Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Week #9 Thing #23
Looking back I think some of the best things that I learned in the class are sort of "pieces" of the applications. For example; embedding things in this blog just opened my mind to that idea. Now when I want to put something like a picture or Voicethread in my wiki or an email it doesn't seem daunting. Even if I'm not exactly sure how to do it, I have a general idea and if it doesn't work I know how to look for the code and try it that way or work toward the solution.
It also reinforced that we need to move forward as librarians to make sure our Media Centers are up to date technologically and that we teach in the best way. The only way to do this is honest evaluation and replacement of methods in which something better exists. This is not using the computer lab to teach keyboarding. It's using every aspect of the technology available to us to teach everything. As long as we keep up librarians aren't out of a job, they are the information source that they have always been.
I think that some of the earlier lessons were more "spoon-fed, no misunderstanding" lessons. Each little click gave you more information, so at the end you felt like there was no doubt you got it. This is really good, especially where non-techie people are concerned. The earlier lessons took that next step of training, the "show me" step more seriously than the latter lessons, which were more "look at this and blog about it." It was more of a disconnected experience. That's okay if the earlier stuff was the most important and latter stuff more secondary - but I don't really think that was the case. Don't get me wrong, still a valuable experience!
My brain is whirling to develop a better system for tracking the assignments for our facilitators. It doesn't help them now, but it seems with all of these Web 2.0 classes and all these fabulous applications that there has got to be a less time-consuming, note-taking way to track progress. (Or maybe that's the next Web 2.0 application to be developed!)
The best thing I go forward with is a list of ideas for training and in-services. Every year our management asks for ideas for professional development and now I have a shopping list of areas where I would like to delve deeper.
PS - Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait! I posted then remembered I wanted to add these thoughts... Let's call it Week #9 Thing #24:
1) Does anyone else feel Password, Application, User Name overload? Yikes, I tried for uniformity as I went, then sometimes the user name was too long, or the password needed numbers, or I had already signed up for it long ago before I knew I needed a uniform name. Google has always been for my personal stuff. So now all of a sudden when I go to log in I'm getting work and personal log in info depending on where I've been last. Or it tells me I'm already logged in and I need to change users. Or I go to an application and think "Wait, I've already joined this haven't I?"
2) How about how some applications open new windows while others move within the window? It never fails, either you look to find the place you were and you're freaked because it's disappeared and you have to relocate it, or you look down and somehow you have a zillion windows open, including multiple windows of the same application. And we wonder why the computer is so slow ...
Thanks for the class!
Week #9 Thing #22
As I think I mentioned previously my husband has associations with college text books and boy, we had better be savvy to the fact that our students are looking at books a whole new way.
I've used LibriVox before and think the Gutenberg project is great. I have considered reading some books for them, as I have a background in presentation and think that would be a really neat thing to do. However, I won't consider it until I have better sound equipment - I won't subject someone to me reading inside a bell jar!
Here's a funny LibriVox story. My husband had to travel and at the last minute I offered to download a book for him to listen to on my ipod shuffle. I picked "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" and meticulously set up a newly labeled folder in my itunes. I carefully downloaded each of the many, many chapters, labeling each in a uniform fashion as the time to go to the airport neared. Finally I got to the last chapter and received the message ... "sorry, not available." Hey, but it was free :-). So there's how we can guarantee our kids still need physical books. Just make sure they leave the last chapter out of every ebook!
Week #9 Thing #21
I tried a variety of podcasts and find those done on poor equipment "unlisten-able." It reminded me of an inservice we had where Tim showed us some of the better equipment for podcasting.
I don't know what kind of podcast listener I'll make. Many seem very, very long and I start multi-tasking, then discover I'm not listening as closely as I should if I want to really get a lot out of it. Maybe it's not my media as far as learning is concerned. I do fine with the radio, but I'm not really try to catch every point when I listen to the radio. I listened to the podcast on Kimberly Willis Holt.
