Thing #23

First of all, it was a long journey, I didn’t expect to spend so much time on 23 Things, but I really enjoyed discovering many useful tools on the web that I can use right now and in the future. Blogs are interesting and a good way to share/know other's opinions . I especially enjoyed with Flickr, Image Editors and Mashups and everything Google has to offer.
I can use in my classroom at the beginning of the school year: Blogs, Delicious, Photostory, Wiki, Teacher Tube, Bookr, Technorati, etc, and with RSS and Readers I can stay up to date with current events at school level and trends in the education system.
I need to play more with these tools because I want use the following in my personal life: my Wiki, Photostory, Delicious, You Tube, etc.
One month ago I was afraid of technology but now I am positive that it is the way to stay connected with former students, colleagues, old friends and family. Technology gives us the best opportunity at all ages, at any place and through leisure activities to continue as a long life learners.
Thanks Library2play for the opportunity. I am ready to start new things!!!!!!!

Thing #22

I explored Nings today, I went to "Educator's Ning" and "Ning for Teachers" and found a lot of websites. I was impressed how Ning combines blogs, wikis, Twitter, and so many other Web 2.0 tools into one! Nings are tools that are useful to share experiences with teachers from all over the world and we can find support and awareness that you are not the only one that struggled with something new.
As a teacher, I'm looking for ideas, lessons, or just intellectual discussions and Nings have something that is professionally-based yet also social, we can have professional discussions with colleagues. Nings might have more of a place for teachers than a blog or a website as far as being an online component to the classroom. I was happy with how teachers were sharing lesson plans, looking for solutions to problems in the classroom, etc
I also liked "Teacher Librarian Ning" and "Texas School Libraries Ning" but I didn’t join none of them, since I'm not a librarian. I found both useful because as a librarian you can add events, videos, and job postings. There are also forums, groups, blogs and a Facebook and Twitter connection capability. I think these Nings are great resources to connect, share resources and information, and keep a finger on the pulse of the library world.

Thing #21

I have heard about Photostory and had never used it. I just played with it for the first time and it is very user friendly even for the novice. I love taking pictures of our school activities and then show it to my students. I have a friend who works at HPD and they visited our classroom last year. I asked if I could share these photos with everyone and of course the answer was yes. My concern is if it is OK sharing student’s photos. As my last year students enjoyed Police Officer’s visit, I hope to see them soon because they will enjoy this videocast. Photostory is a great new resource for me.

Thing #20

I have used Discovery Education for videos to use in my classroom, but it is nice to know that there are other resources out there. I never haven’t used You Tube videos to teach but I’ve received videos in my personal email account and some are not appropriate for my students. I think for that it was blocked. Teacher Tube has videos specifically for education. It is really helpful when introducing new topics with students that don't know anything about the topic, especially in Elementary. Having access to many video resources is fantastic. I've been completely unaware of Teacher Tube and You Tube as a tool for teaching. Now, I can find online appropriate resources to illustrate what we're teaching. I’ll use both tools throughout the year!

I found one video in You Tube that could be useful in my first day of School. It is about Back to school after three months doing nice things and it doesn’t matter if school takes them out, they don’t have to fear that we’ll help students as best as we can.

Thing #19

Well, I don’t know how the awards were won; I only know the Web 2.0 is fun and the award list definitely worth a longer look. There are so many places to explore: Delicious, Kayak, Google docs, Rollyo, Flickr, Frappr, etc, but I did find some that I really liked: “Lulu” is a company offering diverse publishing and printing services. Lulu is offering writers (bestsellers, newcomers or simply fans) the opportunity to publish their work without cost!!!! I think Lulu explores a model that will have overwhelming importance in the future. It is the logical evolution of the classical publishing model, adapted to a world in which anyone can be an author and can have a market, even if that market is sometimes limited to a few friends, family members, and acquaintances.
Once again I spent to many hours exploring the web and I enjoyed it!!!!

