Week 9, Thing #23

Copyright...hmmm, didn't the YouTube video I just watched violate every copyright law out there? I have to admit, I am guilty of wanting to use anything and everything on the Internet, thinking that if it is there...then it is to be used. Technology makes it even easier to re-use photos, clipart, videos, etc. I try to stick to the 10% rule. I am sure I will learn more, since my first graduate course at Drexel comes with the text book Complete Copyright, an Everyday Guide for Librarians.

There were so many useful tools in this course. I am excited about using many. I feel I can give intelligent answers when people ask, "what's a wiki?" or "how do you create a blog?" and so on. Not to mention my first research project with the third graders will be to find a Pennsylvania location, research and then make a trading card.

Week 9, Thing #22

I explored The British Library Online Gallery. I am a huge Jane Austen fan and was extremely pleased to find her original manuscript for Jane Austen's History of England. Not only was the book photographed and you could turn the pages, but I could listen to an audio version and read along. With the help of the magnifying glass, I was able to keep up! Pretty awesome. I will use for a lesson including Alice's Adventures Under Ground by Lewis Carroll. I can see using this with the smartboard during library class...I need to process this information more! And do some more exploring...hi-dee-ho.

Week 9, Thing #21

Bio Bottle Project-4Th Grade

We're all about podcasting in our school. We have students create avatars and give book recommendations and perform a monthly "In Your Library" podcast for our library website.

One of my favorite down loadable podcasts comes from the UK's radio streaming from Classic FM. They have created podcasts of classic fairy tales, The Brave Tin Soldier, The Matchstick Girl, Goldilocks, etc. The best part is the storyteller. A Brit with accent and all. I love it! Here is a link to Classic FM. In contract and comparison, we listen to a podcast and I read the fairy tale. Then the students contrast and compare the two versions.

My favorite is Samantha Morton retelling The Princess and the Pea.

Week 9, Thing #20

I am a YouTube junkie. The beautiful part about YouTube in our school district; one of it's creators comes from the elementary school where I teach...Chad Hurley. Chad's mother, a retired TVSD teacher still volunteers in one of our 3rd grade classrooms...here's the beauty part...it is blocked in our school district. I understand why the district has to block it, I just think there is a bit of irony in it. My nephew was visiting last night and asked about the electoral college and how it worked. I found this great explanation for him on YouTube...Electing a US President in Plain English

Week 8, Thing #19

Nice application! I'm thinking this could be a cataloging answer to our little church library. Signing up was easy and adding books was even easier. By far, the book on my shelf that has the highest number of readers and reviews is Jane Eyre, 15, 739/204. The discussions were interesting. Could help someone write a paper if they were having problems formulating an argument. Gotta go...I need to join a discussion.

Week 8, Thing #18

I have used Zoho docs and Google docs. The best part, when I leave the lan and go home with my computer all I have to do is login to Google docs and open my document. It saves a lot of time emailing a document to myself to work on at home and resaving it to the network when I get back to school.

Week 7. Thing #17

Am I missing something? I was able to edit the California web 2.0 sandbox using the invite key, I tried using the same key for the pacurriculum pbwiki...alas, that was incorrect. So I am assuming that I need a different key. I wonder if people feel the same type of empowerment when editing. It allows you to say what you are thinking without interruption or correction. Which can be useful for someone like me who is distracted down rabbit-holes before my thought is complete.

What is the major difference between a wiki and blog site? I think it is the fact that if invited into a wiki, you may edit one document. Whereas a blog it is entry after entry...am I correct? I'll have to study this more.

In my elementary school, children are blocked from wikis and blogs. And at home, there may not be a computer available (hard to believe but true). I am not sure how successful blogs or wikis would be in my elementary. I have a blog set up since I became a librarian two years ago on my schoolsite webpage. Students do blog me over the summer to let me know what they are currently reading, if they enjoyed it and where they are reading. Each year, I log a few more bloggers.

Week 7, Thing #16

Wikis encourage global communication through sharing thoughts, ideas and aspirations. I found myself on the "blogging libraries wiki" and was interested in seeing how others in my profession were using a wiki. Global wikis, wow. There were several wikis that were initiated for book discussions...only that there were no discussions. Many of the blogs have been inactive for months. So how do you create a wiki to be successful?

