Week 9, Thing 23

This Web 2.0 course was a lot of fun to do over the summer! It was very laid back, work at your own pace kind of course which I think we all need after a long intense school year! I found many of the explorations in this course beneficial to my work as a teacher. I am all about learning new tools, especially free ones, that I can use for myself, students, parents, and collegues. Many of the tools learned through this course I plan on sharing with my co-workers. I think they would benefit from these tools that are easy to use, when demonstrated during a staff meeting.

I felt surprised when I heard about neededing to checkout a text for this course and read 4 chapters. I didn't know that was part of the requirements; however, they did benefit the class. I might have missed it somewhere on the blog, but I didn't recall reading it as being part of the class. This also goes for commenting on other people's blog. But again, I do feel these requirements are important. It is always intereting to see what others have created or found through these explorations.

I would definatly recommend this course to others. I do wish they had one in particular for teachers in Alaska on mylearningplan.com (I haven't come across it yet, only the one offered in CA). This course has opened my eyes to even more technology tools that I can incorporate into my teaching. I am very excited to try some of it out this school year. Thanks again for a fun and beneficial course!

This Web 2.0 course was a lot of fun to do over the summer! It was very laid back, work at your own pace kind of course which I think we all need after a long intense school year! I found many of the explorations in this course beneficial to my work as a teacher. I am all about learning new tools, especially free ones, that I can use for myself, students, parents, and collegues. Many of the tools learned through this course I plan on sharing with my co-workers. I think they would benefit from these tools that are easy to use, when demonstrated during a staff meeting.

I felt surprised when I heard about neededing to checkout a text for this course and read 4 chapters. I didn't know that was part of the requirements; however, they did benefit the class. I might have missed it somewhere on the blog, but I didn't recall reading it as being part of the class. This also goes for commenting on other people's blog. But again, I do feel these requirements are important. It is always intereting to see what others have created or found through these explorations.

I would definatly recommend this course to others. I do wish they had one in particular for teachers in Alaska on mylearningplan.com (I haven't come across it yet, only the one offered in CA). This course has opened my eyes to even more technology tools that I can incorporate into my teaching. I am very excited to try some of it out this school year. Thanks again for a fun and beneficial course!

Week 9, Thing 22

Wow, I this was difficult for me to find an ebook to download/explore. I haven't read a good classic book for adults since high school and maybe one course in college! Most of my readings have been childrens books. I did find one of my favorites, Jane Eyre!

I went through the top 100 list from the past few days to see what books I recall being interested in or what new book I might try. When I went through the author list, I was beginning to recall many authors, Homer, Oscar Wilde, Poe, Twain, Austen, London, Hugo, Melville, etc. Some of the ebooks, I wish they were audio books instead, like the Iliad...personally, that is one book too long for me to sit through but I am willing to listen to while multitasking. The Bible was also in txt format. Little Women was one of my favorites but it only came as a txt download under Project Gutenberg.

I also did a google search on the top 100 classic novels to find one I'd be interested in listening to.

I also checked out http://www.ebooksabouteverything.com/ where they have all kinds of ebooks you can purchase!

http://www.archive.org/
When I searched for a couple of titles of books that became movies, I came across a lot of reviews that came in an mp3 format for listening to.

At http://librivox.org/, I was able to find a copy of Little WOmen in an audio version! I like the idea of volunteers reading, but I am not sure if I like how different people read different chapters. I downloaded Emma by Jane Austen and Three Men in a Boat, which I heard was a funny story. I also found a children's story (or so a website told me) called Wind in the Willows. I might download some of my other favorites, To Kill A Mocking Bird, Of Mice and Men, Great Gatsby, Grapes of Wrath, Price and Prejudice...I could keep going! I kind of wish I knew about this at the beginning of summer when I had more time!

Wow, I this was difficult for me to find an ebook to download/explore. I haven't read a good classic book for adults since high school and maybe one course in college! Most of my readings have been childrens books. I did find one of my favorites, Jane Eyre!

I went through the top 100 list from the past few days to see what books I recall being interested in or what new book I might try. When I went through the author list, I was beginning to recall many authors, Homer, Oscar Wilde, Poe, Twain, Austen, London, Hugo, Melville, etc. Some of the ebooks, I wish they were audio books instead, like the Iliad...personally, that is one book too long for me to sit through but I am willing to listen to while multitasking. The Bible was also in txt format. Little Women was one of my favorites but it only came as a txt download under Project Gutenberg.

I also did a google search on the top 100 classic novels to find one I'd be interested in listening to.

I also checked out http://www.ebooksabouteverything.com/ where they have all kinds of ebooks you can purchase!

http://www.archive.org/
When I searched for a couple of titles of books that became movies, I came across a lot of reviews that came in an mp3 format for listening to.

At http://librivox.org/, I was able to find a copy of Little WOmen in an audio version! I like the idea of volunteers reading, but I am not sure if I like how different people read different chapters. I downloaded Emma by Jane Austen and Three Men in a Boat, which I heard was a funny story. I also found a children's story (or so a website told me) called Wind in the Willows. I might download some of my other favorites, To Kill A Mocking Bird, Of Mice and Men, Great Gatsby, Grapes of Wrath, Price and Prejudice...I could keep going! I kind of wish I knew about this at the beginning of summer when I had more time!

Week 9, Thing 21

Podcast
My favorite hobby: Scrapbooking!!
http://whollyscrap.libsyn.com/rss

I went to http://podcastalley.com and it was easy to search under games and hobbies for a podcast on scrapbooking! How fun! She goes over listener comments and constructive criticism. She uses skype and odasidy for her podcasting. I found the author's personal scrapbook site is http://angiepedersen.typepad.com/onescrappysite/! Listening to podcasts reminds me of listening to the radio. I can see myself listening to podcasts more often while I am working on craft things or filing papers.

http://www.epnweb.org
I listened to a first grader dedicate a book reading (that I believe she wrote) to her mom - it was SO cute! I think parents would love (and even grandparents) to hear their child's voice!

wwww.teachercreatedmaterials.com
Practice, Practice, Practice: The Value of Repeated Reading - Dr. Rasinski talks about the benefits of repeated reading. He compared it to athletes - they practice to get better, and reading is the same way. I do find it hard for me to just sit and listen. I feel like to need to multitask!

TechSavvyGirls
So I am not a big gamer (person who plays video games) but one in particular that I use to love to play in college was Dance Dance Revolution. And guess what I found? Dance Dance Revolution in Education podcast!
http://web.mac.com/tntnzing/techsavvygirlz/Podcasts/Entries/2006/8/12_Dance_Dance_Revolution_in_Education_.html

Podcast
My favorite hobby: Scrapbooking!!
http://whollyscrap.libsyn.com/rss

I went to http://podcastalley.com and it was easy to search under games and hobbies for a podcast on scrapbooking! How fun! She goes over listener comments and constructive criticism. She uses skype and odasidy for her podcasting. I found the author's personal scrapbook site is http://angiepedersen.typepad.com/onescrappysite/! Listening to podcasts reminds me of listening to the radio. I can see myself listening to podcasts more often while I am working on craft things or filing papers.

http://www.epnweb.org
I listened to a first grader dedicate a book reading (that I believe she wrote) to her mom - it was SO cute! I think parents would love (and even grandparents) to hear their child's voice!

wwww.teachercreatedmaterials.com
Practice, Practice, Practice: The Value of Repeated Reading - Dr. Rasinski talks about the benefits of repeated reading. He compared it to athletes - they practice to get better, and reading is the same way. I do find it hard for me to just sit and listen. I feel like to need to multitask!

TechSavvyGirls
So I am not a big gamer (person who plays video games) but one in particular that I use to love to play in college was Dance Dance Revolution. And guess what I found? Dance Dance Revolution in Education podcast!
http://web.mac.com/tntnzing/techsavvygirlz/Podcasts/Entries/2006/8/12_Dance_Dance_Revolution_in_Education_.html

Chapter 3: New Tools

Some of the tools listed in this chapter we covered throughout this class. I thought I'd touch on some of the items that wasn't covered.

Calendars
www.google.com/calendar
You can see each other's schedule, cross-reference events/dates, and also get reminders. So far, it seems like it is a FREE tool.

Video Editing
Jumpcut.com
This site lets you make and remix videos, however, not all videos on this site are appropriate for a school environment (or home, ie. adult material) or even of any quality. It's more of a free tool you can use. I am not sure if there is a way to explore/search videos without having to come across inappropriate material. In its guidelines, it states: "Jumpcut does not tolerate content that includes pornography, illegal acts, excessive violence, or anything racially or ethnically offensive. This includes your profile photo. Please flag content as innapropritate if you come across something that shouldn't be on the site. If you think there's immediate cause for concern, you can report content and/or behavior to Jumpcut directly via our Contact page." However, when I wanted to look up videos on "dance lessons," adult material was everywhere! I am not sure how well they are doing about monitoring the materials posted on the site.


There is an option to create videos that you do not want to share with the public but only certain people. What you post public, people are allowed to take your material/clips and "remix" it. In it's policy, it states that you must be at least 13 years old, and if you are 18 and under, you still need parent permission.

eyespot.com
Eyespot is an "all-in-one solution for hosting, mixing and sharing your video on the Internet and over mobile devices. Anyone can use the site to watch video and share via links and email." It seems to be similar to jumpcut.com but I didn't come across as many adult matrial when I explored videos. The do have "commercials" or demo videos as they like to call them.



Education videos are limited; I came across many videos advertising their academys or debt reduction. There was a short movie about making rainbow fishes.



