004.09 Did You Know 4.0: Stats about Our Current World

Ok, it is time to be reminded that what we have been doing in the 2.o world is NOT being done in isloation...we are playing and learning and testing and learning and practicing and learning the very things that more and more of the world is doing every day as a part of its normal, everyday world.

Is it a perfect world? No. Is it a totally safe way to do the business of everyday life? No. But neither is the other world!

It will take you a little more than 3 minutes to catch up with the latest and be reminded that it is ok to move forward and think differently, communicate differently, react differently, and most importantly in our little education corner of the world, learn differently!

Enjoy the current update of the wildly popular Shift Happens.

P.S. I'm intrigued by the method used in creating the text strips and some of the graphics. Pretty cool and worth the time as well!

In case the embedded video is blocked in district, here is the link. You should be able to see it through teacher sign-on of your computer.

025.04 Google: A Celebration

Happy 9th birthday to Google...can you believe it!

From the site:
Google opened its doors in September 1998. The exact date when we celebrate our birthday has moved around over the years, depending on when people feel like having cake.

I really don't remember BG (before Google!) I have certainly taken advantage of much of its growth and development. Here's the timeline from the site itself!

P.S. Don't you just love the clever artwork each and every time on special dates? I would love to know those creative people...bet they are fun!

371.33 Blogging Class: What We Learned

We are having a great time talking about blogs. We reviewed some vocabulary and some history of blogs and then we dissected the "parts" of a blog. The group is made up of Librarians and Friends of Libraries of SBISD.

Now we are investigating different types of blogs to see what they have in common and how they are different. It is a noisy activity, but they are having a great time looking and learning!The PPT that introduced the subject is available here. Some participants search thru blog rolls on sample blogs for blogs to review and some decided to track down "new" blogs by searching the WWW.

All agreed that the blogs are all as different as the people who create them. Personal taste and personal needs are reflected in the posts and in the blog rolls and other link lists that appear on the side bar!

Some of the blogs reviewed include:

A Library By Any Other Name & its mirror site

Librarian Philospher thought-provoking topics on librarianship 2.0

Book Book Book Title says it all! bunches and bunches

The Fidra Blog Edinburgh, Scotland book seller, reviewer, book lover!

Charlotte's Library archaeologist, Friend of her public library and a book lover

Blue Skunk Blog long-time, well-established blog + LOTS more!! website

TechBlog Dwight Silverman, Houston Chronicle

New Scientist blog for magazine of same name

Super Students Blog classroom blog, more by other students

4K Class Blog very clean format

Toolmonger all about power tools!

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Other blogs covered in the class discussion:

Just One More Book podcasts galore!

Room 9 Nelson Central class blog 6-7 yr. olds from New Zeland. Ccheck out their video about blogging.
A Chair, A Fireplace & Tea Cozy graphic novels list noted, but there is o-so-much more!

Cool Cat Teacher super blogger (when does she sleep?)

We talked a little about RSS and readers like Google Reader and the types of things that you could use one for--groups of blogs, web pages, news sources...anything that you want to keep up-dated on.

We also reviewed how a blog gets started, looked at some basic information to think about when creating a blog and briefly looked at the two services, Blogger & edublogs that are open in our district.

The afternoon flew by and we had to leave some topics on the table for another time.

027.8 Librarian - Teacher Collaboration: Learning & Doing Together

Last week a group of librarians and teachers spent an intense week collaborating over lessons and infusing them with various types of educational technology. Elementary and secondary teams came together for a whirlwind tour of technologies, Web 2.0 services, and other online resources.

Beginners and advanced alike all learned something new to make lessons more student-centered and real-world relevant while using technology to make the delivery of instruction more inviting and the culminating activities different learning experiences for their students.

Subjects included Greek mythology, food groups and good eating habits, the water cycle, career exploration, famous Americans and their contributions, and good behavior habits. One way the group made sure the lessons were student-centered and true collaborations between librarian and teacher was to deconstruct the lesson by making lists of teacher, librarian and student responsibilities.

Everyone had opportunity to learn PowerPoint tips and tricks, how to create a Photo Story, how to work with videostreaming, how manipulate photos, how to add music, and create podcasts. A special presentation was made about the ActivBoard and all the great teaching and learning tools available with that special technology. There was lots of looking for the sign-up list to get one! The group learned how to create a rubric using Rubistar, an open source software available to all who want to use it.

Lots of work time was built into the week so that each team could present a good representation of their lesson to the whole group. Even during this time, there were exchanges of ideas and expressions of "O, I can do that too with mine" or " Gee, I can add that to my lesson." So much so, that the "final" lessons will not be posted for about another week so that all the good ideas can be incorporated and added.

