Monday, June 30, 2008

Thing #23

What an adventure... I learned terms, places and computer "things" that I never knew about... even now I don't "really" know all of these tools as well as I would like... but I had to go there... I had to try and now the ball is in my court.... will I go back and become efficient using all of these things..??.---
It is kind of like shopping in a new store.... you walk up and down the aisles - mentally inventorying what is there.... so when a need arises you know where to go and get what you need... I am not really shopping out there in the computer world right now... but, when school starts and I get opportunities to teach these things... I will return to my notebooks... (yes, like Big Red I kept a paper trail... for some of us we just need to keep notes that way... esp. with all of the usernames and passwords that we had to create.... come Aug. I might not remember)... and I don't want to loose my connections...
I wish that my cousins were into wikis - we could plan our reunion so much better... so when we meet I know one "thing" that we will be talking about!
The one aspect that has made this all possible for me was to find a teacher partner to meet together and try these things together... when frustrations were great we had each other to laugh about our failures and we had two brains to put together and plod through when times were tough...
it is amazing how much easier some things got with practice!! (always true!) this was better than taking a class... listening to someone tell you how to do something and then weeks or days later trying to remember the details...
I do find looking at other blogs very interesting... I always have questions about how they did things and where they found things... they are all so different... I like being able to 'comment" - or question - I like it when someone comments or questions my postings...
so my one phrase would be... find a partner and jump in the deep end together...

Thing #20 part b and 21 1/2

Somehow the video that I tried to copy from Youtube did not hold through the district connections
so - let me try linking the website to the farming video... try clicking on the bold and blue words "Youtube" and see if that works...
At least I can see it when I connect at home...
I tried to paste in the video I made with Photostory - let it upload for nearly 30 minutes only to get a fail to embed message at the very end!
I still have a lot of learning to do... I will try again tomorrow....

Thing #21

Today I made a photo story to import into the blog (hopefully) - to share with you...
This takes a really long time to load -
I have enjoyed making photo stories with my students... it is easy to do -
Podcasting is fun to do with kids.... while they like hearing their voice - I don't especially enjoy that - I need to work on intonation!!

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Thing #22

Hmm.... Nings are interesting -- kind of like big social Wikis - open to all --
I found a Barry Manilow fan ning - lots of school (college and high school) nings - and alumni ones...
We should have had one for our school's 40th anniversary... too late now...
The linked ones were very different... I signed in on the Texas School Librarians Ning - found Vaughn there so it felt comfortable to try.... The Elementary School Librarians site was fun to read...
instead of just finding Texas Librarians - there were librarians from around the world... problems exist everywhere and people to discuss them are out there if you look!!!

Thing #20

I found a nifty video of a North Dakota farm that I thought would be fun to share...
Most of the video shows wheat farming, which used to be a big crop - last year we just saw one wheat field - no sunflower fields - no maize - just corn --- ethanol is making a big impact on gasoline - but also on all other products related to the other grains.. sparsity will raise the prices of them - and the corn ethanol hasn't lowered the gasoline prices... makes you wonder!! If you watch the video you might want to turn down the sound... the song talks about amarillo.... the rest of the words are good...!
Makes me want to make a video of my own to post and share..

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Thing #19

What a fun list to explore! With so many things listed, it was nice to see some names of places that we have already visited.. I enjoyed visiting some of these sites that would be a stretch to use at school...but they were interesting to me... it is the summer.... ImCooking is one of that group.... fun little videos on things to cook.... a personal type similar to the food network shows that I love...Urbanspoon gives you lots of suggestions on restaurants to visit -
the music sites made me think that I might need an Ipod afterall... I enjoyed the 30 second snippets that are available for free... the only one that we could access at school was Mog - since Bo Diddley died recently he was listed on a most visited list... even 30 seconds of his music as good...
The One Million Masterpiece looked like a fun place for an art teacher to visit and possibly contribute to... travel sites like Boo had so many pictures and suggestions for places to visit...

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Thing #18

Wow ! - that google doc worked really easily...
You can read it posted to my blog (below)- no problems!
I didn't type in a title - but I could have...
interesting new google tool... they do say that it is new and in progress... do you think it is too soon to ask for more fonts and color??

