I work at home, continuously learning to be a better mom and educator. So far, I am just newly self-taught in addition to the 2 years of college before I got married (for Early Childhood Special Education). I have made great choices in choosing my projects and the people in my 'circles'. I am grateful for the 'Mom' experience and the 'wisdom' process I have went through that has allowed me to finally start 'narrowing down' what I am really good at and what I KNOW is important- READING! I am a TRUE learner, for I am grateful to all my endeavors- 'the lessons you learn the hard way' and the easy, positive experiences that seem to be coming closer together, rather than far apart. I will actually get PAID for my involvement in teaching reading- whether it's a curriculum aspect or classroom educator. I plan to start college again next year- armed with everything I can be and open to ALL! Right now, I am now using the time at home with youngest two sons, homeschooling my 7 year old again this year- just like I did his older brother. I also spend a lot of my time 'conspiring' with educators to teach children 3-9, how to read and how to learn.... and hopefully help develop an insatiable quest for knowledge!

Sharnon007 moderates two forums for elementary teachers that use the Treasures Reading Series by MacMillan McGraw-Hill in the USA. Her focus, is to keep up with and share any knowledge pertaining to edutech- IWB's, game-making, inexpensive or FREE software as well as Web 2.0 tools. She's especially interested in sharing open-source and 'other' options for underfunded schools that new and intermediate users of edutech CAN and WILL incorporate into their classrooms: groups.yahoo.com/group/treasures_reading_teachers/  and
treasuresreadingteachers.ning.com/ 

Sharnon's Top Tools as at 4 October 2009

1. Firefox is my staple. I use it to access everything! For video viewing, it's a must. It's a great place to check out if .swf files are working. A browser is a MUST for 2.0 & Firefox is steadily 'up to par' for just about anything that I've seen online!

2. Google Search is my go to for ALL my needs. Search my desktop and online at the same time! Pictures, videos, files, blogs, tutorials- anything and everything I know about and have seen/tried, chances are, I saw it on Google 1st! I use Google Search for Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK and USA! Just about the best free, resources are from out of my country! Now, I just need to make an Google Search-conglomeration of them!

3. Posterous is one of my BEST newest discoveries! It's handier than a front pocket in a pair of Levi's! It's made it SO easy to compile a set of links or a quick blogpost about something I've found- all I have to do is email it to posterous.com ! I've recently discovered that posterous can be used to update other blogs or twitter... actually LOTS of other Web 2.0 services- VERY EASILY. So, when I've made new games, they automatically get posted to my private posterous, my twitter as well as rtoa.blogspot.com (where I put Treasures Reading related games, links).

4. ContentGenerator.net is another one of my BEST newest discoveries- it's downloadable software. So far, I've only used the free game creators, but they're SO EASY to use, and the games created can be used by individual students or for a group or class on the IWB - depending on the game. The Fling the Teacher game is like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire with enough of a twist that ALL kids will be paying attention and trying to Fling the Teacher! These are the type of games that engage students and are GREAT for concept review!

5. Flinklearning's Flink Make is a software-subscription that I use, by the creators of Maestro learning. You can share lists with other members or groups or create your own to be used in 25 different learning activities- some even incorporate voice (like for spelling test). That's just one of the 25 learning activities offered by this suite. You use their 'browser' to make lists and get list content from others and then save the info to your computer. So, students NEVER need to be online! That's GREAT for over-zealous site-blocking programs and internet 'down-times'!

6. Visuwords free online dictionary and thesaurus with a graph-like interface. A must-have for teachers of reading! I think kids should learn how to use this at an EARLY age!

7. ScreenToaster  I use this quite a bit to make little tutorials for the teachers in my forums. It's great for on the fly screen-recording and I can upload there or to Youtube. Again, overzealous site-blocking programs beware- we're figuring it out!

8. file2hd.com  Save any type of file from just about any page from here. This is a must have for anyone who has problems reaching sites during certain times or because of antivirus or site-blockers. Type in the url, checkmark and click. Be sure to ask permission- most people are understanding and don't mind at all.

9. Feedly This is a new find for me. Feedly works as well as Google's Reader, but it's cleaners especially if you have a LOT of feeds you follow. What more can I say? It works.... well. Besides, that cuts down on the crud eating up my resources!

10. OpenOffice.org WRITER- I TOTALLY switched, From the 'other' and it was all-or-nothing. For what I want to do, it works and I get to use all my fonts. I click- it starts.