Making the actual screencast was so much easier than I thought it would be. I used screen-cast-o-matic. The uploading was trickier than the creation. I recorded my screencast without audio as I don't have a microphone handy here at home. I am planning to record another screencast once I have a mic because I believe that this is a great tool! I feel that this could be used in our library as well as at home. I exported my screencast to my flashdrive so I could bring it to school with me in the fall and use it as a learning tool for my reading club. The timing on this Thing was perfect - I just got a call from a reading club parent who was wondering how to get to and get around the reading club site. So now I have the information for her in a user friendly format! I inserted my screencast as a video and it took a long time to process. It apparently needs to buffer now too - I am hoping that it runs in the blog. If there is an easier way to get the screencast into the blog - please someone shoot me a note!
It's all about books and all bookworms are welcome! I hope you enjoy your visit.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Thing 37: Photo Tales
Photo Tales: One True Media photo tale was easy to make, but the features are only free if you don't add or change anything about your photos once they upload, if you do there is a fee. I just learned about Photostory 3 as well, it is a similar program that is very user friendly and offers some additional features without the fees.
Although these programs aresomething that will use at home, there are not something that would be of use to me in the Media Center, but to the teachers in their classrooms they would be great. I can think of many different uses for these programs for many different subjects at school.
Although these programs aresomething that will use at home, there are not something that would be of use to me in the Media Center, but to the teachers in their classrooms they would be great. I can think of many different uses for these programs for many different subjects at school.
Thing 36: Comic Relief
![\Toon\](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tGQ_imtXxrZtf-qAealwcuWecUEpFOa1TDWLduCEkQ4OXatF64Y7FXD1k8KTNqXv0Vq1S9x7cFZHnltjw7R4WaSh86UBTXViLmcGtPlZI0mNoygu5A_qoiTtmr55eEnRpmqCKWjEM4xX2t24eRKIFIjhAN-Q=s0-d "\Toon\")
I found this comic on ToonDo. I thought it was appropriate because this is so me - trying to convince the kids every day.
I checked out all the sites - made a couple of my own comic strips - (no, they weren't funny) - but I lost two of them in my attempt to get them on my blog - one I saved as a pdf but I can't get that one on here either. Don't worry, you're not missing out, my children always tell me I'm not funny - thank goodness they can't see the proof.
Thing 36: Comic Relief
Everyone must have thought it was time for a break because this things is called comic relief!
Useful Generators:
CutePDF is one that I use a lot. I tend to recommend it to others when they are looking to put documents onto their sites as it is a free download and it is very user friendly.
BigHugeLabs is a wonderful, fun site that I tend to use quite a bit. I learned about it in 23 Things and have been telling people about it since.
CutePDF is one that I use a lot. I tend to recommend it to others when they are looking to put documents onto their sites as it is a free download and it is very user friendly.
BigHugeLabs is a wonderful, fun site that I tend to use quite a bit. I learned about it in 23 Things and have been telling people about it since.
I also love imagechef.com, I used that site for the picture in my last post.
Imagegenerator: this one could become a time sink for sure - very fun.
CitationMachine is a tool that is readily used at our school by many students. I have often wondered how much easier research papers would have been when I was in school if we had had access to these kinds of tools.
TOO MUCH TEXT!!!
Just wanted to take a break for a minute - after all that serious writing has been going on. I looked at my blog and was shocked at how unfriendly all that text looked. So -
Thing 35: Books 2.0
I love LibraryThing. I became a lifetime member when I was working on the 23 Things. LibraryThing is something I have been looking for for a long time. I have always tried to keep track of my book collection, but it has been difficult. I have almost 6,000 books ranging from picture books to teacher resources and keeping a paper record has been a nightmare. I went and looked at shelfari and goodreads again and they look great too, each group has it's +'s and -'s. I might try joining shelfari and goodreads for the book reviews and ideas and such, but not add my books to their sites too-it would take too long.
I did join lib.rario.us thinking that I could use this site for cataloging my extensive movie collection, we will see if that gets compeleted. I will wait to take the time to enter all those movies after I have finished all the rest of the more things on the list. I have only added two as yet, just to get the feel for how the site worked.
The idea of books on my phone does not appeal to me at all. I do have and regularly use a cell phone, but not for reading. I would never want to hold my phone long enough to listen to a book. I enjoy audio books - but only listen when I am driving or doing chores - neither of which are condusive to not having your hands free.
I really like the readers advisory links. I signed up for booklamp and have started a list on "What should I read next". I can't wait to use the features from this thing at school. I can't count how many times I day I am aksed, "What should I read?"
What's Next is going to get a lot of use in our MC, but Which Book? and Book Stumpers won't. I didn't even look at Book Calendar as my "To Be Read" list is already long enough without the daunting temptation of a new book idea each day.
On-Line Book Communities: offered a lot of great choices, but I have enough book discussion groups already, so I didn't join any more.
Book Group: I plan to suggest Booksprout to some of the 9th grade girls at our school, they seem to be interested in this kind of tool. I might be able to integrate Booksprout with the reading club we already have.
The audio book and book swap suggestions may be of interest to our students, I will be placing a list of these sites in our media center.
The Book Review section will be very useful when putting together a list of books for ordering.
I love the children's book ideas - seems to be a great way to bring technology together with reading to a young crowd.
I don't feel that the book rental places will be of use to our students. I don't know how many of the parents would be willing to pay a monthly subscription fee when the media center is available to the children each day for no cost.
Book Crossing is a great idea - it was fun to see where books are being released in my area. I joined and will be releasing my first book next week.
I did join lib.rario.us thinking that I could use this site for cataloging my extensive movie collection, we will see if that gets compeleted. I will wait to take the time to enter all those movies after I have finished all the rest of the more things on the list. I have only added two as yet, just to get the feel for how the site worked.
The idea of books on my phone does not appeal to me at all. I do have and regularly use a cell phone, but not for reading. I would never want to hold my phone long enough to listen to a book. I enjoy audio books - but only listen when I am driving or doing chores - neither of which are condusive to not having your hands free.
I really like the readers advisory links. I signed up for booklamp and have started a list on "What should I read next". I can't wait to use the features from this thing at school. I can't count how many times I day I am aksed, "What should I read?"
What's Next is going to get a lot of use in our MC, but Which Book? and Book Stumpers won't. I didn't even look at Book Calendar as my "To Be Read" list is already long enough without the daunting temptation of a new book idea each day.
On-Line Book Communities: offered a lot of great choices, but I have enough book discussion groups already, so I didn't join any more.
Book Group: I plan to suggest Booksprout to some of the 9th grade girls at our school, they seem to be interested in this kind of tool. I might be able to integrate Booksprout with the reading club we already have.
The audio book and book swap suggestions may be of interest to our students, I will be placing a list of these sites in our media center.
The Book Review section will be very useful when putting together a list of books for ordering.
I love the children's book ideas - seems to be a great way to bring technology together with reading to a young crowd.
I don't feel that the book rental places will be of use to our students. I don't know how many of the parents would be willing to pay a monthly subscription fee when the media center is available to the children each day for no cost.
Book Crossing is a great idea - it was fun to see where books are being released in my area. I joined and will be releasing my first book next week.
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