I'm going to try a few things. First I'll add a link to my Blog, Voices From the Inglenook.
Next, I'll add an image. This is Olive, our Library Cat.
This is really pretty amazing. I'm already thinking of ways to use this with my students.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
test document for SLL 2.0
This is a test document using Zoho Writer. I can see that it is very easy to use and the toolbar looks familiar.
I'm going to try a few things. First I'll add a link to my Blog, Voices From the Inglenook.
Next, I'll add an image. This is Olive, our Library Cat.
This is really pretty amazing. I'm already thinking of ways to use this with my students.
I'm going to try a few things. First I'll add a link to my Blog, Voices From the Inglenook.
Next, I'll add an image. This is Olive, our Library Cat.
This is really pretty amazing. I'm already thinking of ways to use this with my students.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Week #7 Thing #16
(Sorry, I did this post out of order....)
I looked at several wikis and found the BookLover's Wiki interesting to me on a personal level. I'm always looking for something new to read and I liked the succinct reviews. The link to the Princeton Library was nice...too bad I live in California!
Blogging Libraries Wiki was interesting to me. My blog is listed there and it's nice to see all the others and check out what others are doing. It's amazing to me how many different ways there are to use a blog. What has been successful for me is the blog is a way to communicate with the parents at my school. It's kind of a PR tool and in these days of budget cuts it seems like a good idea to be sure people know what you are doing in your library and what a valuable program it is. It's sometimes easy to be part of the background if we're not careful. Libraries are a quiet place (well, most of the time) and not as visible as say sports or music programs. It's good to keep ourselves in view.
I liked the two class wikis even through they are high school and I'm in elementary. I can see using a wiki to direct a project--giving instructions and resources in the way of live links.
I could also see using a wiki for Parent Resources such as summer reading lists, or grade level reading lists, or special interest reading lists. Wikis are so easy to add to.
I looked at several wikis and found the BookLover's Wiki interesting to me on a personal level. I'm always looking for something new to read and I liked the succinct reviews. The link to the Princeton Library was nice...too bad I live in California!
Blogging Libraries Wiki was interesting to me. My blog is listed there and it's nice to see all the others and check out what others are doing. It's amazing to me how many different ways there are to use a blog. What has been successful for me is the blog is a way to communicate with the parents at my school. It's kind of a PR tool and in these days of budget cuts it seems like a good idea to be sure people know what you are doing in your library and what a valuable program it is. It's sometimes easy to be part of the background if we're not careful. Libraries are a quiet place (well, most of the time) and not as visible as say sports or music programs. It's good to keep ourselves in view.
I liked the two class wikis even through they are high school and I'm in elementary. I can see using a wiki to direct a project--giving instructions and resources in the way of live links.
I could also see using a wiki for Parent Resources such as summer reading lists, or grade level reading lists, or special interest reading lists. Wikis are so easy to add to.
Week #7 Thing#17
I added something to the "Sandbox" and found it incredibly easy. PBWiki seems like a great program.
I've just entered the world of wikis with my 5th and 6th grade students so it was great to go to the California Curriculum Connections Wiki. I explored several of the wiki sites and especially like Joyce Valenza's wiki. It had some great ideas and tons of resources. It's almost overwhelming!
Our wiki (which we made on WikiSpaces) is called (for now) Random Research and Wacky Facts. To start with I had the sixth graders collaborate on the home page--picking the picture and writing the purpose of our wiki and the definition of a wiki. Then I had each student create a wiki page of their own. On this page they posted about tornadoes--a note taking project we had done several weeks ago. They had to be able to read their notes, turn it into a paragraph with correct spelling and punctuation and add a picture.
To give them the idea of collaboration, we made a page called Wacky Facts. Anyone can contribute to this page as long as they follow the protocol. They need to cite their fact and to use correct spelling and punctuation and sign with their initials.
My goal was to introduce them to the idea of a wiki but now that we've done that I can see how we could make several wikis. One that would be interesting is to doing a history of our school. It started in the late 1800's and I have some incredible old documents and photos I found in a box in the corner of an old paper room (!). Another idea I had was to do biographies of each teacher and have the students interview the teacher (using a template of questions) and post these on a wiki.
The skill of collaboration will, I think, be an important one for them in their adult working lives and even though the programs might change (and probably will) they should understand what it is to work in a group and collaborate on the Web.
I've just entered the world of wikis with my 5th and 6th grade students so it was great to go to the California Curriculum Connections Wiki. I explored several of the wiki sites and especially like Joyce Valenza's wiki. It had some great ideas and tons of resources. It's almost overwhelming!
