Thing #23 LAST BUT NOT LEAST!

1.My favorite discoveries on 23Things were the components involving images and gadgets. I had great fun with iGoogle and all the gadgets, MashUps, and things like Image Chef. Tools, tools, tools are fun, fun fun! After great frustration and time I even enjoyed learning how to VIDcast.
2.If one of your lifelong learning goals is to keep up with technology—this course is a catalyst. It has truly opened my eyes to all that I DIDN'T know and made me aware of the ever-changing and expanding resources available on Web 2.0 and beyond.
3.One unexpected outcome is that I was surprised, again, by what I didn't know. I had always considered myself to be pretty techno-savvy--(NOT!). I was also surprised that I actually started to enjoy blogging!
4.The program's format is solid. There were a few TOO MANY things, however. Splitting it into two sections would help. The pod casting section could be a class unto itself! I would also like to see a searchable PROBLEM link (FORUM) offered where the CAPTAINS would answer questions directly all in one location.
5.If another program were offered in the future I would definitely participate!
6.Are you intimidated and sinking in a big dark pool of internet and computer technology? 23Things—Take the plunge and SWIM into a wondrous new sea of knowledge!

Thing #21 THE LONG, LONG ROAD TO VID/POD

I must say that I wish it had been noted in Thing #1 that this THING was going to take HOURS AND HOURS and we would need to acquire headphones and/or microphones and/or some narration for a picture or audio presentation. That would have given me more time to organize these things versus scrambling about while I'm out of town and attempting to complete this by the deadline time. I had pictures on my cell phone of the Snowy Range in Wyoming that I wanted to use. I had Bluetooth capability. I bought a "Dongle" which is a USB adapter that allows you to transfer pictures from your cell phone into your PC. My computer would not allow me to install because I don't have administrator privledges. I then tried downloading a free PC Suite from Nokia but had the same problem. Perhaps SBISD should let us download devices so that we can actuall USE all this technology. It would be nice to not be stymied at every turn. I ended up e-mailing myself all the pictures from my cell phone--goodness knows how much that is going to cost me since I DON'T have a media package. I have posted the BEGINNING of a photostory but it is nowhere near being done. I will come back and finish it later. Once I got the microphone to FINALLY work it became fun. It was very easy to import pictures into Photostory (which is already installed on the SBISD laptop) and the process of recording audio is also eased by a feature that allows you to write notes to refer to while you are recording. These are great tools to have explored! NOW I GET AN ERROR MESSAGE WHEN I TRY TO POST THE PHOTOSTORY DRAFT. If you see it in this post it means I prevailed! For HELP go to http://lib2pad.blogspot.com/ and ALSO see my COMMENT on the Thing #21 assignment.

Thing#22 Ring-Ring--IT'S NING!!

I like this!! I joined www.teacherlingo.com Finding other teachers of your same grade level and subject and being able to vent sounds great. I'm also interested in exploring the Lesson Plan menu and starting a teacher blog! Not much on there now but it could be grown! Get in on the "Sneaky Parent" opinion!

http://teacherlingo.com/blogs/jtspencer/archive/2008/02/28/sneaky-parent.aspx

Thing #20 THIS AIN'T NO BOOB TUBE!!

I found a funny Ma & Pa Math video and imbedded it into the blog. There is an "embed" feature that says NEW. It shows up as an "embed" choice afteryou click on the video itself on the TeacherTube web site. It is code so you can embed video but it also contains a video search to TeacherTube. See the video at the bottom of the blog!

#19 The Rewards of the 2.0 AWARDS SITES

I've used Craigslist myself. It's interesting but sometimes I wonder about selling to strangers at your home. Freecycle.com is cool for GIVING stuff away. People just come haul it away. It's great!

I looked around at other 2.0 Award tools but didn't find anything especially interesting or applicable to education other than the tools we've already explored.

I checked out:
http://www.yourminis.com/minis to find some widgets. I put a calendar on the blog (see below) but don't think you can even put your own events on it. I can get some widget HTML to post on the blog but but the "SIGN-IN" method with BLOGGER doesn't seem to work. The following did work: If you "right-click" on the widget it will let you copy the code. It's all a bit confusing. I put a countdown timer below. You could use that, perhaps, to remind students of upcoming tests, etc.

#18 FREEBIES!

OpenOffice.org has the following applications: BASE/CALC/DRAW/IMPRESS/WRITER and one that is exciting to me MATH. iT'S already installed on our SBISD laptops. I've tried WRITER and MATH and it works great. It's nice to have the ability to use symbols for MATH equations without waiting for GEEK to install Math Text or whatever it's called. It will be great to have it to use to make ACTIV BOARD flip charts.

I registered for Google Docs and can see how it would be useful to co-plan with fellow teachers.

Can't see much of a downside to it....unless there's no tech support?

#17 HO-HO-HO-ROLLYO

COOL TOOL! I registered with ROLLYO and started to build a MATH search roll. I even succeeded in putting a RollBar bookmarklet on my Links bar and SearchBox on the blog. I can see many uses for this. I use a site called ikeepbookmarks.com with a similar arrangement where I saved all the math and science sites for my students to use from home.

