From the TCMS Media Center

Am I nosey or simply curious?  Maybe more of one than the other, but either way I love to see what is on other people’s bookshelves.  “Mind if I look over your bookshelves?” is a question I commonly ask when I feel comfortable enough to ask in the homes of friend, colleagues, and family members.  Of course, I would never peruse the shelves in depth without asking first.  LibraryThing allows me to do some that that perusing without leaving my computer.  I always want to know if someone has read a new book that I need to read.  Is there a new author whose thoughts would touch my heart?  I just like to know.  Several of the feeds in my RSS reader have to do with new authors/new books. 

I did find one down side to LibraryThing, or perhaps I just have not played enough yet to figure out how to do this.  Either way—-when I find a author I really like, I tend to get all of their books.  I would like to add several books by the same author in one click on LibraryThing, but I do not see a way to do that.  That one step alone would save me bunches of time in getting my personal stock of books catalogued into LibraryThing. 

A very practical use of LibraryThing in my media center would be to get students to create their own LibraryThing.  Remember a previous post about a certain young man who has become the King of Book Recommendation at my school?  I can think of several kids at our school who would love to sneak into his home to examine the bookshelves.  Students willing to share their own personal titles could be an encouragement to other reluctant readers to give titles they would not ordinarily consider a try.

Well, I am going to explore your bookshelves now.  Got anything good you would recommend for me to read? 

I must tell the truth.  At first was was not impressed with del.icio.us AT ALL.  I followed the prescribed steps of creating an account, checking out all of the how to stuff, and did my first search on a topic that had been heavily on my mind — young adult literature.  Needless to say, I was appalled that the first three or so hits were adult explicit links.  UGG!!!  I certainly didn’t care to stumble on that, so I logged out and left if alone for a few days. 

As I am going through my RSS reader I see a great many references to del.icio.us which is curious to me.  One of the “experts” whose blog posts that I enjoy reading most LOVES del.icio.us.  This gets me to thinking that I must have missed something, so I go back and try it again.

While I can’t say that I love del.icio.us like some folks seem to do, I will admit that it will be convenient when I have in the far 8th grade wing of my school needing a certain web link which I can’t remember and I won’t have to walk the 2 3/4 miles (yes, I have taken to exaggeration!) back to my office computer to find the link.  Convenience is good, really good.

I am still working to like the organization and look of del.icio.us.  Is it OK that I admit that when so many folks absolutely love it?  I read in on RSS feed this week that there is another similar site for bookmarking.  I may go there once next year’s budget and all of my end of the year tasks are neatly compiled and filed away. The way things are going right now that may be sometime in December.  

The assignment for thing 13 gave me an opportunity to examine several Web 2.0 tools that could be of great benefit to my students and my teachers.  One of the best I visited was Quizlet.  I immediately thought about the ESOL classes here.  We have several students who have enrolled here who speak little or no English.  The ESOL teacher is always looking for ways to increase the English proficiency of these students.  I think the electronic flash cards would be great.  Also, having five different ways to practice and test your knowledge will go a long way to eliminate the boredom that comes from using certain tools repetitively.  While I was reviewing this site, I had a visit from a former physics teacher.  I went into the public content  of this site and saw a section on physics.  I clicked into a previously created set and found a set for physics formulas.  The former physics teacher and I went through a previously created set covering physics formulas.  She was very impressed by the technological advance of a very basic study aide that she typically suggested her students use when learning formulas.  If I saw any negative side to the site it would simply be the lack of portability.  I am in an area where many kids do not have personal laptops with wireless network capabilities nor Internet access on cell phones, so in the area of access alone, old style  flash cards still have a benefit.  However, the other four activities available get a thumbs up from me.

I also visited 30 Boxes. Reading the brief description of this tool piqued my interest as I can always use a bit more organization.  I liked all of the possibilities.  I thought it would be a great way for teachers to create an interactive calendar that students could check for change in assignment dates or to see other important dates.  For personal use, I think I will stick with my Palm.

