Week 6 Thing # 14

I played with Technorati today. I searched School Library Learning 2.0 using tags, the blog directory and keyword search. To find these options you had to go to advanced search. When I used the Blog Keyword search, I went to exact phrase and keyed in the phrase. I got 211 hits - all from our online learning community. With the tag search I got over 1 000 then refined the search using Boolean (" ") and got 205. The Hey Jude blog came up as well as the blogs from this tutorial. With the Blog Directory search, I got 17 hits - not sure why and really don't want to take the time to figure out why.

Would I use Technorati with students? I would if I was teaching a lesson on how to recognize authority and refining searches.

I usually find good blogs to follow by seeing who my experts are following - people Like Joyce Valenza, Doug Johnson and David Warlick. Much easier!

Week 6 Thing #13

This week I looked at del.icio.us. I have to say that I was playing with this social bookmarking tool prior to this week's exercise. I certainly see the advantages of having access to my favourites from any computer. I add to my list constantly from work or from home so it is very convenient. I have now added my account as part of my email signature so that people can see what I have book marked. I don't have any PD budget this year for my high school TL/LMSs so I am going to attempt to provide it via emails, blogs and RSS feeds. We'll see what happens.

I see this as an excellent tool for teachers and students. This certainly can be used as a pathway by teachers for students. Another use, which is far more valuable, is for students to use. I don't know how many times students bookmarked sites at school and then couldn't access them at home because the bookmarks were stored on their school accounts and inaccessible at home. This will solve the problem. Another problem that always occurs is the difficulty of students getting together for group projects. If they saved all of their sites to a group del.icio.us account, all members would have access to all of their sources. This to me is one of the most applicable tool (along with a blog account to track the research process).

Week 5 Thing# 12

I'm not sure that I like this Rollyo thing. I tried using one of the suggested sites to find a quote on learning. while I did find some legit sites, there was also a lot of ad sites that came up on the list as well.

I generally don't have a list of favourite sites that I use. I generally search the Internet for commercial reasons - clothes, furniture etc. - but that is only if I am purchasing something that I can't get at a store. This means that I am rarely in those sites so I don't think that they are classified as a special list of sites. My blogs are on on Bloglines or on my iGoogle page. I guess I could list some of my ed sites like ASCD, and IRA - most of these are on MY Favorites list. if I am doing heavy duty research, then I generally go to my databases - I generally do not search on the 'net.

Maybe I should put some of my favorites into a search roll - when I have more time!

Week 5, Thing #11

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=93fe8abcfe3ce2003e5c

I found this link when I was checking out Teachers 2.0 social net work. It's called One Woman's Wanderings with Web 2.0.

There was a couple of things that struck me with this video. The first is that Allanah K. is a 'seasoned' teacher. Secondly, it's about taking risks to try new things.

I am going to share this video with my secondary TLs to motivate them to consider working through these tutorials. I am hoping that some of the TLs will embrace this 2.0 thing and begin to collaborate and provide staff training to the teachers in their schools - that's the goal. Unfortunately, I have no funding so it will have to be on their own time.

Week 5 Thing #10

I quickly went into the Generator Blog and found the Chalkboard Generator and here's what I made. I can't believe the number of sites he had for image generation - incredible!

Here's the link:
http://www.glassgiant.com/back_to_school/

I've used greeting card generators before - my daughter was away at school in the Caribbean and snail mail took forever to get there so I used to email cards to her. The fun ones included audio.
I added a zodiac image under My Homework Creations. This one was from Image Chef. The angels image was from Comic Strip Generator.

Week 4, Thing # 's 8 & 9

Since my last post, I have been playing around with RSS feeds. I already had an iGoogle page made so I have been adding feed to that since this is the home page on my computer. I have added a number of feeds: Joyce Valenza's Never Ending Search blog, David Warlick's 2 cents blog, Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk blog and School Library Journal's Pocasts. Having these feeds on my home page is very convenient. The drawback is that titles of the blog posts are given so you have to go into the blog and read for the content - there is no clip that you can read to get a sense of the post.
That's where Bloglines come in. I set up an account and have a list of feeds that are different from those on my iGoogle homepage. These are the blogs and sites that I just want to skim through quickly. I have some books review sites, health sites, etc. I also added a few sites that were recommended in the lesson.
I can't though figure out how to share this. What I get on my screen at Bloglines doesn't look like what is posted on the lesson tips. I have been trying to add my feed list to my blog but haven't had much luck. I'll keep trying.
I quickly played with Technorati and Google Blog Search. When I need something specific, I'll spend more time there. Now I know that they exist, I'll use them when I need them.
I think that setting up a Bloglines or Google Reader account for students would be a neat way for them to keep current on info for research projects.

Week 3, Thing #7: Technology

Technology - when I look back at the beginning of my teaching career, the Commodore 64 was a new technology! Look how far we have come in 20 years! Now I can't conceive of teaching or living without technology.

What to write about?

Well I do love my digital camera - even though I really need to get better at understanding all the features. I really just like to be able to point and shoot. I also love that I can store these pictures on CDs instead of big bulky books.

I also found Skype to be a real money saver. My daughter spent 2 years in the Caribbean going to school and we used Skype to communicate. My son who lives in another city uses Skype to call us. Can you imagine the phone bills if we used the regular phones?

She also posted a weekly blog. This gave me a real insight into her experiences and it helped her connect when she was far from home , family and friends.

I find that I am beginning to take these technologies for granted; maybe taking them for granted is not what I mean, but this blog thing, Skype, etc have made communication so much easier. It is overwhelming at times because technology is advancing so quickly. I just wish things would slow down for a bit so I can take the time to really get good at using them!