Check out ikeepbookmarks.com
Students could sign in as Rummel Creek
No password necessary
Go to 5th grade!! See all my bookmarks!

Now I've INCLUDED it in my Rollyo Search Engine

Thing #16 WIKI-share!

I posted a comment in the SBISD WIKI. I can see great potential for a class WIKI. I looked at one that had tests posted. That would be nice if you had enough computers in your class--perhaps use a LAB?? I would like to know if I want to create a class WIKI do I use the SBISD sign-in?? Anyone know?

http://www.wikispaces.com/ says "create a new space".

Anyone....anyone????

Thing #15 Library 2.0 - Surviving the FLOOD

Going into Library 2.0 - Rick Anderson - Away From The IcebergsI liked the images Anderson formed with his Iceberg theme and smiled at his picture holding an oar.
He felt there were three icebergs in Library 2.0 that needed to be steered away from:

1. Creating collections--don't waste time and money acquiring material that you only predict will be needed. DOES THIS ALSO APPLY TO CLASSROOM MATERIALS & TEXTBOOKS? I think maybe so.

2. Libraries (and those that provide FUNDING) must concentrate on EQUIPMENT and STAFF to help train the patrons to quickly find the research and materials that they need and not fumble around with inefficient search engines. MY CLASSROOM HAS NEVER HAD ENOUGH COMPUTERS to integrate technology on a daily basis--a standard that is waved in front of teachers but not supported by staffing, IT, and school equipment. Certain student demographics limit expectations for students to always have a computer at home.

3. Library services must shift their VISIBILITY out of a BUILDING and into the place that techno-savy people now reside--the WEB. He says, "It’s going to have to happen one library—one little boat—at a time." This could apply to the classroom also as far as how teachers present curriculum -- Can we PODCAST lessons? We've slowly moved into the ACTIV board classroom and we need to realize that the only educators that are going to survive the WEB flood that we are already in are those that steer their own boats into the current instead of against it.

Thing #14 Technor--ICKY!

I DID claim my blog on Technorati. I think I successfully added a Technorati widget (chiclet). I found that doing a search in BLOGS produced more pertinent results. I believe I said before that I found Technorati CORN-fusing!!!

Technorati Profile

Thing #13 You're It! - Del.icio.us Tags!

I created an account at Del.icio.us. I can see how you could use this to accumulate an ever-growing resource of helpful Favorites since it can connect you to other internet user's key words that match your interests as well. In other words, your searching has been expanded exponentially.

I got sidetracked to a teacher blog in Greece that had some COOL tools or widgets or whatever you call them. I used one to create the Picture Guestbook above!! Please try it! I'm trying to figure out how to move it to the BOTTOM, however.

Thing #12 Comment ZONE! No *&#@ expletives!

I commented on five blogs and found (searched) a few more to comment on that were of a more personal note. One drew my attention about Love After Fifty!! I posted my own personal story on that one.

On Cool Cat Teacher blog I found it interesting to learn about CoComment to keep track of the comments you make on other blogs: http://www.cocomment.com/

The most important rule: NEVER: Be sarcastic, rant prolifically, curse, or personally attack a person.
These are manners that our parents taught us are they not? I wish more people would follow this behavior when invading the PUBLIC space of others in the real world. For example, I was in a restaurant/bar with my fiance for a vacation toddy and a gentleman sitting in the same room was speaking very loudly to his friend about blankety *&P#*** blank *** blank ****-ing (fill in with the most horrific exletives you can imagine) at the TOP of his voice. This happened not just once but several times. If I had not been ready to leave i would have said something. I did mention it to the young son of the owner and he just shrugged. Hmmm....is it just youth? I must admit that I do not always follow ALL of these rules when dealing with corporate consumer issues but when posting blog comments on someone else's space it would seem to logically be the most important guideline.

Thing #11 - LibraryThing-A-Ma-Jigger!

I created a LibraryThing.com account and added a CHICLET (saves space) to my blog. It looks like this (above) and links to your LibraryThing catalog. (Click on the chiclet in my sidebar) I added some MATH books to my LT catalog. This is a very convenient tool for keeping a wish list or sharing curriculum resource books!

Here is the URL for all the cool LibraryThing TOOLS you can use to add to your blog:

http://www.librarything.com/tools

Thing #10 IMAGE-INE THAT!!

I tried Image Chef and it was really easy. You can search images and just replace the text to something you want. I tried a very recognizable image and applied a MATH statement to it which might appeal to 7th graders.

Here's the link! http://www.imagechef.com/

Here's another link where you can get layouts, backgrounds, graphics, generators, widgets, and a lot more!

http://gotomylayouts.com/myspace/?kw=myspace%20images&src=300250-2&gclid=CM3R4Ie25ZQCFR4sagodkG6IRA

Thing #9 Bleary Eyed After Blog Searches!

