Thing #22

I was specifically looking for art nings on the nings provided. I couldn't find any so I googled "art ning" and found them! Some are specifically for teachers and others are for artists wanting to show their art. I'm not ready to join a ning yet. I almost did but decided not to. One ning I found was Suzi Blu's. I saw her last night in the magazine, The Artful Blogger. She clearly has found her place on the web! A blog AND a ning! Wow! It really is a whole other world out there!

Thing #21

Here is my video. Right now, I am waiting for it to upload...hopefully it will! I enjoyed making this video even more when I figured out that I did not have to say anything...I could just download music. This would be great to use to showcase the artwork my kids do and I could show it anywhere! Also, it's a great thing to use for home videos and such. Great fun!

Thing #20

I'm on youtube right now. I could watch these videos all day. I ended up on some crafting videos...I'm wondering if any of these videos will inspire some new art lessons for this year...most of these particular videos are of scrapbooking...something we don't do in school. Here is the link to my youtube video. I am looking forward to checking out teacher tube in a minute.

Here is a video from teacher tube. It is about Frida Kahlo. I think I like the website, Artsonia, better for my needs. It has many more visual examples of artwork ideas...

Okay...stick a fork in me. I have tried to embed several teacher tube videos and I constantly get an error message saying that the tag is not closed. I have also converted several you tube videos through zamzar but cannot find the actual link to embed after conversion. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Thing #19

Right now, I am on visualcomplexity.com. The website is cool from a visual point of view. From what I can tell, people have created charts for various things. They are very colorful and interesting looking. I tried to get on colorblender but the pages were not completely downloading. Because I love cooking, I got on Im Cooked and have officially fallen in love with Joyce. This website allows you to create a film of yourself cooking/baking something and then upload it for all to see. Joyce rocks! I found Urbanspoon useful but it reminded me alot of citysearch. The websites I visited would be very useful to my personal life...not so much for school.

Real life wiki

Okay...Real life usage...I created a wiki for the food that my family is taking to our lake house this weekend...and I actually got them to add to it. It was great! :)

Thing #18

Google Docs is much easier for me to use. Looking at Open Office was very confusing. I had no clue what it was, really and how I was supposed to use it. Google Docs is easily understandable. There was a message right in the middle of the screen telling me what to do. Perfect! Lots of icons and pictures...remember, I'm a visual learner. Pictures = a good thing! Seems to me that you can share your documents with others for peer editing and/or input.

Thing #17

Here is my rollyo link...
http://rollyo.com/auntiek/food_blogs_sites/
I'm glad that I was able to watch the short video on rollyo. I am a visual learner and the tutorial was very helpful. After watching, I found using rollyo very user friendly. I think it would be a great asset to a classroom...I am easily distracted so for me as a student, rollyo would have been ideal!

Thing #16

WIKIS!!!!! I feel like I'm in a Star Wars movie! Wikis are great! I can totally see using them to coordinate with other art teachers about up coming contests or displays or lessons. They are so very user friendly! I'm not sure that I would use a wiki with my elementary school kids, though...but fellow teachers, absolutely!

Thing #15

I like this quote from Michael Stephens from our reading...“the Library is human” because it makes the library a social and emotionally engaging center for learning and experience." This caught my attention because I strive to make my art classroom the very same thing. Slowly but surely, I'm getting there. I think I need to visit my library more often. After reading the entries tonight, I have done myself a great disservice but not utilizing my library! The world is changing and so is the library. Technology is constantly changing and it is up to each of us to continue learning - or be left in the dust!

My Problem

I've figured out my problem...I am easily distracted. I knew this already but really...I signed in to post something for Thing 15 about 30 minutes ago but I was distracted by the other blogs I'm reading. Not good...well, not good if I want to get these Things done! Okay...FOCUS!!!

Thing #14 - Technorati sign up

ktw2jaivdh...okay - just signed up for technorati. I must be on overload because I'm not getting all of this. Between tagging in thing 13 and technorati in thing 14, no comprendo! Maybe I need a break? I'll try it again tomorrow. Goodnight!

