Thing 23:

I did the survey but when I submitted the vote I got an "error" notice twice. I tried.

My favorite discoveries: Yelp.com, Teachertube, and Rollyo. I had seen teachertube when others had sent videos, but never had spent time thinking about how I could use it in my teaching. Yelp and Rollyo were new to me.

Life long learning goals: This has shown me how important it is that I try my best to stay current with technology trends. I feel as though after 27 years of teaching I am a strong teacher but technology is definitely my weak area.

Unexpected: Wikipedia. I had heard my older children talk about wikis but had never researched how valuable they could be. I think this is an area that could be so useful to students and educators alike, but there needs to be monitors in place someway.

For me, it would be helpful to have a couple of face to face meetings to preview some of the activities--podcasts, vidicasts etc. After I have seen someone do them, it is usually much easier to follow the directions online. I know everyone does not need this, but it sounds as though some do. Two or three 30 min. sessions would be enough.

If another discovery course was set up I would most definitely participate--limitations and all. I learned so much through doing this even if my "products" weren't as sophisticated as some.

Arriving on the technology scene so late, I have always felt challenged. This has been a wonderful opportunity for me to explore and learn so many new things and rethink my technology goals. I will definitely set the mark higher.

Thing 22:

I went to Ning for Teachers and typed in my area for lesson plans. Not an impressive result. The lesson was certainly not planned with TEKS in mind. There was however a link at the top that provided another site that might be more interesting to look at. I went to the blog site for elementary teachers. I really don't care for the social networking just to chit chat. I don't need to hear battle stories of others. This is not a site that I would visit often.

Thing 21:

I have spent time with audacity at school but cannot use it on my home computer. Photostory does not download for me. I think my machine does not have the capability for this exercise. It is one that I will review and probably use quite a bit in the classroom--especially audacity for assessment. I do think that the excersie was more time consuming for me than it was supposed to be. I could be that I am coming to the point of needing more one on one help.

Thing 20:

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=ed0f3de5531ac964a0a1

This is a software video that I plan to spend more time reviewing on my school laptop. I am not getting the sound on my home setup. I've heard that it is good. It is about using technology software in the elementary music classroom. Teachertube is a site that I plan to use quite a bit during the next school year both as a resource and for enrichment.
Youtube is fun to play with and as things are more appropriate I may use them also.
It took me a while to figure out how to get the site into my blog, but when the light finally came on it was very simple.

Thing 19:

OK, I could get lost here. I spent time playing in two of the sites but had fun scanning many more. In yelp.com I found the arts in one place with reviews and tours of many places. I can see on online field trip to enrich cirriculum often. Yahoo answers could be used by students and teachers to explore those 1000000 questions. It was fun to read Q&As in various topic areas.

Thing 18:

I had more success with Google Docs. To me, it was a much faster tool to get familiar with. I will enjoy exploring and creating class presentations here. After reading what many fellow bloggers had to say about Google Docs, I do see its limitations. Since I'm not as technologically advanced as many of you, I'm not sure at what point I will max out those limitations. Open office does sound interesting, but it took over 30 min. to download on my home computer. I did not spend much time here, but plan to when I get back to school.

Thing 17:

I had a lot of fun in rollyo. I'm not sure how I will use it when teaching. It will be fun to set up search sites with students and let them see all the vast places to expand their research. I got stuck in a site in "home repair" --doityourself.com. Since this is where I seem to be spending my summer time, I found so much useful info. I did set up an account, but I'm not sure I posted my site correctly. I know they are there for personal use, but I really didn't want to place all my info out for the public.