finished

I really enjoyed getting this assignment finished. What I am going to do now is go back and spend more time reviewing the tasks. There is quite a lot of information there. I was worried about just getting finished and now that I am, I am really interested in spending time on some of the things I learned. I spent a week in San Fransisco and a week in South Bend, Indiana and have some more traveling to do (that is why I wanted to make sure I finished). Good luck to the rest of you and I will be keeping track and making comments as the summer rolls on (can't believe that June is almost over; it is true that the older you get, the faster time goes). As my picture shows, be careful of the ice; it can be slippery!

thing #23

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I enjoyed learning about the different search engines and ways to narrow you search. I can see how this will be beneficial to me in the classroom. I also enjoyed making the video cast. I can see myself using this program in the future.

2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
It made me realize just how fast and how much technology is changing and that I really do need to try and keep abreast of the latest trends.

3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I was surprised that after the initial consternation, I really did get into doing this. I would like to continue learning about the advances in technology. I found some programs that will assist me in the future and make my job just a bit easier.

4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
I really can't think of anything at the moment. Maybe not so much on web searches. I thought that kind of dragged on a bit.

5. If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
I would definitely participate. I felt the time that I put into this was well worth it.

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?
enlightening.

thing #22 nings

I am not a big fan of social networking at this time; I may become one very soon as it seems as if everyone else is doing it; my wife, daughter, family, and friends. I looked at the ning "teacher lingo" http://teacherlingo.com/blogs/default.aspx?GroupID=14 . I liked the separate catagories that it is divided into. However, I don't see very much useful information in there; blogs about the commuter train crash and Tiger Woods. I guess I am very old-school in one regards; I feel that there should be some distance between my students and me. I really don't want them to know too much about me. I feel that teachers need to keep a "professional distance". I have seen many new teachers come into the profession and try to be friends and buddies to the students and for the most part, have failed miserably. I feel we need to keep that professional image. By letting the students get too close, we lose some of that. I may join a social network one of these days, but I will be very careful about what I let the students "see" of my personal life.

thing #21 podcasts

I really enjoyed this task. I have used movie maker pro many times before and found this program (microsoft photo story) much easier to use. I enjoy this type of task. The photos that I used in this are from the Houston Chronicle. I downloaded these pictures in the weeks after the hurricane and sent them to my family and friends around the country so they could see what we were going through. I decided to use music instead of voice over because the pictures speak for themselves and are a very dramatic visually.
I wish I had this blog after the hurricane so my family and friends could see the video. The video took quite a long time to upload, but it finally did.

thing #20 you tube

I am having quite a difficult time in trying to embed a video. The directions on the Library2play web page are not very clear. YEAH ME! I FIGURED IT OUT. I choose football bloopers since I coach football. I am very familiar with YouTube and have used it in class. I like to find clips to use in literature instead of showing entire videos.
From the teacher tube I downloaded a video of the poem The Raven. This is something I will definitely use in the classroom. I feel that students understand poetry more when hearing and seeing it, especially something like Edgar Allen Poe. This task is very useful and lots of fun.

thing #19 web 2.0 awards list

The first thing that drew my attention was the sports category. I like the istat. I can see using that in a PE class/weight training class. It can be very beneficial in tracking your progress. The teamsnap is not a site for high school sports; it is more for little league. We have numerous websites, including a district site, that does the same thing. The gympost has some good videos for people who are new to training.
I was attracted to the cocktail builder site; always good to find something new and refreshing. I might try a few this afternoon, since it is summertime.
Looking through the food category, I did not find anything as good as food network .com. I still like mapquest when making travel plans. They have added a google earth feature to mapquest which makes it very cool.
All in all, I like the web page and will go back and search some of the other tools when I have more time. It is a very good resource.

thing #18; on line productivity tools

I do like some of the templates. I am always on the lookout for templates to use with my English class. I am not sure though, if i would use the word processor, spreadsheets etc. from the on line source. I am quite comfortable with office documents and all of my notes, tests etc. are already on these documents. There are many good websites out there that have many templates that I already use. I have two draw programs that I am use for coaching; drawing plays and such, so I don't think I would switch.

