Wow! If I thought I was overwhelmed before...this did it! Not in a bad way, just as the blog said...sooo much information, tooo little time.
I started first by looking at widgets, specifically, yourminis. I thought I had a vague understanding of widgets and what they were, but I realized I have no clue. Looking through this sight, I just felt like I was missing something or one step behind. I couldn't really find a way to help. So, I gave it. Well, I gave up for now... If anyone can help explain widgets, I would GREATLY appreciate any info!
After that experience, I decided to try something "fun". I went to music and discovered Last. This is a sight that is free. You have a radio player and can set up a music library to listen to music. It seems like just about every music genre is on there with every big name as well as unknown but tagged as the same categories. You can also upload(if that's the right term) from your own music library from your computer. You also have the ability to tag anything added to your music library...and we know how helpful tagging is. :) There are multiple options on this site to listen to the familiar as well as discover new talent. It's great!!
As far as a connection to school and the library... it's there! :) Music is a drive for all people in many different ways. In the classroom, you have the ability to find and play music that goes along with any unit of study. Any brain research will tell you, that there is power in this. As far as personal, I love it! I can hear music that I wouldn't have known about otherwise. If you're a music lover, then this site is worth checking out...
Friday, August 1, 2008
Thing #18: Online Productivity Tools
This is very interesting. I think one of the pros to this would be that it's free. When you buy a new computer, you wouldn't need to also purchase Microsoft office to have word, excel, etc. You could use this and it is compatible with everything else.
Looking at Open-Office: the pro is it has most of the features that we are used to with Microsoft office. The con is like office anything saved is on that computer only. You can't have multiple users edit it or find a document on any computer.
Looking at Google Docs: the pro is that documents are saved on your web page so that you can access a document on any computer. Also, you can set it up so that multiple people can read or edit something. This is great for group presentations. The con is that it doesn't have quite as many features and options as open-office does.
Ultimately, I guess you would have to decide what your purpose is as to which would be best. For myself, I really like google docs. I had explored this in an earlier thing. I like that multiple people can work on a document without a bunch of emails or having to meet.
Looking at Open-Office: the pro is it has most of the features that we are used to with Microsoft office. The con is like office anything saved is on that computer only. You can't have multiple users edit it or find a document on any computer.
Looking at Google Docs: the pro is that documents are saved on your web page so that you can access a document on any computer. Also, you can set it up so that multiple people can read or edit something. This is great for group presentations. The con is that it doesn't have quite as many features and options as open-office does.
Ultimately, I guess you would have to decide what your purpose is as to which would be best. For myself, I really like google docs. I had explored this in an earlier thing. I like that multiple people can work on a document without a bunch of emails or having to meet.
Thing #17: Rollyo
http://rollyo.com/dkcliett/cliett1/
Above is the link to the rollyo search I created. A huge thanks to Bruce Goodner for the great video he made. Watching it made it very easy to understand and see the potential for rollyo. Rollyo will be a great place to set up search engines for students that are secure for the research. It will be very handy indeed.
Above is the link to the rollyo search I created. A huge thanks to Bruce Goodner for the great video he made. Watching it made it very easy to understand and see the potential for rollyo. Rollyo will be a great place to set up search engines for students that are secure for the research. It will be very handy indeed.
Thing #16: Wikis
This will be a savior! I am doing a presentation on dialogue journals and literacy letters. Wikis will be perfect for this. While, I will show the "old-fashioned way" with paper and ideas and suggestions, I am now going to really promote utilizing a wiki. We want students to talk/write to each other about their reading from book clubs and other things. This will be a much better way to get that kind of interaction going. I believe students will engage more in this format. Plus, as a teacher it will be so much easier to read and check on what they are writing without lugging tons of journals home. While I am focusing on language arts, obviously this can be used to enhance dialogue in social studies and science as well. Plus there are multiple other uses for wikis.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Thing #13: Delicious
Another amazing tool! I think delicious will be helpful professionally and personally. I had to laugh when watching the video...the old way(my favorites list) is completely a mess. I have quite a few folders to try and organize and then I forget what is where. I have spent some time and will continue setting up and bookmarking here. It's great. At school, I also believe this will be very useful. It's great for research. This will be a great way for students to access information and what's better, it will not matter what computer they're on. It will always be available. Delicious may be a great way for our literacy team to share information that we find online as well. We have sent each other sites before but I know I've lost them. What's more, if the unlimited potential for find more than we had on our own. This will be much more efficient. I also think it would be great to share different ways people have thought of to use this and other things learned as well...