Grouper.com
This site changed into crackle.com.
"Crackle, Inc., a Sony Pictures Entertainment Company formerly known as Grouper, is a multi-platform video entertainment network and studio that distributes the hottest emerging talent on the web and beyond. Crackle's addictive shows reach a global audience across the Internet, in the living room, and on devices including a broad range of Sony electronics. Crackle, in on-going collaboration with Sony Pictures Entertainment and other leading partners, discovers and promotes the stars of tomorrow." You can watch comedy, horror, music, short films, etc. Before you watch a video, they make you watch a commercial for a movie or a product. Again, this site is limited on videos appropriate for the classroom. I did come across a short math lesson.

From Crackle: Want to learn math, maths, math?

Videoegg.com
"VideoEgg is the pioneering video ad network for online communities. We connect brands to consumers with video and rich media across a network of more than 200 leading video and gaming sites, social networks and applications. We are helping redefine the world of online advertising." I would not recommend even visiting this site unless you are using it to create ads....I was bombarded with "advertise here" on the homepage.


3D Modeling
sketchup.google.com
"Google SketchUp is software that you can use to create, modify and share 3D models. It's easier to learn than other 3D modeling programs, which is why so many people are already using it." They have links on how to use SketchUp for K-12 education. They have a free version and also SketchUp Pro which is free to educators but kept at a low cost for schools and its students. I checked out its K-12 Education gallery but only one illustratin was posted. I wish there were more examples from younger students using this tool.

eHub
emilychang.com/go/eHub
"She writes about web and user experience design, technology, and next generation web" like Web 2.0. At her site, she makes posts about new tools that you can use, ie., Kwik Surveys, if you want to create free and easy surveys. I found this listed on her site - a TO DO LIST at http://www.nowdothis.com/ Check it out. I am not sure if I would use it all the time...I noticed you have to list the items in order of what you want done first. Emily Chang's job sounds like fun!! With tags, she has her blogs categorized...I clicked on Education and then Kids and came across something useful for parents, zefty.com. Emily says Zefty is "a money expense tracker that allows you to track and manage your child's allowance & spending online. Your kids can easily learn about money management while parents gain quality time with their kids." AND IT'S FREE!!

Math Tools
http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/tools/
One of the tools I checked out was Experimental Probability, which is one thing we cover at the end of kindergarten. One of the assessment questions is about probability with working with a spinner where there are two parts, and one is about 60% and the other is 20%, and the kindergartner has to tell where it would most likely land. This has the online tool where you can spin the spinner by clicking the mouse and it will tally where it lands so you are able to see where it lands most. They have other math tools with graphs, statistics, geometry, and so forth.

Photo Editing
gimp.org
Gimp.org is used for photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It can also be used as a simple paint program. Some of the options it has is: photo enhancing, digital retouching, you can save your image in different formats...I think it is almost like Photoshop but easier!

http://dotlrn.org
".LRN is a global community of educators, designers, and software developers who partner together to drive educational innovation." It offers these tools:
Assessment Forums
E-Mail/Bulk mail LORS Central (Learning Object Repository)
Calendar LORS Management
Curriculum News
.LRN Photo Album
.LRN Ecommerce Project Manager
Homework Dropbox Staff List
Edit this page Survey
Gradebook/Evaluation Syllabus
Expenses Tracking User Tracking
FAQs Weblogger
File Storage Slide presentations
There are no license fees for using the software!

http://www.squeakland.org/
This is a media authoring tool. They have an example project for 9 and up which involves students designing and creating a car and then making it "drive" or become animated. I can see this being incorporated into the classroom!

Some of the tools listed in this chapter we covered throughout this class. I thought I'd touch on some of the items that wasn't covered.

Calendars
www.google.com/calendar
You can see each other's schedule, cross-reference events/dates, and also get reminders. So far, it seems like it is a FREE tool.

Video Editing
Jumpcut.com
This site lets you make and remix videos, however, not all videos on this site are appropriate for a school environment (or home, ie. adult material) or even of any quality. It's more of a free tool you can use. I am not sure if there is a way to explore/search videos without having to come across inappropriate material. In its guidelines, it states: "Jumpcut does not tolerate content that includes pornography, illegal acts, excessive violence, or anything racially or ethnically offensive. This includes your profile photo. Please flag content as innapropritate if you come across something that shouldn't be on the site. If you think there's immediate cause for concern, you can report content and/or behavior to Jumpcut directly via our Contact page." However, when I wanted to look up videos on "dance lessons," adult material was everywhere! I am not sure how well they are doing about monitoring the materials posted on the site.


There is an option to create videos that you do not want to share with the public but only certain people. What you post public, people are allowed to take your material/clips and "remix" it. In it's policy, it states that you must be at least 13 years old, and if you are 18 and under, you still need parent permission.

eyespot.com
Eyespot is an "all-in-one solution for hosting, mixing and sharing your video on the Internet and over mobile devices. Anyone can use the site to watch video and share via links and email." It seems to be similar to jumpcut.com but I didn't come across as many adult matrial when I explored videos. The do have "commercials" or demo videos as they like to call them.



Education videos are limited; I came across many videos advertising their academys or debt reduction. There was a short movie about making rainbow fishes.



Grouper.com
This site changed into crackle.com.
"Crackle, Inc., a Sony Pictures Entertainment Company formerly known as Grouper, is a multi-platform video entertainment network and studio that distributes the hottest emerging talent on the web and beyond. Crackle's addictive shows reach a global audience across the Internet, in the living room, and on devices including a broad range of Sony electronics. Crackle, in on-going collaboration with Sony Pictures Entertainment and other leading partners, discovers and promotes the stars of tomorrow." You can watch comedy, horror, music, short films, etc. Before you watch a video, they make you watch a commercial for a movie or a product. Again, this site is limited on videos appropriate for the classroom. I did come across a short math lesson.

From Crackle: Want to learn math, maths, math?

Videoegg.com
"VideoEgg is the pioneering video ad network for online communities. We connect brands to consumers with video and rich media across a network of more than 200 leading video and gaming sites, social networks and applications. We are helping redefine the world of online advertising." I would not recommend even visiting this site unless you are using it to create ads....I was bombarded with "advertise here" on the homepage.


3D Modeling
sketchup.google.com
"Google SketchUp is software that you can use to create, modify and share 3D models. It's easier to learn than other 3D modeling programs, which is why so many people are already using it." They have links on how to use SketchUp for K-12 education. They have a free version and also SketchUp Pro which is free to educators but kept at a low cost for schools and its students. I checked out its K-12 Education gallery but only one illustratin was posted. I wish there were more examples from younger students using this tool.

eHub
emilychang.com/go/eHub
"She writes about web and user experience design, technology, and next generation web" like Web 2.0. At her site, she makes posts about new tools that you can use, ie., Kwik Surveys, if you want to create free and easy surveys. I found this listed on her site - a TO DO LIST at http://www.nowdothis.com/ Check it out. I am not sure if I would use it all the time...I noticed you have to list the items in order of what you want done first. Emily Chang's job sounds like fun!! With tags, she has her blogs categorized...I clicked on Education and then Kids and came across something useful for parents, zefty.com. Emily says Zefty is "a money expense tracker that allows you to track and manage your child's allowance & spending online. Your kids can easily learn about money management while parents gain quality time with their kids." AND IT'S FREE!!

Math Tools
http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/tools/
One of the tools I checked out was Experimental Probability, which is one thing we cover at the end of kindergarten. One of the assessment questions is about probability with working with a spinner where there are two parts, and one is about 60% and the other is 20%, and the kindergartner has to tell where it would most likely land. This has the online tool where you can spin the spinner by clicking the mouse and it will tally where it lands so you are able to see where it lands most. They have other math tools with graphs, statistics, geometry, and so forth.

Photo Editing
gimp.org
Gimp.org is used for photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It can also be used as a simple paint program. Some of the options it has is: photo enhancing, digital retouching, you can save your image in different formats...I think it is almost like Photoshop but easier!

http://dotlrn.org
".LRN is a global community of educators, designers, and software developers who partner together to drive educational innovation." It offers these tools:
Assessment Forums
E-Mail/Bulk mail LORS Central (Learning Object Repository)
Calendar LORS Management
Curriculum News
.LRN Photo Album
.LRN Ecommerce Project Manager
Homework Dropbox Staff List
Edit this page Survey
Gradebook/Evaluation Syllabus
Expenses Tracking User Tracking
FAQs Weblogger
File Storage Slide presentations
There are no license fees for using the software!

http://www.squeakland.org/
This is a media authoring tool. They have an example project for 9 and up which involves students designing and creating a car and then making it "drive" or become animated. I can see this being incorporated into the classroom!

Week 9, Thing 20

Teachertube...My Favorite Video!



It amazes me that these young 1st graders help make this cute video with their teacher. I really like their message and the music that they decided to remake is one that young chidren in first grade can help put this together!

There are some other videoes that kids would find humorous...A librarian, if brave enough, could create a video similar to this one about library rules:



I guess sometimes kids need a goofy movie or video to learn!

I seem to have a buffering issue at home (when I have fast internet) and even at school when I am viewing videos...sometimes they do not come out clearly, like the "stutter" in its image.

Teachertube...My Favorite Video!



It amazes me that these young 1st graders help make this cute video with their teacher. I really like their message and the music that they decided to remake is one that young chidren in first grade can help put this together!

There are some other videoes that kids would find humorous...A librarian, if brave enough, could create a video similar to this one about library rules:



I guess sometimes kids need a goofy movie or video to learn!

I seem to have a buffering issue at home (when I have fast internet) and even at school when I am viewing videos...sometimes they do not come out clearly, like the "stutter" in its image.

Week 8, Thing 19.1

I was having issues with the Digital Pipeline at first because I didn't know what my ID and password was. I decided to call the number on the site to retrieve it.