I think it would be neat to have the kids do a short podcast book review.
I created an RSS feed as required. I don't know if I'm just not getting the excitement behind this RSS feed thing or what. The RSS button downloaded for Podcast Alley, not the smaller picture of "childrensbookradio." I didn't see anyway to "Tell RSS" to only look for new info in "childrensbookradio" So as a result it downloaded ten items. The first is "Sex Sells - Top Sex Podcasts." It also included a podcast named "The Alcoholics Guide." Why would I want to weed through all of this? It was like my experience on the RSS assignment where the Spanish paper downloads everything, not just the Basque section that I bookmark and check. Also there were over 200 new items in my Bloglines since I went there last. I have no motivation to weed through them and know the next time I bother going there the numbers will have climbed further.
Am I doing this RSS feed thing incorrectly? Is there a way to narrow the feed to the stuff I actually want? Currently it's far worse than the junk mail in my actual mailbox - and for some reason (which eludes me) I'm actually requesting it! I know I digress from podcast ... but I've gotten so I cringe when I see an assignment say to add an RSS feed.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Week #9 Thing #20
This one reminded me of Chapter 1 of the text.
Week #8 Thing #19.1
First, I'm really glad to have them moving ahead with a new interface for Ebsco host. I went to the presentation here this spring and I think it's really a step in the right direction to have the kids go there and not just Google Wikipedia. It has not always been the simplest to navigate.
I enjoyed setting up a folder with the new interface. Although now I chuckle that the folders remind me of "old school computer" and I'm looking for tags these days, rather than the old "file boxes" that I need to copy stuff into if I want it multiple places.
I like Smart Text Searching. Also in the NoveList K-8 I spent more time with the "Read Aloud Picture Books Grades 6-8," which I loved! I looked at the tutorials. Don't the tutorials show some of the stuff using the older Ebsco interface? I'll admit, my learning in this area has been goal focused rather than taking a broad class that really explains all the components and where they come from.
I was planning to introduce my older elementary students to some of the more useful databases this past spring when Ebsco announced the new interface I didn't develop the lesson plan as completed as I wanted to, I hope to do that soon and set up a power point to project with simple instructions so the kids will use this resource.
Week #8 Thing #19
I changed that for this assignment since you request the link. I'm guess I'm glad people are such "exhibitionists" where Web 2.0 is concerned. I think there wouldn't be much Web 2.0 content available if everyone was like me. I must be too introverted, private, and stingy with my intellectual property - the first thing I do when I sign up for these type of accounts is find the settings and change them to "maximum privacy."
Anyway, there are many components of LibraryThing that I don't use yet, but I'd like to find the time to really play with it. What a neat application. The only books I put in currently are childrens or YA books. In this account I don't have any adult books, since I associate it directly with work. As a result most of the books I put in tend to be relatively popular, since they are often the new, hot, starred books.
My LibraryThing
Monday, July 21, 2008
Week #8 Thing #18
I would like to see more training available on it listed on the Web 2.0 site. When you first sign up you get a list of all that you can do, but it would be nice to see some Teacher Tube tutorials listed if they are out there.
I'm going to try to publish this to my blog.
Okay, everything above this line was created in Zoho. It popped into this blog really easily - like two steps. This is a really interesting application. Since I have Microsoft at home and have used Excel so much, I'm not sure I'll just totally switch over, but I am definitely intrigued. Also I am totally sick of having my computer crash and losing everything. I'm really looking at saving more and more of everything to the web to avoid this and provide me access wherever I am. Which leads to the next internet safety / identity theft tutorial - what to save to the web and what ya probably shouldn't ...
Week #7 Thing #17
I ran through the resources in this section. I sort of scanned them rather briefly, since they related to PB Wiki and I have used WikiSpaces, I didn't want to memorize too much technical stuff and confuse my WikiSpace procedures which are finally becoming second nature.