Thing #13

I am in love with delicious! I had not been able to figure out how to search for food blogs (other than checking out blogrolls...) but now I do! It's great! Not liking Digg. Delicious gave me more of what I was searching for. Okay...just spent more time on Delicious and now I am thoroughly confused. This "thing" might take me awhile to really understand.

Thing #12

Right now I am reading Cool Cat Teacher's blog. I'm glad that she mentions the fact that commenting on blogs leads readers to your blog. I've been wondering how anyone really finds your blog...and I 'm glad that she shows us how to add links. Quite frankly, though, I am overwhelmed with all of her information. I will need to stew over this for a while. ProBlogger was much easier for me to take in...well defined Top 10 List. It's nice to hear from an experienced blogger that there are in deed people out there who will leave nasty comments. I would assume that we will all have to deal with that at some point if we keep out blogging up.

Thing #11

I enjoyed Library Thing. Honestly, I like seeing the covers of the books on my blog...but Library Thing can be very useful...putting you in touch with so many people who have similar reading interests - not only through their website but our blogs as well. I liked designing my widget...so many fun options!

Thing #10

Oh dear, that Oliver the Owl star is too cute! Very exciting! I guess I will make a trading card now! Fun, fun, fun! Here is my trading card. I wish they had more options for colors of backgrounds and fonts. These might be fun with the kids - to make digital artist cards!

Thing #9

I used Google Blog Search and Blogline's Search Tool. I was searching for food sights, quite frankly. I probably have to narrow my searches...I entered "food" and "baking" and got a TON of entries. Honestly, I found the whole thing to be confusing. I think for my own personal searching, I will use the blogrolls from the blogs that I read to point me in the direction that I want.

Thing #8

I read several blogs - especially food/cooking/baking blogs so for me, the RSS thingamajig is great! It takes so long to download all the pictures and ads - I guess this way, I bypass all of that. I'm not sure how I could use this for school but for personal use, it's great! I put several feeds on my blog...

Thing #7

I use GMail so I am pretty familiar with some of these google applications. Google calendar is great because you can color code your entries. You can also click on the calendars that you want to see. In other words, I can look at just my school calendar or just my birthday calendar, or I can see all of them at once! iGoogle is nice because you can customize your home page. They have several options from you to choose from...quotes of the day, backgrounds, you can even have your GMail right there for you to see. I just downloaded Google Earth. It's a cool application but I think there might be a bit of a learning curve. There were lots of different options to click on like underwater travelling but I couldn't seem to figure that one out. Google Earth could be used in my art classroom to show the kids where museums are.

Thing #6

I just looked at Mappr. If I'm understanding it correctly, I could use the app for art very easily...with maps of countries and the art that comes from those countries.

Oh my gosh...Color Field is sooooooooo cool! I'm going to post a picture from it! WOW!!!

Just went on the mosaic maker. I'll post what I did. Lots of fun...would be a great way to post artwork from the kids at school.

Thing #5

I have just saved my picture from Flickr...we'll see if I can get it on my blog! I think Flickr is amazing! You can enter anything and find a picture for it! The tagging makes it very easy to organize and find stuff. What a great thing! Okay...going to see if I can post my picture. I want a picture behind my Oliver the Owl title but I can't seem to figure out how to get one in there that fits correctly...

Yay! That was easy! I love all of these colors! Yummy!

Thing #3

Well, I just added my avatar but I don't see it. I mean, I see the box for where it is supposed to be but there's no picture. I copied and pasted in the Gadget box...maybe it will show up. I was surprised at all the countless choices yahoo gives you...the possibilities are endless!

Thing #2

So I just watched the 7 1/2 Habits video. I think the easiest habit for me is to view problems as challenges. I think the hardest thing for me will be setting a goal...and that's the first step! Also, I'm not too tech savvy. Maybe that should be my goal...to just get more experience using what's out there. Okay. I guess that wasn't too hard!

June 21

Why Oliver the Owl? Well, for starters, the address name hadn't been taken. I wanted The Purple Owl...taken. Then I tried The Pink Owl...taken. Then I tried The Jade Owl...not taken but it just didn't sound right. Then I tried Oliver the Owl...BINGO!!! So here we are with Oliver and his purple background. I am excited and terrified about this whole blog thing. We'll see how it goes!