*** Thing # 23 ****

Yea!! I made it! Number 23!! I was a little worried that I would not finish when I could not get on from my parents house for 10 days!! But I did it!! I have learned so much cool stuff. I think that photostory will be one of my best friends this year. I also love the image generators like framing, cartoons, comics.... They will be a lot of fun to use plus make things more interesting and fun. I plan to keep looking for blogs and networks of interest to me. I also want to find some of the daytime radio talk shows podcast so I can listen after school and keep up with stuff going on.
Thank you for this wonderful opportunity to learn so much in a comfortable format!!
I loved it and hope to see more next summer!

Thing #22 Ning

Ning is a pretty cool tool. At this point I am not into social networks but I can see the potential especially for older kids and networking among teachers. I like the way you can easily make your network focusing on your specific needs either professional or curricular. I liked the scenario described in the description of Ning. It could be a very powerful experience for students. Using the teacher networks is a great way to share ideas, get ideas solving a problem and just 'talking' with others in your situation. I did not try to make one but I did visit several teacher ones and found them very interesting. There are some that are mostly sharing ideas, some kind of complaining about stuff and others just sharing experiences. A lot of potential!

Thing # 21 Podcast and Vidcast

I enjoyed looking at/listening to the podcasts and vidcasts. I think there are big possibilities with both of these. The can be used for oral reports so it doesn't take up so much class time. - also helps with anxiety for some kids. Kids can record their podcast, then teacher and other students can listen at their pleasure and leave comments. Same for the vid casts doing very creative projects. It will be very helpful in making how to's info video books and the like that can be used as needed. I made an ABC book. What I would like to do with my kindergartners would be to have an older kids or a volunteer to help the kids find the pictures they want for an ABC book, then as a group we would pull them into photostory, then have each child record their own "A is for ..." sentences.I think it would be really cool. The really great thing is that it is so easy to do. It just takes time to find the pictures your want. I would also like to try scanning in pictures the kids make (or use ones made with Kidpix) and use them for a vid book.

Thing 20 YouTube and TeacherTube

YouTube and Teacher Tube have a lot of really cool videos that could be used in the classroom. It is pretty easy to find clips that illustrate concepts or ideas.
Here is one that demonstrates a Magnet shooter by a kindergartner.





Here is a nice photostory from Teacher Tube about the national symbols.



I also saw videos of people reading stories, books, singing songs, explaining concepts either to the teacher or to the students.
A lot of really talented people out there. If people in our district create these we need to be sure to spread the word. One of the problems I have here at home is annoying and very hard to watch. Sometimes the second time is faster but not always. Will it down load faster at school?
But I do think they are very useful in teaching. Older kids could have this as a product choice. Those who like this kind of thing would have a ball. I know my oldest niece would have!!

Thing # 19 Web 2.0 Awards list

Comiqs: create comics out of stock or your own photos, add speech ballons and title. Easy, fun. just used stock photos and made a simple Kitty cartoon for fun. Very easy. Could use to make a writing prompt, summarize a part of a story, tell about a setting, give facts about places or things, in a language class it could be used to practice labeling or simple conversation. Here are 2 comiq strips I made that could be possible products.

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flamings are birds from turtletracs on Comiqs


USA Landmarks from turtletracs on Comiqs

Thing # 18 Online Productivity tools

I looked at both Open Docs and Google docs. They seem basically comparable to Office. One of the neat things about Google docs is that you can share your documents as you are working on it and not have multiply copies of your original streaming all over email. Open doc did not have a clip art gallery that I could find but I guess I could find pictures I want and have them saved, but I do like having a bank of picts at my fingertips. They both have spell check and option
s to change font, color, size, add tables, graphics... Some things are not as easy to do in the free applications as it is in Office. So now that I have rambles a along a little about each, I think they are ok for a free version of these productivity applications. I think people who do more complex things in these would need to see it they will work for them too.

