09.03.08

Wonderful Experience

Posted in Uncategorized at 6:25 pm by

I just wanted to say what a great experience I have had over the last couple months exploring all the 2.0 applications. I have learned so much and the projects have expanded my thinking about my library program. As I have stated before I want my program to remain relevant to the students and staff. What I have learned this summer from Michael, the fellow participants, and my own explorations will go a long way towards fulfilling that goal.

I met with the other library media specialists in my school district today and we have decided to have brief overview of one of the 2.0 applications at each monthly meeting. I described the SLJ All Together Now project and they were very interested. I described two of the applications, Animoto and the TeacherLibrarian Network, and gave suggestions of how they would be helpful over the next few weeks/months. We might even start our own Ning!

Lastly, in a couple weeks I am collaborating with a social studies teacher to have her students research the presidents and create a ‘trading card’ highlighting relevant information. Wish me luck and once again thank you to you all!

08.19.08

Social Networking

Posted in Uncategorized at 1:03 pm by

I have to admit that I am not completely comfortable chatting with strangers so the social networking arena gives me pause (as does putting my thoughts in a blog for strangers to see). Now having said that I have to admit, I have had a Facebook page for a few months. My four sisters and I use Facebook to communicate, share pictures, etc. Since we created our pages my children, and my nieces and nephews have asked to be ‘my friend’. I did not start out thinking that I would be their friend, something about that was off putting to me–I didn’t want to infringe on their privacy and/or social life. There is just something about a mom trying to connect with her children using their environment that seems slightly odd. My son has made sections of his page private so his aunts and I cannot see it. I understand that need for privacy. I’m not sure what to make of this ‘thing’ so I am just exploring it for the time being. I did add the IRead application to my page. I like that now my sisters can see what I am reading. I was surprised to see my daughter respond by listing all the books she is reading or has read lately.

I also joined the TeacherLibrarianNetwork ning that Kathy Ishizuka recommended to me last week. I joined the middle school group and enjoy reading the posts. I can see myself using this social network as I get more comfortable being a participant and not a “lurker’!

08.12.08

Flickr, trading cards, and more

Posted in Uncategorized at 5:12 pm by

I have spent many hours over the last couple weeks exploring the latest ‘things’. At this point I feel that I may be getting overwhelmed with all the different applications that are available to me. My goal when I joined the learning experience was to become familiar enough to present some ideas to my teachers so they could begin including one of two things into their lessons with their students. But my question now is what one do I start with? With the time constraints that we all work under I have a short opportunity to make my case and I want it to be a good one.

I think flickr and some of the activities I have explored recently lend themselves easily to the currcuilar needs of a number of my teachers. I can see the LA teachers having the kids create trading cards as a quicky activity before open house and having the cards posted on a bulletin board. I can also see my social studies teachers using mappr and flickr to demonstrate acquired knowledge on a number of different topics. I am constantly looking for ideas where the students are asked to do something that doesn’t lend itself to cutting and pasting. This type of activity might just work here.

Lastly I have been reading additional blogs and conference presentations on the Library 2.0, most recently I looked at some of Annette Lamb’s work. She also lists many different applications. I am most interested in what people have to say about the changing landscape of our media centers. After working in the field for 30 years I have reinvented myself a number of times and over the last couple of years I have started looking once again at the relevancy of my media program. Besides advocating for new ideas and processes with my staff I also have begun to visualize how I bring the other district media specialists on board. Between the 12 Things activity and Netvibes and my own explorations I think I will be busy for quite sometime. Here is my attempt at a trading card:

07.30.08

My Favorite Podcasts

Posted in Uncategorized at 5:06 pm by

Besides running and reading I enjoy cooking. One of my favorite podcasts is from American Public Media with Lynne Rossetto Kasper, The Splendid Table. It is an hour long podcast full of recipes, cooking ideas, etc. I love it and will listen to it when I go on long runs. The rss feed is: http://americanpublicmedia.publicradio.org/podcasts/xml/splendid_table/kitchen_questions.xml

I also enjoy the podcast, Satellite Sisters. It’s just for fun, the URL is: http://www.satellitesisters.com/

Lastly, I listen to the Tech Chicks, http://feeds.feedburner.com/techchicktips/TAvz, for information on Web 2.0 things. They do not post a lot so it is not overwhelming. They highlight the applications and provide suggestions for how to use them in the classrooms or library. Their podcast is down to earth and I do enjoy listening to them.

I have subscribed to all of these plus others through Itunes. I have found that it is a good source for many main stream podcasts.

07.28.08

Podcasts are great!

Posted in Uncategorized at 7:32 pm by

Just a quick post to say that I really enjoy podcasts. I discovered podcasts about two years ago when I purchased my first ipod. I have always used itunes to find the podcasts that interest me. I subscribe to a number of them, I had to finally cut back because I just couldn’t keep up. I enjoyed exploring the podcast websites that were provided in todays exercise. I found a number that I added to my Netvibes site. When I originally set up my page I added a podcast tab so I could add new podcasts as I found them.

One of the greatest benefits I am getting from this entire activity (12 things) is the chance to explore and discover what is out there. It’s like I have been given permission to just wander around the web a little bit. I enjoy the suggestions the other participants are offering. This has been a very rewarding experience so far. Thanks so much everyone!

07.24.08

RSS feeds!

Posted in Uncategorized tagged at 6:43 pm by

I created my own NetVibes page today to gather blogs, news, and general information (through widgets) all together in one site. I have tried to use RSS feeds in the past but did not understand the concept or process. This seemed pretty easy after I explored it a bit. I do have one question, what happens to all the articles that are sent to my page? Do they just stay there forever after I read them? I know that only the latest three are displayed but what happens to the ones I have read (or not read)? RSS feeds is one area that I do not think in intuitive to the average teacher/computer user.I appreciated one of the All Together Now participants comments about making the feeder your home page.

I will try this out using a topic that I know one of my teachers is going to have her students research this year. I would like to see how we can apply RSS feeds to the resource search process both the teacher and students use to find information on their topics. I see it as a time saving device for the staff if good quality resources are made available in a easy manner.

07.21.08

Introduction

Posted in Uncategorized at 1:48 pm by

Hello! Welcome to the first post on the media center blog. This is where I am going to try to keep you up-to-date with all that is happening in the media center this school year. There has been much change in both the staffing of the media center and the new programs we will be instituting.

This summer I polished my Web 2.0 skills so I could work with you from both a professional development standpoint and as a curriculum and instructional activity with your classes. With the creation of the professional learning center in room 207 increasing the professional development activities for the staff will be one of my goals for the year. Check this blog often to keep on top of the offerings.