Thing 9 (con.)

I'm starting to catch on to some real value of blogs now. They aren't all just the ramblings of the self-centered-I've found some that are real attempts to help others in a particular field. Technorati was the best tool for searching for blogs for me. I put in "music education" and found some that look good. I only investigated and saved 2 of these (Mustech.net and musicedmagic.com), but I plan to go back. ONe of them was easy to add to my GoogleReader. The other didn't work quite the same way, so I'm going back to thing 8 and watching the video again. Sometimes I can't find the little icon for subscribing to the feed. I'm getting more engaged in this process and I'm learning a lot of new things, but it still takes so-o-o much time! I'm stopping now to work on quilts. That activity offers far less frustration!

Thing 9

I haven't finished this Thing yet, but some thoughts do occur as I read about the value of blogs. Let's not forget that many people, of all ages, do and think great things without feeling the need to record it for the world to read. Many of these people don't have time to journal their thoughts every day. Surprisingly, many people don't have the desire to share. At the very least, I hope that those with the most influence are editing their thoughts before publishing them for others.

Thing 8

This (RSS, Google Reader) is one of those "things" that I believe I'll really use! I have several different jobs: elementary music teacher, university teacher, pre-school choir teacher, piano teacher, and craftsperson (quilts). So, I'm going to have a folder for each life! I started with music education and quilting and spent some time looking at all of the blogs that are there. Some are so-o-o boring. Others have possibilities. I'll find out as I check my Google Reader every so often. There aren't that many times that I have my elementary music students do research, but this, along with other google research tools I've learned about will help me with my university students. The feeds about quilting will be mostly for fun! I do see this as a valuable research aid.

Thing 7

Exploring the Google tools has been kind of interesting. I looked up a few things using Scholar and just plain old Google and I've started a couple of notebooks for good links for music and academic subects and also for quilting.
I think that Google Docs would be great for committee work and planning. Instead of trying to work just with email and reply to all, having a "work in progress", easily accessible, would be a good alternative.
Atomic Learning would be a good source for tech learning and when I have more time, I'd like to spend more time on Google Earth. I never tire of those Hubble photos.

Thing 6

I like the idea of mash-ups--combining programs to make better, interactive tools! I looked at quite a few of them-Mappr was interesting, the color one was fun (finding images of a specific color). From there I went to a kitchen planning site for a business here in Houston! Trip Planner would be useful if I ever could take a vacation. I made a mosaic of a few of my favorite photos, but it needs work to be really aesthetically pleasing. Still, I'm glad I know how to do it. The Big Huge Labs has a lot of neat stuff, but I'm not inspired by it yet. It could probably be used to make some posters for the classroom. They could be instructional or motivational.
I was going to copy the mosaic to this page, but right now, I just can't find it. Maybe tomorrow.

Thing 5

I've had a good time browsing photographs this afternoon and we'll see if I get the photo saved on my blog. It just seems that it takes me a long time (hours) to get a handle on each of these new things. I've always thought I was a fast learner, but this kind of learning doesn't seem to have any shortcuts for me. I'm having to look at one part, stop, and come back another time to finish. I think it's processing as much as actual time spent. Anyway, I'm going to work on the image now.

Thing 4

I've posted my blog. As I look back, it looks as if I should have started some kind of topic to discuss. I haven't really done that. Right now, I'm just trying to learn some new things and each step seems to take me a long time.

Thing 3

Finally, I think I copied that blasted Avatar correctly. That site doesn't really thrill me, but at least I learned something.

June 16

I've started this blog as a journal for working through the 23 Things, but I don't see it on the list. I'm still really feeling my way along. I thought this would be more of a straight-line in learning, but it's going in a lot of different directions.

Day One, Step 2

That Covey philosophy of "highly effective people" has always been helpful to me, so I like the approach of setting goals and breaking the goal into small steps.

Day One

Thing One. It only took 20 or so tries to get the blog named. Hope it gets easier.