Thing 4,5,6-Flickr, etc.

OMG, Flickr is so neat! I have spent probably an hour and a half exploring Flickr and learning about all the capabilities. I watched the video and then set up my account. I uploaded 35 images, wrote titles and tags and then set up a private group so that my family can view my pictures. I created a group icon from one of my pictures and also created a unique url for my group. Then, I emailed my dad and invited him to participate in the group. We'll see if he does. Hmmm... I can definitely see that I will be using Flickr in the future for my photo collection. I created a trading card on bighugelabs.com out of a pic of my daughter and exported it to my blog. I found some neat ideas that I could use with my students such as the trading cards, puzzlemaker, dice, and calendar. It would be great if I could have my students make a calendar for their moms for Mother's Day, but they are only second graders...

This has been my favorite Thing so far! I investigated the favorite mashups and loved Flickr Spelling. I spelled out "Charmed" and inserted it on my blog. Way cool!

Thing Three-RSS

I can certainly see where RSS is extremely helpful for those who are reading many blogs. I don't, though, so this was somewhat challenging. The actual setting up of an RSS account and providing feeds was easy. I picked some of the blogspots from the SMILE region that I thought were probably from our schools, subscribed to the sports and news from Google Reader, and blog searched for second grade teaching. I pasted the feed from that onto my account and will check in on those regularly throughout this process. I tried to paste another one that my husband checks daily but there wasn't a feed available. So far I've been pretty successful...

Thing Two-Perspectives on Library 2.0

Library 2.0 was all new information for me as an elementary teacher. I truly had no idea that this "revolution" was taking place in the library world. I have mixed feelings about L 2.0 and agree with comments from both sides of the discussion. As a thirty-something with baby boomer parents who are avid readers, I know that they would not embrace all of the concepts of Library 2.0. I would hate to see my parents shy away from the library that they love because they don't want to go during "teen gaming nights." I read in a blog comment that the age of citizens over 65 will double in the next couple years, and this is a huge demographic who is not familiar or comfortable with much of the new technology. This demographic should not be ignored. However, neither should the rising new generations who are more comfortable texting, im-ing, or any other thing that I don't know about. That sounds that I am sitting right on the fence, and I guess I am. Libraries have evolved since my childhood, and the changes have been good. I think that Library 2.0 has some good concepts, but we're not quite there in getting it right. More emphasis can be spent on the concepts, though, instead of arguing about the name.

Thing One

I feel a little bit like Dr. Seuss, but I have finished Thing One. I have registered and created my blog, published posts, and created and exported my avatar. I had a lot of fun creating my avatar and trying to decide what I would wear. I'm fairly certain she won't stay the same throughout these next two months, but I had to start somewhere. I have already learned something because I didn't even know you could make an avatar on yahoo. On to Thing Two...

I am excited to get started learning about 23 Things on a Stick. I love computers, want to learn new things, and also want to keep up with my 7th grader who is insane about technology! Maybe I can redeem myself after I finish with this project! :)