Something to consider

Tashi Lives.
I came across this blog by randomly clicking "Next Blog" and thought it looked like an interesting use. Some of you may know a lot more about it than I do.

Moving

The new (it isn't a new room just new to the library) room is ready to start the moving process. We have a few road blocks ahead, specifically the wall shelves. We can move the free standing shelves with volunteer labor but the wall shelves need to be installed by a district work crew. We have no idea when that will happen. So do I remove the books from the shelves and wait?

The current plan is to move everything we can, leave the books on the wall shelves and take books as needed in carts to the other room. Not perfect but at least it will get us functioning in the new room.

What next?

I officially go back to work on Thursday, August 23. In case you haven't noticed that is really soon.

I am trying to figure out how to use this blog to do my job better. I teach information literacy and computer "skills" to first through sixth grade students in a Hayward, CA public school. The library media period is a prep period for the classroom teachers so I have each class for one 50 minute period each week. We will soon physically separate the library from the computer lab so I need to figure out how to manage the time between the two rooms. The move hasn't happened yet so making the change actually happen will be a challenge in itself.

If anyone out there in blog world has some ideas for using this blog, I would really like to hear from you.

Week 9, Thing 23

Favorite discoveries:
Custom Searches with Rollyo and Google Search both work well, but I like the Google version better. This is definitely a tool I will use often with our students.
PBwiki, what a great collaboration tool and not just for students. I see this as having a real impact in improving our school wide community. I am working on a library one but I see lots of other uses especially with our staff, meeting agendas and sharing of teaching ideas.
Visit my wiki. The magic word is runner. It definitely needs lots of work and I am sure our students will provide lots of ideas and inspiration. I am thinking about locking the AUP page but that is relatively expensive so I'll wait and see what happens.

Life-Long Learning Goals:
I am no longer afraid that the technology will overwhelm me. I have learned to try new things, not be afraid to fail and keep going. There will always be new “things” to learn and do. Our students deserve the very best I can provide.

Surprises:
Just about everything.
RSS feeds have greatly changed the way I view family and friends blogs. The professional blogs have been eye opening and very educational. There are so many wonderful, creative teachers and librarians surrounding me that I will never lack for inspiration.

Do differently:
If there could be some way to encourage more interaction among the participants, maybe comment on another blog each week. I found the comments very encouraging from the team but was elated when a fellow participant commented. The team has been wonderful and I treasure all the input. As so many others before me have said: Thank you!

Participate in another:
Yes, for sure. This was a great experience for me. I don’t think I would attempt one during the school year as I would get too far behind.

One word:
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
I guess that dates me. I am proud of what I have accomplished.
Lyrics.

Week 9, Thing 22

I first became acquainted with ebooks when I was working on a mini-unit on Aesop Fables. I figured they must be public domain so I did a little searching and sure enough there they were. I could easily print out different fables for the small groups. Unfortunately, I did not know of the great resources provided for us in this tutorial. Using examples of modern editions of one or more of the fables and comparing with the older editions the students were able to write their own versions with illustrations. If I had had this class, I would be able to link to an example of student work.

Search results for Aesop

I didn't even think to look for audio, ah, next time.

Librivox search results for Aesop

The students could read, write, record, and share. All with excellent models. Who knows maybe even a video.

I was also excited by all the Baum, there is so much we can use to continue to excite students about learning.

Vacation take 2

As promised here is a Flickr slide show of a few of our vacation pictures. They are different ones but I was experimenting with the process. I'm not sure which application I like better.
Different Vacation Pictures using Flickr

Week 9, Thing 21 Podcasts

Eric Carle.
This is the podcast that got me hooked on the concept of podcasts. This is a professional production with a major children's author and illustrator. Yet it illustrates many ways podcasts could be used in a school library setting:

1. Students listen to relevant podcasts
2. Students produce podcasts for each other
3. Teachers share ideas
4. Podcasts for specific English Language Development Lessons
5. The library "gets with it"

I have subscribed to a few podcasts related to children's books:

1. Book Voyages
2. Booktalks Quick and Simple
3. OCLS Podcast
4. Storynory

Once again, I have to say that time management is critical. It is very easy to use many hours exploring all the podcasts that are available for us.

