P.S.

I have to report that I did gain an additional item from this summer's adventure. I was able to download an audio book on Sunday that I probably would not have even tried before this adventure. I was successful in downloading and then burning a CD for my husband to listen to on the way to work. Something mess up on CD #7, but the first 6 worked fine and he came home and read the last little bit from the book. Before I would have waited for my son to come home and do it for me...except we needed the book read by Sunday and he did not come home until Thursday!!! Now we will be able to discuss it with our group and the group did not have to wait for the husband to have time to read it!!! I felt pretty successful!

Thing 23

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey? I was able to find a lot of new places to play and investigate on the web.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals? I have really stretched myself on this journey.

Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? I will use the extra parts of Google that I found...power points that have already been made, the picture locations to upload pictures and share them.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept? Some of the directions were hard for me a non technology person to follow, but kept trying.

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate? I would probably try it if it were in the summer and I would love something geared for the elementary level.

Thing 22

I enjoyed the Ning for teachers! I could spend many hours reading the various post on the sights. I look forward to going on the site several times just to touch base with other teachers!

Now onward to Thing 23!

Thing 21

I made a picture video and did all the savings that I was told to do, but it would not upload into my blog. I tried several times, but it will not work.

Thing 20

I reviewed the sights for this step and watched the videos, but I was unable to figure out how to embed a video. I am going to go the next step and will try again later.

Thing 19

Where do I begin with this post. I tried to investigate all of the Web 2.0 award winners and got very overwhelmed. I did sign up for Facebook which I had never done before. I invited my personal kids to be my friends and they responded yes. I think I may have found a former sorority sister from Texas Wesleyan and hope to hear from her shortly. (I have wondered where she was and found out her city and state if it is the same person) I looked at the food sights and think I might go back to see if there are videos that I want two watch and recipes I would like to try. The Ask sights for information might be useful when we do research, but I will be the one asking and then giving the information to the students because some of them came up with stuff that I would not like to show to my third graders. The organization sights were a little confusing to me, but might be useful as I get better at exploring. The other sights that I investigated did not apply to me right now, but who knows if I will need them later in my adventure of web using.

Things 17 & 18

I have investigated these two steps in the program. I do not think that I will use the Rollyo search engine or the Open Office websites. I was not successful with the two program.

I was a little more successful with Google Doc, but am more comfortable using the Microsoft Word program on both my home and school computers. I use a flash drive to carry the information back and forth. I may try the Google after school starts to see if I am comfortable with using it.

Thing 16

There sure was a lot of reading on this step. I think I would most likely use this as a collaborative sight for grade level information possible training with the SIS and other support staff. I will have to review the information again after I complete the course to really see what I can do with the information.

Are there any 3-5 grade teachers that could give me some ideas on how to use wikis in their classroom?

Thing 15

Library 2.0, or web 2.0 is an interesting concept. I think I am old fashion in that I love curling up with a book to read. My eyes have trouble focusing on a computer screen for very long. That said, I do think the web and all of the up to date information is better than older books that have outdated information. I was reading someone else's post and agree that teachers will need to do a good job of teaching the students on evaluationg the information for authenticity and accuracy. The teachers themselves will definitely need to be trained on how to teach this aspect of the web.

thing #14

I have gone through this "thing: twice and do not think I totally understand the process. I do not forsee that I would use Techorati.

I was reading some of the other blogs and am getting to the point that I do not feel comfortable signing up for each sight. I did not join or sign up for this one so maybe that is why I had so much trouble understanding it.

Onward to the next level.

Thing 13

This step sure can eat into your time. I kept clicking on each of the word webs to find the connections. It was a little overwhelming to start with, but I think I got the hang of it.

How could I use it in my class? I think I could use it as a research aid for doing research work. Tags could be used to help find information again for those times when the clock runs out of time for a project one day. I think I could also do some work before actual research to get sites set up for the kids to use to save time if need be.

Thing 12

On Thursday and Friday I went on the different blogs and read many from several searches that I found with the link on the Libray2Play sight. I had so much enjoyment in reading the blogs that I totally forgot to respond. I will come back later with responses and thoughts, but I am going to go on because I may face an internet outage for a while because of possible work being done in the room where the computer/modem is set up.

I do not always feel that I have something useful or interesting to add to the comment sections on this blogs, so I do not respond. I save ideas and thoughts for future use with the class, but I do not write...my problem in many areas of my life. I live with someone who is a great writer, so I feel very inferior in that realm...got to work on that!!!!

Now on the Thing 13 to see what is ahead of me on the journey.

Thing 11

I wish I had seen Library Thing last summer!!! I spend all summer making a spreadsheet of all of my "teaching" books. I set them up by subjects and how I would use them. This sight might have been easier and I won't have to always have my flashdrive with me!

For my third graders, it would be a little complicated and time consuming to have it available to them, but it could be a good resourse for finding other books to read and study. I am afraid I would spend my time reading all of the information, and never get around to reading the book or going to sleep!

Thing 10 update

I did find my work I did on this step after I was reminded by my daughter that I had emailed the samples to her to let her know what I was doing. The poster is one of the items that I found. The picture was taken by my son in Galveston


The trading card elements from this Thing could be used for the class to show what they learned from different units...landform trading cards, highlights of important people, book characters, etc.

Thing 10

I have spent two days on this item and am a little frustrated. I could not get my pictures to upload to most of the sites. I made a few and thought they saved to my hard drive, but now I cannot find them. :(

If I were to get these going I could use the Happy Face letter generator as possible labels for the bulletin boards and could use the posters as motivators in the class.

I did not have success on the comic book sections at all, I may come back to this with fresh eyes later in the summer.:( :(

Thing 9

I found the Goggle Blog and the edublog finder to be the most useful to me. The most confusing was probably the Tecnorati site. I am still trying to figure out how I would use this in class of 3rd graders.

I spent a lot of time reading posts and clicking so that I almost forgot where I was, a common problem with me with I work on the net.

Thing 8

I spent the afternoon investigating this step in the "play" and I am not sure how I would use it in my 3rd grade class. I haven't used the internet with the blogging part until I started this class, so the use if still unfamiliar to me.

I did finally figure out how to add a blog that wasn't one of the suggested blogs, so I feel like I did accomplish something today.

Thing 7

I set up a notebook page for using the advanced search option. I looked for powerpoint presentations that were made for my geography unit. I found a Jeopardy game that was already set up. I will need to review it again to make sure we cover the items on each questions! It is great! There are also some sights set up for landforms and terminolgy that would be helpful in that unit. I also looked at some PP for explorers.

The advanced search was interesting. I will take more time to figure out how I could fine tune my searchs for subjects.

Thing #6

I just finished investigating the masher and 3rd party sites. I had some trouble with apparently clicking on the incorrect button and having to find where I was before.
How could I use this in my class??? I would like to think the kids could make a mosiac of places having to do with a unit of study. Maybe they could make a trading card as a book review to save for other readers. Since we have limited computers and printers it would be hard to think about printing out the cards. This could be something I would have my early finishers work on in the computer lab. I am still thinking about how to use it in the class.

Thing #5

I have gone throught the Flicker site and cannot wait to get some pictures from my recent trip to share with my daughter in Georgia.

I did try to download a picture from the site so i will try to getthe picture into this blog now