Thing 12?

Did you notice the heading was a question? I am trying one of the techniques suggested by Darren Rowse in the article about 10 Techniques to Get More Comments on Your Blog. I can't believe the thought of asking for a response from my readers never really occurred to me..though, why not? It makes total sense and I enjoy reading text that requires me to interact with it, so why wouldn't my readers? (Are there even any of you out there?) This idea also goes along with another technique of inviting comments. I think I need to employ both of these techniques more.

Another idea I thought was interesting, though I don't think I will actually use, is to be controversial. Rowse agrees that he doesn't use this one much either, and I would say that it would probably annoy me for a writer to be controversial just for controversality sake. But if they really do hold a controversial view, then I would probably be interested in reading or commenting further.

I do like the idea of commenting on comments or interacting with readers as mentioned by Rowse and on Blue Skunk. I want to do that one more.

This whole Thing has gotten me thinking about wanting to get more comments (duh, I guess that is the point), sort of like when you first join Facebook or Linkedin and you try to get as many friends/connections as you can..but then later sort of realize that quantity isn't necessarily as important as quality because you get all of those random updates on the random girl who was in your 4th language arts class but you haven't seen since.

Anyway, I am going to sign off of this post and go comment on some of my comments. Then, on some Library2play blogs! Wohoo, here I come!

Thing 11

Another great tool! This would be so useful for me to keep up with my classroom library. I love adding books to my ever-growing collection of children's books, but I always forget which ones I already have. Oh, it would also be great if I could get the children to help me review the books...helpful to me, but also great thinking for them.

I also love to keep up with books I want to read, but that list is always so big I usually forget what is on the list by the time I get around to reading something on it. Thus, I like the To Read and Wishlist sections for keeping books. The talk and group sections seem great too and I would love to look at those more fully when I am looking for books to read.

Thing 10 Continued

So I found this poetry blender on Image Chef and directly put in on my blog from their site--awesome! Thought I need to figure out how to write about it without creating a new post. I think my children would love this to enhance their poems in our poetry study.

I also enjoyed the visual poetry tool. Another great way for my children to share their poetry.

I just can't stop. Cereal is my favorite food and I couldn't resist making this cereal box.

ImageChef.com Poetry Blender

Thing 10

I could spend hours doing this! All of these tools are great!

I created this cartoon on Comic Strip Generator found at http://www.txt2pic.com/toons/1.htm. The possibilities seem endless and I can't wait to share this tool with friends!


I tried to use the fake magazine cover maker, but I got an error message several times. I'll have to try that again later,because that could be really fun.

I enjoyed this one (http://www.fototrix.com/framer/)
where you could put frames around a picture. There were tons of great frames to chose from.

Image Chef I think is my favorite. I was reading Marty's blog and saw her word mosaic and had to create one of my own. So far, I think this will be the most useful tool for my children to use.

I also noticed a comment from Vicki on Marty's blog on Thing #10 about creating trading cards for a field trip to Austin, in particular for art in the Blanton. What a great idea! I could see using this tool for creating trading cards for art that we visit on our field trip to museums in Ft. Worth.

I certainly see many ways to use the image generating/altering tools, professionally, but also personally. I think, considering the age I teach, that it might be more useful for me to create images...but depending on the group, as the year goes on, I think the children could have some great fun with certain tools. We study poetry and the children particularly enjoy the shape poems, so this word mosaic could be great for that.

Thing 9

I can't believe there are so many blogs out there. This was a little overwhelming searching through all of these different sites and search tools and feeds.

Which search tool was easiest?
I did like how Bloglines had one search box as the only thing that came up on the search page. Seems nice and simple. I was also a fan of the Google Blog Search. Maybe I am getting a little biased toward Google because I love all of their cool tools. I liked how this search had an obvious place to type in your search, but it also had top news stories clearly displayed and simple tabs to find more top stories.

Which was more confusing?
I found Syndic8.com more confusing and the more simple look of the site didn't help. Though I did find the 10 random headlines section fun.

What kind of useful feeds did you find in your travels? Or unusual ones?
Edublogs' award winners was useful because it condensed good education blogs. I added the Lifetime achievement winner David Warlick's blog to my feeds. Also, I am excited to know what the feed icon is now. I have a feeling I will subscribe to many feeds in the upcoming weeks!

Thing 8

Technology really can make your life more simple! As I said in an earlier post, I have trouble keeping up with all my news and new found blogs and don't often take as much time as I should to check each one. Thus, Google Reader is great! How have I never done this before!

When Vicki would talk about RSS feeds, I would kind of nod my head as I mostly understood what they were, but now I am addicted. I added my grad school site to keep up with news there and I put my dad's dispute resolution blog on there. It also makes keeping up with my friend's blogs so convenient!