Like I mentioned previously I think a wiki would be good for a bunch of student applications, like book clubs. But it's all dependent on students using the wiki. As a teacher I could require my secondary students to post to a wiki, but as a librarian it would be voluntary so I would be interested if I would get any elementary students involved. It might be nice, professional development-wise, to have an elementary library wiki for those of us in the district to use.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Week #7 Thing #16
I jumped around within the resources provided and found lots of stuff on the various wikis in the Library Resources wiki including a plagiarism worksheet and a kind of neat assignment calculator from the University of Minnesota that I plan to show my daughter when she heads to college this fall. I think setting up a wiki as sort of a book club would be neat, but probably more at the secondary level than primary.
Here's my Wiki, just FYI
Ladd Library Wiki
Week #6 Thing #15
I thought Rick Anderson's "Away From Icebergs" was simple and clear. It probably blew the minds of people not willing to accept change. The idea of looking again at our collection and the "come to us" library is radical. I like that he knows that we can't train everyone, but can make the programs more accessible, so we don't need to. I know that as far as training, I have it made because I have the kids for a set time that can be used for training. Also the library will have a dedicated projector, document camera and laptop in the fall and I look forward to challenging myself to confidently forge forward.
I feel pretty good about our districts decision to move to Follett Destiny this upcoming year. When I read Michael Stephen's "Into A New World of Librarianship" about bringing the library to the user I think Destiny will allow the students access anywhere. Now we just need to overcome those hardware and network problems that we know will exist.
I liked Wendy Schultz' "To a Temporary Place and Time." It was a little Science Fiction-y and like the Matrix. Still I think it's wise to think outside the box. Due to my husband's association with the university's bookstore we have ample opportunity to discuss the changes to our use of books in a variety of ways. If we think the role of libraries is changing, think about text books and college students. It's important that we consider all possibilities in the education of our students and work to come up with the best solutions.
Web 2.0 means rethinking the school library. One physical thing that has been going through my brain for new libraries is configuring computer work stations in such a way as to make it easy for the single librarian to monitor student work. In a public library the work stations are set up for privacy, it should be the opposite for school libraries, and I don't care that the students don't have a sense of privacy. I'm more concerned that the students have ready access and that one staff member can easily monitor them while accomplishing other work. Currently the work stations in my library are circled around a central column. Their initial intent really to be used as an internal OPAC System. The only way to monitor internet computer use is to circle around like a coyote. Not too helpful.
I think the generation of the "Hush Library!" is over. If we want to move forward as librarians it will take more than just posting a sign that says "& Media Center" under our "Library" sign.
Week #6 Thing #14
After clicking on the link to Technorati I discovered I had won a free computer and the opportunity for brain seizures ... don't you love those flashing ads that just won't go away? Well, I guess that's how they keep it free.
Also on the first page when it opened it I discovered that "Elizabeth Dole says %&*@!! to Americans Who Died From Aids." Reminds me why I don't search these type of sites at school and how Wiki's look like the Harvard Medical Journal compared to Blogs...
I don't know if it's because I use Mozilla, but the little video "Technorati Tour - Videocast of New features and Look" (under Discovery Resources) shows a totally different interface than the Technorati link I clicked on which apparently shows the "Old features and Look." Regardless, I was able to use the advanced search and navigate around to view the required Blog posts, Tags, Blog Directory for "School Library Learning 2.0" Remember the quotation marks in your search. Also, if you don't get any hits on tags change the search to include "any authority." I did see a variety of posts using the different searches, interestingly enough many expressing the sort of Technorati Shell Shock I've seen in the Raven About Web 2.0. I was reminded that I enjoy checking out Boing Boing once in awhile for fun.
Did anyone else notice that the lady in the Videocast said she visits the "My Favorites" page of Technorati seven (or several?) times a day to see updates to her favorite Blogs? I think I'd list that right there with EverQuest and W.O.W. for internet addictions.
