Thing #23

My favorite discovery on library to play was my creation of my blog. Creating my blog was a very proud moment. Although much of this project seemed very intimidating for someone who does not consider themselves computer literate I am proud to report that this journey has been well worth it! Creating my photostory of my mission to Costa Rica was another proud moment. Much of what I learned will be very beneficial to me both professionally and personally.

Working on library to play 23 things has really encouraged me to take on the challenges of technology. I learned that with a little determination I am able to complete the task at hand. Not always as quickly as I would like but the mission can be accomplished! I am looking forward to learning more in the future.

My unexpected outcome from this program was leaving the journey
with a thirst to search for more ways to incorporate technology in both my professional and personal life.

While Library to play 23 things is a great program to use to challenge yourself to learn more ways to use technology it is very time consuming. The only suggestion might be to have less things to complete. Without a doubt this was well worth my time and I am truly appreciative of the opportunity. Many thanks!

I would definitely consider completing another discovery program in the future. Completing 23 things has definitely prepared me for the next challenge! To sum up my learning experience it is well worth playing!

Yeah I did it!!!!

Thing # 22

After viewing the various Nings I really liked Ning for Teachers. This is a great social networking tool that I know will really benefit my teaching. I love that you can collaborate with other teachers from all over the world. This is a great way to get new fresh lesson plan ideas and collaborate some of your own great ideas as well.
I am looking forward to using Ning for Teachers this upcoming school year!

Thing #21

Using photostory was fairly simple. I was excited to be able to showcase some of my pictures from my Mission in Costa Rica. The only disappointment was not being able to use the song I wanted to play in the background. I am big on music and the music really helps tell the story. I look forward to continuing to use photostory both professionally and personally. I am hoping to continue trying to upload the song I wanted to my story soon. Stay tune!




Yea! Success at last got the new song uploaded. Enjoy!

Thing #20

I searched Teacher Tube as I had never navigated through this site. Wow! I was pleasantly surprised how helpful this site could be to me professionally! You can find a video on so many helpful things in any content are. I loved it! I searched videos on science for kindergarten as our curriculum for this upcoming year has much more for us to teach and I can use all the help I can get. One of the videos I found was on plants. Listed below is the video. Happy video searching!



http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=96565&title=Growing_plants

Thing #19

Searching through the Web 2.o Awards list was a great find! The possibilities are endless. There were so many great tools to use that I found myself navigating through many more than I probably should have. I truly think I could have done this all day! Some of the many great finds were as follows-Craiglist,Mango Languages, Urban spoon,bookmarking,mapping applications,live maps,google earth, delicious, and the list goes on and on! The nice thing about this site is everything is categorized and organized so you can easily find the tool that you are searching for.

Their were many sites that would work well in schools and libraries and would be helpful in various content areas such as Google earth, Delicious,Mango languages, Mapping applications, collaborative writing,twitter,etc.

One of the many sites that I really enjoyed was I'm cooked. This is a great place to get online and create your own cooking video. I thought his would be a neat idea to do with my kiddos who love to cook. You also get great ideas for cooking great meals! I also enjoyed Urban Spoon which is a great search for restaurants and provides reviews from critics and food bloggers. Picnik was another great tool for making your photos fabulous with easy to use powerful editing tools. I can't wait to try this tool on my photos from my trip to Costa Rica!

Thing #18

In my exploration of Open Office I was amazed at all of the great benefits this online software program offers. It does everything you want your office software to do the way you want it to. Most importantly it is easy to use, easy to learn and it's FREE!!! I especially liked the fact that you can install it on as many computers as you like or make copies and give them away to family and friends. One of the best features is the support you can receive in your own language. The "no secret" approach allows anyone to look at the program and suggest improvements or fix bugs. In my opinion this is a great way to keep the software current. Installing the software is simplistic-it contains all the software you need- no worries as to which version to install. The best gift of all is it's already installed on our laptops! Microsoft office obviously can not beat some of these great features as it is costly. You are not allowed to download as many versions of the software on your computer-probably a max of three downloads. You also do not get free upgrades for the new version that comes out- Microsoft Office will provide you with a price break when purchasing the upgrade. You also can not create pdf files on Microsoft Office which is a needed feature when sending files from one computer to the next!