OK - with limited fonts and no color to type in this is not as user friendly as it could be...
I was already familiar with Open Office as my son (my techie helper) installed that on my personal laptop 5 years ago and disregarded the microsoft products that came with my computer... so when I do something at home that is what I use... He also installed Mozilla Firefox as my browser and email set up.... as long as it works easily I don't care what it is!!
Google Docs says that I can move this to my blog... Pending my ablility to do this is here!! so let's see if it is truly easy!

Thing #17

So... now I think I know what that little red Rollyo is ! What a nifty way to narrow searches for students..
Debra Messing even has one posted! - who knew she was a web surfer!?!
I made one with elementary library sites... when I went to look it had advertisements added...
hmmmmm...

Thing #16

Having seen a little about wikis before this "Thing!" I felt like I at least had a little prior knowledge...
These look like a lot of fun...
I wish I knew how to make those how to movies like Lee does on the Common Craft Show... they are so easy to understand and fun to watch...
I am going to wait for a decision that will need to be made when the faculty returns and try to set up one for us all to practice with...
On to #17 to figure out that funny thing on the Library Resources Page...

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Thing #15

Library 2.0 - I am just catching up with the world on this term and my son tells me that it is old terminology - after reading all of the links and perspectives on this section I can see that 2.0 is old news... this technological world moves f a s t - and I am way behind!
There were a few quotes that I liked - such as the one from the iceberg article suggesting that libraries are insufficiently staffed for teaching - If we have 700 students and 100 faculty members our patron to librarian ratio is about 800 to 1 - no wonder I feel overwhelmed -
I loved the idea of putting buttons on our computers to make using many of these tools easier for patrons - I am wondering how students can set up accounts without email addresses...
I am looking forward to exploring the next things... wikis, rollyo - I am wondering about ATOM - I see it mentioned with RSS often....

Thing #14

Searching using tags is interesting - just as using advanced searching when using Google - it is nice to be able to narrow your search for information. Time is so precious and floundering around looking for something is just frustrating. These tags can really help manage all searches..
I found an unusual video about ufo's being sighted near my aunt and uncle's home in North Dakota...
I wasn't searching for ufos - instead I thought I would see if anything interesting was coming out of ND -
I used a widget to add the top Technorati searches to my blog -- just an interesting place to look and see what is going on out there in the blogging world!
I didn't think I would register my blog - In order to be a good blogger I would have to be checking and replying often and I don't expect to take my computer on vacation...

Thing #13

This was an interesting exercise - the video from Common Craft was blocked at school - bummer - those shows are well done and easy to understand... The eight minute Del.icio.us podcast was good but long - I think I have to read the information on those tutorials to really have what is said start to sink in -
At home I watched the video - listened to the podcast - visited Del.icio.us, Furl and Ma.gnolia -
for me, the Ma.gnolia site had the font and format that was the best - they all are easy to use and manage -
At first I couldn't see why you would want to bother with this - you know, another account, another password - old brain - but - after trying them out - I think this would be fun to use with a class - all researching the same topic and all logged in to a bookmark site - and watch them share info and work together to create their products - I hope I am given a chance to share this with our teachers as the collaborative uses for lessons and ideas makes this a great teacher tool - and if I can figure this out it must me easy enough for anyone to use!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Thing #12

Ok - I've gone to the linked sites and read all of the good information on commenting and receiving comments - so I am off to Thing #13 and am ready to add my 2 cents worth to other blogs!
I will probably use my alias when I comment - I enjoy the anonymity - but according to Melanie, alias Chilihead, it is also good to have a unique avatar - that way "you" are recognizible.
I love the way that Cool Cat writes and presents her thoughts on her blog. She has good ideas and presents then in a format that is easy to read and glean information from. I loved her term for commentors that have nothing thoughtful to add - sploggers (spam bloggers) - I don't want to be one of those!! Until I gain a little more confidence I will continue to be a lurker!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Thing # 11


Wouldn't it be great if adding holdings was as easy as creating your personal library catalog!?
LibraryThing is a great site - so easy to use - what fun! - in no time at all you can add your favorite author's titles - find other titles that I probably would have ordered if it had been directly linked to Amazon's shopping service - such as the one shown here...
If you needed to create a list for insurance purposes this site would make it so easy!!
I added my beginnings of my library to my blog...
I am noticing that RSS logo everywhere now... goodness - how could you ever keep up with all of the possibilities?