Thing # 17 Rollyo

Rollyo is an interesting tool. It would be really great if you are working on a big research project and need to go back and forth to the same resources a lot. I do not use specific sites enough -although this year I might- to make groups of sites to search. I looked at one person's rollyo to get an idea nad I say she had differnt kinds of recipes as different catagories. Interesting. I will keep this in mind this year and see if I can find some uses for it in my classroom/life. I made a search for some places I like ot look for things for my classroom.

Select Search Engine...jill's ShoppingSearch The Web

Powered by Rollyo

Thing #16 WIKIs

Wiki's are really cool. They make working together even from a far so easy. I liked the idea of being able to plan things using the wikis. I loved the extra features shown in PBWiki. If working with a team or group, the calender would be so handy. It would be very helpful at our school when the monthly calendar of events is being made, people can just go in and add their event then the person making it to print would have it all there. I also liked the classroom applications although I think it would be more useful for upper grades.
I added some text to the Sandbox. It was so easy!! I even tried adding images and tables. This could be so great for many things!!

Thing #15

Yea Thing 15. I am getting there!
I read Away from the “icebergs”
and To more powerful ways to cooperate.
In Away From the "Icebergs" post, I think many areas are facing icebergs in thier attempts to embrace the technology generation. It is hard to let go of the past that we are comfortable with whether in the Library, the classroom, the office or the grocery store. Iderson find I am very guilty in the Just in Case Collection senerio. I keep paper files of things even though I have them saved on the computer and several other places. I don't even use those paper files, but Just in Case! In libraries I think it will be easier to go techie in the information areas of the library a lot sooner than other sections. Most people still lkie to curl up with a nice book in thier hands to read.
I think that one of the most motivating ideas to get users into technolgy is what was discussed in Rick Anderson's second 'iceberg.' of He talked about the web having so much more information than most libraries can physiclly hold. When we need more information for work or pleasure, we will all come to the web to get more sources. This makes helping people connect to those resources and learning how to check reliability a big role of new libraians and teachers.
Library 2.0 is the direction for all libraries to head inorderto help their patrons access the information they need wether physical or web based.

Think 14

learn technology tags organize search find advertise
I found the videos about Technorati very interesting. I like the idea of having user defined tags like the lady was saying. When you want to know about somethings, you don't want a professional view but ideas from everyday plain regular people. It is good to have both because it you can get a better overview. I think it was kind of cool that when you seach for certain things, the advertising on the page is related to what you searched for. I guess that is a bit commercial but it is kind of cool.
Technorati and the other tagging sites will be useful to me because it will help me find what other people are saying about topic of interest to me. Since I will be teaching a new grade level this year, I am excited to read about not only what is going professionally but also what the averge teacher things about kinergarten issues.

Thing # 13

Del.icio.us is a really great tool. And it is really easy to use and share. I liked the idea of having an agreed upon tag when working with a group. Then all the bookmarks on that topic would be easily found by all. I think this would be very easy for students to use in group research projects. Teachers could also make sets of sites for students to use in a similar way- using a special tag to ID the sites. This would be especially useful for younger students.
My only negative is similar to any searching in that when you enter in tag search, you can get a lot if unrelated stuff. I entered in Frogs and there were many sites tagged with frog that I do not know what it had to do with frogs. But that is a tech tek- to teach careful searching.
Great tool for researching especilly in groups even if the group members are from differnet places- maybe a penpal project??.
:)

Thing # 12

I think one of the most important things in commenting to other's blogs is to be polite. (From problogger: fhttp://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/10/12/10-techniques-to-get-more-comments-on-your-blog/rom) As in Email, It is very easy to say things that you would never say face to face to someone. I think we need to be mindful of how and what we say when online. Comments should express our thoughts and opinions but in a way that builds up not tears down. We want to learn and challenge others not turn them off.
The second Idea that was from Cool Cat Teacher (http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2006/08/how-to-comment-like-king-or-queen.html ) said to make sure your comments are meaningful. Just responding "I agree" or "Right on" doens't add anyting. The blog is not a voting place to see who agrees or disagrees more, but a place to sharte information with others who are not physically near you. She Says to make sure your comments add something to the topic or ask for clarification.
I have added some comments to some fellow Library2play friends. I will be back to add info on adding comments to outrside blogs.