Comments from participants include:
"...long set of ahas as we learned all these wonderful tools."
"Don't be scared or intimidated. You will have lots of help & learn way more than you expect."
"If [I] can learn this, anyone can!!"
"Wow! How much fun is my class going to have dazzling our school with our technology pwoness!"

"I really had to use problem-solving skils to make my powerpoint do what I wanted it to do. The normal rules just didn't apply..."

"Using hidden text releases a big headache because I can create a key and "hide" the answers."

"Flash drives are my new best friend." One participant, my friend G, also blogged her thoughts.

006.7 Blogging: The Value of Using It with Kids

"...and a little child shall lead them."



How much more convincing do you need?
Here's the blog itself.

These children are 6 & 7 yr olds. I think they got it.
I'm glad their teacher got it for them.
And their administration must get it too!

Of course, I AM preaching to the choir...or you wouldn't be reading this!

371.22 Educational Technology: Videostreaming Resources

Hopefully, your school district has access to educational videostreaming products such as Unitedstreaming and Power Media Plus. They are subscription services, require passwords to access, and are worth e-v-e-r-y p-e-n-n-y your administration pays for their use!

However, there are other sources for videos that can be used quite successfully in the school setting with proper planning and attention by teachers and librarians. Probably, the best know of these is the video sharing site YouTube which has been discussed in this blog earlier this year. Individuals can create videos and upload them for all to see. There are many, many, many appropriate videos for school use...BUT... my and many other school districts block this resource.

So, as with many things technological, someone came up with a "work around"-- in this case, a site called TeacherTube, a video sharing site devoted to videos create for and quite often by students and their educational needs. It too has previously been discussed in this blog. Great stuff...you NEED to take a look. And that is possible at school! What a pleasant surprise!

There are the traditional news services such as CNN, MSNBC, ABCNews, Fox News and USAToday along with other educational and institutional sites that provide current events, science, social studies and other educationally appropriate video resources. But it would a lot of work to check all of these sources and the dozens of others available on a regular basis.

Hurray! To the rescue comes Blinkx... a video (and audio) search engine. You can put in your search term and get a list of videos from over 130 sources. You can then select the appropriate ones for your needs and can usually play them without additional software or other technology.

Often, because these videos come from reputable sources, they are not blocked. However, it is possible that the Blinkx site might be blocked, but you could locate the video from home, capture the address, and then be able to see the video from within the school district.

A word to the wise. Be sure you check these videos out before turning them over to students. They are not exclusively educationally appropriate items. Some are user created and uploaded to services such as MySpace, but the Blinkx crawler will find them.

Have a look at all of these..either at school or at home. You will be pleased, I think!

780.622 Royalty-Free Music Files

In rummaging around for other things, as is my usual style, I found this site for royalty-free music clips that you can use in you PowerPoints, etc.

The author of most of these music files also has a blog and among the postings, he will have new music files and give a little background on why he wrote the music or will talk a little what project prompted its creation.

Seems like quite an eclectic, interesting, talented guy. His site is called Incompetech and the tag line is "Ugly website. Brilliant content." Sounds vaguely familiar to the many descriptions often associated with another one of my very favorite websites! His humorous dig at himself already wins points with me. I have emailed him to say so and I will be interested in his response. I'll fill you in later.

And if you want to use these music files for you PowerPoint, here is what I did to accomplish that feat. Others may have a different journey for you to take.

After you have selected the music you want, right click on this Mp3 symbol and "Save As" to your desktop. Then go to you PPT and go to Insert Movies & Sounds on the first slide.

If you want the music to play throughout the slide show, you have a few things to do in the Slide Show, Custom Animation set up.

1. Be sure the speaker image is highlighted.
2. Go to the Slide Show menu.
3. Click on “Custom Animation."
4. Under the Multimedia tab, check “Play Using Animation Order.”
5. Select “Continue Slide Show” and put the number of slides you want to play thru in the box.
6. Also under the Multimedia tab, click “More Options.”
7. Check “Loop until stopped.”

Be sure the music file is in your PPT folder (you did make a folder before starting to create your PPT, didn't you?) and........... save, save, save!

006.7 Blogging: Basic Information Sources

In hunting around for some other information, I came across this basic blogging information from Technorati. Unfortunately, most of the people in my sphere of influence will not be able to see the information from the site...because it is blocked! So I will pull some of the points to ponder and include them here and then readers can check out the whole page of information at another time and place.

Point of clarity: Blog and weblog are interchangeable terms.

The difference between a web site and a blog:
"A weblog is a website that is updated frequently, most often displaying its material in journal-like chronological dated entries or posts. Most blogs allow readers to post comments..."

Common misconception about blogs:
"The main misconception about blogs is that they are only personal diaries...Blog topics include political commentary, product reviews, scientific endeavors, and any area of information where people have a deep expertise and a desire to express it. "

Why blogs are important:
"...Instead of primarily being passive consumers of information, more and more Internet users are becoming active participants. Weblogs allow everyone to have a voice."

