The Finish Line

I can't wait until I get my nano! I have to decide if I want red or pink! Decisions...Decisions.
It was a ton of work, but what fun I had.
Now, what shall I do next. I feel a little lost with out an assignment to do. Don't get me wrong there's still plenty to do.

Back to Thing 6

I forgot that I needed this one so I had to go back!

This was so much easier than Flicker.

This trading card would be great for student project. They could really have a fun time with it. They could make trading cards of historical figures or characters they have been reading about. Really cool.

My kids at school love when I do my Fancy Nancy reading. There is not a week that goes by that someone doesn't call me Fancy Nancy.

REFLECTIONS ON 23 THINGS

The 23 things have been one wild ride!
This has been like riding a really big roller coaster.I have really enjoyed the 23 things most of the time, at other times it has been very frustrating & I felt like I would never make progress on some of the tasks. some points have been like the straight parts of the coaster where you have to work to build up some momentum. There have been a couple of times that I thought that I would plummet into the ground.

There have been ups & downs along the way. The high points of this project that I will contine to use and explore are the Google Tools & online productivity tools. I love the idea of having access to my work from any computer & not having to have a disk or flash drive with me. I think that this will be a great tool for students productivity. I really enjoyed Library Thing. I want to go back to it & enter all the info on all of my books. I plan to branch out try a few suggestions. I will be interested to see if they are a good match. I have to say that my abousolute high point was Animoto. I really loved doing that task. You look so totally impressive to everyone when you show that off. The online image generators & mashups were lots of fun too. I know that I will use these to create fun images to use in my marketing of the library. I would have to say that social networking, tagging, & podcasts are going to have to build some momentum & I will have to put work into those, eventually they will grow on me. My plummet into the ground moment has been flikr. It has given me huge grief.

When I began the "ride" of librarianship, the bottom tag under my email stated "The library...More than books". This adventure of 23 things has show that to be abundantly obvious. In the digital age it is so much more than helping kids find books & become readers. It's about finding the information that will help them succeed. They need to leave us knowing where & how to conduct that search.

I wanted to find a photo or video to illustrate this experience in a vivid way. Ignore the fact that this is an ad. Put yourself in the position of little old Six Flags man and you will make the emotional connection. At least I hope that you will.

Thing 23

Creative Commons allows people to borrow, use or change another's work to fit their purpose. You can use just an idea, an image, exact wording or perhaps the format of anothers work if they have published it with a creative commons license. This license lets people know that you don't mind sharing your creation, perhaps just certain parts or the entire thing, you would just like a little credit for your work.
You don't even need written permission to use the work.

The not Disney movie that we watched is an excellent example of cc. The movie producers took tiny snippets of the movie & and remixed them to create their tale of copyright ins & outs.

I still am fuzzy on how one uses cc correctly. I'm pretty sure that Animoto uses cc on the songs & picture montages that they create. I'm sure that as time marches on I will come to a better understanding of Creative Commons.

Thing 22

How much fun! I love that I have this way to remember my L.A, Thanksgiving. It was so gorgeous! I had a great time but could not live there.

Animoto is so easy to use and it looks like you have spent HOURS or even DAYS working on your movie. I will definately be doing this again. You could send a fun greeting to people this way too. I'm actually a sentimental person & this just makes me remember really special times & places.

This could be so much fun to do for the kids, with special pictures of programs or projects. Then you could put it on the website.

Thing 21

I have to admit that I'm not very psyched about podcasts. I don't think that I have found really good ones that apeal to me as of yet. In the Educational Podcast Directory I found a podcast that deals with using a SMART BOARD. I will pass that along to my teachers that use the Promethean Boards, they might get some helpful hints.

I Tried a couple of services & just didn't find anything that hooked me in. I read Paula's post & feel a little more hopeful with her information about Teaching Books.
I will definately look into that.

I think that I am about to become an expert because my principal is thinking about writing a grant to get ipods from the foundation for students. I intend to pass our lesson from the 23 thngs on to her, so she can have additional information.

Thing 20

I have had sooo much fun with You Tube. I can see how people get addicted to it. There are a ton of things that are NOT worth the space that they take up. on the other hand there is some really great stuff. The Tidy Bol commericial reminded me of when I was a kid. I had a great belly laugh watching some stuff this afternoon. I am really surprised that no one came looking to see what was going on.

