Thing # 23

Holy Cow!  Thing # 23!

1.  What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
Ohhhh...  I had a great time with image editors and mashups.  I love images, so playing more with flickr is probably high on my list as well.  I should give a strong honorable mention to my new addiction, Google reader.

2.  How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
Well, as a lifelong learner it has helped me explore more deeply into web 2.0 tools.  As I said earlier, I love pictures, and I have definitely found some new ways to treat them.  I think technology is an area of life that is always changing so quickly we constantly have to learn new and different things to keep up with it.  That means we are kept in a state of prickly, stomach-turning frustration as we endeavor to learn the latest thing that is necessary for up to date teaching.  This course is a great step in challenging oneself to learn more about what already exists in our technology world.

3.  Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
 I was surprised at just how many pictures there are and how specific you could be when searching for pictures on flickr.

4.  What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
 I LOVE the "In Plain English" videos!  They do a great job of breaking down and explaining what the web 2.0 features are and how they work.  The format is great - I really appreciated the go-at-your-own-pace.  (Summers can be so busy!)  Maybe check to be sure everything is up to date - The web 2.0 "winners list" is old in technology terms, and many winners no longer exist or have been replaced. 

5.  If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
 Sure!  (A web 3.0 in the works?)

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?
 A Delightfully Stimulating Achievement!

7.  Now go and comment on some of the other Players' blogs?
OK - I have been trying to do this the entire time now.  I thought for a while I was, then realized it wasn't working, and I am still trying to figure out why I am not able to post on anyone's blog...  The goofy word to type in never appears for me.  It isn't even letting me comment on my own blog.  (Technological standard answer #3 - Because it can!)

Until next time - I'll see you in paradise!

**This is my husband and I at Paradise Cafe, summer '08

Thing # 22

Nings seem like great ways to connect with other teachers and share ideas and lessons.  Through Ning in Education, I found this site called learning.21st, which was created by a teacher who was creating a class for 6th graders in his school utilizing web 2.0 content.  This led me to Classroom 2.0 and Classroom 2.0 - technology teaching discussion.  Holy collaboration, Batman! 
There is one downside - if you have set up your Ning so that anyone can sign up and collaborate, your Ning can potentially turn into a bulletin board for adds, such as this Ning for Elementary teachers. 
I can definitely see it being a great way to keep alumnae involved with our school, and could see teachers within the ISAS, Dallas community using Ning to easily discuss new education topics and curriculum ideas.

Thing # 21

Well, thanks to the folks at Digital Wish and the amazing gift by Lamplighter's administration, each classroom was given a flip digital video camera just before winter break last school year.  Digital Wish is a company seeking teachers and donors to improve the technology in today's schools.  The company is offering a 2 flips for the price of 1 for educators.  The flips make digital videocasting much easier on a mac - as photostory does not work on a mac...
Flip utilizes a program called FlipShare to edit and subsequently share the videos you take.  You can create flip channels, email videos, create movies and DVDs, create greeting cards, and lots more to share videos with families and friends .  To add a video to your blog, you only need to share the video online, then save it as an "other" to be uploaded into your blog, or where ever.  (FlipShare only exports its files as .mp4 files.)
For this thing, I chose to share a video I took while visiting my parents in Iowa a few weeks ago.  Here, we see Grandpa teaching his grandson a truly useful skill...

Thing # 20

YouTube and I go way back.  I enjoy showing movies on occasion to help illustrate a point, though you should always choose and embed your videos ahead of time because you never know what a search may bring up.  For example, this is a search I did for time lapse plants growing, and try to ignore the clip 5 clips down...
I do love some of the funny things you can find on it.  I have sent links to humerus videos many, many times.  Because it is an open source site, if you feel adventurous enough you can add your own movies.  Recently, one of my friends let us know he and his wife are pregnant in a way only Jeff could orchestrate.  (And if you are feeling really adventurous, you can even view his marriage proposal to Jennifer.  Please be sure all small children are out of the room before viewing...)
With TeacherTube, I LOVE the videos Dr. Loopy created for Skyview Elementary school.  This is part 1 of 4 on matter.
To continue our happy post, I leave you with this fun clip:

Thing # 19

Well, this list of web 2.0 sites was created in 2008, so a few of the links and services no longer exist.  I tried to find a more current list, bu was unsuccessful.
Aside from the sites we have already visited, there are lots of sites that are just fun to play on.  I'm not entirely sure how most of them would fit into an elementary classroom - Cocktail builder could be great for a Friday night, but isn't really going to help much in the classroom...  Some are handy around the house.  I'm Cooked, for example, has great videos of cooking instead of just recipes.  You can literally follow along with the internet chef when creating your dish and pause when necessary.  Revolution health will replace your medical dictionary.  (Though, I've learned from experience not to spend too much time looking up my ailments online as you always end up with cancer or the plague...)
Overall, I enjoy many of the sites on the list, some of which I am able to use in the classroom.

