Thing #21 Podcasts and Audio Books

This technology is really cool. I explored Audacity. That was a really cool site. I plan to use this site and make some podcasts with book reviews. There is so much I could do with my middle school students. My microphone for my computer is not working right now so I couldn't add voice to my podcasts. I am looking forward to making podasts for some library lessons. I loved photostory. I can't wait to share this with our middle school broadcast journalism teacher. I was able to create two vidcasts with photostory. I will share the one of the two vidcasts that I shared. The vidcast that I created was about my son's First Holy Communion.

Thing #20 You Tube, Teacher Tube, and Zamzar

I have really enjoyed search You Tube and Teacher Tube. There are some great resources here for teachers and librarians. You do have to take time sifting through videos to find the one that is right for you. The downside is that you may find a video that is good for you but one thing in it doesn't apply to you or your school. You really can't edit it to take the one thing out like you can edit a powerpoint. I think there are great videos that teachers and librarians can use. I thought that some of these can also be used in a training or staff development for teachers. I have found a video on Teacher Tube that I would like to embed into this blog. It is a video about Elementary orientation into the library. I hope you enjoy watching it.

Thing #19 Web 2.0 Awards List

I enjoyed looking at a lot of the awards link from 2.0. I had fun with the fun and games category just playing around but didn't have any thought of how to link it to the library. I also enjoyed istats because I have recently lost 96 pounds and this is a free tool that can be used to track your exercise and work out. Google Earth is a great website. There is so much value to it. Not only is it fun, there is great information available. When a teacher is teaching history, you can visit Google Earth and actually explore the place where students are learning about. There are so many pictures attached to Google Earth that it gives students visuals on what they are learning about. I think it will be a great tool for students and teachers in the library. The other website that I enjoyed was 50 matches. This was a simplified search engine tool. It only allows web sites that have been bookmarked or strongly recommended and it only posts 50 searches. So, you don't have to do a lot of weeding through websites yourself. The only downside I saw to it is that sometimes I didn't get enough from the 50 sites that it chose. There may be too much weeding through of websites. This would definitely be great for younger students who are using the internet for searches. It is a great tool to tell the teachers and technologists about.

Thing #18 - Online Productivity Tools

I went into exploring this activity with a negative mind. I worked for a school district that had went away from Microsoft Office and subscribed the whole district to another tool that was supposed to be interactive. We had a lot of problems with student work created at home that was Microsoft Office with it converting to the other program. Teachers also had problems as well. As you can imagine, it made it hard for me as the librarian and technologists at the time to help people. It was very frustrating. But, I thought I would explore at least one of the free tools. I like the word "free" if really does work. I decided to explore Google docs because I already had a google account. It worked very nicely. I created a spreadsheet and a word document using it and I had no problems. Everything seemed easy. I saved them on my account. Tomorrow is going to be the catch all. I am going to go up to school and try to open these documents and use them at school. I will print them out and see how that works. I felt like it worked nicely and I can store the documents from home on google docs and then open them at school. I still like Microsoft Office because I am so use to it. I don't want anything to go wrong with the two different programs interacting. I would think that it would be the worse disadvantage if there was a problem with the two programs interacting. It will be interesting to see and another tool that we can use.

Thing #17 - Rollyo

I loved the video that one of the Library2Play players made. It made it so much easier to understand. I wasn't sure I was going to like Rollyo but I understood his Teacher Tube video and was able to download some bookmarks, find another persons search and add it to mine, and also make my own searchroll. Here is teh link that I created for my searchroll titled Library Lessons. http://rollyo.com/tfishman/library_lessons/ It was a lot of fun. I would like to add some more of my links and make this available to the teachers. I have a lot of good information that will help students search and get through all of the yuck on the internet.

Thing # 16 - Wikis

I never knew what Wikipedia meant. I always knew that it was an encyclopedia that anyone could contribute to but now I know the underlying meaning behind it. I think Wikis could be of great help for our teachers or our students. There are many wikis that could be set up, either with curriculum or a certain topic. Students could add to the information around a project. Teachers could add to the information around a certain staff development project. I went into the sandbox project and posted a wiki entry. I was able to read some others as well. A lot of the links that were provided while working on Thing #16 were excellent. I especially like Joyce Valenza's posting. I like all of the different wikis that were set up. I liked the book lists that can be added to and changed. I also liked the wikis on podcasts. There are a lot of wikis out there for me that can help me become a better librarian and I can also contribute back to them. But, I would like to set up a wiki this year at our school, maybe try it at the Junior High level with a teacher. We could start a wiki on the Catholic Saints. It would be interesting and fun to try. It will be nice to integrate the technology that I have learned into our school little by little.

