Thing 23: Final Thoughts

I am done! This took more hours than I thought. But it was worth it. I learned so much.
The “Things” I enjoyed the most were Wikies, YouTube, and Facebook.
I can't think of anything that you could do to make this program better. It was a great learning experience. I would definitely participate in a program like this again.

Thing 22: What Did I Learn Today?

The first thing I am going to do is take the time and review some of the 23 Things on a Stick. I felt a time crunch, so I don't feel like I really learned everything that I could of.
As I go through them, I am going to start a notebook to keep track of all the "Things" I signed up for and needed passwords. That was pretty confusing at times.
When I feel comfortable with all this new information, I want to really explore ways I can use it at school with other staff members and my students.

Thing 21: Beyond MySpace: Other Social Networks

I am a member of MySpace and Facebook. I joined Library 2.0 Interest Group
(Internet & Technology – Websites) through my Facebook account. I, also, joined Ning. I added the Ning badge and one of the Ning widgets.
MySpace and Facebook are more family and friend networking. I think I’ll start using Ning more for a social network with other professionals.

Find more videos like this on 23 Things on a Stick

Thing 20: Libraries and Social Networks

I already have a Facebook account. So, I signed up in MySpace to try something new. Right now, I am just using them for networking and understanding how they work. (I have family members using both accounts.) After looking through them, I think I like Facebook better. It just seems more private. So, I invited more friends to my Facebook account and I joined the Library 2.0 Interest Group.

Thing 19: Podcasts

Podcast.com and Podcast.net were the easiest directories to use. I liked how they were organized. Yahoo Podcasts was just a search engine – not very helpful!
At this point, I don’t think I am quit ready to attempt my own podcast. But, I did find an interesting one that I linked to my Blog.

Teaching for the Future @ podcast.com

Teaching for the Future @ podcast.com

Thing 18: YouTube & Other Online Video

I had fun exploring YouTube and Google Video. There isn’t much difference between the two. Many of the videos were very creative and very funny. I wanted to stay with my fantasy theme, so I did a “fantasy” search. I found some awesome videos – sand fantasy by Dato and Ilana Yahav. You can see an example below.
It was fun exploring, but I would be very cautious having these sites available. Like you wrote, all things are there to see - the good, the bad, and the ugly.
There are many ways to use videos on a library Web site. It could be a teaching tool, a way to introduce what is available at the library – not just books, recorded book talks, etc.

Thing 17: ELM Productivity Tools

The first thing I did was add ELM to my toolbar.

Gale/Cengage Learning: I thought I would do one better and set up my own search that would help me out professionally and be applied to my everyday work. So, I set up a search alert for a subject in some educational articles. There are a lot out there.

EBSCO: I almost gave up on this one. The "short video" link took forever to connect. Then it went so fast I could not understand it. I finally explored on my own. I think I got it. I had fun starting a web page but wasn't sure what to do with it after I saved it.

ProQuest and NetLibrary were interesting, also. But, I got more excited with Kids InfoBits. I could definitley use this in my classroom for fun little research projects.

Thing 16: Student 2.0 Tools

This is a great idea! The Assignment Calculator helps university students create a timeline to get their project finished in time. I like the little tips they include and the recommended resources for extra help. It will even send e-mail reminders. I wish I had this available when I went to school.
The Research Project Calculator is another great tool. It not only helps high school students, it helps teachers. I personally couldn't use it in the primary grades. But, I am going to talk to the teachers in the middle to high school grades to see if they know that RPC is available.

Thing 15: Online Games and Libraries

I like playing games on the computer. So, I was very disappointed when I could not get into Puzzle Pirates. It keeps saying that there is a temorary network outage or server is down for maintanence.
I checked out Second Life. It reminded me a little of SIMS. You can create your own person in that game also. As for the role of Second Life and other games in libraries, I quess it gets the kids through the door.

Thing 14: LibraryThing

This is the first time I have looked at Library Thing. I really like it. I just added a few of my favorite books. But, I am excited to get my other ones listed.
I think Library Thing would be a great way to share your favorite books with others and check out the favorites of other people. What a great source to get ideas for your next “Good Read”.
Library Thing would be a nice alternative to share booklists with anyone, at the library or on your own personal computer.

Thing 13: Online Productivity Tools

I can't get the count down to work. Help!

I have My Yahoo! and iGoogle already. So, I took this time to explore with them and set up new feeds. It was fun designing them the way I wanted. I have two tabs on my start up for these two home pages. I like iGoogle the best because of the gadgets available.
I had fun with Stikkit. I am constantly writing myself reminders. So, I think this will be helpful at home and at school.
I like the idea of having a calendar that everyone can check and add information to. This would be very helpful keeping communication open between a group of employees, or even family members.
The to-do lists were o.k. I think I would get more use entering notes on the calendars instead.
I did not try out Backpack. If I read it correctly, I would have to sign up for a free trial. I don’t like doing that.

Thing 12: Do You Digg?

I explored Mixx, Digg, Newsvine, and Reddit. I really thought that Mixx was the easiest to read and navigate. Digg would be my second choice. I enjoy reading through these sites at home, but I can’t see that they would be much use in the elementary school.
I spent a lot of time browsing around on these sites. If I can stay on task, these sites would enhance productivity. There were too many times when something interesting would catch my eye and I would be off exploring something totally different. I found some great stories and jumped from one link to another to get more information. That is when these sites would detract from productivity.

