Concluding Remarks

I'm done? Really? And I'm only a little bit late? Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, though, I really appreciated this assignment--especially now that it's done. It forced me to learn things that I most likely never would have heard of without an assignment telling me to learn about it. Technorati? Rollyo? Who knew?! I am so glad that I finished the assignment and was able to add all of these tools to my toolbelt. I even had a lot of fun along the way! If I had to pick two things that I learned that I'm most grateful for learning about (and that I didn't know about before), they would be LibraryThing and Technorati...I think. (It's difficult to choose!)

If I had one thing I would change about the assignment, it would just be a berating get-your-attention yell to myself: DON'T PROCRASTINATE! You'll enjoy this so much more if you can take your time to learn these things. Oh, well. Maybe next time....or the next.... ;)

Wicked Wordle

Podcast Parties

The podcast that I listened to can be found at the following URL:

http://www.hopkintonschools.org/hhs/library/podcasts/Graveyard.mp3

It is kind of a book talk about Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, which in and of itself is great, but this podcast offers so much more! It is part of a series of podcasts a middle school/high school librarian puts out each year to inform her students about books they can vote for as favorites in their state of New Hampshire. What's really cool is that at the beginning of the podcast, the librarian explains the award the books she talks about are competing for, and it's an award that was actually started by students and public schools!

I really enjoyed this podcast for a few reasons. First of all, I think it makes things interesting. Some students could get bored by simply listening to someone talking without any visual stimulation, but this librarian makes it difficult to be bored! There are wonderful sound effects and music, and everyone who talks in the podcast has great animation. I also love the fact that this librarian uses podcasts to get as many people (especially students) in her community involved in the voting for the award as possible. I'll definitely have to check up on her future podcasts!

Admiration of an Author

Ever since I read Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak several years ago, I have been a huge fan of hers. I've now read three more of her books, and I admire her even more. Now that I've found this video--where I learned that she is also a big supporter of having qualified librarians in school libraries--I think I just might have an infatuation forming :) j/k

Learning with Laurie

Tweet Timelines

I must admit that for a very, very long time I was one of those people who thought that there was no point to Twitter. I wondered why anyone would care what anyone else was doing on a minute-by-minute basis, and I thought anyone who would Tweet had to be quite self-involved to think anyone else would care what they said.

Then a couple of weeks ago I got my first taste of how Twitter could be useful. When there was an earthquake down in Roosevelt, no one that I was with could seem to figure out exactly what happened. People had cell phones and laptops and were hurriedly typing away and googling "Utah earthquake," but no one found anything...until...my husband thought about checking Twitter, and voila! There was our answer. None of the media news outlets had a chance to post anything, but people living near Roosevelt broke the news of the earthquake to Utahns via Twitter.

I still think that some of the other technologies we've learned about could be put to better use in a library than Twitter could, but I'm sure there are some possible uses for it. I guess I'm still not sold on Twitter because I had to "google it" to get some Classroom Twitter ideas. There were actually quite a few good ones. I especially liked the following ideas: Tweet about a useful source that could help students on a project; provide daily tips like a word or a book of the day; link to a book trailer or a video book talk; schedule meetings with other teachers; etc. The list goes on, but I think that's quite a good start. Sorry for dissin' ya Twitter!

Really Simple Searching (RSS)

I have heard about RSS feeds for a really long time. My husband subscribed to My Yahoo about a month ago to keep track of his feeds, and for about a week all I heard about was how awesome it was! (Obviously not, it probably just seemed like it was all he talked about because my guilt was telling me I should already know about RSS Feeds thanks to Learning 2.0!!)

I didn't know beforehand that you could even sign up for feeds of topics, but what a neat concept! Now I have a feed that keeps me posted on news results for Utah teaching positions! I also have an RSS Feed for a comparison shopping website--hopefully that doesn't turn into a bad thing!

I am also planning on following librarian.net and "Awful Library Books." There were a couple of things that really impressed me with the first blog. First of all, it was obvious that its creator is passionate about sharing stories about successful library stories in these tough economic times when the positions are so often undervalued and axed. I really like "happy ending" stories, so I thought I'd appreciate this touch. The second thing that sold me on the blog was the fact that the author is writing a book that focuses on the digital divide--which is what I was worried about in just my last post! I hope to gain some insights into how we can solve the digital divide problem in society. As for "Awful Library Books," I couldn't resist looking at a blog with a name like that!! It will be an interesting (and, I suspect, often humorous) blog to follow.

Library 2.0

I found this article to be simultaneously informative and a little frightening. All year we have talked about librarians having to market ourselves and prove to others how valuable we are in the school community. I agreed passionately in all of the discussions. But seeing the vulnerability of our positions spelled out in an "official" document really brought the discussion home to me!! It's funny how logically knowing something isn't enough sometimes--you have to see it.