Vacation

Summer Vacation 2007

I know I promised Flickr photos but got caught up in Picasa. Click on the picture then on slide show to see some highlights of our vacation.

Week 9, Thing 20

I posted this video because it states so well what we are about in library 2.0.

Like so many others, I have just spent way too much time on Youtube. One thing I found which totally surprised me was a video of my son (an adult) doing an ASL presentation, no narration or translation so I do not know what it is about. I'll ask him the next time we talk. Youtube has all the good and the bad of web 2.0 applications. The good, everyone can do "their thing". The bad, everyone can do "their thing." We just need to learn to use the good and contribute and teach our students how to evaluate and avoid the bad. This is over simplified I know but you get the point.

Week 9

I am disappointed about the lack of discussion on my Ning regarding the digital divide so I am posting a link here. Unfortunately it triggered the anti-spam feature of Blogger and I am having all kinds of trouble getting in to publish. If you are reading this I have been successful.
Digital divide discussion.

Weeks 8, Thing 19

Library Thing Catalog.
Library Thing is lots of fun and I can see the students getting excited about creating their own libraries. Not necessarily books they own but books they enjoy. However, the part that students will probably enjoy the most is the social aspect; watching what other people read and what they say about the books.
The discussion around The Education of Little Tree is interesting. The comments center on the authenticity of the story and how that makes a difference.

While I was at school today, I experimented with using the scanner to input a book. It worked and was amazing. I have no idea how it works but it does with very little effort on my part. Using the import books tool I scanned the publishers bar code,clicked grab and went off to do some work, came back, refreshed the page and it was in my catalog. Magic! This is not how I will normally add books to my catalog but is so wonderful the way it works.

I have enjoyed reading the discussion around Harry Potter as I am spending way too much time reading book 7 myself. It is good to see that I am not alone. I'll probably finish tomorrow.

Yes, I know, I have work to do.

Week 8, Thing 18

I just got back from school where I was exploring the relative usefulness of Zoho and Google Docs. The district server does allow access to Google Docs but not Zoho, so I couldn't do much comparison. Other than school access, both programs seem to have similar capabilities and ease of use. I am not sure that I will use either on a regular basis to edit and move my own work. However, I can see how it would be useful for group editing and generating an agenda for a meeting.

Right now, I think that for student work the PBwiki concept will be more useful because student users do not need to register and make an account.

Week 8, Thing 18

I'm back from vacation and I won't bore you with details, only to say we live in a marvelous, diverse country. I feel privileged to live here. When our pictures are up in Flickr, I'll let you know.

I have been exploring Zoho using their speech template to organize a presentation I am planning for an upcoming school board meeting. I have also imported documents from my computer to test out the portability and flexibility. I have used writer and sheet. Next, I am going to compare this with Google Docs and Spreadsheets.

Weeks 8 and 9

Weeks 8 and 9 will just have to wait until I get back from vacation. I am looking forward to learning about the productivity tools. I am continuing to work on the wiki for our students. I could spend all my time on that but must move on. I really do need a vacation. So I'm off for awhile.

Week 7, Thing 17

Playing in a sandbox, what a wonderful image. The calcurriculum PB wiki is a wonderful resource and learning tool for us. This is another example of an application that is excellent for teachers and students. We are all in this sandbox together. I added the idea of making staff trading cards because the idea of a library book review wiki is already posted. The library PB wiki is where I will be focusing my play time for awhile because I really believe that this will work well with our students. I discovered that student artwork in paint can be posted in the wiki as long as it is saved as a JPEG file. I need to figure out how to make that the default save for the paint program on the school computers.

Week 7, Thing 16

Visit my wiki.
This is very much a work in progress but the concept is so exciting that I just had to share the early stages.