thing #17 rollyo

I found this a bit confusing at first but after a bit of trying, I was able to set up a rollyo account. http://rollyo.com/index.html This is the link to the rollyo that I set up. I actually had two of them; one djs and the other spartan. I am not quite sure if I did this correctly. I can see the benefits of this task, especially narrowing down topics and search engines for research papers. I am getting kind of bored with all of the search topics and am ready to start something different. I have found the previous things useful, but still am not quite sure how many of these I will use in a classroom setting with limited resources and access to computers.

thing #16; wikis

I can see using this in my English class. I could use this as one of the suggestions state about doing essays. It would be a truly collaborative effort. I could also see using it for grammar exercises; starting with a base sentence then have different students add different parts to the sentence (adjectives, adverbs, prep phrases; adjective phrases; adverb clauses; subordinate clauses etc.) I also liked the idea of collaborative note-taking. The top ten list could also be something I could use. I could use it for vocab exercises also: start with the word, then someone give the pronunciation, next the part of speech, next the etymology, then a definition and a sentence. I did post a comment in the sandbox. (I hope I did this correctly)

thing #15; web and library 2.0

As a person who went to school in the 60's and 70's, sometimes I find all this technology a bit overwhelming. The library of my youth is long since gone; a place of quiet solitude; a place where I used to go to just to get away to daydream many times instead of work; a place that smelled of dusty, moldy books and where the only words heard were "shhhhh!". Well, as Bob Dylan sang, "The times, they are a-changing" and I think for the best.
I would be doing my students a disservice if I did not use the latest technology to help them succeed. The days of doing research cards and the like are long gone. I doubt if there is a college student out there that does a research paper the way that many teachers are still teaching them (note cards etc.) I still remember carrying home arm-loads of books. Many of the "things" that we have done so far will be valuable to me in helping students do research.
To keep up with this ever-changing technology, exercises like this are extremely valuable. We need more hands on tasks such as this to help us along the way. The problem that I see is a lack of computer access and a lack of people who are knowledgeable enough to get this information across to the students. Hopefully, after being a part of library 2.0, I will be able to do this.

thing #14; explore technorati

Okay, I did the first part of the "thing" and got nothing; I typed in the suggested tag (school library etc.) and got a blank page. Looking the top searches (paris hilton, jennifer gardner, etc) I see a whole of drivel. Looking at the news section, I see a lot of "left leaning, liberal" content.
I claimed my blog and found it easy to do (however I have another name and password to remember; I don't know if I will be able to remember all these). I checked out the widgets and did not really see anything that attracted me.
I have been looking at the other players blogs and most seem to be about the same as mine. I see that some are much more techo than others. I feel that I am somewhere in the middle. I am getting better because of this exercise and learning much.
How much I will use in the classroom I haven't decided yet. One of the biggest problems that I face in the classroom is availability of computer time. I do not have student accessible computers in my classroom and have to schedule lab time to do class assignments. Many times, this is easier said than done as we have many teachers requesting to use the lab. Most of the time is filled up at least six weeks in advance. I don't know about many of you, but I do not plan six weeks in advance.

thing #13; tagging and de.licio.us

Navigating and setting up an account with del.icio.us was pretty easy. Its benefits and advantages are that information can be accessed from any computer.It is easy to organize and publish collections of bookmarks. One thing in the del.icio.us site was that once the bookmarks are imported, the bookmarks are all shared. I can use this in the classroom by referring students to certain bookmarks for research projects.

