http://metcalf.intand.com/index.php?type=reports&action=show&id=27
So after our last class and hearing the rave reviews about Diigo, I decided to use this as my last tech entry. The above link is something I used Diigo to bookmark-it's personal, but it worked.
I really struggled to use this at first because I was using my iPad. In the library I carry my iPad a lot throughout the day, so I thought it would be a great app to have and use. Initially I struggled to get the web highlighter to upload which was REALLY frustrating!! After what seemed like a million tries to get the highlighter to work in my safari browser, I finally had to ask my husband to help me-that part was annoying!!!
From the iPad app standpoint I think it was really hard to get Diigo ready to use. There are directions but they are not (in my opinion) easy to follow. As a user, you cannot keep the directions on the screen while following the steps-now maybe it's just me (and I readily admit to this as user error!), but it was frustrating when I could not get the app to work. Once I got it up and going, I used Diigo to do bookmarking for a few personal things like the above link to my daughter's volleyball schedule. I also bookmarked ABC Family's Christmas t.v. schedule as well.
As a resource I can see how this will be useful when I am exploring blogs, reviews, and other online information for the library. I do not understand when I will use the highlighter function so I would like to explore that further. I also am struggling to figure out how to use Diigo on my MacBook so I am planning on devoting more time to this as well. I just don't think it is as easy to use as Evernote and Pinterest.
Will I use it regularly? I'm not sure. I don't really care for Diigo as much as other tools as I said above, but I know that my fellow classmates love it-maybe I am doing it wrong?
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Sunday, November 11, 2012
The Unquiet Librarian-Reading Journal
http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com
This week I landed on the blog called The Unquiet Librarian which is written by Buffy Hamilton-a librarian in Georgia. I chose this blog to explore because I liked the name-it is catchy and intriguing. I needed something fun to explore.
I did a lot of exploring on this blog. I read an article about choosing an eBook platform for the K-12 school library, explored personal information, an article about a library on wheels, and then I stumbled on slides from a recent presentation that Buffy did as a keynote speaker at a conference in North Carolina. The power point was AMAZING!! While I am sure it was much cooler to actually hear her present with the slides, I still learned a lot from the presentation and was able to make connections with recent discussions from our own class.
The resource was good. I enjoyed the library on wheels article (something that we could incorporate with our 5-8th grade students at study hall time so that they have an opportunity to get books!!) and I REALLY enjoyed the presentation that I found. I did not care for some of the guest posts-they did not apply to my age of student and were not as interesting as other articles I read. The site is user friendly-although there were a few dead links that need to be fixed. I will return to this blog and will also be passing it on to the 7th and 8th grade team at our school. I want to share the power point presentation slides because the presentation touches on standards based grading which is being utilized in our building. I know that these teachers are looking for supportive evidence that they can use to share with parents as our building transitions to a new style of grading, and this information would be most helpful to them. I will also be creating a "pitch" in regards to a library on wheels for study hall times. I'm not sure how that would really work, but I think it is a cool idea and one that I will be pursuing. I am going to add Buffy to my RSS feed so that I can continue to follow her.
I learned a lot from the content on this blog. As I shared above, I learned how easy it would be to put books on a book truck and wheel down to a study hall room where kids are under utilizing their time. Since we do not see the 7th and 8th grade students for fixed library times, I think this would be a cool way to stay in contact with the students, present them with an opportunity to check out books, and could encourage those readers that are slipping away to grab a selection and try something new. I also took notes on the presentation that I've been writing about in my entry. Buffy has so much information that is applicable and immediate that I will be going back to review this entry again. I took notes on the idea of enchantment and how it is the sustained voluntary delight that is mutually beneficial-if the students are enchanted with reading/research/what they are learning, then they see the benefit of learning, engaging, etc. I noted Buffy's ideas that relationships are the cornerstone of libraries and that the library is the shared story of the human experience. I thought a lot about our last class and how technology is a piece of this human experience-but not the overall arching role that is played in a school library. This led into a section that I took notes on regarding participatory learning. Buffy took this idea of learning and noted that school librarians can be the "catalyst to spark larger change in a learning ecosystem:-how cool is that? I could go on and on with all that I learned! It is worth a peek! I am going to do more research on the idea of participatory learning, engaging students, and the role of the librarian as the catalyst but looking at the blogs of R. David Lankes and Henry Jenkins. Both of these men were on individual slides and as I read the entries that Buffy had posted, I realized that taking the time to read these would be worth it.
Even though Buffy is a high school librarian, the information shared on her site is applicable to all grade levels. I really learned a lot-more so than any previous blog that I have visited. The information here got my brain working and wondering-how we can make our school library better? How I can become more involved with my school's ecosystem? What can I do to create that sense of enchantment within our students?
Definitely good stuff here!
This week I landed on the blog called The Unquiet Librarian which is written by Buffy Hamilton-a librarian in Georgia. I chose this blog to explore because I liked the name-it is catchy and intriguing. I needed something fun to explore.
I did a lot of exploring on this blog. I read an article about choosing an eBook platform for the K-12 school library, explored personal information, an article about a library on wheels, and then I stumbled on slides from a recent presentation that Buffy did as a keynote speaker at a conference in North Carolina. The power point was AMAZING!! While I am sure it was much cooler to actually hear her present with the slides, I still learned a lot from the presentation and was able to make connections with recent discussions from our own class.
The resource was good. I enjoyed the library on wheels article (something that we could incorporate with our 5-8th grade students at study hall time so that they have an opportunity to get books!!) and I REALLY enjoyed the presentation that I found. I did not care for some of the guest posts-they did not apply to my age of student and were not as interesting as other articles I read. The site is user friendly-although there were a few dead links that need to be fixed. I will return to this blog and will also be passing it on to the 7th and 8th grade team at our school. I want to share the power point presentation slides because the presentation touches on standards based grading which is being utilized in our building. I know that these teachers are looking for supportive evidence that they can use to share with parents as our building transitions to a new style of grading, and this information would be most helpful to them. I will also be creating a "pitch" in regards to a library on wheels for study hall times. I'm not sure how that would really work, but I think it is a cool idea and one that I will be pursuing. I am going to add Buffy to my RSS feed so that I can continue to follow her.
I learned a lot from the content on this blog. As I shared above, I learned how easy it would be to put books on a book truck and wheel down to a study hall room where kids are under utilizing their time. Since we do not see the 7th and 8th grade students for fixed library times, I think this would be a cool way to stay in contact with the students, present them with an opportunity to check out books, and could encourage those readers that are slipping away to grab a selection and try something new. I also took notes on the presentation that I've been writing about in my entry. Buffy has so much information that is applicable and immediate that I will be going back to review this entry again. I took notes on the idea of enchantment and how it is the sustained voluntary delight that is mutually beneficial-if the students are enchanted with reading/research/what they are learning, then they see the benefit of learning, engaging, etc. I noted Buffy's ideas that relationships are the cornerstone of libraries and that the library is the shared story of the human experience. I thought a lot about our last class and how technology is a piece of this human experience-but not the overall arching role that is played in a school library. This led into a section that I took notes on regarding participatory learning. Buffy took this idea of learning and noted that school librarians can be the "catalyst to spark larger change in a learning ecosystem:-how cool is that? I could go on and on with all that I learned! It is worth a peek! I am going to do more research on the idea of participatory learning, engaging students, and the role of the librarian as the catalyst but looking at the blogs of R. David Lankes and Henry Jenkins. Both of these men were on individual slides and as I read the entries that Buffy had posted, I realized that taking the time to read these would be worth it.
