Thing # 23

I can't believe I am at thing 23. This has not been easy or quick. I learned so many new things. I have more confidence in my ability to improve my knowledge of technology and I'm less afraid of it. I really want to try and use some of these strategies in my lessons. I hope this stays on the Library Resources page so I can go back and review if I forget how . The avatars were my favorite thing. Those are just fun. Lifelong learning is part of what I do. There are so many ways to apply that as a lifestyle in school and out. This exercise shows me that I am capable of learning on my own. That is my unexpected outcome. I think it might be nice to offer some classes on the harder exercises, specifically podcasts. I would participate in another online class. One word - Excellent.

Thing # 22

The Nings are so interesting. I have never subscribed to a social network and spend plenty of time chasing kids off of them when we do use computers in class. I really have no use for an unlimited number of "friends". These are different. The ning could be used to use technology in a constructive way. I can see using it for my Child Care class. We spend part of the week acting as classroom assistants at a preschool. Students could post entries about experiences at the preschool. They could answer a specific question or just do some journaling. This might encourage participation and lead to discussions that would enrich the experience for the entire class.

I visited the three nings. I was amazed at the numbers of participants on each one. I liked teacherlibrarian the best. It had the most interesting layout. I could have sat in front of that map all day. So many people have so much to share and I hope I will take advantage of this resource.

Thing # 21

Have fun? This is not fun. It is confusing and frustrating. I checked some other blogs to see if I could get some direction there, but was not able to find any help. I read through the information and watched the videos. The one on podcasts did a good job of explaining the concept. The book report was boring and monotone. I, for one, don't want to hear myself so I would probably never do a podcast and play it in class. This is something I need to see demonstrated in order to be able to do it. I'm going to have to get some outside help. I hope I can do it by July 30 since I am leaving town and won't be back until Aug. 6. Grrrrrrrr!

Writing From The Woods

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

Thing # 20

It is official. I have reached my level of incompetence. I was able to go to youtube and teacher tube but I don't understand how to download and embed. I really think this is too hard to do on my own so I'm going to go and get some help so I can finish. Youtube has much more than lots of embarrassing videos of kids. I looked at several but didn't find anything that was particuarly useful for me. I found one called "Balanced Diet" on teachertube. It has pretty good information on food groups and is not too long. I could use that. I do hate the way they start and stop. It is annoying!

Thing # 19

This one is amazing. There are so many categories represented. This tool allows users to spend less time looking for the best sites. I went straight to food. My two favorites were imcooked and urbanspoon. I'mcooked is loaded with things I can use for my classes. There are hundreds of videos on technique. Most aren't professional chefs but there is a very good and short one on knife skills. Several I watched were funny and useful for pointing out mistakes or health violations. There is also a search engine to help me find exactly what I'm wanting to demonstrate. I'm going to show these using my projector. This is really fun. I love to read about restaurants and urbanspoon is all about Houston. Restaurants are grouped by price, location and type of food. This is a real find. Naturally I tagged them both!

Thing # 18

I looked at openoffice and google docs. I'm starting to feel overwhelmed by all these options. Both sites have pretty good tutorials but I would really like to take a class on these so that I could weigh the advantages of each. I'm a visual learner so I prefer to see how things work. I really don't want to register or download these. I am still learning to use the programs that came with the computer. I am amazed at what is available though.

Thing # 18

Today hasn't been my most successful day with 23 Things. I went to Openoffice and tried to learn about it. My computer sent a message saying "Your browser cannot display this site. Ask your vendor for an upgrade". I didn't try and do anything else because only the right half of the screen was visible. I tried out Googledocs. I watched the video and tried some of the subheadings. There was a pretty good explanation of an advantage to googledocs if you work in such a way that editing by others is helpful. I'm not sure it would be for me. Again, this site wants me to register to use it and I have a problem regestering for so many sites. I didn't do it.

Thing # 17

This was frustrating. I couldn't make it work. I clicked on firefox but was told I need Mozilla - version M15 or later. I don't know what that is. I was also asked to register. I don't want to register for another search engine. I'm already using del.icio.us. I don't think I need another similar tool. I don't see any advantage over tagging and I'm already doing that. I'm moving on to thing 18.

Thing # 16

I found the wiki idea to be really interesting but have some questions about the practicle applications of this. How do people know where t find it? I guess if I play around with this one I'll get an answer. There lots of ways to use this both as a department and in class. Our department is scattered all over the school so this would be a very good way to communicate rather than so many e-mails. In class it could be used to post comments by students. It would allow all of us to see what was said. Sometimes it is hard to remember. I think it would encourage discussion. It could be used to make vocabulary more of a game and generally make things more interesting while adding visuals.

Thing # 15

I just returned from the Educator's Conference at the Texas Culinary Academy. There were some great websites that were suggested. I came home ad tagged the one fron the Beef Council. I'm using these tricks!
Now about thing 15. The teacher tube video was powerful. I have wondered about how relevant it is to expect classes to continue to learn using the model from the past. Interactive learning seems so much more interesting. In my small area, we are trying to get five more computers operational so that we can pursue more interactive projects. (Right now we have 10 student computers). Library 2.0 reinforces the idea that we have no choice but to respond to the challenges of how retrieving information is being revolutionized. If everybody is invited to the table, than as a teacher I had better set it! Librarians have the added responsibility of catalouging search engines and tools that make these advances possible and to attempt to make them available to students and educators who need them.