Thing #14

I was not too impressed with Technorati. I had a hard time figuring it out. When I searched for "school library learning 2.0" I yielded 0 results. I searched for this under blogs, posts, and blog directory and found nothing. I then clicked on "tags" and was not able to search for it in this section. The only thing that showed up was popular tags used in the last month.

Tagging information is very valuable and seems to be a way to put all of the good blogs and other web sites in one place. I think it would be wise to stick with one tool rather than trying to use a multitude of them. I think so far del.icio.us is one of my favorites. I'll probably stick with that one!

One final note--I tried to explore the Technorati widgets but they were not available at the time. It seemed as if they were doing maintenance or something.

Thing #13

Del.icio.us is a pretty great idea! I created an account and added my two blogs, but nothing else yet. I can totally see how this tool can be shared amongst colleagues so that helpful web sites can be shared. This would be considered a type of collaboration if sites are shared. I did forget to add the Del.icio.us bookmark thing to my toolbar when signing up. Does anyone know how to do it now that I have already have a working account? Help would be greatly appreciated!

My URL for del.icio.us is http://delicious.com/sarahalbright

Thing #12

I looked at Cool Cat's information about commenting and thought her idea about hyperlinking anything that you refer to is important. Most people don't have time to search and being able to click on a link to see what someone is talking about is very convenient. The other idea that I liked came from Problogger. He said that asking questions is a good way to get someone to comment on your blog. I think both of these ideas are important.

http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2006/08/how-to-comment-like-king-or-queen.html

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/10/12/10-techniques-to-get-more-comments-on-your-blog/

I did a search on Google Blogs to find blogs that are related to my field of study--language arts/reading and library science. I found the following blogs that interested me.

http://lovewhatyouteach.com/
This blog was created by a 3rd grade teacher to share ideas for the elementary classroom.

http://totally3rdgrade.com/wordpress/
This site shares resources that teachers can use.

http://elementary-school.blogspot.com/
This site shares valuable resources for elementary teachers, including links to other sites.

http://thepithypython.blogspot.com/
"The blog of an elementary school librarian about children's books, reading and research"

http://fromtotstotweens.blogspot.com/
A site that includes booktalks and other valuable information about promoting reading.

Oops. I didn't read very well because I found 5 blogs of interest. I guess it's better to do more than not enough!

Thing #11

I created an account for LibraryThing. I was first introduced to this tool in my children's literature course but never visited the site. This is a great tool for keeping up with books that I own in my own personal collection and books that I have read or would like to read. I did not visit any other collections but would be curious to see how others rate some of the books that I've read. I will definately try to keep up with LibraryThing and will most likely visit some other's collections to see what books they recommend so that I can read some of them in my free time (of course I have so much of it right now!). I think as a librarian this would be a great tool for students and their parents to see what I have read and what I would like to read. Students love to know what their teachers are reading or want to read.

Thing #10

I played around with Fake Magazine Cover and put my photo on a couple of magazines. I actually put my photo on the cover of Bad Housekeeping but the lettering went right across my eye and I couldn't figure out how to move my photo to fix this. This tool could be used in the library or classroom by placing teacher or student photos on school-related magazines. Student magazine covers could be posted around the room or library. Students are self-centered and would love to see themselves on the cover of a magazine or as the subject of a portrait. This was a fun tool to use.

http://www.fakemagazinecover.com/

Thing #9

I used Edublog to find a few blogs to follow. I looked over the "Best blog" lists to find some librarian blogs, technology blogs, and teacher blogs. I ran into some trouble when trying to subscribe to a free technology blog and somehow pageflakes popped up and then about a 100 (that's not an exaggeration) pages started appearing on my screen. I eventually had to log out because I couldn't close out the pages. That was not a good experience. The feeds that I did subscribe to will now appear on my Google Reader and I can take advantage of some of the technology suggestions and other free resources suggested on the blogs. I love freebies! :)

Thing #8

I really like the RSS feed using Google Reader! Of course all of the feeds that I subsribed to are not educational, US Weekly, but the idea is really cool! I think this tool can be used when I become a librarian by subscribing to professional journals and other award sites. I think subscribing to author sites would also be beneficial. As far as my personal life, having these feeds all in one place will keep me from visiting site after site. Instead, I can just visit my Google Reader and find it all in one place. I really enjoyed this "Thing" because I have always wondered what that little orange symbol meant on web pages. Now I can use these feeds to my advantage.

Thing #7

I played around with Google Calendar and filled in events for the next week. I liked how I received an email reminding me that I needed to drive to the Frio River on Friday, June 18th. Good thing I didn't forget to do that! I think this tool would be great for keeping track of meetings and when assignments are due because it does give alerts as reminders. Students in school could use this program and receive alerts on their cell phones. The other tool that I explored was Google Scholar. I was not aware that this tool existed and will certainly use it in the future when trying to find sources for papers that I have to write. Students would also be able to use this web tool for research in the library, classroom, or at home.

Thing #6

My Boys

I really liked playing around with Mosaic Maker. The only thing that was a little time-consuming was that I had to upload the pictures to Facebook first and then take them from there. It didn't take too terribly long, though. I'm not sure if the option is available, but I would have liked to shuffle the pictures up. Black and white and color would have been cool, too. I'll have to play around.

I think this tool could be used in the library to showcase some photos from the library. It's a neat way of viewing a set of photos in one interesting visual. With permission, student photos could be used to decorate the walls of the library.

I plan on trying to make a trading card when I get a chance. That ought to be interesting!

Thing #5

I browsed Flickr and was a little nervous about not finding a picture under the Creative Commons label. I hope I did it right!

I chose a zebra because my classroom is decorated with zebra stuff. It's not that I like the actual animal, I just like the animal print and all of the cool stuff that is out there in zebra print.

Zebra photo is taken from Flickr

Thing #4

I have emailed my blog so that I can officially play!

Thing #3

Setting up a blog was something that I've actually done before. The whole process is a little overwhelming because I don't find the actual site user-friendly. Maybe it's just me, but I need buttons that are obvious in order to change, add, delete things I've added. I suppose it just takes some playing around and exploring to get comfortable with it.

I did have a hard time putting my Avatar on my blog. I played around and ended up somehow getting it on there. Not sure I did it the right way, but it's there! I've not visited anyone else's blog and need to attach some links to other blogspots in order to easily visit other places.

I hope that I actually keep up with this blog since I've not kept up with my original blog about my family. The chances of this happening are pretty slim, though!

Thing #2

After viewing the presentation over the 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Effective People, I have concluded that I am not very effective! The easiest habit for me is accepting responsibility for my own learning. I am aware that if I want or need to learn something then I have to take the initiative to make it happen. I don't wait for someone else to make it happen for me. The habit that is hardest for me to accept is viewing problems as challenges. I tend to view problems as problems rather than seeing them as a way to make me stronger. When all is said and done and the problem is solved, then I can look back and realize that it wasn't so bad. But initially, a problem is an obstacle that I am not always willing to view as a challenge. I still need to work on my habits!