You tube could be a great way to support curriculum or find author interviews like the one that I found and embedded in my blog. I would never turn a kid loose on You Tube, If I used something like this in the library I would download it first. Robert Sabuda is a favorite of mine & the kids absolutely love his work. I had 3 of the Prehistorica pop-up books last year & I am finally taking them out of circulation. The kids have begged me not to, but they are literally in pieces. Take a look at the video of his interview.

Thing19

The first thing I really need to look at with flow charts & mind maps is the difference between the 2. Flow Charts are a great organizational tool that can aide anyone who needs to understand how something functions or is organized. A mind maps greatest value seems to be of the greatest value to the person or persons who create them. I think it can help you get your thoughts organized to a point that you might need a flow chart.

I have tried Gliffy before & I found it to be confusing/frustrating to use so I was not inclined to go back to it. I took a look @ FlowChart.com & found it be simpler & more inviting to the user. The most awesome thing about this program is that you can work with another person in real time to tweak a chart. You don't have to email & make phone calls or call a meeting to get done. This could be a great way to collaborate with teachers.

I also made a mind map with bubbl.us.com. This is another great tool for collaboration, You can go in before a meeting & get ideas & get them on paper before hand, than that part of the work is out of the way. I think it could cut out some wasted time & allow less domineering people to contribute a little more comfortably.
This kind of document could allow for more focused thinking & less wasted time on chit-chat. this could really be helpful for research because it would make the teachers see what they need to in addition to what the librarian does in the research cycle.

Thing 18

There is so much out there to explore & utilize. you just have to get out & figure out what you need or want. I thin the Web 2.0 awards are a great service to people on the look out/ It brings the best to the forefront & has people looking at sites they might never have considered.

I was pleased to find out that I am a frequent user of one of these great sites Pandora. Pandora is a music preview/player. I have been using it for quite some time now. In fact I went back to it froma an several month absence & it has greatly improved. I have several radio stations of artists that I enjoy already on file. I don't recal having the genre selection before. If it was there before, I had not noticed it. It is much easier to use and things are loading MUCH quicker> I know that Pandora has had issues copyright & royalties in the past. I know that for a while that people were trying to force it to shut down, but Pandora has prevailed thus far.

Another Web 2.0 site that I really liked was a mashup called CoverPop.com. It takes covers of books, magazines, & photos & mashes them up together into on picture. I love that every cover is linked to Amazon.com for more detailed information. My favorite mashup was Kids books. There were between 300-350 books that kids should read.

I want to add this sit to del.icio.us so that I can refer back to it later on.

thing 17

Zoho writer is amazing ! I know I say something along those lines every time we do something new, but it is true.

In reality you could say good-bye to flash drives & discs. You can pull it all up ANYWHERE! that has the Internet.

You could work from most places.

 

 A drawback that I see is reliability of Internet connections. If you can't get on you can't get to your stuff. If you are having to use dial up then you would not want to use these applications, it would be v-e-r-y s-l-o-w.

 

I would want a back up of my work just in case there was a technical problem. You know as well as I do that as soon a you don't have a back up, you will have some kind of technical difficulty that you can't work out.

 

This application could be great for student's that work on multiple computers at school, home or the library. Student's having to partner on a project could easily go in and work on a project ant time or place. This would also help alleviate some of the "I lost it..." or "I forgot..." that student's use. It could enable a teacher to go in & check student's progress or student's could peer edit. 

Thing 16

Wikki's are fun and very useful. I can see why Mary W. moved Policies & Procedures to a wikki. It's so much easier to update.

A Wikki would be great for teacher's that have wanted a class webpage but has not felt like they had the time to take one on. Posting is very simple & adding bells & whistles is straightforward. If you run into a snag you have a ton of help at your fingertips!!! Get it Fingertips!!! Corny, but it made me giggle.

A Wikki has a definate place in the library! I want to do one but right now I am so overwhelmed with getting this finished I will have to wait just a bit to make a good plan for it. I don't want a wikki just to have a wikki. I want it to be a tool that teachers & students will utilize. The most obvious use is in research.

Another Idea is for student's to post their writing for others to read. I think that if they knew that someone else would read it besides their teacher they might put some real effort into it.

Thing 15

Wikki! I just like the name.

It has great potential for academic use. I think that it is good that it can be public or private. It would have to be controlled to a certain degree just to make sure that it stays on topic. Grade level teachers & librarians could easily pool resources using a wikki, allowing access to the best of the best.

Sitting here my List Notebook comes to mind. As teachers have been going through CSI & teaching reading TEKS objectives, I have been collecting different lists of books that lend themselves to vocabulary, begginning, middle & end, inferencing etc. A Wikki would be a great place to compile those lists, that way others can add titles and grade level appropriatness, so that the same book is not used over & over each year.