I have used EbscoHost before during college when doing research so I was familiar with searching. I never used the folder tool in the past.

I decided to look up articles on Kagan since I took a class on cooperative learning at the beginning of summer.

I found the Educational Leadership journal and found the alert button but was not allowed to set the alert with my ID and PW.

The three interfaces for the different levels are different in their presentation. In the elementary search (Kids Search - powered by ebsco), it is very bright and graphic, organized by different categories...I clicked on health and it gave me a list of options I can look under. Kids are also allowed to save articles in a folder.

Middle school search (Student Research Center - powered by ebsco) also offers graphics but are less cartoonish. THese images, instead of categories on topics, are images of types of documents, whether you want magazines, newspapers, news transcripts, etc.

Both of these two searches look similar to the main ebsco database searches but just are more appealing to the lower age groups.

At least three of the listed sites under high school search brought me to the Ebsco search page. I also checked out Oxford Reference Online. It was neat to see there are specific dictionaries for different things, for example, Food and Fitness: A Dictionary of Diet and Exercise...words listed were all related to this topic!

Consumer Health Database
Pamphlet
Title: Eating Healthy Snacks By: Jackie Berning, Ph.D., R.D., for McKesson Provider Technologies. Published by McKesson Provider Technologies, Clinical Reference Systems
Snacks You Can Eat Every Day
From the HTML Pamphlet:

Snack Grams of fat Calories
-------------------------------------------------------
Nonfat, sugar-free yogurt
with fruit (1 cup) 0 100
Baby carrots (3 oz) 0 40
Fresh fruit:
Banana (small) 0 100
Apple (medium) 0 60
Pear (medium) 0 60
Orange (medium) 0 60
Kiwi (2) 0 40
Bagel (1) 1.4 165
Cold cereal 1.0 110
Fig Newtons (2) 2.0 100
Graham crackers (2) 1.5 60
Instant oatmeal (1 oz) 1.7 100
Rice cakes (2) 0.2 70
Pretzels (1 oz) 1.0 110
Skim milk (8 oz) 1.0 110
-------------------------------------------------------

Images/Diagrams
Anatomy of the Eye
Nucleus Medical Art
© 2006, Nucleus Medical Art. All rights reserved.


Videos/Animations
Healthology Videos


New Things
1. Digital Pipeline - show teachers these search options so that they can use them with their students to search for articles. My students are too young to type words correctly to search but some may be able to type in CVC words and search those.
2. Tell them about the free online tutor help for grades 4-12! I wish that was available when I was that young!
3. I can post videos on my blog! I wasn't sure if it would work if I clicked on the properties of the video and copied the URL and plugged it under the IMAGE button. I tried the video tool but that is if I was loading it from my own computer. Even though the video doesn't show up on the blog, you can still click it and open the video.

I was having issues with the Digital Pipeline at first because I didn't know what my ID and password was. I decided to call the number on the site to retrieve it.

I have used EbscoHost before during college when doing research so I was familiar with searching. I never used the folder tool in the past.

I decided to look up articles on Kagan since I took a class on cooperative learning at the beginning of summer.

I found the Educational Leadership journal and found the alert button but was not allowed to set the alert with my ID and PW.

The three interfaces for the different levels are different in their presentation. In the elementary search (Kids Search - powered by ebsco), it is very bright and graphic, organized by different categories...I clicked on health and it gave me a list of options I can look under. Kids are also allowed to save articles in a folder.

Middle school search (Student Research Center - powered by ebsco) also offers graphics but are less cartoonish. THese images, instead of categories on topics, are images of types of documents, whether you want magazines, newspapers, news transcripts, etc.

Both of these two searches look similar to the main ebsco database searches but just are more appealing to the lower age groups.

At least three of the listed sites under high school search brought me to the Ebsco search page. I also checked out Oxford Reference Online. It was neat to see there are specific dictionaries for different things, for example, Food and Fitness: A Dictionary of Diet and Exercise...words listed were all related to this topic!

Consumer Health Database
Pamphlet
Title: Eating Healthy Snacks By: Jackie Berning, Ph.D., R.D., for McKesson Provider Technologies. Published by McKesson Provider Technologies, Clinical Reference Systems
Snacks You Can Eat Every Day
From the HTML Pamphlet:

Snack Grams of fat Calories
-------------------------------------------------------
Nonfat, sugar-free yogurt
with fruit (1 cup) 0 100
Baby carrots (3 oz) 0 40
Fresh fruit:
Banana (small) 0 100
Apple (medium) 0 60
Pear (medium) 0 60
Orange (medium) 0 60
Kiwi (2) 0 40
Bagel (1) 1.4 165
Cold cereal 1.0 110
Fig Newtons (2) 2.0 100
Graham crackers (2) 1.5 60
Instant oatmeal (1 oz) 1.7 100
Rice cakes (2) 0.2 70
Pretzels (1 oz) 1.0 110
Skim milk (8 oz) 1.0 110
-------------------------------------------------------

Images/Diagrams
Anatomy of the Eye
Nucleus Medical Art
© 2006, Nucleus Medical Art. All rights reserved.


Videos/Animations
Healthology Videos


New Things
1. Digital Pipeline - show teachers these search options so that they can use them with their students to search for articles. My students are too young to type words correctly to search but some may be able to type in CVC words and search those.
2. Tell them about the free online tutor help for grades 4-12! I wish that was available when I was that young!
3. I can post videos on my blog! I wasn't sure if it would work if I clicked on the properties of the video and copied the URL and plugged it under the IMAGE button. I tried the video tool but that is if I was loading it from my own computer. Even though the video doesn't show up on the blog, you can still click it and open the video.

Week 8, Thing 19

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/Write2manD

Here are results of 2 of my books.

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie 4 1/2 stars, 1230 members, 26 reviews, 1,900 popularity, 10 conversations

One of the conversations was about whether one should give a cookbook as gifts - most do, but usually they give the same title cookbook to people or only when the recipient has mentioned something about cooking. I know I have received cookbooks in the past. How often do I look at them? Rare. They sit on my self. My recipes usually come from allrecipes.com (I think how they are rated and reviewed, often adding suggestions that make the recipe even better!).


Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef 43 members, 1 review, 116,409 popularity, 4 1/2 stars, 0 conversations

This is one of my favorite books. I like books that I can sing to!

I think it was easy to find my favorite books. I like the librarything reccomendations - many listed were books I enjoy! I might have forgotten about the book and there it would be listed under my reccomendation. If I was more interested in dicussing books, I can see how the list of people who also added the same books would be fun to talk to. I can see it being useful as a teacher to find another teacher who uses that book in their classroom and share lesson plans and ideas.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/Write2manD

Here are results of 2 of my books.

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie 4 1/2 stars, 1230 members, 26 reviews, 1,900 popularity, 10 conversations

One of the conversations was about whether one should give a cookbook as gifts - most do, but usually they give the same title cookbook to people or only when the recipient has mentioned something about cooking. I know I have received cookbooks in the past. How often do I look at them? Rare. They sit on my self. My recipes usually come from allrecipes.com (I think how they are rated and reviewed, often adding suggestions that make the recipe even better!).


Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef 43 members, 1 review, 116,409 popularity, 4 1/2 stars, 0 conversations

This is one of my favorite books. I like books that I can sing to!

I think it was easy to find my favorite books. I like the librarything reccomendations - many listed were books I enjoy! I might have forgotten about the book and there it would be listed under my reccomendation. If I was more interested in dicussing books, I can see how the list of people who also added the same books would be fun to talk to. I can see it being useful as a teacher to find another teacher who uses that book in their classroom and share lesson plans and ideas.

Welcome

10 Reasons Why I Love

My Dog, Buddy

 

1. He has good ears and hears if someone is outside.
2. He doesn't play with toys so I save money on buying dog toys.
3. His fur is soft to touch!
4. He is house trained and can do tricks.
5. He is good with kids and tolerates their petting and playfullness.
6. He is able to communicate when he wants something
7. He always greats me when I come home.
8. He comes to wake me up when I ignore my clock alarm in the mornings.
9. He gets excited about going running, therefore, getting me to exercise.
10. He is always happy to see me!

 

10 Reasons Why I Love

My Dog, Buddy

 

1. He has good ears and hears if someone is outside.
2. He doesn't play with toys so I save money on buying dog toys.
3. His fur is soft to touch!
4. He is house trained and can do tricks.
5. He is good with kids and tolerates their petting and playfullness.
6. He is able to communicate when he wants something
7. He always greats me when I come home.
8. He comes to wake me up when I ignore my clock alarm in the mornings.
9. He gets excited about going running, therefore, getting me to exercise.
10. He is always happy to see me!

 

Week 8, Thing 18

See: 10 Reasons Why I Love My Dog, Buddy post

I created that document using zoho writer. I think this would be great if the computer I was using didn't have a word processor. Because I am so use to using Word, I miss some of the same features/options. My right-click on my house does not give me the same options! I couldn't figure out how to make my numbered list be the same color and size as the rest of the fonts, even when I selected all and made the adjustments. I do like its feature of letting others collaberate on the project and how my document is saved online. The public is able to make comments if I make my document public. I did like the option of quickly publishing it to my blog.

See: 10 Reasons Why I Love My Dog, Buddy post

I created that document using zoho writer. I think this would be great if the computer I was using didn't have a word processor. Because I am so use to using Word, I miss some of the same features/options. My right-click on my house does not give me the same options! I couldn't figure out how to make my numbered list be the same color and size as the rest of the fonts, even when I selected all and made the adjustments. I do like its feature of letting others collaberate on the project and how my document is saved online. The public is able to make comments if I make my document public. I did like the option of quickly publishing it to my blog.

