Thing #23

Wahoo! I did it! I actually did all 23 "things" and not only that, I had a lot of fun doing it. What a great way to learn about all the cool tools on the internet! What a great experience!

I had a lot of favorites, so I am only going to list my favorite favorites. First, my most favorite was Photostory. I have always envied these great picture slide shows I see at weddings, graduation parties, birthday parties, etc. Now, I can be one of those people who has a great slide show. I had so much fun making my photostory and sharing it with the class and also with my family. And, it was so easy! Some of my other favorites were Google docs, mash ups, widgits,and learning even more about wiki pages and how to use them in my library.

This course has affected my lifelong learning goals for the simple fact that I have so much more confidence in my ability to learn new things and things that are somewhat on the cutting edge. I have always felt like someone on the lower part of the totem pole when it came to computers and technology. Now, I actually feel like I know things that maybe others don't, and I am excited to show them so everyone can be in the know. With the right framework, I now know I can do what I put my mind to.

A definite unexpected outcome from this is that I plan on continuing my blog even after this class is over. Also, I actually plan on using a lot of what I learned in these 23 things out there in the real world. A lot of information you gain from inservice, continuing ed hours, or college classes isn't something you can or want to apply in your real life. This is definitely the exception to that rule. I have already started sharing what I know with others, and figuring out how my new knowledge can be utilized in my library.

I honestly don't think there is anything that could be improved on this program. I never had any trouble uploading things, following the given directions, all the links worked, all the information made sense, and it was all relevant. Those things that I might not think are relevant to me in my position, I can see how they would be relevant to another in a different position. This program fits all types of teaching and librarian positions and it was really a great experience.

I would definitely participate in future versions of this same thing, and I would like doing it, and I would encourage all I know to do the same. I am already going to my principal and telling her that all the teachers on my campus need to do this 23 things next summer.

To sum it all up in one word/phrase/sentence:

Life Changing!

Truly, thanks - I had a blast!

Thing #12

Commenting on blogs used to be very tough for me, and it still is to a degree. I always seem to think that my comments are pointless, or my questions are stupid. I know, I know...I'm a teacher/librarian, there are no stupid questions...(except for the stupid ones!). Anyway, I liked that the Cool Cat Teacher Blog says "Don't be afraid to comment". So true, and I find that with each comment I make, I feel more and more confident that I make some valid points. I also liked that she said to tell something about yourself in your posts/comments. I think that when someone makes a personal connection to someone else, the point that are trying to make resonates more clearly. If I know something about the person who is commenting to my blog, I then have more trust that their comment is genuine and that they might actually "get" me.

I had fun looking at so many of the blogs from this 23 things assignments. It was fun to see people who had just discovered something that I had just discovered and we were both excited about it. I ended up commenting on the following blogs: Aspiring Librarian, Angie's Library2Play Trials, The Library Window, In Rachel's Words, and Pepper's Place. I think earlier on I may have commented on others as well, but at some point I lost track. I'm glad commenting was a part of the project, because I do think it is a vital part to blogging.

Thing #22

I think Nings are an interesting addition to the social networking web sites. I just recently joined Facebook, and haven't decided if I like it yet. I was apprehensive to join simply because I feel like it is a tool for a younger generation than me. Finally, one of my cousins convinced me to join for the sole reason of sharing photos online with family. Of course, the people I want to share photos with also need to be a part of Facebook, and I don't see my Dad or my Mother-in-law joining FB anytime soon. I still just share photos with them through Snapfish, or now through Photostory.

I think I would join a Ning group that was appropriate for me. I did like the Teacher Librarian Ning. I looked at some of the postings and the information seemed relevant and worth my time to look at. It's not bogged down by all the "egg hatchlings" and "mafia wars" that I see constantly on FB. Maybe this is the route of social networking I need to consider.

Thing #21

I had an amazing amount of fun putting together this "photostory" of our summer vacation. I didn't even know this software existed and it truly is one of the easiest things I've done. I have sent it to so many people - I am so proud - and I know it could be better, but I'm just amazed that I did something like this and at the ease of the process. As I type it is still trying to upload to my blog, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will all work out, but it seems to be continuing to try to upload and it's just a long process.

I plan on telling so many people about photostory. One of the things I like about it is how easy it is to use. I like that you can either add music or narration to the pictures. I think it would be a really cool class project to take pictures at the Houston Zoo, and then have the kids research the different animals and put it together with photostory with narration of the research they did. What a great project to learn about mammals and reptiles. Plus, there are so many animals out there, each kid could research both a mammal and a reptile. It could be like a virtual field trip, since our district has done away with field trips for the time being. It would also be fun to take pictures of each student in the class and then have them narrate about themselves. There are so many possibilites - and it's FUN!!!

Thing #20

First of all, I never knew there was a site like zamzar that would convert videos into different formats so quick and easy. I have been having trouble getting my videos to load to my snapfish account, and realized a few weeks ago it was because the videos were in the wrong format. Now, with zamzar, I can quickly convert them to the right format and upload them to my snapfish account. Thank you!

I had fun browsing through TeacherTube and looking at the different videos. I have never done this before, and there are a lot of valuable videos to view there. I found this one that is a song about the weather that I think could definitely be used in Kindergarten, but probably also PreK, and 1st grade, as well as music class with these age groups.




What I like about TeacherTube is that there are so many student made videos that a teacher could show as an example to students if the class was working on a video for a project. Also, I like how when browsing you can easily see what grade level most of the videos are for. TeacherTube is an asset to have and know about, and now that I know how to embed the videos into a blog (is it really this easy?) I think I can use it better in my job.

Thing #19

I had fun looking at the web 2.0 award winners and seeing which ones I was familiar with and which ones I wasn't. I decided to look at the Widgits award winners because I really like adding these neat little features to my blog. I added one for a 5 day forecast of the weather. I liked this because kids are usually learning about the weather, and I know if many of the younger grades they do calendar everyday and part of that is discussing the weather. I thought having the weather at your fingertips (or on your blog) would be helpful and keep you up to date on the changing outdoor situations. I also added a countdown widgit. For the time being, I put in a countdown to Christmas, because I love Christmas, but you could do all kinds of countdowns on there with kids, and it would be exciting to look regularly and see how much time remains until the big event, whatever it may be. There are so many countdowns kids would want to do, like end of school, spring break, birthdays, etc. You could have a classroom blog with a countdown to every students birthday. Really, the possiblities are endless. What a cool little tool!

Thing #18

Google Docs is a very cool "thing" that I had never heard of before this class. Several people in this class had mentioned Google Docs so I was excited to see that I go to explore it in my 23 things. I think there are numerous advantages to having this type of program. For one, you would almost always have access to your documents. Gone are the days of emailing things to yourself so you would have something you worked on at home when you got to school or work. Also, gone are the days of driving back home in a frenzy because you forgot your flash drive. I also like how you can upload existing documents in there and work with them. Sharing your documents is super easy, and you have many options to do so with. You can get a "link" to share, you can invite people to see your documents, you can email your documents out, or you can publish your document as a web page. And all of this is right at your fingertips.

I can see just a few disadvantages to using an online, free tool like Google Docs. First, I am not sure about the security of your documents. Ideally, you have to sign in and others also would have to be able to sign in to your account to get your documents, but I don't think I would put any personal or important information out there because it just seems like if it's out there, someone can access it. Also, another disadvantage I see is that even when you share your document with someone else, they will need a Google account in order to view it. This is a minor disadvantage because most people either already have a Google account, or wouldn't mind getting one, but this could pose problems.