I Never Would Have Thought...

I am enjoying 'Power Searching with Google.' And in some cases I am
enjoying the subject of the searches even more than the content
covered...
In Class 4 (Find Facts Faster) the activity asked us to find the title
of a book published in the 1880s.
Found it... Published in 1888... But the feedback offered by Google
said the book was published in 1883.
I sent an email with screenshots from the google search and the feedback box.
Wow... I got a reply.
I never expected one.
(side note... How could all of the people participating... Not to
mention google... not find it?)

Frames and more...

I've been organizing my apps recently - a true undertaking.
Wow... How many ways are there to present multiple images?
I began the summer with two... and you can see my collection has grown.
I had PicCollage and Picture Frames, and added one or two after seeing
them on Pinterest, and the rest were picked up from Tweets.
For the apps that display multiple images in a grid, there are slight
differences... Shapes, color, text.
There may be more on my phone!

Old dog, new tricks.

Really - 2 1/2 weeks since my last post?  How did that happen?  What have I done in the last two weeks?
I know that my twitteracy has improved.  I am not new to twitter, and yet I am.
I created my first account when I read about it in Wired several years ago.  But it was blocked at school, and while I think I have things to share - I didn't have anyone in  particular to share them with.  So without the ease of an app, nobody to play with and the fact that I just didn't get it... nothing happened.
I have had accounts for my son's travel team, high school team and now college team... but they aren't interactive - just reporting scores for parents who aren't able to travel.
I created one for parents to receive updates... no takers.

So 41 days ago I tried it again and it became my self-directed PD for the summer.
I am learning.

• I wish I had someone to guide the process, and in a way I guess I do... thanks to everyone that retweeted, followed, replied and added me to lists.
• I am still hesitant at times, and yes I seem to be following the 'laws of twitter' and progressing through the stages nicely (mass follow, lurk, retweet, favorite, reply, chat....) 
• I am navigating the tangle of tweets - reading rapid-fire tweets during chats.  I understand what a hashtag is (literally and figuratively... it was included dictionary.com's word of the day recently), and learning how to use it.
• Twitter has actually led to other investigations - my app a day, sites, blogs.  Participating in my first real MOOC - Google Power Search. Articles to read.
• I am still just e-mailing tweets to people I really want to share articles with - they don't tweet....but I am working on converts.
• And I have to say that everyone has been kind, receptive, and inclusive during my explorations.

Thanks to everyone for helping with my PD this summer.

Added today - for work and play.

Thanks to a tweet by Tony Vincent (@tonyvincnet) I picked up the Word Collage for IOS app free.  

Then I followed #iosedapp and scrolled through some recent tweets and picked up the app Easy Assessment (thanks to @mrrobbo...  pegeek.com) to try out.

While some schools are just winding down, I have spent the last two days in my room getting ready for the next year (August 13 will be here soon.)

I need to work on my digital organization - while I have enjoyed learning about apps and sites, I need to figure out how I will use them in the coming year.  Just having them won't help much.  I need to make sure they become tools for the classroom, and not just 'stuff.' 

It's time to get to stop playing so much and get to work.

Or not.