Thing #18

Last Tuesday I attended the conference: “Great Books for Gifted Kids” and discussed different books during the day. It was very interesting because on each table, we had to create a Google document and write our thoughts. It was funny because while I was working in my laptop I could see who was also writing and everybody can writes at the same time or delete or fix the document. It is perfect for group projects. With Goggle Docs, the document is in one place and each of us has access and we can adjust one! We can even add our comments in different colors from the text. As a teachers of the same team could work together from our own room with our own materials to produce lessons. I plan to use Google Docs more often now that I somewhat understand how they work!

I preferred Microsoft Office, because I have been using it for so long; however, I like the idea that I can access the same types of programs for free that I had to pay for with Microsoft Office. I just purchased a new laptop and didn't want to have to spend extra money on Microsoft Office, so I downloaded that and I am very happy with it. Furthermore Open Office does automatically update the program on my computer. Support may not be an issue after all.
I really like the availability of these free online productivity tools.

Thing #17

Searchroll: Mr.D K205
After seeing the video made by Bruce Goodner, I finally set up my searchrolls because step-by-step instructions made it easy. Now I don't have to wade through so many irrelevant sites to find the one site I found useful before.
I think this is going to be beneficial for my students. I have been worried about sending my kids off to use the internet for research. There are so many great sites out there, but the trick is to find them. With Rollyo they can search the web, but only using the sites that we want, which means they won't get inappropriate sites.
I think Rollyo will make easier to introduce small research projects to young students.
I like how we can explore, save, and personalize those searchrolls created by others.

Thing #16

I've enjoyed learning about technology at my own pace (Just yesterday, I spent more than 10 hours in front of my computer). I’ve learned a lot about the new things that are available on the web and young people play with it. I was thinking- this is going to change sooner and be replaced by something better- but now I am thinking that we have to keep up with the new technology to keep kids involved in learning.

Wiki's can be used for student group projects. It would be a great way for students to get engaged. It would be nice to use for team planning, meeting, etc. I will use it with my team for planning.
I set up a wiki on PBwiki and named it "K 205 PSE" but did not accomplish much more because my kindergarteners need a more protected environment and this wiki will be open only to the class eliminating the possibility to interact with a broader spectrum of people. Furthermore my students will be able to write until the second nine weeks. (Maybe with wiki they will try to write sooner). I need to improve it!
One thing is for certain: !we're going to have fun with my wiki!

Thing #15

I found the articles a little hard to understand and not easy to read. (Am I out dated?) I also realized how important it is to try to stay informed and interested when something is hard.
As the article says: “In Web 2.0, the Web becomes the center of a new digital lifestyle that changes our culture and touches every aspect of our lives.” Technology is updated everyday, so it's only reasonable to think that this evolving technology will be part of education from now on.

I enjoyed reading the perspectives of bloggers, librarians, and the futurist on the Library 2.0. It is clear that libraries are changing. The library in my school has certainly changed in appearance and in the amount of technology available. Students with happily accept the Web 2.0 tools with ease and without fear. Adults (like me) are usually a little harder to convince to try the new and unexplored. (I am glad when I decided to sign up for these 23 things and not feel so intimidated). Our librarian embraces the idea that the library and her role as librarian are, and will continue to be, evolving. We're luck to have someone who embraces change and wants to grow and learn. Our librarian has done a fantastic job of training teachers so that we are able to train our students in the many uses of the technology that is available. She inspires us as classroom teachers to be open minded and a little daring in incorporating new technology into our teaching.

The video, "A Vision of Students Today", really hit me hard. With all of the electronic devices they grow up with (video games, iPods, iPhones, DVD players) they expect everything to be technology based. It is important that they are constantly reminded that not everything they read on the Internet or in blogs is necessarily correct.
I can't even remember the last time I saw a chalkboard in a school.