Also included is information about blogrolls, RSS feeds and readers, relationship between blogs and journalism, and linking.

P.S. What is Technorati? The largest search engine for blogs!

And if you do want to read lots of background information about blogs that is available to all readers (at least I hope it is!) go to Wikipedia.

006.7 Blogging & Podcasting: They Practice What They Preach

Sub-title: For Aspiring New Media Titans.

An old format to share news and information about new formats. This magazine has been out a month. You can receive it in one of 3 ways...a printed edition for a subscription fee or a digital or podcast edition for free!

Several useful articles for upcoming trainings...and some more information for the "Why Blog" virtual (as opposed to vertical) file folder:
Blogging is Just Kid's Stuff by Shel Isreal; Basic Podcasts Setups and Formats; Where Do We Go from Here?

The cover article is about Robert Scoble who left Microsoft in 2006 to work with Podtech Network. Interesting reading. And yes, there are advertisements, some with sound!

Might be fun to follow this new resource.

371.22 Good YA Books Workshop: Social Networking in Action

We have spent a wonderful day talking about books and the web!
The participants say:
"fantastic!"
"one of the best..."
"I am excited about learning how to blog"
"I want to try podcasting"
"Playaways!"
"I learned a whole new language...digital immigrants who can speak [Web 2.]!! "
"I learned that we need to get our district to let our students do some social networking...AT SCHOOL."
***************************
I spent the day with 15 teachers, librarians, and a library assistant (yes!) talking about YA Books in the Web 2.0 setting. We talked about some great books, some fun books, some reference books...that meet the needs on YAs on many levels!
To assist them in promoting and using these books we looked at websites from publishers and educational entities, we looked at author sites and blogs, we looked at blogs for books and FOR kids! We looked at kids' writing online!

We dealt with the typical issues that are attached to YA books and adult books read by YAs. There are no easy answers, but we all agreed that all the books presented or mentioned had value and purpose, despite what objections may be raised. We looked at ways of preventing controversy and still benefitting from the essence of the books.

We took a few minutes to look behind the scenes of a blog and did a quick post (the comments above were shouted out and typed and posted within 5 minutes.)

Perhaps, the most poignant (and even saddest) moments of the day were spent discussing HOW important all of this IS to and for the kids...and how much work we all have ahead of us in convincing the adults who lead and direct us, or even work beside us, of all this social networking, whether it is about books, math problems, current events, or life in general.

We shared, we networked, we bonded. And we laughed...a lot!

004.6 Social Networking: A Nice Evening at WAIS

Have enjoyed the evening talking about Web 2.0 with parents from WAIS. We talked about blogs, wikis, podcasting, mash-ups, social networks like MySpace and FaceBook. It was fun talking about being digital immigrants who point and having digital native children who use thumbs! See the PowerPoint here.

Thanks to all who participated! Special thanks to KL who fought with the technology and did not let it beat her!

371.33 Library 2.0 Instruction Part 2

I'm a little slow this second go-round. I thought the first half went fast...that was "amateur" hour compared to the lightspeed the second presenter Gary Wan used in presenting all of his very technical information. He showed us many of the behind-the-scenes things about all of the topics Michelle presented in the morning.

Some of the things he covered included:
It is Ajax that makes the movement in the Google maps so seamless. You don't have to wait for pages to refresh.
In explaining about mashups and APIs (application program interface), Gary give us the example of http://bookjetty.com/ where the catalog and amazon.com have mashed together to give users combined information. http://programmableweb.com has a big list of mashps and APIs.
A Microformat example called h-card looks very interesting! It is the 2.0 version of a business card.

This is diagram on mashups that he showed that really helped me to better understand what they are.

There is so much more to share. I will have to do one more post of a more reflective nature of all this good stuff. I really appreciated all their efforts today! Once again, Michelle Boule's and Gary Wan's 2.0 wiki is here.

P.S. I heard back from a couple of Librarians on the homefront when I sent the morning post...they were so glad I was learning and enjoying it so much...BUT...they couldn't see the info...because.......(drum roll please)....... it was blocked! ( sigh)

371.33 Library 2.0 Instruction

Can you say information overload?...in a good way!

I am attending the Library Instruction 2.0 Free Online tools for Teaching With Technology preconference at TLA currently. Michelle Boule has taken us thru a great outline of the many tools available to all of us as individuals, but more importantly as teachers. She has shown so many ways to use blogs, wikis, RSS, etc., etc! good examples of use and great analogies to try and explain what this things are!

Michelle ( and her presentation partner Gary Wan who speaks in the afternoon) used a wiki for their presentation. Michelle showed us the tag cloud that she created for the vocabulary she would be discussing.