Even though Buffy is a high school librarian, the information shared on her site is applicable to all grade levels. I really learned a lot-more so than any previous blog that I have visited. The information here got my brain working and wondering-how we can make our school library better? How I can become more involved with my school's ecosystem? What can I do to create that sense of enchantment within our students?
Definitely good stuff here!
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWEekO4ufwM&feature=related
Alright. I should probably be ashamed to admit this, but here goes. I honestly have never gone to YouTube to...well just go. Sure I have gone to upload my Faces of a Librarian project; and yes I went to see an uploaded video of my daughter being serenaded by seventh graders last year-but I always thought it was..hmmm....a waste. A bunch of weird, inappropriate people who were posting stupid videos of stupid stuff.
So for my technology posting this week, I decided to put myself out there and visit YouTube to see what it was really about. Why did I choose this optional tool? Because as I stated above, it's about time to check this out. Would it have value beyond my prejudicial mindset? Or was I pretty spot on with my assumptions?
From an entertainment standpoint, sure I liked it. Seeing Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake do the history of rap on late night TV was fine by me. Did I like all of the other links that popped up on the right hand side? Did I appreciate the sexual innuendo and profanity that were shown in the comments directly under the video? Not so much since my kids were sitting by me when I went on the site. The search tool was a good way to quickly find videos that I could view. But again, even when I searched "innocent" videos like animals, babies, etc. there were still vulgar comments and images that came up. I'm sure that doesn't happen every time, but it seemed like it did happen a lot-which is one of the reasons why I haven't really made YouTube a habit.
From an educators point of view I was still skeptical until I used the search bar. I found a really cool video for Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (the above link) that I will be using with the preschoolers that I work with. I also found a cool Will-I-Am video with Sesame Street characters that I will use as well. I also know that my colleague has used YouTube when showing informational videos on Olympic athletes and history.
The site is user friendly. I didn't see any tutorials but also didn't need one. I will go back and explore more videos using the search option-but I am not sure I feel comfortable letting my own kids just search the site without supervision. I do think that my original opinion is still pretty spot on-it isn't that I think the entire site is "bad", I just think it stinks that so many inappropriate images and language pop up.
I will use YouTube with my students in a very controlled way. I will seek out the videos that I think are applicable to my classes and then have them ready to show prior to class. I know that my colleague has done this very think with her students and it has been successful. I think that YouTube does have value but still think it is disappointing that there are such obvious ways that kids can read inappropriate language (even under the Will-I-Am clip there were comments using profanity), see images that are unnecessary, etc. when innocently searching.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
School Library Monthly
For this reading journal, I chose to read the paper version of School Library Monthly (Volume 28 Number 6 March 2012).
The librarian that I work with has several back issues of this magazine that she has put out for us both to read and discuss-I love that aspect of reading and then talking about what I like and what she likes.
I read the entire magazine in two sittings. The first part of the magazine did not hold my attention as well as SLJ or the Horn book. The month I read had articles such as Lesson Study for School Librarians, Using Web 2.0 Tools with Young Researchers (something that my colleague does with 3rd-6th graders frequently), an already outdated review for the Nook Color, A School Library Work Plan, and my favorite-Hosting a Family Read-In. There were also book reviews that included a "spark" addition where teaching tips and/or books to partner the selection with were included.
This magazine as a resource does not rank as high for me as those I have previously reviewed. While reading the articles I just didn't feel that spark of excitement that I have felt with the other journals/blogs that I have enjoyed. What struck me with this resource is that today (October 2012) there were articles that were already outdated. The article on the Nook Color was already old-new technology has taken its place. How interesting that if a library would have purchased this device for student usage to see that there are newer tools that have been produced a mere 7 months later. I did enjoy the article on being a story teller and loved the hosting a family read-in article. If I had the opportunity, I would absolutely offer that type of program for our students and their family members.
I did learn some interesting information from the content in the article entitled: A School Library Work Plan. The author of this article suggests using the word "pilot" when presenting strategies/programs/or an innovation in the library. This article encouraged the administrator/librarian relationship due to the lack of exposure pre-service principals have in their coursework. This article gave tips on creating a plan to best use your time as a librarian and broke it down into educational and instructional roles. It was a concise article that was very helpful in the management of the library as a whole. I also enjoyed the content of the family read-in article. I am always so excited to work with others in educating them about our library! I enjoy having parents come in and see what we are doing with their kids during the school day-how cool would it be to have a read-in as an evening activity!! While this article seemed to be for older kids, I would like to dig deeper and see if there are schools that have done something similar with lower grade students. Maybe even pursue this idea and make a "bedtime" story night at our library? It would be a lot of fun-pull a bunch of "quieter" selections and have families come in to enjoy some stories. Or just pull books and read at their leisure.
Overall I would not subscribe to this magazine. While I am sure it is suited for many, I did not find it to be as engaging, or as exciting as other materials I have seen. The reviews were not as detailed or as helpful as those in SLJ and the articles were no better than those I have seen in SLJ either-if I had to purchase one as a professional development tool, it would be SLJ over SLM.
The librarian that I work with has several back issues of this magazine that she has put out for us both to read and discuss-I love that aspect of reading and then talking about what I like and what she likes.
I read the entire magazine in two sittings. The first part of the magazine did not hold my attention as well as SLJ or the Horn book. The month I read had articles such as Lesson Study for School Librarians, Using Web 2.0 Tools with Young Researchers (something that my colleague does with 3rd-6th graders frequently), an already outdated review for the Nook Color, A School Library Work Plan, and my favorite-Hosting a Family Read-In. There were also book reviews that included a "spark" addition where teaching tips and/or books to partner the selection with were included.
This magazine as a resource does not rank as high for me as those I have previously reviewed. While reading the articles I just didn't feel that spark of excitement that I have felt with the other journals/blogs that I have enjoyed. What struck me with this resource is that today (October 2012) there were articles that were already outdated. The article on the Nook Color was already old-new technology has taken its place. How interesting that if a library would have purchased this device for student usage to see that there are newer tools that have been produced a mere 7 months later. I did enjoy the article on being a story teller and loved the hosting a family read-in article. If I had the opportunity, I would absolutely offer that type of program for our students and their family members.
