Thing # 23

My favorite exercises were the mashups and photostory. They were both interesting and fun. I believe my students will really enjoy using any of the two to create projects aligned with our lessons.

This program has made me more knowledgeable on whats available in cyberspace and possible uses with my students and personal life. I will definitely incorporate more technology and all new ideas this coming school year.

I was surprised it took more than 23 hours to get it done. :) I enjoyed the majority of the task especially the ones that required more than just typing your thoughts on a particular subject.

While I enjoyed this project I felt more accomplish when I created something to show at the end of each discovery. I would love to see more exercises that would require you to create something but at the same time shorten the number of activities so each discovery could be completed in timely manner. Regardless on whether changes are made on this or other similar discoveries, I would definitely participate again. I received more than I bargained for from 23 Things!

Thing # 22

I viewed all 5 nings and was only interested in Nings for Teacher. It was refreshing to view other fabulous lessons. Educator from all over would benefit from joining this social network. All members would receive and provide wonderful teaching ideas. Its beautiful!

Thing # 21

This is the first time I use and hear of Photostory. I absolutely love it! It was a unique way to be able to share photos from our recent trip to Puerto Vallarta. I can't wait to use it again at home and at school.

Thing # 20

It is wonderful to have access to so many videos. I especially liked TeacherTube because everything on there was specific to the search where as YouTube was a more broader search. I chose a video on phases of the moon since this TEK has been added to our curriculum. This particular video shows you how to make a moon box. Its a fun activity where students can create the phases of the moon. http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=55496&title=How_to_make_a_moon_box

Thing # 19

So many things to view so little time. I could actually explore these sites all day. I was interested in the following ones: Picnik,Google Earth, Mango and Urbanspoon. Picnik is a great site where you can upload pictures and edit them in many ways. Student would enjoy uploading there photo for any given project and present them any way they wish. The map sites allow you to view locations as if you were there in person. Students may use this site to practice coordinates - North, South, East & West. Mango was another interesting site. It allowed you to learn different languages such as Portuguese, Chinese, Russian and even English for ELL. Mango could be bookmarked on students computer to give them another site to explore during bilingual centers. Urbanspoon is a site that gives you list of restaurant in various areas. It also provides a list of where to get good cheap food. This site is especially useful for me since our family always wants to try something new to eat.

Thing # 18

I explored Open Office and realized that it is very user friendly. It has several perks such as having support in your own language with no difficulty, may be installed on as many computers as you wish, its totally free!! Another great feature is that it allows you to create PDF files! Wow!! Open Office is more efficient than Microsoft Office. Using Microsoft Office will require upgrades year after year. To obtain these upgrade you will have to pay for them. Plus there is a limit to how many computers you are able to load Microsoft Office to unlike Open Office. Each time you upgrade you need to learn the new features it has, which in return may be a little more stressful for those who are not quick to acquire new things.

Thing # 17

Rollyo is awesome! I love that it was easy to create an account and a searchroll. My search roll was is on water cycle for 1st grade. I added my own sites to search plus the ones rollyo chose for me. The searchroll produced sites with information on water cycles, diagrams, games and much more. I can't wait to use this for class activities. I'm glad that I'll be able to control the site my students can search and all information viewed. I love it!!

Thing # 16

Wiki!! So much fun! I didn't know anyone could edit wikis.I would use wiki to collaborate with my co-workers on any events planned for our students such as grade level play & Friends Near & Far Unit. As far as the use of wiki with students we could use it for class projects. If we are studying insects each group of students could choose an insect and write about it, post pictures found or drawn. All students will collaborate and share information they know. I liked several of the ideas listed on how to use Wiki with your students.

Thing # 15

The video on A Vision of Students Today is very factual. Educators have to change their way of teaching by staying up to date with technology their students are expose to. While reading "Away from Icebergs" and "Into a New World of Librarianship" I can't help but agree with all that was posted. I agree that librarian need to be ahead of the game and not wait until all the new technology overcome them. In doing so they not only help others in person, but also virtually. I also agree that there must be access to these libraries from anywhere you are at. Library 2.0 lets others not only voice their opinions and concerns but also collaborate in future planning.

Thing # 14

While in Technorati I searched for "School Library Learning 2.0” in Blog Posts, Tags and Blog Directory and got zero results. I also tried looking up Technorati popular blog and widgets, but both were under construction. I did view their tag on Top 100. I viewed several blogs such as The Huffington Post News, Gizmodo and Mashable. The one I enjoyed the most was Gizmodo. This blog had information and interesting vidoes on various electronic gadgets. Using tags in both Delicious and Technorati would be very beneficial to any person. Using tags in Delicious help you stay organized while using tags in Technorati allows you to search for various topics.

