Getting set to Cheerlead new 2.0 learners

I completed the School Library Learning 2.0 Tutorial in 2007. It was a fun and broadening experience and I am looking forward to reading what my colleagues find and create this summer. There are so many great web-based tools out there and lots of ideas for using them in education. I will be learning along with you!

Week 5 Thing 10

I love the "Read" written in the sand... I'd like to use it in my Book Club web page but haven't figured out how to do it yet...

Week 4 Thing 9

I have enjoyed signing up for some RSS feeds. I especially am interested in turning some of my email subscriptions into RSS feeds accessed through Google Reader instead of having them sit in my email inbox until I have time to read them. On the other hand, there is an element of immediacy about the mail in my inbox - I've got to get it read before I archive every few weeks or it is forgotten. I haven't visited Google Reader in two weeks since I set it up - will I continue to neglect it? As long as I am still reading two newspapers every morning, I don't really have time to add the RSS generated articles...

Week 4, Thing #8

I set up my Google Reader and used the handy search feature within it to find some RSS feeds to subscribe to. Right now, I receive several regular emails that I often do not have time to read and when I archive a bunch, it is difficult to go back and find the ones I skipped. I subscribed to several feeds from eSchool News and Kathy Schrock. It will be interesting to see if this is more manageable than email.

Managing tabs and windows in Internet Explorer

I've learned a few things I thought I'd share.

1st, I needed to set the options on Internet Explorer to open pop-ups in a new tab instead of a new window. I was frustrated that everytime I clicked a link on the CSLA blog page for the lesson, it opened a new window. Now, it opens a new tab and it is much easier to keep track of where I am and where I've been. Go to Tools/Internet Options/Tabs Settings.

2nd, I created a del.icio.us account to house all my new bookmarks. Having the button on the browser window makes it very easy to access all these new tools.

Curriculum ideas for Flickr

I enjoyed playing with the Trading Card maker (http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/deck.php). It was very easy to link to Flickr to pull a photo to the card and then upload it back to the Flickr site.

The description box is large enough that students would have plenty of room to write a list of salient points from their research to describe the photo above. Five cards could be created that illustrate 5 causes leading to the fall of the Roman Empire. The students doing research on genetic diseases could create a set of cards describing sypmtoms, cause, treatment. The 7th grade science teachers at my school annually assign a trading card for one of their projects - students would love using this tool. I'm looking forward to sharing this with them.

Trying Blogger again

This is actually the second time I've tried using Blogger. Two summers ago, I spent quite a bit of time setting up a blog for my Book Club - only to find it was blocked at my school. Now we have a discussion feature on our SchoolFusion webpage so I am attempting to get the kids to communicate with me and each other over the up-coming summer vacation.