Thing 11 Mapping & Geolocation Tools

Yikes...nothing like starting the race in last place!!  Better late than never.  I have figured out a few things just trying to access the blogs of my colleagues (like I hate the filters at my school) and google's purchase of BlogSpot really screwed up my access.  After much frustration....I am finally on!
Mapping & Geolocation Tools:
I loved google maps before...and I just fell in love all over again!  Their tutorials are extremely well done but run hit or miss at school.  I had done much of my research at home...found somethings I wanted to share with teachers at school and they wouldn't work.  That is something I have to talk with IT about.
I really enjoyed the phototours - the street views of places I will probably never get to sucked up quite a bit of my time.  Kind of like pinterest for me.  I did share it with my dad who then spent hours visiting  places he used to live and work...it was really fascinating.
I added Leonardo's Horse in Milan to the collaborative map...I am going to try and incorporate that into a project with the foreign language classes...haven't quite thought it all through yet but they all study a Spanish speaking country of their choice and I believe the geography of it gets lost.  This piece might help!
I loved Sepiatown and whatwasthere.com!  When looking up Valatie & Kinderhook there were no historical pictures...this could be a great opportunity for our photography class or anyone studying local history.  The opportunity to contribute to the site is something my high school students would love.  I plan on also introducing photo sphere from google to them.  I think they would enjoy participating and making the world just a bit smaller!  :-)
And when your kids need something to do...geoguesser.com is so much fun!  It is tough but after a few you realize what clues you should be looking for to figure out where you are.  Give it a try!

Thing #10

After reading the newest task I was motivated to work on my sad library website.   Unfortunately I have to create it using Contribute of which I am not a fan.  I can't seem to get the kinks worked out but I am working on content for now.  I visited the sites that Polly listed for examples & resources and it certainly lit a fire under me to create a website that will be the first place my students go to when they log on the computer. I am working on using Share Book Box - see example below! I haven't been able to get it to work on my webpage but it worked ok here! I also loved the idea of the digital portfolio for students and the Professional Portfolio examples given. I will be working over the summer with a small group of teachers about what we need to be doing for our HS Students and I believe the digital portfolio is the way to go!
I met with the photography teacher and discussed creating a library photo contest as seen on the Milipitas High School Library site.
I also saw a lot of book lists..."Twi-Likes:  if you liked Twilight try these..." so I put some work into adding some different book lists to my page as well.
I love the library sites that were blogs..they were engaging, current, fresh  but I couldn't find  a way to add a blog to my already established website....if anyone has any ideas...I would appreciate them!
Now I plan on attacking some pathfinders...