Thing # 10

I played with the image generators, but several will not open up on my iMac, so I went back to Big Huge Lab, which was one of the choices--I would have been disappointed if it would not open on the new computer--as I had had so much fun with it on a pc.  But it does open and I made a matted photo of my granddaughter and a movie poster! So much fun--I love it--can't wait to try it with book titles at school.  I didn't do a good job of customizing--the "stars'" names are behind the title!--but I have got the idea. I love this site, and I can't wait to play more with it.

Thing # 8 again

Oh, and I added The Onion and Stuff White People Like--sites I love, but always forget to look at--now I must remember to look at my Google Reader!

Thing # 9

I was so excited that I actually was able to develop news feeds in my Google Reader account--I picked sites that I know I enjoy reading and which I want to make more accessible--The New York Times Book Reviews, NY Times Film Reviews, and NPR.org. Now I really get it--I think--it is great to have these sites ready anytime I want to see what is happening in those worlds. I may add IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes for quick access to other movie reviews and information as I teach a film class at school.

I browed through the other sites suggested by Library2Play, but I didn't find much that interested me. Technorati sounds fun, but I am not sure how much time I will devote to reading other people's blogs, and I am a little too private to want to post mine there. I didn't find much in the other sites that interested me. Right now I have books to make available to my students who want to read background on a writer or poet, for instance, so I am not sure how I would use Atomic Learning, but I am open to discover.

 I read the CoolCat teacher's blog, but it didn't seem to go in depth--maybe I am not getting into the links, but when I clicked, I just got titles and a little information.  I wanted to see the class Wiki to see how that is used, but wasn't able to figure out how to read it. So this is the one that confused me.

I just went back to Thing 9 and realized I am supposed to put feeds into five blogs on my reader; I found one on Murakami and thought I posted it on my blog but cannot find it.  I will try doing it on the reader.  I do think I can use this in my classroom to help the students learn to discriminate between different news sources.  I do a project in which I ask them to evaluate the way a story is handled in two different mediums or sources.  I can ask them to work on this all the time now to be able to engage in more careful analysis and argument about new topics.

Okay--I am now back from my travels in Germany and France--and am getting back to work on my blog. I went into my Igoogle account and added three additional blogs--on travel in France and Germany and one more--will have to check it--

Thing # 8

I tried out Google Reader but I didn't really get it until today--this really does solve a bunch of my problems--by subscribing to NY Times News, NPR.org, and NY Times book and film reviews, I think I am going to get what I want to read from the news and from book film reviews very quickly without having to google film and book titles.  I think this is the idea, right? I am excited because at first I wasn't sure what I would use the Reader for, but after I thought about it for awhile, I realized this is just what I want. Cool!

Thing # 7

I haven't posted in a week or so--I have been getting used to using our new iMac--lots of fun with that-and also had to go to a three-day in-service last week.

In sporadic moments I have been playing with Google--I love iGoogle--don't know how to set it as my homepage on the new computer--not that I knew how to save a homepage on the old computer--but I love the way I can customize all the areas I am interested in knowing about--independent films, news, art, for instance.

I played with Google World yesterday and downloaded it on the computer--found the hotel we are staying in in Paris and how to get there from the Gare du Nord where we will be arriving by train from Amsterdam on June 22nd.  I found Duncan's house in Vaucresson where he lives with his wife and two daughters--I had tried Google Scholar but didn't have much luck with that--mostly found books--and did try out all the Google elements including the tour of world landmarks on Google World--I think that is the right name.  I did go through all the Google applications, but these are the two I enjoyed most.  And, of course, I have been "googling" things for quite awhile now.