Thing # 15 - Web 2.0; Library 2.0

Good Question - What does library 2.0 mean to me or my school? I really enjoyed what Michael Stephens had to say in the article Into a New World of Librarianship. I feel that it is very important to have a user-centered library where users can access the library from school and home. I also feel that the user should be a part of the library planning. It will take collaboration from the user and the library staff to work together to continually change and plan the library to reach the needs of the user. The library should be a place that meets the continual change of people, the web, and technology. We are the providers and we should always be on the cutting edge. It is always my privilege to provide an atmosphere where the user and myself can work together. That is what library 2.0 means to me, everchanging, everserving, evercollaborating, always looking towards the future.

Thing #14 - Technorati

I am still not sure that I favor Technorati. It had a lot of information on it and some neat blogs. I just feel like there is so much to weed through. I did realize that it was easier to search by tags than to search by blogs or all of the information. I enjoyed looking through the most popular blogs and the most searched. It was interesting to see all of the different blogs. I find that Technorati could be helpful if there was a certain interest or topic that someone would be looking for. It would be a great tool for a librarian's belt to help a student or a teacher. I think that as time comes and I get to use to using it, I will find it more helpful. I have enjoyed the class and learned a lot. This one was definitely not my favorite.

Thing #13 - Delicious and Social Bookmarking

Delicious is AWESOME! I don't know how I did without it for so long. There are so many different opportunities that social bookmarking sites provide for us as educators. I feel like it does serve as a place for me to house all my bookmarks in one place so that they aren't on all different computers. But, using the tag capabilities allows us to categorize our bookmarks and use them to the best of our abilities. At my school, we have folders assigned to different themes, categories, etc. for research and curriculum enhancement. I can see how using Delicious would make this so much easier. We could have accounts set up for our classes or for research projects. It would make things much easier for students and teachers while working on activities or articles. I can't wait to continue working on my Delicious account and adding all of my favorites! Not only can teachers take advantage of these sites but librarians can too. This could allow students to look up books or book reviews. They can find books by authors that they like or themes that they like to read. There are endless possibilities especially when using the tag capabilities.

Thing #12 - Commenting

Two important parts about commenting are to get involved with the blog and be a part of the conversation and to be aware of the DC (Darth Commenter.) I always worried about what would someone think if they thought my blog or comment was silly or dumb. I think that if we all follow commenting etiquette, we wouldn't have this problem. I also like the information about getting involved and really commenting and "speaking" with the blogger. Short comments don't really mean anything. The first time I had someone comment on my blog, I was so excited. I felt like someone was really interested. I thought about her comments and how she took the time to care. I immediately wanted to check her blog which is what comments can also help us do. It will lead us to other great blogs. I have commented on five of the players with Library2Play. I went to two blogs and commented on them. The first blog was a book review blog. I commented on the book that was being posted and the review. The second was a podcast. I commented on the great podcast. I really enjoyed the interesting "comments" and "rules" that I read about commenting. It made me really want to take more time to comment on other people's blogs. And, it made me realize that blogging is only one part but that commenting is just as much needed as blogging.

Thing #11 - Library Thing

This was a neat website. Library Thing is the title. It is a way to catalog the books you have read. The thing that I like about it is the local connection to bookstores, other libraries, and events. You can also identify reviews, recommendations determined on the books you have already read. I also like the fact that you can sign up to get an advanced copy of a book and become the reviewer. I have always wanted to be a book reviewer. This is one way to become one. My link to my library catalog on Library thing is http://www.librarything.com/catalog/tfishman. I have created a widget to display some of my books. :-)

Thing #10 - Online Image Generators

I really enjoyed using the image generators. I liked using the Comic Strip Generator and Image Chef. I did not like going to happy face generators or custom sign generators. Every time I tried to make something, it either didn't work or was charging me for the sign. I am having a problem getting one of my images to download.


Made with free image tools @ TXT2PIC.com

Well, I finally got it to work. I would have a lot of fun with the image generators. Students and teachers can use them for writing, presentations, book cover projects, and many other exciting things. I can't wait to show people these sites.

Thing #9 - Explore Blogs and News Feeds

Exploring RSS feeds was interesting. There is so much out there that you aren't even aware of. Sometimes it is overwhelming. I could find myself on the computer all day using these interesting tools but then I wouldn't get my work done! There wasn't a blog searcher that I liked the most. I am so new at this that each one of them intrigued me. I liked the award blog searcher. It was nice to have the lists of winners for the different subjects that were awarded. It made it easier for me. That search site was Edublog's Award Winners. I didn't like Technorati as much because there was a lot to the site. I like things a little more simple for me. I was able to find some great feeds on library skills, book talks, and podcasts. There are some strange ones out there on the news, politics, anything under the sun. You just have to look for them. I really liked the Topix website. That allows you to search and find some great RSS feeds. This has been a fun exploration tool. I have enjoyed exploring RSS feeds. I really have a lot to learn still.