Our wiki (which we made on WikiSpaces) is called (for now) Random Research and Wacky Facts. To start with I had the sixth graders collaborate on the home page--picking the picture and writing the purpose of our wiki and the definition of a wiki. Then I had each student create a wiki page of their own. On this page they posted about tornadoes--a note taking project we had done several weeks ago. They had to be able to read their notes, turn it into a paragraph with correct spelling and punctuation and add a picture.
To give them the idea of collaboration, we made a page called Wacky Facts. Anyone can contribute to this page as long as they follow the protocol. They need to cite their fact and to use correct spelling and punctuation and sign with their initials.
My goal was to introduce them to the idea of a wiki but now that we've done that I can see how we could make several wikis. One that would be interesting is to doing a history of our school. It started in the late 1800's and I have some incredible old documents and photos I found in a box in the corner of an old paper room (!). Another idea I had was to do biographies of each teacher and have the students interview the teacher (using a template of questions) and post these on a wiki.
The skill of collaboration will, I think, be an important one for them in their adult working lives and even though the programs might change (and probably will) they should understand what it is to work in a group and collaborate on the Web.
Week #6 Thing #15
I liked this assignment. I took me from the interesting details of specific new technologies we've been looking at so far to the big picture. Library services need to meet the user's needs. What does Library 2.0 mean to me? It means I need to be willing to try out new things, to look at information acquisition through the eyes of my students today. I have a very fond memory of spending a rainy afternoon in the Huntington Art Museum studying and researching with my classmates at UCLA. We'd been invited to our professor's office and study--he was the curator of the museum. The books he let us use were old, fabulous. He served us tea. There was a little fireplace with a fire in it. On the floor were oriental rugs and I remember the soft ticking of an antique clock in the background. Now that was research in a heavenly setting for an art history student. But that was also in 1968. Things have changed since then and I am teaching students who will live and work in the 21st century. The way to access information is constantly changing...and that's both good and bad. Good in that if your source is reliable you can have up-to-the minute information. Bad in that every time you master one technology, there seems to be a new one to take its place. This is not a world for the faint of heart or mind or for those who don't like to learn new things. But I do, and I want my students to like that idea, too.
I read the OCLC articles and I especially liked the idea of the 3 icebergs. The first one--having a collection "Just In Case"--means that we need to let go of the idea of building a collection to meet everyone's needs. I find this especially true in the reference section and in non-fiction. However, I don't want my students to think that books have no value because that simply isn't true and my goal is to balance the wonders of the internet with the reliability of the published book.
The second "iceberg"--Reliance on User Education--makes me realize that even though I am a teacher as well as a librarian I need to step aside sometimes and be more of the "guide on the side" with my students. I need to find user friendly services for them and let them go. They are, of course, almost fearless when it comes to technology, and I need to capitalize on that.
The third "iceberg"--Our patrons need to Come to Us--is simply no longer the case and I need to be sure my students understand that they can access library services on the Web. For my students today and those in the future using the Web is analogous to my generation and the telephone. They have grown up with it. It doesn't seem miraculous to them. It's part of their lives.
We need to change course and above all be flexible, exploring the possibilities of Web 2.0 with our patrons and students. We need to be unafraid to discard what doesn't work best--be it a book, the card catalog, or a technological application. Flexibility and the ability to evaluate the worthiness of new ideas and applications is the key.
I read the OCLC articles and I especially liked the idea of the 3 icebergs. The first one--having a collection "Just In Case"--means that we need to let go of the idea of building a collection to meet everyone's needs. I find this especially true in the reference section and in non-fiction. However, I don't want my students to think that books have no value because that simply isn't true and my goal is to balance the wonders of the internet with the reliability of the published book.
The second "iceberg"--Reliance on User Education--makes me realize that even though I am a teacher as well as a librarian I need to step aside sometimes and be more of the "guide on the side" with my students. I need to find user friendly services for them and let them go. They are, of course, almost fearless when it comes to technology, and I need to capitalize on that.
The third "iceberg"--Our patrons need to Come to Us--is simply no longer the case and I need to be sure my students understand that they can access library services on the Web. For my students today and those in the future using the Web is analogous to my generation and the telephone. They have grown up with it. It doesn't seem miraculous to them. It's part of their lives.
