Thing 18

GoogleDocs is a great way to easily type up information and send it out either through email or sharing it with the public. I can open it from anyone's computer without having to email it first. I went ahead and typed up a spread sheet for averaging some grades, which I obviously would not share with the public but would keep on my documents on my gmail account. I also started a letter to mail out to my students, but again this won't be for the public. However, with our SBISD laptops, I don't see this as a necessity. I pretty much either work at home with the laptop or at school with it. I can see how this would be beneficial for older classroom students, and a communication tool with teacher and students. It is a little confusing to me when I am allowing the public to view this and when I am not.

Thing 17

Wow! I feel like a million bucks! I fiddled a bit with the Rollyo site and was actually able share one of my entries on my blog! That is huge for me. It helped that I was able to go through and read advice through others blogs and comments left for them. I think I feel more comfortable to go back and add and delete things on my site. But I am still so excited that I was able to do it and put something on there that I might really be able to use this year in the classroom. I put a children's lit. search on there so I can search books that I can use with the students. By doing this I can look up a particular book that I plan to use and get ideas from others on how best to interact with the story. Fun!

Thing 16

Wiki is wonderful for so many things as long as others are familiar with it. I guess if they aren't, I could always give them the wiki link. But as I have tried to play with it, it is a little overwhelming to me. I will need to give this more time. I have thought that if I taught my parents how to use this, then we could use wikis to organize for class projects: needed materials, parent volunteers, etc... That way everyone knows what has been taken care of without all the reply all emails. I am sure there are other fabulous ways to use this, but this is where I am now, without having had extra time to play around with it.

Thing 15

I have often wondered about this very topic. Leaving the way we know it and searching for better more interesting ways to teach in order to keep the students learning. It scares me, but at the same time I do see the need for the change. Now, if someone would just fill me in on how we are supposed to accomplish this, that would be very helpful. I can't see a complete benefit from leaving the hard copies, but that doesn't suggest there isn't another way that will help get these students ready for what lies ahead. I don't mind change as long as I understand it, and it has been well thought out. I feel like in the elementary school ages, at least in the primary years, we still need to teach them some of the old fashioned ways, but does that mean I don't totally understand what is coming their way in the future? I just think about reading good books with students and family. Does this stop, and we would get out our very portable laptops and read from those and create our pictures to go with the text? I still think what we have taught thus far is important, but I think there needs to be a better blend of technology teaching as well as the basic fundamentals. I mean what's the point in working on the web and doing different kinds of experiments if the kids can't read,write or do math? But does this mean we just teach these fundamentals differently too? I don't know where to begin to do my part. I am excited and nervous about what lies ahead...and not so very far ahead!

Thing 14

Okay, so I went onto Technorati and searched the blogs for on school libraries. I found it very interesting where you could go with this. It seemed like I was going into totally different subjects (with a small common link). It is like going to the grocery store only to get 3 needed things, and while you are in there you end up purchasing 20 items. I went into the blog looking for information on "school library" and I ended up using tags and taking me to infertility. I guess if you set up your own page with tags going to the places that you like you can stay focused. This would be important for your class...keeping them focused.

Thing 13

Okay, so tagging overwhelmed me a bit in the earlier activities. However, it isn't that difficult at all once I was able to follow the registation steps from delicious. I plan on using this new found information to set up pages for research. We have a bird unit every year in science as well as many others that this would be very helpful for. I could set up a page with tags on individual birds, and those kids who are researching a bald eagle could click on that tag and read about it. This helps to keep the research friendly for the students. Of course that is if I set it up student friendly. I can't wait to practice this for lessons that I can actually use.

Thing 12

Being a teacher and now a blogger I see a lot a similarities:
1. When leaving a comment (on a blog or an assignment) make it meaningful. This helps students improve their work just like it it helps to get more information to the blogger.
2. Ask ?s to get comments: When writing letters back and forth with students, it really encourages them to respond if you ask a ?. This is the same with a blogger. If you ask questions people are more likely to comment about them.
3. Be nice: I always try to start off with a nice comment (of course meaningful too) before I let them know what they need to improve on or let them know my point of view. For the blogger, leave a nice comment telling your point of view.
Something else that I have always been curious about is how to do the hyperlinking. I will need to practice this. Maybe now...maybe later. You'll have to wait and see if it's on my blog yet. Keep checking. When you see it you'll know I have figured it out.
Commenting on other people's blogs: I have now commented on at least 5 bloggers easily with my blogger name signing off, but I came back later and incorrectly left a comment with my actual name rather than my blogger name on 1. I tried to fix it, but it was too late.
Well, I am off to check out other people's blogs and see what gets my attention.
Okay, I have checked out information about recycling and how to get started in my home. I learned some important information about disposing of light bulbs as well as getting new recycling bins. I also commented on these blogs thanking them for the new learned information. I can't wait to read more blogs as well as comment when necessary.

