Thing 23 I Made It

We have covered a lot of material in a relatively short time. Some of it I cannot see myself using, partially because I couldn't see a meaningful use for it (Twitter), and some because other tools seem better.
Now the time comes for choices. If I want my elementary age students to do research using sites I know are reputable and age appropriate, will I set up a wiki with links and explanations, or should I set up a class delicious account? Should I change from doing a daily blog, as I do at present, to a classroom wiki page? Should I plan to have students present their research projects next year as slideshows that can be uploaded to whatever type of website I decide upon? Will I really enter most of my library into Librarything? Would that site be more useful if I just joined a group, or read reviews? Do I want to remain a member of two Ning groups, or would it be more efficient to stay with just one, but be more active in it?

Of some things I am certain. I am certain that my students' brief time in the computer lab each week will be more profitably spent. I am certain that my students will be posting examples of their work to a website next school year. I am certain that I will make better use of the resources available to educators on the web, so that I can better integrate technology into my classroom.

I am also certain that I will be frustrated with the limited amount of time my students can be on-line during the school day, with the lack of Internet access in my students' homes, and with the limitations of our aging hardware.

As far as how I will continue to learn about web 2.0 tools? I suppose someone will explain them on plainenglish, or someone will make a post about a great new tool on a blog that I've subscribed to, or maybe someone will even Tweet about it and I might listen in.

Even if each of us decides to become adept at just one or two of these "things" we will be making progress. I have a feeling though, that becoming skilled at one web 2.0 application will actually just serve to whet our appetites for the next new development.