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.