I did learn some interesting information from the content in the article entitled: A School Library Work Plan. The author of this article suggests using the word "pilot" when presenting strategies/programs/or an innovation in the library. This article encouraged the administrator/librarian relationship due to the lack of exposure pre-service principals have in their coursework. This article gave tips on creating a plan to best use your time as a librarian and broke it down into educational and instructional roles. It was a concise article that was very helpful in the management of the library as a whole. I also enjoyed the content of the family read-in article. I am always so excited to work with others in educating them about our library! I enjoy having parents come in and see what we are doing with their kids during the school day-how cool would it be to have a read-in as an evening activity!! While this article seemed to be for older kids, I would like to dig deeper and see if there are schools that have done something similar with lower grade students. Maybe even pursue this idea and make a "bedtime" story night at our library? It would be a lot of fun-pull a bunch of "quieter" selections and have families come in to enjoy some stories. Or just pull books and read at their leisure.
Overall I would not subscribe to this magazine. While I am sure it is suited for many, I did not find it to be as engaging, or as exciting as other materials I have seen. The reviews were not as detailed or as helpful as those in SLJ and the articles were no better than those I have seen in SLJ either-if I had to purchase one as a professional development tool, it would be SLJ over SLM.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Wikispaces
For my tech journal entry this week, I chose to explore wikispaces. I chose this particular tool because even though it is required, it just so happens that I heard several teachers talking about their "wiki's" this week and I was intrigued.
Initially when I went to the site I wasn't impressed-it was okay. But then I signed up for the educational wikispace and was pleasantly surprised!! I REALLY like how it (by choice) walks the user through the set up. For someone like me who isn't confident in technology use, it was an easy way to get my wiki set up!!
While you will only find my rough set up at the above link, what was cool was how easy it was to get this wiki up and going. The tutorial literally walked me through everything.
For fear of sounding stupid, I will admit that I am not sure how I am to use this exactly. Yes I see that you can collaborate with this site, but I am still feel unsure-so this would be what I need to research more. Would this be a way to plan our literacy lesson if I had to work with a colleague that was outside of my building? Something to think about. I know that in the past, our jr. high teachers used a wiki to house curriculum content, homework assignments, updates, etc and it worked nicely for the parent/student/teacher communication.
I definitely used the start up tutorial and will go back and view the additional sources as well. I think the online support is very helpful, and I like how there is a tool bar in the upper right hand corner that is easily accessible.
I think I would use this tool if doing a collaborative unit with a teacher on something like informational literacy. It could also be used to collaborate with a librarian at a different school on a variety of topics like the Monarch Awards-maybe a few school librarians could track the favorite book for their school and then see what a multi-school vote would be? My question still is can this be used like a blog? I don't think the purpose is to be used to simply update or present information-again, this is something I need to explore.
The visual part of me does like how there is choice for background color, font style and layout.
I think overall I prefer the Weebly over the wikispace-but again I am thinking that they are to be used for two different types of communication. I can see that I need to familiarize myself deeper with the wikispace.
Using these different technologies has been helpful-especially since there are so many that I am totally unfamiliar with!!
Sunday, October 14, 2012
The Jackpot-or Horn Book Online (Reading Journal)
http://hbook.com
For this week, I chose to look at the Horn Book (online version) and was NOT disappointed!!! Let me begin by saying that this is my favorite resource that I have looked at so far. This resource has been created to provide parents, teachers, and librarians (public and school) with recommendations for good children's and YA literature (their mission statement). I chose it because it was on the list and had been discussed in class-it sounded interesting.
I spent a lot of time browsing this site! I read information on choosing books which included reviews and author's questions; using books for libraries (this focused on public libraries but was still full of excellent information!); under creating books I watched the making of the Freight Train app (super cool!); and under the interview tab I selected 5 Questions with Roz Chast to preview.
My favorite articles were: What makes a good dystopian novel? And the making the Freight Train app. All of the articles I read were VERY helpful-there are a variety of book reviews, app reviews, and ideas for instruction. I enjoyed the author interviews and the publishing section as well. There was nothing on this site that appeared to be useless or lacking. It is very practical and I have bookmarked it to use in the future. I will absolutely use this with my students when it comes to purchasing, reviews, and educating myself.
I REALLY needed to read the article on dystopian literature. Right now I am struggling with YA fiction and this was excellent!! The article defined what dystopian literature is, the four criteria of what makes a good dystopian book, and then gave book reviews on good books. Reading this one article gave me the structure and a background knowledge of a genre that I don't know much about. I can take this knowledge and immediately apply it in our library-I like being able to use information NOW. I will continue to use this resource when I have questions, or just to keep up on what is out there. I also like how Horn Books has a clear mission and their entire site upholds their statement. I will continue to come back to this site and actually liked it more than School Library Journal.
For this week, I chose to look at the Horn Book (online version) and was NOT disappointed!!! Let me begin by saying that this is my favorite resource that I have looked at so far. This resource has been created to provide parents, teachers, and librarians (public and school) with recommendations for good children's and YA literature (their mission statement). I chose it because it was on the list and had been discussed in class-it sounded interesting.
I spent a lot of time browsing this site! I read information on choosing books which included reviews and author's questions; using books for libraries (this focused on public libraries but was still full of excellent information!); under creating books I watched the making of the Freight Train app (super cool!); and under the interview tab I selected 5 Questions with Roz Chast to preview.
My favorite articles were: What makes a good dystopian novel? And the making the Freight Train app. All of the articles I read were VERY helpful-there are a variety of book reviews, app reviews, and ideas for instruction. I enjoyed the author interviews and the publishing section as well. There was nothing on this site that appeared to be useless or lacking. It is very practical and I have bookmarked it to use in the future. I will absolutely use this with my students when it comes to purchasing, reviews, and educating myself.
I REALLY needed to read the article on dystopian literature. Right now I am struggling with YA fiction and this was excellent!! The article defined what dystopian literature is, the four criteria of what makes a good dystopian book, and then gave book reviews on good books. Reading this one article gave me the structure and a background knowledge of a genre that I don't know much about. I can take this knowledge and immediately apply it in our library-I like being able to use information NOW. I will continue to use this resource when I have questions, or just to keep up on what is out there. I also like how Horn Books has a clear mission and their entire site upholds their statement. I will continue to come back to this site and actually liked it more than School Library Journal.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Weebly (Technology Journal Entry)
http://www.weebly.com/weebly/main.php
This week I decided to kill two homework birds with one adventure-taking a look at Weebly. Above is the link for my professional portfolio that is only in the initial stages of completion-i.e., I had no idea what I was doing and just played around!
I chose this tool because I had no idea what Weebly was and thought I would check it out. Honestly, I liked the name-it sounds cute.
I liked the following about this tool: the tutorial options is awesome-it is helpful to get started, it is relatively user friendly (see my dislikes), and it has a lot of design options. I used their free stock pictures to play around with my heading graphics and they are decent. I will probably upload some better pictures as I realize this is a professional portfolio-although the Mr. Potato Head does make me smile.
I did not like the lack of direction once you get past the initial "home" page. I had no idea how to create the tabs on my site for my project-i.e. I didn't get how someone would click to get to my resume or professional philosophy. I did play around and figured it out, and maybe I am missing additional tutorials, but it was a bit confusing to get started. I currently also cannot figure out how to change the text font-I realize it isn't a big deal, but as I have shared before-this makes a difference to me! If people are going to be looking at this, I want it to look really good.
