Saturday, July 11, 2009

Thing 23: Summarize Your Thoughts About This Program

I’ve reached Thing 23! I know that I’m not finished learning about all of these "things." I’ll be going back to explore them and making plans for ways to use and share what I’ve learned.

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey? I’ve enjoyed so many of the exercises! My favorites include the image generators, Delicious, LibraryThing, and creating videocasts. I know that these will all be part of my plans for this year.


How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
This program has cemented my belief that there is so much to learn and discover in the world. Learning is what makes life exciting and each day a new day.


Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I was surprised at the number of people who are involved in Library 2.0. I’m taking away a hope of strengthening this community of support. Every “thing” that I explored provided something unexpected and helpful.


What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
I loved the concept of this program! Everything was presented so thoroughly. There were a couple of links that didn’t work for me, but other than that, I can’t think of any way that the program’s format could be improved.


If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
If another discovery program like this was offered in the future, I would love to participate. Please let me know if this happens! I like the idea of maintaining this blog as an educational journal and sharing it with my colleagues.


How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD ?

One word to describe my experience with the 23 Things learning activities would be “ENERGIZING!"


Thank you so much for your help and for providing this opportunity!

Friday, July 10, 2009

Thing 22: Nings

I liked the Teacher Librarian Ning. I found a group of Elementary School Librarians and several groups interested in Web 2.0 in the library. I liked the shared ideas and the support that the members offered to each other. I can see that a Ning would be a good tool for groups with an interest focused around a specific topic. We could use a Ning among our faculty centering on a teaching or curriculum concept of interest to, not only share experience and knowledge, but strengthen our community.

Thing 21: Podcasts and Videocasts

I agree that the possibilities for using podcasts and vidcasts are endless. I was thinking about some of those possibilities as I was trying to get to sleep last night. I know that I'll be experimenting with Photostory and Audacity for the rest of the summer so that I'll be ready to go with some fun projects when school starts. This Photostory is about a reading program for Parish students in kindergarten through second grade - "The Panther Paw Award" which is modeled after the Bluebonnet Award. The goal of the program is to encourage Parish students to read and explore a variety of recently published books and to provide the opportunity to discriminate among the books in order to identify favorites. Parents are also encouraged to join in the fun with their children and to read some of these books together at home. There were 20 titles on the 2008-2009 Panther Paw Booklist. Any child who read or listened to at least ten books was able to vote for his/her favorite one. Watch the Photostory to find out which book was the 2009 pick!

I'm still working on my vidcast. It is not showing the first page first when it is uploaded...although it does show the correct first page on my computer. Ideas?

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Thing 20: YouTube, TeacherTube and Zamzar



I loved this video. I think that it will be a great introduction to the book and to the study of alphabet books. YouTube and TeacherTube offer so many opportunities to make lessons exciting. At our school, I can ask to have access to YouTube for specific time periods.



This video from TeacherTube made me excited about having a SmartBoard in the library this year. A goal for this year...post a video on TeacherTube using our new Flip camera.

Thing 19: Web 2.0 Awards List

Web 2.0 awards list had some of my familiar and favorite sites and some that were brand new to me. I already am a big fan of Del.icio.us , thanks to Thing 13. I have plans to re-introduce this site to our teachers in August. I think that most of them are probably like me… they’ve heard of it, but didn’t realize how easy it is to share and use. MothersClick is a site that I sent to my daughter and a teacher at school who are expecting their first babies. I think that it offers a great support and network for new mothers. Upcoming will keep me informed about events planned close to home. I really liked One Sentence. It is about boiling down a story to its bare essentials and telling it in one sentence. I think that it would be a fun challenge in a writing classroom. The site that I am most excited about is Biblio. Teachers often ask about out of print books, and now I’ll know just where to look!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Thing 18: Online Productivity Tools

I registered and explored Google Docs. I started out with the tour and then browsed the template gallery. I made note of several of the templates that might come in handy in my own personal life. The wedding spreadsheet might be helpful with one daughter’s spring wedding plans. The Baby Feeding Diary and Baby Soft Album might be fun for the daughter expecting twins in the fall. I think that Google Docs offers a great opportunity for sharing information for collaboration. I’m so used to using Microsoft Office that it would take some time to feel my way through the online tool. It would be great to be able to access documents from any computer. I know that I will be giving Google Docs some more attention.