Week 7, Thing 16

Wikis may be the best tool yet for an elementary school library because you can control who contributes. Thus, it is possible to have a fifth grade only project on a topic and only allow fifth grade students to contribute. (True, you do not know who is behind the keyboard after log in or who the students choose to share the log in information with.) The pages are reasonably ad free and neat with clear instructions for contributing. The Wiki WorldCat concept could be applied to a site library with students contributing reviews of books they have read.

I also like the potential for group editing. What a great way to compile a class newspaper.

Week 6, Thing 15

In exploring the OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) posts about web 2.0, I discovered that this group is ready, willing and able to think into the future.
"Founded in 1967, OCLC is a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs."

OCLC article, this article is the source of the above quote which has a link to OCLC's home page for more information but I could not easily find the above information on the home page. The homepage has a World Cat search box which is about the most amazing thing ever (OK, maybe not ever but great.) I searched "dinosaurs" very popular in an elementary school and got 14,032 results in .09 seconds. The really cool part is that when selecting a title the locations of the title are listed by how close they are to my computer. Now just how does it know that? Of course, not every library is linked with OCLC but they are working on it.

All of this was a footnote to reading the articles suggested to help put web 2.0 into perspective.

I skimmed the posts suggested and read these three:
Dr. Wendy Schultz
Chip Nilges and
Rick Anderson

Dr. Schultz makes the case for needing "real" librarians in all stages of library development. She goes all the way from Library 1.0 to Library 4.0 and completes the circle with a virtual library which simulates the "old-fashioned" library so many of us cherish from our youth.

Chip Nilges focuses on the power of the new technology to bring information to the library professionals and patrons alike.

Rick Anderson points out the potential problems in embracing the new technology without assessing where we are and what we need to change to make our libraries better and relevant in this new environment.

What does Library 2.0 mean to me? I need to continue swimming upstream and do the best I can to empower our students to use the amazing tools available to them. I know that when I go back to school, I will face many obstacles: 35 students in a facility that is just about right for 15 students, a network that crashes without notice (definition of crash), and many sites blocked. However, I will also face many wonderful assets: intelligent students eager to learn, a very supportive staff, and the backing of the site administrator.

Week 6, Thing 14

This is my post to claim my blog with Technorati.
Technorati Profile

Week 6, Thing 14

Technorati is an amazing site for getting information from blogs. As I worked through the discovery exercise the one thing that really stood out is how very current the information is. The results of identical searches just a few minutes apart have clearly different results.
When I did the "School Library Learning 2.0" I got the following results:

1. Posts 119 hits
2. Tags 1,097 hits
3. Directory 7 hits

In working with tags I have come to the conclusion that tagging is important and helpful but should be done with much care. This is the way others find what is in your blogs, photos, etc.
I need to go back and edit most of my posts so that the tags are helpful to me as well as others.
Tags are an excellent example of GIGO, "Garbage In Garbage Out".
Wikipedia article on GIGO
As the article points out this term is somewhat archaic because most applications have written into the code ways of filtering out "garbage" i.e. information that does not make sense. However, with the use of short tags and everyone contributes technology I think it may be time to resurrect the concept.

Week 6, Thing 13

I've had a Del.icio.us account for awhile but didn't realize the power of the tool until I worked through the tutorial exercises in this program. I have added and deleted in my account after learning more about it. I think it would be wise to have two accounts, one for school related sources and the other for personal sites. Del.icio.us is a helpful tool for research because one can easily locate what other users have found when doing similar research and evaluate the sites with their own criteria.

Week 5 (Play Week), Thing #12

Here is my custom search for third grade students to use for their animal reports using Google Co-op. This seems to be much cleaner than the Rollyo tool.

Week 5 (Play Week), Thing #12 (Rollyo)

After being very frustrated with Rollyo I read KangaLMT's blog and decided to try Google. The following is taken from the Google site, I did not make it, I'm just using it as an example.

Google Custom search:

Now I am off to create my own although I am not overly fond of reinventing the wheel, I need to understand how this works.

