Thing #23 Summarize Your Thoughts about This Program

This program was the best adventure I have had this summer! Lately I've been very occupied taking care of relatives. Even though I started working late on the 23 things, all the amazing websites made it possible for me to finish them on time. I never thought I would finish, but look at me now.

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I had so many discoveries that I don't even know where to start! I discovered so many fabulous tools that taught me ways to improve my educational and personal life. I learned things that I never thought I could learn. For one thing, I created a blog from scratch.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
This program has assisted me with my education goals by giving me the opportunity to put to practice tools that will make my life more easy and fun. I will be using several of these tools in my field of education.

Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
The unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised me was every time I opened a new page, I opened a new adventure in my life.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
I don't see why this program would need any improvement. It was more than productive!

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
Definitely!! I wouldn't think it twice, this is an opportunity I would not pass.

How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities?
TOOLICIOUS!!!

Thing #22 Nings

I find these sites very entertaining. They keep me up to date with my family and friends, no matter what's the distance between us. We get to share pictures with one another, which makes me feel like I am always there in their special occasions. Nings can also help you improve your typing skills and grammar. I can be as creative as I want.

Thing #21 Podcast and Audio Books

This is the best I could do for right now. I went to sleep at 3:oo am this morning, trying to remove the extra text at the beginning and end of this video. I was not successful,but I can finally say I'm finished. After all the strugles and hassle I had, I can say it was well worth it. Which I still have a lot to learn about thing #21. I had no idea of the time consuming and the creativity it would take to create a simple video. So many interesting things to learn in so little time! I came up with the idea of having "Susie" in the video to make the story more interesting for younger viewers. I collected pictures from Google that I liked, and edited them in Paint. Then I put them all together to create a video in MovieMaker. Then I send it to my photobucket and tried to include effects on the slides, but the most I could do is add music. Believe me I tried to send it to the provided sites.

Thing #20 Youtube, Teachertube and Zamazar

Way too cool! I love doing this "thing"! It was so much fun searching for videos. There are so many different ones, which made it hard for me to choose from. "If you give a teacher a mouse" explained to me why these new tools are important in our children's education. Their confidence will build up by working in groups during projects, and being exposed to these tools will make them think more creative. This video gave me a new perspective of technology.

Thing #19 Web 2.0 Awards List

Wow! Web 2.0 awards list is a fascinating tool. I can easily get addicted to it. Everything I need is already listed for me on this web! This tool is educational and fun to use. Librarians and teachers can pick out a variety of sites that will fit their lesson plans. This web will help students and teachers become more knowledgeable in technology. Web 2.0 has many qualities; it’s categorized by their most useful tools, which makes it easier for teachers to concentrate on one specific tool at a time. The title award list describes every one of the sites. I’ll be using this site for all my projects, and I most definitely will recommend it to others.

Thing #18 Online Productive Tools

I explored Google docs, which I found easy to use. I could not stop from playing with it’s features until I realized how late it was getting. I enjoyed it so much that I guarantee that I will go back. Openoffice.org was slower, and I didn’t get the chance to download it. The advantage of using a free online tool is that you will not be charged, and you can use it from any computer. I think that the only disadvantage is that your computer can act slower than usual when others are using the same program.

Thing #17 Rollyo

I enjoyed searching on rollyo! I see why rollyo would be a life saver for many of us. Rollyo is an efficient and rapid search engine that gets down to business. I liked it so much that I’ll be visiting it very often; I searched many things on rollyo, but the one that interested me the most was the weather. I even created a searchroll. I will need rollyo for this upcoming semester.

Thing #16 Wikis

Wiki is a tool that can certainly help me with my socials skills. I can communicate with others through wiki when I need some input from others point of view. Teachers and librarians can improve web monitoring by bookmaking interesting and educational webs for the student to visit. Librarians and teachers can share and edit activities that they like. I am pretty sure that this web will be useful for all those who are in the field of education. I really enjoyed reading the teacher librarian wiki. It gave me a variety of good ideas for my daughters and myself that I plan to put in practice.

Thing #15 Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the Future of Libraries

Library 2.0 will rapidly increase the way users see libraries today. I read the title “Into a new world of librarianship” by Micheal Stephens, it is an informative blog about librarian 2.0. Web 2.0 allows users to have access to pretty much everything from where user’s stand. Also it allows users to create content. For all those busy bodies, this tool will come in handy. For one thing, my college assignments won’t be so complicated.

I read the Title “To a Temporary Place in Time” by Wendy Schultz which I found very interesting how she refers to the libraries of the past as communities. I sure miss the good old times! When I was little I use to wait anxiously with other families and my siblings for story time. Now in days, the Internet does it all.

I really like what I have read so far about Library 2.0. Before I knew about this web, I would have chosen old fashion libraries. But now I found a website that is as good as the libraries I had in my childhood because I can still chat, read, write, listen, and search in a faster pace. I can do all this through Library 2.0!

Thing #14 Technorati and How Tags Work

Technorati is a search engine for blogs, tags, and sites. When I typed in School Library Learning 2.0 in the keyboard, a list of different blogs came up. I opened SLU’s Learning 2.0 Program which it did not give me much to work with. I puzzled for a while because I did not know what to look for. But Reactions to story from Teacher Librarian was more explanatory, it gave me a quick brief about school library learning 2.0 and how it’s being use in schools. Now I am pretty sure that technorati main focus are blogs. I found out things that I did not even know. I registered and claimed my blog in Technorati. I learned more about tags and now I understand what I'm working with.

