Thing 18 Web 2.0 Awards

I spent a whole evening looking through this list of Web 2.0 nominees. I have to thank my husband for being such a trooper and helping so much with the kids during this journey. He walks in and I am playing Guess the Google and says,"This is working?" This was one of my favorite finds and it is somewhat addictive. There are 20 Google images and you have to guess the keyword that links them all. I can see kids loving this game. You get more points for typing fast so it could actually enhance typing skills. The vocabulary ranges from simple, like fries, to more complex, like cycle. This makes it multilevel and uses visual critical think skills in a game format. I did not encounter any questionable images in my 5 games.

I read several other blogs that said that One Sentence was fun, so I checked it out. It was intriguing. What a great way to teach word choice to kids. You could also talk about foreshadowing, drawing conclusions, and great beginnings. I read several sentences, but I am still composing mine.

My husband and I love to explore new resturants, theatres, and other quirky places, so Yelp has become an instant favorite of mine. Yelp is a city guide that is composed by real people. You can search for restuarants and read reviews that others have posted. The restuarants are sorted by things like romantic, fun, downtown, ect. There are also reviews for salons and shopping. This is a great site for those who love to get out and about.

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Thing 17

Zoho is a great resource that can help teachers and students in many ways!  I have told my husband many times that there needs to be a site where I can save documents at school and pull them up at home without having the Mac/PC combatibility problem.  Now there is!  Hooray!!  I explored and found many premade templates that would be useful in the library or in the classroom.  Zoho also has wiki, spreadsheet, and presentation programs as well as word processing.  You have to register and have an e-mail account, so students might not be able to use this.  I found out quickly that many features did not work using Safari, so I switched to Firefox.  I never received the confirmation e-mail that I was supposed to, either.    I adore these little happy face guys also.  They are too cute and easy to use.    There is also a comment speech bubble that i enjoy playing with.  Practical applications?  Lots!  Now you do not have to spend $100 on a pricey application to download.  Although you can download Google Gears and use the tools without being connected to the Internet.  

Thing 16

The Sandbox wiki was super easy to use and contribute to. I took some time and looked through the entries and ideas. I added several of my own ideas. The idea of learning through play is such an inviting concept. I mean, who doesn't like to play? I think that wikis are easy enough to create and use. However, I think that the teachers on my campus will have to buy into the concept. I always hear, "I don't have time!!!" whenever I approach teachers about using more technology. Someday I hope that teachers can see that by using technology, it can actually make teaching more relevant and practical. If I was in the classroom, I could see creating a homework wiki, where students and teachers could exchange ideas. I am going to create one for our campus for book suggestions. I think that collaboration is the key to student success. Why not rely on the experience and knowledge of an entire community?

Thing 15 Wikis

This video from YouTube really helped me to understand what a wiki is and how it can be used. The important thing about a wiki is that it is a way to collaborate with others. Teachers to teachers, librarians to librarians, students to students, or a mixture of all can easily plan and organize information. A wiki can be used to organize ideas for using books to teach specific skills. There could be a list on a wiki for teaching realistic fiction using children's literature. Teachers can post books that work well for certain grade levels. A wiki can be used to help grade levels communicate daily without calling a formal meeting. There could be a page for math lesson reflections, field trip ideas, or additional resources. Wikis can be used for student teacher communication. Students can post homework. Students can help others in their class. Librarians can use a wiki to communicate about lesson ideas. I think it would be great to have a wiki for Mockingbird books where librarians can post lesson ideas to share. Wikis are easy to create and use. But the important thing about a wiki is that it is a way to collaborate with others.

Thing 14 Library 2.0

The best perspective that I have found on Library 2.0 can be found in this article. It basically says that Library 2.0 is a collaborative way to better meet the needs of your community. My favorite part says that this makes libraries relevant to people's lives, instead of being an afterthought. I could not agree more. The face of the library is changing because communication and information are expanding rapidly. The thing that I love about this project is that I am seeing first hand the amount of time people spend online, searching for answers. Someone could have told me, but I wouldn't have believed it without experiencing it for myself. My philosophy on the library is that we have to join this virtual society so that we can better serve our community. The number of tools that are available on the web is astounding. One big question that is often posed is,"How do we use this in the library?" My question is, "How do we not?" Now that I know it, I can teach it. The cool thing is that I am learning something new and exciting everyday. This reminds me how it feels to learn: uncomfortable, nervous, anxious. Isn't that how kids feel? Sometimes teachers? By stepping into the role of a learner, I am better connected to my school.

During this task, I have relied heavily on the aid of my peers. This has been a huge help to me. Imagine have the help of all the librarians in Texas. Ideas are meant to be shared. Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 allow librarians to expand lessons, ideas, and tips for a better library. I have found so many ideas for things that are relevant to me, such as Bluebonnet Voting ideas. I am looking forward to the Things left to do. . . .

Myspace idea

Today I thought of a way to use myspace to help students analyze characters in books. I think it would be an awesome product for students to make about a main character after completing a book. Students could create a myspace page for that character. Think of all that they could add: songs, friends, graphics, a bio, a blog. There are mood icons. That in itself is a huge vocabulary lesson. I am trying to see how this would look. I guess students could browse some pages or I could copy my page so that they can see what all is included. Students could create a paper myspace page? I haven't exactly figured that part out yet, but I think kids could be wildly creative and really analyze a character. The motivation would be high because myspace is so popular. I read something today from the Library 2.0 sites that said not to wait until something is perfect to share, but to get feedback and continually work on improving an idea.

Thing 13 Social Bookmarking

I will admit that I was a little hesitant on this task. It didn't seem like that big of a deal, but I watched the video and did some exploring. I looked at the MISD page and did some playing there. Then I created my own account. At first, I struggled with what to add. I was almost embarrassed that I do not visit a huge number of websites. And besides that, who would want to see sites I like? So, I started small. I go to the learning 20 blog sites almost daily, so I posted that. That led me to add image chef and other online sign generators. What else have I done that might be interesting? I found a cool flyer from TLA about ideas for Bluebonnet Book voting ideas, so I went back and posted that. My realization was that I was going to have to retrain myself to use this awesome tool. The more I post and search other people's posts, I find this to be a fascinating tool.

In the library, this will be a huge help. So many times when students come to the library or go to the computer lab time is wasted searching for quality websites. I know that kids need to learn to filter websites for themselves, but with the time crunch we feel, I think using the del.icio.us site will benefit students tremendously. It reminds me of filimentality (sp?). Obviously, this could be used to post websites for Internet research. I would love to show students how to create a del.icio.us account and find sites for something that is being studied, such as Ancient Greece. Then students could search other sites for good info. I think teaching kids to tag will improve critical thinking skills. Tagging is essentially coming up with synonyms. This is a skill that is needed in traditional research. A great lesson would be to compare and contrast the way a traditional encyclopedia is organized and how tagging works on del.icio.us. With an encyclopedia, students can be stuck if there is not an article about exactly what is being researched, like midnight ocean zone. Tagging could help students see what else something might be labeled as. This is a great addition to my ever- growing toolbox of web tools. Love it!