Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Thing # 21 yet again

I have typed in the http link that I thought I pulled up from my switchpod, but for some reason it will not post on my blog. I have called a friend to get extra help on doing this project and it is still not working. My frustration level is high and time is running out and I am at a loss of what to do! Anyone with ideas, please help.

Thing # 21 again!!!

Thing # 21 cont.



I found this music in the sample section on my computer, since I have not downloaded any music to my computer. This is my second attempt...my fingers and paws are crossed!

'Thing # 21"

Yikes! I do not own or have access to a digital camera or video type equipment. Everything in this "Thing" was read word for word, but frustration is what I am currently feeling because I can not figure out what I need to do and where to send items to follow a pathway back to completing and writing a successful blog posting. I want to graduate from this course with the full 18 hours.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Thing # 23

Question #1 - *7 1/2 Habits, *Yahoo Avatar, *Receiving my invitation to come play on the playground, *exploring flickr, *image generator, *libraries of the future, *organizing my personal and educational books (200 for free)

Question #2 - *set a learning contract with myself & overcome numerous obstacles, *boosted my confidence in taking an online course

Question #3 - Yes, that I control the computer...not vice versa (you would understand this statement if you knew me well)

Question #4 - *have a "help line" the old fashion voice to voice way...there were times I wondered if anyone other than myself was out there...I noticed this comment expressed when reading other blogs of those I did not know - sometimes questions were asked and no answers came, *list some prerequisites needed or materials needed before getting into a "Thing" and/or reading something was needed ie - for Thing #21,
*offer portable printers to those who make it to the playground - there is so much to read and it is difficult to start to work on a "Thing" and needed to go back to "reread" how to do something while experimenting or writing on a blog.

Question #5 - Yes, but I am not sure I could mentor anyone if that was an option - except for some of my favorite items.

Question #6 - "You can teach an old dog new tricks."

Question #7 - I hope others continue to read their blogs - for I have taken the time to read and respond to players that I do not know...rather than lurking

Thank you to each of you who put in the long hours to create this experience...for I know the long hours I put into the work...this could be compared to a graduate course.

Thing # 22

Nings...upon browsing the link, "Ning for Teachers" I had a familiar feeling. I saw teacher discussions for same grade levels, book sales, new teacher discussions, etc... this reminded me of a large teacher's lounge. As with any area for teachers to convene the location as well as the conversations are only as good and meaningful as the individuals who speak or in this case post or join one of these social networks. If professionalism continues then a ning could play a valuable part in the future world of education.

Thing # 20

Looking around YouTube seemed pretty simple for this Tigger. Could it be that maybe I am remembering a few items along the way during the "Library2play - 23 Things"? I ventured onto YouTube...selected video...selected Odyssey of the Mind. I watched several clips but found this one the most appealing (and I thought students and/or a potential coach would enjoy) because of the laser light show including the image of a book and the message "Think Out of the Box" was included.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv-IhvF8Z4I

Now TeacherTube was a different story

Thing # 19

The Web 2.0 Awards posted on May 9, 2008, were easy to read. The two I explored were Fun Stuff, honorable mention--One Sentence Stories and Organization, First Place--Backpack.

What makes Web 2.0 Awards List special is the wide variety of categories and their rankings 1st - Honorable Mention. This type of layout gives the reader opportunities to explore websites they might not have discovered yet. For teachers of the gifted, this page may be beneficial for new research areas.

Thing # 18

Wahoo! Finally, completing this portion was soooo much easier than my experience with Thing # 17. I opted to download and explore OpenOffice.org which was most interesting. I thought that the first pages before one downloads were clean and crisp looking with the blue and white (perhaps I misinterpreted this for smooth and easy). OK...this Tigger was ready to bounce eagerly into new territory by downloading. The message flashed on the screen indicated that it would take 19 minutes and some odd seconds to download. After waiting the full time another screen popped up with the message that this site could not be verified and sites not verified could contain a virus...did I still want to run it. I hit the "no" button and immediately went to Google Docs. It was like coming home!

