Thing # 23

Here I am at the end of the journey--as I said before in a previous post--I am delighted with this experience and would really like it to continue. And I want to say again how much I appreciate the work that went into making the various links for us to explore.  

I loved doing a podcast and posting a YouTube video on my site. That was exciting to figure out--and I am immersed in technicolor daydreams about putting sites on my blog for my students to read and discuss. So much is out there--I was thrilled to find YouTube videos on The Scarlet Letter--now who knows what else will be there to connect with our study of American Literature next year. I know my students would like to post some of their own movies on The Great Gatsby which we do in the spring.

I especially liked Flickr too as I love color and design.  I doubt if I will post any photos there--but it is fun to pull images out.  I also like iReader from Google and the RSS feeds.  Some of the sites like the search engine one--can't remember the title--I may not use--unless I get used to them--it seems easier for now just to pull the search up in Google and choose the ones that seem worth reading.

As far as lifelong learning--as I said earlier--we just start to expire when we choose not to learn anymore--and as technology is such a challenge for me--I feel it is better for my brain to force myself to use it.  I am really puzzled by the posting of Anonymous that the program was "ok"--surely there is something here for everyone if we are willing to put ourselves into it with some effort and engagement.  It has certainly been a stretch for me, and I appreciate that very much.

I really  can't think of anyway this could have been better, and I will certainly choose to enroll in one--probably next summer would be better than the school year.  We might even think of some ongoing way to share with each other how we have used the knowledge we have gained this summer.

I will answer more questions later--have not finished--and I am continuing to look at the other blogs--new ones seem to be starting all the time.  Looking back--I think I have pretty much answered all the questions. I did complete the survey--but could not get it to post--or whatever the term is. I have noticed that other people have had the same problem.

I am really surprised that I might actually use a blog in my classroom--I think it is an ugly word, but it was so much fun making mine and posting my experiences on it, that I want my students to see it and use it.

My one-sentence comment: Hooray for the librarians--who knew those stodgy old women in sensible shoes from my childhood  would be setting the pace, now in hip running shoes, for the classroom internet revolution!

Thing # 22

All I can say about Nings is thank you Fooling with Words for helping us to sort how what the differences are between the various sites. I have read your posting three times and still haven't gotten the differences internalized totally--but I do think this would be great--as are the wikis for  discussion the novels the various groups are working on.  I did not see much I wanted to respond to on the linked sites--but that does not mean I will not find one later that I enjoy participating in.

Thinking about it more, I think Wikis might be better for ongoing additions to one topic--the Nings seem to be many postings by various readers.

Thing # 21

I am so excited--I did finally manage to post my podcast--I see all the things I want to improve right now and am going to re-do it with better music and more pictures--but I got it done. Thank heavens we bought the one to one training sessions when we got the iMac--the guy at the Apple store helped me get it online--I had to save it to my desktop first--but I have the instructions written down--so I think I can do it.

I have learned so much this summer with the combination of the new iMac and Learn2Play--I feel not totally comfortable--but stronger and better--and more conversant with what is available. I know I can do so much more than I ever dreamed and am so thankful to the librarians who got this list of things to do and all the links put on the site.  And I love the name Learn2Play--because I think learning is playing. And we never want to stop learning or playing, do we?

Commonplace Books

Thing #20

I am so excited--I actually learned to post a youtube video from their site.  We start the year with The Scarlet Letter, and I thought it would be fun to let the kids see a couple of videos from people have made.  I am madly thinking how to use this--one way I like to work with literature is to ask the students to connect the work to one or more of their intelligence styles. This video uses musical, verbal, and spatial intelligence--the composition of the images would be the spatial.  So that is three of the eight we know about.

Since the students look at you tube all the time, they may be interested in finding videos--and they can certainly post the ones we do later in the year with The Great Gatsby. This is wonderful.

I looked at the Teacher Tube also--maybe I will get my students to help me do a video--one involving them and me. My performance projects in Shakespeare would be a great start.

After reading the entire library posting on this thing, I find it amusing that one thing the librarians must help us do now is to circumvent the district's firewalls--I know the firewall helps with some problems--but it is presents other problems--blocking videos or sites we use in teaching--anyway...part of life....

Thing # 19

I explored the 2.0 awards and tried the Mango language lesson--but as I am on Rosetta Stone Vol. 3 in French, it was not helpful. It is basic. And it seemed very slow to use--a long time between question and answer and no way to grade my responses--my vocal ones. I don't spend a lot of time on the computer, so I wouldn't go there for games--right now I don't see much that would help in my film or AP classes.  But I will continue to go back to look at 2.0 now that I know it is there.

Thing # 18

I think I am better off using the Word program on the  computer if I can get it to work--when I used before, I could insert pictures and make them smaller.  But it is nice to have Google as another option.

Thing # 18

Oh I actually completed this one last night. Actually I am having trouble with the Microsoft Word which we bought as part of our office suite on the  iMac. I downloaded what was supposedly an upgrade to it but now cannot open the Word program, so I have no way to keep word documents. I tried both the google word processing program, but did not find it very helpful. The print does not look good, and when I attempted to edit our travel journal about our European trip by adding pictures, it was a disaster. There seemed to be no way to make the pictures smaller--they take up a huge amount of space, so inserting them is not really workable.

Thing # 17 Continued

Finished! or at least I completed part of one search engine--have the roll bar on my screen--got help from my colleague--it wasn't as hard as I thought--

I did post three sites to the search engine--is that the correct term? anyway--my film review and information database is getting going. I hope I can use it at school as I teach a film class and we are banned from getting information we need in IMDB sometimes--I guess it is classified as entertainment--but it should be under reference and background information.

