New Beginnings

I shared some of my learning experiences on ClassroomLearning 2.0 with some of my classes today. After explaining about the LibraryThing website, I told them my goal of getting all of our classroom library catalogued on that site at the end of the year, and that they were going to be the ones to do it. Disbelief that they were going to be allowed to do something like this was their first reaction, then delight and pride. It showed me that I definitely need to incorporate more technology into lessons, giving the students authentic activities that will help them succeed out in the "real world".

Week 9 Thing 23 Summary

Wow! How in the world to summarize the amazing amount of knowledge this course has provided?

Some of my favorite things were: learning to blog, flickr, RSS feeds, Del.icio.us, wikis, online productivity, LibraryThing, video and downloadable audio.

I definitely plan to use many of the above in my classroom, but need the time during the summer to investigate more, become more certain of my ability, and plan sufficiently.

If another discovery learning program such as this was offered, I would enthusiastically participate.

Week 9 Thing 22 eBooks and Audiobooks

I do love to read and call me old-fashioned, but nothing will ever take the place of the feel of a physical book in my hand. I do love audiobooks for the sheer convenience of being able to listen to one on the long drive to and from school. When I was an assistant scout master, my guys also enjoyed audiobooks on long scout trips. And I can see that one day, there is a possibility that I will invest in a device such as Kindle.
A site that my ELL students love is story line online . Here they have access to children's books being read aloud.

http://storylineonline.net/

Week 9 Thing 21 Podcasts

I confess! I am very partial to certain "reality" TV shows such as Project Runway, Top Model, American Idol, etc. So when I found a podcast site titled "Grits to Glitz", I had to tune in and listen to a session concerning which station Project Runway was going to end up on. Unfortunately, there was entirely too much giggling going on to suit me. Then I tried to access one about hypoallerginic cats, but it was taking forever to download, so I gave up. I know podcasts are popular at the college level, but right now it's not that interesting to me, not like LibraryThing. Maybe once I have time to explore more this summer.

Week 9 Thing 20 YouTube

It's just a coincidence that yesterday my husband wanted help finding the complete lyrics to an old Civil War song title "The Bonnie Blue Flag". My husband is a Civil War/History buff, but even more tecnologically inept than I am (was?). Anyway, one of the items that came up in our search was a YouTube clip of someone actually singing the song. Turns out the clip is from a movie, "Gods and Generals", that my husband rewatches from time to time. I'm including it in my Thing because it is a very rousing, energetic song; a part of our history; and it allows me to show I can embed a video that is worth sharing.

Week 8 Thing 19 - LIbraryThing

Love it! So much fun to see what others think about what you have also read, or are reading. Personal goal - to upgrade my account and catalog every single book I currently own (though I've read and given away many, many more).

At school, I would very much like to have my students catalog all of our books and divide them by AR books or not.

Week+8+Thing+18

Week 8 Thing 18 Zoho Writer / Google Docs

It is very nice not to have to worry about different software versions or file types. This Zoho Writer has serious potential once I become more accustomed to it. One potential use is to have students create their rough drafts using Zoho, and then I could post comments to them for revision. Have to work on that for next year and see if I can get it accomplished. Might need some techno help though. I'm still inexperienced technology wise.

First paragraph written with Zoho. However, this tech challenged baby couldn't get this exported to my blog, so I had to download it as a Windows document and then was able to upload it to Google Docs. So at least I was able to see how Zoho can be used to save and access documents through other sites. I'm going to try to get this to my blog through google docs. If you see this as is, it worked.

Sort of worked. I had to save it in google doc as a word document, then I was able to e-mail it to my blog by creating an e-mail address at blogger.com. I am sure there is a much better way to do this, but I was getting frustrated and just used what I could figure out on my own.

