Thing #23 FINISHED!!!!! YEAH

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I like the avitar and photostory a lot. I liked most of the skills really

2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
I like the do at home style the most. I like the fun you all have put in the project that makes learning, or adding to, our technological skills applicable to our lives and professions. You all did a great job teaching us in a fun, no stress fashion. Right up my alley.

3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I see that the photostory 1 skill as one I will use personally and perhaps professionally.

4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
There are a couple Things like #20 I think that the method to download to copy/paste html codes for the youtube/teachtube could be clearer. That one comes to mind. FLICKER isn't that easy and doing the picture collage was not easy. I had to have my husband help me.

5. If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
Sure. I like the at your own pace style and timeline to complete. MY Style of learning on my own time.

6. How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities?
Enlightening.

Thing # 22

I viewed all 5 of the Nings samples. I am not into that kind of networking, branching out to specific themes or topics. I have a facebook account and I do enjoy reading everyones posts. I don't play the games, do contest, or send gifts on facebook. I am not that kind of a downtime person. I just like reading up on everyones day and posting stuff about my day and viewing some peoples photos that post. It is pure social, leisure entertainment to me. I have some friends that play all kinds of games offered by facebook. That bores me...weird I know but I have no interest in devoting my time. I don't play video games either. Bet you're not surprised...right.!? On that note, I can see the value to use a NING for a class as a network project to design a site, post views, post links and updates as a sort of network research project that will have a value to them and continue to grow as they grow if they choose to keep it up and running. That would be cool.
SO in conclusion. I liked it and see that students would love to use their tech skills and knowledge to design and activate a social network page for themselves. They would love it and do it with great ease I am sure.

Thing #21 Photostory of our hike in the Yosemite Giant Sequoias Grove

This was a fun THING to do. It does take a lot of time in some respects. I enjoyed making the video story from our trip last summer to California. I felt the instructions were clear and easy to follow. I know of a lot of teachers who use this to post end of session activities with classes and projects. Photo story is great I loved it.

Thing #20 teachertube Fitness Video

http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=7643&title=Exploring_Exercise_Physiology&ref=Brendaseitz

I don't know what I did actually to get the video. The instructions to embed are horrible and I don't know what I am suppose to do. I think that Library 23 could do a better job at designing a insert spot or better link instructions. Just a thought, don't mean to sound critical. I did do a gadget link to video on video bar which you can click on. I couldnt get the one I wanted though, but I consider it a finished skill that I have a video. I did a HMLT link from the gadget to try and get my exercise physiolgy teachertube video on my blog. It isn't really working well. I'll try and play with it later.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUSep79M9o0

Thing #19 Web 2.0 awards list

At first I looked and thought what in the world is this. Then I started clicking on the links. It is useful. The first thing that drew my attention was the sports category. I like the istat. I can see using that in my PE class/weight training class. It can be benefical in tracking their progress. We would need time to access computers with our tight time line and pressure for students to be active 80% of their classroom time. Crazy isn't it. Teaching isn't really teaching fitness. but that is another conversation. The teamsnap is not a site for middle school sports; it is more for little league. We have numerous websites, including a district site, that does the same thing. The gympost has some good videos for people who are new to training.I was attracted to the cocktail builder site; always good to find something new and refreshing. I might try a few this afternoon, since it is summertime.Looking through the food category, I did not find anything as good as food network .com. I still like mapquest when making travel plans. They have added a google earth feature to mapquest which makes it very cool.All in all, I like the web page and will go back and search some of the other tools when I have more time. It is a very good resource.

Thing #18. On line productivity Tool

This thing #18 is interesting. The OpenOffice.org was neat. I gazed through it and thought the lay out was visually easy to follow. I am a regular Microsoft Word user and understand that process pretty well. I hate having to figure out a new system because time is important when you have a short off period. If I had a project that required specialty work I may take the time to research the tools better to see if the site, since it is on our laptops, had better tools to accomplish my goal. The Google Docs was ok. I was signed in when I clicked on it but I wasn't going to download or open stuff. I looked at the business card option since I would like to design a new business card for myself. That was pretty cool.

Thing #17

I made a rollyo for my personal interest which are home improvement, cooking and projects. http://rollyo.com/searchbox.html It is boring to always be making something for school when in fact, our enthusiasm for teaching comes from our own personal enthusiasm for life. I am me and I am a teacher. So my personal interest inspire me.
my rollyo is called Brenda's Interest. I clicked on to set up a link to my blog. http://rollyo.com/seitzb// Don't know if it worked because I can't see it while I am writing you.
My tag words are home improvement, food, recipes, projects.