Thing # 13

Delicious is awesome!! It's great to know that I will soon have a more organized way to save all my favorite sites. My Favorites tab was starting to get a little messy which made it hard to locate items. I started adding my favorites to my delicious account. So far it's going great! I was able to add a friend to my network by adding her delicious user name. Now I am able to view all her bookmarks and use the ones that interest me. I see this site being useful for various research projects. The librarian or teacher may add bookmarks on specific topics students are researching. Doing this will allow students to locate required information on sites that are appropriate. A school librarian could also create a social network for the school and tag each item by subject, theme and grade level. This would be extremely beneficial to all staff.

Thing # 12

The key points I was drawn to were to be humble and gracious. 10 Techniques to Get More Comments on Your Blog states that its okay to show weakness or gaps in your knowledge and to accept any corrections to your blog. You should respond to these comments graciously without offending anyone. In doing so, other bloggers will not hesitate to make comments on your blog. It was interesting to see other Library2Play blogs. I commented on the following bloggers:

Becoming Mary Poppins
Winegar's 23 Things
Sunshine
Firefly Flight
360 Again

I commented on two other blogs that are not part of Library2Play. The first blog to catch my attention dealt with a family helping others in Nicaragua. The second blog give valuable baby advise.
nicakellys
wolfwater

Thing # 11

I enjoyed visiting and joining Library Thing. I never knew such site existed. It was interesting to see all the books available to add to your library. Searching for books I've read or want to read was time consuming. I enjoyed each minute of it but realized that time can pass me by while on this site. It was convenient to have many ways to search for a book. I viewed groups accessible and was attracted to the crime, thriller & mystery group. I plan to use Library Thing to add books I've read. It will be nice to see how many books I've read each month or year. Oh, I had a hard time posting my widget but after several tries was successful!

Thing # 10

I had a wonderful time exploring image generators. It wasn't easy deciding which to use for this blog. Comic Strip Generator, Dumpr and wordle were my favorite. I could easily use wordle for various assignments. Here are a few ideas for assignments: describe yourself, parts of an insect, traits of a character from a story or anything else you wish to assign. I've attached two of my favorite images. Here are the links for the two: http://www.dumpr.net and http://www.comicstripgenerator.com. I also created a wordle and tried saving it to my computer but was not successful so I published it. Here is the link http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/2189042/Summer. Does anyone have any idea on how to save wordles or is it even possible?

Thing # 9

The easiest search tools were Topix, Technorati and Edublog. All three were very well organized and appealing to the eye. The most confusing search tool was Syndic8, everything was all over the place. I had a hard time finding things I searched for and the site was simply boring. Some useful feeds found were related to family, health and education which were found from the 3 search tools I listed above. I was interested more in Topix because it allowed to find news about my community. One of the topics I ran across was on the police department. Learned some interesting facts about my police department in my neighborhood.

Thing # 8

The main thing I like about RSS and readers is that everything you want is at one location. I love that I don't have to search and navigate from one site to another because readers does it for me. Using Google Reader will keep me up to date on topics that are of my interest.This tool will also be beneficial for educators. We are able to subscribes to blogs that interest us and give us fresh teaching ideas. This allows us to grow professionally.

Thing # 7

All Google tools were awesome! I didn't realize there were so many. I did further exploring with Google Alert and Google Earth. For Google Alert I requested alerts on Twilight. I absolutely loved it!! It sent everything it had on Twilight. Google Alert is useful on days you don't have time to search for news you want. Google Alert will do the searching for you and send it straight to your email. Google Earth is a nice tool which allows you to view any desired location. Students would truly enjoy using Google Earth by viewing different countries studied.

Thing # 6

It’s fascinating what things you can do with all the different "mashups". You can use most of them during the school year, but some will work great for the beginning of the school year. You or your students can create their own cube, mosaic maker or poster. By using these tool, this will give your students information about their classmates. I created a jigsaw puzzle and a trading card. Both of which I found were user friendly and easy to create. I am only posting the trading card. :)

Thing # 5

I decided to search for pictures I could use for science and/or writing lessons. Since cycles are a big part of our science unit, I decided to pick a creature whose cycle we study. Searches involved ladybugs, chicks, beetles, butterflies, and frogs. The winning picture goes to the FROG!

Thing # 4

I have sent required information to register my blog. I am waiting on my welcome email so I can be "Official".

Thing # 3

Creating a blog and exporting an Avatar has been an exciting experience. I'm amazed on how easy it is to create a blog. I thought it was going to take days to create this blog. The only battle I ran into was with deciding my blog name. I had already created an Avatar on yahoo, so all I needed to do was export it onto my blog. I failed to read the instructions on how to export so it took a little longer to do. It was a breeze once I went back to read the information needed.

Thing #2

The easiest habit for me is Habit #1, Begin with the end in mind. It is easier for me to accomplish tasks if I have a set goal for myself. There have been times where I haven't set a goal and it literally throws me off; therefore, I make sure to set goals before starting a mission. The hardest habit to accomplish is Habit #7 ½ -Play. I tend to forget about play and believe that I don't have time for it. Don't get me wrong, I do make time for play, but it’s not an easy job. I always think of other productive things I may do around the house, work, etc. I'm trying to pull away from that thought, but at times it is extremely difficult.