Thing 23

Hello everyone,
I just got back from vacation to Tennessee. It was wonderful. We visited Graceland and then stayed in cabin in the Smokey Mountains. The views were beautiful. I can't believe summer is almost over. I can't complain though I feel that I have made the most of the summer. I worked summer school, completed Library 23, spent time with friends and family and got to get away.
What more can you ask for. As for my Library 23, I feel that although I completed the discovery activities it is just the beginning for me to continue to expose myself to all that is available through technology. I am still definetly just emerging but I will definetly take every opportunity to continue to develop this area. I am thankful that this was offered to us. I enjoyed that you could work at your own pace and from home but the self teaching got to be alittle frustrating at times. I oftened would have liked someone there sitting next to me to answer questions. I do want to thank everyone that gave me feedback and support when I needed it. I plan on signing up for this again next summer. Thanks and enjoy the rest of your summer!!!

Thing #21

This was the most fun of all the assignments so far. I used family pictures from a recent vacation. I found it difficult to load and I still think it is not correct. It takes forever to upload!!!

Thing 22

I do not currently participate in facebook or myspace. My interaction with collegues and friends is through email, phone, mail and personal. I explored Education Ning and could see the benefits of classroom teachers using this as a vehicle to encourage and expand their interaction with students and teachers from different areas to collaborate on projects, enduring questions etc..I believe that any tool that we can use to open doors of communication with our students and our students interacting with students of different backgrounds, cultures, perspectives is beneficial. On a side note, I don't know if it's me or all these technologies are overlapping same thing just with a different name.

Thing 20

This was cool. I did searches on both in the area of Math. Althought I am not a classroom teacher. I have a child starting 7th grade prealgebra math and we have been concentrating on this area because in order to help him I need to review and my daughter's favorite subject is Math. It took me to long to download video on my computer so my son said mom download on your phone and it was quicker and sure enough. I wish he told me that several videos ago. Anyway, they watched the videos by Mister Math on multiplication tricks. My daughter was excited to learn the tic tac toe for 7's. I think these videos are a nice resource for teachers either to get ideas or to show to their class. My kids enjoyed watching some videos. Unable to upload copy and paste like directions say. Screen just freezes.
Name of video is Magic Math Video the Magic Blackboard on Youtube. This is the part of technology that frustrates me.

Thing 19

I didn't find this activity all that exciting. It may have just been to much. I do like the fact that if you are exploring a certain category. You can go to this list and see the top winning list to explore directly. I spent my time in the food, my heritage and mango languages. When I complete the requirements of Library 2 play. I would like to continue my investigation of my heritage.

Thing 18

I previewed google docs. I saw no disadvantages to using these applications and tools at least to my level of understanding. The advantages over using microsoft office are the live chats with people that you are working with. If you are in a situation where you can't come together to work, as long as you have access to computer you can access your project and edit together. I also like that you can present and publish to the web. All these activities are really getting me interested in furthering my knowledge of technology. It is amazing all that can be done from home. It is sad that up until this course all I used the computer for is email when the capabilities are endless. I am so glad that this course was offered and has given me the opportunity to get a glimpse of everything that is out there. Google doc's is something that I will definetly use!!!!

Thing 17 Rollyo

Getting through this activity took me quite awhile. I got through creating Rollyo, but for some reason other search rolls were listed that I didn't create. I don't know how that happened.
Also, I am not quite sure how to do link so I am including link. I hope this is correct.
http://rollyo.com/gottarun

Thing 16 Sandbox

Like I commented in Sandbox, this whole experience has been eyeopening. Although, I know that there is sooo much yet to learn. It has been fun stepping outside my comfort zone (slowly getting over fear of the unknown). I am actually excited to get online everyday and see if anyone has commented on my blogs. It is nice to know that you are connected with so many people that are working together. I think that this experience is not only going to help me professionally but also with my own children as their education will definetly be more technology driven. Wikis is good tool. I guess my only concern is that if not restricted anyone can edit other posts.

Thing 15

Good afternoon,
I hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday afternoon. I can't believe that I am finally finishing up week 6. This has been quite a learning experience and test of my patience. It has also made me realize that the opportunities to access information are endless online. I am way behind the times in this respect. I was excited when I learned how to do an attachment on email. I now know that is nothing to what is out there to learn. After reading the articles about Library 2.0, I am excited about all the possibilities and all that is available to you online. I think like everything else change is hard but necessary to move forward. The traditional library is still important but the opportunities to connect with others, gather information OPAC and the creativity 2.0 allows each individual is endless. My only concern is training in technology that we must give our students to help them use this its full potential and the access to computers in the home for those less fortunate. That is why I think Library 2.0 is a valuable resource but there is still a place for its original setting.

Goodnight!!

Brain overload for now. Need to go to my happy place. Start fresh tomorrow.

Thing 14 Totally confused!!!!!

