What is your shelf life?

Today I attended a friend's funeral, which caused me to consider how long is my life, when do I expire, what is my shelf life? In my friend's case, her shelf life was 58 years. Not long enough, but longer than others. Linda's infectious laugh, zest for life, and energy will be missed very much by everyone who knew her. Even though she had been diagnosed with cancer, she chose to go on a cruise she had scheduled previously. She chose to LIVE while she was able, something we all should be doing.

What is your shelf life? Remember to live your life and never pass up an opportunity to do something good for others. Volunteer at a school, nursing home, hospital, or anywhere else your talents would be put to good use. Read those books you've been putting off. Take a painting or craft class you're interested in. Dance more, laugh more, find enjoyment in the little things, and always remember to help others whenever and however you can.

The minute we are born, we embark on a journey that will end with death. Death means to the Christian eternal life in Christ. The heavenly chorus is a little sweeter with the addition of Linda.

Thing #23

My favorite exercise was searching YouTube and TeacherTube and finding all kinds of useful information. My experience with YouTube before that was watching silly, gross, or funny videos either my son showed me or I saw on the news. I'm also excited about finding new genealogy sites I found viewing the Web 2.0 Awards List plus making a Photo Story. I intend to use that tool for school and personal use. I think my teaching will be enhanced due to completing these 23 things. I also appreciate learning about OpenOffice which I downloaded on my computer. To improve this experience for future players, please check the links periodically to ensure they're working. Try the links on your personal computer to ensure the safety of the links. I know since I've been doing this, my inbox is PACKED. Also, be considerant of those who don't own computers. The public library and the school did not allow me to do some of the THINGS I was asked to. This was a fun way to discover 2.0 things, but there were some problems. It was hard to get finished in 3 weeks, sit for long periods of time, and have enough time to really EXPLORE. I would be interested in exploring more as time permits.
Summing up my experience in one sentence: Library2Play is learning through playing, and discovering through exploration.

Thing #22

Nings seem to be a good way to share ideas, brainstorm solutions to problems, and join communities. I looked at a few of the preschool blogs since I'll be teaching Pre-K next year and didn't find anything interesting. I liked the way the Ning was used in the example (7 Things You Need to Know About Ning; Thing #22; http://www.library2play.blogspot.com). It showed students just how powerful their voice could be!

Thing #21

I tried to use other tools to create with, but I don't have a microphone and things were REALLY slow. I had a hard time with Audacity . . . even listening to the book review took quite a while. It was REALLY slow to download. I also got frustrated registering for Switchpod, all the user names I wanted to use were taken, and it erased EVERYTHING for me to do it ALL again (description of podcast and e-mail were the hardest to have to type over and over again!!). Anyway, I finally made a product using Photo Story. The pictures were taken last summer (when I was able to take a VACATION) and the song is from the Fall 2007 San Jacinto College Central Jazz Ensemble and Combo Concert. Listen very closely and you'll hear my son playing sax. Here's the link:

http://www.switchpod.com/p19554.html

I can use Photo Story to show pictures of classroom activities next year!

Thing #20

Searching YouTube I found some fun Pre-K songs and activities:





Searching TeacherTube I met the Quirkles - fun science activities:



I'll be able to use these in the classroom, plus a lot of others. It's wonderful we have access to so many wonderful resources and are able to connect with others in our profession around the world!

Thing #19

WOW, what a lot of cool things! I found some useful powerpoint presentations in docstoc to help with teaching Pre-K - lots of useful info! Writeboard could be used to collaborate with peers. I also checked out some genealogy sites and played with the artistic tools!

Thing #18

I downloaded Open Office on my computer and am impressed by the ease of use. GoogleDocs didn't impress my so much. The advantages of using free online tools are they're free. However, free usually comes with a price. As I've worked through these 23 Things I've noticed my inbox becoming crowded with unsolicited e-mail. I'm wondering if it's because of some of these free things I've been viewing or registering with. I would recommend Open Office instead of Microsoft Office. I have WordPerfect, and since I had my computer fixed, it won't let me update. It's very frustrating, so it's really the perfect time to switch to something else! Thanks!

Thing #17

This is a link to the searchroll I created on rollyo:
http://rollyo.com/jpbrown/my_free_genealogy_sites/
I did not add a lot of sites, but the main ones I use to do genealogical research.

I can see how this would be a useful tool to use in the library or classroom by reviewing and choosing sites for students to research a particular topic.

Thing #16

I can see great potential for using wikis in collaboration. TEKS could be added with suggestions for ways to teach them. Thematic units could be constantly updated, other teachers could add to the pages. Wikis could be used to explain homework, reading suggestions, and important dates for the parents. Since I will be teaching Pre-K next year, I don't think the students could use them. Maybe someone else can leave a comment for a suggestion . . . . .