Thing #14

Technorati was easy to access and I didn’t have to sign in and create another password for it. After exploring it, I realized that there is more information out there in blogs than I would ever have time to read. This website would be useful if I would like to find out other people experience, opinions and thoughts. We can all share news and information with each other, rather than relying only on traditional news media for news and information. Technorati is an excellent searching website for average people like us to locate blog sites that we can use to share news, information and lessons.

I found that the search results were similar in blog posts, tags and in the blog directory. I was surprised to see the top 10 searches. Some of the most popular blogs are related to technology. There is very useful technology information available on blogger sites when you have a technology problem.

I think if Tagging is something you do for yourself, to help find information but you might never find it because you don't know what someone has tagged it as. ????

Thing #13

Tagging and discovering delicious

I found Diggs excellent for anonymous. Conversation happens around the content and Diggs provide tools for the community to discuss the topics that they’re passionate about. I didn’t find editors but I found this article very interesting: “How to Make Your PC as Fast as the Day you Bought It.” One of the most frustrating things in life is a slow computer. And the good news, it's not the computer hardware that's the problem. In most cases the hardware you have is perfectly capable of being restored to its original glory and kept in fast running condition with minimal effort. I need to restore my own PC.
I could not access Furl, the URL was blocked
I enjoyed DELICIOUS! I have tons of bookmarks, but I always have to scroll down the list to find what I am looking for. It tends to be unorganized and I though the problem was me, but assigning each bookmark a tag, I can find things quicker and easier to be shared among the grade level team. Delicious makes bookmarking, tagging, and sharing extremely easy. It's a better way to access materials on the internet that help support the curriculum.

Thing #12

After reading the many articles on correct blog commenting techniques, two drew my attention. The first, how hard is it to leave a comment? I know that I often don't leave a comment if it is too difficult to get that comment up on the blog. I prefer the ones that use other sites log in information, or OpenID, over having to create a profile in order to comment. There is one on SBISD that allows anyone to comment by typing in the name they want to appear as and their email address. I specifically chose to go with the one through the school district because is so easy to comment.

The second thing I found important was the discussion of keeping up with your comments section. If readers feel that you never look at their comments, then why would they continue commenting, they might even stop reading your blog all-together.

I hadn't really thought about how to encourage comments on my blog however the article "10 techniques to get more comments on your blog" has some great suggestions including asking questions, asking for comments and responding to comments when someone writes one.

When commenting on someone's post it is important to say something of value. The cool cat teacher reminding those who are afraid to post because they are new just how important it is to get feedback from everybody. It is important to comment because it furthers discussion and is a main source of gaining information from a multitude of sources.

Giving and receiving comments on blogs is a lot like being an active participant in class. Teaching a class during which no one asks questions, no one adds to the discussion and no one disagrees is a lonely business.

Thing #11

I like how LibraryThing connects people based on the books they share. We can get the benefit of everyone else's work. We can keep track of interesting events, show off our favorite bookstores and libraries, and see who else loves the same places we do. LibraryThing is an excellent site to read reviews of new books and to discuss books with others.

I added 8 books to Library Thing which was very easy. I looked at several groups and chose some by the authors Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Debbie Miller. I like the one for writers/readers , and "Teaching with Love and Logic" by Jim Fay.

We could use the groups to see what people say about books in a genre that we don't usually read. I would recommend the reader groups to people that I know who are readers and would like checking out recommendations from many people who like books similar to what I like. I can see where it would be useful to verify publisher and reviewer recommendations when ordering books for a library.

Here is a link to my books

Thing #10

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/2246147/Mr.D_wordle

My favorite is Wordle. School's librarian show me last year how to create a wordle. I printed it and have used it for some covers. It looks fantastic. Today, it was frustrating tryin to put my new Wordle up in my blog, but finally I did it. First you have to save it as a public use, then you can save it in your PC. I also tried using the Comic Strip Creator, Dummies Book Cover Maker and the Danger Label Maker. All of these sites allow you to be creative without all the work. These tools can be used in various ways in the classroom. Students can use the Danger Label Maker to help create signs specifically for the lab (science class). Comic Strip Creator is good for all classes. Many of the sites are perfect for the classroom. These sites were fun and very easy to use. Many were just click and move to the next step in the creating process - very easy and many were kid friendly. Some clip art choices were at times inappropriate for lower elementary students.

