Thing #18

I downloaded Open Office on my personal computer and played around with it today. I had already used Google Docs in one of the previous "things", but I revisited it and searched around some more. I loved the sounds, backgrounds, rulers, and bullets that were readily accessible when I opened a new document. I also liked that I could make drawings, presentations, spreadsheets all in the same program instead of having to go to Excell, or Access or Word. Both Google Docs and Open Office seem to be a little more user friendly that Microsoft Office's applications. I did however have trouble saving my Open Office document to the correct format, and I'm not sure how easy it would be for someone not using Open Office to open a document not saved .doc. As I begin each of these modules, my biggest hurdle seems to be my unwillingness to change. When I first thought about using Open Office or Google Docs instead of Microsoft Office I thought, why would I want to use something else? Why wouldn't Microsoft Office be the best? Why change? The same happened when the librarian at our school suggested that the number of books in circulation might be cut by a huge percentage. I thought why would that be neccessary? Books are always the best source of information. However, 23 Things has opened my eyes to the wealth of information at my fingertips. Information that is different, acquired differently, used differently, and I'm learning that that's ok.

Thing # 17

Rollyo! I created an account on Rollyo and added it to my browser. I also added sites that I might want my students to use when doing research projects. I've included the link to my Rollyo Search Engine. http://rollyo.com/rknapp/my_rknapp/
Rollyo is somewhat similar to Delicious, but I might like it even better. I love the idea of my students having certain websites to choose between. It makes their research so much easier, a lot more efficient, and keeps them from wasting a lot of time. I was thinking that Rollyo would be difficult for me because I don't have that many ideas for good websites, but as I got to thinking, there were plenty I could add. Also, our librarian has a page full of good websites. I could easily look through those and choose pertinent ones to add. I also like the fact that I can create different Search Engines for different projects and can add good websites from other users, editing what I don't want, but including what I do.

Thing #16

I love wikis! I have heard the term several times and even through 23 Things have seen it, but never knew what it was. I wrote in SANDBOX what I'll write here.....I'm really excited to share my knowledge of wikis with my 3rd grade team. I keep thinking about how much it could enhance our planning. If we had one, everyone could add links, videos, cool websites, you name it, at their leisure and then we could easily access the information instead of having to look stuff up on our own. Our team leader could post information that we need to know about. Our librarian could also be linked to it and add links and information as she saw fit. I'm really excited about this, and definitely think it could make our planning more efficient and meaningful. Planning could be a continuous discussion between us even when we aren't phisically in the same room discussing ideas.
I'm not sure how well wikis would work in a 3rd grade classroom. I really like what I saw in the middle school and high school ones, but I'm sure my 3rd graders would surprise me!

Thing #15

For this assignment I read "Away from Icebergs", "Into a new World of Librarianship", and "To More Powerful Ways to Cooperate." The video of the students from Kansas State University along with these readings really brought awareness to how much education and libraries are changing. Students don't have to just sit back and absorb information, but can be active participants in their learning. Books aren't necessarily the best medium for information any more. The librarian at the school I teach at mentioned at the end of last year that libraries were cutting their book numbers drastically because of the increased popularity and usefulness of technology. At the time I thought she was crazy. After reading these blogs and watching the video, I think maybe she is right.
Of the perspectives I read, the most interesting to me was "Into a New World of Librarianship." I had no idea how flexible, current, and changing the job of a librarian must be today. I still ascribe to the thought of the traditional librarian who helps a school or library keep books in order, looks for new books to share, checks books in and out. I never thought about how technologically savvy today's librarian must be (although the librarian where I teach is very much technologically savvy). I like the notion that the librarian's job is to make everything very accessible to the patrons and must bring the library to the patrons. At the end of last year, our librarian introduced us to multiple websites and technologies that could enhance our classrooms. At the time, I thought these are great, but really are they THAT great? Are we really going to use them? Through my journey of 23 Things, I'm realizing that those websites, tagging and sharing, blogs, etc. can be very valuable to my classroom by not only expanding the information that can be found, but also by putting my students in the driver's seat. I am anxious as we return to school in August to sign my class up for time on the computers in the library for research and projects. The library is no longer just a place to come and look for books to check out, it is a technology haven that can truly enhance research and learning. I still love the feel of a good book in my hand, and question the quality of information that often comes from the internet, but I'm letting go. The role of the librarian is a powerful one and the possibilities of information in the new Library 2.0 is astonishing.

Thing #14

Technorati and tags wasn't so successful for me today. I tried searching for School Library Learning 2.0 in blog posts, tags, and in the blog directory, but nothing came up. I then tried to look at popular blogs on Technorati, but that was "currently unavailable." Hmmmm, not sure why this isn't working. I'll come back to this assignment tomorrow and see if I can get these searches to work. I feel like Technorati takes so long to load because of all the advertisement on it, it sometimes doesn't seem worthwhile. But, I'll keep trying.
As for the tags, in Technorati, I could only find the most popular tags. I'm not sure if there's a way to search specific tags, or if you just see what's most popular. I was expecting there to be a search bar in the tags, but if it's there, I haven't found it.
I like the idea that consumers make the tags more popular and that the more popular things have more prominent tags. Also the community aspect of tagging is interesting. I think that could be very valuable to teaching.....one could get connected with other teachers who are searching and using similar content in their classrooms and could share ideas and sites. There is so much that can be learned from other people, and tagging and all of these sharing sites really foster that.
I also claimed my blog on Technorati which was a big sucess for me today!

Thing #13

Today I explored Delicious and created an account. One of the other teacher on my team last year had a delicious account that we could use, so I was already pretty familiar with it. I love Delicious. It makes getting to my favorite websites so easy. Last year we used it all the time. It was a collaborative 3rd grade account so to speak and we all accessed what C would put on it. Now I have my own account that I can share with her and others. I was also thinking it would be great for my students, because instead of having to write out all of the websites they should go to for a particular research project, they could just use the links on my Delicious account. Tags would also help during research if they were to go beyond the links that I had on my account. For my personal life, I love being able to quickly get to my favorite sites. I keep thinking that it's not much different than My Favorites, but the tags on Delicious make it so much easier to search for things. I'm not very creative with my tags though. I think that as I use delicious during the school year and really know what I'm looking for/using all the time, it will be easier to create better tags. As far as sharing my Delicious account, I'm not sure what to do about that because I don't really know who to share with. Once school starts again, there will definintely be teachers who will be great resources to share with.

Thing #12

How to Comment Like a King or Queen definitely made me think more about commenting and made me want to comment more. However, a lot of what she said was more common sense. Only offer constructive comments. Only comment if it is meaningful and will add to the blog. Points like that made me think, yeah, I know that, I wouldn't want negative comments on my blog either. The biggest thing was that it did make me think more about blogging. Which made me laugh when I got to the podcast about lurking. I'm definitely a lurker....I like reading the information, I just don't always think to leave a comment. I sometimes feel like I don't have a good comment to add to a blog. As I comment though, I am making more of an effort to become an active reader who contributes to the blogs I read.

As I go through this "Thing" I have commented on the following blogs:
21st Centry Here I Come!
23 Tech Time
All My Things
Ladybug
Firefly Flight
I'm finding it very interesting to read about each person's journey through 23 Things. Everyone has a different perspective and a completely different experience through the things. I love getting new ideas about how to use these things in my classroom.
I have posted 2 comments now on blogs outside of the Library2Play blogs. One I posted on my cousin's blog which I have never really taken the time to read, and the other was Houston Garden Girl. When I began this adventure of 23 Things, blogs didn't really interest me. As I read them, I am amazed by the talent out there and the knowledge that can be acquired from them. I'm loving it!