I could not figure out how to change the text font and will return to explore this as well as adding additional graphics to the page. I have some images from Pinterest that I would prefer to use so I will take the time to figure that out. I did enjoy the ease of getting started-again I do think that Weebly is user friendly overall. I did appreciate the initial tutorial but again wonder if I am missing additional tutorials that would enable me to personalize the site a bit deeper. I will also be exploring that as well.
I would totally use this with students/parents/administrators to communicate the goings on of my library!! I would request that this site was provided on my school's homepage for easy access and would update it weekly with pictures, book reviews (from myself as well as guest bloggers-students, teachers, administrators), special events, and maybe even spotlight certain genres. There are so many things that I could do to inform the school culture of the exciting happenings in the library-this is an easy and free way to publicize the fantastic things that are happening. I would even post how the space is being used-in my case posting pictures of ISU students who are using the space to work on research projects with students, pictures of chess club practice-anything that gives the library excellent press.
I really like Weebly and will definitely be using it to create my Professional Portfolio project.
This week I decided to kill two homework birds with one adventure-taking a look at Weebly. Above is the link for my professional portfolio that is only in the initial stages of completion-i.e., I had no idea what I was doing and just played around!
I chose this tool because I had no idea what Weebly was and thought I would check it out. Honestly, I liked the name-it sounds cute.
I liked the following about this tool: the tutorial options is awesome-it is helpful to get started, it is relatively user friendly (see my dislikes), and it has a lot of design options. I used their free stock pictures to play around with my heading graphics and they are decent. I will probably upload some better pictures as I realize this is a professional portfolio-although the Mr. Potato Head does make me smile.
I did not like the lack of direction once you get past the initial "home" page. I had no idea how to create the tabs on my site for my project-i.e. I didn't get how someone would click to get to my resume or professional philosophy. I did play around and figured it out, and maybe I am missing additional tutorials, but it was a bit confusing to get started. I currently also cannot figure out how to change the text font-I realize it isn't a big deal, but as I have shared before-this makes a difference to me! If people are going to be looking at this, I want it to look really good.
I could not figure out how to change the text font and will return to explore this as well as adding additional graphics to the page. I have some images from Pinterest that I would prefer to use so I will take the time to figure that out. I did enjoy the ease of getting started-again I do think that Weebly is user friendly overall. I did appreciate the initial tutorial but again wonder if I am missing additional tutorials that would enable me to personalize the site a bit deeper. I will also be exploring that as well.
I would totally use this with students/parents/administrators to communicate the goings on of my library!! I would request that this site was provided on my school's homepage for easy access and would update it weekly with pictures, book reviews (from myself as well as guest bloggers-students, teachers, administrators), special events, and maybe even spotlight certain genres. There are so many things that I could do to inform the school culture of the exciting happenings in the library-this is an easy and free way to publicize the fantastic things that are happening. I would even post how the space is being used-in my case posting pictures of ISU students who are using the space to work on research projects with students, pictures of chess club practice-anything that gives the library excellent press.
I really like Weebly and will definitely be using it to create my Professional Portfolio project.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Blue Skunk-what? (reading journal entry)
So for this reading journal entry, I picked the Blue Skunk blog as my source and was not disappointed. Here is the link to the entries that I really liked:
http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/month/august-2012
To summarize what I read: his whole blog! I started at the "my website" tab and worked my way through each of them. It is entertaining and informative! And to be quite honest, I'm not much of a techie and I still really enjoyed it!! Maybe because I'm not a techie that's why I did like it so much.
My favorite entries that I read were:
1. Social networking policy whiplash
2. My biases-which is an entire tab devoted to Doug Johnson's personal beliefs
3. BFTP (blast from the past) Concerns about creativity
When I first started to read this blog, I didn't realize that it was based on technology. The resource is really helpful-although a lot of the entries are based on Johnson's personal beliefs and thoughts. I did enjoy his point of view and appreciated his thoughts on the use of technology in the classroom and library. There wasn't an aspect of this blog that I didn't like. I read it as what it was-a personal blog devoted to technology and the way it affects teachers and students from a personal point of view. I would use this as a resource for personal reading. I would use this on occasion.
I didn't really learn anything, but I did appreciate Johnson's point of view. My favorite was his "my biases" tab because it made me laugh out loud. It was pleasurable to read his entries-I'm not sure I really learned anything new, although I did not read every single entry available, so perhaps there are things like tech/app reviews elsewhere. I would use this as a tool for professional reading simply because Johnson has an interesting point of view. It is not like Edudemic where I actually learned about apps, but it did have a different kind of value to me. It was thought provoking which I like. It was challenging to my way of thinking which I also like. I also admire that he is bluntly honest about topics that most educators shy away from (BFTP concerns about creativity)-and really, he is right. I would like to ask him what technology he uses personally. How does he feel about the iPad usage in the classroom. He values games and such in the library, but I wonder if he really feels this way or was he being sarcastic? I couldn't tell. I would consider looking into social networking policies further because I know this is an underlying issue in my own building.
Maybe I should come up with my own Mrs. Story's biases tab for my own blog-hmmm....the list might be too long.
http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/month/august-2012
To summarize what I read: his whole blog! I started at the "my website" tab and worked my way through each of them. It is entertaining and informative! And to be quite honest, I'm not much of a techie and I still really enjoyed it!! Maybe because I'm not a techie that's why I did like it so much.
My favorite entries that I read were:
1. Social networking policy whiplash
2. My biases-which is an entire tab devoted to Doug Johnson's personal beliefs
3. BFTP (blast from the past) Concerns about creativity
When I first started to read this blog, I didn't realize that it was based on technology. The resource is really helpful-although a lot of the entries are based on Johnson's personal beliefs and thoughts. I did enjoy his point of view and appreciated his thoughts on the use of technology in the classroom and library. There wasn't an aspect of this blog that I didn't like. I read it as what it was-a personal blog devoted to technology and the way it affects teachers and students from a personal point of view. I would use this as a resource for personal reading. I would use this on occasion.
I didn't really learn anything, but I did appreciate Johnson's point of view. My favorite was his "my biases" tab because it made me laugh out loud. It was pleasurable to read his entries-I'm not sure I really learned anything new, although I did not read every single entry available, so perhaps there are things like tech/app reviews elsewhere. I would use this as a tool for professional reading simply because Johnson has an interesting point of view. It is not like Edudemic where I actually learned about apps, but it did have a different kind of value to me. It was thought provoking which I like. It was challenging to my way of thinking which I also like. I also admire that he is bluntly honest about topics that most educators shy away from (BFTP concerns about creativity)-and really, he is right. I would like to ask him what technology he uses personally. How does he feel about the iPad usage in the classroom. He values games and such in the library, but I wonder if he really feels this way or was he being sarcastic? I couldn't tell. I would consider looking into social networking policies further because I know this is an underlying issue in my own building.
Maybe I should come up with my own Mrs. Story's biases tab for my own blog-hmmm....the list might be too long.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
God Bless Pinterest (tech entry)
I love Pinterest-I mean I LOVE IT!!!