Thing #13 Tagging and Discover Del.icio.us

It is so amazing that you can tag so many websites. WOW! Del.icio.us can do that and much more good stuff. This tool is a big yes on my count. From a different computer, I can have access to websites that I’ll need for my assignments without having to send them to my email. That sounds exciting! Del.icio.us can also help librarians and teachers prepare themselves for more productive lessons. Del.icio.us just reminded me of an incident that I had with a website I was working on with my computer. When I tried to open this website from a different computer, it did not come up! Now I know why tagging is so important.

Thing #12 Creating a Community Through Commenting

I agree with all the 10 commandment for commenting, and I think that everyone should take a look at them. I am not a very outspoken person so thing # 12 sure drove me off the wall. Two important points about commenting are that you have to be friendly with others, and you also need to comment ONLY if you are interested in their post. How to comment like a king or queen gave me a few pointers on how to leave comments and look at posts that I would have in common with. I took a look at other people's post and commented a few of them. Using http://www.googleblogsearch.com/, I found a site called Idaho Falls Today. Which interested me of what people have to say about our candidates and high gas prices. What drew my attention to this site was the state high gas price which is a big issue now in days. I also found another blog that read Earthquake hits California: where was superman? It drew my attention because my family lives in California. I wanted to learn a little more about it.

Thing #11 Library Thing

I am not very organized, but library thing will sure get me started. Library thing has given me a good view of how to organize all my favorite books. I can arrange my books any way I want, with the help of library thing! I can also learn more about authors and books by reading other people’s comments. Wow! How much better can this get? I can even chat with others about my college books. I am interested in creating a catalog of my books to get a better idea of what I have read. I can even write a short brief about each book I’ve read in my catalog. This will make reading more fun, and my daughters will enjoy it too!

Thing #10 Image Generators

I viewed all the image generators and proceeded to download pictures from my files, which I enjoyed displaying on my blog. My favorite part was visiting http://www.comicstripgenerator.com/ and http://www.imagechef.com/ . The comic strips and image chef can definitely make you laugh, which I think the libraries and classrooms need one once in a while.

Thing #9 Useful Library-Related Blogs and News Feeds

I had so much fun with thing #9. I am pretty sure I opened all of the search sites. From all of them, my preference were Google blog search ,Technorati , and topix.net . All three will help me explore websites more efficiently. On the other hand, I found syndic8.com a little more challenging. I would have to play with it a little more to get the hang of it. Blogging will make it easier for me to communicate with my loved ones more often.

Thing #8 RSS Feeds and Readers

I am happy that I finally found a tool that is easy, fast, and informative. That’s what RSS is all about! I can have a better way to get information that will benefit me for my college classes without opening sites that have nothing to do with my search. Also, Google Reader feeds will save me a lot of time. My research papers can go more smoothly without having to break my head. It’s so cool that this tool allows me to categorize the sites by titles or any other topic. Libraries can perform better when they have an easy access to the files by tagging them. It allows librarians to have a more productive way to share lessons and stories with others. It will be a lot more fun to explore the web sites by keeping it’s viewer up to date with content.

Thing #7 Cool Google Tools

Google is one of my favorite web search engines which I have been using for many years. I mostly use it for research papers for my college classes. If I knew that Google had all these tools, my projects would have been much easier and unique. I managed to get a Google alert, create a calender, and create a notebook. Wow! I did more than I thought I could handle!

Thing #6 Mashups and 3rd Party sites

Wow! I have had so much fun with thing #6, it surprised me of all the wonderful activities it has to offer. I mostly enjoyed making name tags and using the mosaic maker projects. If I thought Flickr was out of this world then I hadn't seen anything yet. After viewing mashup, mappr, and FD toys I can really say that I am stuned. My daughters and I can sure benefit from all three. I pretty sure I will share my projects with reletives and friends.

Thing #5 Explore Flickr

Flickr took me on the ride of my life. I went to places that I never thought I would have the opportunity to visit. It's amazing pictures sure says it all. It has open my eyes to a different world of adventures without even leaving my house. I would most definitely recommend flickr and use it in the future for my own advantages. My experience with flickr gave me a new perspective of the world.

Thing #4 Register Your Blog

Yes! I am officially registered! I am so proud that I have made it to this point.

Thing #3 Set Up a Blog...and Make an Avatar

I thought that it would be very difficult to create a blog and an avatar. But after all that practice, my hard work payed off. I am very excited to be on my way to thing #4.

Thing #2 Pointers from Life Long Learners

My easiest habit among the 7 & 1/2 is accepting responsibility. As a LEP assistant, I am assigned to diffrent duties on an everyday base. Which it has helped me adopt to changes really quick and take a stand. The hardest thing for me is to create my own learning toolbox. As you may know, my job description pretty much tells it all.

Thing 1 Read This Blog and Find Out About This Program

I am finished looking through thing #1 and discovered that there are so many interesting things I did not know about blogs. Making a blog will definitely come in handy.