Picnic was interesting to me.  In the absence of a purchased photo editing software, this would be a great resource for photo editing.  I also saw that there was a share function on this web site. The site was easy to navigate through and the editing of photos was very simple.  I can see this being utilized in various class projects.  Another great web site to pass along.

Letter Pop also got a visit from me.  I can certainly see this being used for many different types of school projects.  Many of our clubs here have historians who could utilize a way to create easy scrapbook pages.  The ease of use was key for this site.  I liked the email and publish functions.  Emailing a completed project to a teacher would facilitate grading (even if it did give the tech services dept. a stroke over the amount of storage required on the server for such!).  The publish function would be a great way to promote what is going on in classes/clubs around the school.  I think the key here is that very little teaching of the web site would be needed prior students being able to utilize it fully.

I enjoyed this task and found several Web 2.0 tools that I will share with my faculty.

Finding a quiet moment in my media center last week, I decided to begin my exploration of Flickr.  Not long after, I received an email reporting on the bandwidth usage at our school, and my name was at the top of the list.  Shame on me.  I guess that I as explore possible  applications of Web 2.0 in my media center, I will also have to consider who in my school building might be negatively impacted because of the bandwidth required to implement Web 2.0 activities — at least until I wake up from the nightmare of  an antiquated network in my school system.  Thankfully, we are making positive strides in that area.

On with thing 10……

Although Flickr was not familiar to me, I have used other sights like Photobucket  and Slide to store pictures on line.  Typically, though, my purpose in storing pictures on line is for the purpose of creating a slide show to add to a social networking page. 

I remember reading in several places in the last week concerns about some of the images available on Flickr.  Having subscribed to the Flickr feed back in Thing 6, I have seen images that would not hold up to the more conservative view of my school system — or me to be honest.  Yet, I did see a myriad of wonderful photos that I would never would have seen had it not been for such a site or the RSS feed.  As I sit now listening to a teacher discuss the economic situation of Israel, I remember seeing a photo from a fellow 23 Thing’er that was posted of a child in an Israeli store standing in front of a cookie display.  Could such a photo be used to expand the discussion?  I think so.  Two weeks ago writing scores for our 8th graders were returned, and we were shocked over how low they were.  Could vividly colored pictures be used as writing prompts to give students a more creative starting point to practice writing skills?  Again, I think so.  I can see me personally utilizing photos from Flickr to extend or enhance lessons that I will create for my media center.  I have also realized how easy it is to spend huge amounts of time looking for that one perfect photo. 

The photo of the butterfly above came from the Creative Commons section of Flickr.

In the midst of this frantic week leading up to CRCT (testing begins next week here), I have enjoyed my Web 2.0 oasis in very brief moments of quiet.   

 In watching the two animations explaining Creative Commons, I reflected on how many times I have planned lessons for my media center or collectively with teachers only to be unable to find that perfect extra component to make the lesson a complete package.  In my school, budgets are very tight, so we often feel like we are missing the right video clip, graphics program, or something to make our lessons complete.  Creative Commons may just be the key to changing that mode of thinking for our teachers. 

I am thankful that so many resources are made available to educators and a bit overwhelmed that so many would share such great resources.  From the animations, I found it interesting that the author can choose how much access others can have to his/her work.

I have never shared content such as lesson plans on the web, but  I have often searched for items to integrate into my lessons.  For instance, prior to a class reading  The Diary of Anne Frank, I did a lesson with them explaining the historical time period and key figures of that time.  In the planning of that lesson, I used a video clip from United Streaming so that students could see actual images and hear voices to stress the  seriousness of the events of the Holocaust.  

  I look forward to delving into the OER Commons in the quiet of next week’s testing periods!

As part of the stretch assignment for this Thing, I went to the Wikipedia and did a search on Alzheimer’s Disease. In August my father passed away due to complications of Alzheimer’s Disease, so I felt like this would be a topic that I had personal knowledge of as well as an interest in seeing what’s new on the topic.

