Thing #23

Summarize Your Thoughts About This Program---- I DID IT!!!!!!! YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
There were many times I didn't think I would make it. My favorite things to do were the Avatar, Flickr, YouTube, mashups, and the Nings. They were fun to learn and time really flew by when I was working on these sites. Learning all of these "things" has proven to me that you can teach an old dog new tricks. I thought I was pretty good with the computer, but at times these exercises boggled my mind. I realize the importance of staying current with technology. One of the biggest surprises for me during this learning quest was how bad I am at taking images and videos from other sites and placing them on this blog. I spent many a frustrated night trying to figure out how to get things to work. I was successful most of the time, but I still would like to see some more technology courses offered during the school year. One improvement, at least in my eyes, is to give specific instructions on how to add images and video to your blog. As I mentioned above, I really struggled with this aspect. When you had step by step instructions it made it very easy. Visuals are also a plus. I would love to take another class on technology, but one that is geared towards the classroom teacher, maybe by levels taught----elementary----secondary. Just a thought. My experience with library2play has been like a real quest for the Holy Grail of Technology. Very exciting.

Thing #22

Nings---- I went to the Teacher Nings site and loved it. I enjoyed reading the blogs by other teachers and laughed at many of their stories. I looked through the retired teachers blogs and started counting the days until I can retire. :) I briefly looked through the parent blog. I was surprised there was a parent blog on the teacher site??? I also looked at the Texas librarian ning and thought it was great. I will definitely use these sites in the future. Lots of good information and resources. A teacher can never have enough resources to help keep things fresh in the classroom. This thing was a good thing!

Thing # 21

Podcasts and Audio books----I made a really nice podcast of a moth I found on my pine tree. It was so perfectly camouflaged that I walked right past it twice. I don't think I will use these in class as they are too time consuming to produce and save. I am also having trouble putting the podcast on my blog. It downloaded and then said having trouble, report to support, and listed some code number that I was supposed to report. I am sure I just did something wrong. My family thought it was great. They liked the Stevie Ray Vaughn music I added. It really was a lot of fun. Too bad I couldn't get it to post on my blog. :(

Thing #20

Explore YouTube and TeacherTube---I can see why the kids love to roam these sites. They are very funny and relaxing. I'm not sure of whether or not I will use these in school. I think they are blocked. I can say I enjoyed my time watching videos on YouTube better than the TeacherTube. I can't seem to embed my video onto my blog. I will try again tomorrow. Too tired tonight.
TWO DAYS LATER....... YEAH IT WORKED!!!!!! WE HAVE VIDEO!!! I found this clip under library on TeacherTube.

Thing #19

Web 2.0 Awards list----Favorites so far----
http://del.icio.us/
http://wufoo.com/
http://www.imcooked.com/
http://www.myheritage.com/
http://farecast.live.com/?

This site is great for simplifying a lot of information online. I thought it was fun to look through all of the sites and see what was out there. So far, this is one of my favorite things . A definite help in the classroom. I will use this site! http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0/shorts.

Thing #18

Online Productivity Tools---Well, once again I preferred the Google site to the Open Office site. I downloaded and registered for the Open Office site and then found it to be very difficult to read through all of the options and suggestions. I don't think I will use this in my class. Google was much easier and user friendly. This site would be helpful for written projects in class. Not overly impressed with either of the sites. They are good enough for now, but I will keep looking for something that is easier.

Thing #17

Rollyo---Hours spent in complete frustration. I was able to play around in rollyo and made several searchrolls, but then spent hours trying to figure out how to link to my specific searchroll for this blog. I tried several ways without success. Then I found a tutorial on another blogger's page and was able to link. Thank goodness.



http://rollyo.com/rollieotime/reference_search/