I never really got caught up in the YouTube craze. Sure, I have seen clips, but only if they were sent to me by email. I can honestly say that I have never visited the site in search of something before this "thing" and I really don't see myself visiting on a regular basis. I can see the potential that YouTube could have in the library or the classroom BUT because of all the "R" rated material, it just isn't appropriate! Plus, it would be impossible to get past the filters. One thing that I wish YouTube would do was put a "rating" on the videos. Why not use the same ratings as the movies...G, PG, PG-13, and R. It would really help me out when trying to decide which videos to view or not to view!
I'm sure students are viewing all the videos at home (with parental guidance of course) but I could not believe some of the stuff I saw and heard! With that kind of "negativity"...I wouldn't even want to mention YouTube in the library. Creating and uploading videos would be an awesome product to the end of a research unit but I just don't see how it would be possible to use YouTube. Unless...you create videos with students, upload it to YouTube for them, and then let the students view it from home...this might work...
When I first starting looking around the millions of videos on YouTube, I started with serious searches of TAKS, book authors, and libraries. But then, I heard a familiar song in the background and thought I would give it a try. (The familiar song was the theme song to the preschool cartoon The Wonder Pets. Madelyn doesn't really watch the show, but she dances when the animals sing, and Paul and I laugh hysterically at some of the episodes!) So I did a search for The Wonder Pets and had lots of results. Some of the videos were clips of the show, others were of little girls singing the theme songs, and some took the "G" rated show and turned it "R." The video that I picked is clips of Ming Ming, my favowite wonder pet, singing his most favowite line! (Ming Ming can't say his R's!) I couldn't believe I found this and couldn't wait to share it with Paul...this is sewious!
Monday, January 28, 2008
Thing #19
The two "organization" sites that I visited and explored were Bubbl.us and Gliffy. I really do like to be organized (even though my house, my office, and my life sometimes don't show that), so I thought I would enjoy creating mind maps and flowcharts. I did start out the process thinking it was fun but then I got a little frustrated; not frustrated with the tools but with myself and the lack of "thoughts" I had for the mind maps or the flowcharts. I finally thought of what I wanted to do and I was much more successful with the mind maps than the flowcharts. I think I liked the mind maps better because they reminded me of the main idea webs that I used non-stop with my third graders. Once I thought of them that way, as main idea bubbles with details coming off, I was able to get started and create a helpful chart. The flowcharts seemed a little more "technical" to me, and I have to admit, I only stayed there for a short time.
**After this is posted, I will attempt to publish my mind map in my blog. If you don't see it now, keep checking back!
**After this is posted, I will attempt to publish my mind map in my blog. If you don't see it now, keep checking back!
Friday, January 25, 2008
Thing #18
This "thing" really showed how far behind I was on all the 2.0 tools. The Web2.0 Awards were presented in May 2007 and I hadn't even heard of 2.0 until our staff development in October 2007! But that's OK, because as I was looking over all the awards in all the categories, I thought, "Hey, I didn't know about these before but now there are several that I do know about and some that I use on a daily basis." I have really come along way!
As I was browsing the awards and looking at the winners, I noticed lots of 2.0 tools that I recognized and had practice with thanks to our 23 things. A few I already knew about were Technorati, Bloglines, and Library Thing. So I started looking for something I knew nothing about (there were lots) and I found 2 that I am now hooked on.
OneSentence is a place where people can write true, "one sentence stories" about their life, their day, or anything. Once you write your one sentence and submit it, one person (the master of the site) decides if your sentence is worthy of publishing on the site. If it is, you will receive a email letting you know your sentence will be published. If it isn't, try again. I submitted a sentence about a day in the life of a librarian; I'm anxiously awaiting to see if it's published. If it is, I'll be sure to toot my own horn and let you know.
Another tool that I found was Guess-the-Google. It's a super fun game where you try to guess the ONE keyword that pulled up the TWENTY Google images. You are ultimately trying to find that one word that all the pictures have in common, but...you only have 20 seconds. Once I started, it was hard to stop.