Wow, I don't even know what to say about this section without sounding completely discouraged and frustrated with my technological ability. I was feeling quite good before entering these sites.
The only thing I got out of Technorati is that you can enter Blogshere about any topic you choose. I attempted to search School Library Learning 2.0. I found blogs and tags. They appear to be different. Didn't even find Directory. Sorry. I explored popular blog search. I am sorry to say that I didn't find this interesting but this maybe due to my lack of Habit 4 Confidence in self. I really just felt myself getting very frustrated. This is one area that I don't see myself using.
I failed this section miserably!!! I welcome any words of encouragement. I hope this doesn't get anymore confusing.

Blog about 13

I just wanted to say that it has been very frustrating for me just downloading video in the activities that it has been required. That in itself is taking along time and figuring out what application to use to download to my computer. I'm not sure if it's because the person that is saving to educational website is using more updated software that may not be compatible to the computers we have at home. Just venting!!!! This took forever.

Thing 12

Let me begin with I am not a blogger. My first experience with blogging was actually with my son on a school assignment and now participating in Library 2 play. I actually enjoyed the way that my son got to use blogging in response to an assignment. I thought that it got the kids to reflect on each others projects in a way that is relevant and exciting to them while doing school work. My first time blogging has been on Library 2 play which I have found quite fun. Iespecially enjoyed creating my avatar. I have actually used some of the techniques mentioned in how to get more comments by accident. I asked a question because I wasn't sure how to proceed with an assignment. It is nice to be able to throw a question out there and know that it is going to X amount of people so you know that help is on the way. I also like that it is a way to vent about something you feel strongly about in an unintimidating way because you are unknown.
I haven't yet felt comfortable blogging outside this game but I have to go blog to some of my fellow players.
I am out for tonight!!!!

Thing #11

I really enjoyed Library thing. I can see myself using it to inventory all my classroom books. After looking as some of the groups, I felt like it is more intended for outside reading not classroom libraries. I still would use just to have a quick reference to all the books in my classroom for lessons etc.. Maybe that could be the start of a new group where teachers can share children's literature for different lessons.

About Thing 10

I continue to be amazed with all the technology and all there is to learn. It is sooo cool the things that you can create on the internet. I am so excited to be participating in these activities. Although, I am definetly out of my comfort zone. I am enjoying trying all these activities. I know that althougth I am completing the assignments. My products are very elementary for what can probably be produced using these image generators but I feel so proud when I create something and post it.
Let the learning continue,

Thing 10

Thin #9 HMMMM!!!

Happy 4th of July everyone,
Wow, week 4 was tough. The RSS feeds section is very advanced for me. It is getting harder.
Anyway, I made it with the support of my husband and son.
In answer to the questions in activity #9, the easiest was Technorati because of tutorials and tool bar for titles/topics, the most confusing was Syndic8.com for me it had no organization for my level, and for the last question it would have to be atomic learning because of the tutorials. Wow after this section, I hope that I am able to get through the rest of the exercises.

Thing #7

It is amazing the amount of things that can be done online. Today, I used google calendar to record some of my summer plans. It seems pretty easy. I am used to writing everything down in a calendar that I carry around with me. It is a nice tool to use to send agenda to family or friends that might need to know my whereabouts. I am not sure how practicle it would be for me to use on a daily basis simply because it would require spending more time on the computer.
Right now it seems less time consuming to just write it down. I also, played around alittle on Google Doc.'s which seems very helpful for creating, collaborating and sharing different kinds of documents. I think this is great for both educators and students working together on projects.
I will definetly spend more time exploring this tool.
Have a great evening!!!

Avatar Thing #3

Thanks for helping with Avatar,

This was actually the most difficult activity so far. It took me awhile to figure how to save. It was fun to make selections.

Now you can put a face with the name.

Thing 6

It's me again! Although, I am not a librarian. I can see the advantages of the flickr services in the classroom. I think it allows for more creativity and is more engaging for students than traditional research papers. Students have a variety of choices in presenting their projects. I can see it being even more enjoyable for parents helping their kids with homework. Take a look at my trading card and magazine cover that were inspired by my first exploration of photo search on flickr.

Thing 5 summer escape

Good evening nature lover's,

After a long tiring day, I wasn't looking forward to getting on the computer and doing my next activity. However, it didn't take me long to find a picture that was calming. The moose creek swimming hole immediately caught my eye. As I finish up my working summer and have been searching for a getaway a place like moose creek is exactly what I'm looking for.

Thing 3

Hello Again,
Creating a blog was easier than I thought. Spent some time coming up with just the right display name. It was interesting to hear some of my son's ideas. Not sure how to create an avatar. If anybody's out there blog back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Habits

Hello Fellow Bloggers,
This is my first official post. I am excited to be participating in library2play. One of the habits that I hope to gain during this technology experience is viewing problems as challenges. I get easily frustrated with technology but fourtunatly one of my good habits is creating my toolbox. I seek out resources and people that help me be successful. I will probably drive my husband and son crazy by the time this is over.