Thing #23

Thank you for allowing our district to participate in the outstanding in-service!

My favorite discovery has been creating this blog. I have read a several posts, but did not realize the scope of information that blogs can cover. I also discovered a sense of community within my blog list-I wouldn't have guessed that in a million years. I intend to continue this blog and am considering a blog to keep in touch with family and friends.

My husband and I are nearing the end of a 2 year journey to adopt our 2 and 3 year old boys. I am very proud of this accomplishment, but this in-service has helped me see that it is time to jump back on the technology that I had loosened my grip on. This process has pulled me back and reignited my passion for technology. I needed to be reminded that we "the teachers" cannot stop learning if we are to prepare our students for their future.

I am most surprised at how excited I am to utilize some of the web 2.0 tools that I have learned about. I can't wait to set up a wiki for the bluebonnet books and book selections club or continue this blog to help communicate with parents and students.

I can’t even begin to thank you for the unimaginable time and effort that must have gone into creating this in-service. I don’t have any suggestions for improvement and would be honored to participate in another next summer after I have had time implement some of the "Things" I have learned.

I feel like I have bought a new car and can't wait to take my friends for a ride!

Thing #21

I was dreading this "Thing", but it was MUCH easier than I imagined!!

Thing #22

I have known that I have not kept up with the changes in technology since my name was changed to Mommy, but I had no idea Nings existed outside Facebook and My Space!

I visited the Teacher Librarian Ning and was intrigued by a reply written by Debbie Abilock. She explained the research processes of problem solving, information inquiry and guided inquiry and I could tell by her thorough explanation of them that she was knowledgeable and experienced in this field. The research process is an area that I would like to gain more knowledge in as a librarian teacher, so I "researched" Debbie Ablicock. She is the founder of Noodle Tools!!!

Noodle Tools are recommended for 5th grade and up. As a librarian teacher in a PPCD-4th grade school Noodel Tools is not a resource that I would utilize, but the site does have a section of Teacher Resources that includes a PowerPoint for teaching Online Reading Startegies that I think is fabulous. As excited as I was to discover this PowerPoint I fell head over-heels for the "Think Aloud". With technology so embedded in our day to day lives and our future I think these resources invaluable.

Without visiting TeacherLibrarianNing I would not have discovered this exciting new find, so I can see visiting and becoming a participant.

Thing #20

This Teacher Tube video demonstrates the importance of a "Library 2.0" and the need for us to utilize the tools we have learned in "The Game" if we are to prepare our students for the future.



Although this You Tube video is lengthy I thought it was full of wonderful ideas for implementing 2.0 tools.

Thing #19

I have an igoogle page that I set up early in "The Game" and I use the gadgets for Google Reader and ToDo often. The only draw back is that I used a different e-mail addresses for igoogle and blog spot (igoogle being a yahoo e-mail), so at times when I am logged into both applications I will find myself logged out when I go to use it. It gets very frustrating.

I have been wanting to try My Yahoo! for a while, so when I saw it on the Web 2.0 Awards list I seized the opportunity. igoogle has so many gadgets and themes to choose from, so I am disappointed by the limited choices for My Yahoo! I'm going to try both applications or a day or two before I make my final choice. I'll let you know!

Thing #18

I worked with Google Docs early in "The Game" and liked its capabilities. Sharing documents and still maintaining some control over the authorship is appealing to me.

Open Office took a quite a while to download, but once it was done it was very easy to use. The format is very similar to Microsoft's products, so the idea that you can have these "Office" type products free would be the benefit. When I have a little more time, I want to do a little research on the Open Office developers.

Thing #17

What a great idea! Not only will the use of Rollyo help with the time constraints of traditional library class time when trying to research, but it also provides an opportunity to teach students to evaluate websites in smaller portions. I have a website on my computer at school that I want to add to the Rollyo Butterflies search I would like to use with my second graders.