Week 12: Thing 17
I haven't listened to many podcasts, which is funny, because I am an avid audiobook listener. Part of the reason is because I don't have a new ipod which will play the podcasts... that tells you how old my ipod is! Hahaha! I really found the slave narratives at the Library of Congress compelling. The gentleman that I listened to was the grandson of a man who was enslaved by Thomas Jefferson. As I listen to podcasts like those, I feel horror and fascination all at once. I really appreciated the fact that the LOC provides a transcript... that makes it much easier to find a compelling segment in a larger podcast to share with my students. The ability of technology to connect us to the past is really quite amazing.
The library podcast that I found is called The Fireside Chat. This is a podcast produced in Australia by teen readers, for teen readers. I listened to several podcasts and enjoyed them very much. The format was a little unexpected, because I expected to hear teens reading a script they had written in their English class. But rather, it was an interview format. The interviewer is very energetic and very kind and very good at drawing out the teenagers. Some of the "chatters" were very quiet and had to be drawn out, but the interviewer was very good at that. I really liked that format because it was good interaction. I think it would be fun to have a book review panel at a middle school to review books... if you could figure out a way to control the "talking over" that often happens with teenagers, it could be really fabulous! It would be fun to share those on the school website, or on the library website.
Tempted: a review by Tamara
Monday, March 26, 2012
Book Magic
Week 11: Thing 16
I really loved this video, it reminded me of the magic of libraries. I grew up in a relatively poor family, and the library was my escape. My mother used to take us there on hot summer days, and I would walk into the cool, air conditioned library, and immediately head into the stacks. I would walk the aisles and browse the shelves and collect books as I went. I have clear, vivd memories of checking out so many books at one time, that I could barely carry them out to the car. It became our weekly ritual.
I love the music and the art work, and the books that were picked to showcase. It intrigues me that I don't I know all the books that are in the video. In my mind, my library will be a place of magic, a place of fun, safety, excitement and most of all a place that loves, loves, LOVES books!
I really loved this video, it reminded me of the magic of libraries. I grew up in a relatively poor family, and the library was my escape. My mother used to take us there on hot summer days, and I would walk into the cool, air conditioned library, and immediately head into the stacks. I would walk the aisles and browse the shelves and collect books as I went. I have clear, vivd memories of checking out so many books at one time, that I could barely carry them out to the car. It became our weekly ritual.
I love the music and the art work, and the books that were picked to showcase. It intrigues me that I don't I know all the books that are in the video. In my mind, my library will be a place of magic, a place of fun, safety, excitement and most of all a place that loves, loves, LOVES books!
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Twitter Nation
Week 9: Thing 15
I have some experience with Twitter, and really love the clever way that 140 characters forces people to write. To be truthful, Twitter is also full of idiotic information, but for the most part, I do appreciate it as a form of communication with parents, and patrons. I currently Twitter for my school, @ButlerMiddleUT, my principal asked me to start after we lost power, and the phones went down, but all the teachers still had cell phones. We thought it would be a good way to keep in touch with parents in case of emergency.
I have my own Twitter account, @5guysnme, but I just use it to follow other organizations, I never tweet about my personal life, that does not interest me. Lastly, I just started a Twitter account to match my blog, @TheLibraryMama, as part of an assignment for JaDene's class. I thought it would be fun to start a Twitter campaign to get teachers to come to my library, so I embedded that account widget into my blog.
The downside of course, is actually getting people to follow your Twitter account. Currently, our school only has 50+ followers, but I find that it is a great way to send out reminders to the community. As a teacher, I appreciate the brevity of the messages sent, and so I think it would be a great way to give gentle reminders to the teachers at my school about the ways that the Library can help them!
Another great thing I use Twitter for is to get messages from Education groups and sites that can help me in my classroom. I follow groups like Discovery TV, Edutopia, ReadWriteThink, and Canyons School District. I find that is a great way to keep up with the latest and greatest, but it doesn't take a lot of my time.