Thing #17

Rollyo is a great way to create your own search engine! I loved the simplicity of it all. All you have to do is pick the sites you want to search and it creates a custom search engine for you! With the new changes and updates to our science curriculum this will be very helpful! I used this discovery as a way to get a head start on great sites to use as resources for science. The best part is the safety feature which allows you to create a site that kids can navigate through without worrying that they will view unwanted sites. Can't wait to continue using this as it is actually user friendly and helpful all rolled into one!

Thing#16

Prior to this discovery I was not familiar with Wiki and all that it allowed you to do. It it a great tool for collaborating,adding, editing, or removing content. This is a great resource to use with your students or colleagues when working on a document that requires everyones input. Students could use this as a resource for working on team projects. As a school this would be a great resource for collaborating ideas for a school wide project. In the future I would like to become more familiar with Wiki and integrate this tool into my professional life.

Thing #15

Researching about Library 2.0 was very engaging. I especially like the video that I was able to view on You Tube titled "A Vision of Students Today"-What students would say about the library in the future". This really captured my attention due to the many facts that were stated throughout the video. Students today are faced with far more challenges-2300 web pages, spending 3 1/2 hours online daily, 2hrs on cell phone, 26% reading in class is relevant to their life, 3 hours in class daily, reading 500 pages of email, and the list goes on and on. So much of what was listed rings true to the world of technology that we live in. Students today are faced with a true need for librarians to change the way they serve their patrons well in a world that has changed dramatically in the last decade.

The online article entitled, "Where will the next generation Web take libraries" by Tom Storey was very insightful. I find it extremely important that librarians embrace 2.0 world for there is much to gain by doing so.

Rick Anderson list many icebergs he feels that we need to be cautious of for example:
The “come to us” model of library service. Basically, what he is pointing out is how important it is for us to make libraries accessible from any where the user is in order to compete.

Bottom line is staying current and ahead of the technology game is crucial to libraries success. Its nice to know that there is a forum for communicating ideas to insure that we are moving in the right direction!

Thing #14

While exploring Technorati I learned alot. I first typed in the keyword School learning library 2.0 in the following search engine , blog post,tag,and blog directory but I came up with nothing. After watching the video I was able to understand the purpose of Technorati-basically it is an internet search engine which helps you search for blogs.After much time reading I learned that Schater the founder of delicious wants users to do the tagging not publishers of content such as bloggers,who put tags on their own work in hopes that it will draw readers and advertisers. I agree that tagging is benefecial as it allows to you to organize by specific interest and content. After searching The top 100 in Technorati I found Gizmodo which is great for finding information on electronics. There I was able to view a video of someone who had just purchased the new Iphone 4 and got great information straight from the horses mouth! The guy on the video was very entertaining. It is my prediction that he will probably make a commercial for the new Iphone. Technorati is great tool to explore!

Thing #13

Delicious really is a resourceful way for organizing all of your favorite sites. It simply makes it easier to locate and share with anyone including your students. After watching the video I realized that yes saving the sites to your favorites is the old way of doing it. Many times I have come across a website and wanted to share it with a colleague and found myself pasting the link into an email so I could pass it on. Boy, is this more time consuming. Now with Delicious I can network and share and also reap the rewards of other people's great finds in the great wide world of the Internet. Fortunately, for me we have an awesome librarian who uses delicious and has taught us the great benefits of using it. We have a common way of ordering our lunch through delicious at our school. This is great idea for any other campus who has someone who is willing to deliver lunch to a school. Delicious can help simplify and organize the ordering process. My new tech goal is update my favorite file to my delicious account. Now I was actually able to share my new delicious account with ladybug! How exciting! Cheers to more great learning on this great adventure in cyber space!

