story with all the wildflower pictures that I took. My photos don't do the beautiful scenery justice, but I hope you enjoy!

Actually, I thought it was easy until I tried to play it back after I uploaded it. I worked on it for several hours, but no luck. I've even tried to save it in different sizes but continue to get an error message. I will keep working on it but have emailed someone who I hope can help.

Finally, success! It looks better if you view like this instead of full page. With all the trouble I was having, I finally saved it with a smaller resolution.

Thing #20

I found this video of the life cycle of a butterfly and loved it. In PreK, our students study insects and even have Painted Lady caterpillars in the classroom. We release them when they have turned into butterflies. I think this video or any others like it would be great to use in the classroom.

I"m also going to show you another fun one--of my dog singing. My son posted it several years ago and it is still there!!

Thing #19

I went to the Web 2.0 Award sites and investigated several winners. I'm going to share one of the sites that I liked--recipes!

I'm Cooked

Another one I checked out was Urban Spoon, which gives map locations and reviews of restaurants in your area. My search popped up in Houston.

I also checked out Craigslist. I had no idea that it also posted jobs.

So many sites!! I really like the way that the Awards page is set up. It was very easy to use.

Thing #18

I went to Google Docs first and played with some of the templates. I thought the scrapbook ones were cute and easy to use. They already had the background--you just add your pics. It also has anything that you could want in a spreadsheet, word processor, etc. I tried to download Open Office next and it was taking so long that I was worried if I had enough space on my hard drive so I cancelled it. I did take a look at the introduction and it looked like it would work as well as Microsoft Office. My family is currently trying to decide on whether to purchase MS Office for a new laptop that we just purchased and I want my husband to take a look at both of these programs instead. He does most of the spreadsheets in the family!! One thing I'm not sure about. If I create a document in Google docs, can I access it from any computer? Anyone know?

Thing #17

I've been working on Rollyo for a couple of days and even though I created a few search rolls, I just couldn't figure out how to get them to my site. I have been searching sites for an upcoming vacation to Yellowstone so I Rollyo'd them! Hopefully, what I have tried now will work. I absolutely can see how this could be useful in upper level grades--making sure that the students go to appropriate sites. I can even see how this will work in PreK-- to give your co-workers sites that you have found to be helpful with curriculum.

http://rollyo.com/mills5hou/yellowstone_vacation/

Thing #16

I went to the Spring Branch sandbox and posted about my experience with the 23 Things. It was nice to see all the comments on one page. I never knew what a wiki was. I had visited Wikipedia but didn't realize that you could edit the page. This is a great tool and one that I could have used before when planning an event where everyone is bringing something. I'm glad I know about it now! I can certainly see how it could be useful in school.

Thing #15

As I watched the video, I was struck with how much our high schools and universities are changing. Students do not want to take classes that they feel are not useful to them. They are looking for relevancy and how they can use what they learn in their daily lives. Textbooks that will never be opened and instructors lecturing at the front of the class will become a thing of the past. How learners access information is changing and Library 2.0 will adapt to that change. As Rick Anderson said in his article, "Away from the "icebergs," it no longer makes sense to build a collection of material that anticipates every user's need and expect people to come to the library when they need information. They already have access to everything. Therefore, Library 2.0 will need to bring services to their patrons--integrating services into their users' lives.
"In the article, "Into a new world of librarianship," Michael Stephens made a good point when he said that Librarian 2.0 should help users become their own programming directors for all the content available to them. They should also control techno lust and not just purchase new technology for the sake of having it--but instead ask the question how does it meet users' needs in a new or improved way.

Thing #14

I was somewhat familiar with Technorati since I had visited during another lesson and had used it for one of my RSS feeds. I searched the Blog posts, tags, and directory for School Learning Library 2.0 and found nothing! The popular section was under construction, as well as the Widget section. I guess they are overhauling their page. In regards to tags--The tags for Delicious are created by you to help you organize and on Technorati, they are there to help you search! I did several searches using their tags. One was "lost"and it came up with a bunch! I was interested if anyone was blogging about the series finale of the TV show Lost, but I got a lot more, including the lost soccer game! I need to learn to define my search.

One thing I'm confused about is how to claim your blog. I went to the area that shows you how, but it doesn't tell you what it means and I don't want to do it without understanding what it is.

Technorati can certainly benefit educators as a search tool and also to keep abreast of current issues that have people talking.