Week 7, Thing 17 - EDITED

Sandbox Wiki

I like having the option of editing a site. When I added an entry under photos and images, I noticed how there were two voicethread comments that were seperated by other texts so then I cut and pasted it to be right after another. I like things organized on websites! I also cut out extra space between paragraphs and put a headline here and there above other people's comments. This all stems from my journalism editing background! :-P

I think wikis might be fun way to track my family history and work on it with my relatives. We could all contribute and also add family stories on the site as well. This sounds like a great project to take on next summer (new school year is approaching, no time!)! We can also share family photos and keep in touch with one another, know family news, updates, etc.

OTHERS I ADDED (again, I am anal and have to organize the page by placing all the comments about one topic together, LOL!):

Downloadable Audio
Downloadable audio books are great for multitaskers like myself who cannot sit and read a long book unless they are in a restricted environment (like an airplane). I enjoy listening to books on tape/cd from the library, but this is even more convienent, just download the book online! I can listen to a story while cleaning the house. I can also see how this would benefit students who have a difficult time reading. They can use the audio and follow along in their novel and make a connection between the written word and the audio sound. Mandy Y. 2008

Blogs

Last year I used my classroom blog to display my students Voicethread projects since SiteBuilder is so old and a hassle to use. I do not need a district connection to edit or post items which is really nice. I will be using my classroom blog this year to keep parents up-to-date about what is going on in the classroom. I would like my students to take pictures in our class and post it on our blog for parents to see. Mandy Y. 2008

Links
eHub
"She writes about web and user experience design, technology, and next generation web" like Web 2.0. At her site, she makes posts about new tools that you can use, ie., Kwik Surveys, if you want to create free and easy surveys. I found this listed on her site - a TO DO LIST at http://www.nowdothis.com/ Check it out. You have to list the items in order of what you want done first. Emily Chang's tags her blogs so they are categorized. Under Education and then Kids, I came across something useful for parents, zefty.com. Emily says Zefty is "a money expense tracker that allows you to track and manage your child's allowance & spending online. Your kids can easily learn about money management while parents gain quality time with their kids." AND IT'S FREE!! Mandy Y. 2008

Photos
Photo Editing
Gimp.org is used for photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It can also be used as a simple paint program. Some of the options it has is: photo enhancing, digital retouching, you can save your image in different formats. I think it is almost like Photoshop but easier!

Online Application & Tools
http://dotlrn.org
".LRN is a global community of educators, designers, and software developers who partner together to drive educational innovation." It offers these tools:
Assessment Forums
E-Mail/Bulk mail LORS Central (Learning Object Repository)
Calendar LORS Management
Curriculum News
.LRN Photo Album
.LRN Ecommerce Project Manager
Homework Dropbox Staff List
Edit this page Survey
Gradebook/Evaluation Syllabus
Expenses Tracking User Tracking
FAQs Weblogger
File Storage Slide presentations
There are no license fees for using the software!
Mandy Y. 2008

Sandbox Wiki

I like having the option of editing a site. When I added an entry under photos and images, I noticed how there were two voicethread comments that were seperated by other texts so then I cut and pasted it to be right after another. I like things organized on websites! I also cut out extra space between paragraphs and put a headline here and there above other people's comments. This all stems from my journalism editing background! :-P

I think wikis might be fun way to track my family history and work on it with my relatives. We could all contribute and also add family stories on the site as well. This sounds like a great project to take on next summer (new school year is approaching, no time!)! We can also share family photos and keep in touch with one another, know family news, updates, etc.

OTHERS I ADDED (again, I am anal and have to organize the page by placing all the comments about one topic together, LOL!):

Downloadable Audio
Downloadable audio books are great for multitaskers like myself who cannot sit and read a long book unless they are in a restricted environment (like an airplane). I enjoy listening to books on tape/cd from the library, but this is even more convienent, just download the book online! I can listen to a story while cleaning the house. I can also see how this would benefit students who have a difficult time reading. They can use the audio and follow along in their novel and make a connection between the written word and the audio sound. Mandy Y. 2008

Blogs

Last year I used my classroom blog to display my students Voicethread projects since SiteBuilder is so old and a hassle to use. I do not need a district connection to edit or post items which is really nice. I will be using my classroom blog this year to keep parents up-to-date about what is going on in the classroom. I would like my students to take pictures in our class and post it on our blog for parents to see. Mandy Y. 2008

Links
eHub
"She writes about web and user experience design, technology, and next generation web" like Web 2.0. At her site, she makes posts about new tools that you can use, ie., Kwik Surveys, if you want to create free and easy surveys. I found this listed on her site - a TO DO LIST at http://www.nowdothis.com/ Check it out. You have to list the items in order of what you want done first. Emily Chang's tags her blogs so they are categorized. Under Education and then Kids, I came across something useful for parents, zefty.com. Emily says Zefty is "a money expense tracker that allows you to track and manage your child's allowance & spending online. Your kids can easily learn about money management while parents gain quality time with their kids." AND IT'S FREE!! Mandy Y. 2008

Photos
Photo Editing
Gimp.org is used for photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It can also be used as a simple paint program. Some of the options it has is: photo enhancing, digital retouching, you can save your image in different formats. I think it is almost like Photoshop but easier!

Online Application & Tools
http://dotlrn.org
".LRN is a global community of educators, designers, and software developers who partner together to drive educational innovation." It offers these tools:
Assessment Forums
E-Mail/Bulk mail LORS Central (Learning Object Repository)
Calendar LORS Management
Curriculum News
.LRN Photo Album
.LRN Ecommerce Project Manager
Homework Dropbox Staff List
Edit this page Survey
Gradebook/Evaluation Syllabus
Expenses Tracking User Tracking
FAQs Weblogger
File Storage Slide presentations
There are no license fees for using the software!
Mandy Y. 2008

Week 7, Thing 16

The first I heard of wikis was when I was invited to join and "tagged" by my co-ed service fraternity when they created a wiki of our chapter/organization. http://www.apogb.org/wiki/index.php?title=Alpha_Phi_Omega_Gamma_Beta
The wiki lists our history, records, members, and cardinal principles of our organization. I viewed it but I never participated in editing any of the content because I wasn't familiar with editing and so forth.

Then this past spring I attended ASTE conference and encountered this thing called Wikis but used by a school, Bering Strait School District. On the mainpage is their curriculm, standards, vision, etc. But then there are links to the different grade levels where you can see different units posted by teachers for parents. Wikis seems like a great way to communicate with parents and the rest of the community. During this ASTE class, I also heard about wikis also can be used between two different schools to collaberate on one project.

Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki
I found this one to be great for librarians - it was very informative. Like the wiki said, they intended it to be a "one-stop shop" for information for librarians.

teacherlibrarianwiki
This wiki space is for librarians to share knowledge about teaching, presentations, lessons, units, etc.

What I like about wikis is that it gives you a list of contents for you to instantly jump to that section/content information. It breaks information down for you so you can find what you are looking for quickly.

I also decided to google about what could you do about wikis and found a great article from about.com.

http://personalweb.about.com/od/wikihostingandsoftware/a/511wiki.htm

It gave me other ideas I hadn't thought of to use wikis for - photo album and planning a special event (always used evite.com or facebook events). It led me to http://jimbbq.wikispaces.com/ called We-Write, a wiki site for people to write stories together! That is a way to incorporate it into the classrooms.

I also found how teachers can use wikis (http://writingwiki.org):

How can teachers use wikis to facilitate teaching, writing development, and learning?
-Provide a space for free writing
-Debate course topics, including assigned readings
-Share resources such as annotated bibliographies, websites, effective writing samples, conferences, calls for manuscripts
-Maintain a journal of work performed on group projects
-Require students to collaborate on documents, such as an essay written by the entire class
-Discuss curricular and instructional innovations
-Encourage students to revise Wikipedia pages or take on new wikipedia assignments
-Inspire students to write a Wikibook
-Support service learning projects (i.e. use wikis to build a website about a challenge in their city)

The first I heard of wikis was when I was invited to join and "tagged" by my co-ed service fraternity when they created a wiki of our chapter/organization. http://www.apogb.org/wiki/index.php?title=Alpha_Phi_Omega_Gamma_Beta
The wiki lists our history, records, members, and cardinal principles of our organization. I viewed it but I never participated in editing any of the content because I wasn't familiar with editing and so forth.

Then this past spring I attended ASTE conference and encountered this thing called Wikis but used by a school, Bering Strait School District. On the mainpage is their curriculm, standards, vision, etc. But then there are links to the different grade levels where you can see different units posted by teachers for parents. Wikis seems like a great way to communicate with parents and the rest of the community. During this ASTE class, I also heard about wikis also can be used between two different schools to collaberate on one project.

Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki
I found this one to be great for librarians - it was very informative. Like the wiki said, they intended it to be a "one-stop shop" for information for librarians.

teacherlibrarianwiki
This wiki space is for librarians to share knowledge about teaching, presentations, lessons, units, etc.

What I like about wikis is that it gives you a list of contents for you to instantly jump to that section/content information. It breaks information down for you so you can find what you are looking for quickly.

I also decided to google about what could you do about wikis and found a great article from about.com.

http://personalweb.about.com/od/wikihostingandsoftware/a/511wiki.htm

It gave me other ideas I hadn't thought of to use wikis for - photo album and planning a special event (always used evite.com or facebook events). It led me to http://jimbbq.wikispaces.com/ called We-Write, a wiki site for people to write stories together! That is a way to incorporate it into the classrooms.