I also think it would be REALLY fun to run Twitter scavenger hunts or contests in the library! But that would take some SERIOUS creativity and so I will put it on my list of things to do, when I am actually in a library!
Tweet on People!!!!
I have some experience with Twitter, and really love the clever way that 140 characters forces people to write. To be truthful, Twitter is also full of idiotic information, but for the most part, I do appreciate it as a form of communication with parents, and patrons. I currently Twitter for my school, @ButlerMiddleUT, my principal asked me to start after we lost power, and the phones went down, but all the teachers still had cell phones. We thought it would be a good way to keep in touch with parents in case of emergency.
I have my own Twitter account, @5guysnme, but I just use it to follow other organizations, I never tweet about my personal life, that does not interest me. Lastly, I just started a Twitter account to match my blog, @TheLibraryMama, as part of an assignment for JaDene's class. I thought it would be fun to start a Twitter campaign to get teachers to come to my library, so I embedded that account widget into my blog.
The downside of course, is actually getting people to follow your Twitter account. Currently, our school only has 50+ followers, but I find that it is a great way to send out reminders to the community. As a teacher, I appreciate the brevity of the messages sent, and so I think it would be a great way to give gentle reminders to the teachers at my school about the ways that the Library can help them!
Another great thing I use Twitter for is to get messages from Education groups and sites that can help me in my classroom. I follow groups like Discovery TV, Edutopia, ReadWriteThink, and Canyons School District. I find that is a great way to keep up with the latest and greatest, but it doesn't take a lot of my time.
I also think it would be REALLY fun to run Twitter scavenger hunts or contests in the library! But that would take some SERIOUS creativity and so I will put it on my list of things to do, when I am actually in a library!
Tweet on People!!!!
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Blog Bonanza!
Week 8: Thing 14
I found some really great blogs using the Top 25 Librarian Blogs, and I added them to my Reader along with other blogs from our class!
Social Networking Librarian
I really enjoyed this blog, and I hope it will be very helpful! I am discovering that I am not very talented at figuring out new ways to use new functions. For example, until I am comfortable with a new app, I continue to use it in the way that it was designed... I am not very good at thinking up new uses for existing apps or programs. Because of that, sites like this, that are full of new ideas are exactly what I need.
I especially liked the post about QR codes. I have no idea how to use those, and yet in the last 2 weeks I have seen at least 4 or 5 posts about using QR codes. So I found that very helpful.
I also liked the post on using Pinterest in the library. The post talks about using Pinterest to create visual lists showcasing the events, books and collections that you offer in your library. This also dovetailed nicely with an article I just found called 20 ways Libraries are using Pinterest right now.
Great blog!
Kiss The Book
This is the blog by Cindy Mitchell. I chose to highlight this blog because I like the books that she reviews for middle school aged kids. The other truth of the matter is that I teach in a very conservative community. I have looked at blogs like Reading Rants made by librarians in other parts of the country and sometimes the content they choose is too controversial for my students or my own children. I feel like Cindy Mitchell does a nice job at choosing books. I know that I will need help picking books for my library.
I found some really great blogs using the Top 25 Librarian Blogs, and I added them to my Reader along with other blogs from our class!
Social Networking Librarian
I really enjoyed this blog, and I hope it will be very helpful! I am discovering that I am not very talented at figuring out new ways to use new functions. For example, until I am comfortable with a new app, I continue to use it in the way that it was designed... I am not very good at thinking up new uses for existing apps or programs. Because of that, sites like this, that are full of new ideas are exactly what I need.
I especially liked the post about QR codes. I have no idea how to use those, and yet in the last 2 weeks I have seen at least 4 or 5 posts about using QR codes. So I found that very helpful.
I also liked the post on using Pinterest in the library. The post talks about using Pinterest to create visual lists showcasing the events, books and collections that you offer in your library. This also dovetailed nicely with an article I just found called 20 ways Libraries are using Pinterest right now.
Great blog!