Thing #8 - RSS Feeds

I didn't even know what an RSS feed was. The intro video was very interesting as well as the article. I did set up a google reader. By far, this has been the hardest yet. It took me awhile to understand it and work through it. But now, I am excited. I already have a bunch of blogs listed on my google reader. Today, I was looking at something on the Library of Congress website and saw the RSS symbol. I was excited because I knew what it was and was ready to add it to my Google reader site. I think this allows me to have everything in one spot and will save me so much time. I also feel that the blogs/news/sites that I have listed in my Google reader will be used more because I find it easier to go to one place. I think it will be nice if I can set this up and use the Share with Friends tool so that I can share it with other librarians or teachers. It would be a great way to share curriculum. I also feel that you could use this for book reviews. I feel really smart today because I learned something new!

Thing # 7 - Google Tools

I thorougly enjoyed exploring the google tools. The two things that I explored further were the google alerts and the igoogle homepage. I set up some alerts to my email and I will see if they begin to show up. One of my alerts was dealing with health and the other alert was dealing with sports. I really enjoyed igoogle. I was able to explore the fun tools and set up my homepage. There is so much you can add and enjoy. I really enjoyed the Atomic Learning homepage. I am going to show it to our technologist to see if there is any information that can help our teachers. As an education tool, google notebook and google documents can be used. You can actually set up one of these accounts for a class. I am concerned because our school is so strict on internet use that we would have to monitor the use of these tools. Google Scholar is something I will share with our literature teachers. There is a wealth of information out there for them. I have used google advanced before but never realized you could search by file type. I was able to do that and found some great powerpoints that I could use with my classes. There is a wealth of information here to help me as a librarian and our school in technology.

Thing #6 - Mashups and 3rd Party Sites

Wow! Mashups are fun! I especially liked the Big Huge labs fun toys. I never had even heard of a mashup. I learned that it is taking a site and matching up some of its applications with applications from another site. I liked bubblr where you can take pictures from Flickr and match up bubble cartoon writing with the pictures. Students can use these as a writing activity. There are endless opportunities that students as well as teachers can use as tools. I was able to make a trading card. Students can make trading cards as their book report. Students could make movies telling about books. Students could use many of the applications in order to do multimedia projects. I think that this would be a great acitivity to share with teachers as well as the students. I could always make posters, jigsaw puzzles, etc and use as teaching tools. I look forward to using many of these mashup sites during my lessons this year.

Thing #5 - Flickr

I thoroughly enjoyed exploring Flickr. There is so much that we can use with our students and faculty. I love looking through all of the creative commons pictures. I found myself looking for relaxing and nature pictures. I used a picture of books because that is what I have been doing all summer, catching up on my reading. I can't wait to show people at school how we can use Flickr. I spent a lot of time enjoying the pictures and I know I will spend more time looking through them.

Love to Read

Thing #4 - Joining the program

I was able to get my blog registered and was accepted into the program. I am really excited to learn all of the 2.0 web technologies. I feel that I will learn a lot through Library2Play and will have a lot to share with my faculty and students in the fall.

Love to Read

Thing #3 - Creating a Blog

Wow! Creating a blog was easy. When you follow the exact steps, it isn't so hard. What I found was the more difficult part was changing the settings and the layout and figuring it all out. I think the key to your blog and blogging is to sit down and play around with it. I definitely had fun creating my avatar. I had never even heard about an avatar before. I am looking forward to using my blog and also reading some of the other blogs on this website.

Love to Read

Thing #2 - 7 1/2 Habits of a Lifelong Learner

As I was listening to 7 1/2 habits of a lifelong learner, I thought to myself that these things aren't as hard to follow if you put your mind to it. But, isn't that with anything. You have to put your mind to it, set a goal, and work towards it. I love to set goals and finish them. I would find that to be the easiest habit. I can always begin something with an end in mind. I tend to finish my goals. I won't let them drop until they are finished. Sometimes, it takes me years to finish my goals but I will do it. It all is in the fact that I made up my mind to finish my goal and and I had an end in mind. But, on the other hand, I do struggle with the challenges. That is probably the hardest habit that I have. I sometimes don't view the problems as a challange but more as a problem or something to get in the way. I do have to work harder to get in the mode of viewing problems as a challange. I think about the 7 1/2 habits of a lifelong learner and I am going to recommend this powerpoint to my principal. I am a team leader for our school and I feel like showing this at the beginning of the year to all of the teachers will be a plus for our school.

Love to Read