Thing #23: Not the end, but a whole new beginning..

Well, I'm at #23. At the beginning, it seemed that it would be a long road. It was, butthere was a lot of information that I never even knew existed that I was able to learn about and adventure into.



1. My favorite discoveries were Flicker and the online image generators. I'm not a creative person and these two exercises helped me discover other avenues of being creative.



2. Now that I'm at the end, I feel like this still goes along with my easiest and hardest habits I picked for a life long learner. Any exercises on play was definitely the easiest for me. The exercises the were the greatest challenge for me frustrated me, but at the end they were they greatest learning experience for me.

3. I was just surprised by all the new vocabulary I learned in these 23 tasks. I knew I would be learning new things, but I thought it would be more of a building of knowledge I already know.

4. I would have enjoyed more of the 'In Plain English' videos. I was great! Sometimes the exercises were confusing. There were hard to understand for the 'novice'. I went through this exercise with another collegue who helped be my support. I couldn't imagine doing this alone.

5. I would choose to do more with another discovery program. I would be hard to do during the school year though. I enjoyed this learning experience.

6. Challenging, but a great learning experience!

Thing #22: Ninging...

I went to the three sites. As a counselor, the librarians sites were interesting but didnt interest me that much. The Ning for teachers was the most interesting for me. I would love to see a Ning for counselors. There is often questions we have for each other relating to credits, graduations and college admissions that we could network between cities and states. I did see one middle school counselor posting and there was some interesting topics on bullying.

I love the idea of networking with Ning. It's a nice alternative to MySpace and Facebook.

Thing #21: Photostory

The hardest part about this was getting an idea for my Vidcast. It took awhile for me to download. I'm not sure why, but it scared me and I started all over again. I didn't like my voice being on it so I used music.

I can definitely see using this at times for something besides powerpoint. Students would enjoy using this for an alternative to a book report where they have to write or stand in front of the class. It gives the students a chance to show their creative side.

Another great tool!

Thing #20: Videos & More Videos

The posting of the videos were pretty easy. I picked this video on the importance of technology in classrooms which helps students to be life long learners (going along with our life learner video at the beginning.


Incorporating videos into lessons makes the lessons "come to life" and can also bring humor to the lessons. There are all types of videos,some serious some funny, some just there to be there I guess.

Here's one for my love of math and rap...



And I had to throw in a counseling one...

Thing #19: Web 2.0

I visited the Awards list. It was amazing how some of the sites I've already visited and liked were on the awards list. Good choices. Here are a few of the sites I visited and enjoyed:

BackPack: I think this is a great tool for teacher's who work in teams and are doing lesson plans together. They can add notes, worksheets and all types of files all on one page. It's easy to use and share. Libraries could post their calendar of events for the week and reservations for the school to access. They can even add new books as they arrive with descriptions. For my personal use, the calender and todo list is EXCELLENT!
I like the feature of using dividers, maps and pictures all with a click of a button.

Writeboard: This could be an excellent tool for English teachers. The best feature I liked was being able to see the edits being made as well as the previous work. An English teacher could edit papers for students without even collecting them and using their red ink pens! A student can produce a final product without rewriting a whole paper. I could definitely use this when writing college and scholarship recommendations for my students.

Mothersclick: This website is great for my own personal use. I love the way you can post questions as well as view answers on the site. It was all types of great information for all types of moms: working, stay home, first time moms and even mothers of multiples like myself.

SpanishPod: I love the idea around Spanish Pod, but it does cost. There is a week trial and limited access to try it. Spanish Speaking students can use this tool for strengthing their English. It would be good for writing papers or learning speeches. I like the feature of listening and being able to contact representatives to help as well.

I enjoyed discovering!

Thing #18: Google Docs Rocks!

I watched the video and played around with Google Docs. The tutorial presentation was easy to follow. I actually uploaded and worked with a document I already had. It was easy to manipulate and figure out. I had trouble downloading the Open Office program. The tutorials were hard to understand as well. I wasnt impressed by the first impression.

The advantages of having an online tool is being able to access the material anywhere, anytime. The disadvantage is sometimes not all fonts are available when uploading and existing file.

Thing #17: I'm rolling with Rollyo

I created my search roll. It was pretty easy. I had problems importing my favorites. I'm hoping that since I made it public other's will add to it. I think it's a wonder place to visit other's sites and look and see who's going where! This is a great tool. I'll definitely be using it.

http://rollyo.com/doublelearner/college_and_career/

Thing #16: Wiki, Wiki little star...

The short video on Wiki in Plain English helped me understand what Wiki is all about. Some of the resources I went to were a bit confusing.

Going to the sandbox and editing text was pretty easy. I would enjoy this as a counselor for my seniors to have a discussion about things they need to be need to be doing or information they need to be gathering for their senior year. They could make lists and edit all the time.

I could also see different organizations or groups on campus getting a project done using Wiki to get organized. This helps students who cannot make it to a meeting.

I can even see this being helpful for parents who can't make our parent meeting to get connected and discuss things they missed with me or other parents.

Wiki's uses are endless.

Thing #15 Library 2.0

1. Rick Anderson's "icebergs" perspective was interesting to me. I'm used to "old school" libraries where the librarians giving an orientation of how to use the library. Then we would trudge through the card catalogs and the shelves looking for our resources and praying that what we need was there. I used to wonder if some of the stuff there had even ever been touched.
With Library 2.0 all of this seems nonexistant, a thing of the past. In fact, the information is so easy to access and find without walking through the libraries doors.