Week 5 (Play Week), Thing #12 (Rollyo)

My Rollyo experiment
This has been a very frustrating exercise. The results have lots of ads and I cannot put in the specific site I want the students to use, just the "top level" domains. This would work for the older students but not with the primary grade students. I hope that as I continue to explore this concept I will figure out a way to make a search tool for the younger students.

When I tried using the
"Create a Searchbox" tool Blogger did not like the code and froze when I tried to preview the post.

Week 5 (Play Week), Thing #11 (Ning)

The Ning network I joined is "Library 2.0", no big surprise there. Once again I find it fascinating and am easily distracted by reading posts then linking to the posts of the people who have commented. I learn a great deal but not in a very organized way. The terms of service for this network provided for me the best, concise definition of a ning.
Ning-Terms of Service

Week 5 (Play Week), Thing #11

This photo is taken from Ian Wilson's public photos. with the creative commons attribution 2.0 license.

Creative Commons
I think I actually followed the correct procedure in using this wonderful photo. I contacted Ian through Flickr and he responded with his ok and how to give him credit. I have followed his instructions and thank him for his generosity. If you follow the link to the photo on Flickr you can read his comments about the books.

Week 5 (Play Week), Thing #11

As I mentioned the thing #11, a Web 2.0 award winner, that I am exploring is "Library Thing". This is an amazing site and illustrates the power of social networking fairly well. I joined the "Librarians who LibraryThing" group, this seemed like a logical choice. The group has 2599 members so it appeaars that many others had similar thought patterns.

Things I like about Library Thing:

1. There are many users
2. It is easy to find users with similar interests
3. You don't have to reveal anything about yourself
4. You don't need an email address to register
5. Locating information about a title is very easy

Things I do not like about Library Thing:

1. It can take a day away from your life
2. So many books so little time

You can see that the positive points outnumber the negative. The time thing is a huge issue with web 2.0 applications. I like the comment "Web 2.0 – with so much to explore, just start with ONE. :)" from our leaders. Another positive from this exercise is that I learned how to make a numbered list using HTML and found a very easy-to-use HTML tutorial.
EchoEcho.Com - WebMaster Resources & Tutorials
The specific page for making lists is
HTML Lists Introduction.

Week 5 (Play Week), Thing #11

This is really for week 7, Wikis, but I found the article so interesting that I want to share it now Wikipedimania.

The thing #11 that I am exploring is "Library Thing". I was already following the blog and didn't really understand the huge content of the site itself. I will write more about this later.

Week 5 (Play Week), Thing #10

I am finding it hard to stop playing with image generators. They are lots of fun and there are so many to explore. This is another from Image Shack but the Google search for image generators netted 1,950,000. Yes, I know there are repeats but I think you get the idea. Time to move on to thing #11.

Week 5 (Play Week), Thing #10

My first attempt at a comic. I can see students having lots of fun using the comic strip generator. Graphic novels are very popular now and this approach might get some students writing in new ways. Thanks to ImageShack for the easy way to create fun comics.

Image Chef has many ways to be creative. I appreciate that you do not have to register to use their tools. The above is a tribute to my excitement about learning 2.0 applications with a holiday twist. I wish all of you a very happy and safe Fourth of July!

Week 4, Thing #9

I actually did most of this "thing" when I set up my Google Reader Account. Like many people exploring cyberspace, the problem isn't finding information. The problem is organizing and evaluating the information. The 2.0 tools can be helpful but it is easy to get swamped. In using the different searches for blogs, I quickly found myself with too many interesting sites to explore. One that I found very useful was An Action Plan. This is from a university setting, however I particularily liked the "General Principals of Library 2.0" because it clarified for me the goal of using 2.0 technologies to make the library a better place. The statement:
"Libraries make collections available via open, personalized, interactive services that encourage content creation, editing, commenting, bookmarking, rating, tagging, etc. by users."
from the general principals summarizes for me what we are trying to accomplish.

The main lesson I learned from the technorati tutorial is to use tags often and carefully.

