Thing 22 - ("zweeanzwanzeg" - LUXEMBOURGISH)

I will...

1) Keep Google Reader as my home page. This will have me continue using this page as my main source of gaining information from around the Web. I will keep this updated by adding new, relevant to me RSS feeds. I will also delete RSS feeds that are not so interesting anymore.

2) Use more productivity tools supplied by the Web for school work and personal work. Ta-da List and Backpack are two that come to mind that I can start using this summer or in the fall.

3) Photoshare more often on Flickr using more pictures that I take. I did not realize how easy it was. I took some sweet photo of The House on the Rocks this summer that would be cool to add.

4) Enhance my communication skills in the classroom to the parents by placing some of my slideshows on my teacher website this fall using Zoho Show and Slideshare. I will have better access using the school's PC compared to my Apple at home. I look forward to sharing what the students are learning in the classroom with the technology provided by our district and Web 2.0.

5) Continue using Facebook to stay personally connected with friends. I recently just chatted with a college friend through Facebook's chat feature. I have not seen him in over two years. This really gives me an opportunity to stay in touch with people I have not been doing that with. I also have been connected with old high school friends. Reading what is up with them has been quite entertaining.

6) Look at online games to better educate myself, but I will NOT play these games regularly. I am proud to announce it has been a week since I played Puzzle Pirates. I will continue seeing the positives gaming has to offer, but I will also continue to challenge students and parents to better develop self-control when it comes to gaming. It is not the absence of, but balanced infusion in one's life where I see value.

Thing 5 ("cinq" - FRENCH)

I can see how I can use these mashups in the classroom. Creating a magazine cover for students' accomplishments or for a student news press would impress the students and parents. Having them create their own would just emphasize the power of ownership. The motivational poster mashup would not only allow me to make it more specific to my school building and classroom, but I could include student images in those posters (not for public viewing) and print those out. This was a photo I took during the year. I believe I could even download them into a digital picture viewer (that would be cool). These mashups add even more potential to the applications in an elementary classroom. I will need to take more time to discover and play.

The mashup Big Huge Labs allowed me to instantly upload to my flickr.com account. After making the magazine cover, I realized that if I did this, it would be public. I knew I could go change the setting to private, but it would still be on my flickr.com account. I didn't want this. So, I saved it to my computer. Posting it on my Blog for all to see just doesn't feel the same as having it on my flickr. com account even in the private setting. This is again my digital immigrant side coming up. I believe I have the understanding, but I have no natural comfort zone for some concepts (photo sharing).

Challenge for Thing 4

Fallen Tree Next to Home picnik version, originally uploaded by thedexterzero.

I thought picnik and flickr working together was really fun. This is where I could see students having some fun at the third grade level. They could take photos as backgrounds and then edit in their characters or details for their own narratives or reports. This sort of instant impact leading to a finalized product is pretty amazing. The ability to immediately post it, too, is something we digital immigrants are amazed at. We also sometimes argue the risks. I don't know if that is a self-esteem thing to make ourselves feel better or if that knowledge replaces the lack of knowledge we sometimes feel. For example, I could see how some cyberbullying could come from the power of picnik and flickr. You could really be cruel with someone's image.

Inappropriateness would be the only con I would foresee with this site. I think it is cool and fun. Students would think the same, too. It is easy to use and with permissions being given to all the sites life is easy when you want to upload the image.

I did go to Picasa and Smugmug. First, Smugmug only has a 14 day trial. I hate that. I rarely even try those because I don't like doing all of the login work to give my the abilities to do things and then see those abilities gone in two weeks. Not worth my time. So, I only looked at the page and didn't see anything that stuck out. Picasa is a Google product and it took me through the steps of making all of my Google products one. That was impressive. Then, it also allowed me to download an Updater that would work with my computer (I am an Apple user) and iPhoto. It was cool, but nothing different. Maybe I was still being influenced by my positive experience with picnik.

I definitely feel like I have learned a lot in the past 40 min. Before I thought flickr.com was just a place to get images. Now, I am a participant in supplying those images, realized I could edit those images, and saw how I could connect between multiple sites. I am pretty excited.

Thing 4 ("quattro" - ITALIAN)

Fallen Tree Next to Home, originally uploaded by thedexterzero.

Okay, I just uploaded this photo I took from this year. My neighbor's tree almost crunched my little home. See the window right behind the tree trunk. That's where my bed is! It was a close call. Little damage to the both homes, but look at the poor little fence squished by the fallen tree.

I have used flickr.com before but not to this extent. I have never uploaded a picture on this page (it was easy to create an account since I already had a Yahoo account) and now I am instantly posting the picture on my blog from flickr.com. This is a first. I am use to saving the picture on my computer and then uploading it from my computer to the target site. I can see how this may save time and definitely save computer space. It is weird posting from this (flickr.com) site because I do not have all of the whistles and bells (hyperlinks, image uploads, and text manipulation. Although, I am pretty sure I can edit this post once it is on my Blogger Blog.

It was cool adding tags to the photo and putting in my own little description of the image. Adding this to flickr means anyone can use it. That is pretty sweet. I can see how some people may get a little addicted to posting images hoping people will use theirs. That sort of instant ownership is empowering for the takers and givers.

I do take tons of photos of the learning in my classroom each year. I create a video at the end of the year for the students to have. Security reasons limit my abilities to use those images on flickr. Students could use images from flickr.com for their reports or projects. I still need more time thinking about how flickr.com can offer more to students than just simple photo sharing, but maybe that is enough in itself.