Thing 2-How?

How has the Internet and the vast resource it can be affected your use of time at work and/or at home?
At work, in the school library media center, I use the internet to find information, activities for my classes, pictures. Although I still love my story about the classroom teacher who wanted to find out how many cities in the USA were named "Gainesville." I overheard her talking about this in the library and I went to the geographical dictionary, looked it up, and had the answer for her in just a minute. She was frustrated because she had spent several days on the internet trying to find the answer. So, I was proud of my library training and understanding that you have to know your resources.
Sometimes, I get frustrated searching the internet because it is not set up like the old card catalog. You have to get the term you are searching for dead-on or it can be difficult to find. And, I never understood "Ask Jeeves". Who asks the butler for reference information? Well, I suppose some very rich people might (do you think Paris Hilton asks her butler how many cities are named Gainesville?) but the vast majority of us do not have butlers. I have always thought it should have been "Ask Marion" because we all have free access to librarians!
I do use the internet at work and at home. I have shared web-sites with other teachers or demonstrated how to do searches. I can get caught up in the internet and loose track of time. I have been late to lunch, missed my chance to go to the bathroom, worked late until the principal makes me go home because I was on the internet searching for information or activities for my classes. I have been very pleased with some of the access I have to things. An example of something coming up: Monday is Groundhog Day. Instead of just reading a book about it, I can pull up the Punsxatawny Phil website, and show my students pictures of a groundhog, the celebration surrounding him and his prediction for this year. In November, I got a SMART Board so I will be able to do this on a big screen that everyone can see. What fun!!
At home, I have used the internet to find info on my interests - cross-stitch and needlework, lighthouses, Mark Lindsay (former lead singer for Paul Revere and the Raiders), storytelling, puppets. I have also been able to answer questions for my mom and pull up information about her interests. The other use I have made of the internet is to search for medical information -- for myself and my family members. Again, I can get caught up in the internet and loose track of time.

Thing 2--Why?

Why am I participating in 23 Things at NEFLIN? What do I hope to learn?
Ever since NEFLIN folks started talking about 23 Things I was intrigued. I felt this was a good way to learn about things with some guidance. While I wanted to know more about blogs, wikis, social networking, etc., I did not have the time or motivation to just do it or to do it in a random, haphazard way. It made sense to me to participate in this program to learn about new things in an organized way. As a school media specialist and the school's tech person, I feel I have a responsibility to try to stay educated and informed about technology. Also, being a life-long learner has been ingrained in me since a very young age. I don't know how anyone can ever be bored - there is so much to learn, do, read, experience, see - I can never do it all.
I hope to learn as much as I can about these 23 things so that I can decide what is worthwhile to pursue, to share with my co-workers and students, and to use in my everyday life to make it more rewarding, to make more efficient use of my time, to learn. And I will admit, I love the idea of getting a prize, too!

Life gets in the way

I am back after not looking at 23 Things for 12 days. My husband's mother passed away and I missed a week of work and then spent a week trying (unsuccessfully) to catch up. I also had a cold and an ear infection during all this. So, life gets in the way of doing things that I really want to do. Now I will have to play catch up with 23 Things. I really need quite time to do this and I don't get much of that. Also, I want to read everything so I can learn as much as possible and I am a very slow reader. It takes me a while to grasp some of these "things" because I am a digital immigrant and it doesn't come naturally to me. I can have a hard time getting my mind around this stuff.

Thing 2 -- Time

Finding the time. That is a big issue for me. I can't learn this in 15-20 minutes at a time. I don't spend time doing my hair, or make-up, or smoking as Stephen Abram talks about. I have a very hard time finding the 20 minutes a day to exercise. So finding the time is a real challenge for me.The best time for me is early Sunday morning. I started this morning at about 5:45 and it is now 11:3o. I have taken time to eat breakfast, take a shower and get dressed. I have a cold so I did not go to church this morning which is why I am still doing this. My children (son, 18 and daughter, 22) are out of the house and my husband has been reading and is getting ready to leave, so I have very few distractions. Let me amend that, my husband just turned the TV on and now I am a little distracted. (Have I mentioned the I am mildly ADD?) Now I have lost my train of thought. Oh, time. The other time that I might be able to do this is at work after the students and teachers have left. But we have a family health issue going on right now, so I have to leave work promptly at 3:45. I will be interested to hear what others have to say.

Thing 1 continued some more

I am struggling with figuring this out. I did not understand the difference between a post and a comment until this morning. Now I think I have it figured out. I have to have quiet time without distractions to sit and read all the info about blogs (or whatever I am learning) to have it make sense and to understand how it all works. The video was informative. I find I just have to read all I can -- it does not come to me intuitively, like it might to a digital native (my daughter, Katy). I want to learn the 23 things. My question is when do people have time to do this? Sitting at a computer for hours on end does not appeal to me. I still need to figure out how to find blogs on my personal interests. But there again is the question -- who has the time? I have a friend in my cross-stitch group who reads several blogs about cross-stitching. I would like to look at those but I would much rather be actually stitching than reading a computer screen. Call me old-fashioned.

Thing 1 continued

I am finding the 23 Things fascinating and I am wishing I had more time to spend on it. I really need to be doing my lesson plans but I am still here learning new things. I want to let everyone know that my daughter is also doing 23 Things through her job as a library page at the Alachua County Public Library. She has literally been raised in the library and as she was growing up often helped me with shelving, laminating, inventory, all sorts of things. She was a library volunteer in her elementary school library, a student library aide in middle school, and a frequent library user in high school. She got her current job 5 years ago and has decided to persue librarianship as a career. She is in the process of applying to the FSU Library program. (My alma mater) I am very proud of her. She will be a third generation librarian. My mother worked for the public library in Walpole, Massachusetts and she was my inspiration. What an awesome legacy!!

January 13, 2009 8:52 AM

Thing 1: Set Up a Blog and Register

Well, I have completed this activity. I was a little frustrated at first. Stephanie sent an email about registration opening for 23 Things and when I clicked on the link I kept getting the "The page cannot be displayed" message. So I went to the NEFLIN website and accessed the 23 Things there. Next, I tried to use my Google mail account to get started but I had some trouble with that -- it would not accept my password. So I had to create a new account. Now I have my blog set up and I am registered. I did like the suggestion to bookmark my blog and I have already done that. I also found that waiting until school was over and everyone had left gave me some quiet time to read carefully and to follow the directions. I have to leave in 15 minutes so I think I will do a little more exploring.