Voki to Present Haiku!

I created a Voki to introduce students to a class lesson on writing haiku... it is sure to get their attention! After students write their own Haiku poem they can create their own voki to share their poem with the class.

Big Huge Labs

13 Original Colonies

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

Big Huge Labs is a useful application for the classroom. I used the map maker option to create this map highlighting the thirteen orginal colonies of the United States. It was very easy!

Rollyo

Rollyo is a great tool for teachers and librarians! Using Rollyo, I was able to create a search tool for an upcoming project for 5th grade students on important battles of the American Revolutionary War. I liked the way you can choose specific websites for students to search through when they are working on a topic such as the battles of the American Revolutionary War. This is especially helpful in the younger grades, where students are just learning to filter out what sites are junk and what sites are credible and also what sites are more focused on the specific topic they are researching. It also helps you guide students to sites that are appropriate and helpful for various learning styles

Flickr

DSC00746
Originally uploaded by dmael

I worked with the online application flickr this week.  A great tool for use in the classroom with unlimited posibilities. I particularly like the way it can appeal to visual learning.
This photograph, which was taken on a visit to Barcelona, Spain, is part of a photostream created on flickr. I found it easy to download and organize my photos. This photo stream is public but flickr has the ability to keep photos restricted to invited only, a nice option if needed when working with students  Being able to locate and label the exact location where the photo was taken on a map is an amazing learning option in flickr. I also like the ability to create thought and conversation with students by being able to post comments under photographs posted in flickr.
The ability to link flickr to a blog as done here certainly makes using this online application easier to access and organize for use in the classroom!
Click on the number under the photo to see the remainder of the photostream which depicts the distinctive architecture designed by Antoni Gaudi seen throughout the city of Barcelona.

Social Bookmarking

I had tried to use del.icio.us last year. I registered for an account and added a few bookmarks but did not continue to use the site.  So, I continued to save sites I need written on post- its stuck to my desk, in a notebook filled with a scribbled list of sites that I know I will need one day, even in a word document file saved on my pin drive that I copy and paste sites into that I think are interesting and helpful. This week of learning about social bookmarking has been enlightening and all of this is going to change!! I love to be organized and I see that del.icio.us will help me do that. I now have a better understanding of how to tag sites not only to save for myself but to share with a community of others interested in the same topic who have also tagged additional sites to share. I added the bookmark button to my browser tool bar and I am working to enter all my saved sites into del.icio.us and I have begun with the sites for this LBS 850 class!

Book Organization

Shelfari is certainly what I need to help me remember books that I have read when I want to refer to them or share with others!  I was excited that I was able to link my Shelfari book shelf to the left side of my blog page.  Also, while on the Shelfari site, I was also able to subscribe to the shelfari blog so that I can follow it using my RSS googlereader!

RSS Readers

The time I spent time this week playing with googlereader and bloglines was informative. Until now, I never understood what an RSS reader is, what it does, how to use it and the potential it provides to gather specific information from the massive amount of information on the web.  

I set up my account with googlereader which was relatively easy to do...I spent a lot of time on the site. One thing I like is the handy quick links at the top to the web, googledocs, google calendar, picasa and others.  Some of the subscriptions I created were to the New York Times Books and New York Times Education. I also subscribed to a blog that my cousin, a recent graduate from journalism school and living in NYC writes about food. 

I found through the browse button that googlereader bundles together feeds based on a topic. I selected the library bundle and was linked to ten feeds, some I do not like and will probably delete but found that this was a way to connect to interesting feeds that I would not have known about. I know that there will be more subscriptions that I will find helpful and interesting both professionally and personally. Now that I have more knowledge about RSS feeds and feel more comfortable using this tool, I will surely continue to add to my subscription list.

A Wiki

   The wiki I created this week was the first wiki I have ever created!  Of course I have heard of wikis and even worked on them but never created my own until now!
   The process of the first steps in creating a wiki has been a beneficial learning experience. It took me several days to decide just what would be the topic of my new wiki. Once I decided to focus on a library book club wiki, I realized I then needed to first work on the structural organization..... just how was I going to structure things so that the wiki would be organized and easy for students to navigate? Once I had this vision created in my mind, I then began to play with my newly established wiki account to figure out how to create pages, link pictures and choose font, size and color.  I know much more can be added to my wiki.... I hope to continue to explore and create.
   In creating the wiki to be used with a school library book club, I hope that it would encourage students to read books outside of school assignments and create a community of students who enjoy reading and sharing ideas about books.

Twitter

I set up my twitter account a couple of days ago, I tried a couple of tweets and I have to say it was fun!  I had a concern when I first set up my account...when I clicked the set up button I was immediately followed by someone who I did not know, I know it is social media and we don't always know who views our tweets but, the tweets from that person were a little racy. I was able to go back and figure out how to block that person from following me and have other people request to follow me. So, I guess that is one of the things to consider when using twitter with students.