What an inspiration! I have definitely bookmarked www.gutenberg.net. What a terrific resource. Of course I checked to see if my brother's new book, The Cactus Eaters is an eBook yet (it's not), but there are so many others. I was surprised that the top 100 list is mainly comprised of classics like Ulysses and Beowulf, not popular fiction. I haven't been a fan of the idea of ebooks, being from the old-school where we love to curl up with a book in our laps, but I opened the eBook for Emma, which one of my students is reading over the summer, and found myself happily reading away! I'll have to keep an open mind about eBooks; in our Independent Studies program we have been consistently adding to our collection of Audio books, which are great for English learners, or special ed students or just kids who think they don't like to read or aren't as fluent at it.
The notion that Project Gutenberg has 25,000 free books in its online catalogue is amazing.
This, and the World Public Library, are great resources for librarians, teachers, students and readers in general!
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Week #9 Thing #21
I had a lot of trouble getting things to load, for some reason. Finally had some success with Podcast Alley. Their layout was easy to navigate and I found lots of podcasts with book reviews; the hard part, as usual, is sorting through what's good and what's not. That would just mean tagging podcasts that I hear are good from colleagues and friends and starting a file.
I like having the rss feed on my blog!
I like having the rss feed on my blog!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Week #9 Thing #20
I can see why the kids are glued to this site! It's wonderful...
Being the animal lover I am, I watched the video of Uno the Beagle winning the Westminster Dog Show and a few horse jumping videos from the National Horse Show and Pebble Beach Classic. I know I will be sharing these with friends... and that's what I want to learn how to do next.
As far as how I can apply this to school, I can easily imagine asking the students to (as an option for those who have the skills) to make a video and put it to music; for example, when we're studying civil rights in history, they can interview people about their feelings on this issue and find examples on campus and in their community that reflect civil rights in action (or being limited).
Being the animal lover I am, I watched the video of Uno the Beagle winning the Westminster Dog Show and a few horse jumping videos from the National Horse Show and Pebble Beach Classic. I know I will be sharing these with friends... and that's what I want to learn how to do next.
As far as how I can apply this to school, I can easily imagine asking the students to (as an option for those who have the skills) to make a video and put it to music; for example, when we're studying civil rights in history, they can interview people about their feelings on this issue and find examples on campus and in their community that reflect civil rights in action (or being limited).
Week #8 Thing #19
This is an excellent tool! I love it!
I put the libary widget on my blog so that it shows 3 of the books randomly chosen from my catalogue. I know I will continue adding to my catalogue and sharing groups, such as the YA groups, with my students.
I was especially pleased that my brother's new memoir, The Cactus Eaters, was already featured with 12 members and I read a fantastic review of the book (which I agree with entirely!).
I put the libary widget on my blog so that it shows 3 of the books randomly chosen from my catalogue. I know I will continue adding to my catalogue and sharing groups, such as the YA groups, with my students.
I was especially pleased that my brother's new memoir, The Cactus Eaters, was already featured with 12 members and I read a fantastic review of the book (which I agree with entirely!).
Week #8 Thing 18
Zoho Writer looks like a lot of fun; on my little laptop at home things were slow to load, but I like the idea that so much word processing could be done without having a certain company's software. And I also like the idea of sharing documents and being able to comment on one another's documents. While I'm not certain that my students are sophisticated enough to comment constructively one their peers' papers, I might still try to find a way to try to integrate this tool.
Week #7 Thing #17
The sandox was fun! My favorite part was starting to read all the Curriculum Connection ideas and then realizing I should just cut and paste them into a folder so that I can peruse them at my leisure and share them with others (and not get too overwhelmed at once!). I especially liked the CC ideas for the Wiki section... I think I added Idea #57! A popular tool, that wiki!
Week #7 Thing #16
Exhilarating and overwhelming at once! In my exploring of the wiki sources, I tried to focus on classroom oriented wikis. I really liked the AP World Studies wiki and the one from the English 10 teacher's class... great Google Doc slideshow on the theme of isolation after reading A Separate Peace and Frankenstein. I'm going to try to do a similar one with my English 11 students who read Catcher in the Rye. I also enjoyed the Flatclass wiki project, although it's soooo amazingly multi-layered that I know I couldn't incorporate it into my program. Very inspiring, though.
The Curriculum Connections for this "thing" are great, however, much more adaptable to my program (I hope!). I like the idea of collaborative note-taking; I can see incorporating this into several of my English and history classes. Of course the idea of compiling a wiki of famous writers or historical figures is GREAT! I will definitely be doing that! And I love the Top 10 list and trading cards, too....I'm going to try both.