The length of the article is impressive, but length alone can not be an indicator of if the article is informative.  So I began reading.  I was impressed with the content of the article even though the topic itself lends to very technical terms and explanations.  When I clicked on the discussion tab I was amazed over the number of posts questioning different components of the content in the article as well as the length of the article itself.  the attention given to detail was impressive through out.

The history tab gave me a glimpse of what changes and the extent of the changes that had been made to the article.  Overall, the main changes dealt with a grammar error, but not many of the changes had anything to do with the serious details  of the article.

My experiences with all of this had let me know that wikis are a valuable tool and the user friendliness and cost effectiveness of them makes it a shame not to use them in  our schools.

Referencing my previous blog, I will again say that I am reformed  in my thinking about wikis and Wikipedia.  The discussion tab alone is a great tool in helping the reader to determine validity of the article’s content.

UGHHHH!! I hate admitting when I am wrong (We can call this personality flaw number 1). Over the past couple of days as I have been reading the info for Thing 7, a comment I made a few weeks back keeps going through my mind over and over and over again. Ever have one of those moments when you just wanted to hit the rewind button only to realize that your mouth doesn’t have one? Or perhaps like me you’ve made a comment and then failed to do a good job explaining your comment. Well, here is what happened. A teacher here reserved the media center so that her students could do research for a class project. As I do with any group of students doing research, I introduced several options for gathering info including print and non-print media. I even mentioned Wikipedia — with a caution to avoid them if possible. (I know you are cringing also right about now.) I missed a great opportunity to instruct the students in techniques of evaluating online material. Where is that rewind button again? Oh yes, I don’t have one. Therefore I must admit that I made a HUGE blunder. I missed a great chance for a teachable moment. Shame on me. I am, however, going to take the fact that I recognize this error as a sign that there is still hope for this media specialist!

I enjoyed reading Vicki Davis’ blog post entitled Wiki Wiki Teaching.  I was challenged by her enthusiasm to give something new a try and was encouraged by the success she outlined in her blog.  I wasn’t unfamiliar with Vicki Davis as her blogs is one that I now subscribe to on Google Reader.  Her enthusiasm for Web 2.0 is contagious.  I think that I am a bit envious of her trailblazer spirit in this area.

As instructed, I took a look around at some of the wikis in our Thing 7 list.  The FHS Wolves Den wiki was interesting to me.  I liked the organization with current tasks and assignments at the top while a glimpse of where the class had been was still on the page.  With little credit given to actual students, it was difficult for me to see where the teacher’s input stopped and the students started.   

Turn Homeward, Hannah Lee is a wiki created by 5th grade reading students and provides insight to the novel written by Patricial Beatty.  This wiki truly seemed to epitomize the collaborative effort of a couple of different classes and many different students. The student created slide shows really provided a means to see the talent level of the students as well as highlighted their interest in the class project.  I would imagine that many parents, grandparents and other  extended family members got an invite to see the student’s work online.

One of the wikis that I liked the least was the Thousand Projects wiki.  I didn’t disagree with the premise, but perhaps I misunderstood the ultimate purpose of the wiki.  Why was 1,000 the goal?  How are the contributions being utilized in the classroom?  Is the exercise considered a failure if fewer than 1,000 responses were received? 