I passed on the optional activity of tagging my blog for Technorati. There was just something about the phrase "Technorati will pick up these tags when it spiders (or web crawls) your site" that gave me the heebie-jeebie's. It's kind of like dust mites, I know they're there, but I don't want to think about it.
Now on Tags: One of the Blog posts I saw in Technorati said that as a cataloging tool tags are only good if created correctly. Absolutely. That said, I love tags! I have been using them for awhile now. Gmail calls them "labels," but they are basically "tags." And of course LibraryThing which we'll cover later and I jumped ahead to earlier uses tags. Every time an application calls for tags I find them useful. It's like infinite file boxes and you can easily put copies of the data in as many boxes as you like. It's a whole different way to visualize organization and I love it. (I'm an organization nut by nature, obviously!)
Week #6 Thing #13
The hilarious thing is that after I set it up I kept closing it and going up to my Bookmarks on the top of my tool bar to open the stuff I'd just put in del.icio.us! I sounded like Homer Simpson, "D'oh!" It's like locking your keys in the car; you see it happening in slow motion, but just can't help yourself! Old dog and new tricks I guess!
I can see myself using this quite a lot, however I think I'm pretty lazy on Tags and think I'll save stuff quickly and tag it later. I bet that will be a mistake. I do think that del.icio.us looks kind of "1.0" to use the popular term. I think that they could shine up the interface to bring it to the "2.0" realm. I'm glad I had the ProDev in addition to the Web 2.0 to get a real feel for it's use.
Is it just me? In the Discovery Resources the link "Libraries that del.icio.us:" takes me to a site that's primarily in German. The link at the bottom of the Discovery Resources: "Recommendations Site" is in French and English. Since my daughter just returned from Spain and is speaking to me half in English and half in Spanish (which I do not speak) I'm thinking either I need my head examined or a bulk pack of Rosetta Stone programs...
Web 2.0 Text Chapter 9
- The idea of Education web based programs like Ebay or Amazon. Excellent idea. Again, they had better be as neat and user friendly for both the educator and the student or they won't fly. Might I suggest reviewing Google and FaceBook? We should learn from our competitors.
- Teachers picking their own materials custom fit for each student instead of textbooks as mentioned on page 181 is a wonderful idea. However without some help this is a lofty goal. The information overload is wild. I can tell by reading some of the comments on this blog that we can feel it even trying to pull information out on this class for ourselves alone. Educators are so busy with things that have nothing to do with actual academics, our educational system will really need to figure out how to facilitate this for it to happen.
- Hear, Hear! on the software sitting in cabinets and used only on school computers. Let's make learning available everywhere.
I really liked both the boxes on pages 184-186:
- Creators in the Classroom by Jeff Utecht. I've mentioned in numerous ways how we're afraid of the social web, but that our students already live in it. I really don't think being the Ostrich and putting our heads in the sand is going to make it go away!
- Learning from Games by David Warlick. First, let me state that I am not either a parent or an educator who thinks that everything a kid should do has to be fun and entertaining. I actually think that's a really dangerous viewpoint and was afraid that was where this article was going, but it wasn't. One thing I liked is the time invested to increase levels. The rewards and personal investment - how can we use that in education? Also I was really struck with the part on Dependability. How many times have you seen kids work and work to find the "secret" in the game because they know that a "secret" does exist for that level? But the same kid gives up easily on the math problem or figuring out the theme in a work of literature? They don't have the "...sense that the answer is always close by; that it merely means turning over the right stone..." (page 186.) Really well stated and thought provoking.
Web 2.0 Text Chapter 7
-"Cyberbullying may be the online equivalent of bad school yard behavior, but it is no less hurtful or dangerous." ("Web 2.0 New Tools, New Schools" p.138.) What?! I couldn't believe I read that. Cyberbullying is so much worse and in too many obvious ways to list. In my opinion it's like equating chopping down a tree in your backyard to slashing and burning a rain forest. Yikes.
- I liked the idea of special educational search engines, but they had better look sharp, or the kids are going to blow them off. Also, I agree that the AUP and Permission to Publish paperwork should be updated in simple language.