Thing #16

I can see using this in my Health Fitness if we had methods to use it in groups to teach health lessons in class. It would be good because you could see who is doing what work and when. I could use this as one of the suggestions state about doing group discovery on health and fitness news and issues. It would be a truly collaborative effort. I could also see using it teaching how to set up a game or teams or as a tool to have student design a new game. I also liked the idea of collaborative note-taking. The top ten list could also be something I could use. I thought the WIKI was fantastic for personal use. The illustration video by COMMONCAST was simplistic and easy to understand the value of a wiki. I really liked it. I posted a comment in the sandbox. (I guess that is what we are suppose to do.) Thank you and it was fun.

Thing #15

I remember having to learn the Dewy Decimal system and how to find a book by the author's name or my the books title. I went to school in the 60's and 70's. My first experience with technology was a punch card computer with basic language in the office of my physics class. I didn't undertand it and wasn't interested in understanding. The library of my youth is long since gone; a place of quiet solitude; a place where I used to go to for story telling sessions; a place that smelled of dusty, moldy books and and file cards where the only words heard were "shhhhh!". Students today understand quickly all of the latest technology to help them succeed. The days of doing research cards and the like are long gone. I doubt if there is a college student out there that does a research paper the way that many teachers are still teaching them (note cards etc.) I still remember carrying home arm-loads of books. I think that teaching students to look up items and write them down teaches them that learning comes in many fashions and methods. Many of the "things" that we have done so far are of great value. I don't have the classroom environment to utilize them though. I know in my heart that the students core teachers are passing on these tools to them and that is what matters.To keep up with this ever-changing technology, exercises like this are extremely valuable. We need more hands on tasks such as this to help us along the way. The problem that I see is a lack of computer access and a lack of people who are knowledgeable enough to get this information across to the students. After reading the five perspectives on Library 2.0 and viewing the vidoe on Web2.0 I find that it is important to understand the past and embrace the future of learning.

thing #14 technorati

I tried to do the key word search and was not very successful. I did a blog search for teenage obesity and did not have very successful results. I search the category for sports and found that there was not very much there that interested me. I have stated once before, unless someone is famous or I know them, I really don't want to read their blog. Why would I want to read some one's thoughts that I don't know or care about? I can see the advantage of being able to tag things yourself instead of using the user tags. I don't think that this would be something I would use.

thing #13 tagging

I found that making my around and setting up an account with del.icio.us was fairly simple. I like the idea that information can be accessed from any computer. It is farily easy to organize and publish collections of bookmarks. I also liked the idea in the del.icio.us site that once the bookmarks are imported, the bookmarks are all shared. I can see how classroom teachers can use this by referring students to certain bookmarks for research projects. As for me, being a PE teacher, it really doesn't help me much since we don't do research.

thing #12 creating community

You show the blog author that "you hear them" - I think this is probably one of the most important pieces of advice. It is good advice in any type of give and take; be it face to face or online. Don't be afraid to comment. I think this is a good piece of advice also. I know that many times I feel this way. I like the comment invite questions. The first blog I visited was The Obesity Facts Blog - http://obesityfacts.biz/
The reason I chose this is because I am a middle school PE teacher and I see overweight teens everyday. I feel that this is a major problem today that is really not being adressed. Now that the Board of Education has seen fit to eliminate the health requirement for high school students, I wonder where these kids are going to get the information they need. SUCCESS 4 HEALTHY LIFE - http://success4healthylife.blogspot.com/
This is the second blog that I visited because of the aforementioned reasons.

I have also gone through and made comments on others blogs.

thing #11 library things

I went to the site and created my book list. I am a PE teacher so I am not sure if I would use this thing. I can see how it would be beneficial to classroom teachers; setting up book clubs, research lists and the like. However, I do not see a real benefit to use this in the gym. As for me, I don't read very many novels; I have a hard enough time keeping up with my athletic journals. When I do read a book, it is usually about coaching techniques for the sports that I am involved with.

Thing #10: On line image generator

The comic strip site was very easy to manipulate. I like browsing through all the images. Fun to pick out one. I see that this site would be fun for a classroom to use to encourage students to engage in imaginative thoughts. I used this weblink for my image: http://www.comicstrip.com/

Then I went to the Trading Card image program at http://www.tradingcards.com/ and made a trading card from a picture of us from last summers vacation.

The trading card image maker was extremely easy to manipulate and use. I liked that a lot. My only obstacle was a lack of pictures downloaded on this computer.

thing #9 related blogs and news feeds.

Which Search tool was the easiest for you?
Google blog search was the easiest for me to use; it is pretty straight forward.

Which was more confusing?
The Syndic8 was the most confusing for me; I really did not understand it or its purpose.