Week 4, Thing #8

Here is the link to my Shared Feeds. I made the library blogs and library news feeds public but keep my family's blogs and general news private. I don't think this community would be interested.
The whole concept of RSS fascinates me. The Mabry Middle School site is amazing. They have podcasts, video and many other examples of creative use of technology.
I have this nagging issue rattling around in my head: How reliable would all this be in the school setting? I have had many situations where I have developed a lesson, started classes working on a project then have something crash. Our students are learning to deal with frustration. This has happened with simple applications so I worry about the more complex technologies we are working with in this class. I will definitely try them and see what happens but I do worry.

Week 3, Thing #7

Week three is taking forever. I've been trying to figure out which technology to write about; there are so many to chose from. I'll go with Youtube. This technology really lets the creative juices flow. During our recent teacher strike, I really believe that Youtube made a difference. The Truth this is just one example of many editions of "The Truth". These were posted almost daily on the Hayward Teachers Together blog. True, this application is not how one would normally use Youtube in an educational setting. What impresses me is the great versatility and potential for creativity.
I posted a comment on Bibliomaniac. I find the Zoho very interesting though I have no personal experience with it yet.

Week 3, Thing 6 again

These were created using the paint program in Windows by first and second grade students. These are works in progress. The second half of the slideshow is student work with the use of the template. You can see how the work improved. We read the book The Kindness Quilt by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace.
I keep getting a little closer but now it is time to move onto thing #7.

Week 3, Thing 6 again

Washington - a photoset on Flickr
Yes, the Washington trip. That is Washington state and the museum is the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, WA. Our son, the big boy in the pictures, lives up there with his beautiful family. The good looking young woman is our daughter-in-law and the little boy is our grandson, he is four and delights us in every way. Thanks for asking.
This is a little closer but still not what I am after. I figured out how to open the link in a new window. I know it probably is a "no brainer" for you tech types but it is a big breakthrough for me. Go me! I'm still working on posting a slide show, it will come.

Week 3, Thing 6

Flickr: Photos from jkraut
I was trying to post a slide show and ended up with the photo page. I'll leave it up for awhile and see if I get some comments. In the meantime, I'll work on this concept some more.

Week 3, Thing #5

I have been exploring Flickr and really enjoy the amazing photos and all the different ways they are organized. I made an account and hope to do all the activities. I uploaded two photos, one public and one private. I am concerned about posting pictures of students so the public one is our amazing traffic after school. I did a search for library groups and found several that look interesting.
The students are gone for the summer and it is time to make the library environment a better place for students. We have a small grant to separate the computer lab from the library, which means moving all the books and shelves during the summer. Don't worry I won't be doing much of the physical labor. Even after the move we will be too crowded but I think things will be much better. Right now we have 30 student computer work stations, 8,000 books and about 33 students in a 40' X 26' room.

That was fun!

Week 2
Thing #3
The avatar setup worked but I don't really understand why. I couldn't find and "old lady" avatar so I'll go with what they offer. I did have fun exploring the different options. This could use up lots of time.

Registered

Today, I registered, see previous post. ( Thing #4) I am still confused on the avatar, I will work on that this afternoon. At least that is my plan, I still have lots of school work to get done before tomorrow morning.

Just a Beginning

Week 1
Thing #1 Read the Blog and explored a little.
Thing # 2 Read the 7 1/2 habits of lifelong learners.
Habit #4 is the hardest for me because I'm not really sure that I can do this, but I will try. I was unable to print out the contract form and when I used the feedback form on the site, I did not get a reply. ( This was several weeks ago.)
Habit #7 1/2 is the easiest because I am always ready to have fun!
Week 2
Thing #3 Set up the Blog and will try to figure out the avitar later.
This is my first attempt at a blog. I am very excited about the potential of this technology in an educational setting. I know I will learn a lot from the entire community. My apologies to "LifeLongLearning" I just noticed it. I didn't really copy, it just seemed to fit with the concept of Information Literacy and my not-so-youthful age.
Thing #4 Registration was easy, I'll know if it worked when I get the comfirmation email. I need to decide if I want to register for units. Part of me wants to because I will be more accountable for finishing. The other part of me says, "I don't need the pressure". I'll figure it out soon.