Thing # 19

Let me say up front I hate flowcharts. Always have. My mind does not work that way.
Yes I have used Inspiration and Kidspiration with students in various class projects and I see the benefit in those tools in creating an outline. Flowchart and Bubbl.Us both remind me of Inspiration and Kidspiration especially with the ability to add clip art . Flowchart could be used in business and in school collaboration with its real time capablilities. It reminded me of a chatroom or Instant message conversation. Will I use these? No. I prefer the more free spirit way of thinking. I do my best work that way.

Thing # 18

So many things to explore, so little time! That's the way I feel right now. I decided to take a long look at Craigslist. I first became acquainted with Craigslist last year when my husband was trying to sell his car. After paying around $65 to advertise the traditional way in the Dallas Morning News classified and getting only 2 calls, neither of which panned out, my husband decided to take the advice of our sons age 20 & 24 who said he could sell it easliy on Craigslist. Within an hour of the ad appearing on Craigslist, we had 5 calls. We sold the car that night. We thought the Dallas News would reach more people but we were WRONG. I really believe most people in today's world turn to the computer for most of their consumer needs. I also think that many younger people do not take the daily newspaper at all. News like everything else can be found online and is always up to the minute. I really like the layout of Criagslist. The categories are very well laid out. You can see at a glance what you are looking for. All you have to do is click on the link.I looked at Oodle and vFlyer but did not like them nearly as well. Their layout pretty much turned me off right away.
As far as library use,I do not think Craigslist should be allowed in schools due to the nature of some of the ads unless the filters can block every single ad that is objectionable. I think there are other avenues open to students to look for materials needed for school assignments.

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.