Thing # 18

Well, after looking at Open Office, I will say it is would be nice to have office programs at one's finger tips without paying the premium.  This could be very beneficial to schools that do not have the funding to secure office programs.  I also think Google Docs are extremely easy to use and could possibly be used for the same reason, though Google Docs require each user to create an account and I'm not sure if I really want to keep track of every student's account name and password so they can get to their reports again.  (We have a log-in system at school for students to use the computers, and even at the end of the year there are still many students who do not remember their chosen passwords.) 
So, both have their monetary advantages.  I think Google Docs has more opportunities for collaboration, so is probably the choice of adults and older students now.

Thing # 17

Because Rollyo limits the sites students can search from, you can be a little more confident your students aren't going to pull up something inappropriate on accident.  (Nick's unexpected search - 23 player Perdu Dans La Toile - is a FANTASTIC example of why we have to search before class time and not during...)  If you have been bookmarking sites for a long time and collecting sites you know you will want students to use, you are fairly set to make your own roll.  If this is a new project for you and you do not already have sites in mind, this will be a time consuming project for you.  (I could see this being a big deterrent for many teachers.)  It is fairly easy to search other people's rolls to decide if you want to use it or edit it, but, again, if you are not already familiar with the sites you will want to check them out before expecting your students to use them to collect information.
For this activity, I created a roll for insects, a research project done with the 2nd grade at the end of the year. 

Thing # 16

Towards the end of the school year, we do research projects in the first and second grades to help students practice using various sources to gather information about a topic.  One of the resources we use is the internet, using safe search for kids.  Because we are teaching students how to determine if their resource is a credible resource, we generally tell them to stay away from wikis like Wikipedia because anyone can get on them and change the information.  (We do discuss comparing resources to be sure the information on them matches, and to use as many resources as they can find.)  And, yes, I am teaching the students to be wary of Wikipedia even though I regularly use it as a beginning resource, and listen to my husband and his friends quote it like gospel...
As a technology teacher, we have discussed using a wiki to teach various software programs to teachers and as an on-going question/answer forum for the software during the learning process.  The idea being we wanted our teachers to be fluently using the programs on their computers so they could easily teach it to students.  But, teachers are incredibly busy people who don't always have time to corner another busy teacher to ask a question about the program he/she is using.  So, the teacher could post the question and expect an answer from a multitude of other teachers within a day or so.  I honestly think the only reason we didn't use it is because the idea of a wiki can be intimidating to someone who is already technologically challenged (and afraid).  I do, however, think this is something we could probably use in the future as we continually encourage teachers to confront their technological reservations and build new skills and confidence.

Thing # 15

My how the act of reading has changed!  My family and friends have conversations about it all the time.  In camp A, we have my husband and a few of our friends, who love the e-reader apps and e-books.  My husband recently purchased the iPad, with the major selling point for him being he could have an e-reader application that would let him have a book to read no matter where he is.  According to camp A, a story can be woven as long as there are words to read.
In camp B, we have my dear friend Kathryn and a few other friends who absolutely cannot part with paper bound books.  In their opinion, the reading experience is not complete without the weight of the book in their hands, and the smell and the feel of the paper as they turn each page.  According to camp B, giving that up would completely ruin the reading experience.
Camp C includes friends who would very much like to turn their reading into a digital experience, but are unable to because they cannot read the print on the device they are using (generally an iPhone), and to increase the font size enough so that it is readable would transform their books to one word on the screen at a time.  According to camp C, this an unacceptable way to read, as they would have to spend all of their time scrolling.  (I have been told not to laugh here, as it will one day become my fate as well...)
Each camp has very convincing arguments.  Camp B is concerned that books are going to be phased out completely, leaving us a solitary race bent over our personal computers.  (I believe the term "Borg" was thrown out at some point.)  Camp A feels that they are staying abreast with the latest technology, which just happens to meet their story devouring needs. 
I think "Into a New World of Librarianship" does a great job of illustrating how we as educators need to be prepared to succeed in both camps.  We need to be prepared to facilitate camp A, while providing opportunities for camp B to continue to enjoy their reading experiences.  I suppose that would make us members of camp D - enjoy both the bound book reading experience and reading experiences using new technologies. 
On a side note - though I spend a vast majority of my time on a computer, I tend to prefer to read my books the old fashioned way, despite the constant peer pressure from my husband to get an e-reader app.  :o)