Disadvantages: unknown providers, time consuming to download, possible virus, have to register
Advantages: Google Docs was similar to Microsoft, easy to do document, easy to save document, no download time

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Thing # 17

Well, I have opened and account with Rollyo with the username being Tigger on Mars and created a link to the Texas Association of Gifted and Talented, but I am not sure how someone can get from my blog to the URL for the TAGT website. In other words, I am frustrated and this may have been over my head.

The video created by Bruce had good information and I started taking notes in the beginning...but I think the previous videos in other things by Common Craft have been more to my liking or at least easier for me to follow!

Thing # 16

My head is spinning with all the ideas in which one can use wikis. The exploration during this thing opened new ideas as well as numerous teachable moments for this Tigger. I enjoyed reading the BookLoversWiki from the Princeton Library as well as the piece from Norwich University, "Wikis:A Beginner's Look (Harnessing the Collective Intelligence).

I have found that using two computers during this process was beneficial to me...one for printing and reading some of the links and the second taking notes and entering blog posting ideas. Guess it is time to bounce back into cyberspace and gain more knowledge.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Thing # 15

The video, "A Vision of Students Today", is a must see for all educators...maybe several times. I found this video thought provoking about what education will look like in five, ten, or fifteen years from now.

There seemed to be a lot of reading in this item...since I made the decision to read all the five perspectives. The three that I enjoyed the most were "Away from the icebergs", "To more powerful ways to cooperate", and "To a temporary place in time...". During my reading of Chip Nilges, "To more powerful ways to cooperate" the thought crossed my mind that at one time libraries had to take into consideration location, location, location and now it is data, data, data. This is possibly true for all educators.

Thing # 14

There are so many things to learn in Web 2.0...first following directions. :-) I entered School Library Learning 2.0 into the search box and yes, blogs and posts were found. It seems the post had fans with little to no "authorities" whereas, blogs appeared to have authority listings. The number for blog posts and tags were somewhat different when I added the apostrophes around the search words. One blog that I read from someone in Florida (I think) who was participating in Library2play mentioned WebTools4U2Use. This link sounded interesting and perhaps another place to visit...at a later time.

Perhaps the following words from http://booksaretreasures.blogspot.com/2008/07/thing-14-technorati.html states what many librarians may think, "Tagging is actually another one of those librarian functions that now everyone is doing. We didn't call it tagging - we called it cataloguing. So, now it is just a tad bit easier and with out all the rules that we had to learn to catalogue - but then with tagging - the cataloguing is only as good as the tags that people use."

Thing # 13

Tagging offers a "sweet" way to organize and keep up with all the goodies collected from the Web. Thanks to the individual who wisely collect the video clips from the Common Craft guys. The message along with the visuals are EXCELLENT according to this Tigger. I was unable to open the Del.icio.us podcast tutorial. The Furl and Ma.gnolia bookmarking sites were nice and helpful...this Tigger liked the ease of del.icio.us site better.

Thing # 12

The Discovery Activities...really kept me bouncing all over the place. The first three blogs were interesting and seemed to express some plain and simple common sense ideas. I had to chuckle while reading Cool Cat's blog because during my years in education I have found that MANY educator's are afraid of sharing their special secrets and/or tricks-of-their-trade. The reading ease of Brown Thoughts (The Ten Commandments of Blog Commenting) and ProBlogger (Ten Techniques)were inviting and straight to the point, which was a welcomed relief with all the reading required during Library2play.

The blogs that I selected to post were chosen because of their blog name in our playground. At this time, I do not feel ready to leave the comfort of our playground ...I guess I am still a "Lurker" as some stated earlier. I think the time will come (after this class) when I will go out into the big world and have some chats with other bloggers. I feel like I have sprung into a new world with Web.2...and certainly have a concern since I have already heard that Web.3 is up and ready.

Wikipedia indicated that "the collective community of all blogs is known as the blogsphere". In addition, it continued with "a collection of local blogs is sometimes referred to as a bloghood". It is difficult to wrap this tigger's mind around the thought of our "playground" as a bloghood!