I also found how teachers can use wikis (http://writingwiki.org):

How can teachers use wikis to facilitate teaching, writing development, and learning?
-Provide a space for free writing
-Debate course topics, including assigned readings
-Share resources such as annotated bibliographies, websites, effective writing samples, conferences, calls for manuscripts
-Maintain a journal of work performed on group projects
-Require students to collaborate on documents, such as an essay written by the entire class
-Discuss curricular and instructional innovations
-Encourage students to revise Wikipedia pages or take on new wikipedia assignments
-Inspire students to write a Wikibook
-Support service learning projects (i.e. use wikis to build a website about a challenge in their city)

Week 6, Thing 15

Library 2.0 Articles
One of the articles I read was the wikipedia post and it discussed what Library 2.0 was all about, how it was coined after Business 2.0 and Web 2.0, sharing some of the same philosophies. What I found interesting was the short section about the debate about Library 2.0. Some argue, as I read in some articles, that libraries have already been doing some of the things they listed Library 2.0 to be today. What some authors wanted to emphasize with the new Library 2.0 is that it goes beyond what libraries were before in a sense of having "users add value" (To More Powerful Ways to Cooperate). It is said that the focus has become more user-centered and users can participate "in the creation of content and community" (Wikipedia). It is more than a place that treasures books and librarians with an extensive knowledge about compiling and catologing.

I personally have seen a change in our public libraries. Long ago I use to sit in front of a tv screen with headphones and watch a video in the library or books on tape. Now libraries are beginning to have digital downloads of books! Although I find it amazing, I do hope digital books will never replace books physically; there is something nice about having a book you can read in your hands than sitting and reading it on a computer screen. I can see the library making efforts to become a Library 2.0. I might not have ever paid attention before, but it seemed like this is the first summer I remember the local library having a summer reading program for adults and have adults write reviews on books. I wonder if the library will be using this review for something.

What I would love to see in school libraries is for it to be similar to Amazon.com where users can review and rate a book. How great would it be to have students write reviews? Document their thoughts and opinions about books? See what books are popular or recommended by their peers? As a teacher, I think it would be great to know what kids thought about books they've read or have listened to. Kindergartners are capable of rating books by stars based on whether they liked the book.

Library 2.0 Articles
One of the articles I read was the wikipedia post and it discussed what Library 2.0 was all about, how it was coined after Business 2.0 and Web 2.0, sharing some of the same philosophies. What I found interesting was the short section about the debate about Library 2.0. Some argue, as I read in some articles, that libraries have already been doing some of the things they listed Library 2.0 to be today. What some authors wanted to emphasize with the new Library 2.0 is that it goes beyond what libraries were before in a sense of having "users add value" (To More Powerful Ways to Cooperate). It is said that the focus has become more user-centered and users can participate "in the creation of content and community" (Wikipedia). It is more than a place that treasures books and librarians with an extensive knowledge about compiling and catologing.

I personally have seen a change in our public libraries. Long ago I use to sit in front of a tv screen with headphones and watch a video in the library or books on tape. Now libraries are beginning to have digital downloads of books! Although I find it amazing, I do hope digital books will never replace books physically; there is something nice about having a book you can read in your hands than sitting and reading it on a computer screen. I can see the library making efforts to become a Library 2.0. I might not have ever paid attention before, but it seemed like this is the first summer I remember the local library having a summer reading program for adults and have adults write reviews on books. I wonder if the library will be using this review for something.

What I would love to see in school libraries is for it to be similar to Amazon.com where users can review and rate a book. How great would it be to have students write reviews? Document their thoughts and opinions about books? See what books are popular or recommended by their peers? As a teacher, I think it would be great to know what kids thought about books they've read or have listened to. Kindergartners are capable of rating books by stars based on whether they liked the book.

Chapter 9: New Schools

In this chapter, it was mentioned how we should be using the same tools in the classroom as at home. In an ideal world, that would be wonderful but in reality, there are parts of the country, or even the world, that may not have the same level of technology the school may have that they have at home, like in low-income schools. I do, however, feel that it is a great goal, for schools to "use new tools to create new models of technology-infused teaching and learning." This is the direction we are moving towards; it only seems logical to move with this "technology movement."

In the future, it would be amazing to have a electronic personal education assistant. In fact, I wouldn't mind having it now! How great would it be to have one that pretty much functions how I shop on Amazon.com. I look at a product, and based on that, it suggests other products I may be interested or products that other people viewed as well after looking at that product. Imagine all the time that has been saved between teacher and student of discovering what the best way for this student to learn. The teacher then is able to focus more on guiding the student and enhance his or her learning even more! Some day, some day....

David Warlick's vision of what a Web 2.0 school should look like would be ideal. The tough part is getting all teachers and staff on board. It does scare me how that if we do not continue to push forward, we will be left behind. This gap of "what is" and "what should be" is holding us back. Teachers are still assigning students to present their work on a display board when they should be presenting their work with technology! How are we preparing our 6th graders into middle school without learning how to make a powerpoint presentation? It's time to move on! I hope that college education programs are now adding this to the curriculum. I know that in my program, we were not taught many tech programs, just the basics with excel, word, powerpoint - pretty much Microsoft office. How nice would it be if we had incoming teachers already equipped with Web 2.0 knowledge?

Again, coming back to reality - time. Time, time, time - teachers and staff members want to know where they can get more of this "time." Yes, it takes time to learn new things, but using these tools personally will not only excite us more to teach it, but we will become more comfortable in using and hopefully more comfortable in embracing new technological changes. I hear many times how "great" teachers have it because they have the summer off. Yes, we have the summer's off from teaching, but guess how I spend my summer, and many other teachers spend their summer? Learning, taking classes, doing what they can to better their ways of teaching. This is where I find my "time" to learn new things....

I noticed a lot of "what if's" in this chapter...what if we could stop buying textbooks? How great would that be! In college, I spend hundreds of dollars each semester and when I went to sell it back at the end, guess what, the company came out with a new edition. How many times has this happened to you? This could also be a way of saving the Earth! No more expensive and heavy textbooks! I vote for this!

That was an interesting article, "Creators in the Classroom" by Jeff Utecht. He stated that students are in a social web - kids want a wider audience than their teacher and their peers. Going back to the basics of teaching, we learned that students do a lot better and try harder in activities and in their work when it is going to be presented to an audience. Nobody wants to be a fool; they want to have pride in their work. Nothing has changed in that concept; it is still the same. Social sites turn our students into creators, Utecht says. Myspace, for example, you can check out the wide variety of options available to "decorate" your "space." Even young teens have figured out where to get these html codes, where to insert them in their profile to create intricuite and dazzling themed pages. They've learned to add songs or even create a playlist on their "space." Young teens have learned how to create slideshows using Rockon, etc. and post them on their "space." This is the world we live in today; why not play upon the knowledge and interests these students? Like Utecht continues to state, "If we want to motivate students to create something, something that will last beyond the classroom and the school year, then we must find ways to use these social-networking tools in the classroom."

David Warlick's article, "Learning From Games," was another one I found interesting. His points on the benefits of games was quite convincing to me! When we examine kids playing games, we really need to "study the experience," pay attention to what they learn from it, not it's graphics of sound. He talks about how the responsiviness of games are to kids - it's what they are in to today. The rewards of games are great - kids want to get to the next level. Not only is it for bragging purposes, but they want to see the new challenges that they are faced with in the next level.

I just wanted to note that Chapter 10 offers tutorials that may be good for people for more tools they can use!

In this chapter, it was mentioned how we should be using the same tools in the classroom as at home. In an ideal world, that would be wonderful but in reality, there are parts of the country, or even the world, that may not have the same level of technology the school may have that they have at home, like in low-income schools. I do, however, feel that it is a great goal, for schools to "use new tools to create new models of technology-infused teaching and learning." This is the direction we are moving towards; it only seems logical to move with this "technology movement."

In the future, it would be amazing to have a electronic personal education assistant. In fact, I wouldn't mind having it now! How great would it be to have one that pretty much functions how I shop on Amazon.com. I look at a product, and based on that, it suggests other products I may be interested or products that other people viewed as well after looking at that product. Imagine all the time that has been saved between teacher and student of discovering what the best way for this student to learn. The teacher then is able to focus more on guiding the student and enhance his or her learning even more! Some day, some day....

David Warlick's vision of what a Web 2.0 school should look like would be ideal. The tough part is getting all teachers and staff on board. It does scare me how that if we do not continue to push forward, we will be left behind. This gap of "what is" and "what should be" is holding us back. Teachers are still assigning students to present their work on a display board when they should be presenting their work with technology! How are we preparing our 6th graders into middle school without learning how to make a powerpoint presentation? It's time to move on! I hope that college education programs are now adding this to the curriculum. I know that in my program, we were not taught many tech programs, just the basics with excel, word, powerpoint - pretty much Microsoft office. How nice would it be if we had incoming teachers already equipped with Web 2.0 knowledge?

Again, coming back to reality - time. Time, time, time - teachers and staff members want to know where they can get more of this "time." Yes, it takes time to learn new things, but using these tools personally will not only excite us more to teach it, but we will become more comfortable in using and hopefully more comfortable in embracing new technological changes. I hear many times how "great" teachers have it because they have the summer off. Yes, we have the summer's off from teaching, but guess how I spend my summer, and many other teachers spend their summer? Learning, taking classes, doing what they can to better their ways of teaching. This is where I find my "time" to learn new things....

I noticed a lot of "what if's" in this chapter...what if we could stop buying textbooks? How great would that be! In college, I spend hundreds of dollars each semester and when I went to sell it back at the end, guess what, the company came out with a new edition. How many times has this happened to you? This could also be a way of saving the Earth! No more expensive and heavy textbooks! I vote for this!