Thing 11: Tagging and Del.icio.us

1. I went back to a couple of my blogs and tagged (labeled) them. Tagging is a great way to stay organized.
2. I viewed the Del.icio.us tutorial. It gave a great summary with easily understood directions. This will be a great tool for bookmarking information for library, school, and personal use.
3. I spent a long time looking around Del.icio.us using the Minn23 account. There is a lot of information out there. I added lifehack.org to my RSS feed. I enjoyed reading some of their articles.
4. I got a little carried away going from one bookmark or tag to another. It was interesting to see how people used these tools to organize information.
5. I set up my own account. Now, we’ll see what I can discover!

Thing 10: Wikis

I found the whole wiki concept intriguing. It is a great way to share ideas with co-workers on a group project. For example, we are writing and editing our school curriculum. It is taking a lot of time, meetings, and paper. A wiki would be a great way to collaborate everyone’s ideas.
I am not sure if the “Wikipedia” would be a good source for student research. If anyone can add, edit or delete the information available, I would have a hard time trusting the accuracy of what I read.
The Common Craft video on Wikis was really helpful. It explained Wikis in a very easy and understandable way. I was able to add an entry in the 23 Things On a Stick wiki with no problem. It was fun to read what other people had written.

Thing 9: Online Collaboration Tools

I liked Zoho a lot. It had a great tool bar with many options. I had trouble with Google Docs. It froze up or something. I had to restart everything. It took forever to get into it. Once I was able to work with it, I liked it. I made a slide show with family pictures. I could see using this in the library to introduce new books or movies. It would be great for the students to make their own slide shows also. I can't decide which one I like the best. I liked the tool bar in Zoho and I liked the simplicity of Googles.

Thing 8: Share Your Creations

The uses for these tools are endless. The first thought that came to my mind was a slide show for parents at conference time. They could see pictures of their children that were taken throughout the school year. As for personal use, I would like to check more into the scrapbooking tools available. The tools were easy to use. But, I am a little concerned how to keep track of all the passwords I need to get into each of these “things”. It seems like I keep signing up for this and that. I would recommend Big Huge Labs – making motivational posters. I had a lot of fun with it. I did not know all this was available on the web!

Thing 7: Web 2.0 Communication Tools

I am using e-mail mostly for personal use. But, I am getting better at using it to communicate with the parents of my students. I like the Five Fast email Productivity Tips by Merlin Mann. I use to read all the little stories and forward them on to friends, but it takes just too much time. So, I write less and delete some of the stories.
Instant messaging doesn’t work very well for me. I am usually on the computer late at night, and not too many people are on at that time. At school, we send e-mail and check our inbox often.
Texting is great. My granddaughter got me into it. We ended up purchasing unlimited text messaging and now we send little messages to each other during the day. Not everyone has unlimited access to text messaging so you have to be careful because they get charged for every text sent and received.
Web conferencing is a great way to learn new things without having to travel far. As a teacher, I like to attend conferences or workshops to get new ideas. At times, these are costly and you have to travel. I much prefer sitting comfortably at home in front of my computer.

Thing 6: Online Image Generators

I had fun making trading cards. I thought it would be fun for

students to make a trading card about their favorite book.

There are many posibilites......
I can't wait to explore some more - after I get through all the

23 Things on a Stick!

Encourage Children to Read

I really like the ImageChef sight at http://www.imagechef.com/.
You can make a poster encouraging students to read.

Star Reader Award

You can also make a Star Reader Award using ImageChef.

Thing 5: More Flickr Fun

I had fun playing around with some of the Flickr Mashups. I could spend alot of time in this area. I made a puzzle from one of my Flickr photos and posted it on my Blog. I also uploaded photos with Splashr onto my Blog. I could see students using these tools to make posters, collages, or reports on favorite books to share with others. Slide shows could be set up on places to travel. The Yahoo! - Trip Planner allows you to plan a vacation then use the photos on Flickr to show them off. Sounds fun. I would like to try that this summer.

Thing 4: Photosharing with Flickr

I took the Flickr Tour and it looked like so much fun, I signed up for my own account. I explored Flickr photos, but all the pictures I uploaded onto my blog showed up as a blank square with a red X in the upper left hand corner. So, I uploaded some of my own pictures and used one of them. I tagged it with 23 Things On a Stick and made it public. This is the first time I have used something like this and am a little cautious about making family photos public. I used a picture of our new puppy, Coco, instead. Flickr did publish a security notice about malicious third parties attempting to gain access to your Flickr account called “phishing“. Make sure and read that information.

Thing 3: Set Up an RSS Account & Add Feeds

The instructions were a little difficult to follow. It took me awhile to find the feeds that I wanted to set up. I will have to spend more time exploring with RSS.
What I do have, I like. All the information updates I want are in one spot. I don’t have to search for them. It is like the “My Favorites” folder on the internet. I did sign up for both Bloglines and Google Reader. I found that I liked Google Reader the best. The format, to me, is more user friendly.
Now, I will be able to stay up to date on the news and also blogs from other teachers. It will be a great way to share ideas. I agree with another blogger that the easiest way to find information was to go to Google Blog and put in a subject that interests me.

Thing 2: What is Web 2.0 and Why Should I Care?

It seems like the world of technology is growing faster than anyone can keep up. As an educator, parent, and grandparent, I feel it is important to learn new things and not get “left behind”. I want to know where children are going on-line to get information and how I can use this same technology. Right now, my granddaughter could teach me about My Space, Facebook, blogging, and Gmail.
I do find the internet helpful. I use it for e-mailing, web searches to help with school work, plan vacations, and playing a few games. But, I want to learn more about other tools available to us today.

Thing 1 Getting Started

I just completed setting up my own blog. What a new experience. The step by step instructions and the help of a co-worker (thanks Ruthie) made it a breeze. I am excited to get started and looking for many new ideas.