Thing #23: My Thoughts of Twenty-Three Things

And it's a wrap... 23 Things has been an overall enjoyment.

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

My favorite exercise was the online image generators. The posssibilities are endless.

2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?

It has broaded my perception of how intergreal technology is to the 21st century classroom.

3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

I was surprised that I was familiar with many of the online explorations.

4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

Please, PLEASE, PLEASE have the links open the website in a new window. It was very frustrating to have to constantly renavigate to the Library2Play website.

5. If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?

Yes, I would love to participate. It was very beneficial to work through the explorations independently.

6. How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities?

Twenty-Three Things is a tremendous technology treasure hunt!

Thing #22: Nings

Discovery: Go to either one of the Nings above or find one that intrests you and look at the different features and options then write a blog post about what you think a Ning would be good for and how you might use it.


The Houston Association of School Librarians is a ning network that I am already familiar with. This is an online network that connects librarians and future librarians.

A Ning would be a great online tool for my library. I tried using Shelfari to create a sense of an online book-community but depending on the complexity of creating a Ning, this could be an alternative. I could use this site to publicize and organize library programming. There are pages for members to join, to post events, share photos and videos, and a discussion forum. This is different that a blog because members are more interactive in creating the digital community.

Thing #21: Podcasts and videocasts

I love using teacher-created and student-created podcasts and vidcasts for educational purposes. This makes reporting more fun and interesting (as opposed to just writing something on paper). Podcasts and vidcasts will engage our 21 Century Learners.

Thing #20: Explore YouTube And TeacherTube

Write a post for Thing #20 about your video finds and the value of having access to so many video resources. Embed at least one of the videos you selected into your post.

The YouTube video is about how technology can help motivate students to learn. The TeacherTube video is about teacher-librarian collaboration. Having so many videos at my fingertips is a valueable resource. Of course, the issues rise when certain sites are blocked in certain districts. I learned that I can Zamzar, but I haven't explored it yet.

Thing #19: Web 2.0 Awards List

Write a blog post for Thing #19 about your findings. Consider these questions when organizing your thoughts. What is special about the tool? What are its useful parts, especially with regards to Libraries and school? How might you use this tool in your own setting?

The online tool I explored was ZoHo for organization. Wow! This tool is overwhelming and has a ton to offer the users. I was just in awe...where should I start? I first wanted to try out Backpack but all their packages had fees attached. ZoHo is free for personal (noncomercial) use. As a Librarian, I would use this tool to help me with my collaboration efforts with other teachers. Just take a look at what it offers:

Thing #18: Online productivity tools

Open-office seems like a great tool to use as an alternative to Microsoft Office. This office suite offers platforms for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, and databases.

There are many advantages:

• multilingual
• free to download & distribute
• user-friendly, active community forum for support
• can be shared with students to use at home
• runs on all major computing platforms - Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, Sun Solaris, Apple Mac
• can open any type of file from other application

Some of the disadvantages:

• It runs slower than Microsoft Office
• Will take some teachers longer to get familiar/make the transition
• Not as advanced/disversified as Microsoft Office
• Not completely compatible with Microsoft Word files
• The user interface is not quite as intuitive, but it can be learned quickly

Thing #17: Rollyo

Discovery Activity: Create your own customize search and write about it in your blog and post a link to it. See if this video (created by a L2P Player) will help you.

Rollyo is really interesting and can be a useful tool to teachers and librarians. I wasn't sure of how I could use it in my classroom until I viewed the video. Basically, the registered user creates a personalized search engine of up to 25 selected websites (including news and blogs) and the search is powered by Yahoo!.

My searchroll is related to YA Literature and has about 10 websites listed.
YA Literature by Shartrica Polk-Roberts

Thing #16: Wikis

I am baffled by Wikis. I just don't "get" them. Well, I understand the concept but not the logistics of them. Though I heard of them, this is the first class that I've had to use a Wiki.

The Common Craft video emphasized the 3 major steps in using a wiki.
1. Edit
2. Write
3. Save

I can use wiki spaces for collaborative lesson planning and cooperative projects.

Thing #15: Web 2.0, Library 2.0, and the future of libraries

Create a blog post about your thoughts on any one of these. Library 2.0 - It's many things to many people. What does it mean to you? What does it mean for school libraries?

