Thing 3

I'll have to admit that I'm anit-social when it comes to social networks. My distant friends are frustrated with me because I don't have a facebook page. I think if all of this technology had happened when I was younger I would've been more open to it. I've just seen all the negatives and frankly some people put some really stupid and inappropriate stuff on there! It just doesn't appeal to me at the most social level. Random folks will send me facebook posts containing pictures of my athletes doing inappropriate things. We now have a rule in our discipline policy pertaining to inappropriate internet activity. I'm just not a facebook kind of person -- so I opted for Twitter. I can see using Twitter a great deal in the network of athletics and coaching. We will Tweet our scores, our stats, updates from tournaments, etc. I kind of like Twitter and am eager to read and learn more so that I can understand the terminology and "rules". I'm still trying to figure out how it works on my iphone. And according to one of the articles, young people don't get into Twitter so I assume I will have to ask most of our athletes to open Twitter accounts. But it sounds much easier than sending out multiple text messages when I need to get in touch with the whole group. So, I'm still researching it and am very interested in it as a way to communicate with my staff and kids.

Thing 2

I'm a little overwhelmed at all of the possibilities in web 2.0. I have said many times in the past year that if you want your kids to learn a new play (basketball), you'd better text it to them. Ha!
I'm not sure how each resource differs but I know they do. I also know that they can be used together. My interest is in establishing a blog for our girls athletic program, then using either another blog or other resource for our various teams that would be facilitated by the head coach of the sport. I can envision us using the various resources for practice calendars, playbooks, video highlights, scouting reports, etc. I'm not sure which would be appropriate for each....I just don't understand them all yet. And I'm not sure how they tie in together.
For myself...I already research EVERYTHING but having access to cross country/basketball coaches blogs, etc. is an unlimited resource. I would rather attend a "virtual" coaches clinic on a specific sport than leave town for 3 days and attend one or two sessions that are already too crowded and have limited resources.
I have been somewhat resistant to the digital world when it comes to kids learning. But thing 2 has really opened my eyes to the "way the world is" and how our kids need to learn in order to survive and how we teachers HAVE to utilize all of this technology or we are NOT teaching our kids. Instead of fight them we have to join them. Does this mean that we will eventually allow cell phone usage in the classrooms? If we don't then some of this cannot happen. But will that make the "police work" even more challenging? I know that I learned better in collaboration but back in the day it was sitting in a circle brainstorming or talking about the subject. Digital collaboration can include so much more information....but we have to change some rules and upgrade our technology......, yes?
I can see the day that there are no textbooks and everyone has a Kindle-type device or an
I-pad. That will definitely change everything. But what happens when those devices break or we have some sort of network hiccup? Oh my old-school mind can run wild with negative possiblilites yet I know it's the way we are going.

Response to blogs

Oh yeah, I did get a little caught up in creating my page...just couldn't pass up the chance to express a little frustration with some fun.

I have an iPhone and use it a lot to view the internet and check on things that interest me - the common statement in the office is "there's an app for that". However, sitting at the computer keeping a blog up-to-date may be one of the tougher aspects of blogging for me. It would be nice if other coaches could help with keeping the blog updated. Would they need my sign-in or would they create their own on my page. Definitely something to explore.

As for the athletic blogs you've listed, I did check them out and it looks like they've been doing this for a while. I would like to keep our blog simple at first...just hope the parents and kids will view it. This may be an answer to my problem with kids informing their parents of game changes, departing times for tournaments, etc. I'm not sure about this twittering thing but I am interested in learning. Thanks for sending me some blog sites to view.

(I replied to your comment, but wasn't sure if you would get it with so many blogs to watch. In the future should I add to the comments when you have a follow-up question or should I add a new post?)

Thing 1

Well--
"Thing 1" was "Miss Thang" if I may say. The first time I attempted to create the blog page I just breezed right through. Then when I closed everything out and tried to visit my newly created page I was taken to a page of some horseback riding expert. It even had a pink background and everyone knows that I do not like pink so I couldn't have done that. So I just started over and now here I am actually blogging away about nothing. Oh, fact is that I haven't gotten to ride my bike in 2 days so I am a little irritable--so much for Cyling Summer. But I bet it quits raining and starts droughting soon. Afterall, this is Central Texas.
I am excited about learning th 8 things and will soon have a blog page for LT Athletics.