- Here's an interesting thing about YouTube: You have an option to "select only kid friendly videos" - but that doesn't filter the comments at all. If you watch an Elmo video and someone wants to post the nastiest comments (which they do) then there they are. Sure you can "flag" the comment and YouTube will review it and may remove it. Have you seen the filth people post to YouTube? I could sit with hundreds of people in a room flagging 40 hours a week and not keep up with it. Here's the cool part - it looks like there are some "non-YouTube" people out there working on applications to filter the comments. Go Web 2.0! What a perfect example of the two way street.
- Tee-Hee, the comments on MySpace on page 154 were funny... between Aug 2005 and Aug 2006 hits to MySpace by 12-17 year olds had declined, "they don't know why..." Anybody with their finger on the pulse of teenagers knows that the MySpace was losing favor and they were making the transition to FaceBook. "Positive Change?" as they state, or just change to a different Social Network that mom and dad didn't have a page on? I'd need to see more statistics to verify...
- The Cyber Awareness Survey was interesting. Sure the kids can "pass the test" when handed the survey. The real question is if they didn't know they were being observed how many would really put it into practice?
- Here's what I found most appalling: 71% of parents thought that a major portion of the responsibility for ensuring kids safety on the internet fell to the schools (page 150.) Another charming example of deferred responsibility. How much unsupervised time does a kid get with a computer in the school? Really, chart the time. Sure it happens, and sure the kids find things they shouldn't. In high school they may have a whole period where they are in the computer lab. And they are "unsupervised" until the librarian or teacher walks by, or the filtering software kicks in. And we need to be alert. Then the kid heads home at 2:30 and gets on the computer surfing gosh knows where for hours every afternoon while the parents are at work (and probably on into the night.) If you look at the Cyber Awareness Survey results the kids have been pretty well schooled in the text book answers. The parents in this survey need to step up and take some responsibility.
- Our only hope is to strengthen the triangle, the points are: schools/education - student/user - parent/home. Until we have commitment in all these areas the internet will remain a place with danger lurking behind the next mouse click.
Web 2.0 Text Chapter 5
How to seamlessly integrate technology into the classroom? Wow. If only the educators that had been around for decades weren't familiar with it, then all the brand new graduates would come in and the turnover would eventually result in an integrated system in no time. However that doesn't seem to be the case. Some newer graduates seem to slip into the "same old way" pretty easily and some of the people most willing to get integrated have been in the system awhile. I know that during the actual work day we are all too busy to sit and work on learning and practicing technology and Web 2.0. It's something I have to do on my own time.
Here's an interesting quote: After one Web PD session at our school a teacher told me that she's just "Too busy" to "add technology/web/computers" to her curriculum. Her lesson plan is already "Too full." This is a very good, positive, open-minded teacher. I think this is the biggest obstacle. If Web 2.0 is seen as additional work, not a better substitute for something else, of course educators don't have the space to add just one more thing.
The Community of Practice was an interesting concept. I don't think that it would be very successful though without a skilled facilitator to keep it on track. Sometimes I think that more isn't necessarily better. In the same way that kids get overwhelmed by the vast amount of information available, so do the educators. Sure you can find endless multitudes of resources on Magnetism. But in the end I know that I suffer information overload and return to more familiar territory. And again, there is little time to weed through it at work. For the most part it's stuff that one must commit to research on their own time.
"Without significant district and building level commitment, ongoing support, and organized efforts that reality [behavior] is not likely to change. To chart a new course, administrators must agree that the use of technology is a fundamental goal, and faculty members must participate in identifying it as a shared goal." ("Web 2.0 New Tools, New Schools" p.111.) I think the FNSBSD assigning tech people to the schools is certainly a huge step in the right direction, but I don't feel everyone identifies it as a shared goal - more as an option if they choose to take it.
We have our work cut out for us.
