Thing #9

The most simple blog finder was Bloglines. The page is simple and it asks what specifically you are looking for such as a feed, a blog or a clipping. Now the trouble I had with Blogline was when I did find a good rss news feed I wanted to read, the link was not available. I did manage to get to the site but when I did get there, the feed looked as though it had not been updated since 2003. Syndic8 was too busy looking at first sight. I was like "what?" and as I scrolled down the page, it looked as if someone wanted to impress the reader by supplying useless information. I almost did not try this page but when I did type in the same information from blogline, I came up with better, more detailed return. Syndic8 actually tracks the sites and let you know when the last update was done and if it is active or even in repair.

I found the Technorati site the most busy not confusing for the fact that if you are easily swayed away from a focal point, you don't need to cruise this site. I found myself blogging on other blogs instead of trying to find the site I wanted. It's interesting for entertainment purposes also. I like the way it is catergorized by topics.

I found this really good site for teachers and how to use technology in the classroom. It's call Free Technology for Teachers. It's also different especially the video they added about texting.

Check out my Blog List to see some great blog sites I found.

Thing #8

I thinkd rss feeds are interesting reads. If you are that type of person who likes to read the papers anyway and who likes reading about different articles, I think RSS feeds come in handy. I personally have a google feed that appears on my desktop and gives me article titles from edutopia. I decide whether I want to stop and read it or not.
As schools get more technical, I hope to see teachers using the feeds instead of newspapers whenever students need to do an assignment where ariticle reading is involoved.
Librarians could run feeds from the computer to the television sometimes so people can see them when they come in the library. RSS feeds can also be a resource students and teachers can subscribe to in order to have or save when something of interest for the class comes up.

Thing #7

I finally succumbed to the Google last summer. I first began with iGoogle and customized a page that utilized many of the features I want to see when I open up my web page to the internet such as the weather, a clock, a calendar, the google notebook and dictionary to name a few. I recently learned how to use the Picasa Web Album. I have made a collage and a slideshow using the photos I uploaded. I learn to use Google Docs for a class I was taking but I first discovered it while volunteering for the Bill White campaign. I was using a spreadsheet and I was able to share it with another user who was logged into the program at the same time. I like using Google Docs which includes word processing, databases, and spreadsheets.
I collaborated with others to edit a paper I wrote and if I didn't like the editing, I could always go back to the original version. I thought that was pretty neat.

Thing #6

This is an example of Flickr Trading Card tools.

In this post, I would like to discuss the usefulness of the Flickr Mashups. I couldn't figure out the mappr program but it seem like it would be a good program to assist teachers with social studies. The Bookr program interested me the most. This is a program that can be used with any age group. It can also be used cross curriculum. It's simple enough to just add photos from your hard drive or from the Internet to make up a photo book and share it with others or it could be use as part of a project for science to show a process. The Bookr program also took me to Phrasr, a program that would make decoding more interesting to young children or it can be used to define different terminology in different subjects using pictures.
Flickr has many apps that can be used. You just have to take a day or two to go over them all to see what suits your needs.

Thing #5

When you think of a library, you can't help but to think of history. You think of reading and success. I would post up these pictures in the library to let students see the audacity of hope. President Obama had some nerve to believe he could be President of the United States in a time when Black men lead the prison population, are mostly seen successful in rap and sports and are the lowest turn out as college graduates. You let your students know what it means to push through adversity and these images would be there to back your words. This is why I like the rain picture. You just see him pushing through it. It gives you hope to push through your own adversity no matter if the odds of success are not in your favor.









Obama in the rain

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30954572@N05/ / CC BY 2.0

Obama is hope

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jetheriot/ / CC BY 2.0

Thing #3

I enjoyed posting my blog. I would like to see others blogs and how they input pictures.
Using the avatar was interesting. I've used yahoo avatar before and the only issue I have is with the variety of body types. I don't think the avatar I created really represents what I want people to think about me because of how different my body type is compared to what I posted but the avatar could also be seen as an escape. What do you think?

PS: How I post my picture: Well, I actually copied it with a right click from the picture that was downloaded into the picture gadget and I opened the picture in my picture program. I edited the size and cropped it to make it like I wanted the picture to look. I saved the file as a jpeg on my computer hard drive. I then went back to picture gadget and uploaded the picture from my Picture folder from my computer. Not really complicated probably just weird. I really felt like showing the whole body of the avatar was such false advertisement but I really wanted to display the cute jazz shirt.

Thing #2

After reading the 7 1/2 Habits of a Lifetime Learner, I have to agree that I am a lifetime learner. I love to discover new things. I feel like if I haven't done anything intellectual in a while then my brain may deteriorate. Coming from being a 1st/ 2nd grade teacher to a middle school librarian, I found myself trying to learn as much as I could about the different levels I was teaching. The longer I taught 1st grade, the more I found out that I knew nothing. I then made it my goal to learn as much as I could about how those delicate little brains work (and I'm not just talking about the babies).

Learning on your own can sometimes be frustrating and rewarding. Habit 3: Seeing problems as challenges is an easy habit I feel I have developed. No matter how difficult an assignment is to me, I feel so good when I have worked through the problem. I just feel like I need to share the information with someone else. Living by Habit 5: Creating my own toolbox of what I need to reach my learning goal is sometimes frustrating. Learning technology can be difficult sometimes especially when you don't have all the tools you need to learn what you want. Some software may be too expensive or time is a tool that is needed which is hard to come by at times. A major issue is not having anyone else around to help you with any problems you might have. I have begun to join different technology groups in hopes to find people who are working on some of the same things I am working on. I figure we can help each other learn the material.

When it comes to learning, I feel like I possess most of the habits. I know going back to school is a challenge I feel it's going to be an interesting journey.