Thing #23-In Summary

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

I liked on line image maker, teacher tube and the Awards List.
2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?

I never knew there were so many resources out there and so convenient.
3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

Having so many people and sources available so quickly and easily.
4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

I loved all of the instructions and they were definitely needed. I thought the program was great, just maybe putting the steps in a bulleted format would make it easier to read.

5. If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?

Yes!
6. How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities?

Truly amazing. It has made me feel that I can do things on the computer I never thought I could.
7. Now go and comment on some of the other Players' blogs?

I loved trying to figure out who the person is by reading their blog.

Thing #22-Nings

http://teacherlingo.com/Just when I thought I could not find anything on blogging that was more fun then what I had already found, I did. Nings-Teacher Group is great. It is like having your own facebook of teacher friends. To have a group of people that you can talk to that have similar issues or to be able to help others in the same profession from all over is great.

I remember my Education Professor telling me to always go "cherry picking" with other teachers. Go get ideas and give ideas to other teachers in your area. This allows you to do that with your computer. The first one I read was from a teacher who was worried about teaching on a block schedule next year. We have been on a block schedule for years and I love it. To be able to connect with others to talk about your concerns is great.

Once year we meet with other teachers within our district that teach the same subject as we do. I love this time to be able to share ideas, joys and concerns. Nings has just expanded that same idea so much further. For new teachers that have questions or concerns, what a great thing for them to have access to.

I love it!

Thing #21-Podcast

Here goes......

Thing #20-Teacher Tube

I love You Tube and now to discover Teacher Tube. It looks like libraries and classrooms could really use this for demonstration.

I searched for Accounting. I teach Accounting I and II and found some good video clips to show on the basic debit/credit concepts. I am going to try to import the video clip and hopefully it will be successful.

What a great resource!

Thing #19-Web 2.0 Awards List

Wow! I never knew that was available. I looked at cooking and watched some videos on great recipes. I also went to travel and did not know some of websites were available. I usually go to expedia, but it was not number one on the Award's List. I will share this site with family and friends. The next time I go shopping, I will be checking out the Award's List. I liked this site.

Thing #18-On Line Productivity Tools

It is great to have these free options available. I really like the Multilingual Office Suite for language translations. I still think Microsoft Office is so universal and with it's availability in schools and offices, it is just more practical to use that. I don't know how willing people would be to switch to other programs, but as I mentioned it is nice to have those free options available. Even with Microsoft updating every few years, you still have the basic idea of how it works and can usually adjust fairly easily. For now....I will still be using Microsoft Office.

Thing #17-Rollyo

When I first read Rollyo, it reminded me of how we get updates on our email. Updates from Continental or Southwest Airlines about the special deals they are having or from stores with upcoming sales.

On Rollyo, I put in Texas Festivals. My husband and I are members of the Classic Thunderbirds of Houston. We travel on weekends when we aren't going to see our children at their activities. I think being notified of upcoming festivals might be great to get the T-Birds on the road for some Fun, Fun, Fun! Hopefully I did everything ok, so I can be notified of upcoming Texas Festivals.

Thing #16-Wikis

Wow! I love those demonstration videos. They make me smile. Wikis is a great idea. I have this feeling it may be coming soon on cell phones for kids to use. =) I thought about two ways to use them.

One is with the Academy of Finance teachers trying to plan their annual trip to NY. Instead emailing back and forth they could use Wikis.

The other way is to coordinate our teams for Business Professionals of America. Teams have projects to work on and supplies they need. It would be so nice to have Wikis to coordinate this.

What a great idea!

Thing #15--The Library

The video on Library2Play for this Thing was very powerful. All through my elementary, middle and high school years, I did not like going to the Library. I enjoyed getting to go check out the books to read, but I was and still am not a big reader. I do think it is very important that our Libraries stay up to date with technology and that students are knowledgeable on how to use the technology and resources. I hope that libraries especially at the highschools have enough funding to stay current with the technology that is needed, but under no circumstance should it take away from having students read a good book.
Now that I am older, I have been reading more and do enjoy it. At the school where I have taught for 28 years, I have seen our library change. More technology has come in, but what I find so very exciting is the fact that when I walk by the library every morning heading to my classroom, there are several students waiting outside the library to go in. That to me is such an amazing thing to see. Instead of students being fearful or not interested in going to the libary, they are actually enjoying it. The libary should be an open, interesting and exciting place to go. It should be current and up to date so students want to use it. Get off the cell phones, face book, etc. and do research on the computer or dive into a good book. I have seen first hand how if you make it available, they will come!

Thing #14

Technorati is great! I love having this option for searching. I first searched for Accounting, since that is what I teach. Lots of interesting blogging. I read one about the collapse of Enron and comparing to today's real estate loans from the government. I thought is was very interesting. I then searched for Scrapbooking. I found lots of people who are sharing their ideas and layouts.