That was an interesting article, "Creators in the Classroom" by Jeff Utecht. He stated that students are in a social web - kids want a wider audience than their teacher and their peers. Going back to the basics of teaching, we learned that students do a lot better and try harder in activities and in their work when it is going to be presented to an audience. Nobody wants to be a fool; they want to have pride in their work. Nothing has changed in that concept; it is still the same. Social sites turn our students into creators, Utecht says. Myspace, for example, you can check out the wide variety of options available to "decorate" your "space." Even young teens have figured out where to get these html codes, where to insert them in their profile to create intricuite and dazzling themed pages. They've learned to add songs or even create a playlist on their "space." Young teens have learned how to create slideshows using Rockon, etc. and post them on their "space." This is the world we live in today; why not play upon the knowledge and interests these students? Like Utecht continues to state, "If we want to motivate students to create something, something that will last beyond the classroom and the school year, then we must find ways to use these social-networking tools in the classroom."

David Warlick's article, "Learning From Games," was another one I found interesting. His points on the benefits of games was quite convincing to me! When we examine kids playing games, we really need to "study the experience," pay attention to what they learn from it, not it's graphics of sound. He talks about how the responsiviness of games are to kids - it's what they are in to today. The rewards of games are great - kids want to get to the next level. Not only is it for bragging purposes, but they want to see the new challenges that they are faced with in the next level.

I just wanted to note that Chapter 10 offers tutorials that may be good for people for more tools they can use!

Comments on other people's blogs

Booklover - yankiddos said...
Hi - Facebook originally started off for college students only, then they started opening it up to HS students and then to everyone else...it was a little weird going from seeing my college friends and then seeing their parents on facebook!
July 17, 2008 4:39 PM


Staci's Web 2.0 - "Week 5/Thing 12: Voice Thread" - yankiddos said...
Very cute voicethread! I love how you used your son to narrate! On your next one, you can continue to use him but have him also comment on several photos, ie. pics from your garagae sale or a family outing! It would be so fun for your relatives to be "taken along" a family trip! I am sure they would love hearing your son's cute voice!

July 28, 2008 12:35 PM


AK Sunshine - "Week 5: Thing #11 ... Ning"
HI! I think that is a great idea to use a ning to keep in touch with the family and use it to organize a family reunion. Many of these tools that we learned in the class, I try to think about how I can use it in my personal life as well. If I feel comfortable using these tools personally, I think that using them for teaching and in the classroom would be much easier!




Posts Katie Found:
Sonic Shade #7; Polar bear musings wk 2 #3/4

Booklover - yankiddos said...
Hi - Facebook originally started off for college students only, then they started opening it up to HS students and then to everyone else...it was a little weird going from seeing my college friends and then seeing their parents on facebook!
July 17, 2008 4:39 PM


Staci's Web 2.0 - "Week 5/Thing 12: Voice Thread" - yankiddos said...
Very cute voicethread! I love how you used your son to narrate! On your next one, you can continue to use him but have him also comment on several photos, ie. pics from your garagae sale or a family outing! It would be so fun for your relatives to be "taken along" a family trip! I am sure they would love hearing your son's cute voice!

July 28, 2008 12:35 PM


AK Sunshine - "Week 5: Thing #11 ... Ning"
HI! I think that is a great idea to use a ning to keep in touch with the family and use it to organize a family reunion. Many of these tools that we learned in the class, I try to think about how I can use it in my personal life as well. If I feel comfortable using these tools personally, I think that using them for teaching and in the classroom would be much easier!




Posts Katie Found:
Sonic Shade #7; Polar bear musings wk 2 #3/4

Week 6, Thing 14

Discovery Exercise:
1. Take a look at Technorati and try doing a keyword search for “School Library Learning 2.0” in Blog posts, in tags and in the Blog Directory. Are the results different?
Results
Posts - 3
Blogs - 19

When I searched in advanced in searched in tags, I came across the same three post, same blogs listed as well. I came across no results when I searched in quotes.

2. Explore popular blog, searches and tags. Is anything interesting or surprising in your results?

It was interesting to see "Education" as one of the top searches. When I checked out some of the blogs, for example, "ShoeMoney," I didn't even see "Education" listed in its tags. ShoeMoney is a blog/diary from a person who makes a living online. It contains thoughts and opinions based on real live experiences....it seems like a stretch, but maybe it's educating the people about how to make a living online???

Many of the top blogs were related to technology. For example, Boing Boing is a weblog of cultural curiosities and interesting technologies. It's the most popular blog in the world, as ranked by Technorati.com, and won the Lifetime Achievement and Best Group Blog awards at the 2006 Bloggies ceremony. The next top blog was one about making money off of your blog.

It's a little interesting to see what is "popular" right now on the web in videos, books, news, games, etc. I came across "Bert & Ernie tries Gangsta-Rap"....I had to check it out since I grew up with Sesame Street. What I found amazing what how this person edited old episodes of Bert and Ernie to a rap song and it matches nicely with the movement of the puppets! Sometimes the things people can do with technology amazes me!

3. Create a blog post about your discoveries on this site.

Done!!

4. Now that we’ve worked with tags in Flickr, Del.icio.us, and Technorati, what are your thoughts about tagging? What are its advantages? What are its disadvantages?

Tagging has its benefits - you can find related items on the web to what you are looking for. However, it is sometimes up to the person to choose how to tag an item, which may or may not be relevant in your opinion. In my own blog, I could make up tags if I wanted that might now have anything to do with what you are looking for. Tagging reminds me of how I do google image searches - not all the photos are related to what I am looking for so I have to spend time to "weed" through the material to find what I am looking for...that is what I feel about how tagging works. In facebook, they offer tagging as well...in photos! In a way it keeps track of where your photos are in other people's albums, or your own.

Discovery Exercise:
1. Take a look at Technorati and try doing a keyword search for “School Library Learning 2.0” in Blog posts, in tags and in the Blog Directory. Are the results different?
Results
Posts - 3
Blogs - 19

When I searched in advanced in searched in tags, I came across the same three post, same blogs listed as well. I came across no results when I searched in quotes.

2. Explore popular blog, searches and tags. Is anything interesting or surprising in your results?

It was interesting to see "Education" as one of the top searches. When I checked out some of the blogs, for example, "ShoeMoney," I didn't even see "Education" listed in its tags. ShoeMoney is a blog/diary from a person who makes a living online. It contains thoughts and opinions based on real live experiences....it seems like a stretch, but maybe it's educating the people about how to make a living online???

Many of the top blogs were related to technology. For example, Boing Boing is a weblog of cultural curiosities and interesting technologies. It's the most popular blog in the world, as ranked by Technorati.com, and won the Lifetime Achievement and Best Group Blog awards at the 2006 Bloggies ceremony. The next top blog was one about making money off of your blog.

It's a little interesting to see what is "popular" right now on the web in videos, books, news, games, etc. I came across "Bert & Ernie tries Gangsta-Rap"....I had to check it out since I grew up with Sesame Street. What I found amazing what how this person edited old episodes of Bert and Ernie to a rap song and it matches nicely with the movement of the puppets! Sometimes the things people can do with technology amazes me!

3. Create a blog post about your discoveries on this site.

Done!!

4. Now that we’ve worked with tags in Flickr, Del.icio.us, and Technorati, what are your thoughts about tagging? What are its advantages? What are its disadvantages?

Tagging has its benefits - you can find related items on the web to what you are looking for. However, it is sometimes up to the person to choose how to tag an item, which may or may not be relevant in your opinion. In my own blog, I could make up tags if I wanted that might now have anything to do with what you are looking for. Tagging reminds me of how I do google image searches - not all the photos are related to what I am looking for so I have to spend time to "weed" through the material to find what I am looking for...that is what I feel about how tagging works. In facebook, they offer tagging as well...in photos! In a way it keeps track of where your photos are in other people's albums, or your own.

Week 6, Thing 13

I found this through the Del.icio.us bookmark on a site that listed 17 ways you could use photos! How fun!

I was really facinate diwth scrapblog.com - I love scrapbook and here is another way to do it! I will have to test out the site - it seems like a great way to share pages but the downside right now is that there is no way to print them. It seems to me like an enhanced way to show pictures in a slideshow (pictures with backgrounds!).

Kindernet is another bookmarked site that I visited...I will also bookmark this to my own Del.icio.us account!

I would definately make a Del.icio.us account for myself. I can see how beneficial this can be for my own students and parents. Right now, I just use Sitebuilder to list my links for my students and clear all their bookmarks on their computers and only have one link - to my LINKS page on my sitebuilder and they go from there. I think this is even better; I don't have to have a district connection to edit my links and I can add more wherever I am at! I love that it is accessable anywhere, anytime...I no longer have to remember sites when I want to show them to friends!



Befunky.com

I found this through the Del.icio.us bookmark on a site that listed 17 ways you could use photos! How fun!

I was really facinate diwth scrapblog.com - I love scrapbook and here is another way to do it! I will have to test out the site - it seems like a great way to share pages but the downside right now is that there is no way to print them. It seems to me like an enhanced way to show pictures in a slideshow (pictures with backgrounds!).

Kindernet is another bookmarked site that I visited...I will also bookmark this to my own Del.icio.us account!

I would definately make a Del.icio.us account for myself. I can see how beneficial this can be for my own students and parents. Right now, I just use Sitebuilder to list my links for my students and clear all their bookmarks on their computers and only have one link - to my LINKS page on my sitebuilder and they go from there. I think this is even better; I don't have to have a district connection to edit my links and I can add more wherever I am at! I love that it is accessable anywhere, anytime...I no longer have to remember sites when I want to show them to friends!



Befunky.com

Chapter 7: Online Safety and Security

Chapter 7 discuss issues on online safety and security. There is a new law in effect that block students from access to certain sites. I have mixed feelings on the issue. I think it is important for teachers to teacher students online safety but to do it by preventing access?? In a way, I can see that as a way that would encourage some students to break into restriction and try to access the information. It can be compared to how parents would tell their child not to do something but instead, the child will do it inspite of the parent. But I also can see its use in teaching young students who cannot make that decision or as a way for a school to not be held responsible for the student access innappropriate material.