I liked the idea of a book discussion wiki. Or a book talk wiki. I will explore this further.

Once again, the information available on wikis is overwhelming. So much to learn and read...read...read about.

Week 6, Thing #15

As technology develops, so will our libraries continue to change and evolve. Once upon a time there was a paper card catalog and look at us today...Infocentre and beyond. As the technology immigrants demand more we must be poised to supply AND know what they are talking about. It is fun and exciting to discover new ways of delivering information. After reading the 5 perspectives, I realize that my work will never be done, my library will never be perfect...but I'll willing to try innovative ways to meet my student's needs...but isn't that what librarians-media specialists-teacher librarians have always done?

Week 6, Thing #14

After a tour around Technorati, I was able to find a great number of bloggers out there ready to discuss Governor Sarah Palin. Technorati is a powerful tool to use if you want point and counter-point. Of course, these blogs are opinions...not necessarily facts, so students must beware. I don't see a great use for this application in research; however, some of the blog posts could generate great debates.

Week 6, Thing #13

Okay, this is how I am feeling utterly confused. I am not sure what are the benefits of del.icio.us. If someone could help clear the muddled water with a post, I would appreciate it.

Basically, this is how I understand this application...to organize the bookmarks that you create under favorites on your web browser. I keep my bookmarks to a minimum and have them organized in folders on all of my computers. I think that having to open another browser to browse your bookmarks could get tedious. If I had oodles of bookmarks, say if I were a research librarian at an university, this app could prove beneficial. Maybe in my graduate work, I will be able to truly make it worth my while to use, but for now...not so sure.

Honestly, it seems like more work than is necessary at this time. However, I will keep my mind open to the possibilities. Meanwhile I have "rssed" it.

Hold on...I just had an epiphany...I access four different computers between work and home, all having different bookmarks depending on what I am working on at that moment...yes, it's coming...if I created an account, I could access the SAME bookmarks from any one of those computers...eureka!

45 minutes later...

Okay...I have now set up an account and have my buttons installed on my link bar and I now have three items posted to my del.icio.us. Jedi-mind-tricks in action here: you will create a del.ico.us account, you will post, you will have fun with it.

Just for FUN!!

I changed my avatar...just to see if I remembered...I DID! Also, wedding week is approaching and I tried to reflect that in my "New and Improved" avatar...ha!

Week 5, Thing #12

Okay, I officially have "information overload!" I can see using Rollyo when we research ancient civilizations, there are so many great websites that deal with ac, now I have a tool to use that combines all those great websites. I'm not sure if elementary students would use Rollyo very much...still it is an option for those who excell in digging for information.

I created a Rollyo for My Library Lessons....here I have rolled-out my favorite sites I use for inspiration. Hmmm...what else may I rollyo....

Week 5, Thing #11...Momma Mia!

So I went out on my own to find something to post and lookie what I found. While studying in England 2006 with KU I saw this play in London and then took my husband in April 2008 to Broadway...oh...I'm looking forward to the movie...but I digress.

Week 5, Thing #11...the ning thing

I've joined a ning...I've joined a ning...I finally know what a "ning" thing offers. I signed up for Dr. V's ning and even imported the html code...wow, am I proud of myself...

I see the TeacherLibraianNetwork as a valuable resource. A place to bounce your thoughts and ideas around. I investigated some of the threads and see similarities to the List_Serv for librarians. I see myself using a ning as I return to college for my MSLIS this fall...yum!

Week 5, Thing #11

I took a look at zoho.com, and all I can say is ZOHOly cow! What a great application if you had a group of people with different schedules that needed to work on the same project. Think of the time you would save with everyone working on one document instead of all individually. I can see this being a useful tool for students working from home and school on a group project. It's really overwhelming when you look at the options for Web 2.o management...my head is spinning. I checked in on Backpack.com also. Another option to help you manage documents in a group and everything else...wow.

I also found yourminis.com under "widgets" and I am working on copying the code to my blog page. There are so many useful widgets to post....

one hour later...
just look at all the silly widgets my blog needed!

Week 5, Thing #10 still...

So I tried Image Chef and enjoyed the small video clip modifications so much...I added this application to my Facebook...woo-hoo. I'm the envy of my college age son!

