10 Tips About 23 Things

10 Tips About 23 Things

The article titled “10 Tips About 23 Things” was a featured article in School Library Journal in October 2008. I chose to reflect on this article because it talks about how to implement a free web 2.0 training course within any library or school institution. As school library media specialist working in the age of new technology, keeping staff and teachers up to date on this technology can be a challenge especially with tight budgets. This free web 2.0 training program would serve as a great asset to any school’s staff that is trying to implement technology into their curriculum.

In order to get the most out of the web 2.0 course, there are some things that the coordinator of the program must keep in mind. They must take into consideration that there will be those teacher’s who want to jump right into the program and those who will be reluctant. To support the reluctant teacher’s concerns, sometimes partnering them up with a more confident teacher can be the key. Once the program is established the coordinator needs to make sure that the staff has ample time to “play and explore” the new 2.0 technology. Just like with any new technology, it needs to be explored before the skills can be mastered. This leads to the next concern. The staff that is doing the training needs to have time allotted to them during their work day to do their training. With all of these things in mind and with a great facilitator (the library media specialist perhaps) this free 2.0 training can be a successes.

Helene Blowers. (2008, October). Ten Tips About 23 Things. School Library Journal, 54(10), 53. Retrieved September 24, 2009, from Social Science Module. (Document ID: 1564977431).

Diary of a Blog: Listening to Kids in an Elementary School Library

Blogs are a great way to express how you feel about a certain idea or topic. This article talks about a librarian who used blogs in her library to answer questions she wanted to know about her students. She asked them questions like what they liked to read, what web sites were their favorite, who their favorite characters where, what genre they liked to read, what books they wanted to add to their collection, and many others. She used her blog to get responses from both the students in her school and the faculty. Some of the issues she was faced with throughout the duration of this blog were minor. One of the issues she had to deal with was some students “pranking” her blog. She didn’t let this get in the way of her blog. She just simply made them non-public so everyone wouldn’t see them.

I feel that this article just goes to show once again that if there is a will there is a way. This particular teacher didn’t let something such as students “pranking” her blog get in the way of her utilizing this great resource. Also, after reading prior articles, she would have benefited from setting up clear classroom technology rules and even a terms of use policy. These were both mentioned in one of the other articles that I had read and posted on in a previous blog.

Cowan, J. (2008). Diary of a blog: Listening to kids in an elementary school library. Teacher Librarian,

35(5), 20-26. Retrieved September 15, 2009, from Research Library Core database.

Flipped

Flipped.

After reading about how one public library system used technology to “lure” teens into the library, I became inspired. The King’s County Library System used technology to their advantage to get teens involved in what they were reading. They set up a contest that involved having teens create a movie trailer to go along with the book of their choice that they had read. The contest took place over the summer which allowed for the teens to have more free time to work on their creations. When the King’s County Library System first launched this contest, they were only anticipating having at least 10 entries submitted. However, they were amazed when they received a whopping 38 entries. The overall quality of the entries was stunning. The staff was quite amazed at how talented and advanced teens were when it came to working with technology. The best part about the whole contest is the amount of teens that now use the library that previously had not been users. Teens are coming to the realization that the library is not just a place to come to to read books, but it’s a place that they can go to to engage in new technologies.

This article holds very true. I have found that in my own personal career that having students use technology to supplement their work can really get them inspired and motivated to excel. Having students create just a plan old paper and pencil book report can be dull and boring. However, the movie trailer idea that was mentioned above, along with other technologically inclined ideas, can really put a twist on the outcome of the work that is submitted.

Some other ideas for book reports might include having the teens create a wiki for their book. They could produce a music video based on their book. Creating a soundtrack would also allow for the use of technology to be implemented, at the same time as the book is being showcased. Podcasts and teen blogs, based on their books, could also be used to demonstrate understanding of the plot of a book that was read.

Jennifer Wooten. (2009, May). Flipped! School Library Journal, 55(5), 38. Retrieved September 24, 2009, from Social Science Module. (Document ID: 1694418941).

An Information Skills Workout: Wikis and Collaborative Writing

An Information Skills Workout: Wikis and Collaborative Writing

     This article gives an overview on wikis and how they can be used by teachers and librarians to supplement their classes. It discusses what wikis are exactly and how they can be introduced to students. It is important that students know the difference between adding to someone else’s wiki to further the discussion and vandalizing someone’s wiki. Once students understand this concept and how to develop and maintain a wiki, they are ready to use it for their classes. Using wikis for literature discussion is one way they are being used in school settings. They can be used to discuss story elements, introduce new books, or simply express an option on a book. Lastly, the article mentions that if teacher librarians start using wikis, we need to create terms of use for them. This will help maintain a healthy wiki environment which in turn will promote healthier learning habits.

       As our textbook stated as well as this article, it is very important to have good classroom management (with technology in mind) as well as have things such as terms of use. This will help us, as educators and facilitators, do just that...be able to facilitate not having to focus on management issues. With this in mind, having this foundation is a necessary start to using wikis to help supplement classroom curriculum.

Lamb, A., & Johnson, L. (2007). An information skills workout: Wikis and collaborative writing. Teacher     Librarian, 34(5), 57-59,71. Retrieved October 10, 2009, from Research Library Core databse.

Get Ready For Google Wave

Get Ready For Google Wave

I just read an article titled “Get Ready For Google Wave”. I wanted to share this article because it talks about the up and coming free Google feature called Google Wave. This is going to be a 2.0 application that librarians and teachers could use within their classrooms to teach and collaborate. Google Wave is a program that is a mix between a wiki, blog, word processer, and instant messenger. This application has it all.

What makes Google Wave better than a plan old wiki or blog is the fact that everything is instant. For example, if a group of students are working on a wiki together, they can all be working on the wiki at the same time. There is no delay time that would normally occur when a person is working on a regular wiki. The delay time I’m talking about is the time that goes by while a person is making changes until they save their changes. Because changes to Google Wave are instant, it doesn’t require its users to save their changes, thus eliminating this delay time. Google Wave also allows the users to view a running history of who has contributed and did what on the documents. This is a great feature that would allow for teachers to evaluate student participation. Ultimately, this would help the teacher to determine who deserves the grades that they should get for their projects.

Google Wave is going to be a tremendous asset to teachers and librarians alike. It sounds almost like it was made to be geared toward people who have to collaborate together on projects. This would defiantly be students working on projects or librarians collaborating with other teachers on projects. I can’t until this great Google application is launched. It is supposed to be launched by the end of this year so only time will tell if it’s all that they make it out to be. However, I can’t imagine it not being. Google hasn’t let me down yet when it comes to meeting my technology standards and needs.

Christopher Harris. (2009, August). Get Ready for Google Wave. School Library Journal, 55(8), 12.      Retrieved September 24, 2009, from Social Science Module. (Document ID: 1814684491).