Web 2.0 Text Chapter 1
I cracked up about the computer excuses for no homework. If we want to have our kids succeed we can't put up barriers. When my son was in elementary school he would use the scheduled class time to work on assignments on the computer, then when he got home and tried to continue the work he couldn't because the school computer was an Mac and ours was a PC. He ended up having to retype his work. The time in the "computer lab" was busy work disguised as valuable "technology time." Fortunately File was established to alleviate this problem, but we need to be ahead of the curve, not behind it.
It's an interesting perception that kids know more about the web than the educators do. My children are 18 and 21 and both use the computer frequently. They know what they want to do and how to do it. I learn a lot from them and they definitely expect a Web 2.0 World. However, when I discuss certain things about this class I discover there is much that they don't know. It's like a kid that can kick a ball really well. Just because he can kick that ball doesn't mean he knows the rules of soccer or how the muscles or physics work. Just because I couldn't possible kick the ball as well doesn't mean that I can't teach. Sometimes I see adults (not just educators) behaving like "helpless ingenues" where computers and technology is concerned. And it's right in front of the kids! I don't think they behave like that in any other aspect of society. So much for instilling confidence or establishing themselves as an authority. They've pulled the rug out from under themselves for future encounters. Okay, that sounds harsh. I admit I'll do it myself too if I'm not careful. We have to get past that.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Week #5 Thing #12
Week #5 Thing #11
I joined Ning Library 2.0 and added the widget to this Blog.
I played with the "Travel IQ" site listed. Thanks a lot, now I'll never get off the computer :-). I love geography. I'll show this to kids. I'm regularly stunned by how many people have no idea what continent a country is in, let alone how to find a city there.
Week #5 Thing #10
I played a little in the Image Chef site. It was really easy because I just needed to create the image and then drag it to the desktop to use it. I think the tricky part of Web 2.0 is like anything you learn, it sticks when you practice, practice, practice. I'm trying to go back in to some of the things in the lessons and re-do them so I remember all the steps on my own.
I think a good story starter these days would be to discuss what books they would like to see made into a movie; it takes nothing to get the kids started! There are a number of image generators in Image Chef that relate to the movies. Don't let the kids stop by just coming up with names. Sit and go through the book. When novels are converted to movies, things are left out. What parts would you leave out and why? What are the best scenes that would need to be included? Are there characters that would be left out? Discuss which parts of the book would be expressed visually and in dialog between characters. How would you create the characters; animation, CGI, live?
Or go at it in the opposite direction: have them pick a picture book they'd like to see as a movie and have them "flesh out" what they'd include. How do they make it a full movie? What elements would they like to see added and do they enhance the story? A classic example of course is the Jim Carrey version of The Grinch that Stole Christmas.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Week #4 Thing #9
*** What I'd like it to work for, but it doesn't seem to: The sites I check routinely are password protected - anything new I wonder each day? This includes email and the private Facebook account that only my daughter and I use that she drops pictures from Spain in. Obviously these don't seem to be available and probably for obvious reasons. An RSS feed does not consolidate that for me.
*** What works the best: Obviously some sites are really good about set up. The Newsminer is good. I like the sites that give you a basic blue headline and some detail and a brief description, then you can go to the article. Some like the Shifted Librarian which I like seems to just dump the entire thing in there in whatever format. Not as good for scanning.
*** What I'd like to work, we'll see: I've set up my Blogger and my Wiki. What I really need to know is if someone posts a comment (in the former) or discussion (in the latter.) My Wiki is supposed to send an RSS for discussion. I did a test discussion, nothing yet. We'll see if it checks it. When I set up Blogger it showed me all the messages I posted, but didn't even indicate if there were comments to the messages. Anyone have an idea of how to set that up? I'm I missing a "switch" here in Blogger? I know what I post, I need to know if there are comments.
