Thing 16

I am so happy to learn more about wikis. I really enjoyed the Plain English Video . WIKI is a term I have heard so much and I certainly knew what they, but am excited to explore them more. I love the idea of using a wiki to coordinate a group instead of exchanging multiple emails. How many times have we all logged into our email to see 20 new emails...all responses to same first email!

This would be a great way to coordinate input from teachers or staff about ways to do things around school. I was reading in Vicki's blog about using a wiki to make announcements and then solicit comments from people. Wouldn't be nice to "attend" a meeting like this in the comfort of pajamas on your couch after you have had time to decompress from the day?! Though, one downside would be the human (adult) interaction that I enjoy after not seeing fellow teachers all day.

Another reason I am excited about this tool is that it seems simple enough for my first graders to use right away. With two key functions "edit" and "save," I think my kids could update a wiki about what is going on in Room 23 or different things they have learned about math or reading concepts. The hardest part would then be for them to be able to actually type the words (can be pretty tedious). I also love this tool for collaborative work for different groups to edit their ideas, but also be able to share easily with other groups. For example, from David Loertscher and Co.'s AASL Presentation (Oct. 2007), I really like the idea of each table having a different page for their ideas. It allows the tables to collaborate on what they are posting, and the other groups can easily see what the other tables have done without each table presenting. Furthermore, this allows there to be a record that all members can access long after the sessions are over.

I could also see using this to create a whole first grade WIKI for a unit of study. Each class could have a different page or link and share in learning from classroom to classroom. Because of different special areas schedules, each class doesn't often do the exact same thing at the same time, so a wiki could be an easy way for the classes to learn from each other. We study different genres of writing and we could create a wiki about personal narratives, for example, and each class could contribute to the learning. We could also share different links and opinions. Oh it will be great! Go WIKIs!!

Thing 15

Library 2.0--Oh my goodness, isn't this true!!

One job I had in graduate school was working in the library. I never would have guessed, but it was such an eye-opening experience. I learned great skills for navigating in a library, but I also saw the deficits that older library systems have (and I only finished grad school two years ago). I can remember trying to help one woman find a book she was looking for. The computer said the book was on the shelf, but we could not find it anywhere. Having worked in the library for several months, this didn't really surprise (or actually) bother me too much because books had gone missing before. This woman, however, was completely in awe that the book wasn't there. She kept asking me about it and no matter how many different ways or times I told her, she just didn't understand. Later, it sort of made me laugh, but looking back now sort of illuminates some problems with Library 1.0.

Michael Stephens writes about the Librarian 2.0 who plans based on "user needs and wants" and I think this more important than ever before. As information and resources become easier to use and access, the librarian now has to service the "customer" much more than the days of if the one library in town didn't have what you needed, too bad for the customer. He further describes this librarian as one who,"does not create policies and procedures that impede users’ access to the library" and who discusses decisions and plans in open forums and answers comments. What an important figure to guide Library 2.0. I feel lucky to work with just such a Librarian 2.0 at my school. She is open to user needs and is one of the driving forces behind many of us participating in 23 Things. Just like Stephens mentions, she realized how important Web 2.0 tools are and actively seeks how to use them in our media center and school. We are lucky that she can see toward the future!

Another point I identified with was John Reimer's (Head, UCLA Library Cataloging and Metadata Center) about adopting web features. He suggests that libraries use tools that Amazon and Google implore such as welcoming, "the submission of reviews, assignment of keywords (“tagging”), addition of scholarly commentary, and other forms of user participation." These seem like basic ways that libraries could really improve services.

My favorite quote came from Dr. Wendy Schultz article. She says, "libraries are not just collections of documents and books, they are conversations, they are convocations of people, ideas, and artifacts in dynamic exchange." What a perfect way to think about libraries of the new! Growing up and even until recently, I certainly thought of libraries as dusty collections of documents and books. These articles helped to open my eyes to the new demands of libraries, particularly school libraries.

Thing 14

Just explored Technorati. This site seems useful (of course) for navigating and keeping up with blogs and is a much needed tool. I did tag it using my new Delicious buttons and will probably come back to it a few times. However, I do have to admit, it is not one of my favorite tools that we have learned about. While simple and useful, I guess I'll have to next admit why it is not my favorite. This admission is probably breaking some sort of 23 Things rules, but I have to say the reason why it isn't my favorite is that I am not completely into reading or keeping up with many blogs (gasp, I know). There is just so much reading/news/friends/students to keep up with that blogs do not make it into my top raking important activities. I do want you to keep in mind that I like it and value it, it just isn't one thing I know I'll use a lot of.

I did register and claim my two blogs (23 Things and This Is The Stuff Adventures Are Made Of) and the widgets looked cool...particularly the news widget.

The feature of filtering by authority (any authority, a little authority, some authority, or a lot of authority) is one I will use, but I am interested to know who and how they decide that.

I am sure there would be some use for first grade children, but none is popping into my mind right away like it did for so many of the other tools. Does anyone have any thoughts on how (if) I could use this in my classroom?

Thing 13

Social Bookmarking--just one more thing 23 things has gotten me addicted to! I love this site and think it will be so helpful professionally and personally. I always want to bookmark sites because I know I will forget about them if I don't, but then I don't want to clutter my bookmark menu/toolbar on my computer. Also, the whole "how do I access my bookmarks when not using my own computer" problem is now solved.

I have installed the Delicious buttons and know they will soon be worn out (in the old sense of the word of course). I can imagine this being so helpful when using the Internet with my children. As they are so young, I never want to let them search the Internet by themselves, so I envision me screening websites and creating tags for them. Thus, my children will be able to click on my tags and safely be able to do their own research. I think this will also make sharing websites with other teachers on my team easy. We can look at each others' tags and easily find websites for certain units of study.

My only question now is, "how do I stop??"

(I guess the beauty of it is that I don't have to!)

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.