To me Library 2.0 is as abstract, yet distinctive, as Web 2.0. Library 2.0 is about tearing down traditional boundaries and creating open lines of discourse. For school libraries, it is taking the library beyond the the walls and beyond the school hours, allowing library services to be available at the patron's convenience.

In today's culture we want everything immediately at our fingertips, and Library 2.0 does just that.

Thing #14: Technorati &Tags

3. Create a blog post for Thing #14 and express your thoughts regarding how Technorati and its features could assist you. Since you have now looked at several tools that use tagging (Technorati, de.licio.us, & Flickr), add your thoughts about the value of tagging information.

Technorati is still just confusing to me. Even though I viewed the video, I still don't quit understand how their operation works and how it is different from other search engines. I have to say that I have fallen in love with tagging. Delicious has become a close friend of mine and I love just adding a key word that will bring that url back up.

Tagging is important because it takes you directly to the source that is related to what you are looking for.

Thing #13- Delicious

Create a blog post about your experience and thoughts about this tool. Can you see the potential of this tool for research assistance? Or just as an easy way to create bookmarks that can be accessed from anywhere? How can libraries or classroom teachers take advantage of social bookmarking sites?

Signing up for Delicious was quick and very easy. It automatically linked to my Yahoo! account (too bad it couldn't link to my Google). Even after skimming through the resources and the directions, it was confusing on how to add the bookmark to my Internet Explorer tab. Is a bokmark the same as a "favorite"?

I can definitely see the potential of using Delicious as a research tool. I could just tag the different sites and articles that I come across and students will have direct links. Furthermore, I can instantly share my links with other teachers and they can share their's with me. Instead of emailing, "Oh, I found this link." I can just tag it!

Thing #12: Creating Community Through Commenting

Prompt: In the post about this Thing, explain two of the points that you think are important. In your post about this Thing, explain what drew your attention to these blogs.

1. It is important to add meaningful comments to the discussion on blogs. Comments on other blogs attracts readers to your blog.

2. There is no acceptable rule about bloggers responding to comments. If you think it's needed, you may respond. But don't be overprotective and defensive.

I left comments on a few Library2Play blogs and a couple of blogs outside of the Library2Play community. I used Google Blog search to find posts related to "So Yesterday" by Scott Westerfeld, the YA novel that I'm currently reading. This is an interesting adventure novel and I wanted to read others' feelings toward it.

Thing #11: LibraryThing

On your blog, write a Thing #11 post about your experience with LibraryThing. How do you think it could be useful to you in your situation? Did you check out any of the groups? Did you find a group of users that share your interests?

I created a LibraryThing account which is very much like Shelfari but has some noticeable differences. The registration process was EXTREMELY easy and quick. But once I logged on, I was bombarded with too much information and options. One major difference is that in LibraryThing, users can choose how to view the catalog and can print copies of the catalog.

I have used online book-networking sites, such as Shelfari, in my classroom. I could use LibraryThing with my students in the library in some of the same ways- to connect students with other readers, for rich discussion about books, as pre-reading to find information about the book, or post-reading to add information about the book. Students, and adults, easily lose track of the books they've previously read and the books they intend to read, and this online site helps with those challenges.

I looked at some of the groups that were created. I "joined" the group: Welcome to LibraryThing! It's purpose is to help new members get familiar with the online community by allowing them to introduce themselves, ask questions and learn about everything the LibraryThing community and site have to offer.

Thing #10- Online Image Generator

Describe your discovery process in your blog. In your post, be sure to include ways you might use these image generators in the library 0r classroom

Exploring online image generators was a fascinating activity for me. Reformating photos is just fun and now there are lots of online websites and applications to foster this pasttime. I've been trying to play around with Glogster for a while now. I'd previously registered but never had the time to explore, so I did that today and it was really a breeze. There are so many options and so many choices! I really want to this source with my students but I think it may be blocked (or it may be Wordle that's blocked by the district). I would use this site to make posters/signage for my classroom or library. And students could design these as opposed to traditional book reports.




I also explored PhotoShack to add effects to one of my own photos. I was trying to do the magazine cover, but I was overwhelmed by the options.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Thing #9- Library Blogs and News Feeds

Prompt: Create a blog post about your experience that answers these questions:
Which Search tool was the easiest for you? Which was more confusing?
What kind of useful feeds did you find in your travels? Or what kind of unusual ones did you find?