Okay, it started off innocently enough-my friend sent me an invite (which I still think is a bit ridiculous) last fall. She warned me-"Kara," she said, "you will hate me for sending this to you!" was how it went. From the minute I logged in, I was HOOKED!!!!! Obviously up until this summer, I used it primarily as a virtual bulletin board for ideas, recipes, tips, etc. I honestly had no idea that there was educational value to all of the visual awesomeness!! To find out that my visual crack had meaning made it even better!!!!!!!
In the summer months I began to notice that my "teacher" friends were branching out. They were creating pin boards with titles like "My school day" or "Potential Lessons". It was like a light went off-I COULD USE THIS FOR SCHOOL!!! Now sure I know I wasn't working full time, but I was confident that I would be going back at some point!!!!! Let the professional pins begin!! I created "School is Cool" and then upon being hired in the library ventured out to create a new board "Life in the library".
Here is a link to my boards:
http://pinterest.com/karakst/
Please don't judge me-I don't sleep a lot!! I know there are a lot of pins on there!!! I just can't help it.
This tool is so user friendly!!! The only aspect of Pinterest that I don't particularly like is the invitation to become a "member". It seems silly to me-I don't really have any substantial reasoning behind that feeling. That being said, I guess I also don't like that you have to have a Twitter or Facebook account to even get the invite from a friend. This excludes tween and teens who could use this site for fun. My 13 year old daughter would love her own account, but because she does not have either social network she is unable to have her own account. I will continue to explore (yes, on a daily basis!) the categories that other pinners are creating-what excites me is that I can go EVERY day (okay, sometimes multiple times a day) and find fresh new ideas. I also like that while this is a social network there is very little actual communication between people. To me the social aspect is seeing what other ideas are out there on topics of my choosing. This has totally replaced my desire to go to Facebook. I would much rather look at pins and get cool ideas (I actually do create things that I pin) than read status after status on Facebook. I also need to explore the technical aspect of pinning an original pin from the Internet on my iPad. Currently I only have the "pin" button on my old Dell laptop so I can use that device when I am searching for ideas/lessons/tips on the Internet. Within the Pinterest program I am fine, it is when I leave the site and go exploring that I have trouble.
I am using this tool with students right now. I recently created a board called "Young Adult Lit" where I have started to record and note what YA books I am reading, have read, or have gotten a review on. I also have gotten book suggestions, bulletin board ideas, library lessons, book displays and many other things that I have either used or plan on using in the upcoming months with the kids. I think this would be a fun tool for students to use as well. My kids love to pin ideas-while I will not let them have their own (you have to have a Facebook or Twitter account to be eligible for the illustrious invite) account, I do let them get on and pin things to their own special boards. I think kids could keep track of what they are reading, what they have read, what they like, etc. with Pinterest. I know that several teachers in my building use Pinterest during brain breaks and other various times by pulling up their accounts and utilizing pins that they have found.
It is easy to get lost in the Pinterest world! I will admit that it is my favorite time suck! I can sit down and pin the hours away-I'm not spending any money and I am finding cool ideas to use professionally (and it doesn't hurt to find cute craft ideas either!) and here at home. As I said before, I love it!!!!!
Okay, it started off innocently enough-my friend sent me an invite (which I still think is a bit ridiculous) last fall. She warned me-"Kara," she said, "you will hate me for sending this to you!" was how it went. From the minute I logged in, I was HOOKED!!!!! Obviously up until this summer, I used it primarily as a virtual bulletin board for ideas, recipes, tips, etc. I honestly had no idea that there was educational value to all of the visual awesomeness!! To find out that my visual crack had meaning made it even better!!!!!!!
In the summer months I began to notice that my "teacher" friends were branching out. They were creating pin boards with titles like "My school day" or "Potential Lessons". It was like a light went off-I COULD USE THIS FOR SCHOOL!!! Now sure I know I wasn't working full time, but I was confident that I would be going back at some point!!!!! Let the professional pins begin!! I created "School is Cool" and then upon being hired in the library ventured out to create a new board "Life in the library".
Here is a link to my boards:
http://pinterest.com/karakst/
Please don't judge me-I don't sleep a lot!! I know there are a lot of pins on there!!! I just can't help it.
This tool is so user friendly!!! The only aspect of Pinterest that I don't particularly like is the invitation to become a "member". It seems silly to me-I don't really have any substantial reasoning behind that feeling. That being said, I guess I also don't like that you have to have a Twitter or Facebook account to even get the invite from a friend. This excludes tween and teens who could use this site for fun. My 13 year old daughter would love her own account, but because she does not have either social network she is unable to have her own account. I will continue to explore (yes, on a daily basis!) the categories that other pinners are creating-what excites me is that I can go EVERY day (okay, sometimes multiple times a day) and find fresh new ideas. I also like that while this is a social network there is very little actual communication between people. To me the social aspect is seeing what other ideas are out there on topics of my choosing. This has totally replaced my desire to go to Facebook. I would much rather look at pins and get cool ideas (I actually do create things that I pin) than read status after status on Facebook. I also need to explore the technical aspect of pinning an original pin from the Internet on my iPad. Currently I only have the "pin" button on my old Dell laptop so I can use that device when I am searching for ideas/lessons/tips on the Internet. Within the Pinterest program I am fine, it is when I leave the site and go exploring that I have trouble.
I am using this tool with students right now. I recently created a board called "Young Adult Lit" where I have started to record and note what YA books I am reading, have read, or have gotten a review on. I also have gotten book suggestions, bulletin board ideas, library lessons, book displays and many other things that I have either used or plan on using in the upcoming months with the kids. I think this would be a fun tool for students to use as well. My kids love to pin ideas-while I will not let them have their own (you have to have a Facebook or Twitter account to be eligible for the illustrious invite) account, I do let them get on and pin things to their own special boards. I think kids could keep track of what they are reading, what they have read, what they like, etc. with Pinterest. I know that several teachers in my building use Pinterest during brain breaks and other various times by pulling up their accounts and utilizing pins that they have found.
It is easy to get lost in the Pinterest world! I will admit that it is my favorite time suck! I can sit down and pin the hours away-I'm not spending any money and I am finding cool ideas to use professionally (and it doesn't hurt to find cute craft ideas either!) and here at home. As I said before, I love it!!!!!
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Reading journal take two (i.e. the right source)
http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/teacozy
Alright. I made a mistake-imagine that. I went out and found my own source for my reading journal entry-I didn't read far enough through the syllabus (that I have a paper copy of!!) and thought that we were to find our own resources. Sigh. I am learning.
For my official reading post, I went exploring on the site: A Chair, A Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy which is now affiliated with the School Library Journal. I chose this site off of the list because I liked the name of the blog. It sounded like something I would like to do-sit in a chair in front of a fireplace with a hot mug of tea and read-not something I get to do often enough!! The link above is where you will find this source.
I read several things on this site-the majority of what I found are book reviews, so I spent most of my time looking at those. Most of the titles that she recently has reviewed were not familiar to me, so it was definitely worth my time. I also read a few interviews with authors and looked at the archives. There is also a battle of the books section that compares and contrasts selection.
