Week 9 - Thingie #23

Wow! The end of the course!
First of all, let me thank each and everyone at CSLA who had a part in putting together this awesome experience. I can not believe the things I learned this summer that are happening in the Internet world. I really appreciate having this remarkable opportunity to expand my horizons and continue my life long learning. Thank you all so much.
I loved creating my own blog complete with avatar- decorating and "themeing" it. I guess of all the sites ZOHO would be my favorite. It has such incredible potential for use at our school and in our district. But I had a good experience at all the sites. I have put aside time this month to go back and revisit all the sites again to confirm what I remember and to really familiarize myself with them so that I can help students and staff access them easily.
I think the amount of satisfaction I derived from learning about all these new things was surprising to me. It really made me feel good about myself that I could learn and do these things that so many of my colleagues know nothing about. It also demonstrates the pride and professionalism that I bring each day to my "paraprofessional" position because I cared enough to do this on my own to take my skills and knowledge of the Internet to a new level.
I would love to do this type of "discovery" program again. It has been so "enriching" to have participated in Library 2.0.

I forwarded all those free audio book sites to my ipod friends and family. It's a good resource to use to enhance our audio book collection as well. I wish our county library system was using the Library Elf service I found on the Free books list! When my daughter was at home it could have saved us a fortune!!

Week 9 - Thingie # 21

My former principal, now retired and still a good friend, is absolutely a constant ipod user. She downloads books all the time and is never without something to listen to. My son downloads music song after song to listen to while driving, working, studying etc. I haven't succumbed to one yet - I like silence sometimes! But I did learn that you don't have to have an ipod to use the podcasts, checked out Educational Podcast Directory and found listening to a Nancy Keane book talk was way more helpful than just reading it. It gave me the opportunity to hear the timing, infection, and tone that she uses which will really help my presentation to the kids. I'm going to put her podcast list to my RSS feed to my Blogline account.

Week 9 - Thingie # 20

Okay - this was fun! Spent WAY TOO MUCH time looking at all the videos of English Springer Spaniels - just got to see them all!!! :)
Really liked TeacherTube. I love not reinventing the wheel everytime you need to do a pesentation - I'm going back to look for things like book care, Dewey etc., to use in the library this fall. I can almost bet a year's salary that not a single teacher has used this to find curriculum related material. Boy, am I going to look smart at a staff meeting :)
For now, I'll just enjoy high tech praise!

Week 8 - Thingie # 19

I had already checked out LibraryThing for an earlier lesson, joined, listed some of my favorite books ( okay, I admit I took the easy way out and listed the Harry Potter series), and joined two children's literature groups not looking ahead to this week.
So it seems that, hmmmmmmmmm, yes, just a few people have commented on the books I have on my list :)and they seem to be quite popular with numbers of readers!! Here is my link - http://www.librarything.com/catalog/ilibra16. While this site is all about books, I don't know that I will use it that much. Maybe it's a summer vacation thing. I didn't even want to read the discussions - sounded too much like a library list serve "discussing" proper protocol for posting!! Listing all the books I own sounds like work work - this from a woman who, while between library positions, catalogued, labeled, and "spreadsheeted" every video in the house and then moved outside to map and list every iris variety I had!!

Week 8 - Thingie 18

WELCOME TO THE RIDGEVIEW LIBRARY'S

 

"ONCE UPON A STORYBOOK"

 

 

 

2007-2008

Well, phooey!! I had hoped that this would come in better but I can't fix the text overlap. Anyway, this will be one of the signs that I use in the library this year. Really like the Zoho site. Seemed to go really slow but that could just be my antiquated computer :)

I love the interactive living document that can come from a wiki. Our school recently spent two years doing a curriculum map at each grade level. So much time and trees could have been saved using a wiki. We are doing our first book club next fall and I can see value and fun from using a wiki. I won't know until the new carpet is down in the library and I can get into the library but I think that a wiki site MIGHT make it pass the district firewall where a blog site never would.