Week 5, Thing #10

Tried this in FDToys Captionizer. Took some time to get used to moving the bubble around, but finally got the hang of it. I could see using this in a project for my students to create READ! posters with their favorite celebrities.

Made this little posting with FDToys. I couldn't change the font style or color. I looked for that option and must be missing it or it does not exist.

Who would have "thunk?" Created this with Comic Strip Generator. Fun little application to play with. I either am not finding how to change fonts, colors, etc. or that is not an option.

Week 4, Thing #9

Okay...so at first I thought why would I use a RSS feeder? Then I checked into schoollibrary blog and signed up for Doug Johnson's witty tidbits. Fantastic information spoon fed to me! After trying some other applications, I then tried the Technorati tutorial and completed my first search...I entered "books to film."

I then spent the next hour getting caught up on movies that will be released featuring books my students enjoy (will enjoy) reading. "Coraline" will be out February 2009...yeah!!

So I now have a feed that will keep me in the loop about upcoming movies...my students usually come in to tell me about the latest movie they have seen and ask for the book. Now I will be one step ahead of them!

Also, I came across a blog talking about LOC. I had forgotten what a great wealth of resources LOC could be...score another point for bloggers.

All in all, I liked Technorati because my search using "books to film" gave me more responses. The tutorial was very helpful.

As I sit on my porch blogging, researching and learning...my husband is wondering if I will ever have free time for him again!?!

Week 4, Thing #8

RSS Feeds. I set-up a RSS in both Google and Bloglines. Google emails updates to me, where bloglines, I login to get updates. What I like the best about Bloglines, is that I can access my feeds from any computer. And since my youngest son is home from college, I am using his new laptop on the sofa to work on projects. To get to my Google account, I have to get my ancient school laptop out, powered up (about 10 minutes) and access my school email address.

RSS Feeds have the potential of saving research librarians a lot of time. I am an elementary K-4 librarian and will use in a limited manner. I need more time to digest the options and possible sites to watch for current news.

Now that I have a Blogline account I can always modify to my tastes.

Week 3, Thing #7

Hmmm...something technical. How about the difference in using movie software on MAC versus PC. I use iMovie at school to create movies with my AV Club. I am amazed at how quickly the kids pick-up the concepts and create entertaining/educational PSA's for our classrooms. I have given the option to use our one MAC, or using the PC's Window's Moviemaker. The students tend to want to use MAC...it's just that easy. While Moviemaker is relatively easy to use, you are not given the creative room in adjusting volume of music, volume of film clip, or placing several music clips in one video, just to mention a few.

My next quest is to get garageband for the kids to try on the MAC. The only problem is, there just isn't enough time for my club to use these packages to their fullest extent. And we only have one MAC to share.

I'm really enjoying this Web 2.0 and can't wait to share ideas with my teachers!

Week 3, Thing #6

Virginia
Originally uploaded by ex libris web 2.0

I see great potential for this trading card application!!!

Week 3 Thing #6

Wedding Week #2
Originally uploaded by ex libris web 2.0

Playing with flickr toys is so much fun-fun-fun! My son is getting married in July and I used Magazine Cover to create this example. My future daughter-in-law loved it.

I cannot wait to implement this into research lessons...forget about the tri-fold brochures...Hellloooo flickr toys!

Week 3, Thing #5 We're no dummies

We're no dummies
Originally uploaded by jwlphotography

Oh my goodness...this could be two of my patrons. Click on photo to get a close-up on the book titles...tee-hee

Can you imagine the projects students will be able to design using the vast photo galleries available in Flickr? I can!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Week 1, Thing 2

Great Presentation on the 7 1/2 Habits, a good reminder on what it means to be a lifelong learner.

Most difficult habit is #4-having confidence: Since I was a late-bloomer and graduated from college the same year my youngest son graduated from high school, I often wonder if I am as equipped as my younger colleagues. I have the advantage of age and life-experience-education, however, I always have this nagging feeling that I might miss something in the classroom. My principal and fellow teachers appreciate all the new endeavors at school that I have exposed them to this year (my first year of teaching). I always think that I can do better for them. Is that a lack of confidence or a desire to be a lifelong learner?

Easiest habit #71/2: I love to play and share experiences with my colleagues. I grow each time we share a “wow factor."

Week 1, Thing 1

I am testing my first ever blog site...