In order to remember all this stuff, I have started putting all the links I'm visiting in a 23Things folder under FAVORITES so I can go back and explore them further at a later date. I'm learning about so many things that I'm already forgetting what's OUT THERE!
I signed up on Google Reader and subscribed to several blogs using the RSS feed links. I still have to pick and choose which "Favorite Blogs" I show on MY blog because I have too many in the Reader--does that make sense??
· Sometimes it was confusing finding the RSS "sign up" on different web pages
· Technorati searches confused me
· Google Search Blog seemed to work the best

Thing #8 RSS Overload!

This could be used wisely to keep up on relevant professional subjects and things you might want to share with your class each day, OR even medical issues affecting your family. The fear, as in all this internet stuff, is WASTING lots and lots of time exploring all of this information being fed to you each day.

Thing #7 I'm All Googlie!!

So many things!! I'm frustrated about how much time this project is taking and don't think I'm going to meet my deadline. I would love to have more time to properly explore all these things.

I've set up an iGoogle page with some of the gadgets and it is really fun. I chose a designer background (see the Dolce and Gabbana theme above!) and set the tabs for subjects of interest to me and set up the windows using Places to See, Google Gram, Map Search, Fortune Cookie, Clock, Weather for two locations, & several other fun items. I also set up a Google Alert for a subject I'm interested in--it works!!

I've also switched to google e-mail to see if it is easier to manage e-mails. I've opened a Calender to see if it helps with organization and intend to explore the Google Notebook for research and school work. I'm already familiar with Google Earth!

One thing I'm doing is making a 23Things Folder in my Favorites list and adding a favorite to it for every Google application so I can remember them all and explore more when I have time.

Now, I'm all Googled OUT!

Thing #6 Smashing MashUps!

I am absolutely fascinated by Experimental Colr Pickr and all the other interactive things on - Jim Bumgardner's web site:

http://www.krazydad.com/

Try his COVERPOPS interactive - many different pages of interactive magazine & book covers & other crazy stuff!!

http://www.coverpop.com/pop/visco/

I made a postcard but would like to see an example of usage. Here is a link to my engagement trading card!

http://bighugelabs.com/photos/dd4cfed302647fa07a5c92a744cfb08e/deck1806876

Thing #5 Flitter Around in Flickr!

Amazing how many pictures you can find that have a MATH theme!!

Thing #4 So Far So Good

ok- I've registered and my title is showing on the summer log roll list. ONWARD!

Thing #3 Blog Intimidation 101

Whew. So many things. I read David Armano's 4Cs regarding what constitutes a good blog. I read another link group blog from his site about Why Blogging Matters: 6 Degrees of Perspective. Things I found interesting: Ideas about how corporate blogging must be careful about being consistent with their customer relations. Bloggers are smart and can spot what Pete Blackshaw (Chief Marketing Officer of Nielsen BuzzMetricsx) calls “touch-point discontinuity." This is basically when a corporation appears to be talking out of two sides of their mouths regarding customer reponse and service. They can't claim to be responsive to their customers just because they have a blog--they must be responsive at all customer touchpoints. This got me to thinking that blogging has potentially become a consumers union--a tool where consumers can get action when other "technical support" channels have failed. I love consumer advocate issues. Many people give up when things have gone awry in a consumer-business transaction. On the other hand there are a lot of litigious whiners out there that don't want to say anything was actually their own fault. Can blogs be a whiners heaven?
Another idea in Armono's 4Cs regarding CONTENT is that people want knowledge--if you know something of VALUE, share it. This gives me ideas regarding my own consumer advocacy experiences.
OK--Back to setting up the blog itself. As I looked around I found it very overwhelming: RSS feeds, Twitter, Facebook, tags, Technorati, Trackback, d.links, and all the choices to check on setting up your blog. I'm not sure who can see my blog or even who I WANT to see my blog! I need help on all the preferences. That's all folks.

Thing #2: Are Imposed Habits Good?

Thing #2
I read the instructions and watched the video on 7-1/2 Habits. Took notes. I'm big on notes.
OK--the easiest habit? Every habit from two through seven. All that stuff is easy for me. 7-1/2 is a little hard. I tend to work too hard and too long and not make time to play. Habit number one is the big problem for me--not making a goal but PLANNING. Writing down the steps. Keeping a journal. I love to write but if I'm told I HAVE to write down daily entries or write out daily food journal or a a step-by-step plan or make a budget, I resist. All that make a Learning Contract with myself, writing down the obstacles, target dates, etc.....sign. I just have an aversion to it. I'm more of an intuitive person. As a teacher, having to write plans using imposed formats just rubs me the wrong way. If someone says here--teach this lesson--I'm fine with it because I don't follow the "plan" word for word--I use it as my jumping off point--I can be really creative in that type of atmosphere. After all, imposed formats change every few years don't they. Come on now, you all know what I'm talking about. Anyone else have similar thoughts? Goal: Find a way to map out goals that doesn't feel "fake"!

Thing #1: Jump Start

Thing #1
Read it--fumbled around a bit. Skipped ahead. Yep. That's usually my modus operandi! I like to get started and learn by doing. Then go back and read the fine print.