Thing 13: Delicious Tagging

I practiced tagging sites using Delicious. Delicious seems like a great tool for organizing bookmarked websites. I am one of those people who bookmark any website that seems useful for present or future use. However, my list of bookmarks becomes enormous and then I don’t even know what I have. I imported my bookmarked sites to my Delicious account, and I found some things I had forgotten about. Not only I am organizing my bookmarks, but I’m also being able to find them and use them.
Learning about tagging is an on-going task, and I am still working out more details. I did however figure out a way to export my bookmarks into an html document that I can share with anyone. I figure I can export a series of related websites for my students to search. They can then use them in their work. Another way to share my bookmarks is to provide my students/colleagues with my username and having them do user search.

Thing #12: Commenting

The main purpose of this blog is to create posts that will attract comments to my blog and to add meaningful comments to other people’s blogs. “10 Techniques to Get More Comments on your Blog” explains that one should include questions, opinions, and open ended thoughts to encourage visitors to leave comments. The other important point I discovered is to write comments that will add meaningful views and information to a posting. I see postings and comments as a way to converse with people who have ideas different/similar to mine. Sometimes my biggest issue is to find a way to phrase my thought in writing. A posting can captivate me and provoke lots of suggestions, responses, feelings, ideas, and more, but organizing all my thoughts into a meaningful comment/post is not always easy.
I found the following blogs to be full of tips and information I can use in my daily home life.
Keeping the Castle and Baking delights contain recipes, tips for stuff around the house, and personal anecdotes. Mom Houston Blog is part of the Houston Chronicle’s website and contains stuff for moms, such as promotion tips, events, child rearing, school tips, and other things that any mom can use anytime. School Zone Blog gives informal updates about what is happening in Houston area school districts.

Thing #11: Library Thing

The Library Thing has opened one more door of possibilities! After creating my account, I added my beloved Harry Potter series and some other books I have been enjoying lately. I was immediately able to find many, many other members who also enjoy these books. There were conversations, in which I already had something in common with these users. However the talks were not necessarily about the books. Users were talking and giving opinions about so many different topics.
I can see how I can use the Library Thing to create book talks and book clubs online. Students and teachers who enjoy the same type of books can discuss these books, review them, and recommend new titles to other members.
All these features can also be used to enhance library patrons' experiences. The Library Thing for Librarians offers interaction, reviewing, and recommending for school personnel.

Thing #10: Image Generators

Image generators are great! They are an opportunity for users to show their creativity. The license plates and hearts above are from the Image Chef. I like this tool to create signs of vocabulary words, formulas, and important names to post around the classroom. The black frame of words is from Wordle, and I thought of this tool for creating poems and riddles. Mine was made from a list of words that have a reading theme in common. Students can create their own and have classmates guess what the common theme is. Finally the sketch is from Dumpr. This could become a coloring page, and using other tools, I could add text to take it a step further.
Although I don’t show a picture, I also like Big Huge Labs to create a variety of images such as the magazine covers, trading cards, motivator posters, mosaics, badge makers, and calendars. I also found Custom Sign Generator which allows the user to upload a picture and add special effects to it.
I really enjoyed these tools and can easily foresee using them to increase vocabulary in language, add pizzazz to math problems and handouts, and to illustrate concepts in all content areas. These tools and strategies will also allow for students to feel more confident and gain more ownership of their work.

Thing #9: Circle of the Wise

Creating my circle of the wise is not as easy without having some experience in the literature world. I hope to get more acquainted with names of important figures and institutions. Meanwhile I should get accustomed to the search tools to find informative sites and blogs. The easiest tool to use was Edublogs’ award winners. Blogs were clearly organized by topics. Under each topic, there were several blogs to choose from. Technorati and Google Blog Search were both easy to use but provided too many results. It becomes overwhelming to search through all the results. A very useful search took is School Library Blogs on Suprglu. Blogs I found here were directly related to librarianship. From this source, I was able to link to Blogs such as ALSC, Informancy, McBookWords, and School Library Media Activities Monthly.