Thing #9

I found useful "Cool Cat Teacher's" advice about to select your circle of wise.
No one person could possibly keep track of all that is posted daily on each blog to which they suscribe without organizational tools to put all in one place and alert the users to new post.
The easiest search tools were Topix, Technorati and Edublog
Technorati is so easy to use and offers so much. I did a search for "Kindergarten" to see what blogs I could find. I was impressed by the selection of blogs covering this topic. I like Technorati, it is far and away easier to use, but like with any new tool, the more we use it, the more confortable and useful it becomes as new uses are discovered.
The most confusing search tool was Syndic8, I spent to many time finding things I searched for and the site was simply boring

Thing #8

RSS and Readers gather all what I want to know and more, just in one place. It is easier and saves time. I can use Readers as a tool to teach students how to search the web, I can set up websites ahead of time that I want my students to search so that don't have to navigate through the vast number of websites with a regular search engine. As a teacher I can stay up to date with current events at school level and trends in the education system.
I can also have at hand the blogs I want to stay in touch. "Lobster in the Rough" ( http://the5moores.blogspot.com/) is the blog of two women from Maine who traveled to Ethiopia to visit orphans. Ethiopia is one of the 5 poorest countries in the world, with 4 out of every 5 people living on less than $2 a day. Children are dying as a result of drought and lack of food. It was an adventure that change any person.
I have to use it to know more, learn and take advantage of this tool.

Thing #7

Tons of cool tools to explore: Google Earth is a great tool that students like to use. Google Calendar is an easy way for students and teachers know what is coming up in the weeks and months ahead. We can put everything here but in our school everybody must use Outlook Calendar and I think is very hard to maintain two calendars. We have been using Picasa to organize and edit digital photos, create digital albums and share it with friends and family. I set up my own Igoogle page to use at home. I am able to pick out my own items and rearrange them to see all in my own homepage. I want to show my students how they can use Igoogle as well. I set up Google Alerts and could choose how often I receive alerts, chose a specific source and determined how many results can be in each email. I have to play with more fun tools but I think it is OK for today.

Thing #6

Mashups and 3rd party sites are awesome and have a lot of posibilities: trading cards, bubblr, mappr, bookr, etc. I spent too many days exploring them, but the possibilities are endless. This would be so much fun in any subject area. We can use it in L.A, Math, Science, Writing, Reading. My favorite is Bookr, I found it special for my K. students.
I can't wait to share "My Numbers' Book" (http://www.pimpampum.net/bookr/index.php?id=16284)

Thing #5

Flickr has many components and incredible amount of images to share and analize. It is very easy lynks to material similarly identified as well as create printed products. After several searches to find something to use in my classroom, I choose this ugly English Bulldog (they are beautiful inside) because it remembers me, my beautiful English Bulldog "Lola", whom many times help me in my classroom. Lola love my students and my students love her.

Thing #3

Finally I set up my blog. It was a long and frustrating time but it is done. Many thanks to Ms. Branom for help me with technological problems. I spent many time on my avatar, considering all the choices: face, hair, attire, backgrounds, etc. but the ending image resembles me in another lifetime. I like my avatar!!!

Thing #2

From the 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners, the easiest to me is habit 2: "Accept responsibility for your own learning" because I am open to new ideas and love to learn new skills. The hardest is habit 6: "Use technology to your advantage" and I think that because technology change faster everyday. (My first day learning about Blogging I realize that it was created 10 years ago). The best thing is: technology give us a lot of learning opportunities at all ages, at any place and through leisure activities as never before.