Thing #23 (The 23Things Experience)

I am very glad that I signed up to take this class. I have learned so much, and finally feel smarter than my husband about what is hip and cool!

I have gotten my family on Flickr, and learned to make photo books and online scrapbooks. I have created a class blog, and wiki, and writeboard. I have also make a wiki for my family, but being old codgers most of them don't want to do it. I have gotten a little more interested in social networking, mostly to stay in touch with family, but also reconnected with some old friends. I check my RSS several times a day, and have gotten rid of Office on my home computer for Open Office. (I also use firefox now, but that doesn't have anything to do with the 23 things.) I have armed myself with an arsenal of fun and interesting things to put on my blasted flip charts, and feel ready to wow a bunch of almost jaded 9 year olds.


Here is my one word to sum up my experience: empowering. Anyone can take control of the technology out their and fit it to their world. I may not be a total techie now, but I do feel like I am more able to keep up with the changes going on around me. If there were another class, I would definitely take it.

I will be very glad to see my name on the graduates wall! Thanks for a FUN summer!

Thing #22 (The Ning Experience)

I thought Nings were cool. I like being able to have a private social club for just your friends, family, interest group, etc. It feels more grown up than MySpace or Facebook (both of which I joined this summer, at the needling of my younger cousins) because you have a lot more control.

On a professional standpoint, I could see where folks would like to have a place to vent their frustrations and successes in the classroom. To share information/lessons, and feel like they are part of something big. Even now, with all the teamwork blah-blah, teaching can feel solitary and knowing that there are others just like you feels good now and then.

I thought it would be great to have for my class, even better than a blog. The students are already very social (I hear them trading numbers and setting up phone dates all the time), and I think the parents could feel okay about them taking part in a social network that is closed. I do worry about the ads though, and will have to keep an eye on them. I think they could use them inside the classroom too. Perhaps to facilitate chats about their book club book, or even for celebrations they have to share. I keep trying to get them involved with school as more than just the place where they get homework, without much success. Perhaps these types of activities will get them more involved with each other and the classroom.

Thing #21(The Podcast Experience)

I have been looking forward to this thing, because I have been very interested in learning how to do podcasts. I did learn that the name is not from i-pod, which I originally thought--so now I feel doubly smart.

As I do not have a mic, my photostory is not narrated. I did however find royalty free music using the library resources page. It was fun, and it was very easy.

I think that this could be really great for struggling readers. They could read their book and make it a podcast, then listen to themselves read. Or others. ESL kids would also greatly benefit, and I wouldn't be stuck trying to find one of those old tape recorders that no one has anymore.

I also think that the kids would love to make their fairy tales and pourquois into podcasts. They spend a lot of time on the illustrations, and then to scan them and have the narration would be priceless.

Without further ado, I give you:

Thing #20 (The Video Experience)

I was glad to have some instructions for bypassing the firewall. I understand that there are some things that children should not be seeing (although my kids came in every morning talking about what they had seen on You Tube) and I guess the district is worried about teachers playing online all day instead of teaching, but the firewalls are very annoying.

I found this Bill Nye video on YouTube that I plan on using in a flipchart for an introductory science lesson. The kids love Bill Nye, and he cracks me up too.




This is a video from TeacherTube about simple division. I like how it showed creating a chart and drawing a picture, and illustrated very clearly how multiplication and division are related. This would be good to put on my classroom blog too, just as Mr. Thompson used it.



I'm excited about using these, especially as I dig in to creating my flipcharts.

Thing #19 (The Web2.0 Experience)

I was very interested in "Writeboard" because I have spend a lot of time thinking about writing this summer, and how to integrate technology into my writing program. I signed up, which was the easiest sign up of any so far this summer, and got started. It was very easy to use, and very simple. Type in the space, save it and go.

What I like is that each time you edit, it saves the project as a new draft. Then you can click on 2 drafts and compare them. It shows what you changed, right next to where you changed it, so you can see exactly what is different.

I like would really like to use this with my students. Sometimes they get so carried away with revision that they actually make the paper worse! I think that if they could see what they changed, right next to what was there before, they could make a more informed decision about whether or not their revisions were any good. They can also peer edit, and then see what their peer changed. If they don't like that version, they can delete it, or just revert to an older draft.