thing #12; commenting

I feel the most important thing to remember is "write a meaningful comment". Telling someone why you agree or disagree is more meaningful than just saying you do or don't. I also feel it is important to "don't be afraid to comment". Many people feel that it is "just my opinion and nobody really cares." Many people do not realize that others have the same opinion as they. I have made comments on the blogs of my fellow players for the summer. Being a coach, I was drawn to the blogs about sports. I especially liked the high school football pages. I have used this sight in the past to keep up on some of my former players. Rivals.com: High School News, Schedules and Scores - http://rivalshigh.rivals.com/ Another blog and site I like to go to is Texas High School Football and Basketball Front Page - http://hstexas.scout.com/

thing #11; librarything

I am not sure how much I would use this resource. I think it might be a bit more user friendly if you could add books by genre. I have read many books and don't remeber the author or the exact title. Every time I tried to look at the next list of books, it would not generate the list; kept telling me done but with errors on page. I am really not into book clubs or discussion groups (I guess i got enough of that in college). I really don't know if I need a list of books that I have read.

thing #10 on line image generators

One of the lines I remember from childhood. Last summer while driving through Albuquerque, I just had to pull off and take a left. I liked this task. I can see how this can be very creative in an English class; from helping writing, grammar and literature. The uses are endless. ps; the spelling in the cartoon is supposed to be phontically the way bugs said it. http://www.comicstripgenerator.com/ is the generator that I used for this frame.
I tried making the magazine covers http://www.fakemagazinecover.com/?page=1 which i thought was very cool, but had a hard time uploading a photo. I can see using this in a literature lesson.

thing #9 news feeds

I found this one to be the most confusing so far; as I navigated through the different search engines, I couldn't quite figure out how to add them to my reader list. I found some useful websites to help me in my coaching profession and some interesting sports blogs. I found topix the easiest to use and atomic learning the most confusing.

thing #8 rss feeds

I really like the rss reader; I can see where it can save a great deal of time when looking for current events. I like to keep up on my hometown sports teams and this gives me that opportunity without having to search the local newspapers and websites. I can see where this can really help in doing research papers and getting the latest information on a student's topic and also keeping abreast of the latest trends in pedagogy.
After looking numerous times, I still cannot figure out how to make the links public. It says to go to shared items, but for some reason, I can not find it. I will continue to look for it. Okay, I found it; I thought it was on this page; finally found it on the reader page; instructions were a bit difficult for me to follow.
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/02986006153071291811

Here is a link to my google reader. It took a bit of maneuvering, but I think i managed to do this thing.

thing #7 cool tools

I have used many of the google tools before. I have used google earth for a while now. I own a property on lake LBJ and I use google earth to show people where it it. I have used the search engines every year with my students to do research papers. I am still looking through many of the other aspects and think I will find others very useful.

thing #6 mashups

I like the mapr application. I could use this with novels; for example Of Mice and Men. I could have the students map out the route that Lenny and George take and have them place photos of the places along the way. I would like to use it for some of my summer vacation photos; placing them on the map as we travel.

thing #5 explore flicker

I have used photo sharing websites in class for a while now; i do searches based on the literature that we are reading in class; ie: pictures of Shakespeare; Romeo and Juliet; the American West and other images related to our course of study. The photos help my students to visualize what the writers meant.

thing #4; register your blog

Hopefully, I have registered correctly; I like to think that I am off and running and not just wasting my time. This was a fairly easy task. I think I am going to have fun with this.

thing #3 life long learning

We are all involved in life long learning. Being educators, we are constantly on the lookout for new ideas, technologies and innovations to help bring about advanced learning. Also, learning new hobbies and leisure activites as we get older are also examples of life long learning.

thing #2

I have always liked the idea of begin with the end in mind; i feel that it is important to know where you want to end up before beginning on a journey; be it an intellectual one or a literal one. I find synergy to be the most difficult; I often have a difficult time trusting others with my future or projects.
I made my avitar; they dont have mustaches so, it doesn't look like me. I like to barbque and i like the beach; so that is why i choose those.

sunday; first blog

well; let's see if this dude works. I just got back in town from California; drove to San Fransisco and back: 64 hours of driving; 3800 miles; I drove my neighbor out there to help him move some things that he has had in storage for 12 years. Drove straight to SF; parked the truck and trailer and went sight seeing (lots of frosty libations to ease the road weariness). We packed up the trailer the next day and headed back to Houston. After spending nearly three days driving through the desert, it was good to see something green.