Thing #15

I think Library 2.0 means the library is able to be accessed 24/7/365 in the virtual realm. If a patron is using the computer at 3 a.m. and decides to research genealogy, they can go to the library's home page and access multiple databases. No more do patrons need to wait for the bookmobile every 2 weeks, but patrons can access information they need when they need it.

I thought Dr. Wendy Schultz made some excellent points about libraries evolving to meet the needs of the users. She suggested that libraries will not stop at 2.0, but keep changing from "virtual reality to augmentive reality."
http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/6.htm

This also goes along well with Ranganathan's 5 laws of librarianship: a library is a growing organism. School Libraries MUST change to meet the needs of their users, and strive to keep one step further in anticipation of future needs, in order to prepare students for whatever lies ahead.

Thing #14

Technorati is, well, technical. It's not real user-friendly and the searches are completely different than what was shown in the podcast (which used user-friendly drop-downs). Why did they change it? Searching the term "School Library Learning 2.0" in different ways did yield different results: tags 3; blogs 11; posts 13. It showed video results which were irrelevant. Overall, I found it difficult too use.

Thing #13

I can see how social bookmarking can benefit teachers and librarians. I like that you can use the key words to group your bookmarks and share them with others. It will make looking for new material to use for teaching much easier. Since I'm going to teach Pre-K again next year, I need new material because I haven't taught it for 7 years! I searched Pre Kindergarten bookmarks and found some really great sites!

Thing #12

Important points about commenting: Cool Cat's comment about having a duty to comment on a topic that you have an opinion about and the 4th of the 10 Commandments of commenting regarding making a significant contribution when commenting.
After commenting on 5 blogs at Library2Play, I searched blogs about early childhood education. There were a lot of blogs, but I could not find one that appealed to me enough to comment on. So, I searched a book series that I read and liked. I found 2 blogs: one had music on her blog (wow!) and the other just started the series and I encouraged her to finish. The series is Miss Julia, and the writing isn't real great, but they can make you laugh.

Thing #11

Library Thing is great, and there are so many possibilities: being connected to people with the same interest in books, keeping track of your personal and classroom library, having students make lists and write reviews of the books they read, and social networking. The possibilities are endless. I looked at some of the groups, and will choose a group to join soon. I may join graduate students.

Thing #10

Wow, I found something really cool at http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/comix.php
where you can make comic strips. This would be great to use for those older kids who don't like to write traditional papers. I also played at image chef and added that to my blog. I created a comic strip, and hopefully I can send it to the blog, too. After you create it, you can have it e-mailed to yourself and one other person. I sent it to my brother who teaches ESL, maybe he can use it in his classes.

Thing #9

The easiest search tool for me to use to add blogs to my reader was edublog's winners list. The hardest search tool was Google Blog Search, which gave too many choices to sort through. Looking for the orange speaker icon made things easy, too. At one of edublog's librarian sites, my computer said there was an error and shut down. I found that strange, and don't know if the site had anything to do with it. The name of the blog was Hey Jude, and I believe it originated from England. I also used Yahoo Tools, since I have an account there. That was very easy for me to use, since I'm used to it. I'm looking forward to the next thing!

Thing #8

I can see how readers can be useful tools in the library. Sites with pertinent information for a certain topic could be previewed, then discarded or added as needed, instead of students and/or teachers being overwhelmed by TMI (too much information). Great tool for the classroom, too!

Thing #7

I looked at the tools of Google listed on the Library2Play blog and found others on Google's home page (go to more and even more). I set up an alert for Astros' news and played with iGoogle for quite a while. I don't see any way to make it available to the public - don't know if I'm missing something or not.

Thing #6

I looked at mashups, etc. and attempted to make a trading card. It didn't work, so I added one of my pics from my Flickr account that I received from a cousin in Tennessee that also does genealogy on our family.

Thing #5

I looked at some interesting pictures on Flickr, but I chose the Texas Longhorn to add to my blog because it could be used when teaching about state symbols. I think I'll add some more - I saw some lovely pictures of bluebonnets. There are also some good pictures that show the diversity of the Texas landscape. This could take awhile!

Thing #4

Last night I registered with Library2Play to begin playing. I'm going to try to complete the 23 Things quickly.

Thing #3

Well,

I actually created a blog and imported my avatar into it. I had to change clothes on my avatar first!

It's interesting that my template is the same my nephew picked out for his blog - great minds and all that.

Thing #2

In regard to the 7 1/2 habits of highly successful lifelong learners:

The easiest for me to do is to play!

The hardest is to have confidence in myself as a competent effective learner. That is something I really struggle with --- self confidence.