Thing # 14

Well, my technorati keyword search for "School Library Learning 2.0" came back with nothing for both blog and posts.  So, I did my own search - kittens.  Yeah, this is definitely not something we can use in our school, as a benign search came back with some very colorfully worded blogs and posts! 
And, of course, the popular blogs, searches and tags page is not currently working. 
Technorati is great for finding what you would like to catch up on in the world.  It isn't wonderful for searching for classroom specific content, but I don't think it is meant for that.  Technorati seems to be more geared towards what people are talking about, even gossiping about, not finding facts about topics.  It is a directory of opinions, which can be a very fun experience, indeed. 
I do think tags can help quickly refine searches and get you to what you are looking for faster.  That can make a huge difference when you only have a few minutes to find, research, and create a lesson.

Thing # 13

I bookmark all of the time on my laptop.  So much so that I have to review them continuously to make sure they are all still working.  AND I have to have my computer with me to utilize them in the classroom.   Delicious alleviates much of this issue.  Delicious is also potentially useful in school because it is easy to share sites being used for a lesson in multiple rooms by multiple teachers/computers.
The interesting thing about sharing is you have to already know someone's username to link your tags to theirs.  Not necessarily hard to do, but it adds a step if you don't already know the username of the person you want to link.  I was able to tag some of my favorite sites on delicious, but don't know anyone's username, so it is difficult to share. 
I do think that in my case, this will be most beneficial in using bookmarks in more than one location.  Because I float from room to room it can be handy to be able to show my students what I want them to see quickly so they can get started on their own work.  Though I have my own laptop that I take with me, there are times when it is just easier to use the homeroom teacher's computer. 
I'm not sure it is feasible to use this with my students, as they are young and each site makes it fairly easy to get into some inappropriate territory on accident.  If I could set up a student specific account, where students could only get onto the sites I have bookmarked for them, it could work.  That could also be nice because students would be able to access the sites they were using in school at home.

Thing # 12

Cool Cat Teacher has a wonderful point about criticism of ideas.  I love how she touches on the high likelihood that at some point someone is going to be very critical of what you have posted - whose main goal is to "steal your enthusiasm for blogging with... unkindness".  Her advice: delete and never look back!  She then continues about how to properly comment for productive reasons - all of which are techniques teachers use daily when guiding students toward improvement.

A common theme among every suggested commenting etiquette sites is to be sure that your comment is adding to the conversation.  Don't comment just to write, be clear and positive about what you want to say to help the conversation.

For my 2 blogs of interest...
 I first chose this one about picky eating.  Although my son is only 14 months, it can be a real battle to feed him.  (Mainly because I refuse to allow him to survive on Goldfish and Graham crackers as he would choose...)  his blog has LOTS of great tips for helping older children eat well.
This blog is set up to help with gardening in the DFW area.  It has lots of ideas and help for gardening in this area - something I struggle with after learning everything I know about gardening in the fertile, Iowa area, and not the desert that is Texas... 

Thing # 11

Well, I grabbed a stack of books - some from my recent Administrative degree, some professional books I read for school, some just books I like.  They were all very easy to add to my library.  Because the results are coming from Amazon, you don't have to even be that exact when searching for the books you want to add to your library.  (My account name is KTucker97.)

As far as the "groups" and "talk" tabs go - I can see they would be really great for creating a book club of some kind.  Everyone could read, add the book to their collection, and discuss it in one of these sections for a designated time period.  Tough part would be keeping up with everyone who wanted to participate, as these areas are all public. 
Personally, I could see it as a challenge to me to read and/or keep up with what others are reading, or see as "must read" books (a very hot topic in my family!).  EX: 1001 Books to read before you die

Thing # 10

I had a lot of fun with the Motivational Posters:

This one, a real-time picture of the kitty.  (Honestly, it is what he is doing right this very minute..)

This, created from a picture taken on a trip I took to Ecuador.

And, of course, one of my favorite place.  (I think I may print this one and use it as motivation to get back there.  I seem to be obsessed!)


I jumped on Wordle to make this using Wikipedia:

Overall, very fun experience.  I could definitely spend way too much time discovering new and different ways to play with my pictures.  For the classroom, I could see using them to help students remember quick tricks or shortcuts with technology, or basic computer rules and expectations.