Kiss The Book
This is the blog by Cindy Mitchell. I chose to highlight this blog because I like the books that she reviews for middle school aged kids. The other truth of the matter is that I teach in a very conservative community. I have looked at blogs like Reading Rants made by librarians in other parts of the country and sometimes the content they choose is too controversial for my students or my own children. I feel like Cindy Mitchell does a nice job at choosing books. I know that I will need help picking books for my library.
School Library 2.0
Week 7: Thing 12
I really enjoyed this article Library 2.0. We got to Skype with Bob Berkowitz from the Big6, and he argued that technology is just stuff and he is not required to teach that in the library. He said that IF the technology teaches something than that is great, but he argues that we should not be teaching technology just for technology's sake. I understand that viewpoint, and I worry about using tech, and losing the "thinking skills" in the pursuit of technology skills. And yet, I think learning will get to the point that technology MUST be used, and so my job as a librarian-teacher is to find technology that teaches THINKING skills, not just tech skills.
I loved this quote "Redefining the school library is not a response to some inherent failure on the part of the institution. It’s an opportunity for library professionals to engage in some exciting activities that will enable our institutions to remain effective in the midst of fast-moving technological change". I completely agree with this, and I believe that refusal to change or integrate, or even slow change will endanger our profession, AND the learning of our kids.
For the most part, I loved the suggestions in this article, and I wanted to make a list of the great ideas that I could use in a library.
I really enjoyed this article Library 2.0. We got to Skype with Bob Berkowitz from the Big6, and he argued that technology is just stuff and he is not required to teach that in the library. He said that IF the technology teaches something than that is great, but he argues that we should not be teaching technology just for technology's sake. I understand that viewpoint, and I worry about using tech, and losing the "thinking skills" in the pursuit of technology skills. And yet, I think learning will get to the point that technology MUST be used, and so my job as a librarian-teacher is to find technology that teaches THINKING skills, not just tech skills.
I loved this quote "Redefining the school library is not a response to some inherent failure on the part of the institution. It’s an opportunity for library professionals to engage in some exciting activities that will enable our institutions to remain effective in the midst of fast-moving technological change". I completely agree with this, and I believe that refusal to change or integrate, or even slow change will endanger our profession, AND the learning of our kids.
For the most part, I loved the suggestions in this article, and I wanted to make a list of the great ideas that I could use in a library.
- Library Thing: suggests that this can be used to have struggling readers create a booklist and give feedback on the book, to help the teachers understand the relationship that struggling readers (or any readers) have with their books. This can help strengthen the teaching/learning interaction between student and teacher.
- Book Talk: This is REALLY cool, kids can phone in their reviews on books. TEACHING THOUGHT: students would need to write their reviews first... to insure learning and thinking.
This is an important point to remember, especially given my "struggle", questions and concerns with technology.
"On the face of it, we’re talking about using blogs and podcasts. The heart of the concept, though, is not about the tools, but rather the communities and the conversations that they make possible."
- "Library Powered" stickers instead of Intel Inside stickers. LOVE IT! (needs to be catchy though)
Final important quote:
"It’s all a part of helping students become literate users of information in order for them to have successful careers in school and beyond. Remember that for some students, a rich school library experience may be their only library experience. Let’s use every opportunity to help our students engage the joy of reading and the power of information."
Considering the article and the overwhelming nature of technology, I think it will be important as a librarian to set a few clear goals, in terms of collaboration or technology and the library, and then focus on choosing technology that will support those goals. If you want good readers, then choose tech that will support that, like blogs, or book talks or book trailers. If you want students to become literate and finding information, then you would use Diigo, Noodletools, Pioneer and Google Docs. If there are no clear goals, it will be difficult to sustain any effort in a long term manner.
Great article with great information and great ideas! :)
Friday, March 16, 2012
TechnoWHATi???
