Thing 12

1. Two points I think are important are read before you write and be polite. So many times after I've read a news article and scroll down to the comments, the comments either have nothing to do with the article, or the commenter has not read the article thoroughly enough to say something intelligent. I resent this and see it as a waste of cyberspace. Also, politeness has all but been forgotten in cyberspace, not to mention the workplace. Please, let's try to remember our etiquette!

2. Choose at least five different Learn2Play blogs and make at least one comment to each.

on http://mrshilersbioblog.blogspot.com/ whoknows said...

I think using trading cards to learn TAKS concepts would be a really fun way for students to interact!

June 21, 2008 11:06 AM

on http://bjsbubbleblog.blogspot.com/ whoknows said...

This is a really eye-catching way to set up a writing assignment!

June 21, 2008 1:10 PM

on http://sbisdblogspot.blogspot.com/whoknows said...

I agree. This is a very helpful video but we all can't access it at school. :(

on http://technicolordaydreamer.blogspot.com/ whoknows said...

This is very helpful for me as well. It is a time-saver, isn't it?

June 21, 2008 11:18 AM

on http://mhammack.blogspot.com/whoknows said...

It was a bit confusing for me to begin at first as well, but I am hoping it will get easier! :)

June 21, 2008 11:22 AM

3. Find two blogs about a subject of personal interest (Google Blog Search!) or from the blogroll of any blogger you read. Comment on these two blogs that are not a part of the Learn2Play community. In your post about this Thing, explain what drew your attention to these blogs.

This blog drew my attention because it was a comment on genetic links to persons with autism, and genetics and disease is of interest to me.

who knows on http://www.autismvox.com/
Jun 21, 2008 at 2:29 pm

Although autism is neither wholly caused by genetic factors, I believe it would be beneficial to continue to pursue research into being able to find genetic markers for this.

This next blog really got my attention, especially as this 13 yr old boy's PTA thought this video about real-life bullying was "too graphic" to be shown. Please view it if you all are interested.

Fighting Back Against Bullying

June 19th, 2008 by Melissa Anelli

There’s a video going around today, and it’s one I think Harry would be proud of: a 13-year-old from Udall Road Middle School in West Islip, NY, is making an online stand against bullying. He made this video to show at his PTA meeting and was told it was too graphic. So he put it online.

We’re not talking about a shove in the hallway or some light freshman hazing: reports say this kid has been hit by a rock from school bullies. This is an often-overlooked ill, and I for one think this video shows that this child is more courageous than all those who pick on him put together. If his courage could manifest in muscles, they would be too frightened to go near him. Dumbledore’s Army supports you, Patrick Kohlmann.

1. who knows

   June 21st, 2008 at 1:53 pm

   I commend this boy for making public what many schools do not consider to be important.

   As a teacher and an aunt, I have seen much apathy on the part of schools to deal with this. Not enough monitoring of activities in the cafeteria and the playground contribute to instances of bullying.

   Also, it has been my observation that at times this behavior is considered to be “typical” of children and teens and thus nothing is done, especially with the more subtle bullying in which females engage.

   Once a bully always a bully - those children that bullied me when I was young are the same bosses and co-workers who exist by using intimidation and fear in the workplace.

Thing 11

LibraryThing would be useful in my situation if a group of us who study and work with this group of students add our books to LibraryThing. We could check reviews and borrow professional books from one another.

I checked out the groups and found some sites that interested me (Harry Potter, Sci Fi).

Thing 10

I like the comic strip generator at http://www.comicstripgenerator.com/ as it was the easiest one I tried.

Classroom teachers could use these to teach certain social interactions or privately address a behavioral issue a student is having. And, as many students are interested in anime, it might be helpful to use this genre to address the above issues.

Thing 9

• Which method of finding feeds did you find easiest to use?

Technorati because of the layout

• Which Search tool was the easiest for you?

Google Blog Search

• Which was more confusing?

Syndic8.com was more confusing; also, I couldn't do the atomic learning one because I didn't have the passwords correct

• What kind of useful feeds did you find in your travels? Or what kind of unusual ones did you find?

The useful feeds were the ones I could put in a search word and pull up research and helpful information regarding my topic

I enjoyed an unusual feed regarding ask the scientologiBlogger: today - Create Postst

• What other tools or ways did you find to locate newsfeeds?

I typed in 'newsfeeds' into the google search engine - still the easiest thing for me

Thing 8

• What do you like about RSS and newsreaders?
• I like that I get to choose up front what information comes to me
• I like that this information does not go to my email account, but instead to an account I can choose to ignore or change
• I like that this can be used for daily surfing information
  
• How do you think you might be able to use this technology in your school or personal life?
• I will use this in my personal life in order to weed out any unwanted news sites and go directly to those sites in which I am interested
• In addition, this is a helpful tool to get new movie information for the summer :)
• On a professional level, this could be used to do a daily search about latest topics in the AU field
  
• How can libraries use RSS or take advantage of this new technology?
• Libraries could use RSS to share book reviews for teachers and the student body
  

thing 7

I set up a google alert and used it. I also utilized the Google scholar tool. Google scholar is a more specialized search engine and got me the information I needed to conduct my research; therefore, utilizing this search engine in order to help with educational research is a helpful outcome. In addition, up to date alerts about the topic I chose will keep me apprised of any new developments in this field.

thing 6

I prefer the Mappr mashup because it can be used to give an instant visual to an interactive map to help students learn World Geography. This could be helpful link on the library resources page for them to get to any World Geography teacher's created map.

thing 5

This is an image of a monument to Edward the Martyr, or Eadweard II of England from 975-978, when he was murdered. He was sainted due to the many miracles attributed to him after death.

thing 3

The process of setting up my blog was time-consuming and confusing. I have not looked at anyone else's blog, made a comment, or asked a question.

Thing 2

The habit among the 7 & 1/2 that is easiest for me is

Habit 4: Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner

and the one which is hardest is

Habit 7 ½: Play.

Other thoughts - often I have difficulty with determining specific small objectives within the broader goal.

out there

Never done this before, as I never thought the thoughts I had would mean anything to anyone else.

So, I suppose I'll just write about other things instead so as not to bore anyone