When I first thought of these two tools and there "usability" in the library, I really didn't think there was any, but the more I thought about it, the more the "teacher" came out in me and BAM, I had some ideas. OneSentence to me is a lot like "get the gist." (Get the Gist is a reading strategy I learned in the Texas Third Grade Reading Academy.) As a third grade teacher, I would have students give me the gist of a story or paragraph in a sentence using ten words or less. It was difficult for nine year olds to do this, but it really got them thinking about the important details and how to use each word wisely. Librarians (or teachers) could create a wiki (or dedicate one page of a wiki) to one sentence book reviews or one sentence summaries. The wiki would be available for students who wanted to share about the books they read or it would be a great place to send students looking for a book. Guess the Google isn't something that could be used in the library directly, but the "backwards" way that you have to think is something that should be practiced by all students. I don't think students would be able to access the game from school due to the filters and I do feel like many of the images are only appropriate for older students, but the thinking that goes on while playing the game is definitely higher level. It's like classifying or sorting but on a different level and for sure out of the box. If you haven't played it yet, check it out. Beware: you might become addicted.
As I was browsing the awards and looking at the winners, I noticed lots of 2.0 tools that I recognized and had practice with thanks to our 23 things. A few I already knew about were Technorati, Bloglines, and Library Thing. So I started looking for something I knew nothing about (there were lots) and I found 2 that I am now hooked on.
OneSentence is a place where people can write true, "one sentence stories" about their life, their day, or anything. Once you write your one sentence and submit it, one person (the master of the site) decides if your sentence is worthy of publishing on the site. If it is, you will receive a email letting you know your sentence will be published. If it isn't, try again. I submitted a sentence about a day in the life of a librarian; I'm anxiously awaiting to see if it's published. If it is, I'll be sure to toot my own horn and let you know.
Another tool that I found was Guess-the-Google. It's a super fun game where you try to guess the ONE keyword that pulled up the TWENTY Google images. You are ultimately trying to find that one word that all the pictures have in common, but...you only have 20 seconds. Once I started, it was hard to stop.
When I first thought of these two tools and there "usability" in the library, I really didn't think there was any, but the more I thought about it, the more the "teacher" came out in me and BAM, I had some ideas. OneSentence to me is a lot like "get the gist." (Get the Gist is a reading strategy I learned in the Texas Third Grade Reading Academy.) As a third grade teacher, I would have students give me the gist of a story or paragraph in a sentence using ten words or less. It was difficult for nine year olds to do this, but it really got them thinking about the important details and how to use each word wisely. Librarians (or teachers) could create a wiki (or dedicate one page of a wiki) to one sentence book reviews or one sentence summaries. The wiki would be available for students who wanted to share about the books they read or it would be a great place to send students looking for a book. Guess the Google isn't something that could be used in the library directly, but the "backwards" way that you have to think is something that should be practiced by all students. I don't think students would be able to access the game from school due to the filters and I do feel like many of the images are only appropriate for older students, but the thinking that goes on while playing the game is definitely higher level. It's like classifying or sorting but on a different level and for sure out of the box. If you haven't played it yet, check it out. Beware: you might become addicted.
Thing #17
Well, I did it. I was able to publish my Zoho document (see the post below titled Friday) directly onto my blog without ever leaving the Zoho website! I really am being opened up to a whole new world with all these 2.0 tools. It's amazing!
...and so I'll get credit for Thing #17...I posted more about Zoho and my experience in the "Friday" posting.
...and so I'll get credit for Thing #17...I posted more about Zoho and my experience in the "Friday" posting.
Friday
Friday is my busiest day in the library!!
I am back-to-back-to-back with scheduled classes and I always have individuals who want my individual attention...I am worn out, and it's only noon!! But that's ok , I have 30 minutes until the next class comes in, so I think I'll work on my 23 things.
It took me a while to get Zoho to work. At first I thought it was me and my lack of experience, but it wasn't me, it was my MAC. I'm now using a PC and things are smooth sailing. You really can do everything you need to and more from this 2.0 application. I love the formatting tools and the available options right there in plain sight. No more searching for the tools you need.
Here goes the next step in my "play"...I'm going to try posting this to my blog straight from here. Wish me luck!
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Thing #16
Playing in the sandbox was a lot of fun. Just like we try to teach children by doing, when I was actually "doing" the wiki, I learned a lot. I enjoyed reading all the ideas that were added on how librarians can use these cool 2.0 tools. Lots of great ideas were given! I especially like using a wiki for teachers or students to give book/av suggestions. Even though I'll be done with the sandbox thing after this post, I'll be visiting it again just to read the new ideas that keep getting added.
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