I did not like this site as much as others I have seen. I do appreciate the book reviews for young adults-I have said this before, I am lacking in being current on this age group. Even though I have been reading YA literature like a maniac, there is so much new stuff out there that I just can't keep up!! The most helpful aspect of this site is the extensive reviews. The author does get really into her reviews-she is super honest. If she loves it you know. If she dislikes it-well, you know that too. As a newbie to meeting the needs of middle school and junior high students I appreciate that. I do see myself using this as a resource for the middle school and junior high students in our building. I am going to bookmark this so that I can use it as a reference for the kids. The reviews are tagged so it would be easy to go on and locate a book that a student might like-for instance if they are wanting a new historical fiction selection I could find that with relative ease.
As for the content, the site is okay. I wish there was more. I would like to ask her how she sells YA books to her readers. Does she do displays? Does she have incentive programs? Does she pull out books for kids? While the reviews are good, does she still introduce the books that she doesn't like? I know the goal of this site is to discuss young adult literature, but where is the discussion? Do the comments count as what the site owner considers discussion? I'm just not getting that piece.
Overall this is a good reference to use when looking for a book review for YA literature. The benefit is that it is easy to use and gives a variety of YA literature that is being reviewed. I would use it for that. Beyond the reviews, I really would not use this site for anything more.
Alright. I made a mistake-imagine that. I went out and found my own source for my reading journal entry-I didn't read far enough through the syllabus (that I have a paper copy of!!) and thought that we were to find our own resources. Sigh. I am learning.
For my official reading post, I went exploring on the site: A Chair, A Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy which is now affiliated with the School Library Journal. I chose this site off of the list because I liked the name of the blog. It sounded like something I would like to do-sit in a chair in front of a fireplace with a hot mug of tea and read-not something I get to do often enough!! The link above is where you will find this source.
I read several things on this site-the majority of what I found are book reviews, so I spent most of my time looking at those. Most of the titles that she recently has reviewed were not familiar to me, so it was definitely worth my time. I also read a few interviews with authors and looked at the archives. There is also a battle of the books section that compares and contrasts selection.
I did not like this site as much as others I have seen. I do appreciate the book reviews for young adults-I have said this before, I am lacking in being current on this age group. Even though I have been reading YA literature like a maniac, there is so much new stuff out there that I just can't keep up!! The most helpful aspect of this site is the extensive reviews. The author does get really into her reviews-she is super honest. If she loves it you know. If she dislikes it-well, you know that too. As a newbie to meeting the needs of middle school and junior high students I appreciate that. I do see myself using this as a resource for the middle school and junior high students in our building. I am going to bookmark this so that I can use it as a reference for the kids. The reviews are tagged so it would be easy to go on and locate a book that a student might like-for instance if they are wanting a new historical fiction selection I could find that with relative ease.
As for the content, the site is okay. I wish there was more. I would like to ask her how she sells YA books to her readers. Does she do displays? Does she have incentive programs? Does she pull out books for kids? While the reviews are good, does she still introduce the books that she doesn't like? I know the goal of this site is to discuss young adult literature, but where is the discussion? Do the comments count as what the site owner considers discussion? I'm just not getting that piece.
Overall this is a good reference to use when looking for a book review for YA literature. The benefit is that it is easy to use and gives a variety of YA literature that is being reviewed. I would use it for that. Beyond the reviews, I really would not use this site for anything more.
Reading Entry-The Kardashians (seriously-this is GOOD!!)
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/book_whisperer/2012/09/what_the_kardashians_taught_me.html
So for my reading entry this time I thought I would go to thebookwhisper.com and see what Donalyn Miller's website was all about. I have the book and thought it would be cool to see what her website looked like-BORING!!!! Yes it had book recommendations which is great, but it took me all of 10 minutes to read it!!
So then I saw on the right hand side a link to her blog-the article title was: What the Kardashians taught me about reading-that grabbed my attention!! So I clicked on the link and HIT THE JACKPOT!!!!!
I ended up on Donalyn's blog which is fantastic!!! Officially I chose this on accident, but it is evidence that good things come from exploration!!!
First let me say that you have to go and read this article-IT IS SO GOOD!!!! It is a guest post by one of Donalyn's friends, Christopher Lehmen. He makes the connection between the Kardashian family and their ability to permeate, well pretty much everything, and ties it to reading. How we can brand ourselves as readers, market our library to attract "buyers", and why reading instruction should be real.
I also went further into the blog and read several additional posts-this one was my favorite!!
I really like Donalyn's blog!! Her website, no, but her blog gets a resounding thumbs up!! The blog is full of various postings from guest writers/teachers/professionals and the blog owner herself. The postings are witty and current. They are also very easy to read! I am bookmarking this blog and will definitely make it a part of my professional reading.
The content of this blog is varied which I enjoyed. The Kardashian article gave me a great idea for "selling" a particular section in our library that just doesn't circulate. I intend on going in and pitching an idea to my colleague about covering this area with paper and caution tape and then doing a reveal after a week. Maybe putting some book jackets in frames like we have in other places?? Something to get some traffic!! The ideas that I gleaned from this one article have got my creative thoughts running. It is exciting to have a fresh perspective. Overall this resource has a variety of topics that are informative, entertaining, and thought provoking. I will come back to this blog because Donalyn does a great job of grouping and reviewing books, giving tips to engage readers of all ages, and the guest speakers crack me up!!
*********************************************************************************
After doing this review I realized that I had gone out and gotten my own source instead of going to the back of the syllabus. I did not realize that we were to use the list that you gave us, so I went out and found this blog. I will do a second posting on one the resources listed. The Kardashian article was too good to pass over and I wanted to share it with you.
So for my reading entry this time I thought I would go to thebookwhisper.com and see what Donalyn Miller's website was all about. I have the book and thought it would be cool to see what her website looked like-BORING!!!! Yes it had book recommendations which is great, but it took me all of 10 minutes to read it!!
So then I saw on the right hand side a link to her blog-the article title was: What the Kardashians taught me about reading-that grabbed my attention!! So I clicked on the link and HIT THE JACKPOT!!!!!
I ended up on Donalyn's blog which is fantastic!!! Officially I chose this on accident, but it is evidence that good things come from exploration!!!
First let me say that you have to go and read this article-IT IS SO GOOD!!!! It is a guest post by one of Donalyn's friends, Christopher Lehmen. He makes the connection between the Kardashian family and their ability to permeate, well pretty much everything, and ties it to reading. How we can brand ourselves as readers, market our library to attract "buyers", and why reading instruction should be real.
I also went further into the blog and read several additional posts-this one was my favorite!!
I really like Donalyn's blog!! Her website, no, but her blog gets a resounding thumbs up!! The blog is full of various postings from guest writers/teachers/professionals and the blog owner herself. The postings are witty and current. They are also very easy to read! I am bookmarking this blog and will definitely make it a part of my professional reading.