A wikki would be a great pathfinder to access resources for research, it could take students places that they might not find on their own & student's could respond to their findings immediately. I liked the writer who said that when student's published to the web they more careful in their work & the work was a higher quaity. I don't think there is anyone who has a problem with that. I think it woud be important for parent's to be aware of the wikki and it's publication. I don't think you would want any surprises.

Thing 14

Things are changing. Web 2.0 is here and we need to know how to navigate it. Library 2.0 is coming our way too. In the article refering to Icebergs we are facing librarians have to embrace change while not turning their backs on what we know & do best. We have to continue to help access information that our students need. The term "just in case" collection really made me stop & think about my collection development. what do I really need to purchase? With all of the information that is availible on the web it is not necessary to purchase books that will be rarely used. There are other resources in other formats that can be found for those rare uses.

The 23 Things is a challenging experience for me. I have learned so much. I have done lots work at my Mom's house on the weekends. Tonight we had a short & frustrating conversation.
Mom - Tell me again...Why are you doing this?
Me- We are looking at all of the different online tools & learning how they are used.I can understand how my students are relating in the wolrd around them. Also,we are trying to figure out how these tools can be used in the library to help students learn.
Mom-What do you do in facebook & Ning?...
I explain networking with other professionals, finding old friends, making new ones.
Mom-Why do you want to do that? Do you ever meet?
I couldn't help her see that the way that people are connecting & communicating has changed. That you can have a friendship & exchange ideas without ever meeting face to face.

I feel like I'm learning so many new things & I want to have a chance to go back & explore them on a deeper level.

Thing 13

Social bookmarking is way AWESOME! I use 5 different computers on a regular basis & now I can find the sites I need easily. I think its cool that you can check out other's tags & see their great finds. I want to take time a little later & tag all my favorites.

I think it would be a great way to direct kids to sites that you have found helpful & Interesting. It would be an easy way to direct students to a variety of sites at once & they could easily navigate to them. It could really keep them focused on the topic at hand & keep them from wondering of to unrelated sites.

I would be a great way for a faculty to share their favorite teaching sites with each other. What a great way to share your best resources.

Thing 12

I spent quite a bit of time with social networking sites. I had never spent time with any of them before today. I found some friends from college in Facebook. I like that you can keep information private. I can see where you could have problems with unknown people etc. asking to be your friend. I would not be comfortable letting a teenager on there without monitoring their accounts & posts. There are to many crazies out there.I really like the idea if Ning the best I like that it can be a public or private network. A private network would be best if you were utilizing social networking in a school setting. I think a school faculty could utilize the network & perhaps it could be used as a way to communicate with parents. You would have to have the entire staff on board & willing to work on it together to maintain their page. It could get very complicated. I can see that Ning is going to be the next big wave because of the privacy & the branding the site affords. The fee a site where you control all of the real estate is nominal making it obtainable to the small business & the not for profit.

Thing 11

Library Thing is an excellent tool I am always looking for a new author to read, I get caught in a reading rut & this is a great way to get out of it. I want to get into Library Thing further & review as well as rate my books. I alsowant to get ideas for new reads. I think that that the UnSuggest box is really fun too. I hate spending money on a book I don't like. It is helpful that the suggestions are there for you to take a look at & the ratings & reviews can help you decide if you want to read a book. Being connected to Amazon is convenient for online shoppers. The tags allow you to search topics of interest. This site is similar to a real librarian or book shop clerk, but not nearly as good or cute! This one site that I really want to come back to.

Thing 10

Image Generators are so fun. I really had a fun time making images to promote various things in the library. I made a Bluebonnet license plate to promote voting, The street sign generator will do an awesome job promoting Scholastic Bookfair because the theme is Reading Road Trip, & I created the heart in Image Chef. There are so many ways to use these image generators. I want to use it for my newsletter & my library website. These generators have limitations because there are some very adult images. I am so used to having such a strong filter that I was kind of shocked when some of the came up. This is not something that I will share with students, but teachers could really find it useful.

Thing 9

It is amazing the amount of information that is literally at the tip of your fingers. You can find an expert on anything & that is something you must keep in mind as you are blogging. You are not always assured of a person's identity. You have to be certain where the information & opinions are coming from. Always check the source.

In my beginning attempts at blogging I find that I prefer Google Reader & Google Blog Search. I am certain that it has to do with familiarity. These are very familiar in format & I found them easy to navigate. Looking at other suggested sites such as Topix & Technorati, I felt somewhat intimidated or perhaps overwhelmed is a better term& had a more difficult time wading through all of the information & figuring out what to do next or where I wanted to go.