I was quite pleased with Writeboard, even more than a wiki. This is infinitely easier to use and maneuver around, and I think that will be great when it comes to 4th graders using it. The only downside is that I cannot see all of the papers in one place, like I could if I were using a wiki. I might have to try both!

Thing #18 (The Online Productivity Tools Experience)

I had already taken a look at Google Apps, and went ahead and downloaded Open Office for the fun of it. I think that these are great, and have heard and seen a push in the district to use these types of "free" programs. It makes financial sense, but I guess it also makes sense on a community level as well. To me word processing is word processing--I'll use whatever is there and discover all of the cool things about it as I need to, but I am starting to see how important it is to have applications that everyone can use, anywhere.

I just finished reading an article in Time about the fight to be the next best platform (the article looked at Apple, Google and Facebook). Although Google has many more users, the biggest issue was they had not kept up with the social networking craze. I found it very interesting, especially after all of these "things" I have been doing. As a society we are weaving ourselves closer together, while keeping ourselves further apart. What an odd paradigm we are shifting to!

Thing #17 (The Rollyo Experience)

I love this tool. This is so much more pratical than trying to type in dozens of urls into a word document, then trying to get the kids to retype them, etc, etc. I can just set up a rollyo for whatever we are doing, and let them loose with it. No more "can I just go to Google?"

I set one up to look for lesson plans, but I don't have many sites on it yet. I did like the results from the search though, except for all of the adverts. Yipes!

Thing #16 (The Wiki Experience)

First of all, how can I post on the sandbox. I signed in, but never saw an edit button or link. I only saw the add new space.

I can see a lot of use for wiki's in the classroom. I like the idea of having one that we can build on from year to year--in social studies kids could see information about their famous Texan and then be challenged to find more information to add. In math they could use it as a homework help--students could write how they understand concepts. In science we could have the students do some research on their own (for all of those questions there just isn't time to get to--like "Isn't plasma one of the phases of matter?") and add to the wiki.

I like the idea of planning for family parties and such. I was think Christmas and birthday presents for Lu. With 5 grandparents, 4 great-grandparents and all the rest of the family--I am bombarded with questions about what to get and then forget who is getting what. A wiki could keep us all from getting the same gift.

This will be fun to work with.

Thing #15 (The Library 2.0 Experience)

I have commented on this thing on others blogs, but was not fully aware of the background. Change is inevitable, and although I am reluctant, I do believe in the premises of Web and Library 2.0.

The video was powerful, very, very much so. My question is this--why are students not taking a more active stance? Are they facebooking during class to learn more about the subject matter? I highly doubt it. Textbook teaching is not going away overnight, and if students were more proactive, the universities might find that they have to go along, quicker. Show up the professor with all of your knowledge, and I bet some things will change!

As far as libraries go, they must change or die (something other service providers need to learn, like the post office!). 1 or 2 out of 16 of my students would check out books on library day, pitiful. When I take my daughter to the library there are 4 people looking at books and 20 waiting for a computer, most of whom are going to look up something they could find in a book, but that might require some effort. Kids groan when they run to the children's section only to see that the computer is not working. Then they leave without a backward glance. I personally don't like to read a book on the computer, it hurts my eyes and head, but my grandchildren probably won't have a choice. I wonder what the physical implications of an Internet world will be--huge eyes, long pointy fingers and super padded behinds? What a weird looking lot we will all be! I wonder if we will be able to "check out" digital books. After 2 weeks the link stops working? I bet someone is building the software right now.

Its a brave new world isn't it?

Thing #14 ( The Technorati Experience)

I think technorati is interesting. I would love to be able to have been like the founders--on the cutting edge of internet technology as it unfolded, with enough intellect and sense to realize that I could make oodles of money with a simple idea. Alas, I have just enough intellect to be a teacher, and will watch as my students make oodles of money with simple ideas!

I appreciate the fact that the technoraties are doing all of the leg work for me. The "authority" ratings were especially helpful, given that I have already expressed that I was unsure of blog authors credibility. Not that the authority rating is a guarantee, but I would hope that tens of thousands of folks looking a blog are not all reading garbage.