There's no surprise that Google Blog search was the easiest for me to use. The most confusing was Technorati.

For this exercise, I know that were to search for professional blogs, but honest I was distracted. I inti tally focused more on personal entertainment blogs. I came across a highly popular urban blog of celebrity news that was created by a young lady I attended Texas A&M with. The blog is The Young, Black, and Fabulous.

Many people, especially non-African-Americans, are not aware of the holiday that is observed today. This date has much significance in the history of the United States. More information about Juneteenth can be found Terrasig Illata. This site was very educational.

Another educational resource is Vicki Davis's blog, Cool Cat Teacher Blog, was interesting. I found her post, How to Create Your Circle of the Wise: How to pick the reads in your RSS, about how to choose effective blogs to be uselful and practical. I loved the C. S. Lewis quote she concluded the post with:


I can relate this to my musical exploration. You never know who the next ground-breaking star will be, so I like to keep my ears open for new artists and now I can transfer this to my new blogging experiences so I can be transformed by insightful writings.

Thing #8- RSS & Google Reader

Prompt:
What do you like about RSS and readers?
How do you think you might be able to use this technology in your school or personal life?
How can libraries/teachers/administrators use readers or take advantage of this new technology?

Google has once again won my heart! Before getting to this "thing" on the list, I'd decided to play around with the Reader when I saw it while checking my email. I like how RSS brings all the news and updates to me and I don't have to go around to different sites, searching for updates. I can stop adding so many different sites to my favorites, and just subscribe to them in my Google Reader which is accessible from any computer. Educators (librarians, teachers, administrators) can use this technology to stay abreast of innovative ideas and to stay connected to leading professionals.

Thing #7 Google Tools & Gadgets

After looking at each of Google tools, choose two of them to explore further. Try setting up an alert, calendar, notebook, or iGoogle page and using it. If sharing is an option for the tools you choose, make them public.


Blog about your experience with both tools and include a link (if you make it public) to your creation. Be sure and include possible educational uses.

Well, I'll preface this post by admitting that I'm a google fanatic. I love google and have been using it before it became a "verb." A few years ago, when I upgraded to my first touch screen smart phone (Palm Treo), I became very familiar with iGoogle. I used iGoogle on my smart phone but I still don't like using it on the computer for some reason.

Some of the tools I have previously on Google are the Scholar, calendar alerts, document sharing, news alerts, You Tube, and the calorie counter. And I always use Google maps- on computer and as phone application.

I decided to add translation gadget to my Google Homepage. This was easy to add and very easy to use. I could use this translator when trying to communicate with non-English speaking teachers and parents. Google should add an audio function so we can hear pronunciation as well.

I'm a Googler and I'm also a List person. I love to make lists, to use lists, and to check things off a list. The second tool I used was the "My ToDo List." It's fairly simple and nothing spectacular so I'll problbaby stick to the Tasks List on my phone. Though I liked the option of emailing and printing the list.

Thing #6- Flickr Mashups

Prompt: In your post, talk about some ways Flickr and/or Flickr mashups could be used in your library program.

Flickr mashups are the results of exceptional thinking. A brief description of a mashup (crazy name, I know), is combining Flickr with another electronic application. A plethora of these mashup can be found at BigHugeLabs and you can link your Flickr account to that site.

Browsing through the different mashups, I came across many that my students and I could use in my library. My favorites: Billboard, Cube, Badgemaker, Hockneyizer, and Motivator. These can be used for library signage, to promote books, or for functional uses such as a ID's for parent/community volunteers and student workers.

Thing #5- Flickr

Prompt: Write about what you found.

I found really awesome pictures on flickr. This ironically is one of the pictures that stuck with me. It is a photo of a classroom poster that a teacher uses to teach the writing process.

Another picutre that I loved was of Lady Bird Johnson reading a book to a class of preschoolers at a Head Start Center.

Thing #4

Thing #4: Register your blog and begin your Library2Play journey. (To be officially registered you must have posts written for Thing 2 and Thing 3.)

I am now waiting on the "official" confirmation that my blog is registered with my professor.

http://onlinepersonaltrainingvideobootcamp.com/blog/10-reasons-why-i-hate-the-gym/