The feeds that I have subscribed to are my favorite columns from School Library Journal; Non-Fiction Matters & Practically Paradise, The Top Shelf is another super blog, & Blue Skunk by library guru Dog Johnson. I also subscribed to the School Library Bogs on Superglu. I am seeing lots of repeat material in just a short amount of time with this one, so I will need to watch it to see if I might want to unsubscribe to something.

An interesting way to find new blogs to look at is to check the blogs you subscribe to for their favorite blogs. What's the saying...Birds of a feather flock together. I am still having to get the hang of it all.

Now I have to check it! When I do I am sure that it will lead me to great discoveries.

Thing 8

Finally, I feel successful. RSS feed readers was an easy task to complete. I am looking forward to using the feeds to help me keep up with my favorite topics & need to know information on the library. Adding feeds is simple and checking feeds is easy. I love that the first couple of lines are included so that you decide if you want to read further. I love being able to hit the highlights quickly. I feel like I will be able to spend a few moments to keep me up on the trends that I need to be on top of. Right now I have stayed with professional feeds, but in the future I want to add feeds on topics that I really enjoy.

I chose to use Google Reader. I like the idea of having my Alerts, RSS feeds & other things easily accessible. The fewer the passwords & addresses the better.

Thing 5.3

I am still having issues with Flickr uploading the image to my blog. I keep getting the entire Flickr page. I am sick of this one. I'll come back later. I have wasted HOURS on this one. I need to get some help. I even tried deleting & starting over on the entire post. It should be easier than this.

Thing 5

Flickr is way COOL! I can see a great use for it. Those that are in charge of the yearbook know what a challenge it can be to have enough pics of the students & school events. A school could set up an account and give the passwords to the teachers. Teachers could add their photos & tag them with the teachers name. Then the yearbook editor could hopefully have tons to choose from. You will have those who are not comfortable, but there are more Flicker useres than we are aware of. It would be a great way to introduce technology to teacher's. You would have to be sure that your photos are marked private.The day i created my flicker account was the day they chose to update the system so there were lots of hiccups in the system. Even with all of the slowness it was pretty easy to use. There were a few times that it bogged down & then I read about the problems

Thing 7

I never knew that Google had so many tools. There is so much that you can do to keep yourself informed on any topic imaginable. I set myself up on Google Alert. I am having myself alerted once a week about the news regarding ovarian cancer. As a survivor, I want to stay current on the advances in the treatment of this type of cancer. For school there are many possible uses. Alerts could be useful in science classes to track the most recent progress in different areas of studies. Librarians could use Alerts for news about favorite authors. Social Studies teachers could stay informed about current events.

I set myself up with my own personalized home page. I have set up music & joke updates. There is a daily nature photo that I will receive. I will continue to tweak the page until it has content that I really am completely interested in. There are some things that I would like to get rid of. This could really become a great source of information.

I can see a Google notebook as being a really useful tool. It could be a way to assemble articles
& ideas regarding education. You could have sections on classroom management, discipline, bulletin boards, research units, parent communication, learning centers. You could easily create a notebook for the library. You could have sections for Bluebonnet Books, Mockingbird Books, book promotion, collection development, research units, copy right issues, the list is endless. The beauty of it is that it is easily accessed & it eliminates the paper mess. Half of my daily battle is what to do with paper on my desk. I really would like to set a notebook up for myself & plan to do it soon.

Thing 5 Cont.

Well, Flickr is completely down now, so I am stuck. My Fancy Nancy photo isn't showing up. I will have to finish later. I don't know for sure what the source of my problems is but I have spent almost all of Saturday afternoon on this. If this is how every project goes then good-bye I-pod. I guess I will move on to something else. I probably should have earlier. As Churchill said "Nevuh, Nevuh give up."

Thing 4

Oh boy! I'm back. This fall has been insanely busy & I have put this on the back burner. BIG mistake. Oh well here I go.
A blog could be a great way to engage student's in reading & thinking. Once students have read a book they can reflect on what they read & how they felt about the book. They could recommend it to friends or tell people not to bother.
You could use a blog to post about events in the library or to give instructions for research similar to what we are doing. You could share pictures of classes & things going on in the library.
It could be a great way to introduce new materials or purchases in the libraryto teachers & students, you could highlight authors or link to websites.
I think it has more possiblities than a website because there could be many contributors.