Thing # 17

Wow Zoho is really cool! The ability to retrieve documents on any computer is great. It does have all the features of a regular word processing program.I am going to look into this for a newsletter I do for an organiztion I am a member of. I am definitely rethinking how I am going to do a lot of things online and with my computer now. Check out my blog from Zoho!

Crazy Time of Year

It's that crazy time of the school year again.Everyone is gearing up for TAKS and TPRI. The teachers are stressed over CSI and benchmarking. In the library we elementary librarians are getting ready for Bluebonnet voting and introducing the Mockingbird Books to younger grades. Everyone looks forward to the Mockingbirds. I am wondering how many students will be voting on the Bluebonnets.Normally most of my students in grades 3 - 6 get to vote because I make sure they hear at least 5 books. I 'm not sure if that is going to happen this year.  I have read 3- 4 books to most classes but is is very hard this year to do that as this group of Bluebonnets do not really lend themselves to being good read alouds.

 

We at Range are exploring the new Britannica database. The kids and teachers seem to really like the new features. Of course the students like the games but they are educational so everyone is happy. They are playing and learning at the same time and becoming very computer savvy which is very important in this day and age. I hope to have a night  event where I can show parents all the online library resources MISD has to offer.Time of course is the issue. It's hard enough to get time with teachers to instruct them on the newest technologies. I do this when classes come into the library for instruction on the laptops. This basically forces the teachers to learn the newest we have to offer in online resources.I hope that teachers will take this new knowledge back to the classroom  and let the students continue on with what they have learned in the library.

Thing # 16

Playing in the Sandbox was fun. I haven't yet figured out to manage the size of my image inserts. I plan to keep on playing here for awhile. I might use a wiki for the Mockingbird books. to get feedback from the teachers.If you look in the sandbox you can see where I started a page. A Mockingbird wiki might be interesting to do with teachers this year. This could be expanded to Bluebonnets next year and have teachers and students respond if students could access it.

Thing # 15

I personally do not think Wikis are something I would be interested in using. Wikis are not authoratative as people who contribute to them do not always have the correct facts or their entries are subjective. Wikis might be a starting place for research but certainly not the only place to gain information. A wiki might be used for a class project or some other collaborative project. I did like the idea of requiring an email to accompany all entries to a wiki so that the person could be contacted about the information submitted. I personally don't want people changing something that I have written. As libraries continue to move deeper into technology, wikis are inevitable in the library world, but I still think they should be taken for what they are; individuals putting in their 2 cents worth.

Well I put my wiki out on the web for teachers today. Will see if anyone responds!

Thing # 14

Library 2.0 to me means moving full force into the 21st century. Times have changed and so have libraries. If libraries do not continue to change with society and all of the technological advances, they will become obsolete. Libraries are no longer warehouses of books; they are places to discover new ideas and to help create more networking of these ideas. Librarians must include patrons' ideas and needs as libraries collaborate with the people who use their resources.
Allowing a venue for patrons to review and tag all resources available is just one option for libraries to engage in.

School libraries must change with the times and the changing curriculums. School librarians must truly collaborate with teachers and students to meet these changing needs. School librarans must also be the leaders for teachers in the new technologies available to enhance student learning to an optimum. As teachers become more bogged down with paperwork, it is the responsibility of librarians to keep teachers informed of the latest educational opportunities available in both print and non-print mediums.

Thing # 13

I enjoyed creating a Ma.nolia account and listing my favorite bookmarks.There have been times at school or other places that I wished I could access my bookmarks from home. Now I can! It was interesting to see other people who also had bookmarked sites that I had. I can see setting up bookmarks for school research on a special account. This way students and teachers could access the bookmarks in the library, computer lab, and classrooms not to mention at their own homes.Kind of like a Hotlist. I also liked FURL. This could be very helpful in keeping up with an article found that needs to be referred back to. This can be done easily by installing Furl on the toolbar. Could be very beneficial in research. I also like the highlighting capabilities and the option of emailing parts of an article to someone else.

Thing # 12

I was already well aware of MySpace and Facebook and how they work as I have children who use them all the time.I think it is very important for educators and parents to be aware of the social networking sites as most young people today have accounts with them. It is important not only to be aware of these sites' existence but also how they are used. I enjoyed looking around at the Ning sites and I think this networking tool can be very imformative for educators in keeping up with the latest trends and what other teachers and librarians are doing in their schools and libraries.We are truly a global society and online networking is just a part of the world now. I do believe that MySpace and Facebook should be left for personal time. Ning sites are job related so I think it is perfectly acceptable to be browsing there. Although I know that MySpace and Facebook can have very legitimate blogs and messages they are definitely more social and can be abused by students and teachers alike while at school.