Thing 12

As I looked over the list for Web 2.0 tools, I naturally gravitated toward Be Funky, Blabberize, Picnic, Pikistrips, Toondo and Wordle. Most of those sites were working with your photos and doing some "wild and crazy "things to them. Needless to say, it was entertaining and time flew by! PikiStrips, I thought took too long adding effects ..and in the end I wasn't so sure I wanted to go public with my creation. I think the students would have fun with Blabberize, I know I did! The talking Llama is a little out there..  Wordle, I have used before and really like. I like the idea of designing with text and the possibilities are endless. Definitely good for classroom use.

Thing 11

I did sign up for Delicious and spent some time navigating the site. I can see the benefits of the organizational side of it especially if you have numerous sites that you want to keep track of. On the social side, I am not sure of the time commitment. I bookmarked some sites to experiment and everything was going along fine until the tagging. Of course, I forgot about the fact that a space is another tag and so I have tags like "and, by, grade"...randoms that mean nothing to me. I tried to delete and couldn't and spent too much time trying to undo. I will give it another try when I need to bookmark.

Thing 10

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

I thought this was timely....I downloaded the collage maker from Big Huge Labs and used student art to create a heart collage. It has some interesting options using text and also the opportunity to draw your own shapes. I had fun trying the Spell with Flickr and the Flickr Colorpicker mashups. I couldn't figure out how to export the Flickr spell blocks to the blog. I was able to save it as a word document. I spent way too much time on the Amazon Window Shop..it was fun and entertaining!

Thing 9

                                                                                        I signed up for a Flickr account and downloaded some of my personal photos. The one on this blog is by Mark Miller from Morguefile. I think he took it at my house..it seriously looks like my backyard! I can see a project for the summer forming. I would like to organize  my personal as well as school related pics on this site. I was also intrigued by the idea of creating books on Snapfish. There is an option for sharing photos and getting feedback not just from family and friends but the public- not so sure about that. I really liked the free photo sites and I am excited to have other sources besides Google Images for my projects.

Thing 8

I liked creating my own start page. I included a calendar and a to do list which is basically how I function. Without a list, I would be lost. There are just too many variables to keep track of during a day both at work and at home. The weather is just a click away and on a personal note, eBay and stock watch were of interest to me as well. I tried to include some of my professional sights and typed in the urls but they kept coming up without a feed. This page is like a planner plus to me; everything all on one page and easily accessible. You can read the paper, check the weather and see what you have planned for the day at a glance. I also bookmarked some of the sites that I use most often for teaching.  I think students would find this useful to organize their work and keep track of assignments. I would need an internet app on my phone to make it totally relevant and practical for me... then,  I would be happy to get rid of the huge folder I carry around on a daily basis!

Thing 7

The Google Reader is definitely a useful necessity in keeping track of all the information that is coming my way. I love the fact that the info comes to you and you dont have to go looking for it. At the same time, I feel compelled to read it all, it is addicting .... I  spent well over two hours with my favorite blogs and websites. Did anyone look under Explore in the Reader where there were recommended items to click on...I did and there were a number of bizarre photos such as an orange in the shape of a banana and a snake smoking a cigarette! Did anyone else check this out and why are these recommended? I haven't come across any sites with an orange button yet and so can't offer any RSS feeds at this time.

Thing 6

I found the Nings very interesting and informative. I really enjoyed checking out We Love ETSY which is a group(8,206 members) which promotes the selling of handmade items. I think this could be particularly relevant to me in the future if I decide to open my own shop on the internet. I used to do craft fairs but this opens up a whole other realm of possibilities that I knew nothing about! I paid particular attention to the photo and video section as the marketing aspect of your product would be important. This appeared to be great support group to members offering advice and encouragement. Some of the other arts groups(My Modern Metropolis and Visual Arts Forum)were also intriguing. I like looking at other artists work as it can be inspirational as well as motivational. Ok- I also went on the Tyra Show(Ning) which was just fun!