Thing #12

This discovery took a lot more time than I expected. I learned the value of receiving a comment. Before I attempted this assignment I viewed my blog and was very excited that I had received two comments. It certainly gives value to your work when you know someone is reading your blog. It also helps you to reflect on your own thinking and allows you to better your work as well. I agree that it is important to be respectful of others and wise with your comments-Think before you respond is always good advice!

I enjoyed posting comments on other blogs as well. Here are the blogs I posted comments on :

Firefly Flight
Ladybug
360 again
Becoming Mary Poppins
Luka Blog walker

Here is another tip I learned today- When posting comments to a blog always open up the whole page. I posted many comments only to learn that I did not type in the code listed below post comment and therefore none of my comments posted. Needless to say I had to go back in a re-post all of my comments. Hope this helps!

The part I found a little more challenging was posting comments on other blog sites. I am a big Oprah fan so I commented on her blog 10 Ways to Be More Abundant in Life which related to spirit and self happiness. In our busy world its important to stay connected to what truly matters. I also viewed a blog title nicakellys. This blog really captured my attention as it was about a couple who decided to move to Nicaragua to start a school for an orphanage. Since I am going on my first mission to Costa Rica coincidentally also to help children who live at an orphanage this site captured my attention.

Whew this is done! How exciting!

Thing #11 LibraryThing

Exploring through LibraryThing was eye opening. I had no idea this existed. What a great way to be able to search books of your interest and learn about other great titles that follow under the same genre. During my search I found myself thinking about my mother in law who is an avid reader. She would love this! I plan to share it with her and am hoping I will be able to teach her something new! This is especially great if you are wanting to read more books written by the same author to your students. I love Kevin Henkes and had fun searching through all the titles he has written. Searching through the various groups was a great way to be able to stay current on any given genre of your interest.

The only problem I had along the way was learning how to post my library to my blog. Here's a tip for anyone else who is having the same trouble- GO to LibraryThing and click on the tab more(on the far right top corner). Click on Make a standard blog widget.On the lower right hand side and HTML is listed for you to copy and paste on your blog. Now go to your blog and click on the design tab at the top. Then click on add a gadget which is located on top of about me. Then click HTML/Java script. Add your title and paste the HTML under content. Click save after pasting and after returning to your design page.View your blog and you should now see your library!

Happy searching!

Thing #10

http://www.dumpr.net/

http://www.comicstripgenerator.com/

http://dummies.book.cover.txt2pic.com/

Wow all of the online image generators have many endless possibilities. I enjoyed exploring and investigating through all of them but in the end used the Dummiecover and the comic strip maker. The comic strip maker could be used for students to share their version of story they read. This would allow them to use their creativity and change the ending to the story. I also like wordle which I have used before with my students. My students made one for our TAKS buddies with tons of words of encouragment. This is very simple and quick. I really like being able to use technology to make learning more fun, afterall technology is where it's at!

Thing #9

Wow adding more search feed to my RSS reader was both interesting and time consuming. I found myself continually navigating through the various feeds as I had never explored this before. While this is a great tool I did find myself wondering if I would truly use it. After navigating through both the Edublog and Atomic Learning I realized that I definitely could benefit from this new piece of technology. I also like Technorati which is a popular blog finding tool that lets you search for blogs. The layout is user friendly and easy to navigate through. As for the most confusing I found the Syndic8 to be the winner of that category. The entire layout seemed overwhelming and not eye appealing. The most useful feeds I found were always related to education, health, or entertainment. Here is one I found not so useful http://www.librarian.net/.

Thing #8

Rss and readers I think brings much simplicity to searching for a particular topic vs pasting s search engine to your favorites list. It allows you to stay connected to a topic that you are interested in and locate the information in one place. I do like the idea of using this both in my professional and personal life. It can be very useful when trying to stay abreast of the new tools that exist for educators. This does however allow all educators whether librarian,teacher, or administrator to benefit from this great tool. Depending on the need they could easily find great ideas and research on any given topic.