Thing # 17 Continued

I researched some sources on Haruki Murakami, a novelist I like very much, but I can't figure out how to save the sites I like. I need help with this one.

Thing # 17

I am a bit confused about Rollyo and actually how to create the searches. For instance, I looked up Haruki Murakami, but I am not sure how to customize the search. Do I choose the sites which came up and keep those? I am going to have to consult a friend who is ahead of me in the game. Laura, are you listening? or reading?

Thing # 16

Despite my concerns about the availability of public wikis, as noted above, I think I could use both blogs and wikis as classroom tools.  I give few notes; mostly they are tips on writing strategies, but I am already daydreaming about keeping a classroom wiki on the writing tips. Students could add on what each one got out of the things I say in class and keep it running all year. I tell them the most important thing they can do is re-read their notes on writing before every essay. I think this might be a powerful way to make them responsible for noting what they have learned, and getting help from others. Everyone has a different perspective on anything said in class. So this kind of collaboration could be wonderful.

They could also collaborate on novels read in groups, brainstorming for writing topics. What I have learned so far this summer has really been inspiriting, and energizing, for me.

Oh, and I said basically this same thing on the sandbox, but it was a good experience to go there and see how to actually post.

Thing # 15

I am very interested in the issues Library 2.0 brings up--what a vast change from the old days in my high school library where we were not allowed to browse around in the stacks but had to choose a book from the catalogue and ask the librarian to bring it to the desk.

Few of my friends used the school library for that reason--we would walk the couple of blocks from the high school to the city library where you got to experience the distinctive smell of old books and find serendipitously not the book you thought you wanted but the one next to it which really piqued your interest.

Browsing the web has some of this same charm--you keep clicking links until you find something intriguing. The problem, it seems to me, involves sifting out the chaff to find the precious nutritious grain.  So much junk is on the web--and I am concerned that anyone can post something on wikipedia--so untrue information can find its way into students' research papers.  

I warn my students about looking for the source of their web pages to ensure their validity and scholarly value. A search for a critical source for The Catcher in the Rye can bring up someone's junior high school paper on the novel.

Things are moving so fast--I admire librarians who are keeping pace and finding new ways to  serve their patrons.  And I do think we should begin some study groups to help each other at school to find ways to help our students use these technological tools effectively.  I am musing about what I can do differently in my class to avoid the glazed-over stares of the students in the video!

Thing # 14

Now I have looked at Technorati, watched the video, and explored the site a bit--I looked up Library learning 2.0 in two spots but couldn't find the tag search place on the site. If anyone can tell me how to do this, I would appreciate it.

It is interesting to know that this outlet exists for people to make their own news--though some of it--John McCain's latest video for instance--would be the same as regular news outlets.  However I was a bit perturbed by the young woman's comment--and one of the men's as well about wanting to hear judgments of bands, etc. from regular people not from critics.  As an English major (and a ph.d in English), I value good criticism as illuminating and intriguing.  I want to see what the film critics in the New Yorker have to say about a new film and probably would not be interested in the view of a blogger whom I don't know. So I might find Technorati somewhat limiting for my interests.

I also would not want to post my blog.  My daughter in law would be very upset for one thing that pictures of my granddaughters would be circulated on the world wide web! And I am too private to expose myself to comments outside the SBISD world!

Thing # 13

Tagging was fun--I started with the two places I order clothes from--organic cotton and linen which I love. I will think of more things to tag--but for now I have registered and posted two sites I visit all the time. Now I won't have to type the names into the computer--I can click on my del.icio.us!

Thing # 12

I will admit I may have more trouble with this activity than with most of the others. I am not drawn to the idea of holding conversations through blogs--maybe it is my generation, just something I am unaccustomed to doing.  I will try, but, fundamentally, I am not a "joiner" and I see this activity as joining a group of people I may have one common interest with but might have little in common with otherwise. I also like the warmth and feeling which comes with personal contact with my friends.

On the blog etiquette issue--it does make sense that you would say something which would not just be perfunctory--but would genuinely add to the conversation. I would want to use my own name, not hide behind blog title. The problem blogs introduce, of course, was brought up--that this activity invites the kind of mean-spirited responses which some have experienced. The anonymity of the blog allows someone who is unhappy or cruel to manifest anger without the consequences he or she would get for expressing rage in person.   

I also do not like the term "lurk" as it sounds as if someone who reads but does not respond to blogs has the intent of harming someone by doing this.  Of course, if I found a blog uninteresting, I certainly would not continue reading it.  But some people are shy--I  have many students who will listen to a discussion about a work and reflect on it, but who do not like to participate--so this is another possible reason for "lurking."

Okay now I have posted comments on five Library2Play blogs and on one other blog that I found by blog searching.  I am a little uneasy about some of these blogs--I do not want everyone who reads them to have access to me email or my blog. There seem to be some people responding to some of the blogs that I would not want to know. I hope I am protected.

The blog I found was about travel in France and I did get a great website that I added as an RSS feed to my reader.  That was rewarding. I will look for another blog I like and get back to this later.

Thing # 11

I have now returned from my trip and am eager to go through the rest of the Library2Play site as I am learning so many things about computer sites. I registered on the LibraryThing and added five novels read recently, and looked through a few sites of readers who share my tastes. However I am a private person and do not relish getting emails or writing to people I don't know--we'll see--I may change my mind. Right now I have friends whose recommendations on books I take and I prefer that method as well as reading book review in The New Yorker and New York Times Book Review for ideas about what to read.