My own ideas... well, I'd love to have my students keep an "Efolio" of their work; students must also be able to view others' efolios and comment on them, etc. I'd like to have students create a product together using Google Docs... in Independent Studies we're always looking for ways for our students to collaborate or at least converse. And I think creating a resource wiki might be a good idea; students would get credit for adding valid/useful sources to the ongoing list.
The Curriculum Connections for this "thing" are great, however, much more adaptable to my program (I hope!). I like the idea of collaborative note-taking; I can see incorporating this into several of my English and history classes. Of course the idea of compiling a wiki of famous writers or historical figures is GREAT! I will definitely be doing that! And I love the Top 10 list and trading cards, too....I'm going to try both.
My own ideas... well, I'd love to have my students keep an "Efolio" of their work; students must also be able to view others' efolios and comment on them, etc. I'd like to have students create a product together using Google Docs... in Independent Studies we're always looking for ways for our students to collaborate or at least converse. And I think creating a resource wiki might be a good idea; students would get credit for adding valid/useful sources to the ongoing list.
Week #6 Thing #15
I enjoyed reading these perspectives. I chose the ones addressing the "3 icebergs," the "New World of Librarianship" and good old Wikipedia's description piece.
First of all, I think the image of icebergs looming in the near distance is an effective one for libraries and education in general. There are so many threats and challenges ahead. I'm not sure about Mr. Anderson's argument about the "just in case collection," though. My husband is a high school librarian who is extremely adept technologically and works at integrating many 2.0 resources into his library; however, he is constantly ordering new books and resources so that the students that enter the brick-and-mortor structure can also have many good choices on the shelves. I do agree that libraries cannot rely on user education and must be proactive in that sense; I definitely see that with my students. Well, they think they're educated as far as how to use the technology, but they're all over the map! And I think it's absolutely true that we cannot expect users to "come to us." Again, it pays to be proactive here.
I also like the notion of a library as transparent. Classrooms need to be transparent, too.
And while I agree that it's important for a librarian to embrace Web 2.0 tools such as weblogs, MySpace profiles and mashups... again, I'm still intimidated by all of this and hate to think that I'm an ineffective teacher while I'm still learning the language of Library 2.0.
As far as what Libary 2.0 means to me... I'm going back to the original idea of collaborative, customer friendly and welcoming and picturing a happy medium between the 2.0 tools and the old-fashioned collections/services.
First of all, I think the image of icebergs looming in the near distance is an effective one for libraries and education in general. There are so many threats and challenges ahead. I'm not sure about Mr. Anderson's argument about the "just in case collection," though. My husband is a high school librarian who is extremely adept technologically and works at integrating many 2.0 resources into his library; however, he is constantly ordering new books and resources so that the students that enter the brick-and-mortor structure can also have many good choices on the shelves. I do agree that libraries cannot rely on user education and must be proactive in that sense; I definitely see that with my students. Well, they think they're educated as far as how to use the technology, but they're all over the map! And I think it's absolutely true that we cannot expect users to "come to us." Again, it pays to be proactive here.
I also like the notion of a library as transparent. Classrooms need to be transparent, too.
And while I agree that it's important for a librarian to embrace Web 2.0 tools such as weblogs, MySpace profiles and mashups... again, I'm still intimidated by all of this and hate to think that I'm an ineffective teacher while I'm still learning the language of Library 2.0.
As far as what Libary 2.0 means to me... I'm going back to the original idea of collaborative, customer friendly and welcoming and picturing a happy medium between the 2.0 tools and the old-fashioned collections/services.
Week #6 Thing #14
For some reason doing the keyword search for "School Library Learning 2.0" didn't yield dramatically different results either in blog directories, posts or tags. Maybe it's me. I did explore some of the popular blogs; enjoyed the Huffington Post. But when I started doing more wideflung searches, I ended up all over the map (so to speak), not necessarily understanding the value of the resource. However, using Technorati is obviously something I just need to practice more. For example, I should have limited my searches by language as I ended up with lots of results in German!
I do like the idea of searching for blogs that have been registered and tagged as whole blogs about a certain subject... I can definitely see the use of this as I get more proficient.
I do like the idea of searching for blogs that have been registered and tagged as whole blogs about a certain subject... I can definitely see the use of this as I get more proficient.
Week #6 Thing #13
I like the ability to save and access bookmarks from any computer as I sometimes work from home and sometimes at school. I enjoyed the del.icio.us tutorials and opened an account. As usual, I gravitated toward the photos, tagging the Flickr Smithsonian site so that I could show my students their great photos as enrichment for my lessons and as an optional graphic for their assignments.
I'm not sure how much time I'd spend exploring the various tags, though I like the thought of other teachers supplying me with the fruits of their research!