However, we must trudge on! I think that could be the tagline for the whole article. The world is moving along at an alarming pace, and we absolutely have to run along to keep up (and to keep our positions!) I simply love the possibilities that having a tech-heavy "Library 2.0" program would create. I especially love all of these new technologies that I am learning because I know that incorporating them into the school system will revitalize and energize students. They want to learn about and use these things, so if we use them in our classrooms, our students will be more likely to want to learn.

There was one new idea, in particular, that jumped out at me from the article. It mentioned that it is now possible for students to submit book talks via voicemail that then convert into MP3 files that are sent to an email address! Is this Back to the Future or what? I'm definitely going to look into this possibility further. It sounds like a fun way that students would get excited about doing book talks with.

I must say that there is one aspect of having a Library 2.0 environment that causes me worry, and I don't think the article addressed it. I always worry when technology is involved in education about what will happen to the students whose families can't afford the technology. I know that this learning is crucial for our students, but I worry that incorporating even more technology into schools will create an even wider divide between the haves and the have-nots. That's just my two cents!

Technorati

Now this is more like it! I just thought of another reason I may not have liked del.icio.us as much as the other things we've played with this semester--I like things to be visually appealing, and del.icio.us was kind of "blah" compared to some of the sites we've seen.

Anyway, I could see how Technorati's blog directory could be extremely useful. The "Life" and "Entertainment" categories were most well-represented (understandably so), while "Autos" and "Science" were in some serious need of help. I found their "Top 100" list to be interesting--I found that I am way out of it because there were very few that I'd even heard of! When I tried a few searches alternating between their "Blogs" and "Posts" options, I got very different results. Who knows if this would continue to be the case if I kept searching for something, but in general I found more useful links searching "Blogs" when I searched a somewhat unique query, while "Posts" returned better results when it was a more common query.

I can see myself using Technorati in the future when I'm trying to find different media sources to use with my English students. I think it's important to show how you can get information on the same topic from a lot of different sources, and blogs are definitely a growing genre!

Disappointing Del.icio.us

I've got to be honest--this was not one of my favorite activities that I've had thus far in our Learning 2.0 assignments. I thought, from reading about it and watching the video, that I would find it incredibly useful. However, I wasn't too impressed. I'm sure that's probably because I have never really used bookmarks in my internet use. That should probably be remedied, but for now it's not much of a priority for me. Perhaps there's another reason for my disappointment with this step, however. Perhaps I was turned off by the woman who narrated the 8-minute video about del.icio.us. The video was informative, but boy was her voice boring and monotone!!?!! (The answer is yes, by the way;)

One thing I did like was learning about folksonomies and their relative ease compared to having to force yourself into understanding something like Sears Subject Headings! Ugghh!

My Rollyo

Select Search Engine...Utah EducationSearch The Web

Powered by Rollyo

Wow! What a fun internet tool that I never knew existed!! This could really cut down even more on sorting through the results of a search!

Looking into Library Thing

This is such a fun site! I actually toyed around with it several months ago because everyone in our class was talking about it. I figured that I didn't have to officially be doing this week's Web 2.0 assignment at the time to enjoy the website! I think my favorite thing about Library Thing is the recommendation section that updates based on the personal reading information you put in. Isn't it great when we read something someone's recommended and we love it too?! I'm sure with Library Thing I'll have even more of these moments. I also simply love the free book cataloging option. I will most likely be an English teacher before I become a librarian (simply because there are more job openings). It's great to already know where I can go to catalog my classroom library collection!!

My Library Thing Collection

Play away.....no, Don't Procrastinate!!

"Don't Procrastinate"--that's what my Magic 8-ball originally said, but "procrastinate" was too long of a word so it made the font too small to read. Oh, well. "Do your homework" means essentially the same thing to me right now. In just over a week, though, I'm sure I'll find plenty of other activities I'll feel like procrastinating. Maybe then I'll change the 8-ball image to say something else!

Skype: Slip-Slidin' Away

Now, don't die of shock...but this is actually a Learning 2.0 activity that I did awhile ago without being forced to do it because of an assignment! A couple of years ago, my brother and his family moved to St. Louis so he could attend graduate school. Keep in mind that I do not come from a family where children move far away!! All of my aunts and uncles live in Utah.

Anyway, as soon as my sister-in-law heard about Skype, she gave us all webcams (it took awhile for all of our birthdays to come around=) and made sure that we all got Skype accounts. It has been wonderful being able to maintain our connection with them and their two beautiful daughters despite being more than a thousand miles away from each other. We haven't had to miss my nieces open birthday or Christmas presents--we've been able to see the unwrapping take place!