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Thing # 12 Comments
I will add to this as time passes and as was an option. However, I needed this to be numerically correct. :)
I have to start out by saying that I've been a lurker. I've looked through other blogs but had not left comments. That's changing now. Others have written interesting things and it's important to let them know that. I agree with coolcat, that comments are important.
There were two things that struck me the most about commenting. One is to be polite and comment meaningfully. Saying, me too or right on or whatever doesn't really add much. When you comment directly and specifically to what has been written it adds value. It's kind of the same as when we compliment students. Specificity means more then generalities.
The other thing I think important about commenting is disagreeing respectfully and diplomatically. It is ok to disagree or have a different opinion. In fact, that's part of how we grow and learn but it is not ok to be rude. Rudeness can stop a conversation and stagnate growth. Respect and diplomatic opinions can further open minds to different kinds of thinking.
So, I'll practice what I preach by commenting and commenting specifically and respectfully.
I have to start out by saying that I've been a lurker. I've looked through other blogs but had not left comments. That's changing now. Others have written interesting things and it's important to let them know that. I agree with coolcat, that comments are important.
There were two things that struck me the most about commenting. One is to be polite and comment meaningfully. Saying, me too or right on or whatever doesn't really add much. When you comment directly and specifically to what has been written it adds value. It's kind of the same as when we compliment students. Specificity means more then generalities.
The other thing I think important about commenting is disagreeing respectfully and diplomatically. It is ok to disagree or have a different opinion. In fact, that's part of how we grow and learn but it is not ok to be rude. Rudeness can stop a conversation and stagnate growth. Respect and diplomatic opinions can further open minds to different kinds of thinking.
So, I'll practice what I preach by commenting and commenting specifically and respectfully.
Thing #11: Library Thing
Well, this is cool. I set up a home library but what I really will spend time doing is setting up my classroom library. I have quite a few books and sometimes forget what I have and so forth. This site will be very useful. I including a few books from librarything on my blog but I also added shelfari. I was looking at Paula's Space blog and saw it on there. I thought it was cool. I don't know if that's something I'll learn about in other things or if that's something she added but I liked it and copied it as well. Thanks Paula!
I am meeting with my kinder team next week for training. One thing we are looking at is setting up their classroom libraries by genres and features with the students. We will go through the books they have to pre-categorize them and look for holes. I think librarythings will be incredible useful. So, I'm excited to have this to share with them as well.
I am meeting with my kinder team next week for training. One thing we are looking at is setting up their classroom libraries by genres and features with the students. We will go through the books they have to pre-categorize them and look for holes. I think librarythings will be incredible useful. So, I'm excited to have this to share with them as well.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Thing #10: Image Generator
This was fun. So many possibilities. I'm not quite as creative as others and found it difficult to make something with no thoughts in mind. I can see how useful and enriching these will be throughout the school year, both in the classroom and in presentations. I used comic strip generator for one and custom sign generator for the other.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Thing #9 Newfeeds,etc...
I spent sometime looking through these different sights and WOW, there is so much out there. You could spend days and never touch the surface. The article on choosing your circle of wisdom was a good one.
I like google blog search best if I am going to search for blogs on a topic. It is very easy to use and is more like the kind of searches and results I'm use to doing and getting. I looked at the lib. blogs on suprglue and saw the blog from my librarian there. That was cool! :) The only thing that was surprising was that they put her blog on as one that doesn't have an RSS feed but I was able to add her on to my google reader and if you click on her blog page, the feed icon lights up on my toolbar. So, I don't know...
Topix is actually my favorite to use and I added on a couple of topci feeds from here. With the elections coming, I was able to get quite abit on both McCain and Obama. What I like is that you get news, articles, and peoples comments all together on your topic of choice. All from different parts of the US. So far, I've realized that I not as interested in reading random blogs on topics as I am reading articles and then the comments about the article. That may change as I try to build my circle of wisdom as suggested...
Technorati was ok. Not as easy as google but not bad. Syndic8 is my least favorite. When I put in a topic, I didn't really understand what came up and was less interested in really spending time with it since I like the others. I may go back to it but for now I'll continue with what I like. And actually, my reader has enough info that I'm good for a little while. However, I can see my reader changing often. Loving the learning! :)
I like google blog search best if I am going to search for blogs on a topic. It is very easy to use and is more like the kind of searches and results I'm use to doing and getting. I looked at the lib. blogs on suprglue and saw the blog from my librarian there. That was cool! :) The only thing that was surprising was that they put her blog on as one that doesn't have an RSS feed but I was able to add her on to my google reader and if you click on her blog page, the feed icon lights up on my toolbar. So, I don't know...