What kind of useful feeds did you find in your travels? Or what kind of unusual ones did you find?
I really did not find very much that interested me. I guess I am not one that is really into reading blogs. Maybe I will after doing this, but at this time, I still am not. If I want information, I still just go to the website, like HGTV or the food network. I still find them easier to use than this other stuff. These have links to blogs so if i feel like reading Bobby Flay's blog, I can just find it from there. But, as I said, I am not really into reading blogs, especially from people that I don't know. That was one of the things about the blog searches; I kept wondering, who are these people and why do I care what they think!

thing #8 RSS

What do you like about RSS and readers?
What I like best about the rss and reader is that you get the websites that you know you can trust. There are so many bogus websites out there today that sometimes, when searching online, you are not sure if the information is legitimate.

How do you think you might be able to use this technology in your school or personal life?
This will help me in doing research and keeping track of the latest news in the field of health and personal fitness.

How can libraries/teachers/administrators use readers or take advantage of this new technology?
I can see how this could be of great use to teachers who have students do research papers. It will narrow a student's search and a teacher can be sure that they are using correct and up-to-date sources.

I created my reader with sources that I can use for my PE classes. I have linked up with sites that we let me know about the latest advances in my field.
I have added a link to my reader on my blog at the bottom of the page.

thing # 7 cool tools

You are right! There are some cool tools in there. I have used google earth before; I think it is neat to be able to see what things really look like. I searched my house, the house where I grew up and some of the places we have visited on our travels.
I set a google calendar. I found this to be very easy to use, especially when setting up events that occur over a number of different days; you just tell the time period and it does it; very cool. I like the idea of it giving me alerts as to when the events will happen. I think this will be very beneficial. I also like the idea that I can set up my volleyball schedule and have the public be able to access it along with a map to the location. This will be great help to me as a coach. I did not find anything special with the photo album. I have used the search engine for many years so am very familiar with it. I like the idea of being able to search for particular formats, such as PowerPoint. This is a time-saving device that all teachers can use.
I found the docs to be very useful. I am always on the look-out for pre-made documents that make my life easier. There are many here to choose from. I can see me using the templates; the tournament bracket maker (always helpful); the runner log and others in my P.E. class. I especially like the weight training template; check it out! http://docs.google.com/previewtemplate?id=0As3tAuweYU9QcHlVM3hrY2tocEkwaTllODFOblB2SWc&mode=public

Thing #6 mashups

The mashups are great. The mappr is a good tool to help a student organize their personal experiences with family or friends. They get a bigger picture of their world. The pickr is cool if you have an artistic student who has an interest in the more artful side of self expression. The mosaic site is great for students to create a collage of photos to express their hobbies, families, or dreams. And the trading cards gives students a cool way to create a single tool of self expression and identification.

The mosaic took a long time to do. The photos are from our vacation to Yosemite. The problem was that my photos would not show up in the mosaic maker so I had to look at the numbers, go back and match them up from another program, and then choose the numbers that I wanted; this took a long time. Another problem was; once you chose a photo, you could not edit it or move in around. I had to go back and delete it and re-upload it in the position I wanted.

thing # 5 flicker

Hurdle your dreams, interest or fears. Never settle for doing nothing.
I thought flickr was a great website but to load a picture to add to my blog, the site was not easy for that function. Even when I saved a photo as a jpeg, it appeared blank in my folder I saved it to.
In my class environment it would be useful if your students had pictures to enhance an exercise log.

thing #4

I believe I finally got this thing figured out. I am registered, published and have my avitar saved and hopefully viewable. I am ready to begin my journey through the techno-world.

Thing 2: 7 Habits

Synergize comes naturally to me so I guess that is the easiest of the 7 habits. I have a nack to problem solve and conflict resolution. Which also falls under the task of" Seek to understand before being understood". Some situations in life, that is a task that you have to utilize to be successful. I am proactive when I can stop a minute and look at what is the "begin with the end in mind" on whatever is going on.
Probably the most neglected by me for myself is the " Sharpen the Saw".

Thing #3 setting up blog

This was a blast. Mostly because my husband helped me. Bless that man. It is fun to make up pictures of yourself. Wishing you really did look like that. LOL
I made my Avatar on the beach with shorts, tank top and smiles because that is what I am all about. Fun in the sun.
My blog title Hawks Rule came from my school, which I love with all my heart. We are the HAWKS and so proud of that!!!!!!!! GO HAWKS. Can you tell I am a coach???
Any how. I registered which states I am finished with Thing #2 too. Yeah. All in one day.
Since my husband is the English major and I am not, I am afraid you all may enjoy reading his blog much more than mine. Later, I'll tell you his blog title so you can compare us.

Tuesday; first entry

Yipee! I did it; I created a blog. Now what?