Thing 7

I think my life has now been changed by cool Google tools! I am so excited about the Google Alerts, I can't wait to receive my first alert! I tested it out be receiving alerts about The University of Georgia football (seeing as fall is quickly approaching) and autism research. I may have to go back and manage my alerts once I start receiving them.

I also enjoyed the iGoogle home page. I am not as good about checking news, weather, email...etc as I should be, so this is really convenient to have everything in one place. I even put Spanish word of the day and places to see on there to keep me culturally up to date as well. Also, changing the theme to my home page was fun. I put it on earthscapes so I can feel that I am outside even when I am sitting in front of the computer.

Google calendar seemed quite convenient. My family and I always have trouble matching up our calendars and knowing when people are going to be where, so this would be great to keep us all on the same page...ha, ha didn't even mean to make that pun.

And love Google Scholar! Since leaving grad school and not having the free access to the databases available there, I have been needing to find other ways to get scholarly articles. This is so exciting! I know I will use this site to keep up with recent articles.

Oh wow, too many good things to write about because I love the Google Advance Search too! I can spend many hours searching for something on Google, and this will certainly help to narrow it down. I love that you can search for Powerpoint presentations, PDFs, Excel or Word documents only...I have just created a folder on my Bookmarks Toolbar will all the Cool Google Tools. Wohoo!

Thing 6

I really enjoyed the Mosaic Maker on Big Huge Labs. I have been working with a lot of pictures I took in Peru, and it was so fun to put them all together into one big piece. I like to take pictures (when I can) in my classroom and share with the parents. This would be great for putting together all of the pictures from one event.
I also really enjoyed the trading card maker. I could see my kids using this to create a trading card for a character from a book they read or maybe they could use it to make one about themselves to help everyone get to know them. Here is one I created quickly for myself...let's call it my rookie card...better collect this one...could be worth millions someday!

Thing 5

I enjoyed exploring the Flickr site. I found it a little difficult to find useful things in The Commons, but was interested to look through the pictures. As a first grade teacher, I teach a lot about reading. Thus, I searched reading and found this picture from the 1910s. It is a library assistant telling a story to a group of Russian children in their native language. It could be interesting to show my kids pictures like this, but I guess I am still a little unclear on how Flicker Commons would be best used.

While copyright issues apply, I found it much more useful to search Everyone's Uploads.

But actually, I just figured out that there is a The Commons and a Creative Commons. Useful learning in itself. Thus, I just went back and searched Creative Commons and found this much more useful. We studied Australia this past spring and I found it helpful to show the children pictures of animals that lived there. I could see using Flickr to help toward this end next year.

Thing 4

I have just emailed one of the kickball captains to hopefully get my blog registered. I can't wait to officially become a player on the roster.

Thing 3

Wow, this is so exciting! I had so much fun creating my avatar and learning how to use it and put it into my blog. I feel so proud of myself for accomplishing this step as this was my first piece of new learning. I have another blog from my adventures in Peru this summer; thus, I was already familiar with Blogger and how to use it. But creating an avatar was new for me! I couldn't believe all of the options for the avatars--so many outfits, accessories, extras and on and on.

After much time browsing, I picked a swimsuit because it is so hot right now in Texas and I love going swimming. I liked the duck floatie my avatar is wearing because I love ducks and I thought it would be nice to relax with a float. I am carry the stereo because I love listening to my music. There is a recycling bin behind me because everyone that knows me knows I try to be as green as I can. My sister's yellow lab, Birdie, is sitting beside me. I am enjoying the beach at Christmas time because that is my favorite holiday and I love going to the beach.

I feel excited about my new learning and I am eager to see what is next!

Thing 2

I think it is sort of funny that you have to write a post on your personal blog about life long learning (Thing 2) before you even create it (Thing 3).

I definitely consider myself a life-long learner and I think life would be awfully boring if I weren't. I feel confident that I already do most of the 7 & 1/2 Habits and am happy about that.

One of the easiest habits for me is to accept responsibility for my own learning because I feel that I am always pushing myself to learn new things and I accept offers from others to enhance my learning (like agreeing to participate in this course). Another habit that I think is easy for me is number 7 &1/2-Play. I try to see the fun in every situation, not take myself too seriously, and make the best out of circumstance.

One of the hardest habits for me is to view problems as challenges. I often view problems as plain obstacles as opposed to learning opportunities. I hope to get better at this.

Thing 1

I know Thing 1 is reading the blog and other info to find out about the program, but I was so excited to create this blog I couldn't resist.