Thing 18

I've been waiting to get to this "Thing" because I use Open Office on my computer and love it! I haven't found many drawbacks except there is no clipart or right-click synonym function in their word processer, but that is minor compared to the money I saved when I bought my computer. I haven't had any trouble opening or reading any documents made on other platforms, and only had trouble once with other platforms reading mine because I saved it incorrectly.

Open Office would be perfect to use in the Elementary or Junior High setting. The only reason why High Schoolers might want Microsoft Office instead is because it has more visually pleasing options such as the new Word with the multiple task bars. Also, higher tech classes might need the more advanced options. However, speaking from an elementary school perspective, Open Office would be more than enough! I can think of many things I would rather spend the money on!

Thing 17

As a teacher I can see how Rollyo can be great for students. If they are doing a report on Texas history, I can pick and choose what sites they are able to search. So instead of students searching in Google for George Bush and getting hundreds opinion pages, they will get factual information instead. Check out the Rollyo I made for Famous Texans research.

On the down side it can limit their results and get them to have very similar papers. There may be some site that I forget to include on the Rollyo search that would have really helped. Overall the idea of Rollyo is great for teachers to get their students to keep their eyes on their work. However, I firmly believe that students still need to be "let loose" on search engines such as Google so they can learn how to properly evaluate their sources when they go home and search on their own.

Thing 16

Before this experience, I would have never thought of using a wiki in a classroom. I didn't have any particularly positive experience with wikis; just thought they were unattractive and became frustrated when classmates "corrected mistakes" I made on collaborative papers. However, after viewing the examples from schools and libraries, I can see how they can be used for the better. Students can have a place to share work that they can all sign in and add comments, as well as add on to a class project. Wikis can also be designed to be something other than a large expanse of white.

The downside is inextricably linked with the upside. Even though it could be wonderful to collaboratively work on a project, there are always students who can't handle the responsibility, especially in elementary school. I know we can all think of the one, two, or in my case, three students who think it's funny to write inappropriate comments or change work without permission. The teacher just needs to be actively monitoring and have consequences in place.

Thing 15

I must say, I was disheartened, but not surprised by A Vision of Students Today. We are living in an era of technology explosion that we cannot ignore. Even though I left the traditional college setting in 2006, I could not totally relate to the video. There was no wi-fi access, which meant that everyone ignored the lecture by 'old-fashioned' ways like sleeping or reading a non-related book. Otherwise, everything was the same. Shh, don't tell, but during textbook adoptions at every school I've worked at, we arrive at consensus by the thought, "We won't use it anyway, so which has the best supplemental materials?"

In Into a New World of Librarianship, Michael Stephens lists skills that librarians need to embrace. My favorite is "Librarian 2.0 controls technolust." Just because something is new and looks 'cool,' doesn't mean it belongs in a library. Information literacy doesn't just apply to students! Public librarians need to do research and decide if the desired technology would be beneficial to their patrons, and school librarians need to decide if it will complement learning.

Thing 14

I have heard of Technorati before because my husband uses it, but I had never really explored it before. According to Technorati Video Goodness, they are restructuring, which is probably why I could not access any 'popular' tools. I also didn't get any results when I searched for "school library learning 2.0," but I can see how this site can be valuable. It is another avenue in which to search for information. If I wanted to read over blogs written by fellow elementary school teachers to gather insight, this would be the place to go!

Tagging in general is a helpful way to cluster information. Since you can give items as many times as you want, they could show up many times. For example, on Shelfari I always tag my books with the author and genre. I also search others with the same, so I end up finding books that I might like if I like a certain author.

Thing 13

I wish I knew about Delicious the second it was created! There have been many times where I found myself wishing I was on my own computer because I "just have to" show someone a website, can't remember what it was, but had it bookmarked. I also enjoyed browsing tags by topic, such as the collection of sites labeled 'education'.

There is definite potential for Delicious to be used for research assistance. It can be used as a search engine where students search by tags. It can also allow students to save bookmarked pages that they visit in the computer lab to be accessed at home for further study or exploration. I can definitely see librarians and teachers taking advantage of this, since they are not always on the same computer. There have been times where I have e-mailed myself websites so I can remember them when in the computer lab or simply switching to the technology cart to project something to the whole class. Now I don't have to!

Thing 12

The funny thing about this "thing" (does that sound right?) is that I just commented on another Library2Play member's blog about this very thing (OK, now there are definitely too many things). :)

My biggest pet peeve about blogging or any other social networking comments is when they are not helpful or insightful in any way. I'm talking about comments such as "thanks for sharing" or "I agree" without any reasons why or any contribution to the post whatsoever. This is boldly mentioned as the first rule in How to Comment Like a King (or Queen) - Write a meaningful comment. I like to feel as if the comment was left because the reader connected with something I said, not because they had to or had nothing better to do.

I also enjoyed reading Your Comments? on Blue Skunk Blog. Not only did it make me laugh, it made me think. I had never thought of reading blogs and not posting as "lurking," but it also never crossed my mind that some people claim they write blogs for themselves and don't care about comments. Why make it online and public, then? I try to comment as much as I can when I connect with a blog post, but will be much more mindful in the future. I know I smile when I see someone has taken the time to leave me a comment!

I have the Newsweek article about firing bad teachers on my mind, so I used the keywords "fire bad teachers on Google Blog Search. Two blogs that I found were A Teacher's View and Teach313's Random Keystrokes. The first one is an interesting commentary on the aforementioned article, while the second is a heartbreaking account of an inner-city Detroit teacher who faces countless obstacles in teaching her 5th graders. She seems as if she truly cares about these students, but she is threatened with being fired and replaced with Teach for America teachers.

It's always interesting to hear the newest theory on how to "fix" our schools. If you haven't already, please read the Newsweek article and let me know what you think. I'll post my thoughts on it later so as not to accidentally influence opinion before you read.