Topix is actually my favorite to use and I added on a couple of topci feeds from here. With the elections coming, I was able to get quite abit on both McCain and Obama. What I like is that you get news, articles, and peoples comments all together on your topic of choice. All from different parts of the US. So far, I've realized that I not as interested in reading random blogs on topics as I am reading articles and then the comments about the article. That may change as I try to build my circle of wisdom as suggested...
Technorati was ok. Not as easy as google but not bad. Syndic8 is my least favorite. When I put in a topic, I didn't really understand what came up and was less interested in really spending time with it since I like the others. I may go back to it but for now I'll continue with what I like. And actually, my reader has enough info that I'm good for a little while. However, I can see my reader changing often. Loving the learning! :)
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Thing #8 RSS Feeds
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/06394150381610539219
The above link is to my public google reader share page.
I like RSS. The ability to look at things of interest on one page is great, especially since it lets you know when knew stuff is added. I've put a few things on there as a start but I know that I will continually add and change. I have several sites on my favorites list that I constantly go back and forth to but now this will be so much easier. I also like that it is very easy to use.
RSS feeds have many uses for school. As a SIS, I think this would be a great way to share information about education across the school without sending mass emails. Considering all that is going on with SBEC and the changes in TEKS. This would be a great way to share the news as well as opinions through blogs with teachers. I can also see this being utilized in classrooms, especially upper grades. I know our 5th grade teachers do much with current events and setting up share page would be helpful for kids to pick and read from a variety of sources. I can also see setting it up to include specific topics that are being covered.
As far as libraries making use of this, I think that's a given that it would be useful for many of the same reasons. I know our librarian teaches a blogging class for students. Setting up this and including the blogs from the students would be a great way for a person, teacher or student to go on and read and comment on blogs with out having to look up all of them and it would include the most current. There are other ways as well. I know our librarian is on top of things and probably has thought of other ways. She has taken this course so I'm really looking forward to talking with her when school starts back.
The above link is to my public google reader share page.
I like RSS. The ability to look at things of interest on one page is great, especially since it lets you know when knew stuff is added. I've put a few things on there as a start but I know that I will continually add and change. I have several sites on my favorites list that I constantly go back and forth to but now this will be so much easier. I also like that it is very easy to use.
RSS feeds have many uses for school. As a SIS, I think this would be a great way to share information about education across the school without sending mass emails. Considering all that is going on with SBEC and the changes in TEKS. This would be a great way to share the news as well as opinions through blogs with teachers. I can also see this being utilized in classrooms, especially upper grades. I know our 5th grade teachers do much with current events and setting up share page would be helpful for kids to pick and read from a variety of sources. I can also see setting it up to include specific topics that are being covered.
As far as libraries making use of this, I think that's a given that it would be useful for many of the same reasons. I know our librarian teaches a blogging class for students. Setting up this and including the blogs from the students would be a great way for a person, teacher or student to go on and read and comment on blogs with out having to look up all of them and it would include the most current. There are other ways as well. I know our librarian is on top of things and probably has thought of other ways. She has taken this course so I'm really looking forward to talking with her when school starts back.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Thing #7: Google
http://www.google.com/notebook/html?nbid=BDSelIwoQjcu-37Uj
This is a link to the notebook page I started about Greece. I believe I exported it as a web page to put on here. Some friends and I are planning a trip for potentially spring break and this is a great way to find and keep relevant information on the trip. What's wonderful is that I set it up to share with them so that they can read and add info as well.
There is definitely more to google than just searching. Through our amazing librarian, I had heard of google earth and its potential in school. It was great to learn a little about all of these things. I wish I would have known about google scholar in grad school!
I spent sometime exploring google docs. This, I love! I am part of the leadership team at my school and consequently apart of the trainings for DDI. Google Docs would have been and will be VERY useful for our trainings. I set up a page so that I can upload the powerpoints that we use and then we'll be able to edit and change and let each other know without either meeting or sharing back and forth through email as we had done in the past. That did not work so well. This is an answer to a prayer. :)
This is a link to the notebook page I started about Greece. I believe I exported it as a web page to put on here. Some friends and I are planning a trip for potentially spring break and this is a great way to find and keep relevant information on the trip. What's wonderful is that I set it up to share with them so that they can read and add info as well.