2. To me Library 2.0 means that my children will have a different type of library than I could have ever thought. It means that I will have to continue with Library 2.0 constantly just to keep up with what is going on in the world. I think for myself and libraries that Library 2.0 will change the reason why people visit the library. It will be more of a physical visit to read books that we enjoy; it will be reading fairs and storytime for children. As far as the web goes I think libraries will have more information and resources than there building could ever hold and have more students they talk to than they ever did all with a computer.

Thing #14 Technorati and How Tags Work

1. It was very interesting how searching posts, blogs and tags yielded such different results. In posts the search picked up the keys words of my search and highlighted them in orange. In blogs it showed only blogs that were registered and tagged 2.0.

2. I think the most interesting thing to me under popular is how different it is under each topic. It's not surprising that the Top 100 blogs by fans is almost the same list as the Top 100 blogs by authority.

3. As far as assisting me, I think that it would be interesting to see how the subject I may be researching is being talked about and referenced to. Tagging definitely narrows the search down for you.

It's interesting what the young lady said on the video about how blogging's information becomes of more value that CNN or a review critic because it's people just like you and me talking out what is important to us.

Thing #13: Tagging & del.icio.us

I explored del.icio.us, Furl and Ma.gnolia. I love the idea of social bookmarking. In my opinion, Furl was better for me. It seemed more "user friendly" to me. As a counselor this could be a very useful tool. We are always asking each other about where we get our resourses about different things. This way, we can have a common ground of locating and sharing.

Libraries' use of this tool is limitless. As a teacher discusses a certain topic, she lets the library know. The libraries start bookmarking the resources and the students have all kinds of resourses on that topic all at one site.

Thing #12 Commenting

I feel that the two most important things about commenting that I read was about contributing and criticizing kindly. I think they go hand in hand. I would love for someone else to contribute to what I'm saying or doing, but it needs to be done in a kind way.

Even commenting to other's stuff, I have learned alot through reading the blogs!

Thing #11: LibraryThing

I loved using the LibraryThing. It was easy and even gave me some ideas of some books to read when I finish my Library2Play project. I could see students using this book as they do research papers. It would be a helpful tool to see which resources are useful to use in any research papers they may be writing.
As a counselor, students with certain issues could research books for that particular topic and even join or form groups to discuss these issues. None of the groups really interested me, but I would love to start an African American authors book group.

I know this is a tool I will definitely use in the future!

Thing #10 Online Image Generator

I really enjoyed this exercise. It was relaxing and fun! These were the two links I used. There are so many to play around with and have fun!

http://computer.nerd.comicstripgenerator.com/

http://www.imagechef.com/

Anytime we are teaching, you want learning to be fun. These cartoons or images can be added to worksheets or practice pages to describe word problems or just to add a nice "change" to the class!

Thing 9: Feeds

Well I feel confused all over again. Maybe because it's so much out there that I don't know where to begin and I know there's no way it could possibly end...

• The easiest method to find feeds was to pick a general category.


• Bloglines' search tool was the easiest for me.
• Technorati and Syndic8.com was VERY CONFUSING for me; not friendly to use at all.
• Of course with education being my top topic I found many useful feeds
• The most unusual of course was the ones in a different language. They looked interesting, but unusual :-)
• Another way to find the feeds where to click on other articles associated with my topic and they led to other feeds.

This has been an interesting section...

Thing #8: RSS

• I like the ease in subscribing to the Newreader, the ease of reading and the ease of organizing my folders.
• RSS can help me keep up with college admissions requirements, SAT/ACT news, and anyother eduational resourses right there in one place without having to bookmark or search everytime. I just wait for it to come to me!
• Libraries could have folders set up with different categories for students to come in and check that subject everyday while the student is doing research for a certain subject. A student can check the RSS everyday and have all the information at their fingertips!

Thing #7:Google

I enjoyed working with Google. It's easy and straight forward. I made my own Google page which was quick and easy. I was able to add a calorie counter which is helpful for me to keep up with when I decide to do my dieting. I also added a things to do lists to help my self get organized at school. It has the option of adding links which I could do to help with looking up resourses for my students.

My other tools I started was the Google notebook. http://www.google.com/notebook/public/15746431134643625481/BDRteIgoQ57L1lasj
As senior counselor, my students can go here for websites and notes from me on upcoming events, links to helpful websites and they can comment back. I will and would continuosly update the sight as the year went on. I enjoyed it!

Thing #6

There's SO MANY things you can do with Flickr! It amazed me the things that I say. I'm very anxious to try to make a cube and the jigsaw puzzle. I just think there's so much to do that it get's a little confusing. I'm also confused about when to give credit?? I did take the challege and try a trading card...

Now that I'm a counselor I could see having a website where the students create a mosaic of themselves. I think it could serve as another type of resume when I'm writing recommendations.

Thing #4

I'm registered and ready for more challenges!

Thing #5: Flickr

This is the picture I uploaded from the Flickr Commons website. It was a little confusing at first, but I hope this is right. I picked this picture because I am senior counselor this year so I'll be talking alot about colleges. Of course I will talk about my alumni UT!!!

Thing #3

Creating a blog was a little confusing, but with the help of another learning blogger I made it through...

Thing #2 - Easiest Part

Well, I'm finally creating my blog and it feels good! I listened to the 7 1/2 Habits of a Lifelong Learner. My easiest habit is definitely the 7 1/2 which is PLAY. As the mother of twins, PLAY is a regular part of my day. It definitely should be a solid number 8!

Thing #2 - Hardest

The hardest part of the 7 1/2 Habits would be viewing problems as challenges. Many times when running into problems I automatically think, 'I can't go on' or 'this is too hard'. I never thought about it being a challenge.