Thing 12

Wow...I didn't realize I was a lurker...that sounds so creepy. No wonder I started getting comments...you guys reached Thing 12! The blogs I read about commenting were really interesting, and I really did come away with them with some new knowledge. For one, to be a commenter, especially when a post hits close to home. Two, respond to your commenters, it's gracious. Three, share what you know, someone out there might learn from it.

Thing 11

I LOVE Librarything! I'm a person that does not hold on to books. I share a passion for reading with my close friend Lisa and cousin Carrie, so we are constantly swapping books. When books are left over I take them to the discount bookstore. Since I inhale books, I like Librarything to keep track of what I have read. I'm going to start logging in my books from now on, and try to put in more of what I have read. I really like the reccommendations that the site offers. It provides a good list of "need to read." This site is my favorite "thing" so far!

Thing 10

The image creators were really fun to play with. To use personally, I really like http://www.imagechef.com/. It allows you to make images into ecards and post things on Facebook and blogs. For school I love http://www.wordle.net/. I can imagine my students making up poems and publishing them with this site. You can find my wordle at


http://www.customizemagnets.com/ecards/childrens.asp is a nice site for making cards, certificates, and labels for the classroom.

Thing 9

Okay, I have a confession to make...I'm not a big blog fan...It's just that blogs are so random...their professional, personal, informative, casual, all at the same time! If I'm going to read a blog I'm going to read it for ideas on how to be a better teacher or future librarian. The people that I go to for inspiration are published writers, so they are not going to blog their brilliant ideas for free! Maybe some of you can recommend worthwhile blogs to me.
While working through blog search tools I found that http://edublogawards.com/ had a nice, comprehensive list of educational blogs. I wish that their list had a comment about what the blogs where about.
I love tidbits of news, so http://www.topix.net/ is really cool. I really liked how it’s organized by local, national, and international news. I couldn't find anything on education on http://technorati.com/.
Some blogs that I found that I liked and could relate to are http://www.teachersatrisk.com/ and
http://bettyb.teacherlingo.com/ Betty has some great tidbits for daily teaching.
Maybe as the school year starts and I get ideas from the blogs they'll grow on me!

Thing 8

I'm a little irritated because the internet system is really slow at UHCL today! So searching through blogs has been very time consuming! I love that readers put all your favorite blogs together in one glance. It saves the user time. I would love to create a list of blogs in my reader about movies, books, and Houston restaurants and hotspots...that's on my to do list. For know I'm following blogs that will help me as a teacher and future librarian.
I think administators can use readers to communicate ideas that they believe would benefit the school. Everyone on campus can have a reader that follows their favorite educators, staff developers and philosophers. Does anyone know if Lucy Caulkins or Kathy Collins blog? I've searched but haven't found any. BTW, love the bloglist gadget, I imported my followed blogs from Google Reader.

Thing 7: Google

With Google I explored Scholar Google and Google Calendar. With Scholar google I searched for PowerPoints that are about balanced literacy. I found a powerpoint about balanced literacy and incorporating technology. I also created a calendar. I like the calendar because it can be accessed from anywhere, and it seams by personal and professional schedules perfectly.

Thing 6: Mashups
When I hear the word mashup, I automatically thought it was when DJs mixed two songs together, so the media mashups were totally new to me. I found some mashups that I would like to use personally, and some I would like to use in my career. I loved http://www.programmableweb.com/mashup/1000-songs
This website has a list of 1000 songs everone must hear before they die. You can listen to the songs and look at lyrics.
I really liked http://animalphotos.info/a/ . This website combines Flickr and search engine to search animal photos.
http://addroo.com/src/ is a search engine that when you type in a search photos, video clips, and news articles come up. This would be a powerful search engine for students researching online.

Thing 5 :Flickr

I have never used Flickr before in my teaching, I usually used pictures that I searched from the web. I know friends have used Flickr to share pics of thier kids. When I searched through Flickr I looked for geographic pictures. So many of our students don't get a chance to travel, so it's nice to show them real pictures of places and things that they learn about. I have a picture of Lake Tahoe, the Rocky Mountains, and a prarie...all geographic forms that students study in elementary.

Blogging

Thanks to my last class I had a blog set up...thanks Trudy... I had a bit of a problem saving my cute Avatar...read the directions...duh. Story of my life!

7 Habits of Higly successful People

So, I've started a new class: Media Tech Selection and Application, sounds pretty heavy duty huh. As part of our classwork we are going through Library2Play: 23 Things to play on the internet. Before we start we are to examine ourselves as life-long learners, and think about ourselves in terms of the 7 habits of highly successful people. I consider myself a pretty optimistic person, (my husband would disagree) so I think I'm pretty good at being proactive, and having the end in mind. Being a reading teacher really helps me to think about goals needing to be met. I don't get the whole "synergize" thing. I know it's made fun of in the media, but I want to learn more about the true meaning. If Covey wrote it, it must be good.

Using the Internet to Enhance Learning

I am in the mist of summer one classes, and the pace is fast and furious. I'm taking two courses, am on the computer at least three hours a day, and driving an hour to class Monday through Wednesday...my daughter misses her mother!
One of the courses I'm taking is an online course of Applications of Technology. Let me just tell you, I am quite a novice to all the computer business. Sure, I have a Facebook page, can use Office applications, and am now a blogger (thanks to this class), but as a classroom teacher, my technology usage has been a bit shallow. We do things like PowerPoint, use the Smart Board, and use math software like JIJI. I would really like to utilize the Internet more to enhance and excite my teaching.
I would like to share some ideas to enhance learning with the internet whether it be in the classroom or in the Library.

Book Clubs and Fan Fiction – I recently heard Debra Marshall, a school librarian in Coppell ISD speak about her library program. She has a book club for all grades, K-5 !
How awesome is that! How could you enhance a book club with the internet? How about using the format of Fan Fiction? You can share some appropriate stories form FanFiction.net, students can write a story that goes along with the book, and post it on the internet. Sadly, students have to be 13 years old to post on
http://www.FanFiction.net , and other fan fiction sites, but a librarian or teacher can use NVU, a program to create a website, and post the students’ fan fiction on the website. How exciting would your students be to see their stories published on the internet?

Use TrackStar- http://trackstar.4teachers.org/ is a website available for educators to design online lessons and activities. A librarian can put together websites for research, or lessons on Information Literacy. Check out this trackStar for an example.

Research Favorite Authors- Teach using a search engine by researching favorite authors. Most authors have websites with personal information. Have a scavenger hunt of facts about authors. What inspired them to write? Where do they live? How many books have they written? Do they have pets? Students are always surprised and delighted when they find out personal information about their favorite author.

As a technology student, I have a secret for all those technology novices, It's not as hard as it seems! I have squealed in delight when I try to do something new (NVU, TrackStar, blog) and it works! These ideas are free, easy to use, and are sure to excite students.