We need to change course and above all be flexible, exploring the possibilities of Web 2.0 with our patrons and students. We need to be unafraid to discard what doesn't work best--be it a book, the card catalog, or a technological application. Flexibility and the ability to evaluate the worthiness of new ideas and applications is the key.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Week #6 Thing #14
Technorati is interesting and a little overwhelming. When I typed in School Library Learning 2.0 and searched blogs I got 22 hits. When I searched posts I got 1,411. I can see that in using this it would depend on what you were looking to find....blogs with a focus on your topic or just posts on a number of blogs.
I wasn't really surprised when I looked at what's popular and found that #1 was American Idol. I'd heard that more people vote on American Idol than do in political races. (Grrrr....) Today was the Geraldine Ferraro debacle and the Eliot Spitzer scandal so they were #3 and #4 and the candidate I'm supporting, Barack Obama was #7. I thought it curious that Hillary Clinton wasn't in the top ten.
I also searched for a local blog that deals with a controversy in my home town, Santa Barbara. We have a "little problem" with our newspaper and there's a blog that is chronicling it written by Craig Smith, a lawyer. I'd forgotten the URL but found it easily by typing in Craig Smith and Santa Barbara.
I searched for my own library's blog in posts and read a nice comment from a blogger in British Columbia.
Regarding the advantages and disadvantages of tagging...tagging is easy, quick, no rules to follow. That the advantage. The disadvantage? No rules to follow. This means no consistency and the way I tag might not be the way you think I would tag. But all in all, I think it works especially in a world as fluid as Web 2.0.
I wasn't really surprised when I looked at what's popular and found that #1 was American Idol. I'd heard that more people vote on American Idol than do in political races. (Grrrr....) Today was the Geraldine Ferraro debacle and the Eliot Spitzer scandal so they were #3 and #4 and the candidate I'm supporting, Barack Obama was #7. I thought it curious that Hillary Clinton wasn't in the top ten.
I also searched for a local blog that deals with a controversy in my home town, Santa Barbara. We have a "little problem" with our newspaper and there's a blog that is chronicling it written by Craig Smith, a lawyer. I'd forgotten the URL but found it easily by typing in Craig Smith and Santa Barbara.
I searched for my own library's blog in posts and read a nice comment from a blogger in British Columbia.
Regarding the advantages and disadvantages of tagging...tagging is easy, quick, no rules to follow. That the advantage. The disadvantage? No rules to follow. This means no consistency and the way I tag might not be the way you think I would tag. But all in all, I think it works especially in a world as fluid as Web 2.0.
Week #6 Thing #13
I've had a del.icio.us account for a while and I love using it. As a research tool, I can direct my students to it and have them click on the tag on the right hand side and get the links they need. This can focus their research and keep them on sites that I know are safe. I'm just getting ready to use this for a mythology project in which I'm collaborating with our art teacher. The students are doing ceramic medallions of gods and goddesses and they will research their god or goddess, then post this research on our Research Blog with a photo of their finished art project.
I love the access. I can find my bookmarks from any computer. I also refer parents to my del.icio.us page for helpful bookmarks.
I explored some of the libraries and went to the San Mateo Public Library's del.icio.us page. (I did this because I used to live in San Mateo and spend lots of hours in the library when I was in high school there) I really liked the way they had organized their tags in concordance with the Dewey Decimal System.
del.icio.us is a nice way to introduce students the a positive social networking site. It's great to browse the popular sites and popular tags. It's a way to explore the vast resources of the web in a friendly and more focused way.
I love the access. I can find my bookmarks from any computer. I also refer parents to my del.icio.us page for helpful bookmarks.
I explored some of the libraries and went to the San Mateo Public Library's del.icio.us page. (I did this because I used to live in San Mateo and spend lots of hours in the library when I was in high school there) I really liked the way they had organized their tags in concordance with the Dewey Decimal System.
del.icio.us is a nice way to introduce students the a positive social networking site. It's great to browse the popular sites and popular tags. It's a way to explore the vast resources of the web in a friendly and more focused way.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Week #5 Thing #12
The idea of Rollyo is interesting. I can see how I might use it for research lessons with my students. It would focus them on specific websites and I could control which websites they would go to. I had a little trouble getting it to work. I made my search about digital ethics--I'm doing a parent meeting on this next month so I had a list of websites to put in. After I made my Rollyo I wasn't sure how to get back to it. Maybe it's getting late and I'm tired but it wasn't clear to me. Then I tried putting the little graphic search engine on my blog post....again, kind of confusing. It took me 3 tries but I did it. I'll look into this again....it seems like a good tool.
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