Thing # 10

Frustrations with the Comic Strip Generator linked to the Library2Play site caused me to look further... I went to QuickToons which is a minimal cartoon creating site - still in beta format - but at least I could easily and quickly make a cartoon. If you would like to see it or create one of your own, follow this link:

http://www.quicktoons.com/817743/

I found QuickToons through the site: http://www.web20links.net
If you scroll down to Comix 2.0 you will find a list of comics and cartoon making sites.

Maybe my problems could be linked to using too much "Moron Salt" on my food!

I found this "Wacky Package"
in the Custom Sign Generator site.
I was hoping to find a place to make
a new banner for my blog.





When I couln't create a cartoon with my Bijou picture using the Comic Strip Generator I found that I could do a similar product using Snagit. That is a great tool to use! Now I need to put more pictures on my blog!

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Thing #9

Wow - I wish that I had peeked ahead to this "thing" - when I was looking for things to link to my Google Reader page I was lost and floundering. This exercise helped me locate so many places to add to my reader page.
Bloglines is very straight forward and uncluttered - you just need to think of what you would like to find blogs about-
Technorati's Blogger Central also was an easy to use search tool.
I need more skills in using all of these tools - mostly it comes down to the time issue again -
I loved Vicki Davis' post on choosing your circle of the wise...good thoughts and advice...
I thought that syndic8 and topix were more confusing than help right now.... that is not their fault - it is, I am sure, a problem on my part. I still don't really, fully grasp all of the terms and things offered.
It seems that each time I go to a good blogger spot that it leads to more web tools and sources... it is a bottomless pit. It can become overwhelming... I am waiting for the time when this is all just natural and understood - as easy as creating powerpoint presentations! I remember when that seemed scary!
Everyday I am learning - who knows I may even create a bloglist tomorrow!

Thing #8

RSS can be misleading! -it might be really simple for some - but for others, like myself, it is not!
At least it is not simple - YET! --
I have created a Google Reader account - I found lots of sites to subscribe to... I was especially excited to find those orange symbols on the Houston Chronicle site... now I am linked to the local entertainment news, Leon Hale, and Dwight Silverman's Techno News! Who knows what may come of this! Will I have time to sit and read? We will see...
I can't say if I like it or not yet... I just set it up -- will get back on that one!
In my personal life or school life -- as I do not use the computer for news usually, I still subscribe to the paper and watch tv news in the morning - who knows... I may find that I can stop my Chronicle subscription and save money - that would be great! I would probably have withdrawls from the ink that is absorbed in my skin as I am used to reading the paper twice a day...
For library uses - I could link to state and national organizations that determine the latest changes in library science.

Thing #7

Google Tools....

Tool #1 - I have created a new Google Alert that will tell me about impending hurricanes happening in the Gulf of Mexico. Hopefully, this will not happen this summer!!

Tool #2 - I created a new Google Notebook that lists interesting information about the children's book author, Patricia Polacco. I did not make this notebook public as it is to be a resource for personal use and not a posting of information that I have culled through and posted. Posted for public use notebooks need to pass the copyright law requirements.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Thing #6 part 2

Mappr looks like a fun site to use for a vacation journal... posting your pictures to flickr and pasting them to a map showing your route! what fun!

Thing #6


FD Toys' Trading Card Maker was so easy! The hardest part was deciding what to do. I think it would be great to have students make cards for their favorite stories.

Thing #5


Using Flickr, I found lots of great photos from North Dakota!
Hopefully, I will see this sign for real soon!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Thing #4

Vaughn has my email - hopefully, I will be a regular player soon!

Thing #2

Thing #2 - I am beginning with the end in mind! - I am hoping to get to thing 23 soon! That is my goal and my challenge - I have some good "play" time scheduled when I finish!

Thing #3

Hooray! I made an avatar and got it to a place on this blog!
I also noticed that my "post" for thing 2 is really a comment on Thing 1 instead of a separate post! woops!
Obviously, I figured that out - so - proof- I am learning!!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

wonders will never cease

After several attempts - I made it!
Thing 3 is almost complete! - only 20 Things to go!!