Thing 17: Rollyo

Rollyo was completely new to me. At our school, we work to designate sites for our younger students' research, but Rollyo makes it easy. I started a searchroll for the 2nd graders to use when they study insects. http://rollyo.com/bmaher211/insects_by_maher/ I’ll definitely share this new discovery with the other teachers...especially those in upper grades! The TeacherTube video was a great help! Thank you!

Monday, July 6, 2009

Thing 16: Wikis

I’m so glad to be learning more about wikis. I know that there are so many different ways that they could be used. My first thought is to create a wiki for the teachers to comment on the book that is our “all staff summer read.” I think that we could have a professional development wiki going all year with things to read and share thoughts about. Meetings are often tricky to schedule, but this would allow communication on each teacher’s own timetable. Others have mentioned using wikis for sign ups, etc…great idea! I’d like to add a wiki for parents and students to comment on our “Panther Paw Books” (modeled after Bluebonnet.) There are just so many possibilities!

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Thing 15: Library 2.0

Libraries of tomorrow will look different from libraries of today because always learning means always changing. I work with young children, so I believe that in five to ten years there will still be picture books, puppets, and a rocking chair for storytime in our library. Library 2.0 does not mean that we abandon treasured experiences that hold value for our children. But, in the very near future, there will also be a SmartBoard, more computers, and a way for the children and their parents to connect with the library and interact with each other from home via blogs, podcasts, etc. Library 2.0 means that even the youngest children are active participants in their learning. With greater participation comes greater opportunity. To me, Library 2.0 means that we discover and learn new ways to meet the needs and fuel the excitement for learning of the children in our care.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Thing 14: Technorati

Technorati is really packed with information and opportunity! I spent more time searching this site with less satisfying results than from others that we’ve explored. I don’t see myself using it as much as de.licio.us as a search tool for my work. I think that there might be particular topics that I go there to research. When I entered the phrase “School Library Learning 2.0” in the keyword search there were 1123 posts. When I used Blog Directory the number dropped to 66. When I searched under tags, the number was 28. I’m so glad to learn about tags. It is a feature that I will definitely be using (my own and those created by others) now that I’ve discovered their value. I looked at the Technorati’s popular blogs, searches, and tags. A lot of people like to read about celebrities!

Thing 13: Delicious

I have had a Delicious account for almost 2 years, but I’ve never really explored or used the site until now. I found a couple of good videos on YouTube that were helpful in learning how to navigate this tool. I’m trying to get the Delicious bookmarking buttons to appear on my browser. Using the tags, I found several terrific sites for the library. It will be so helpful to have all of the sites that I refer to in one place. I checked out Digg and Furl, but for now, I see myself using Delicious. I don’t know that I’ll be able to use it with students in my early childhood setting, but it will be a terrific way to share information with other teachers.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Thing 12: Creating Community Through Commenting

Thing 12 has been the most challenging for me so far. Commenting takes me out of my comfort zone. I do recognize the importance of participating in the community building purpose of blogging, though, and I will work on making this part of my regular practice. I agree that comments need to be meaningful and sincere.
It was fun to read some of the blogs in the Library2Play community. I learned a lot and left several comments. I found a blog about “twins and multiples.” After making a couple of comments, I sent the site to my daughter who is pregnant with twins. I also wrote a comment on a Canadian teacher’s classroom blog (http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=1337) that I have been reading (lurking) for a couple of months. She has been inspiring me, and I finally let her know that.
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