Thing #7

Searching through all of the cool tools was great! I found myself wanting to explore each one for a longer than I should have. There were many of the tools that sparked my interest like...google alerts. I especially like this tool because its a great way to get information quickly without actually searching the topic yourself. At the click of a button you are given many search engines on any particular subject. The other tool I found useful in the classroom was google earth. This is a great way to teach kids about maps. I find it fascinating that you can search a place like Africa and actually view the stadium where the world cup is being held. Thanks to technology places like these are at the touch of our fingertips!

Thing #6

Here we go round two. Yesterday I worked on my blog and later that evening decided to share it with my friends only to learn that all of my work for thing #6 had not actually posted! While working on thing #6 I noticed and error but then continued working as normal and viewed my blog posted with a witness who actually viewed my work! Not sure what happened so here I go......one more time. Technology isn't it great!

In my search through Flickr mashups I found many that intrigued me. The magazine cover is one that I certainly could find beneficial for using at the beginning of the school year. I could use this during open house as my little kiddos love to see their cute little faces posted anywhere in the classroom. This would also work for the star of the week. The slide show was another mashup that interest me as I would like to create a slide show of my trip to Costa Rica. I decided to take the challenge and create a trading card. I had water on the brain as I know I will be drinking lots of this on my mission to Costa Rica!

Thing #5 Flickr

Exploring FLickr was very involved. I found myself reading and reading to learn all of the little details you could add to your photos. Using the tools on flickr can be very helpful when trying to make your images come alive.Not to mention the number of images you could search for a variety of topics when teaching lessons in any content area,especially science. One Science unit we focus on are plants. Since I am taking a trip to Costa Rica I wanted to find a picture of a plant that I might discover when I go there. Here is a photo of the plant I found-what a beautiful image!

Thing #4

Yea!! I have sent all of the information so soon it will be official and I will be listed as a player. I anxiously await my welcome email!

Thing #3-Creating a blog and Avatar

Wow! What a fun learning experience! I am actually enjoying my new journey adventure in creating a blog. My first post on my blog really had me in deep thought. Trying to come up with a blog name had my wheels turning. I decided on Sunshine because it's summer and I so love the sun! Never thought creating a blog and avatar would be this much fun. Only had a few problems while uploading the avatar to my blog. The captain is right you truly need to read everything before working on the task at hand. Luckily for me I am working with my colleague so together we are problem solving. Like the say two heads are better than one! While working on this task I discovered that I was not listed as a player on library 2 play site and learned that after this blog post is completed I can register my blog site. It will be official- I will be a blogger. This is exciting to someone who finds technology challenging. I am looking forward to all that I will continue to learn! Glad I am taking the challenge to grow professionally in the area of technology.

Thing #2-7 1/2 habits of highly effective people

After viewing the slide show of 7 1/2 habits of highly effective people the follwing are my thoughts:Which habit is the easiest to follow: Habit #1- Setting a Goal and Habit #2-Accepting responsibility for your own learning.
Which habit is the hardest: Habit #4-Have confidence in yourself as a competent effective learner. Setting a goal is always the easiest habit to do. I feel like I am a goal oriented person overall. I tend to set goals for myself even when the summer is here for me to complete at home. My husband always laughs at me because he says I act like I am in a race instead of relaxing. I immediatey create a list of "Things to do" and of course try to catch up on all of life's details, especially organizing. Its sad to say but if I am not working I feel like I am wasting time. This is truly rooted from my up bringing. My parents are a big influence in this area of my life. Sometimes this is good and sometimes it isn't. The last goal I set for myself was completing a marathon! Boy was that life changing! My next goal is to go on a mission which I will actually complete this July in Coast Rica. As for habit #4-having confidence in yourself, I truly struggle with this habit the most. Having confidence in myself and realizing that I can accomplish anything I set my mind to seems to take alot more work for me. Naturally, I feel that as I have become older I am able to realize that life is short and you have to go out and grab the gusto! When I am determined to do something I do it no matter how hard it is. Taking on the marathon challenge took alot of determination and focus, but I did it!