The content of this blog is varied which I enjoyed. The Kardashian article gave me a great idea for "selling" a particular section in our library that just doesn't circulate. I intend on going in and pitching an idea to my colleague about covering this area with paper and caution tape and then doing a reveal after a week. Maybe putting some book jackets in frames like we have in other places?? Something to get some traffic!! The ideas that I gleaned from this one article have got my creative thoughts running. It is exciting to have a fresh perspective. Overall this resource has a variety of topics that are informative, entertaining, and thought provoking. I will come back to this blog because Donalyn does a great job of grouping and reviewing books, giving tips to engage readers of all ages, and the guest speakers crack me up!!
*********************************************************************************
After doing this review I realized that I had gone out and gotten my own source instead of going to the back of the syllabus. I did not realize that we were to use the list that you gave us, so I went out and found this blog. I will do a second posting on one the resources listed. The Kardashian article was too good to pass over and I wanted to share it with you.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Monday, September 3, 2012
Tech Journal-Google Reader
http://www.google.com/reader/view/?hl=en&tab=my#stream/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.slj.com%2Ffeed%2F
For this technology entry, we were asked to create a Google reader account. I actually have had a Google reader for quite some time. I love blogs, and when I was a stay at home Mom, I used Google reader to keep up on my favorite sites.
I love Google Reader because this tool makes it very easy to keep current with the blogs of your own choosing. It is easy to jump on reader and pick and choose what I want to read on that particular day. Then if I want to actually go more in depth, the blog site is just a click away. It becomes this fantastic tool for a quick read-I have my list, I click, I read. There is nothing that I dislike about Reader.
Back in the day, a Mom friend of mine actually introduced me to Reader. She encouraged me to get an account because it would make life easier when it came to reading my favorite blogs. While I don't remember the exact steps I took to create my account, I do remember being very pleased at how simple it was to get started. I have noticed that now a simple click links me up to Reader instead of having to copy the URL like I did in the beginning. What excited me the most is the ease of use. It really does make the excuse, "I don't have time to read journals", obsolete.
For this assignment I chose to link up to: School Library Journal; School Library Monthly; and Edudemic (a school technology blog). I chose these feeds to follow because I can apply each of the site contents to my job now. As I shared in my last post, School Library Journal is an AWESOME resource for book reviews!! I figure instead of sifting through the paper journal, I can keep current by having this on a feed. School Library Monthly is another great feed that I will use frequently with students and for my own professional development. Some of the recent feeds discuss common core standards in regards to the library, library advocacy, and book reviews as well. I stumbled on to Edudemic and holy cow it's awesome!!!!! First of all I am admitting that technology is not my strong suit. After being at home with kids for 13 years, I am realizing that knowing how to use a smartphone just doesn't cut it!! Sure I can navigate a Smartboard and I know what an iPad is-but there is SO much out there!!!! Edudemic is SO cool!! The articles range from how to use an iPad, what apps to use on the iPad in the classroom, to being responsible technology users. There are tutorials, reviews of apps and products-this is DEFINITELY a feed that I will be using A LOT!!!!!! I am actually excited that I found it. I will make time to keep up with all of the new posts that come from this site!!
While this particular feed will be used for me, the information that I glean from these feeds will impact my students. Whether I get a good review for a new book or find a cool new app to share, my knowledge will trickle down to the kids that I serve. On a bigger scale, I wonder if it would be possible to link an RSS feed to our library blog page and provide our students with appropriate feeds that would assist them in content areas? Or just link up to cool feeds like 5 Minutes for Books. There are so many feeds out there that it would be a good way to highlight really good ones.
I have always enjoyed Google reader for personal usage, but now I see the value in using it professionally as well.
For this technology entry, we were asked to create a Google reader account. I actually have had a Google reader for quite some time. I love blogs, and when I was a stay at home Mom, I used Google reader to keep up on my favorite sites.
I love Google Reader because this tool makes it very easy to keep current with the blogs of your own choosing. It is easy to jump on reader and pick and choose what I want to read on that particular day. Then if I want to actually go more in depth, the blog site is just a click away. It becomes this fantastic tool for a quick read-I have my list, I click, I read. There is nothing that I dislike about Reader.
Back in the day, a Mom friend of mine actually introduced me to Reader. She encouraged me to get an account because it would make life easier when it came to reading my favorite blogs. While I don't remember the exact steps I took to create my account, I do remember being very pleased at how simple it was to get started. I have noticed that now a simple click links me up to Reader instead of having to copy the URL like I did in the beginning. What excited me the most is the ease of use. It really does make the excuse, "I don't have time to read journals", obsolete.
For this assignment I chose to link up to: School Library Journal; School Library Monthly; and Edudemic (a school technology blog). I chose these feeds to follow because I can apply each of the site contents to my job now. As I shared in my last post, School Library Journal is an AWESOME resource for book reviews!! I figure instead of sifting through the paper journal, I can keep current by having this on a feed. School Library Monthly is another great feed that I will use frequently with students and for my own professional development. Some of the recent feeds discuss common core standards in regards to the library, library advocacy, and book reviews as well. I stumbled on to Edudemic and holy cow it's awesome!!!!! First of all I am admitting that technology is not my strong suit. After being at home with kids for 13 years, I am realizing that knowing how to use a smartphone just doesn't cut it!! Sure I can navigate a Smartboard and I know what an iPad is-but there is SO much out there!!!! Edudemic is SO cool!! The articles range from how to use an iPad, what apps to use on the iPad in the classroom, to being responsible technology users. There are tutorials, reviews of apps and products-this is DEFINITELY a feed that I will be using A LOT!!!!!! I am actually excited that I found it. I will make time to keep up with all of the new posts that come from this site!!
While this particular feed will be used for me, the information that I glean from these feeds will impact my students. Whether I get a good review for a new book or find a cool new app to share, my knowledge will trickle down to the kids that I serve. On a bigger scale, I wonder if it would be possible to link an RSS feed to our library blog page and provide our students with appropriate feeds that would assist them in content areas? Or just link up to cool feeds like 5 Minutes for Books. There are so many feeds out there that it would be a good way to highlight really good ones.
I have always enjoyed Google reader for personal usage, but now I see the value in using it professionally as well.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
School Library Journal-Professional Reading 1
For my first Reading Journal entry, I read School Library Journal (July 2012). It is a magazine that is produced for school librarians. I chose to use this because my mentor/Head librarian at my job gave me a copy to read. This is one of the Journals that she subscribes to, and she feels that it is a valuable resource for me to become familiar with. It is one of the tools that she uses to review books prior to purchasing.
I skimmed the entire magazine and then went back and read in depth two specific parts of the journal: first I read an article on Pinterest and how it is influencing the world of school libraries-I chose this particular article because I love Pinterest and thought it would be cool to see how professionals are using it as an educational tool; second, I spent the majority of my time reading the Book Review section of the journal.
Overall I love this journal as a resource. It is easy to read, colorful, and informative with practical information that can be used right away. The most helpful section of this entire journal is the Book Review-it is jam packed with multi-aged neutral reviews of a wide variety of literature. I will absolutely be using this journal as a resource regularly because of the review section. I am not familiar enough with middle school fiction selections, and after reading the reviews find this portion of the journal to be exceptional. Not only can I use these reviews as a guide to book purchasing, but I have already used them to get to know what kind of books are out there for middle school/junior high readers.