Thing # 9

Well, from everything I have read Blogline is the easiest to read - problem is it isn't working for me right now.  (Says it is FORBIDDEN.  Impressive considering I am not at school and nothing is blocked like this at home...)  That said, Google search was easy to use and I could search for what ever I wanted to.  Edublog is interesting in that it has a TON of sites that apply to education, though the site funnels you through pre-chosen, "award" blogs rather than letting you search for your own content. 
I am finding that I need to decide if I really want to keep up with the site on my reader, because it is so easy to just add sites that I could spend an entire day trying to read all of the new posts.  (Yes, they are easy to remove if I really want to, but I don't want a lot of excess posts keeping me from enjoying the sites I really want to stay caught up with.)  For example, I love getting new recipes to try out - many come to my inbox on a daily basis.  If I really let myself, I would sign up for 20 different cooking/recipe sites.  Though fun to look at, it would consume all of my time to review them all - and I have had to put a limit on my reader time so I don't stay up ALL NIGHT looking at it.  :o)

Thing # 8

What do I like about rss feeds?  It definitely makes catching up on some of my favorite web pages much easier and much more concise.  By visiting my Google Reader I am actually visiting 9 different sites all at once.  Some of my blogs on my rss feed are blogs friends have set up to keep in touch while they are visiting amazing places I can only dream of going myself.  In my personal life, it is so much easier to keep up with them and their adventures on one page.  Professionally, it is so much easier to stay on top of new literature, new articles or just new thinking about student learning.  This is important because we are constantly learning more and more about how we learn.  As a teacher or an administrator it is important to know about these new theories to improve our schools so that we can best meet the needs of our students.
On that note, some of my favorites:
 i can has cheeseburger
Baby Cheapskate
Catalytic Conversations
Daniel Pink
Simply Recipes
That's Fit
(And, yes, the reader must never be opened when work needs to be done or no work will ever get done!!)

Thing # 7

Google tools.  How do I love thee?  I do not believe I can actually count the ways...
OK - Google Maps.  A wonderful tool, especially paired with Google Earth.  Math, Language, Social Studies - you name it you can pair it with this.  The tool bar is wonderful.

At one of the TCEA conferences I saw a presentation from a woman who had used Google Earth to create a real-life tour of New York that simultaneously paired with a book her class was reading.  The ruler can be used to measure how far it takes to get from school to home in various different ways (miles, feet, smoots...).  Truly, it could take days to explore everything these tools could do to support your curriculum.
And, yes, I located my favorite place in Cozumel:

Google Documents are also a fairly large player in our family.  My husband LOVES them because he can start working on something at his desktop at work and continue working on it on our desktop at home, or I can add to it from school.  He loves it for journaling and other on-going projects.  At school, Google Documents could be used to connect busy teachers to enable them to create, build and adapt curriculum.

Thing #6

Wow.  That is about all I have to say about how many mashups there are.  I could play all day and still not have done everything possible with my pictures.  I have wanted to get some sailboat prints for my son's room.  Using flickr I was able to find some great sailboat pictures and then was able to use mosaic to make a great poster that will look great in his nursery!

Thing #5

Yes, I played on Flicker for a while.  (Both baby nap-times worth, actually!)  I wanted to see just how specific the searches would get.  I was impressed with the results.
I began by searching for pictures I could use for my science classes.  But, then I changed rails and decided to have a little more fun with it.

I am originally from Iowa, and this is a picture of what has spoiled all corn for me.  Sweet corn, bought from the farmer who picked it that morning and eaten for dinner that night.  I am telling you, if you ever get the opportunity, this is they way it was truly intended.  (Well, this is more field corn than Iowa sweet corn, but you get the idea.)

Then, I decided to try to see just how easy it would be to find something specific.  I wanted to find a picture of a favorite place in Cozumel.  (It is the kind of place that you trip and fall on, but everyone who has been there will tell you about it in detail and endlessly chronicle just how much they loved it.)  So, how specific do I need to be to find this picture?  The answer is not very.  I actually found a picture of it with just the keyword "Cozumel".  So, either Flickr truly has an enormous plethora of pictures to choose from, the place is more popular than it seems, or I need to dash out and buy a lottery ticket.  (I think the first choice is correct.)  Anyway, here is a picture from Flickr showing Paradise Cafe (though I think it has another name now...):

And if you go - get the shrimp quesadillas.

Thing #3

Well, I have set up a blog before, so adding another blog wasn't too large of a task.  Making my avatar was fun.  Looking through everything can take forever - it definitely helps to use the search box.  I found that you can use the HTML, but you have to add it to a post, so it wouldn't just stay on the side as a gadget. 

Thing # 2

I think Habit #3 - viewing problems as challenges - is probably the easiest for me.  When I want to get something done and something pops up I will work to fix the problem like a puzzle that needs to be solved. 
I believe Habit #4 - Having confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner - is the most important and the easiest to lose touch with.  Getting frustrated can truly be detrimental to your progression as a learner.  I love the idea that the words you use to describe yourself will become your reality, so choose your words carefully.  "Don't say it or think it unless you want it to be true" is such a powerful guiding phrase.