*** What doesn't work as well: I currently have a bookmark for an online English language Spanish "newspaper" so that I can keep up with the news where my daughter is living. I have it bookmarked to the Basque Country news and when I click on it it takes me directly there. I got excited because there was that little RSS feed symbol. But when I added it what I get is a nice list - great format - of the news of all of Spain. I don't know all the place names so it's really better just to check the bookmarked location. The feed is too general.
I did run through the various search tools. Reminded me a bit of Google. Lots of stuff to weed through. A search of "library" on one RSS feed search site got me a Blog about on how someone on Top Chef made food that tasted like "library" paste - okay, so that one caught my attention since I like Top Chef. And of course like any tech resource I got a few "site no longer available" and "insufficient rights" hits.
Anyway. I've got it up and running and I think the best bet is to try to consciously look for good RSS sites as I go. I'm on the computer regularly, but not really looking at feeds. Maybe we could have one Inservice where we can each bring one concise site with good RSS feed that deals only with the library, public schools, and technology as it pertains to the library.
Week #4 Thing #8
I added a San Jose News Feed Blog as required. Added a Reader’s Club new review feed (it however said it had issues with the feed, but "there was nothing for me to do - they were working on it.") Added Unshelved (which for some reason has a particularly political cartoon on it right now that doesn't specifically relate to the library.)
Went through the resources (many links do link back to the same "CommonCrafts" video, which is a good one.)
I'm trying to figure out how to really make this resource useful. I know Ann at Tanana loves RSS. I guess I find it hard to find things I really want to look at like this - and talk about information overload. Even the first Blog I uploaded from San Jose looked like a reasonable librarian Blog, then further down the site she's blogging about some surgery she had. The idea that I would make my site public so I could share some stranger's surgery with other strangers. I don't know, it's kind of mindb"l"oggling.
More on what I added in Thing #9 next.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Week #3 Thing #7
It is a good way to keep track of your books, it's better than a file box and easier to sort through. Of course like anything, you have to make a plan to enter books in. It's free under 200 books, so obviously I'll have to pay a yearly fee to really get full use out of it. I decided to enter chapter books and only the picture books that I use for lessons, rather than every picture book I've read. It shows the book cover, which is really helpful to me visually. There are places for comments and tags. I'm tagging my books by grade level and use the tag "puppet" to remind myself that there is puppet tie in or "song" to remind me of a song tie in.
You can enter the books by ISBN, so actually I had two that needed to be returned to the library. My husband was on the computer - I handed them to him this morning and all he had to do was open a new window, log in, enter the ISBN, select a book cover that looked like the book in his hand and log out. Later when I go to my profile and see books without comments I can flesh them out. I do still have an older Excel spreadsheet of books to enter in. And yes, you can make it private.
Library Thing
Okay, while we're at it. I have four preschool classes each week. Here's a YouTube subscriber I've found to find the tunes to those preschool songs that I need to sing and motion to each week. By the time I've practiced them all weekend my family is ready to reenact "Lemmings to the Sea..."
Cullensabc's Videos
YouTube is such a mixed bag. You can find some very valuable stuff - but even at home when I'm looking at fun, funky humor content (non-kid) it seems to be over-run with horrible comments language-wise. Sure you can flag awful stuff, but has anyone seen a filter that makes it safe for kids to check out?
Oh, and my comment on another blog was a far more serious post regarding young people using the internet on "Library Hikers" site.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Week #3 Thing #6
Troubles at the Kitty Reading Group
I think that kids will love using most of these sites. I think given the appeal of the graphic novels creating their own comic strip would be lots of fun. 15 years ago when I volunteered in the "computer lab" the kids were supposed to be learning keyboarding. During their limited time they had in the lab the challenge was to get them to type something ... Leave the font alone! It will be important in using these sites that the lesson plan involves plenty of planning on the kids part before they hit the computer or it will become a giant time suck. And, (tee-hee), that should be reserved for the adults.