It also mentioned now Facebook and Myspace is not for kids - I agree with this statement. My page is soley to keep in touch with people I KNOW...I don't add random people or make new friends on the web...it's too creepy for me! With these social networks, a lot of thought needs to go into the security of oneself. Myspace seems more like an ad where youngsters post certain pictures to "sell" themselves, and what I mean by that is to promote themselves in "coolness" and so forth. I know they understand that people are going to be viewing their site but they don't understand the dangers of predators who are looking at their site. This reminds me of those dateline episodes about the predators on the internet and how easily it is for encounters to occur. I do think it is great for myspace to put out safety tips on online safety and security. I see plenty of warnings about be careful about people phishing for your information. I know a couple of people who had their pages hacked and then it would post random messages to people and it would spread so quickly! Clicking on the wrong link could possibly do damage to your computer.

One thing I'd like to become better at is copyright issues. I hear about people getting sued downloading or using music which makes me nervous since I love putting music to photo slideshows I create at school (ie, a collaberation of Kindergarten photos at the end of the year).

As the text stated, it is important for schools and parents to be on the same page with policies concering the use of the internet. Some sites or programs they are allowed to use at home may not be appropriate for school. It would be nice to have a common ground on what things are appropriate.

I found it very neat that a school has an internal IM system! I am curious if our district blocks flikr...I know it blocks youtube but teachertube works! I showed my kids last year that video that primary kids work one about technology using the Gwen Steffani song, "Bananas"....it was quite cute!

Chapter 7 discuss issues on online safety and security. There is a new law in effect that block students from access to certain sites. I have mixed feelings on the issue. I think it is important for teachers to teacher students online safety but to do it by preventing access?? In a way, I can see that as a way that would encourage some students to break into restriction and try to access the information. It can be compared to how parents would tell their child not to do something but instead, the child will do it inspite of the parent. But I also can see its use in teaching young students who cannot make that decision or as a way for a school to not be held responsible for the student access innappropriate material.

It also mentioned now Facebook and Myspace is not for kids - I agree with this statement. My page is soley to keep in touch with people I KNOW...I don't add random people or make new friends on the web...it's too creepy for me! With these social networks, a lot of thought needs to go into the security of oneself. Myspace seems more like an ad where youngsters post certain pictures to "sell" themselves, and what I mean by that is to promote themselves in "coolness" and so forth. I know they understand that people are going to be viewing their site but they don't understand the dangers of predators who are looking at their site. This reminds me of those dateline episodes about the predators on the internet and how easily it is for encounters to occur. I do think it is great for myspace to put out safety tips on online safety and security. I see plenty of warnings about be careful about people phishing for your information. I know a couple of people who had their pages hacked and then it would post random messages to people and it would spread so quickly! Clicking on the wrong link could possibly do damage to your computer.

One thing I'd like to become better at is copyright issues. I hear about people getting sued downloading or using music which makes me nervous since I love putting music to photo slideshows I create at school (ie, a collaberation of Kindergarten photos at the end of the year).

As the text stated, it is important for schools and parents to be on the same page with policies concering the use of the internet. Some sites or programs they are allowed to use at home may not be appropriate for school. It would be nice to have a common ground on what things are appropriate.

I found it very neat that a school has an internal IM system! I am curious if our district blocks flikr...I know it blocks youtube but teachertube works! I showed my kids last year that video that primary kids work one about technology using the Gwen Steffani song, "Bananas"....it was quite cute!

Chapter 1: New World, New Web, New Skills

Chapter one discusses how there is a change from how the internet was used when it was first introduced to today, where individuals have the opportunity to create and share information. The web has changed drastically; the way it's used went from delivering information for individuals to read to where individuals can post their own information and also be able to have others comment/edit their work. Web 2.0 offers these new tools that lets people collaberate on projects without having to be in the same room. Such tool, for example, like Wikipedia lets "multiple users to participate by editing, commenting, and polishing a document."

Many parts of the world are realizing the potential these tools have on the job market today and have even intiated computer programs into their schools so that their students can remain competitive with the rest.

Blogs are another way for people to connect with others, share their thoughts and opinions about things (even political views!). Some of my friends with their own families have blogs to keep family and friends up-to-date on their fun filled lives of caring for new little ones in their life. I for one enjoy reading them; everday life humor is much more enjoyable than ones people force to create on tv and hope that you'd find it funny. I do see a downside of blogging though. During college, I remember a friend who blogged about how a meeting went. Since many of his friends were connect to the blog, a few were offended and began blogging about how my friend felt and also added their opinions about the person. In such cases, blogs can create drama. I am sure there are other situations such as political views. I even found restuarants having their own blogs that feature specials of the week!

"Students cannot master 21st century skills unless their teachers are well trained and supported in this type of instruction," pg. 18. This statement from the text is so important to why teachers need to learn and accept new technology into their instruction. There are still teachers out there that refuses to even use a document camera and projector and continues to use the old method of making overheads and an old projector. Teachers need to realize how this new technology created to help them. We always encourage our students to continue learning throughout our lives; teachers should follow what they teach and do the same with technology. "When enough people are brave enough to use it, it will become the norm."

What I really like about Web 2.0 is that it is FREE! There are so many programs and tools on the net that are free to use. Cost is not an issue.

Chapter one discusses how there is a change from how the internet was used when it was first introduced to today, where individuals have the opportunity to create and share information. The web has changed drastically; the way it's used went from delivering information for individuals to read to where individuals can post their own information and also be able to have others comment/edit their work. Web 2.0 offers these new tools that lets people collaberate on projects without having to be in the same room. Such tool, for example, like Wikipedia lets "multiple users to participate by editing, commenting, and polishing a document."

Many parts of the world are realizing the potential these tools have on the job market today and have even intiated computer programs into their schools so that their students can remain competitive with the rest.

Blogs are another way for people to connect with others, share their thoughts and opinions about things (even political views!). Some of my friends with their own families have blogs to keep family and friends up-to-date on their fun filled lives of caring for new little ones in their life. I for one enjoy reading them; everday life humor is much more enjoyable than ones people force to create on tv and hope that you'd find it funny. I do see a downside of blogging though. During college, I remember a friend who blogged about how a meeting went. Since many of his friends were connect to the blog, a few were offended and began blogging about how my friend felt and also added their opinions about the person. In such cases, blogs can create drama. I am sure there are other situations such as political views. I even found restuarants having their own blogs that feature specials of the week!

"Students cannot master 21st century skills unless their teachers are well trained and supported in this type of instruction," pg. 18. This statement from the text is so important to why teachers need to learn and accept new technology into their instruction. There are still teachers out there that refuses to even use a document camera and projector and continues to use the old method of making overheads and an old projector. Teachers need to realize how this new technology created to help them. We always encourage our students to continue learning throughout our lives; teachers should follow what they teach and do the same with technology. "When enough people are brave enough to use it, it will become the norm."

What I really like about Web 2.0 is that it is FREE! There are so many programs and tools on the net that are free to use. Cost is not an issue.

Week 5, Thing 12

See my earlier blogs - I have posted my Voicethread activities I've done with my students! We spent a week working on a story or something they have been journaling about. Once they completed about 5 pages or feel that their story was finished, I took pictures of their journal illustrations and they would read me their story/journal as I recorded it. I, of course, I had to piece the images in order but they did fairly well reading what they wrote aloud!

See my earlier blogs - I have posted my Voicethread activities I've done with my students! We spent a week working on a story or something they have been journaling about. Once they completed about 5 pages or feel that their story was finished, I took pictures of their journal illustrations and they would read me their story/journal as I recorded it. I, of course, I had to piece the images in order but they did fairly well reading what they wrote aloud!

Week 5, Thing 11

Sites I've Visited:

Craigslist - I check the free section every day!! When I was looking for a place to rent a few years ago, this was the site I used! I also found my loving beage, Buddy, on Craigslist in the pet section.

Del.icio.us - heard about this during the ASTE Conference. I need to create one for myself for my students and parents to use! I think this is amazing for education!


Yelp - I just signed up a week or so ago because of a horrible experience eating at City Diner. I was only going to email the chef, but when visiting their website, there was no contact email so I decided to join the site and write a review of my experience.

Google Maps - I either use this or mapquest when printing off maps.

Google Earth - It's facinating to students, especially when it is projected on a Smartboard!!

Flickr - I first heard of it through this Web 2.0

Etsy - My good friend is selling these hand sewn journal books on this site...to me this site is evil...evil because I want to buy so many things off of it! I love going to craft fairs and going on art walks...this is a dangerous site for me!!

Kayak - I have used this as one of my sites to look for cheap flights! I believe it gave me at least 2 good deals on flights that I have purchased in the past.

YouTube - Unfortunately, I'm on it! I am doing a Chinese Dance during an Asian Culture Night back in the day...my uncle decided to share it with the world!

Donors Choose - I over heard another teacher using this site to raise money for a particular item for her classroom! This might be a way to get a smartboard in my classroom!

Zillow - When my friend was looking to buy a home, I used this site to compare prices...However, I didn't find the mapping of homes too accurate, at least not in Anchorage. I couldn't even find my own house which was built in 2004. I looked even closer on the map and where my house is now, there is a bunch of trees where my house should be!

Facebook - I check this everyday! It's a fun way to share photos with one another or send a message. I used facebook to arrange events such as my scrapbooking night!

HairMixer - Used it the first time ever...it was either that I couldn't find a good enough picture or the site doesn't mesh my photo well....I couldn't really "fit" my face into the hair styles nicely.