I found a blog on rearing a toddler (mamma blogga), that had some good posts, and I commented on a couple. I'll keep searching, my reader is getting quite full though, when there are over 100 things to read I just mark them all as read and start over! Information overload!

Thing #13 (The Del.icio.us Experience)

I think this is a great tool, and will have many applications in the classroom. I love the idea that my students can save the webpages they are on, and then their peers can look at those as well. It will cut the research work in half because they won't have to all find information and all visit the same pages. I can see that it will be especially useful in the classroom (as opposed to the lab) because kids from group A would not all have to research together. Kid 1 A could do some work, tag the pages, and then Kid 2 A could look at them and find some of his own. Or they could all be working at the same time, as a workstation, but not all be crowded around the same computer.

I'm sure that I can find many uses at home too. I am going to encourage my friends and family to sign up. It would be so much easier to just tag a page and let people view it on their own time. I think that magnolia is prettier, and may sign up to both for a while until I have a good feel for them.

Thing #12 (The Posting Experience--a work in progress)

There are not a couple of things that stood out when I was reading the blogging etiquette articles/posts. What I kept thinking was, "for heavens sake, why don't people have any common sense?" If I am commenting as wonderweiss do I have the right to be rude or ugly? I think that people forget that they are people talking to people, even if they are not face to face. I did like reading about Darth Commentor. I am such a stickler for politeness though, perhaps everyone does not feel the same way.

I have commented on quite a few of the 23things blogs. Unfortunately, I have not yet started commenting on outside blogs. I was going to sign up for the TwilightMoms forum, but then found that they were a little too intense for me, and chickened out. I am going to read a book that was recommened on the Librarythings site, but haven't yet joined the discussion. Several other outside blogs I have signed up for I just haven't had a chance to really review. I have been reading for information, not really to form an opinion and share it. I will keep trying though!

Thing #11 (The Library Thing Experience)

I LOVE this! My favorite part was seeing what others are reading. What a great way to get recommendations. (And not feel too bad about my Twilight obsession--there are thousands of us signed up!)


I also subscribed to the blogs, and signed up to be considered for the book preview. (Along with hundreds of other readers, but it could happen.) I registered to be a member of a group, but I'm not sure how that will go. It looks like the book discussions have petered out, any suggestions from anyone on where to find book discussion blogs?


I'm starting to wonder what the implications of using these things in the classroom will be. Most of the sites need a username and password, and an e-mail as well. I can see that we could run into some issues with confidentiality and parental permission. I think the kids would love to do something like this--read a book, leave a short review and read the reviews of others, but I don't see it happening like that. There are too many worries to just sign a class up. Perhaps if there were a Library Thing Kidz (with the z so kids will relate to it!). Anything to get kids reading!

Thing #10 (The Image Experience)

ImageChef.com Poetry Blender

This really is fun! I quickly wrote the Haiku above and added it to the image from Flickr I found before. We do a poetry unit toward the end of the year, and the poetry blender and shape poem creator will both be fun for the students to try. (These are from http://www.imagechef.com/ which was my favorite of the sites.)

The smiley generator page is cute, but it is not as professional as the other sites. And the "Kid Friendly Image Generator" may be PC, but it is not nearly as easy to use as the other sites. I tried to use the "Etch a Sketch" and had to stamp and restamp in order to get it is the right place.

I think the students will have a good time playing with these, and we will make badges and trading cards at the beginning of the year. The magazine covers would be good for famous Texans reports. But mostly I think that I can make images to use in flipcharts, my other big summer project. Without curriculum right in front of my I can't really picture what I will use all of these fun things for, but having them in my toolbox will be good when school starts again.

On a personal note I think that I could make some grandparent gifts, always a plus when you have a small budget!

Thing #9 (The Blog-Finding Experience)

I found this to be a difficult task because of two things. One is a preexisting mental condition that puts me on sensory overload when too much information is thrown at me. I found it hard to sift through thousands of blogs to find one that I was interested in subscribing to. Instead I found it easier to look for news feeds. There are fewer and I could find one that was suited to what I was looking for much easier. After 5 or 10 minutes of looking for a good blog to keep up with educational trends, I just subscribed to a couple of news feeds that I knew would have "unbiased" up to date articles.

