Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Thing #23

The End....

I can't believe I have actually made it through all 23 things...I have learned so much!! This is probably the most worthwhile training I have ever experienced...so practical for what I try to do as a librarian every day.

In summary, some of my favorite discoveries had to do with using mashups (very fun and creative) and setting up the Library Thing account. I also enjoyed re-visiting embedding Youtube videos into Photostory...what seemed so hard a year ago was actually relatively easy. I have confidence that I can teach this process to teachers!

Something interesting that has happened to contribute to a lifetime of learning is just realizing what is out there----how incredible! I never knew the extent of blogs, podcasts, videos, etc. that are available for FREE to help us in a professional and personal lives. I have read more interesting blogs lately...I am also preparing for a workshop coming up soon and I found a variety of videos on Youtube that I want to incorporate...so much is out there!

I set up an account on Ta-dalist ( http://megmills43.tadalist.com/lists )that allows you to create "to do's". I am currently making a list of the ideas I have encountered in the 23 Things that I would like to share this coming year with students and teachers. Delicious and Rollyo will certainly be on that list as well as using Google docs and other share programs that I have been exploring.

No improvement necessary and I would certainly participate in another program that allowed me to stretch and enhance my knowledge of technology and tech applications as they relate to the library and classroom.

In one sentence, I would describe my learning experience with the 23 Things as gaining the ability to recognize what wonderful tools are available in 2.0 land and applying them to my professioanl and personal life as a librarian and life-long educator.

I am soooo glad I chose to attend your session at TLA...I know that this course will allow me to be a better teacher/librarian.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Thing #22

Nings

I found the article on Nings interesting-they said how students can feel awkward when the "adults" are joining in to create a social network with them through Myspace and Facebook. Using a ning eliminates that encroachment. I think it would be something that we would like to use in our district as a communication tool amongst the library staffs. We have very little time to meet or get together so an electronic format would be ideal.

I enjoyed the Teacher/Librarian ning by Joyce Valenza. I had the pleasure of hearing her speak at TLA a couple of years ago and I am very impressed by all she does. I plan to join her ning ASAP.

Thing #21

Podacsting and Videocasting




Photostory is actually a program that I have had some training in through a couple of workshops. The more I use it, the better at it I am getting. I like that it offers a more exciting product that Power Point. I would like to use Photostory in creating my own digital booktalks or as an introduction to research projects that may be coming up. I would also like to familiarize the students with it as they branch out beyond the same old Power Point and Word documents.

I also have an interest in incorporating Podcasting into my library world...maybe by making important announcements about upcoming library events or important things going on at school? Hmmm, I'll keep working on that!!

We have a teacher at our high school that has really embraced the use of technology, especially Photostory. I plan to encourage others to take that leap!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Thing # 20

YouTube, TeacherTube and Zamzar


I am a huge fan of YouTube and have spent a lot of time looking at a variety of videos...and my own personal kids are total YouTube junkies. I have always had great frustration in a school setting trying to use YouTube and embedding into PowerPoint presentations. It is blocked for our students but I could log in and then save the video and help them embed..quite a lengthy process. I loved Zamzar-it literally took 1 minute to convert the video into a format I could put into this blog-wonderful!! I will certainly be using this in the upcoming school year.

I know that there is always controversy surrounding allowing YouTube to be available in schools-we begged and begged and were finally given teacher access last year. There are some wonderful short clips that really can enhance a lesson. We were able to bring up a short video on lightening and sports for our Sports Medicine class. It was very valuable information for our students who are most certainly visual learners.

Enjoy the video from PBS on the Jane Austen series that aired a couple of years ago. I'm a huge fan!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Thing # 19

Web 2.0 Awards List

I like the organization of this list...I will certainly bookmark it so that I can go back to it for future reference.

I looked at a couple of the award-winning web sites. Of course, veing summer and all, I could not resist under the Fun Stuff tab the site called "cocktail builder"!! It has tons of easy drink recipes and even a place that you can add your own personal favorite drinks...a bit off topic...sorry!!

The next site I looked at was .docstoc. On this site, you are able to pull up a variety of posted documents. I found blank worksheets for elementary math, examples of various legal forms that can be printed out, a section on wills (they even had Michael Jackson's will scanned in for your own personal reading..). It was an interesting site. I'm not sure how much it would be used in a school setting. I did check out the education tab and found character lists and summaries of a Charles Dickens novel. There are also scinece manuals that had been scanned in and were available for download.

There is a lot going on on this site! It is worth taking a look at and introducing to your teachers.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Thing # 18

On-Line Productivity Tools

I have been an Open Office user for the past year. This is all we use on our own personal computers at home. At first, I didn't care much for it because I was so used to used to using the Office suite. Now I have no problems with it. I was thrilled to know that it can be saved as a Word document (something I didn't know!) as this will make it easier for me to transfer my documents from home use to school use. I will also need to let our students know about this. Last year was a bit of a pain when the kids would bring in their essays that had been finished at home but needed to be printed at school. I was downloading the Open Office program and then converting the documents from there. If they know how to go ahead and save as a Word documant, we can avoid this issue which can be time consuming.

As far as use in school, we have just hired a librarian from Irving ISD that says her former district is only going to use Open Office to save the district money. The only thing I see as a hindrance is that the kids are so used to Office, they will have a brief adjustment period. The posistive side is that everyone has access to the program..FREE!

I have also been using Google docs. I am prepapring a presentation for an inservice and am using the Google version of Power Point. It is easy to use and located with all of my other Google programs. You don't get the wide variety of templates that Office offers, but they are adequate for what I am doing.

Thing # 17

ROLLYO

Once again, an application I had never heard of! I set up a Rollyo account and added Amazon and Barnes and Noble as links. These are two sites I use frequently when searching for something new to read or to check the bestseller lists. I did not make the search public but did go through and do some searching...wonderful idea! I can see where this site will be very helpful to myself and teachers when helping students research various topics. We used to do an extensive research paper on King Arthur. I would spend lots of time setting up a webpage with the links-each year I would have to remember what I did to get back into the webpage and so on. This is a much simpler and quicker way to do basically the same thing. Just copy and paste the links and give students access...I will certainly be sharing this with our teachers!

BTW, the Teacher Tube video was very helpful. Great tutorial!

Friday, July 3, 2009

Thing # 16

WIKIS

I have been familiar with wikis for awhile. I enjoyed exploring some of the different library wikis that are out there. I ran a cross a wiki for a teen library in Cleveland. There was so much info on the page and lots of wonderful ideas going on-book reviews, new titles, activities at the library...very cool! I also came a cross a wiki from Australia that had a link to a YouTube video called "The Angry Librarian"..quite funny!!

In the library, wiki's could be used in many ways. I am thinking of starting a wiki for our book club. That way students wouldn't have to wait for a meeting to begin a discussion...we could have on-going talks. We use a share point in our district that is essentially a wiki. We cna post information or calendars or reminders.We still haven't perfected its use but it is worth giving it another shot!