Thing 23

This was a learning experience. I enjoyed exploring new things and revisiting things I already discovered from other classes. Each thing was easy to follow, with helpful links and explanatory instructions. With technology constantly changing this made learning fun and I would love to participate in future Library2play.
This has helped me understand the importance of keeping educated and how easy it is to fall behind. I hope that I can find future professional development that will provide as many tools and resources as this program.
Through my exploration I had the most fun with thing 6 and 10. I love to play with my photos so these two gave me the chance to create new images. The video in thing 15 gave me insight to how society has changed with technologies advancements.
Here's a program where it's ok to be a couch potato.

Thing 22

I have not joined any of the Nings, but plan on it after I search them a little more. I like the discussion topics on the Texas School Library Ning. Some people gave links to sites that would help teachers and librarians and others posted questions they wanted answered. The Ning has a lot to offer if you have the time to set one up and maintain it. For those who can't start their own joining one is just as rewarding. I could see teachers using this as a reference and communication tool with others in there own community or worldwide.

Thing 21

I have used Photo Story in a writing class before. This is a great tool to get students
to write. It gives them the opportunity to pick pictures and create a product that incorporates writing and technology. This is also a great tool for teachers to compile the pictures taken throughout the year and then create a memory album to save for themselves or give as a gift to students and parents.

Thing 20

With the movie about to hit theatres, I wanted to see what teacher tube had on Where the Wild Things Are. I found a video that translates the book for the hearing impaired and a librarian that takes you through a book walk. I posted the trailer of the movie just in case there is anybody out there who has not seen it.




My daughters school always takes field trips to see the movies that are produced from a book. One great way to incorporate a learning experience would be to compare an contrast the movie to the book in a WIKI. I have never placed a video in a WIKI so I searched the teacher tube and found a tutorial.

Thing 19

I explored a lot of the winners in each category and found the Lulu site to be my favorite. This site allows you to create a book, sell it, or find a book and buy it. My sons class created a book on hurricane Ike last year. Parents were aloud to make a one time order. After the books came in, I was really impressed and would of liked to order more. The lulu site would allow teachers to create books with the class and then post them for others to buy at there convenience. The site also lets you create cookbooks, Cd's, photo albums, calendars and ebooks.

Thing 18

I am about to get my daughter her own laptop and really don't want to spend the money for the Microsoft program. This free software is great for her to use. It's also an excellent way to allow low income families the opportunity to work with these tools.
I like that google has a Doc tool because I already have an account. It's also neat how you can save the document and retrieve it from any where that has Internet access. I think the only down fall would be if you lose the Internet.

Thing 17

This is a great tool for school assignments and personnel use. Now I need to take the time and gather all my sites and place them on my Rollyo. The video by Bruce is really helpful, so those of you that have not completed this thing, take a look at his video.
http://rollyo.com/sblacks/black/

Thing 16

I have used the WIKI through out my Master's program and each time we utilized them in a different way. My first experience with WIKI was in my writing class. We used the WIKI as an agenda to keep us posted on events throughout the day. At the close of each class we would respond to the WIKI on what we learned an discussed in class for the day. In a Young adult literature class we used the WIKI to discuss the assigned books we were reading in class. This helped allow us to meet less in class for discussion but still enabled a productive class discussion on the literature we read. Currently my instructor is using the WIKI as a communiaction tool for class discussions on controversial topics. I like using the WIKI for this because often discussions can become heated and drawn out allowing less people to respond. The WIKI allows everyone the freedom to voice there opinion and others the chance to respond.

Thing 15

Technology has changed the way people communicate, research, work and learn in today's world. I see the need for the library's to transform to the patrons needs, especially the younger crowd. My daughter is currently in seventh grade and all of her textbooks are on a laptop that she carries to and from school each day. My daughter has projects in every class that are technology based. It is important that libraries start to make the change to meet the needs of these types of students who will seek information from home rather than stepping foot in the local library. I think it is equally important for those working in the library to stay educated on the WEB 2.0, in order to serve all the patrons who seek help.

Thing 14

Technorati is beneficial for experienced bloggers and new test drivers. The educational video is really helpful in guiding you through how to explore blogging and adding tags. I like tags, they remind me of a virtual file cabinet. Here is another site I want to further explore.

Thing 13

I have never used anything like delicious before. I am excited to be able to bookmark and still retrieve them from any computer. This would be great for students who are researching information at school and still want to access their information from home. Teachers an librarians can share with colleagues, and help cut out search time for others.

Thing 12

After reading about commenting, I found Drapes advice on commenting back very helpful. I think it is important to respond to your comments, but its not necessary to responded to all of them. I also liked #7 (be gracious) from the ten techniques. Often people voice there opinons with out thought.

I found one blog that caught my eye because of its name Library Crunch http://www.librarycrunch.com/ . After surfing through the blog, I found articles that were educational and informational. I also found another blog called the Library Garden http://librarygarden.blogspot.com/ . This blog has a really good blog on gaming in the library. If you have time check both of them out.

Thing 11

I am still exploring library thing, but I have added it to my blog list and have added some books to my library. I really like this because I often go the book store and ask for help in finding books that are similar to what I have just finished reading. I like how you can get feedback from other people on books they have read that might interest me according to what I have in my library.

Thing 10

I loved this thing. I could play all day on these sites. I decided to create a billboard using the image chef http://www.imagechef.com/ . I tried sending my picture to my blogger, however when I opened my blog it was no where to be found. Hopefully it is not floating around out there. The comic strip site is a great way to get kids to use there creativity in writing and picture creations. My daughter and son both have projects every six weeks and I am excited to see that there is some sites out there like these to help them be creative with there presentations.

Thing 9

I really liked the edublogs and school library blogs on suprglu, both were easy to use. I found the Topix and Synidic crowded with content. I liked how edublog sets up there favorites or most used in categories. This made it easy to scan and pick through blogs. I added the best library blog and resource blog from edublogs to my list.

Thing 8

I like how RSS allows you to organize your blogs into folders and how you can search for other blogs without knowing there exact address. This is something I will utilize for class as well as personal use. I think this would be a great tool for teachers if they have time and care to learn how to use this tool.

Thing 7

I have used a lot of the google resources, but never new about igoogle. This resource was easy and fun to use. I added a calendar, places to see around the world, fish that follow my cursor, and a note pad to write down things. I was going to post my url but can't figure out how to show my igoogle without disclosing all my personal information. I also explored the scholar in google resources. This was a great way for me to research library topics for another class. If you are looking for articles and can't make it to library, then the scholar option in google is the place to go.

Thing 6

I explored the Mosaic Maker in Big Huge Lab. This site could get me in trouble. I wish all my assignments could be this fun. I have already created five different photo Mosaics.

Thing 4

I was unsure to what my identity was so I skipped ahead to thing five before I registered. After a little exploring in my blog I was able to find my identity.

Thing 5

Texas State Symbols
Photo by imelda

Thing 3

OK I could not get the avatar to show on my blog through the export. I went through the download option and saved the avatar to my desktop and then placed it in the picture section of my gadgets. Everything else was really easy.

Thing 3

Setting up the blog was easy. The blogger site has step by step instructions. After I got up and running I realized that I already have a blog from another class. Like I said before, I get started and never have time to play. Hopefully this time around I will get some play time.

Thing 2

I think the easiest for me is habit 2. I have always accepted that I must take responsibility and be proactive in order to learn new things. The hardest is taking the time to play (habit 7 1/2) with the new knowledge, especially in the field of technology. I always learn something new in technology and find it amazing, but never find the time to actually utilize what I have learned.

Thing 1

This looks like a fun way to learn the ins and outs to blogging.