Friday Afternoon

Looking at every one's wonderful projects was great for getting ideas. I am glad people are going to have access to all the projects. I enjoyed the class very much, Now that I have seen all their fancy Web pages I want to go back into mine and make it look more polished. For me to have a Web page is amazing but now I want it to be even better.
Time will tell.

Friday Morning

When I arrived home last night, I wanted to show my husband my two projects and get his opinion. Unfortunately, he was going to be away all night. I decided to e-mail my daughter in Vermont and have her look and my google docs. Ten minutes after I e-mailed and sent my docs, my daughter called and we talked about my projects. What a wonderful way to share and get feedback.

Thursday afternoon

I am amazed at what I have accomplished. I have a Web page about the library - linked it to the school LMC catalog, included my online sites (learned how not to loose my web page when going to an online site) . I am learning how to share my documents . I just hope I can retain even a small percentage of what I have learned. Tomorrow I want to look over other documents I have and think of ways of putting them intogoogle docs.

Thursday Morning

Extremely difficult working with such a slow computer. I now have three computers open and I work with whatever works the fastest. Tech person from MMSD has promised to help me. I am all excited about my survey. The magazine routing survey - I usually make a paper copy send it out to the whole staff and wait for their responses. I hope by doing it as an online survey I will get responses quickly. The online survey will automatically put it in a spreadsheet that I can organize any way that helps me. The spreadsheet will even let me print out sheets for the magazines. I am going to love this. Teachers who tell me they are sure they wanted Wisconsin magazine - I can check on my spreadsheet - If it is there - they are right if not on the spreadsheet then they did not fill it out.

Third Day Afternoon

This day has gone much better than yesterday. I feel like I am getting something accomplished. I am finding Google Sites not as difficult as I feared. I need to learn how to make my pages more exciting/ interactive. Does anyone know of any sites that have good clip art/ or suggestions to make a page look more exciting? This day went so fast.

Third Day - Morning

What an exciting morning. I think the WPS group was shocked but in good spirits when the bus left without us. I was not disappointed in going to WPS even if it was not one that I had chosen. I learned a little about the company but was impressed with the skills that they were looking for.
1) Good communication skills
2) Good writing skills
3) Public speaking
4) Respect
5) Social Skills
6) Ability to learn and follow rules
7) Good attendance records/ work in a timely matter
8) Problem solving skills

Specific skill needed for customer service
1) typing (35 words per minute)
2) MS Word/ Ex cell
3) Business writing skills/Letters
4) Accounting/Math skills
5) English grammer
6) Foriegn languages

Surprises
Everyone was dressed very causually
Realized I could never work in a cubical doing customer service

I enjoyed going on the company tour but also enjoyed talking with other particpants in different classes in John Muir Academy. Since this is the third day JM particpants know more aboout their classes - what they like and don't like. and what they are learning. Teachers are already excited about how they are going to use their new knowledge for this coming year. Makes me start thinking about what I might take next year.

Afternoon Second Day

Everything is all jumbled up right now. Google earth and Google maps have merged so I don't know what the differences are. I tried to locate (in Google Earth) a remote or small town in Alaska where I lived but the pictures were not very detailed and I could not tell apart one building from another. I tried locating the town by following the railroad but was unable to do so. (I found the zooming in and out very hard on my eyes.) Difficulty in finding certain towns - makes me think that all the places are not covered as well as others. Assignments might have to revolve around larger cities where more items are identified. I need to look for an item in Google maps and look for the same item in Google Earth and see what the differences are.
I had no idea they had Google Sky and Google Mars. I need to take a class just on Google Earth to understand it better. I have to admit yesterday seemed easier than today but perhaps tomorrow will make today seem easier.
I look forward to the change in tomorrow's schedule.

Possible projects;
How to make directions (to give to a friend) to get to your house.

Morning Second Day

Difficult today with the computer. The computer is working so slow but I realize how important it is for me to learn to maneuver around Google Maps. I love the idea of making my own maps. It would be wonderful to go and take pictures of areas around the school, download the pictures, have the students design a route from their home to school and put the pictures in the map to help the students identify the areas. Students can compare the time between walking, driving, and biking. (even make graphs) When planning a field trip - the teacher can go to the site ahead of time, take pictures, make a map of the area and have the students plan the route to the location. I am sure there are all kinds of math activities that can be done.

I like the idea of mapping a story in Google Lit Trips. There are some picture books that I believe would work. I will have to explore this further.

Everyday learning a little bit more.

Question for the class

I am confused - Who is Maestra Rodriquez Strizic?

Blogging From Home First Day

I am trying to repeat what I learned in class today by adding to my blog from home. If I am successful this is a big step for me. I initially had to verify my google account from home and then find my blog page. It is mostly trial an error at this time.

I have already accidentally posted before I was ready.

As I was driving home today - I started thinking of ways I might possibly use this. My school particpates in the West Side Book Bowl. Is it possible to have a blog with all the book titles and let students communicate with each other about the various books? The students are in fourth and fifth grade - because of the request for age 13 and over on Google's Blog does this mean they can not use this or does it mean they can only use this tool with adult supervision?

Today was a bunch of first for me.
First time to add gadgets to iGoogle home page
First time to post a blog
First time to make a comment on a blog
First time making a google account
First time on delicious.com and adding a bookmark
First time using google search tips
First time adding subscriptions to various blogs
First time putting subscriptions into a folder
First time using google custom seach

I just hope I can keep up.

First Day Post 2

I have to practice by doing something more than once. I have now been able to open this up a second time. So much to learn so little time. I would like to become familiar enough with blogging to set up a blog for the librarians in my district. Hopefully other colleagues will see that this is a great collaboration tool. I have to practice and investigate the google apps in order to see how I can use this in the library. Right now - there are too many choices for me to know which ones will be useful and which ones are a waste of time. I like the idea that all of you will share apps that you find useful. My iGoogle home page is way to busy and I discovered I had two different weather gadgets and two different clocks.

Monday first day of class

This is fascinating. I am so glad the class is small. I am a first time blogger and everything is brand new. If I have difficulty getting back to something I have learned earlier in class is blogging the way for me to ask for assistance?
For instance - is there a general site to go to that allows you to search for blogs on specific topics? If I had a student fascinated with dogs can I go to a site type in dogs and it would list blogs about dogs? Or what If I liked a specific author - Is there a way for me to type in an authors name to find blogs about the author and their books?
I think the class is wonderful - I will be slower than most but will catch on.

We will need to discuss the lunch time to see what will work and take the shortest amount of time.