Thing #10, part 3

Sorry to keep talking so much about image generators, but I've had a lot of fun with this and want to see my pictures on the blog. This one was created with the jigsaw puzzle tool in Dumpr. The photo was taken at a youth camp in South Texas. Beautiful place.

Thing # 10, part 2

ImageChef.com Poetry Blender

This fun tool let's you combine text, symbols and photos. It took me a long time to figure out how to get it to show up on my blog (cutting and pasting the HTML code did not work). But finally I saw the button that said Quick Post, and Blogger was one of the choices. It was easy after that.

After looking at all the image creators in this Thing, I would have a hard time choosing a favorite. I like them all, and there are many ways they could be used in my library. As a UIL Literary Criticism sponsor, I am looking forward to creating motivators for my students. This would also be a great way to promote books and reading, or to set up screen savers to attract attention to the library.

We have a teacher at my school who is crazy about happy faces. I can't even imagine what all she could do with Happy Face Generator! Kay, are you listening?

Thing #10: Online Image Generator

Although I'm not finished with this Thing yet, I wanted to go ahead and post my first image made from Comic Strip Generator. This tool was easy to use and quite fun. My biggest problem with any of the things is that I want to see and try all they have to offer. I can spend hours on one thing. I must learn how to be more productive with my time.

Thing #9: Useful Library-Related Blogs and News Feeds

Of all the search tools explored in this exercise, I liked Google Blog Search and Blogline's Search Tool for their ease of use. But Technorati was probably my favorite, because of its Blog Directory and Top 100 Blogs. There you can see links of blogs by subject and by popularity. The most unusual blog I found was on Technorati's Top 100, and it was called "Post Secret." It is described as "an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard." It is very unique and worth taking a look.

Syndic8.com was my least favorite search tool. It seemed too busy and remote for my taste. I didn't find much there that I was interested in. For now I will stick with a few library blogs I already knew about.

Our district also subscribes to Atomic Learning, so I will be reviewing this subject throughout the summer using their tutorials.

Thing #8: RSS Feeds and Readers

I've used RSS a little but not enough to know much about it. For this Thing I subscribed to 5 library related blogs... two from our Library2Play group, two from well-known Texas librarians who create a lot of book trailers for YA, and Kathy Schrock's Kaffeklatsch. Then, since my interests include a little play from time to time, I had to include one for my machine embroidery hobby.

What I like most about RSS and readers is the basic idea. You don't have to go to each blog to see new posts. They are all in one place in the reader. And then, you don't have to read through all the posts to see what's new. Very helpful idea.

I will use this at school for following new YA books and promoting them with our students. It will also be a great way to keep up with some of the more innovative things the experts have to say about Web 2.0. Teachers and administrators can use RSS in the same way by choosing their own area of interest, locating relevant blogs, and subscribing. Easy!

Thing #7 - Cool Google Tools

For this exercise I have created 3 alerts... one to follow my favorite hometown athlete, one for my hobby and one to gather more information about an educational topic that is relevant to my situation at the present time. My district is looking at providing a laptop for each student in the near future, and we will need lots of input on how other districts who are doing this manage their one-to-one initiative. I have limited the athletic alert to news only, but set the other two to comprehensive so that I will receive as much information as possible on those subjects.

The other Google tool I am exploring extensively is Picasa web albums. I am really excited about this one for personal use, as well as for certain assignments at school. As students are required to create more presentations and digital assignments, Picasa will be useful for locating, arranging and storing their pictures.

In the fall, I am looking forward to introducing our high school students to Google Docs and Google Scholar when they are writing research papers.

Thing # 6: Mashups and 3rd Party Sites

A person could literally spend hours, days, weeks exploring all the neat toys and tools others have created using mashups. I can imagine using Movie Poster with the theater arts classes when they create their own movies. A poster could be displayed around the school to advertise their presentations. Or, at the first of the school year, students could use Map Maker to report on their summer vacations. The possibilities are endless and exciting!

I created a trading card for this "thing" using Flickr Toys and Big Huge Labs.

Thing #5 - Flickr

What a great way of sharing photos! I especially like being able to use Flickr's Creative Commons to know exactly what permissions are given for their use. I will be adding Flickr to my school web page and teaching the students how to use it.

I chose a picture of an altered book from "T" altered art at http://www.flickr.com/photos/teresa-stanton/550133479/ for this post because I am fascinated by the combinations of art and books. One of my favorite presentations at TLA this year was on altered books. Two Art 3 students in my school have loaned their altered books projects to the library for a year or two. I will be displaying them in the fall. This would be a great project for my book club.

Thing #3 - Blogging and Avatars

I have to admit I was clueless about Avatars. The instructions on the Library2Play blog were great. I had read some posts from bloggers who said they had trouble getting theirs to show up, so I was dreading the export. I had a lot of fun creating myself and surprisingly, my Avatar appeared on my blog the very first time I tried! I'm only on Thing 3 but I've already learned so much. Can't wait to see what's next!

Thing #2 - Lifelong Learning

It took me awhile to get past the cookies issues and get this blog up and running, but now that I've done it, I'm excited to get started. Maybe that was my first challenge (notice I didn't say problem) as explained in #3 of the 7-1/2 habits of lifelong learners. The guidelines are simple and practical. The easiest of those for me is probably #1 - determining my goals. I have lots of them, especially regarding technology. The hardest? Viewing my problems as challenges instead of problems. I become frustrated easily and tend to give up and ask for help instead of trying to figure it out myself. Technology is changing and expanding so fast it's hard to keep up. Hopefully after these 23 Things I will feel much more confident.