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!!)