Thing #13 - del.icio.us

First, I just have to say that I LOVE The Common Craft Show! It is my favorite thing and it doesn't even have a number!

Now, this one was tough for me. All of the bookmarks worth tagging in del.icio.us are bookmarked on my school computer, not at home. So...dilemma...do this at school...export the bookmarks and take them home...find sites and create a new list to play with this tool so I can move to the next thing...I won't divulge my methods but I have a small collection now.

I definitely had a hard time NOT typing a comma between tags.

If our favorite puppet afficianado had used del.icio.us way back when she started keeping bookmarks she could have saved us all a lot of time and effort. Alas, we're on our own.

I think I will use it to finally take care of the links from my old library page. I may even dump the wiki where we've been putting our links since I can't get the teachers to add to it. No need for a wiki if I'm the only one adding to it. Hmm, have to think about that. No pages, just tags. Hmm.

THWARTED AGAIN

Imagine that! All my work from last night is not visible in the district.

Thing #10 - Image Generators

I couldn't open the comic strip generator but a google search found this Photo Cube that is interesting. I plugged in the 2nd grade heroes. And below I made myself a reminder using Image Chef. I could see you could spend a lot of time PLAYing!
Myspace Photo Cube

Reminder

Thing #11 - Library Thing

Hey! Something that actually worked for me! I could sit and add my books all day but my 'to do' list is too long. I don't know if I will actually use this but I did like tagging my books with prediction, problem solving, etc. If every teacher/librarian did this with their picture books then instead of our marc subject headings you could search for inference, for example. There is a list for inference but imagine what it could be....

Yes, I know I skipped #10. You can catch it later...

Thing # 12 - Rollyo (sounds like a candy)

It took me forever to come up with a topic to use for this activity. I really have become one-dimensional but that’s a topic for another blog. So, being in the thick of 4th grade Texas History research, I finally used the Texas sites that were on our favorite page and made my searchroll. It took me a little while to figure out how I could use it since I had to personalize my search page first. Maybe that was in the directions but I’m on direction overload. Anyway, I searched only it for Alamo (the search the web choice was not selected). Then I had to pick myself up off the floor from laughing for a few minutes since the 2 hits I saw were from Alamo Rental Car. After I got back into the chair, I scrolled down and below the “paid for” results were valid results for my search. Check out the search engine for yourself! It is called Texas History.

By the way, it is now 7:57pm on Jan. 24 and I have just written this and my last 2 posts. It's dangerous to just try to jot down a thought or two and save it for editing later. Write one word and save it and that's the written time regardless of how many days it may take you to write another word.

New Leaf

I was reading in the January 2008 children’s magazine Odyssey, about Second Life, mashups, etc. It mentioned that while multitasking, which we all do out of necessity, our brains are not retaining information in the section that lets us hold on to the information. I knew this of course but I did a quick search and found a few blogs, studies and information. Even a discussion on Flickr!

This is so obviously my problem. I am constantly multitasking. There is probably not a minute of my day (or night) that I am not doing more than one thing that requires complete and unrelated attention (Watching a Web 2.0 training video and listening to my 4 year old and cooking dinner.) Learning this Web 2.0 info or even playing with it really requires doing nothing else simultaneously. You’re doing enough multitasking just playing with mashups and photo albums.

I realized that I was getting very frustrated by the technology and was not enjoying the journey so I made a resolution (it's still January!) to slow down, try to find the enjoyment factor, and just obtain the knowledge that these things are out there even if I can't make it work for me. On the plus side, I'm trying to keep up with my Google Reader though it seems to work differently each time I open it on a different computer. I am using the Google Notebook to keep info from the Google Reader that I might want to revisit when I have the time. No guarantee that the time will appear but we all have "To Read" piles. And I am eager to look at the Comic Book Creator, etc. that others have already posted about. I said my hardest habit was play!

But I will carry on, I will just allow myself not to GET IT all the time.

Thing #9

I'm feeling the limitation of online professional development. I want to TALK TO SOMEONE. I want someone to EXPLAIN things to me when I DON'T GET IT. I didn't get the shared thing. I tried but I'm not much of a sharer so the computer must sense that. I tried to share a video, it told me how to share the video from the Common Craft Show but it didn't work the way they told me to do it. Then, I couldn't get the blogger page elements to share it the way I thought I could do it. So once again, I have to come in through the backdoor or down the chimney or something. I think I am destined to be a dabbler, no proficiency. I think I am ok with that.

And then, once I've vented publicly, it seems to work! Anyway, it seemed that some of us weren't feeling the Flickr thing as much as others and I thought this presented a new reason or two. I'll try to find something different ot share and see if I can keep it working. I may need a nap first.

Things #8 and #9

I think it was 2 years ago that our fearless leader suggested Google Reader to keep up with his and other blogs. I remember dutifully getting an account and then getting stuck not understanding what to do next. Apparently I don't remember actually going forward but when I logged into it today I had several blogs in several folders with over 100 new posts waiting for me! Needless to say, I read a few and marked the rest as read and will start over. That is definitely the problem with all of the technology, there is too much to keep up with! I have to go back and deal with the shared stuff but I have a four-year old who didn't go to daycare today so I'm lucky to have gotten this far! I am excited to have gotten this far because I knew I would be able to put our 2PLay blogs in the reader and not have to click through the list like I have been doing. So now I have a folder called 23 Things. I also will make my husband set up a Google Reader. He actually has sites that he visits daily unlike me. I also have not explored the searching for blogs quickly opportunity - ah, so much technology, so little time.