The second thing that made this task hard is that I have not yet warmed up to blogging. I have enjoyed reading blogs for this class because I feel connected to the bloggers. Some I know in real life, but at least we all have the common thread of SBISD. But to search out a blog and start reading some random person's thoughts is beyond my comfort level right now. Why is this person an expert over another person? And why should I value "twotubetongue's" opinion (and I just made that name up so sorry if there really is a twotubetongue!)? I did find a couple that I thought would be interesting and informative (Vaughn's included) and I found those by looking at the ones that had won awards. If a lot of people liked the blog, it couldn't be too bad right?

I am not against finding a good blog and reading it, but I think that I will have to happen upon one, or take suggestions. If you have any, let me know.

Thing #8 (The RSS Experience)

I have never been an internet junkie. I have always had an aversion to sensory overloads, and the internet falls into that category. Too much information in too tiny a space (the computer screen), and I have always liked being able to touch what I read. But I think that my rejection on internet news and talk has ended, thanks to RSS.

What an amazing, no-brainer someone came up with. I spent more time yesterday poring over blogs and websites than I have in the past 3 months combined! I have been touting its praises to anyone who would listen, and trying to get others to sign up. One of the most useful things is that I can check in on my own blogs without having to go to each page separately and scroll through each post.

But the very best part is how smart I feel. I can talk about my "reader" and RSS and other look at me with awe (or at least look at me with something). That's a nice feeling, to be up to date, and perhaps even ahead, on the game.

Thing #7 (The Google Experience)

Google for President!

My two favorite tools were google notebook and google earth. Google notebook is just about the handiest research tool I have ever seen. I have cut and pasted URLs into word documents before when researching, but the notebook makes it so much easier. I want to see if there is a way for my students to use it, we do several research projects through the year, and the kids always have a lot of trouble keeping up with the webpages they visit.

Google earth is just fun to use. But I did think of practical uses. One of which is for their "immigrant" city research project. Using google earth I was able to find one of the tiny cities they students research and could see what it was close to. It also had restaurants, and the kids will get a kick out of how small it is compared to Houston.

Thing #6 (The Mash-up Experience)

I have tons of thoughts about how to use all of these activities.

I liked the Flickr Color Picker. I thought I could use those pictures to do some adaptations examples. The students could hypothesize about where the flowers/animals are from, why they adapted in the way they did, how it is helpful and how it is not.

The FD Toys' site had a lot of things that I thought would be fun to use. The sunset times would be great for our moon unit. The magazine cover would be fun for their famous person reports, and a little more exciting to them than the word template. Everyone will love the trading cards, especially if they have defined fields to add and then share with their friends. I think I'll also have them make badges, much better than sticky nametags!

I also really liked mappr. I almost wished I taught US or World History, because there are some really cool things to do with big maps.

Texas Waffle

Texas,
originally uploaded by qthrul.

This is for Naletta--whenever you join us. I thought the comment was priceless--there are so many of you out there!

Thing #5 (The Flickr Experience)

Photo by: qthrul on Flickr

Again reading the directions first would be easier than flying blind into a website. But I figured it out. I set up a group for my incoming class that I will post on my other blog for them to share photos of the summer with one another and then pictures through the school year. I also plan on starting a family group, this would be much easier than the process we have been using.


I like how the groups are arranged, I noticed one that would be particularly useful, about landmarks. (The photo above is part of that group.) I am getting many ideas from playing with the things, almost enough to make me excite for the fall... almost.

Thing #3

This was not an extremely difficult task, but reminded me why I spend so much time teaching my students how to follow directions. I skimmed through the instructions quickly, then had to reread a few times to get finished.

The best part was having my students help me create my avatar. They were excited of course, and that helped me get into the activity as well.

I wouldn't mind looking at other blogs, but feel it would be most useful to work with those also taking the class. How can I find those?

Thing #2

What comes easily for me as a lifelong learner is taking responsibility for my learning. Once I decide to learn something new, I jump right in. I look on the web, check out books (much to the amusement of my husband), and get started learning.

Unfortunately I never seem to set a goal, so before too long I peter out. Most of my great ideas for things I want to learn I never see through to completion because I didn't set a goal. Consequently I can do a lot of things, but none of them well.