One of the most interesting and new things to me was all of her discussion about MUVEs and MMORPGs ...do you know what these are? Have you read or seen anything about 2nd Life?

P2P...peer to peer...sharing files from one computer to another. The students do this all the time. There are networks for this. Good discussions for copyright, etc. ...all the ethics that are involved. She has done a good job of discussing the pitfalls of all this technology as well as the good!

We are getting ready for lunch and I will try to add some more hot ideas from this presentation during our break. So stay tuned!

371.33 School Librarians Who Blog: The Whys and Wherefores

A recent issue of American Libraries, the ALA magazine, included an article on librarians who blog. Problem was...they did not include school librarians. So Doug Johnson of Blue Skunk was among the school librarian bloggers who brought this to the magazine's immediate attention!
Results...there will be an article about school librarians who blog in the May issue.

Several of the bloggers who were interviewed for the article have been posting their answers to the questions. They want to be sure the "whole" sense of their answers are made public.

If you still are not sure about the value of blogging and how some bloggers use the technology to benefit their students, here is a partial list of the bloggers who have posted their answers to the American Libraries questions:
Doug Johnson at Blue Skunk
Christopher Harris at Infomacy
Joyce Valenza's NeverEndingSearch
California Dreamin' by Rob Darrow
Alice (Yucht) in Infoland (her page may load with lots of blank space?--scroll down)
From the Inside Out by Sara Johns Kelly (ALA president-elect!)
Gargoyles Loose in the Library
Carolyn Foote at Not So Distant Future
I will add any others who post their answers to the magazine questions if I come across them.

371.22 Educational Technology: TeacherTube

Been worried about using YouTube videos with your students?

Give this site a look. These are videos that have been done for using with students. I saw some interesting lessons for math on my first pass thru. I will be going back.

I sure hope you can see this from your venue!

004.678 Social Networking: Students Speak Out

Straight from the horse's mouth!

Student Opinions for Using Social Networking from 9th & 10th grade students at Westwood School, a college prep private school in Georgia. Students discuss MySpace but many of their statements can be applied to any of the social networks. They use it to connect with friends. Some of them don't use it. All of them recognize there are problems with it and know that it is important they use it carefully.

Outta the mouths of babes...I just hope WE are listening!

025.5 Wiki Information Educators

For Teachers (Librarians) New to Wikis

371.33 Student Podcast Projects and Blogging Ideas

Here's another teacher's podcasting project with her students. The students do prepared readings from books called the Literary Salon. There is a link to student samples included in the project.

She also includes several other posts about using blogs with her 4th grade students. She includes things to consider and why to use blogs with kids. She also discusses her class' blog project about Sierra Leone. She also posted about several other teachers, both elementary and secondary, who are also doing bloggng with students.

I know I will be returning here often to see how it's going. I do hope you can see these examples from your vantage point!

004.678 Social Networks: A Rating And A Review...of Sorts

Found this chart of social networks at Common Ground and showed it to Daughter #2 who is home on her last Spring Break as a student. She did guess that either MySpace or Facebook would be tops. She and I both were amazed that MySpace holds almost 81% of the market share!

She has been on #5 Xanga for four years and did not even recognize the names of #3 and #4. Of the 20 social networks listed, she only had visited MySpace, Facebook, Live Journal and had heard of Yahoo360 and Friendster.

I had gone to Classmates (and even signed in years ago (5+?)) when it was "free." Didn't know then that I was making a social networking statement! In an attempt to keep up with Web 2.0, I knew about MySpace, Facebook, and MyYearbook. Hummm...8 encounters of the 20 between us. Suffice it to say, we are not into these things too much!

Daughter #2 says she likes Facebook better than MySpace because it is easier to find people. You can look for people by their schools. She visits Facebook every day. She says MySpace is too hard to search to find anyone and only goes there about once a month. She said lots of people prefer MySpace because you can design your layout for your profile. Facebook just has a standard layout that everyone uses. She occasionally gets asked to join the others, but never does. Kinda goes along with her lack of blog posts since August.

371.33 Podcasts as Projects: Looks Easy

Diane Chen, blogger at School Library Journal posted what looks like simple step-by-step directions for creating podcasts in the classroom...without spending money! She also included some sample student projects.
Her basic steps include:

• Establishing a free gcast.com account with a pin number.
• Using a telephone to dial in and enter the pin.
• Recording the podcast, pressing #, and publishing the podcast to the web (an option).
• Logging on to the computer with the password and listening to their podcasts.
• Exporting the podcasts as MP3 files.
• Sharing the URL or the MP3 file with others.

Diane has included questions for both the teacher and students to consider in planning and creating their projects.

Looks easy! Looks fun!