Thing #8: RSS

I have just started using RSS with my Google Reader and found it very easy to use, especially after watching the clip RSS in Plain English. Adding blogs and news sources was a breeze. Copy - Paste is all I need to remember. Almost immediately I had access to the updated list of postings, and reading them all at the same place saved me a lot of time! I also created a Shared Items Page for everyone to enjoy the most interesting and relevant postings I receive. I also liked the “adding notes” feature. That way I can share and give my opinion at the same time.
Using the RSS feed in the library, I could give teachers and students access to articles and blog postings that they may find interesting and/or useful. Teachers could use their shared reading page to post articles and websites for their students to use in an assignment. Since one gets to select which articles are shared, students will only see the ones they need. Teachers can also add notes to help guide students even more.
The librarian, principal, grade level chairs, or department heads can also create blogs for the rest of the staff. All blogs can feed to one Reader page, which can be shared so that the whole staff can read the postings on the same page. This would require a monitor to make sure all postings are being shared, but RSS feeds can easily become a new way of communicating.

Thing #7: Google

After playing with Google, I can see that it is more than a search engine. I created an iGoogle page and was able to add a link to the news, games, YouTube, Teacher Tube, and there are so many other gadgets to choose from. In the games section, I found some neat games that my students will really enjoy. I found their favorite Sudoku and Hangman.

After creating my account, I was able to upload and create documents and spreadsheets. This feature really got my attention because I can create forms and send them to teachers to fill out and have students fill them out as well. I created a sample form for students and teachers to request materials for a project. Please, check out the form by clicking here.

Thing #6: Mashups

All mashups from Big Huge Labs were very impressive. They are sure to get students' attention immediately. The two that I enjoyed the most and can see myself using in the future are the trading card and the magazine cover. They both provide a unique way for users to give more creativity to their pictures. With the trading card, students can include vocabulary words, create personal profile cards, or create a card for someone else. With the magazine cover, users can add details to a picture by writing small phrases or sentences, or even questions. I can see how these tools would come in handy when teaching.

Thing #5: Flickr

I found this picture at Flickr. It was uploaded by username Basykes.
Flickr is a great source to find pictures that are copyright-friendly, which also means classroom friendly. Teachers and students can use Flickr to find pictures they need for classroom projects without having to worry about copyright infringements. They will only need to remember to give credit to the picture's creator. Although many pictures do not include the creator's actual name, I would assume that using the creator's username will be sufficient.
One aspect about Flickr that really impressed me is the organization. Most pictures are tagged so that users can find them easily. Pictures are also clearly marked as to the conditions under which they can be used (personal, educational, or commercial uses). Finding the picture above was no challenge. I searched for "reading," and this was one of the first hits. Most pictures are just as easy to find, and there are lots of pictures to choose from. Teachers and students will have no problem using this site.

Thing #3: Blog & Avatar

Creating this blog was a breeze. I already had the account set up, so I just added a new blog. I also customized the colors a little. Creating the account and the blog the first time was not difficult at all. The website walked me through some very simple questions. And then it was done!

The very new experience for me was the avatar. It was so fun to go through so many clothes, accessories, and themes. It reminded me of the Wii game in that the game, too, requires you to create a customized player. I would like to find new websites that provide avatars to allow my students to create their own. I know they would love to do this, but Yahoo is blocked in my district. Hopefully, I can either get them to unblock it, or I can find a different site to create them before the year begins again in August.

Thing #2: Life Long Learning Habits

Habits for lifelong learning:

The easiest habit for me would be to teach and mentor others. When practicing anything I always look for ways to teach it to someone else. That someone else can be anyone, family, co-worker, student, my own children. After teaching someone, I usually walk away with more confidence in what I am learning. To me, this relates a lot to teaching. In the classroom, I try to learn and prepare everything to teach a lesson. After I teach, I analyze my strengths and weaknesses, and I improve the next time I teach the same lesson. Every time I teach this lesson, I get better and better at it. Practice makes perfect!

On the other hand, the hardest habit would be to view problems as challenges. I can't help but panic a little when something doesn't go according to plan. My first reaction is usually a little panic, followed by frustration, and then comes the realization that I have to resolve the problem. At this point, I focus on the problem at hand and tackle it. It takes me time to start seeing my past problems as challenges that I had to face to learn something. Most of the time, problems for me are just challenging problems, and I need time to adjust before I can resolve effectively.

The tutorial was definitely enlightening. It helped me reflect on my already-existent habits and consider some new exercises to become a better learner.

Thing #1: Library Play

I am ready to explore. It is very exciting to play with technology, and now, I have a great opportunity to learn and discover. I hope to learn so many new things to incorporate in my classroom and future library.