Today officially marks my 300th day of blogging. Three hundred days ago I made an internal pact with myself to blog every day for a year. I should point out that Julie, Julia had not yet been released, so I can confidently assure you that I was not influenced by the movie.

So why did I make this pact? At the time I was unemployed (originally, I was leaving one school to work for another; the school I was moving to canceled the position at the last minute on the heals of Patterson’s projected state-aid cuts). I thought writing a blog would help me keep up my skills, hone my research skills and force me think; frankly, I was also secretly hoping I would blog myself into a job. I was also trying to stave off depression….I am a workaholic (or should I say thinkaholic) who is happier when facing daily challenges and a scheduled work day.

These are a few things I learned over the past 300 days…

• Tenacity…it can be difficult coming up with a new topic on a daily basis. I have learned that I can be pretty stubborn once I establish a goal.
• Online community is important. I soon realized that I need to Twitter, read other blogs, and explore if I hope to find anything (I feel) is worth sharing.
• Family members, people I work with and member of my PLC inspire me daily!
• I am not nearly as clever or original as I would like to be
• I learned to loosen the reins of perfectionism…initially I wanted every post to meet a level of perfection that I could not maintain when life got busy.
• Sometimes you have to cheat to achieve a goal. I learned that I could cheat and write posts ahead of time and still schedule them to appear daily. OK…now you know my secret…but, hey my daughter got married this year and I did start a new job!
• It’s fun when you can use your last name as a title for your blog…I have to thank my dear husband for that I suppose.
• My family and friends don’t really understand this blogging thing. I don’t think they have even read any of my postings.
• If you twitter about your posts they are more likely to be read. When I am too busy to Twitter my post comments and hits go down. I try not to just Twitter about my posts (BORING and bordering on rude, in my humble opinion).
• Spammers exist in the comment world….and they increase as your blog becomes more popular.
• People read old posts and still comment on them.
• No matter how many times I check my posts for grammatical errors, I still find errors when I re-read them.
• Writing a post about grammar is very nerve-wracking!
• People like to read about fun stuff, as well as Web 2.0 resources, etc….comments seem to run highest when I write about photo generators and tools that enhance, motivate, or make you smile.
• It’s OK to establish weekly threads in your blogging….I enjoy sharing my Top 10 Sites on Friday and my Motivational Posters on Sunday…I am still creating something new to share, but I have established a direction for those days.
• I tend to alliterate a lot when I create titles for my posts.
• A blog can be a great repository for information you might like to revisit…I use the search feature of my blog a lot when I am helping teachers find resources.
• It is far more challenging to blog daily when you have a full-time job!
• Not all blogs are memorable or notable…I wish they were.
• Having a bird feeder outside my office window is a distraction (that’s one reason I tend to write late in the night..no birds to watch).
• Blogging is easier than dieting and exercising (I definitely need to direct some of my tenacity and stubbornness in a more healthy direction).
• It is very difficult to discover and write about a Web 2.0 product or site that has not already been featured in a blog written by someone else.
• When I am tired I tend to ramble (consider this post a perfect example).

By the way, I don’t think blogging factored into my new job. On the other hand, the research and knowledge I gained while preparing my posts probably didn’t hurt.

I happened across several Ninja sites I thought you might enjoy today! I have to be honest to tell you these are not necessarily applications or sites that demonstrate stealth, espionage, or assassination (thank goodness), and they do not have anything to do with Japanese martial arts or Teenage Mutant Turtles. These are simply applications, sites, or games that include Ninja in their title or name…but, hey I had you going for a minute there, didn’t I?

Actually, the first tool I am sharing today is kind of cool…Ninjawords is a super fast, simple to use dictionary (I don’t know how I missed it when I wrote my 25 Online Dictionaries post…maybe there is some stealth involved when it comes to finding this tool online). At any rate, this dictionary claims to be everything a true Ninja is supposed to be…smart, accurate, and really fast. I will attest that it is truly fast. I worry a little about the accuracy claim because the results are drawn from Wiktionary as a primary source. All the same, I particularly liked the neat little trick that makes it easy to compare definitions by looking up many words on the same page. Simply type multiple words separated by commas in the search box to receive quick results for all the words you typed in. At the very least, Ninjawords should have real kid-appeal, especially for the little Ninja’s in your classroom!