I think so many people use Yahoo or Google, and it made me wonder how many people know about Technorati. I enjoyed playing around with it and think I will enjoy using it to research Accounting news for my classes. I loved looking at the scrapbooking and seeing others that have the same interests that I do.

Thing #13-Del.icio.us

I am still not sure about tagging all together, but can see the importance of it. Students can definitely use this for research purposes. I think I would be able to use this in my upper level Accounting Class so the students can keep track of changes in the business world, specifically to the 4 big Accounting firms. Keeping track of stocks might be too big of a tag to keep track of, buy it might be worth a try. I am still a little vague on this, but will keep trying.

Thing #12

• Commenting on blogs I found interesting. When searching through blogs on Library2play, I was very fascinated by what everyone had done. I also found it very interesting to try to figure out who the blogger was.


• I did a google search on scrapbooking and found some interesting sights. I found some great ideas and have been sharing ideas with others.


• I think it is very important to be very positive and give suggestions as well.


• I enjoyed searching and finding blogs of other people that have the same interest in scrapbooking. I even found one with a contest on the best page layout. Cool!

Thing #11-My Library

I will be the first to tell I am not a big reader at all. But the books I do "get into" must be non Fiction. I love true stories. I like Mystery, Crime and then I always enjoy feel good books. I thought it was truly amazing that I could put a list of books I read in the Library Reader and be connected to other people who had read the same book. The first person I clicked on is in the Phillippians. I was truly amazed. I loved being able to see what other books were out there that people had read that had similar taste in books.

The Cru

ImageChef.com Flower Text

Thing #10

Wow! I liked this "Thing" that we did. Generating your own image was great. I went to smiley face sign generator to create this sign. http://www.happyfacegenerator.com/ This is what I like best "play". It was fun. The second image is a picture of our '56 Thunderbird. I used the program http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/jigsaw.php. Ok! This is too much fun! So far this is my favorite thing we have done. I love things that will capture the student's attention. I think it is great to be able use this in the classroom and show the students how to use them.

Thing #9

I find all of them fairly easy to get around on. I got the image to your right from Bloglines. Google Search Blog was easy also. I have always been a "Yahoo Searcher", but I am starting to like Google searches. Topix was ok not really a like or dislike for it. Technorati was good, but lots of information thrown at you. When I searched for Scrapbooking, however, it took me to video clips from UTube about scrapbooking. That was neat. I have found students are big on searching google for things, I'm not sure they would use Technorati, unless they were directed specifically to go there and it is a little overwhelming at first--lots of infomation to read through.

Thing #8--RSS

1. I found sites and put them on my google account. It is really great to have access to the news you want. I did the "fun" and "sports" catagories. I found it extremely fascinating to be able to link to so many sources, but then narrow it down to just the ones you want.
2. I think I could use this in my classroom, because I teach Business classes and we could keep up to date on current businesses, stocks, mergers, etc.
3. Libraries could use this alot when students are assigned a specific topic to research and the library could help narrow the information for the students to exactly what they want and need.

Thing #7--2 of 2--Google Alerts

I found the google alerts interesting and we will see if it works. I asked to be notified of scrapbooking parties. It will be neat to see what is out there. After I google it though, I am nervous now that I might have gotten into something I don't want a huge amount of emails over. We will see and deal with it then. I probably should have tried another google search. Oh well.

Thing #7--1 of 2--Googling Good!

Google Scholar--I liked the google calendar, but already have my organizer pretty organized. I may try it again. I played with the google scholar and found three books of interest for scrapbooking.

Thing # 6-Heaven

Wow! Wow! Wow! I just got through making a trading card and it worked. I am actually enjoying this! I hope it continues to go this well. I got a picture of Switzerland and added icons and text. It brought back wonderful memories.

Thing #5--Flickr

I went to Flickr and found of picture of Paris. That is really neat that you can share other pictures. I enjoyed looking through them to find one I really liked.

Thing #4

My blog is up and working and I have an aviator and I have even imported a picture. As usual I have the "play" thing down. It is kind of growing on me.

Thing #3

Well!! I created my blog! It is pretty cool. I picked the maroon background because I am an Aggie! I am officially a player!

Thing #2

I made it through the first two steps! Yea! Out of the 7 1/2 steps, I think the easiest is Play, and the hardest for me is view problems as challenges. I usually get frustrated and throw in the towel. Not this time though! =)

Thing #1

What have I gotten myself into? It looks tricky but fun! I'll hang in there.

Module #1

I took a trip with my daughter to Europe and would like to scrapbook the entire two and a half weeks. Only problem--1500 pictures.