The content of this resource is a gold mine of useful information. I learned that there is information readily available to help a librarian learn more about the books that are out there for a variety of grade level. This journal provides concise information on current topics (Pinterest) that I can apply quickly and also provides resources in the form of reviews. Like we have talked about in class, there is NO way that we can do this job on our own-this journal is a great resource to come back to time and time again. I cannot emphasize this enough-the Book Review section is seriously amazing!!! Again, I will be using this resource on a monthly basis and intend on subscribing myself. If for no other reason it will be one of my many "go to" sources for the book review section alone. I feel a bit insecure with upper grade level fiction, so having the journal to read makes me feel empowered to help students when they are selecting a book that I would otherwise know very little about. The only question that I had about the book review selection was-are these reviews really neutral enough? Are they skewed because they are being done by fellow librarians? Don't we each bring our own prior knowledge and values into this arena of picking what we think is a good book? To answer that question I went a step further and looked up a few titles on Novelist and Amazon to see if the reviews matched up. For the most part each reviewer gave the same synopsis of the book and had the same viewpoint on the review. It gave the journal the credibility I was looking for.
I would HIGHLY recommend the journal to my classmates. It really is an excellent resource that is fun and easy to read.
I skimmed the entire magazine and then went back and read in depth two specific parts of the journal: first I read an article on Pinterest and how it is influencing the world of school libraries-I chose this particular article because I love Pinterest and thought it would be cool to see how professionals are using it as an educational tool; second, I spent the majority of my time reading the Book Review section of the journal.
Overall I love this journal as a resource. It is easy to read, colorful, and informative with practical information that can be used right away. The most helpful section of this entire journal is the Book Review-it is jam packed with multi-aged neutral reviews of a wide variety of literature. I will absolutely be using this journal as a resource regularly because of the review section. I am not familiar enough with middle school fiction selections, and after reading the reviews find this portion of the journal to be exceptional. Not only can I use these reviews as a guide to book purchasing, but I have already used them to get to know what kind of books are out there for middle school/junior high readers.
The content of this resource is a gold mine of useful information. I learned that there is information readily available to help a librarian learn more about the books that are out there for a variety of grade level. This journal provides concise information on current topics (Pinterest) that I can apply quickly and also provides resources in the form of reviews. Like we have talked about in class, there is NO way that we can do this job on our own-this journal is a great resource to come back to time and time again. I cannot emphasize this enough-the Book Review section is seriously amazing!!! Again, I will be using this resource on a monthly basis and intend on subscribing myself. If for no other reason it will be one of my many "go to" sources for the book review section alone. I feel a bit insecure with upper grade level fiction, so having the journal to read makes me feel empowered to help students when they are selecting a book that I would otherwise know very little about. The only question that I had about the book review selection was-are these reviews really neutral enough? Are they skewed because they are being done by fellow librarians? Don't we each bring our own prior knowledge and values into this arena of picking what we think is a good book? To answer that question I went a step further and looked up a few titles on Novelist and Amazon to see if the reviews matched up. For the most part each reviewer gave the same synopsis of the book and had the same viewpoint on the review. It gave the journal the credibility I was looking for.
I would HIGHLY recommend the journal to my classmates. It really is an excellent resource that is fun and easy to read.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Welcome to my blog!!
Welcome to my blog!!!
Ahhhh-starting a fresh blog is just like starting to read a new book-exciting and fun!!
If you stumble upon this through my personal blog let me give you a quick low down. I am starting the Librarianship Endorsement program at a local university. This blog is part of the first class that I am taking. I will be posting entries related to tech and reading journal assignments. Pretty cool, right?
I chose to use the Blogger format because I already have a personal blog that I have been using since late 2008. Initially I created my blog purely for fun-I used it as a platform to share pictures, parenting ideas, craft ideas, and general thoughts with my family. This past spring I took my blog to a bigger audience as we did a "Story Family Food Revolution". I started to link up each blog entry to Facebook so that friends and family could read about our journey with healthy eating and ended up with a lot of reader traffic. I may mess around with Wordpress at some point, but for the purpose of class wanted to use something familiar.
I chose my title because this blog is something I could keep using after this class is done. Since I am working in a school library, I decided to create a blog title that is relevant to my new journey as a library assistant. It gives me the freedom to write about any of the things that occur during my day- suggesting a new author, updating families on a new technology app, or a need that we have in the library. Plus with a last name like Story I couldn't resist!!
The template I used is a stock pattern titled Simple View. This can be obtained by clicking on the design tab and then clicking on template. Generally I use Cutest Blog on the Block when trying to find a template or background, but to be honest I have been given a MacBook Pro (yes, I am extremely lucky!) and I am struggling to use it. At some point I may become brave and change the background but for now this is good. I did also go into the advanced link (also under design) and I changed the font style and color for each posting. I chose one font for the blog title and a different font for the body of each post.
To create the post it was simple-I clicked on new post and here I am.
I love blogger!! It is very user friendly. Even when I first used it I felt confident that I could explore the format, play around and not mess things up. Blogger has updated its format since I first starting using the program and it is definitely more user friendly. There are a few templates that have been discontinued which is really the only change that I do not like.
My biggest challenge with the creation of this new blog was (again the same complaint as above) setting the template. I spent about 30 minutes trying to undo a cosmetic change that I tried to make to the background. While the appearance of the blog is not necessarily the most important part of our homework, it is really important to me. I am definitely visual so I couldn't leave it alone!! I do wish that the help section was a bit more user friendly. I did not find the answer to the problem that I had. Again, it is easy to use but when I made the mistake there was no where to access a tutorial to fix the problem. A big thumbs down on that aspect of Blogger!
Because I have the luxury of working in a school library, I have seen first hand how important a blog is in the school setting! A blog is a mainstream tool that communicates the exciting connections that are made between the classroom and the library. It helps parents, teachers, and administrators understand the value and importance of a space that inspires student readers I would use this blog as a direct outreach to students and families in my school. A priority would be ensuring that this blog was linked to the school's homepage so that families saw it right away-it is all about the exposure! I would include links to websites such as Shelfari, Novelist, and other destinations that support the students both at home and at school. Upcoming events in the library would be written about and pictures would be included so that parents begin to see that the library is an indispensable part of the school climate! To keep traffic coming back, I would do online activities such as having a teacher or administrator hold a book in front of their face so that only the book cover would be seen. I would then create a tool where students could vote on who they think is behind the book. At the end of the set time we would reveal the mystery reader online only-it would be an exclusive to get families to return. I am finding that it is imperative to weave the importance of the library throughout every aspect of the school climate-this is an excellent and fun tool that can be used to get information out to parents, students, and administrators. It is easy to read, appealing to the eye, and sells the library program to a wide variety of readers. It is a necessary piece of technology that accentuates the need for a school library!
So what is life like for me in the library right now? It is a place of excitement, energy, and wonder. It is magical-just how I remember it when I walked through the doors as a student. How lucky am I to work in a place that was so important to me as a child!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)