Thing # 23-I made it!!!

One word: Worthwhile
I am a lifelong learner and always looking for new challenges. Maybe that is why I have chosen to go back to grad school and pursue a MLS. I enjoy studying about things I never knew before and loving it.

This was an excellent way to get me to experience and learn new technology. I know this will help me in preparing for the future. Many of the tools I have already used in my classroom and look forward to implementing in a library. I will definitely participate in another technology learning experience like this one. I liked going at my own pace. I've found some things that I'll probably make use of and some that I won't, but it's good to know that these exist, even if I don't use them. My favorite exercises from this whole brouhaha were Trading cards, My del.icio.us, Animoto (I'm addicted), wikis and flickr.
Great job overall! What a wonderful learning experience this has been.

Thing # 22

I really enjoyed the Teacher Library Ning. I have never joined My Space or Facebook, so I didn't know what I was missing. I thought I was too old. There are so many benefits to social networking. Together we are much more powerful learners than we are as individuals. I enjoyed reading past posts from others in the same Grad program in other states. They have the same concerns that I do. I liked the advice from the practicing librarians. They have been there, done that!

Thing # 21

I started doing the podcast assignment yesterday and was frustrated with Audacity. I know I can't be the only one out there that is having trouble. I then switched to Photostory today and had more success. The steps were a lot more spelled out for someone who is technology challenged. I had no idea of what to make a podcast of: that was until I pulled up pictures on my computer. I have thousands of my daughter and thought this would be an easy one. I forgot to bring home my microphone from school, so I added music to the podcast instead.



I CAN'T GET IT TO LOAD!!!!



As for audio books, these are a great resource while traveling, multi-tasking, or just doing ordinary activities. I think ELL students and reluctant readers would really enjoy using these. I am curious about the playaways that I just recently learned about. Hopefully in the next few months I can actually get to use these.

Thing # 20

I have to be honest. I had never even gone to YouTube before doing the Library Thing. I don’t know if I would ever find much for an elementary student. I haven’t even been tempted when the news or a TV program reports a video that someone has downloaded.
I went to the sites suggested. I really enjoyed, the 60's and 70's musical videos and 1970 commercials. These were fun to go and remember the many days of yesteryear.


As for TeacherTube, I found a couple of videos that would be helpful in class. Well maybe entertaining.



This experiment was done the day before our Science night with the students (grades 2-5) to get them interested in coming to Science night. Our Science SIS did a demonstration for each grade and we had a record number turn out.

Thing # 19

I am amazed at how in-depth you can go into this. There's some really awesome sites. Many of the sites we have already visited in the Library2Play. So I looked at Yelp. It's a review site by area/city. I looked at restaurant reviews for Houston and Clearwater, Florida. They also have entertainment, real estate, home services, auto, etc. You can write/read reviews, search by neighborhood, and post a question or comment. It's very easy to use and it looks good. I learned of a bakery in Katy that I would love to try.

Thing # 18

Like others have stated, OpenOffice took a while to download. I must have missed the boat. I always have a difficult time getting started on these new tools. I watched the demonstration and saw how the presentation was a lot like power point in MS. I have not mastered that yet and now I am trying something new. ARGGGGHH! I like the fact that it is FREE! The price of Microsoft is steep and this is a great alternative to do word processing, presentations or spreadsheets. The time learning the new “software is not worth it at this time. I’m glad to know it exists however.
Now GoogleDocs is fantastic. I already made a spreadsheet. I am very familiar with Excel so that wasn’t a stretch. I made it for a family trip we are taking and kind of put our itinerary on there. I put choices of excursions for each port that each family might not have researched yet. It is much like a wiki that others can access and share information. I will use this much more. Again, the downside for students is that they have to register. But the upside is they can access it from home, school or any computer. I think it is a great resource. Google is amazing and FREE!

Thing # 17

I made a post in the Sandbox. I like everyone's ideas. I really want to try having a faculty committee wiki. Instead of going to committee meetings, this would be a great way to use our time for meetings. We usually turn in minutes to our principals, now they could just explore the wiki. I think this would be a easy way to introduce the faculty to a wiki without too much stress. The collaboration would be endless.