I'm not sure how much time I'd spend exploring the various tags, though I like the thought of other teachers supplying me with the fruits of their research!
Week #5 Thing #12
Searchrolls are a fantastic discovery! I will definitely be using this resource as a way to teach kids how to practice scrolling through lists to find the best results of a search while using legitimate sources that have been "vetted" by our school's librarian.
The only thing I didn't like about Rollyo was that it has sponsored sites on its pages.
The only thing I didn't like about Rollyo was that it has sponsored sites on its pages.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Week #5 Thing #11
Even the short list of Web 2.0 awards was a bit overwhelming to me... I gravitated toward the Philanthropy choices to see if I could find a way to let people on those sites know about my nonprofit, Annie'sBlankets, or to find a way for my volunteers to communicate with volunteers in other animal welfare groups. I picked Care2. The site looks good, but it was a bit busy and slow to load (but that's not the site's fault!).
Again, I'll look at the Photo and Digital Images sites like Flickr and Picnik for fun, too.
I plan on using my lottery money at school this year to get a scanner so I can start scanning in images to use for school projects with these image generators!
My favorite Discovery Activity this time was creating a Ning network for my independent studies students; I've always wanted to have a Baler Book Club for them, and I think this might be a good way to do it since they're all at school on different days and at different times.
Here's the link:
http://balerisbooktalk.ning.com/
Again, I'll look at the Photo and Digital Images sites like Flickr and Picnik for fun, too.
I plan on using my lottery money at school this year to get a scanner so I can start scanning in images to use for school projects with these image generators!
My favorite Discovery Activity this time was creating a Ning network for my independent studies students; I've always wanted to have a Baler Book Club for them, and I think this might be a good way to do it since they're all at school on different days and at different times.
Here's the link:
http://balerisbooktalk.ning.com/
Week #5 Thing #10
This is going to be a lot of fun! I can totally imagine having my students create trading cards for the characters in the novels they're reading or from the history or science they're studying. I want to learn more about the other FD toys, too. Magazine covers and movie posters also look like fun. Here's the source I used:
http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/
http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Week #4 Thing #9
Feedster was the search tool I feel would be most useful to me as I get more proficient with this technology. I tried Technorati, but there seemed to be some kind of server error and I couldn't actually access it. I also think Edublog will be useful; I like the idea of the Eddie awards!
All in all, I think that this whole issue of rss feeds will be extremely helpful to me as I track various issues that are important to my Independent Studies students and my non-profit organization.
All in all, I think that this whole issue of rss feeds will be extremely helpful to me as I track various issues that are important to my Independent Studies students and my non-profit organization.
Week #4 Thing #8
At first this activity was a bit daunting to me; however, once I did the tutorials (a couple of times!) and poked around, I started to realize how useful an rss feed is. For example, I run a non-profit organization called Annie'sBlankets. We collect used blankets and towels from the public and distribute them to animal shelters all over the Central Coast and Bay Area of California. We work quite a bit with other animal welfare organizations and rescue groups, so if I subsribe to an rss feed that includes these groups and the issues they address, I'll be able to help my volunteers and the homeless companion animals we serve more effectively.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Week #3 Thing #7
Let's see... technology... well, I am enjoying learning about mashups and 3rd party tools like Flickr. I am one of two teachers at my school who has a blog going in class-- my Psychology students participate in one, and I like the blog format because it creates a conversation about learning that is especially difficult to have in our Independent Studies format. We started it last semester and the students loved it. But now I want to expand into more project/product oriented things, such as the magazine covers and trading cards. These are great cross-curricular tools, and I wish I didn't feel so intimidated by the technology.
I'll work on it!
I'll work on it!
Week #3 Thing #6 part two
This morning I looked over the Curriculum Connections for this section. I love Idea #1 and have started a file to keep all these ideas so I can start implementing them in September. As an Independent Studies teacher, I'm always looking for projects that are cross-curricular that students can do from home... and, of course, in which they can play with these great new tools. I know the kids will be more adept than I, but I'll plug along!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Week #3 Thing #6
This Discovery exercise was a blast! A little overwhelming, but I'm a visual person so I'll be back. As far as the mashups go, I'd heard my husand raving about Google Earth so I tried that. Very cool. Will definitely use that when I teach Geography and World Studies next year. The 3rd party tool I tried was Flickr, Colr Pickr, with the flowers. VERY cool, beautiful, fun to keep moving around the color wheel and see what's coming up. Like a virtual walk through a field of wildflowers!
Week #3 Thing #5
I enjoyed exploring Flickr. I know the kids will enjoy uploading images, too... though I'll need to stay on top of things in order to keep them on task (rather than gathering images for hours at a time!).
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