PeerTrainer - Since I am getting back on track on my fitness routine (teaching really bogged me down at the end of the year - missed the gym A LOT!), I thought I'd check out the site. I have been working out with another teacher friend, encouraging one another to go to the gym. I am sort of her "trainer" and feel obligated to go to the gym and do the exercises with her, not just come up with a routine! I am not liking the gym I currently go to so she has been quite the motivator. I subscribe to SELF magazine and they have a place for subscribers to log their workouts...I logged twice. Facebook had a workout application, I logged for about a week and quit. I felt like I was logging it twice - once in pen and paper, and then again on the internet. I am a little hesitant in joining this site for the same reason.

Google Doc - Man, I wish I had this in college! This would have been so nice to upload my documents instead of the server.

BackPackIt - I was super excited about this at first until I realized it costs money after 30 days.

Ning - I am part of the ASTE Ning. It was a neat way to share our responses about the different workshops and seminars different participants attended at the conference. It also gave us ways to share out thoughts and opinions about the new technology out there and what we found to be "the best" tools in education.

Travel IQ: 78..........pretty bad........

Sites I've Visited:

Craigslist - I check the free section every day!! When I was looking for a place to rent a few years ago, this was the site I used! I also found my loving beage, Buddy, on Craigslist in the pet section.

Del.icio.us - heard about this during the ASTE Conference. I need to create one for myself for my students and parents to use! I think this is amazing for education!


Yelp - I just signed up a week or so ago because of a horrible experience eating at City Diner. I was only going to email the chef, but when visiting their website, there was no contact email so I decided to join the site and write a review of my experience.

Google Maps - I either use this or mapquest when printing off maps.

Google Earth - It's facinating to students, especially when it is projected on a Smartboard!!

Flickr - I first heard of it through this Web 2.0

Etsy - My good friend is selling these hand sewn journal books on this site...to me this site is evil...evil because I want to buy so many things off of it! I love going to craft fairs and going on art walks...this is a dangerous site for me!!

Kayak - I have used this as one of my sites to look for cheap flights! I believe it gave me at least 2 good deals on flights that I have purchased in the past.

YouTube - Unfortunately, I'm on it! I am doing a Chinese Dance during an Asian Culture Night back in the day...my uncle decided to share it with the world!

Donors Choose - I over heard another teacher using this site to raise money for a particular item for her classroom! This might be a way to get a smartboard in my classroom!

Zillow - When my friend was looking to buy a home, I used this site to compare prices...However, I didn't find the mapping of homes too accurate, at least not in Anchorage. I couldn't even find my own house which was built in 2004. I looked even closer on the map and where my house is now, there is a bunch of trees where my house should be!

Facebook - I check this everyday! It's a fun way to share photos with one another or send a message. I used facebook to arrange events such as my scrapbooking night!

HairMixer - Used it the first time ever...it was either that I couldn't find a good enough picture or the site doesn't mesh my photo well....I couldn't really "fit" my face into the hair styles nicely.

PeerTrainer - Since I am getting back on track on my fitness routine (teaching really bogged me down at the end of the year - missed the gym A LOT!), I thought I'd check out the site. I have been working out with another teacher friend, encouraging one another to go to the gym. I am sort of her "trainer" and feel obligated to go to the gym and do the exercises with her, not just come up with a routine! I am not liking the gym I currently go to so she has been quite the motivator. I subscribe to SELF magazine and they have a place for subscribers to log their workouts...I logged twice. Facebook had a workout application, I logged for about a week and quit. I felt like I was logging it twice - once in pen and paper, and then again on the internet. I am a little hesitant in joining this site for the same reason.

Google Doc - Man, I wish I had this in college! This would have been so nice to upload my documents instead of the server.

BackPackIt - I was super excited about this at first until I realized it costs money after 30 days.

Ning - I am part of the ASTE Ning. It was a neat way to share our responses about the different workshops and seminars different participants attended at the conference. It also gave us ways to share out thoughts and opinions about the new technology out there and what we found to be "the best" tools in education.

Travel IQ: 78..........pretty bad........

Week 5, Thing 10

Image Generators
Boy, did I have a good ol' time with this one! At first I started off the FD Toys site and developed this:





Then I came across http://www.fakemagazinecover.com/(or http://www.fototrix.com/ is good too!!) and decided to play around at that site...Of course I used an image of my friend stuffing his face with food on his birthday...Hope he has a sense of humor!!












And also made a wedding magazine of my friend's cake.





I also did a google search on "image generator" and stumbled upon "http://interactimage.com/."

Image Generators
Boy, did I have a good ol' time with this one! At first I started off the FD Toys site and developed this:





Then I came across http://www.fakemagazinecover.com/(or http://www.fototrix.com/ is good too!!) and decided to play around at that site...Of course I used an image of my friend stuffing his face with food on his birthday...Hope he has a sense of humor!!












And also made a wedding magazine of my friend's cake.





I also did a google search on "image generator" and stumbled upon "http://interactimage.com/."

Week 4, Thing 9

Wow, I never imagined so many blogs when I type in the search for "kindergarten!" I come across some fun blogs by other kindergarten teachers that I decided to add to my RSS feeds. Some mentioned new websites such as the Lookybook.com I had previously posted about. I found that by reading her blog. The teacher blogs also offered other ideas of what I can do in the classroom - fun projects!

While I was going through the "http://edublogawards.com", I came across http://www.classroom20.com/ so I signed up!

When I used the different search blog tools, they didn't always give me what I wanted, even though I had typed in extra key words. I was looking more from a teacher's perspective, not things that happened to a young child in the news.

When I used google blog search and typed in "raven about web 2.0," I came across other people's "thing" assignments but only came across 4 entries because I quoted it. I do prefer google for my searches on the web, for images, etc.

There are tons of new feeds on the net! Practically every big news related website offers newsfeeds - in yahoo, google, etc., you can subcribe to "pre-packed" items they picked for you that will provide you the information you want on such topics as world news, local news, entertainment, multimedia, etc.

Wow, I never imagined so many blogs when I type in the search for "kindergarten!" I come across some fun blogs by other kindergarten teachers that I decided to add to my RSS feeds. Some mentioned new websites such as the Lookybook.com I had previously posted about. I found that by reading her blog. The teacher blogs also offered other ideas of what I can do in the classroom - fun projects!

While I was going through the "http://edublogawards.com", I came across http://www.classroom20.com/ so I signed up!

When I used the different search blog tools, they didn't always give me what I wanted, even though I had typed in extra key words. I was looking more from a teacher's perspective, not things that happened to a young child in the news.

When I used google blog search and typed in "raven about web 2.0," I came across other people's "thing" assignments but only came across 4 entries because I quoted it. I do prefer google for my searches on the web, for images, etc.

There are tons of new feeds on the net! Practically every big news related website offers newsfeeds - in yahoo, google, etc., you can subcribe to "pre-packed" items they picked for you that will provide you the information you want on such topics as world news, local news, entertainment, multimedia, etc.

Lookybook.com!!!

Amazing! Books on the net that I can project and use them as a read aloud!! I can also bring students here to explore books during computer lab. How fun!

Amazing! Books on the net that I can project and use them as a read aloud!! I can also bring students here to explore books during computer lab. How fun!

Week 4, Thing 8

My Experience With RSS:
I have always wondered what the RSS symbol was on a website I frequently visited to see whether if items were updated here and there throughout the day. After watching that blip video, I realized how much time I have been wasting! I had setup the google reader and added www.passwird.com to the subscriptions. This site has an update of good deals on the net on all types of things! I discovered ADN.com and my other favorite site, allrecipes.com also had RSS feeds! The only thing is, is that passwird.com is the only one I visit more than once a day (besides facebook and craigslist) so I am not sure how great having those two in my reader...allrecipes.com, I am always looking for a specific recipe and not just ones on healthy recipes, desserts, entertainment recipes, etc. I did google a site on scrapbooking and added that to my RSS feed reader as well.

I also see it a bit overwhelming in my google reader....it reminds me of a zillion emails in my inbox, as if I am being spammed with junk email! When I see such a huge list, I don't even feel like reading them.

However, I think it would be great for parents if I can just update my blog and parents subscribe to it, better than using the old Sitebuilder program the district currently uses. With my blog, I can update anywhere and not have to deal with having a "district connection." I just like the idea that parents will know when I updated the blog and that I do not have to email everyone individually (or BCC the group) and let them know updates.

If only all parents had email and checked it on a regular basis....

My Experience With RSS:
I have always wondered what the RSS symbol was on a website I frequently visited to see whether if items were updated here and there throughout the day. After watching that blip video, I realized how much time I have been wasting! I had setup the google reader and added www.passwird.com to the subscriptions. This site has an update of good deals on the net on all types of things! I discovered ADN.com and my other favorite site, allrecipes.com also had RSS feeds! The only thing is, is that passwird.com is the only one I visit more than once a day (besides facebook and craigslist) so I am not sure how great having those two in my reader...allrecipes.com, I am always looking for a specific recipe and not just ones on healthy recipes, desserts, entertainment recipes, etc. I did google a site on scrapbooking and added that to my RSS feed reader as well.

I also see it a bit overwhelming in my google reader....it reminds me of a zillion emails in my inbox, as if I am being spammed with junk email! When I see such a huge list, I don't even feel like reading them.

However, I think it would be great for parents if I can just update my blog and parents subscribe to it, better than using the old Sitebuilder program the district currently uses. With my blog, I can update anywhere and not have to deal with having a "district connection." I just like the idea that parents will know when I updated the blog and that I do not have to email everyone individually (or BCC the group) and let them know updates.

If only all parents had email and checked it on a regular basis....