Thing 10

Well, Wikis are really something aren't they? There is so much information out there to share and now we have some really good ways to do that. Wikis will give everyone a chance to show what they know. I like the fact that wikis are web based and that you don't need to know HTML to contribute to them. I was at the 23thingsonastick wiki and read everyone's "I was here" messages but wasn't able to edit and add my 2 cents worth... buggy and it is the end of the day so I gave up on it for now. I just couldn't make myself go in the sandbox. The Commoncraft video did a great job giving an overview (as always) and the other resources were helpful as well. This seems like a great option for planning meetings, conferences and inservices for busy people. Email gets less appealing all the time. Phone tag isn't fun but waiting for email isn't much better. I like the idea of a community wiki. Just think of the information that could be added! Wikis as an intranet to get information out to the staff would probably be a better option than having the secretary collect the information and send emails out every day and it would be a great way to collect current articles for staff development to share. I liked the Best Practices Wiki and the Book Lovers Wiki. I also looked at some of the school wikis to see what they contained. I have not decided what kind of wiki I would like to start but the peanut butter sandwich was good. I will give it a little more thought before I jump in. I will contribute to the Library Success Wiki as I have some things I feel I can share there. We had an interesting discussion at our school about whether or not students should be allowed to use information gathered from Wikipedia... most teachers thought they shouldn't. I pointed out that students need to be taught how to verify information from whatever source they use and they could get incorrect information off of any other web site as well. That debate will continue until people get used to sharing information this way.

Thing 9

The previous post was made in Zoho Writer. It would be neat to share ideas with a group of elementary media specialists using this type of collaboration tool. It would also come in handy when doing work on curriculum as you could work from your own building. I also like the idea that you can use documents that you have already started. Being able to access them at home would be handy too as I am not able to access my files from home. I like the chat and comment features. Students would certainly like to collaborate this way. I am going to suggest this for some upcoming projects to give it a real test!

? on a Stick

I often think up creative writing assignments to give my students a chance to warm up their keyboarding skills at the beginning of class. One of their favorites has been to invent a new food that can be served on a stick. I do this at the beginning of school (right after the State Fair) and briefly discuss what everyone ate if they attended. I do believe that some of their ideas could really be marketed! Please comment on the assignment and/or offer other suggestions that I can use.

Thing 8 Continued

I've had a chance now to experiment with several slide shows. I spent a lot of time at Picture Trail and made the Flick that I posted on my blog and made a few Flicks just for fun. The Blogger slide show work OK but I like the fun choices at Picture Trail. I've been living at Big Huge Lab and have found some interesting things for students to try with their digital photos. I made a small database of new books that I have just ordered to see how it works and I would like to use this on my school web page to develop a database of student recommended books. I wish the students could access and contribute to the database themselves. eFolio is wonderful! What a great way to keep track of and let others know about your career successes, education, special projects, etc. I would think this would be of great help to professionals and students alike. I've only checked out a few of the sites that are listed on 50 Ways to tell a Story but I would like to find some different ways that students can tell their stories and I believe there is something in this list that I will be able to use. I spent some time at Toon Doo but other than signing up I wasn't able to do much. Scrapbooking could be an interesting way to illustrate a number of things for elementary students. The "movie making" software I am currently using is flaky and I am hoping that there may be some options here as well.

You may have noticed that my blog looks a little empty... I did a little cleaning because all of the different things on the side were starting to look messy to me. I figure that anyone who is keeping up with my blog has already seen the stuff and is as bored as I am with it. I'll add some things.

Part of Thing 8

I used Picturetrail to create a slideshow of the school library I work in. It was recently painted and recarpeted in nice warm colors and it is so cheerful and cozy feeling. The light that comes from the skylight is sunny looking even on cloudy days! It is a great place to work!

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