Week 7: Thing 11
I had never heard of Technorati, but it makes complete sense that a service like this would exist. The first thing that I found interesting was that most of the MomBlogs that I read are not at the top of any list I could find, which makes me question what happens to blogs that are not logged with Technorati? Is there a service that actually just ranks blogs, that are not registered? And what actually constitutes a blog... I saw that Huffington Post counts as a blog... really??? That seems so commercial and so not a blog.
So I found a couple of interesting things from Technorati. First of all, except for Huffington Post, I was only vaguely familiar with one or two other blogs. Second, I noticed that education was not one of the top categories that was listed. Then, even when I did a search on education, I found very few blogs that were actually on education in the sense of a school, the term education seems to be used in a very broad sense. Once I did a search on "teachers" in blogs, that narrowed down my choices to blogs that I was more interested in. I also did a search on "edutech" in blogs, which had a nice turnout, but searching for "edutech" in posts, only produced 2 results.
I also noticed that the majority of blogs in the top 100, seemed to be on entertainment, gaming and politics. Sometimes when I do searches like this, I realize why the rest of the world thinks that we are mindless idiots. The things we pay attention to! Ugh! I wonder if we do that to alleviate stress from our actual lives... hmmm.
One last question... who decided that Technorati was an authority? :D
I had never heard of Technorati, but it makes complete sense that a service like this would exist. The first thing that I found interesting was that most of the MomBlogs that I read are not at the top of any list I could find, which makes me question what happens to blogs that are not logged with Technorati? Is there a service that actually just ranks blogs, that are not registered? And what actually constitutes a blog... I saw that Huffington Post counts as a blog... really??? That seems so commercial and so not a blog.
So I found a couple of interesting things from Technorati. First of all, except for Huffington Post, I was only vaguely familiar with one or two other blogs. Second, I noticed that education was not one of the top categories that was listed. Then, even when I did a search on education, I found very few blogs that were actually on education in the sense of a school, the term education seems to be used in a very broad sense. Once I did a search on "teachers" in blogs, that narrowed down my choices to blogs that I was more interested in. I also did a search on "edutech" in blogs, which had a nice turnout, but searching for "edutech" in posts, only produced 2 results.
I also noticed that the majority of blogs in the top 100, seemed to be on entertainment, gaming and politics. Sometimes when I do searches like this, I realize why the rest of the world thinks that we are mindless idiots. The things we pay attention to! Ugh! I wonder if we do that to alleviate stress from our actual lives... hmmm.
One last question... who decided that Technorati was an authority? :D
Diggin' Diigo
Week 7: Thing 10
Diigo sounds pretty cool, and a great way for managing internet information! To be honest, at this point it is a little bit overwhelming, but only because we have been learning about so many great tools, that it is hard to think about how to use them all! :D
Five Fab Ways to use Diigo
Diigo sounds pretty cool, and a great way for managing internet information! To be honest, at this point it is a little bit overwhelming, but only because we have been learning about so many great tools, that it is hard to think about how to use them all! :D
Five Fab Ways to use Diigo
- The most obvious way is to teach kids how to use diigo when researching. I imagine that kids could use Diigo as their research tool, and then create another final product, whether that is a paper in Google Docs or a Prezi. I didn't actually sign up for Diigo, but I wonder if there is a way to manage all the sticky notes... they could substitute for "old school" notecards. That would be cool! :)
- Library promotion: what a great way to highlight information that would benefit all the teachers in school. Articles about new tech, great teaching practices, library functions and many other things could be included in, or become the Library newsletter!
- Diigo would be a phenomenal way to teach kids to interact with informational text! I imagine that you could do some great collaboration with science, english and history!
- Think-Aloud: one technique for teaching reading is to model what you are doing as an interactive reader. The act of reading is very invisible, and struggling readers often don't realize how they are supposed to interact with the text. Diigo is a great tool to "model" a think-aloud for the students.
- BOOK CLUBS! Now, I am not sure about all the logistics, but wouldn't it be great to have an online book club that could make interactive comments with the text as they were reading along! That would be REALLY interesting... readers always react in different ways to different parts of the text!
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