Tool #2

1. I set up a Diigo account to start storing my bookmarks. Since all of my bookmarks are teaching or math related I've made them public. I like the fact that that I can set up both public and private lists. I also like being able to access the bookmarks from any computer with any browser. I tried to subscribe to a blog using google reader, but I got an error message. I was able to add it to my Yahoo homepage though. 
2. For me, I think it's more difficult to add comments to a web page then to participate in a face to face discussion with colleagues. It's similar to those situations where it might take you 30 seconds to walk down the hall to ask a question, but it will take you 10 minutes to compose an email to ask the same question. The advantage to on-line learning communities, however, is that we can have those discussions with colleagues outside our building, our district, or even the country. 
3. There are two blogs which I think I will follow in the future. One created by a high school math teacher is are http://function-of-time.blogspot.com/. I like her examples of class projects she has tried and her running commentary about how well they worked in her classroom. I also found a blog on using the freeware Google Sketchup at http://3dvinci.blogspot.com/. It's a 3-D imaging software. I have no experience with it, but it looks like something I might want to try next spring. I'm hoping that reading the posts and comments on the blog will give me some ideas and warnings about how to best use it with students.