Thing 16

I created a class wiki this past spring. (Many thanks to my technology coach, Amy Markham. She rocks!) My experience with the wiki was one of my favorite in my 14 years of teaching! I started the wiki based on our bird research, but the content quickly grew due to our enthusiasm--mine and the students'. My purpose of the wiki was for the students to have a central place where content could be referenced, researched, and discussed.


I teach second grade and was concerned about security issues as well as the students having too much freedom to edit information on pages. In order to alleviate my concerns, the students were listed as members while I was the organizer and I made the page private (which means you have to be invited to join by the organizer or ask to join). Also, I locked all pages as I created them so the students posted to the Discussion tabs rather than editing information on the pages. There is an e-mail component to wiki. I could not figure out how to disable it, so I told my students it was off limits. (Of course, one of my more technologically with-it students, e-mailed a "Hi!" message to the whole class before I had the talk. Really, my second graders' lack of fear is my inspiration to try new things!) The quality of some of my students' comments was a bit lacking at times, so I will especially work on this with future classes. However, I was very pleased with my students interest and use of our wiki to explore particular content, research, and discussion.


Below are some of the page titles on my class wiki.

• Animal Cams--links to animals in zoos and the wild (very cool)
• Bird Sounds and Videos--links to aid in bird knowledge and research
• Math Practice--links to practice specific skills
• Our Bird Research--slide show of student artwork and recording of their bird research
• Our Chicks--video of our chicks hatching in the incubator
• Poetry Results--poll the students completed about poems
• Poems--students posted poems as well as commented on other students' poems

Thing 15

A Vision of Students Today was very thought provoking--scary, but informative about students' reality. I enjoyed reading Away from Icebergs by Rick Anderson and To a Temporary Place in Time by Dr. Wendy Schultz. Some of my fondest memories as I child involved being at the library. I loved looking up books in the catalog system (might be the organization that appealed to me) as well as the process of checking out books. Going to the library from elementary through high school was special to me. It was disheartening to see the changes of libraries over time because I felt that the personal element was disappearing. Computers seemed so cold and impersonal. As libraries have Incorporated technology and I have learned more about using the web, I see how well they go together. I think of the library of the past fondly, but now understand the necessity of Library 2.0. Technology has changed our world thus influencing how we do things. Library 2.0 improves our communication and collaboration with others.

Thing 14

I stumbled across Technorati while looking for blogs of interest to me. This is how I found the second grade teacher blog I responded to in Thing 12.

I like the different features of Technorati. It was interesting to see different results when searching School Library Learning 2.0 via blog posts, tags, and the blog directory. Another point I noticed and liked was the difference between popular blogs rated by fans versus by authority. For instance, Boing Boing rated number 1 on the Top 100 blogs by fans while it rated number 5 on the Top 100 blogs by authority.

After exploring Flickr, LibraryThing, de.lico.us, and Technorati, I definitely see the importance of tagging information. It is a helpful and necessary organizational tool for content. I can see Joshua Schachter's point about tagging being better suited for the users of blogs rather than the publishers. On the other hand, when I was looking for a blog of interest for Thing 12, Technorati helped me locate what I wanted.

Quick clarification for me: Delicious tags are completed by the users. Technorati provides tagging services to publishers of blogs, media sites, and connects advertisers to blogs and media sites. Am I understanding this correctly?

Thing 13

Delicious was delightful once I started exploring it. I did get overwhelmed at first, but once I got going it begin to make sense. I wonder about incorporating the use of social bookmarking with my second graders. We do many research projects throughout the year. Even when it is an individual project, the students are talking to one another about what they've found and/or information needed. I will check into using the social bookmarking for next year. I am sure the students would love it! They love to share!

Thing 12

The article regarding ways to increase comments on your blog gave some great advice. Much like active participation is a key part of teaching lessons, participation on a blog is an essential element. Communication is the point to blogging, right? I also thought the concept of meaningful, well-mannered comments was important. Respect is always a good thing even if you are not face-to-face.


I have posted a couple of comments of Library2Play blogs already and will continue to do so in the future.

I posted to A Second Grade Teacher's Blog. It took a lot of searching to find a blog that fit my interests of second grade technology projects. I found this blog and though the teacher, Patti Harju, is well beyond my technological skills, I did recognize "wiki" and "skype" so I read on and found some great inspiration. I commented on Patti's blog regarding future collaboration amongst our classes, and she agreed. I put a feed to Patti's site on my blog. I will continue to look for other blogs that are of interest and relevance to me.

Thing 11

I found LibraryThing very interesting. It was great to begin a catalog of the books I have read as well as to see comments of other readers. It definitely gives me a great resource to find what I want to read next. I scratched the surface by looking at some of the groups and topics, but did not join/post to any. It was helpful to do a tag search on children's literature. This site is a keeper for me!

Thing 10

What fun!!! I especially enjoyed Custum Sign Generator, Big Huge Labs, Dumpr, and Wordle.


There seems to be a theme for me. I was pleasantly overwhelmed by the many choices there are for creating unique images. I have also noticed that I am quick to discover which sites work best for me due to the formats and my interest level. For instance, I found
Happy Face Generartor to be way too happy for me and Glogster was cool but seemed to be geared more for teenage girls.


I could see using these image sites in the classroom for activities such as reading response activities to literature and visual aides to support research. Also, these activities would be great for student technology portfolios. My second graders would eat this up! It is fun and creative and I love having all the options for my students (okay, me too!).