Now for an explanation of this post's title. We had a blackout a couple of days ago, and it murdered our home computer. For the life of me, I can't remember what our Skype account name is! I didn't have to memorize it before--it was just always there on our computer! I texted my brother to see if he has our account name saved (which I'm sure he does), but I haven't heard back yet. Therefore, I am simply blogging about Skype in this post. As soon as I find out what my name is, I'll post again to let you know what it is!!

Wonderfully-easy Wikis

Once again, I am absolutely shocked at how much easier another Web 2.0 assignment was than I thought it would be!! Before I created my wiki for this class, I used to (any guesses?) panic a little at the thought of having to set one up on my own. And yet (once again) it proved extremely beneficial that Anne is helping me step outside of my comfort box.

I REALLY enjoyed the Common Craft video explaining "Wikis in Plain English." There was definitely no false advertising in the title--everything was spelled out in plain English. Just seeing that video was enough to make me relax and even be excited about creating my own wiki. I'm really glad I thought to look at our Learning 2.0 blog before trying to set up my wiki. I obviously hadn't done this step already when I created my wiki (since the assignment was due yesterday=), but this week's assignment still helped me. The ease of creating my wiki assignment has made me sure that I'll create several more wikis in the future. I'm already considering setting one up for a writing club my friend and I are going to start over the summer!

My Pop-art Poster Creation

My Pop-art Poster Creation
Originally uploaded by Bequita1985

For this poster I used one of my favorite pictures of my husband and I. Honestly, the original with the original colors looks much better, but this was fun (and easy) to create! Thanks, Anne, for the "Be creative" link on our class blog. There's some really great stuff there that I'm looking forward to using again and again!

Family-friendly Flickr

"raising minds" parenting class in the high school library - DSC02035
Originally uploaded by sean dreilinger

I really liked this photo because it shows the wonderful possibilities of librarians being willing to make connections with families. In our library classes we have heard over and over again that we need to collaborate with administration, teachers, students, parents, etc. This picture shows this theory put into action!

I want my future library to be a "happening" place for all of the patrons who can use it. I love the idea of having night workshops in the library for parents--like this photo shows--to get them excited about my school library. Parents who are happy about the school library have a major impact on how their children feel about the library. Who knows? Maybe this librarian is teaching parents the same lesson about Media Literacy that my classmates and I learned from JaDene a couple of nights ago!

Blogging

Well, as you can see from the title of this post, I have a bit of an advantage on this step. The assignment was to set up a personal blog and add my "first" post. Check!

Since I created this blog several months ago and am only adding to it now, I will try to reflect on how I felt at the time I created this blog. Did I hear someone guess "panicked"? Ding-ding, Johnny!! Aren't you glad I'm so predictable when it comes to how I feel about new technology?! :)

Also in predictable fashion, however, I rose to the occasion and was pleasantly surprised to find out that blogging isn't nearly as scary or intimidating as I had originally supposed it would be. I actually (dare I say it?) ENJOY posting blog entries now. I appreciate the fact that it is a much less formal style of writing than what I traditionally have to use in school--especially as an English major. It's fun to be able to put more of my personality into a sentence without having to worry about it being judged. (If I am living in a dream world and you are currently critiquing my horrible writing, please keep me in the dark. Ignorance is bliss!!)

Technology: My Continued Education

It has almost been three months since my last post, and while I've thoroughly enjoyed my time off, it is definitely time for me to jump back on the technology bandwagon. It should come as no surprise that the decision to jump-start my education of technology was aided by an assignment for a class! Regardless of the reason, here I am again--ready to conquer technology one fear at a time.

For one of my library classes, I am going to be completing a "Web Learning 2.0" course. Each week I will tackle at least one technology-related program on the internet (e.g. blogging, Flickr, Skype, etc.). After each grueling battle, I will post the (hopefully successful) results.

Today I took the first easy steps of the course by simply reading and learning about it. Learning 2.0 was started by a group of librarians who wanted to become more savvy with some Web 2.0 tools. Now I have the privilege of becoming more tech-savvy myself!

My favorite thing I read today was the course's "7-1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners" tutorial. Lifelong learning has definitely been a catch phrase in my library classes, and for good reason! I am excited to have a reason to learn more through this course. Even though (as always) I'm a little nervous about it being so self-directed, I know it will help me learn even more.

I think that I am fairly practiced in some of the 7-1/2 habits--in particular, habits 1, 7, and 7-1/2. I am always good at making goals--even though I desperately need to work on reaching them on time!! I always like to tell people about what I've learned because I know it helps me learn more--sorry to anyone who has ever fallen prey to my unasked-for teaching! And I always enjoy "playing" as a method of learning.

My favorite habit that the tutorial listed was, "Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner." In case you haven't picked up on it yet or you're new to my blog, I get very panicked whenever I think about doing something technology-related that I've never done before. I definitely need to work on having confidence that I will be able to learn any of the new things this class requires me to learn. There's nothing like a good pep talk to get me moving--go team Becca! I can do this!