After looking at many of these wikis, I have begun to wonder how I can implement a wiki into my media center.  Enter Barry.  Barry is a new student at our school this year.  I enjoy talking with Barry.  However, he is a literature snob.  I use that term affectionately because I truly enjoy the fact that he loves to read — even though he is very vocal about what he would call formulaic trash (which most students around here prefer to read when reading is required.)  Often as students will, I am asked where to find a ”good book”.  Being somewhat book snobbish myself, I catch myself from pointing out that we have thousands of books on our library shelves and that they are all good books.  After a process of ascertaining a students personal interests I make several suggestions and pull books only to get the, “I don’t think I would like that.” Book cover not pleasing enough, too many pages, whatever the reason they don’t like the books.  However, on more than one occasion this year I have seen one of these students with whom I have had these book discussions leaving with a book that I had previously suggested.  When I make the comment, “Oh you decided to try my suggestion anyway.”  I get this: “No, Barry says its a good book.” Barry, Barry, Barry!!! So this is what I am going to try to do.  I will create a wiki (that in my mind I will call “Barry’s Place”), and get students here to post book recommendations. Of course, Barry will be the first person I invite to join.  Recommendations will include a short summary and why the student thinks the book should be read by others.  This will help me also when I can’t match a kid face to face with Barry, they can just go to the wiki and read his recommendations.  Thanks Barry for being the catalyst for a new day in the media center.

A little of this, a little of that.  I guess that would be the best way to sum up what my blogger’s roll looks like right now.  I have been able to add some professional blogs like Doug Johnson’s Blue SkunkBlog (found this thanks to a subscription to pnathan’s Learning 2.0blog — thanks pnathan) .  I had an opportunity to sit in on a session with Doug Johnson at GaETC a few years back, so I was glad to find a feed for his blogs. 

I did add some subscriptions that were more of a fun thing for me.  Blogs to discussion groups for authors that I personally enjoy reading and the like.  

My new goal concerning the whole reader thing is to continue to feed my reader by adding subscriptions to bloggers who discuss noteworthy fiction for middle school readers, other middle school and school media center topics.  I am going to enjoy this reading habit.  I just hope I don’t enjoy it a bit too much — after all, somewhere in my school someone can’t get their printer to print!

As soon I as I got my reader set up, I made a subscription to the podcast “The Lake Woebegone News” from NPR.  I enjoy listening to the narration, and I enjoy the laughs that come along with listening.

Another article that I found interesting was written by Diane Coggins entitled “How To Introduce New Technology to a Staff“.  As the technology contact in my school, I often wonder if I am doing the “right” things in introduction technology to my faculty.  I was encouraged by the article as I found that, according to one author, that I am on the right track in the approach I use to introduce new technology tools to those with whom I work. I model use of the tool.  I offer training on the tool. I offer ongoing support for those using the tool.   Finding this article was very appropriate timing as I am adding to my technology tool box everyday, and I needed the encouragement that I am following some very solid steps in sharing these technology tools with my faculty.

I’ve had a couple of concerns with blog postings.  First, I simply can’t understand why someone would publish very personal thoughts and feelings on the Internet.  As someone who uses a social networking site to keep in contact with family and friends, I am at times shocked by the content of the blog posts. (Go ahead — call me a prude.  I just think some things should be private.)  However, I must realign my thinking on blogs after reading through some of the ones on our suggested reading list.  I was impressed by several and enjoyed reading the thoughts of others on issues that I deal with in my professional life.  (The Ripe Environment, Why I Don’t Assign Homwork, and Patrick’s Update) In normal circumstances I would never have the opportunity to chat face to face with these people.  So, I am going on record to say that I have now changed my official position on blogging: Blogging can be used for communicating thoughts beyond the personal realm — Blogging can be for the greater good.

A second concern I have in regards to blogging is the stream of consciousness style of writing that seems to lead to heated, premature posts.  Though now I can see that I need to reclassify my thoughts on that also.   Could the blog post entitled Teaching Brevity  have been any more valuable in challenging my thoughts on this issue? 

Freedom to comment on blogs does contribute to the meaning.  The nuances one person reads in a blog may be overlooked by a different reader.  Comments (and subscribing to the feeds) can assist other readers in obtaining a fuller scope of the subject being discussed.

There is a blogging literacy in that you must be able to control the stream of consciousness thought process in such a way that you (the blogger) can  communicate your ideas  in a way that others can and want to contribute to your posts which increases the meaning-making of the blogs.