There is definitely more to google than just searching. Through our amazing librarian, I had heard of google earth and its potential in school. It was great to learn a little about all of these things. I wish I would have known about google scholar in grad school!
I spent sometime exploring google docs. This, I love! I am part of the leadership team at my school and consequently apart of the trainings for DDI. Google Docs would have been and will be VERY useful for our trainings. I set up a page so that I can upload the powerpoints that we use and then we'll be able to edit and change and let each other know without either meeting or sharing back and forth through email as we had done in the past. That did not work so well. This is an answer to a prayer. :)
Friday, July 11, 2008
Thing #6
Big Huge Labs, what a great place. I looked through the trading cards and believe as most that there is a lot you can do with them especially in social studies and science. In writing, this might be fun to utilize with book reviews.
I spent most of my time on the magazine cover. I created one using a picture of my Dad's bluegrass band. It was easy to do and I can see how kids would be able to utilize it easy enough. My only complaint was the lack of options on the layout. I wish that I would have been able to move things around and control the size of my picture, change font and backgrounds, etc. Through this, I did learn more about flickr. My picture was cropped more than I would have liked on the magazine page, so I uploaded it to flickr and through picnic on flickr, I was able to resize it to fit they way I mostly wanted on my magazine cover. I love picnic.
There is more here I intend to play with. I am giving a training in August with a group of teachers and intend on including a few of these as part of the training. I think mosaic maker, with kindergarten students, or even trading cards potentionally with some of the "research" they do.
I am loving the learning.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Thing #5
Ciao mi amice! Venezia: mi citta favorita en Italia!
I have explored flickr and what a great site. I can definitely see the benefits of using this with students for a multitude of projects. It's also a great way to enhance presentations for students. I also plan on sharing with my mother. She has gotten into photography and the potential for creating some photo albums and such might be right up her ally. There is a lot here within the site that I plan on exploring further.
I chose pictures of Venice because it was one of my all time favorite cities in Italy. My brother is in the army and was stationed in Italy for 3 years. I, being the loyal sister, went to visit him twice, so that he wouldn't miss family. ;) I am home this weekend visiting and we were discussing our trips there.
I have explored flickr and what a great site. I can definitely see the benefits of using this with students for a multitude of projects. It's also a great way to enhance presentations for students. I also plan on sharing with my mother. She has gotten into photography and the potential for creating some photo albums and such might be right up her ally. There is a lot here within the site that I plan on exploring further.
I chose pictures of Venice because it was one of my all time favorite cities in Italy. My brother is in the army and was stationed in Italy for 3 years. I, being the loyal sister, went to visit him twice, so that he wouldn't miss family. ;) I am home this weekend visiting and we were discussing our trips there.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Thing #4
I registered by sending an email and am hoping to get a confirmation email as well as added on soon.
Thing #3 Still...
Absolutely amazing what a good night's sleep will do. I can't remember the name of the person who left a comment but you're right. The site was being worked on and I was able to fix it this morning, well actually, looking at the time it's afternoon. :) I actually went to the blogger help as well and learned that I had (unknowingly) changed my template to an old version that did not have "layouts". Blogger has upgraded to this and so, once I changed my template or "upgraded" I got my layouts page back. And wouldn't you know... it was incredibly easy to add my avatar on! So, I'm back to loving being a lifelong learner... :)
Monday, June 23, 2008
Thing #3
FRUSTRATION!!!!!!!!!! Well, I created the avatar, no problem. I understood the directions to put it on my blog however, that's were the problems started. I went to the layout page and there was nothing that said HTML/Javascript or just HTML or anything. I read the help on the 23 things site and I read the help on yahoo and the help on bloggers. I should have been able to push add page element but when I pushed on that nothing happened. I then went to edit HTML and clicked on change to original template or whatever and now I have no layout option anywhere. At this point, I believe I've screwed up my blog page, I don't know but I am done for today. I will try again tomorrow and somehow figure out what happened with my layout page option and the ability to add things...
PS: wish there was a help number to call...
PS: wish there was a help number to call...
Thing # 2
The easiest thing for me is PLAY! When I am doing something new, I like to jump in and play around with it first, see what I can figure out and what I can't. Directions are to refer to when you can't figure it out. :) While patience wasn't exactly mentioned, I find that a problem at times...I wanted to just read the script on the video instead of listening to the narrator. Of course, patience could be traced back to jumping in and playing which could then be traced back to beginning with the end in mind and sometimes I jump in instead of thinking through so maybe that's my challenge.
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