Thing 23

Finally made it to Thing 23, and I can tell you it's been a HUGE learning experience. I considered myself "up" on most of the computer-technology out there, and this has shown that there's so much more out there that I never knew existed. I had no idea that blogging/podcasts/Library tools were so popular.

I've had many people at school ask me what I thought of the course, and I'll tell you what I've told them. It takes TIME---I could sit for HOURS and look at everything that's out there, but I had to make myself move on. Make sure you have a couple of hours each wk (usually took me 3 or 4) to look at everything. There's so much to explore, and I've only hit the surface.

I plan to go back over my blog this summer, looking at the sites, and REALLY delve into podcasting and upgrading my teacher website. I would LOVE to get some podcasts on my site!!

Loved the course...Loved the experience.. I'm telling everyone else about it.

Wk 9: Thing 22

eBooks & Audio eBooks:

Great resource. I used LibriVox last year with my 6th graders...we were able to download one of our novels and listen to portions of it. The World eBookFair's site is a bit hard to navigate. I finally scrolled all the way down to find the "hint": Click on "Browse Collections" page. The Gutenberg Project has free downloads on their site, but it's linked to iBiblio.com. You can't view any of the books on WorldeBookFair unless you pay for access.

This would probably be most useful to Intermediate and HighSchool/College students.

Wk 9: Thing 21 Podcasts

WOW! I found the cutest podcasts from an Elementary School in
Omaha, Nebraska! It's called WillowWeb, and on podcast #30, Second Graders are giving information on what they learned from their research on Volcanoes. They do a cute "radio spot" and even "hand off" the reporting to different kids.
Definitely an inspiration!

It's easy as pie to get the RSS feed onto your blog...Just copy and paste & it's THERE!

Some other podcasts I found interesting / useful:

GrammarGirl and Just Vocabulary --- Two of my favorite things!! :)

I really enjoyed this assignment....SO many things to listen to out there.

--Oh, The Places You'll GO! :)

bb

Wk 9: Thing 20

I've seen YouTube MANY MANY times before this assignment. It's got SO many things to look at, but you really have to be careful in searching or you'll get something "that you didn't really ask for"...

One of the first things I remember seeing in YouTube was a skit on ComedyCEntral. Clean, of course. Now, we find things all the time to look at!

:)If I only had a digital video camera for the classroom....oh the possibilities!

:)

Wk 8: THing 19

Library Thing!! VERY good site. I've added my books and plan to add more and more.

This would be a great place to add all those children's books--bluebonnet books, and more!!

Here's the link to my library: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/bbuck Right now, I just have the books that I've read recently, or the ones that I want to read soon! There's quite a lot of discussions about Evanovich---she's pretty popular! :)

--I like this site!!

Wk 8: Thing 18 ZOHO Docs

OH COOL!!!! This is similar to Google Docs, but I think I like THIS even better. One of the BESTthings about this (and googledocs) ?? Any document/slide show, etc.. you create can be accessed from anywhere!! No more "wishing I'd brought my laptop home" (or to school) or worrying about saving a document to a Pin Drive/Vault.

I found the picture below when we taught "Cactus Hotel" in our Reader this year. I thought this cactus looked "human-like" because of the position of the arms.

I couldn't find the Font Color at first, but ah! There it IS!!

I can see using this A LOT!!! The program, I mean...not just the font-color.

Now, let's see if I can "publish" this document to my blog...hmmm...

:)bb

YEAH, it worked!!! :)

Wk 7: Thing 17

It took me a little while to figure out "adding an entry" to the sandbox/teacher's lounge, but
I finally figured it out.

You have to look way down at the bottom of the wiki-page and view "comments".

By the way, anyone else notice that the posting times are not correct (viewable on the blog page)??
I guess it's really no big deal...I just noticed it.

:)

Wk 7: Thing #16

so THAT's what a WIKI is..:)

The sources on this exercise shows exactly what you need to know in order to understand what a wiki is, what it does, the pros and the cons...It's like a glorified web-page--one of the down-sides, tho, is that anyone has access to it and can change it. The examples of students/teachers using wiki were great! There are some "rules" that some wiki-owners have implements...like giving a password and making sure no one shares the password with an unauthorized user/read/contributor. I like that option...as long as you know that the people using your wiki will not share that password..

One teacher (on the teacherlibrarian wiki) put it this way (I thought this summed it up pretty well...
"....I'd be worried if the wiki was an only source...but as one of many...well maybe--why not. It also depends on the project too. Some content is so timely that a wiki may be one of the few places to find information"

This looks like a great opportunity for middle and high school students. :)

Wk 6: Thing 15

Fair(y) Tale about Copyright Law... Pretty Clever...

Whew! The rest of this took quite a long time, but well-worth the time.

"Avoiding Icebergs" This is an interesting way of putting it. Libraries will have to avoid some pitfalls and the old ways of doing things if they're to keep up with the technological demand from their patrons. Students and patrons alike can and will be contributors to the vast knowledge base that Libraries provide. One of the "icebergs" remind us that everyone is going to want access to EVERYTHING---instantly. Library 2.0 is the way of meeting that demand. Not only are they going to want access, but they're going to want it where ever they are, and getting access to it without having to be physically AT the Library. That's a LOT of information at your finger-tips!!!

Wk 6: Thing 14

Technorati--- WOW! Just when I find one thing that impresses me, the next item does even more...Who knew there were so many blogs out there. I had NO idea it was taking off like it is.
I've found some great bookmarks to finding fonts, and more!
There are TONS of blogs about politics---of course. :)
Off to explore even more..

OH HEY~ I just figured out that the "little pencil" next to the post automatically links back to the edit-post feature. ahhaha Glad to find that little "tool".

:)

Week 6: Thing 13

Tagging and Del.icio.us--

Wow...feeling a little overwhelmed with all the "technology" out there. It's been VERY eye-opening...exploring and learning about these items. Del.icio.us has so much! I just spent an hour
just looking over it and searching different topics. Becoming a member is easy, too...

I'm gonna love this!

:)

Week 5: Thing 12 - Rollyo

This tool is amazing!! All my favorite search engines in ONE PLACE...

Neato!! I set one up on "Sites for Kids" so that when we go to the computer lab, or when I need a place to reinforce Reading Skills, it'll be at my fingertips!

:)

Week Five: Think #11

The Awards List is amazing. It would take FOREVER to go through them all, but here's the ones that I like from the ones I've looked at.

In the "FUN" link--I thought "FuzzMail" was funny. It lets you send emails that are typed out in real-time. If you back-space and change a word/mistake, it shows up ...it's pretty fun.

In the "Organization" link-- I like zoho.com....wow! SO much to do there...you'll have to go look at it!!

In the "City Guides and Reviews"---Yelp.com is really good.

Omnidrive.com is fantastic!!!

I like the Zillow.com, too!!
Can't wait to be able to peruse these more this summer, when I've got more time.

:)