Week 7 Thing 16 and 17 Wikis

I am a little overwhelmed by all of the information I've tried to absorb this weekend. Basically, I understand the concept of wikis as a tool for building community discussions and projects. I'm not so clear on how to go about setting up one. The link http://meredith.wolfwater.com/cil06/ is very helpful and when I have time to actually create a wiki for my classroom, this is where I will return for help. What I'd like to do is create a wiki for use with one of the novels we read in class. Contributions to it could be made during class time,not just outside of it, but this would be a lot more motivating than answering questions on worksheets, and would still demonstrate their understanding of the novel.

Week 6 Thing 15 Library 2.0

I got bogged down in all the copyright information included in this lesson. The copyright comic book was fascinating. As far as Library 2.0 goes, it was interesting to see the connection with web 2.0. I believe our school library is doing a great job of trying to connect with library patrons in this technologically driven age in a way that is interesting to them. Catalog access is on-line, a blog is available, etc. We have access to several on-line tools for research that are easy to use. One of the articles I read concerning Library 2.0 mentioned ERIC. I used that way back when I was in college. I hope it's easier and more interesting to use now than back then.

Week 6 Thing 14 Technorati

I noticed that when I did a keyword search on technorati for School Library Learning 2.0 there were only a few hundred results as compared to the thousands resulting from the keywords "Classroom Learning 2.0".

Tagging can be helpful, but you have to really think about what you want to use to find a blog or article again. Moving on...

Week 6 Thing 14 Technorati

I've spent a little time in technorati and have gone about things backwards perhaps. I joined first to claim my blog and am now experimenting to see if I can add code to this particular blog that will enable viewers to add it to their favorites. Though why anyone would want to, I don't know. I'm fairly mundane.

Week 6 Thing 13 Tagging and Del.icio.us

Using del.icio.us as a way to link your bookmarks on your workplace and home computers is a great idea. I even like being able to use it to track popular bookmarks. Maybe this summer I'll even have time to play around with it. Since I am very interested in healthy cooking, love recipes and new information on healthy eating, this would be an easy way for me to track down new and interesting sites on this while letting others do the work.

Week 5 Thing #12

I can see that a personal searchroll can be very useful. I've already used mine to look for new information on Robert Jordan. Quite a bit of information was located just on the three sites included in my searchroll. I also see future possibilities for use with my students.

http://rollyo.com/pjnordt/my_new_releases/

Week 5 Thing #11

I visited the Biblio and Mango sites on the short Web 2.0 awards list. Biblio deals with book issues and Mango is a language learning site. I registered for their free subscription to refresh my German.

Week 5 Thing#10 Image Generators

It was fun creating this poster of my cat, Ninja, in ImageChef. If you click on the photo it will take you to their website.

Week 5 Thing#10 Image Generators

It was easy enough to manipulate the image and words, but getting it to my blog after being away for a few weeks took a few minutes of thinking. Now I'm going to try adding balloons to one of my own pictures. You can create your own cartoon captions at http://www.txt2pic.com/toons/

Week 4 Thing 9 Classroom and Library Blogs

I visited several of the search tools and also award-winning blogs. Found an interesting one composed by a second grade class and their teacher about a duck egg laid on the school's playground. I think it's easiest for me for the moment to just visit favorite sites of mine and click on their subcribe to RSS feed buttons.

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/rss/index.xml I placed this link on my share page at googlereader, but I thought I'd also post it here. It's a good way to keep up to date on your favorite science fiction shows and movies.

Not a Thing

I know this isn't a Classroom "thing", but I wanted to share my beautiful kitty - Arwen.

Week 4 Thing 8 RSS Feeds

I feel like I am just skimming the top of the barrel in learning about all this technological "stuff"! There is so much information out there. So much that is totally alien to me, but I am determined to conquer some of it and learn to utilize it in my work. It may not be until next year, after I've had a summer to play with it, but it will happen. My goal is to create a classroom blog, or wiki and incorporate RSS feeds into them once I have a better handle on all of it. I can see that this would be highly motivating to today's students. Who knows, maybe I'll break down and get an ipod and learn how to podcast. Bet I'd be able to get students' attention then.