Problem = Challenge

My last post ended in frustration (and a fair bit of blue language but my kid was in bed.) After taking time out to read through several 2play blogs, I returned to the scene of my frustration. I did manage to embed the slideshow as a page element but without the captions. Not what I wanted. I followed the directions for adding the link, didn't work (again). So, I eventually ignored the directions and took what looked like a perfectly good address even though it was for email and IM not for adding to your webpage. Ha, it worked. Definitely don't think it was worth the time invested. I'm going to bed.

Thing #7 (for real) - Google

I google therefore I am. I do believe that you could spend a week doing nothing but exploring Google and still not see it all. I have been to other trainings, conference sessions and looked at things that were not part of this exercise. I've been using the advanced search for a few years to pull up powerpoints on lessons that I'm working on to see what others have done or to get some background info. I'm pretty sure I learned that at the TCEA Conference which everyone should have a chance to go to someday. I set up some Google Alerts but I realize I have no life anymore because there wasn't anything I was interested in enough to really care about being alerted to it! However the emails have come in and I see what it is about. I showed my UT student husband the Google Scholar about 2 months too late but there's always this semester. I set up a public Picasa Album which I can't seem to embed even though I can read and follow directions just fine. After fighting with it for 40 minutes, I'm done. It's public, see if you can find it. It's called Evolution of a Reader.

Thing 7 -2 = 5

As I was exploring Picasa as part of Thing 7 I came across a photo of Flat Stanley in Vancouver. This made me wonder if I could search Flickr for the same. Did you know there are over 7,000 photos with Flat Stanley on Flickr? Now, if the kids can't send Flat Stanley around the world maybe they could map him using the Flickr photos (or Picasa). Ok, back to Google.

Thing #6 - MashUps and Trading Cards

It is interesting to see how much the 2.0 webbers seem to be willing to share. If you can think it (and write the program), apparently someone will let you do it. Hard to comprehend for those of us who are used to dealing with the copyright rules that limit everything. I wasn't quite as enamored of the trading cards as other players but I do see the student use and I may partake. I did create 2 which I have included here. Maybe it was a case of the hype coming first so there was no way to live up to it. Moving forward!

Thing #5

I'm not sure I understand all the rules of Flickr (or how to spell it). I get that you can upload your personal photos, and your family can see them without trying to send them through email. I read about Creative Commons and saw the different levels but still am not clear about being able to use the photos. (Maybe it just feels too much like stealing) I did enjoy looking up my hometown on the map and seeing photos taken there and I even put in an old camp name and saw a few faces from 15-20 years ago. Maybe part of my problem is that most of my photos these days are of people -my daughter, teachers and students. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with posting any of these on the web and some I don't have the right to post. Trying to look at it from an educational view - if students can take and use the photos for projects (weather, animals, etc) then there are plenty of possibilities. I think I have to look around it some more and perhaps at an earlier hour. I'm definitely a nine pm pumpkin turner these days. More to come I'm sure.

Thing #4

Ok, I've sent my email and I'm beginning to look at the other PLAY blogs. I have to admit, I like knowing who wrote them. It helps me hear their voice. I'm already jealous of those who found ways to already include a link. I must have a void in my sharing toolbox at the moment. Can't wait to PLAY with everyone. If I'm falling behind, i.e. it's Valentine's Day and this was my last post, send me an email or comment and kick me into gear (or offer to babysit!).

Thing #3

Great, now I have more logins and passwords! And they(web hosts, etc) keep thinking for me which, I must admit, makes it a little trickier to outthink them but I did manage it. Definitely viewed the registration problems I was having with yahoo for the avatar as a challenge ( I did not want to use my name) that I did overcome. The avatar thing, I must admit, escapes me as to WHY?? Ok, it's fun, but....maybe the light will dawn at a later Thing. I'm not completely new to blogging so I guess I don't have much to say there except that I do feel that I am rambling on this one! And there are no links or pictures to view. Maybe later. Guess I'll go read everyone's blogs now and see my deficiencies.

Thing #2

ME, bad habits? Nah. OK, I see a few habits that I slide on periodically but if I have to pick one that's the hardest, these days, it's play. I'm a mother of a toddler and work as a school librarian so everything is 5 minutes behind, day late, undone, unwashed, unread to, unrested. Am I seeing these problems as a challenge, NO, right now, they are problems. But, I guess I am fairly good at keeping the end in mind. I want the paycheck, my child is healthy, there are good days where things run smoothly if you ignore the rest, and tomorrow or next month will be different. The goal is to improve and not leave too much of a wake. My daughter will have to write a tell all book later to gauge the wake.

Thing #1

Life long learning. I'm tired just thinking about it. But yes, I do like and need to continue to learn. The hard part right now is learning new ways to learn. If I could just do it the way I've always done it (reading, watching others, being directly taught) maybe I wouldn't be feeling so worn out. But here it goes, online learning and beyond!