Thing #16- Wiki

The Common Craft video gave a great explanation of a Wiki. After watching the video I can understand Wiki's much better. I liked "A Library by any other name" it was friendly reading, it was not too overwhelming for this "Old Dog". There are so many great things to use a wiki for in the library! Teachers can post websites to find information for projects or topics of interest. I can see parents and teachers using a wiki to communicate ideas, needs, concerns or help.

Thing #15- Web2.0, Library 2.0 and the future of libraries

This "Old Dog" is used to "old school" libraries where the librarians gave an orientation of how to use the library. We would then fumble through the catalog of cards and the shelves looking for our resources and praying we would be able to find what we needed. With Library 2.0 all of this seems a thing of the past. Now the information you are looking for is so easy to access with a computer.
The video was great food for thought. It is so exciting to see the direction libraries are taking. I liked the articles on library 2.0. We do need to work on updating our libraries. The problem with this is funding. There are schools that barely have enough money to pay the librarian, much less keeping up with technology.I believe that librarians are becoing more and more as facilitators to and of information.
I just pray that the wonderful librarian at my campus will continue facilitating our Pre-K students with access to computers as well as sitting down and reading them a great book!

Thing #14- Technorati and How Tags Work

I learned abour Technorati and how I can search blog post,blogs and tags. In the video clip I watched it said I can even search blog directories. I did search "school library learning 2.0"and was amazed by the amount of "hits" I found. This "Old Dog" is learning all kinds of Things! I like the way Technorati tells you how long ago something was posted on a blog. I just spent too much time trying to claim my blog with Technorati. I still get overwhelmed with some of these things and my dinosaur computer had to act up today. I'll have to come back to this later.

Thing#13- Tagging and Discover Del.icio.us

Boy, oh boy, this "Old Dog" is learning so many wonderful new things! What a wonderful Thing this Del.icio.us is. I love to share websites I encounter every once in awhile with the Pre-K teacher I work with but often forget the address or lose the site. I thought that using my favorites was a great thing, but Del.icio.us has taken over now.
The Common Craft video was great! The information presented was easy to understand with three easy steps. It was very helpful for someone who is new to this, like me.
The Del.icio,us site was also easy to use. I know I will be using this site often. I have already begun using it and didn't want to stop. I can see how teachers and their students will find this useful. I believe teachers and students will enjoy using many of these features. I know I certainly will!!

Thing# 12 -Creating CommunityThrough Commenting

I found the tips for commenting to be very helpful. I agree that it is important to write a meaningful comment. It is a shame that because some people choose to be anonymous they think they can be mean, rude and condescending. I believe that the 10 Commandments of Blog Commenting were very important to note and everyone should read them and follow them.
The two most important things to remember when commenting should be not to leave mean, hostile, rude or condescending comments but rather be polite. Like, I tell my own children regularly, "there is no excuse for bad manners". I also tell them to remember the Bambi rule" if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all".
I did leave comments on blogs that I found to be interesting subject matter or comments I agreed with. But I am still feeling a little awkward and a little shy about commenting. I'm still working on that.

Thing # 11- Library Thing

Wow! This has been my "favorite" Thing so far. I love books,reading, sharing, collecting. I have been needing and wanting to catalog or inventory my home library and now I know how to do it. As a bilingual Pre-K Asst. and a Faith Formation Teacher at my church I have lots of books in the various genres. I cataloged 2-3 books in each genre and was pleased to find that a colored picture of these books was printed along with all the other information I had entered. It was so easy that this "Old Dog" almost jumped out of her chair with joy. I love this wonderful Library Thing. I was also impressed with some of the groups I checked out.

Thing#10-Online Image Generator

After an hour of going from website to website I finally found one that was relatively easy for this "Old Dog". There were websites that were too cluttered with advertisements and content that could be used inappropriately in the classroom. But this website www.imagechef.com was fairly easy to download and paste. I liked this picture since I've been dreaming of going to the beach all summer. Maybe I'll be able to catch those waves before school starts.

Thing # 9 - Useful Library-Related Blogs & News Feeds

Yes!! I found out that my computer isn't quite a dinosaur as I thought. After much searching here and there I came upon the standard feed icon and to my amazing surprise I found it on my computer tool bar. In my search for Library related blogs I encountered some very "odd" blogs. But then I found some really great ones. I added these to my RSS reader.
I found that bloglines and google blogs were the easiest and Topix and Technorati were a little intimidating and confusing to me.

Thing #8 - RSS Feeds abd Readers

I could spend hours just reading blogs and news feeds. RSS really lives up to its name" Really Simple Syndication". If I could subcribe to all these wonderful PRE-K and news blogs then I think anyone can. I can see why libraries and classrooms would use the bundeling to organize topics of interest and study. It is easy and efficient.

Thing #7 Cool Google Tools

Wow! How cool can "Google" get! I never knew that google had so much to offer. There is so much more to google than simple searching. I was able to set up a bad weather alert and a calendar to remind me of upcoming insevices and important events.

Thing #6 - Mashups and 3rd Party Sites

I discovered some mashups,3rd party sites and found I could make name badges and mosaics. Wow! This old dog is really learning some new tricks. All I need now is a camera and some pictures so I can try these all out.

Thing #5- Explore Flickr

My oh my, how Thing # 5 has opened my eyes to new adventures . My daughter just got married and I have lots of pictures from my camera that I need to share with everyone. My daughter was such a beautiful bride, of course I am just a little biased. But, I can't wait to use Flickr here at home and at school.

Thing # 4- Register Your Blog

I finished Thing #4 and I heard an earthquake hit California today, I hope it wasn't because I'm finally getting this blogging thing. Or at least I think I am! I have registered my blog and am ready to start blogging.

Sincerely,
bateyl

Thing #3- Set Up Your Own Blog

Thing #3 after muddling through this and that I finally did it!!! I set up my very own blog and added an avatar to it. Not bad for an old dog!!!

Sincerely,
bateyl

Thing # 2 - Pointers From Life Long Learners

Thing # 2 was very informative. I learned alot about myself and the learning process. I'm on my way to the finish line.

Thing #1

Thing # 1 was fairly easy, I hope the rest will be the same. This old dog has much to learn. But thanks to all who developed this project for us.

Sincerely,
bateyl

Old Dogs Learn New Tricks

Boy! Oh, Boy! what a challenge this new technology is for all us old dogs. Learning new tricks, or rather all these new computer programs, blogs, avatars,etc is not easy for those of us born in the stone ages. At least that's what my kids keep telling me. Just when I had just gotten the hang of sending emails now comes the blogs. I guess going back to good old paper and pencil is not an option. It's rather embarrassing when my six year old nephew knows more about the computer than I do.
Well, we'll have to see if this training can teach this old dog new tricks or not. It'll be short of a miracle if they can pull it off!!

Bow wow!!
Old Dog