Ninja Search…a deadly accurate search (it’s actually only as accurate as Google Custom Search), but the black background might contrast well on an interactive whiteboard (remember…I am not actually recommending these sites…I just thought the names were cool).

AirNinja is a site designed to help you get the “very best price on airfare.” You don’t book your ticket through AirNinja, but the site does claim to focus on routes that are not shown on other travel sites. If you want to book a flight you can use the discount airlines that are linked from the site. You can also check the non-discount airline search, all on the home page. Check out AirNinja before you purchase your ticket…what have you got to lose?

Read (or better yet…subscribe to) the PowerPoint Ninja Blog. “The blog covers practical PowerPoint topics, tips, and tricks. If you’re looking to move from PowerPoint apprentice to ninja.” This is a power-packed blog for PowerPoint users at any level. Check it out!

Become a Gmail Ninja when you “learn tips and tricks to save time, increase your productivity, and manage your email efficiently. Start with the tips that are right for you, based on how much email you get each day.

Visit the Photoshop Ninja, “a website dedicated to Adobe Photoshop – the industry standard image editing tool. Photoshop is used the world over by professionals to edit images – in-fact the term ‘Photoshopped’ has entered modern vocabulary to describe an image that has been edited.”

Visit the Substainable Ninja site to read news and learn about products and people fighting to make a difference in promoting sustainability…”together we can all help to reduce consumption, improve health, and find cleaner alternatives to power the gadgets, cars, and lives we lead today.”

Play the Grammar Ninja game to improve grammar skills. There are three levels that will keep students engaged and interested as they improve their grammar skills.

Create a Ninja Message using the Ninja Text Generator…

Here is a bonus video featuring an Urban Ninja (don’t try this at home)….

Read my review about Glogster after you explore my sample below:

Every time I think I have found the best Web 2.0 application ever, I find another application that blows me away! My absolute favorite Web 2.0 application to date is a neat application called Glogster. I am fascinated by the possibilities it offers in terms of integration. Students will no doubt be intrigued by the ability to create interactive Flash posters online. Using Glogster they will be able to create posters or web-pages using the extensive Glogster galleries or build posters that reflect their own style by uploading content that includes images, text, videos and sound.

There is a learning curve of sorts, but spending some time with this application is what I consider joyful learning, especially if you are a visual learner. Just one quick tip as you begin your learning journey…you can save a glog and go back to edit it….in other words save as you go. I lost several glogs because I failed to save as I went along. Don’t let your students make the same mistake…remind them to save their Glog as private periodically as they research and design. They can change the private option to public when they have completed their glog.

Glogster also offers an educators account that addresses teacher and student needs. I was very impressed with the start-up of this educator version. Registration was easy and quick. When you register as a teacher, you can request up to 200 student accounts. Glogster will email registration confirmation as well as login and password information for your students. This option allows a teacher to build community access for students.

After creating several test student accounts, I can see that this would be a very viable learning opportunity for students. I do wish the company would consider offering teacher rights to view email information that is sent between students and also an option to track student passwords. As it stands now, a teacher can track student progress and can easily send an email to individual students or groups of students. I was also very impressed to see numerous student glogs that incorporated content related to a number of curriculum areas. Students can also comment on peer posters or “glogs” while perusing work that has been posted for sharing. The company closes accounts if participants are consistently inappropriate in the content or comments that they post and of course the educator version allows teachers to monitor and delete student accounts on the spot.

This application could easily eliminate the need for poster board projects while helping our students develop digital literacy and creativity skills. I would strongly suggest that you sign up for an educator account if you decide to explore this exciting Web 2.0 Wonder.