Week #3 Thing #5
Flickr is an interesting site. My daughter attempted to use a similar site (Photobucket) while she is in Spain this year. She said that it was just too slow to upload. As a result she and I just log in to a private Facebook account using the same email and login. Boy you just plug the camera in and it uploads everything - zip, zip, zip. Our connection is very fast, yet the three pictures I took for this assignment took forever using the upload option they provide. (And her fam's connection in Spain is very slow.) Obviously the quality of the pics on Flickr are fabulous. It seems like it is more for the photographers who take 40 pictures, then download the best 3; rather than amateurs who take 40 pictures and quickly download the bunch off the camera before flying out to the next adventure. Obviously the size limit of the free account attests to that. Tempted to try some of the other upload tools available, but downloading stuff to our computer sometimes makes our Anti-Virus software cranky. We'll see.
Was having trouble publicly viewing my pics using tags even though they were set as "public." The FAQ's didn't do the trick. Ending up going in and changing everything to "private," going out, then going back and resetting to "public." That seemed to do the trick.
I like the FlickrStorm. The 3 part TeacherTube video really explains the practical applications for the kiddos.
Week #2 Thing #4
Week #2 Thing #3
On the negative side I think some people get really carried away; John Doe's 12,000 word blog on "why to paint walls white" is a hypothetically example. When I've run into those I find myself shaking my head. Why would they think the world cares? I'm going to really monitor myself so I don't follow suit, because I can see how it could snowball.
Another important thing right from the get-go is the risks of "stream of consciousness" blogging. In my former job there was a national search on for a high level executive. Someone stumbled on her Blog and it was the most popular attachment to every email. Fortunately she hadn't said anything really awful or dangerous in her blog, but it just made her look kind of goofy and unprofessional. I try to hammer that home to my young adult children and their friends regularly. And clicking a little box that makes it "private" is not good enough security from the hackers of the world.
Okay, off the soapbox. Setting up the Blog was easy and fun. I've set up a Wiki before and found the process similar. The availability of templates makes the process user-friendly. The instructions that you provided in Raven About for inserting the Avatar were great. It went right in the first time and I didn't have to click around, trial and error, to figure it out. There are still some things I want to change and can see myself continuing to play and adjust. I want to put some time into thinking about applications for our school.
Week #1 Thing #2
I think of the 7.5 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners the easiest step for me is Habit number 4; Have Confidence in Yourself as a Competent, Effective Learner. The skill that is the most difficult for me to achieve is Habit number 3; View problems as challenges.
I have confidence in myself as a competent, effective learner. I feel that I can jump in and get up to speed on any topic. I am not afraid of trying things on the Internet and learning as I go. I know I can be a resource. The internet is the present and it is the future. My children are 18 and 21 and very internet savvy. I use them as resources. But they are surprised by how I can bring information on internet use and safety to the table. The world is changing. I regularly tell kids, "don't post anything you don't want your grandmother to read." I graduated from college in 1985, and then jumped back in 20 years later to take a Children's Literature Course from BYU and found continued learning a pleasure. I have entered new occupations at times when friends have been in their same job for decades. I enjoy learning and improving the process as I go. I can approach any challenge with a "can do" attitude. My goal later in retirement is to write a children's book based on my great grandmother's challenges in
I think my most challenging habit of the Highly Successful Lifelong Learners is to view problems as challenges. I'm a very organized person and don't find great pleasure in things going awry. I do become grumpy when the computer crashes or websites are down. On the plus side, I tend to handle things pretty well in a state of chaos. But it definitely isn't my favorite mode of operation. I depend on my email and get tense when it doesn't come up. Still I can survive in the case of computer crash and quickly come up with alternative plans. One of my problems is that I am definitely more capable on PC's than on Mac's. It's hard to instruct on an Apple when I don't know the correct hot keys and simple instructions. I hope this will be remedied as my principal wants to give me her Mac after the roll over at our school so I can become proficient in this area.
I think my ability as a confident, effective learner is a plus in instructing the next generation. I will need to continue to view problems as challenges in the future. I am looking forward to this class and becoming more proficient in this important area of library and information technology.