Thing 18.1 ...More on Wikis

I tried to start a Wiki today to post meeting minutes for a non-profit I volunteer for. However, I was disappointed that in order to have a private Wiki on Wikispaces you have to pay for it. I don't like the idea of the meeting minutes being public, but I love the idea of keeping them on a Wiki. So I am off to search for a private wiki I can set up for free. Does such a thing exist?

Thing 23

I think my concept of Web 2.0 has changed. In the beginning, I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into. Now, I find myself clicking on any link related to Web 2.0 throughout the Web. This project has definitely made me expand my Web related horizons and convinced me to keep expanding them by discovering new things all the time.

I think my favorite Things were Thing 6: Nings and Thing 12: Your Choice of Web 2.0 Tools. I have already created a Ning for a group of moms in the area, and I have been using Wordle and BeFunky to jazz up the various blogs and sites I post to.

I really liked the format. I liked being able to work on it in my own time because my actual time at ASH is limited. And my availability for the normal technology trainings is even more limited with ASLC being at the same time as many of them and a lack of 7am babysitters.

I would definitely participate in the future. In fact, I hope there are another 23 things. I have recommended the 23 Things Blog to my friends and my dad. I have been very impressed with the range of Web 2.0 tools covered and that they are not all just things for the classroom only. Everything seemed to have so many uses! Thanks for creating this opportunity!

Thing 22.1

I also found StoryJumper. Wow, what a great site! It's for creating children's books. You can create and post a book for free. If you want to have it printed it costs. Starting at $24.95 a book. The free aspects of the site are great. There is also a link for teachers to create accounts for student use. The students can access it at school, or you can click to let them have home access, too. I can definitely see using this site both at home with my kids and in the ASLC with the kids there. I am really glad I took the time to explore Go2Web20!

Thing 22

I taught my friend and fellow teacher how to use Screencast-o-matic. She teaches first grade and was complaining about having a better way to set up directions for her kids to follow independently on the computer. Screencast-o-matic was perfect for her! She could create a step by step narration of what she wanted the kids to do. She even was able to do separate steps separately, so their computer work was able to step up a notch. With the ability to record her voice as she clicked on different items, it was easy for her first graders to follow along and complete projects. Also, she said an added bonus was that when children were absent, she was able to let them complete the project from home by simply viewing the same Screencast-o-matic film.

Thing 21

I have been following some friends, family and John Quincy Adams from 1809-1810 so far. I am still not sure how I like it. I've never posted before, just followed a few others. Mostly, I don't check twitter. I am more likely to check my Facebook page than my twitter account. I know more people on Facebook and besides John Q's line a day diary, I haven't found anyone that I want to keep up on through Twitter. I guess maybe I need to look a little harder?

Thing 20.1

Bonus Material...

I checked into Scribd and found some really great documents. I love new recipes, so I was quick to click on this recipe book. Who doesn't like Mac and Cheese?
25 Mac & Cheese Recipes by Gooseberry Patch I am creating a family recipe book. I think this is a great way to share it when I am finished.

Thing 20

Slide Share is an amazing site. I wish I would have known about it a year ago when I was using more presentations in the classroom. This year I haven't been using as many since the age of kids in the ASLC is younger. I was also excited to see that OpenOffice presentations were able to be uploaded. We use NeoOffice at home and it was difficult to create a presentation at home and bring it to ASH to use with my kids. I browsed through a number of presentations and really thought that this one was well made and interesting:

What is Social Media?

View more presentations from Marta Kagan.

I created a project last year for the ASLC where we learned about and then created mosaics. At the time, I used a PowerPoint presentation to teach what a mosaic is. I found the following presentation on SlideShare that would have really been nice last year. It has great picture examples of various mosaics.

Pippa Murray Mosaics - Sausalito, CA

View more presentations from PippaMurrayMosaics.