Week 6 - Thingies # 13, 14, &15

The idea that you can have access to sites you have bookmarked on any computer is awesome. I spend a great deal of time either researching for a website in response to a teacher or student request or emailing the link to my school computer from home where I had it bookmarked so that I can bookmark it on my library computer. I will use del.icio.us to make it all much simpler.
"Folks" doing their own tagging can be fun but it can also be frustrating as the average blogger doesn't list a lot of tags - the kind that you would find in a well cross-referenced catalog. Guess I'm sounding like the little old library lady from Pasadena but there also seems to be a ton of junk out there that I don't want to read even with a tag I'm interested in.
As the world evolves, so must it's institutions. School libraries certainly must do all they can to change as well. Monies spent on print resources need to be turned toward subscription web services, state databases need to be championed until it happens for our students. Arbitrary fire walls need to be examined and content not words used as reasons to block sites and services. And warm and friendly is, as it has always been, technologically correct!

Week 5 - Thingie # 12

Spent some time this morning exploring Rollyo. Never even knew all these things were out there on the web. I'm trying to take them all in, one site at a time. I created a general searchroll for upper grade research but can see enormous use for all student research with teachers creating searchrolls to guide students research on any project area.

Week 5 - Thingie # 11

Now that was fun! Searched a little, found http://www.librarything.com/ and explored enough to get hooked. Joined and sent links to my more avid reader friends! Belong to two children's literature groups and I'm "watching" one on dog books. Not looking forward to listing all the books in my personal library though. Sounds an awful like what I just left behind at work for the summer! When I got to Ning, I settled for a English Springer Spaniel "network" - it only has one other member! Had trouble posting pics there too! If I get it to work, I'll post the link!

Week # 5 - Thingie 10

This was a difficult session. I tried everything I knew and then some to get an image I created at http://www.signgenerator.org/ to upload but nothing would work. I went to http://www.imagechef.com/ and in just a few minutes I had everything done except adjusting the image size. I like the idea of using customized graphics instead of depending on ones you find on the Internet. It will be especially helpful when I need signs, etc. that work with my theme in the library each year.

Thing # 4

Well, it's taken several days to explore just the tip of all things RRS. I have my own blogline now - like the news and weather service but I'm not really into reading a lot of other people's blogs. I had hoped to find a good source of children's book reviews but haven't so far. Most of my time today was taken up deskunkifying my house after a half grown skunk waddled into my house about 4:30 this morning!!! Made it all the way down the hall to the master bedroom and bath before our dogs discovered him! I think a "reader service" could be helpful for our older students while doing research for a project but at the moment they would have to use it at home as our district currently blocks all things containing the word "blog."

Thing # 3

My Favorite Day in the RES Library
Originally uploaded by ilibra16

Wow! I must have made this harder than it should have been. It took me a long time to figure out how to get the photos from Flickr to the blog. I hope when you click the My Favorite Day link that the other five pictures from our author/illustrator visit with Sandra Philipson and Jenny Campbell are accessible. Would have been grand if I had known to upload the photos in reverse order to the Flickr page I created!! Lesson learned!Lots of potential at the mashup sites for posters, etc. to use in the library!

7 1/2 Habits and Me

After reading the tutorial, I was surprised that so many of the things that have always been "me" are listed as the habits of a lifelong learner. I don't know how I got that way. Was it my mother putting a book in my hands on the potty seat, my second grade teacher praising my reading (she also told me I had to color between the lines!), some inner faith that lets me know that I can search, find, read, and assimilate new skills? I wish I knew. I would gift these 7 1/2 skills to each and every Ridgeview student if I could more than any snippet of information, math formula, or conquest date, these habits would insure their success in almost anything they attempt.
I often find I am so busy being responsible or mentoring others that I do not leave much time for play but I am trying to do better. It's an important goal for me.

Thing # 1

As I was waiting for the coffee to perk, my husband asked me why I would want to have a blog. I had to think for a moment. Because I can, because our kids do, because I want to learn, to remain current with computer technology would all work as my answers. But you know computer stuff, he replied. Yeah, I was the first one on campus to email, to shop ebay, to order books and AR quizzes online but life does not remain stagnet. We are in the midst of Library 2.0 and I want to understand it all, do it all, be able to help others challenge these new pathways.
So in the midst of inventory, boxing 800 old social studies textbooks, and packing most of the library away for carpet installation, Library 2.0 here I come!!