Thing 11

I really do see the benefit to this Librarything! I really have enjoyed this site. I went ahead and added books that I have read recently as well as a couple that I have read in the past. I think I will also start a kids section of books that I have enjoyed reading aloud to my family or to my class. This would be an easy and fun activity to have the class start at school and share what they have read and liked with each other. I will need to play around with it a little more.

Thing 10

Here is one of my examples of "having fun." It is in memory of my mother-in-law whose grandma name was Zsa Zsa. Her birthday is tomorrow and she died 2 years ago of pancreatic cancer. We miss her dearly! I looked through the sites where I wouldn't have to use any of my own photos because I was too lazy to either
A. switch to the computer with the pictures or B. load photos onto the computer I am always working on. When doing this activity I would have to be careful not to steer the students in the wrong direction. There are some images that are a little too revealing. We could use these as covers for books or bill boards when giving a review for a book. I also enjoyed making a poster fo my own children when I actually decided to switch to the computer with the pictures. That was fun, but I am struggling to get that one posted. I have made the trading cards with my class, and I fiddled with that for a little while. As a project we had the students create the life cylce of a ladybug onto 4 different cards and fill them with important facts about each of the stages. They loved it!

Thing 9

After trying out the different search tools, I would say 95% of my votes would go toward Google Search Blog. It always had great links for my search topics. The most confusing one for me was Topix.net because it was too wordy. I felt overwhelmed by it. Using Google search I was able to find information for my husband who is interested in a new car as well as science experiments. I just used the news button to get the most recent news information. I think I feel the most comfortable with this one because I have already used it so much prior to this project.

Thing 8

Boy! I think this RSS "thing" should count for a lot more than 18 hours alone. It took me so long. I understood the concept, but I struggled with the basics to actual start creating this. I went ahead and shared some of the sites I liked. I thought 1 news site was enough for me but still needed. Then there are the movies that I never manage to get to but can't wait to one day. I put a children's book site as well as a children's experiment site. I thought I could get some good ideas from these for the school year. For motivation, I added quotes. I usually like those and they are nice and simple. What I like about this tool is that it is right at my finger tips. And I finally understand what that orange symbol stands for. I think that I will be able to best use this technology in school because I can find the book site quickly to help decide what would be a good book to use for the class lessons. As far as how it will benefit me in life well, I can look up books for myself and or family as well as movies that we want to know when and where they are playing without starting from the beginning each time. I can also find out what is going on in the news. In fact I should add a weather site. I think libraries could use RSS by setting up content specific sites for certain topics with appropriate information for users. For example, experiment sites for those who need ideas, or computer game sites for extra practice. If one gets bored with a site, he only has to go right back to the RSS to find another appropriate one. Anyway, I think it will take some getting used to as I move along the web and my thing 8 RSS page. Yuck!!! Hopefully I will start to enjoy it more than I loathe it! :)

Thing 7

I tried out the Google Advanced Search as well as the Google Calendar. I tried some other things as well, but these were the easiest for me to manipulate at this point. The calendar seems great. You can set it up for different people in your family so you know who goes where when. I could set it all up and send it to my husband so he could help me get kids going in the right direction. As far as how I could use this at school, I could set it to anything assigned throughout the year and I could share it with my team or parents. I really enjoyed this tool, but I think it will be difficult for me to remember to open it daily.



I also did the Google Advanced Search. I really like that you can look up particluar power points that someone else researched and completed on their time, not mine. I could use this to share new concepts with the class on whatever unit we are working on. My concern would be that I would need to make sure the information is accurate. I also don't know other uses for it right now besides power points.

Thing 6

Okay, this looks like a lot of fun. I have done trading cards from this site with my class, which was a bit of a struggle for 2nd graders. But it can be done! I am eager to start getting more pictures downloaded from my own albums, so I can really start exploring. But here's what I have so far.

Thing 5

Wow! This activity was a little too much for my liking! I struggled with understanding the purpose and the 7 parts of Flickr like Tagging. Anyway, I think I get the jist of it: looking at and sharing pictures with private friends or with anyone. This one was a bit much for me. But here is the picture from Flickr. I chose this one because my husband and I went to Greece last summer. We were able to go to Rhodes and actually see this landmark in person. It was nice to see other people's pictures and what they were able to capture. This picture to your right was by pantherina_hd.

Thing 4!

I am registered! And I am ready to explore!