So we are coming to a close in this class. I learned quite a bit. I still have quite a bit to think about and read. I'll be busy with that this summer. The information in the class was vast, but helpful. When I first decided to become a librarian, I knew that many things had changed in librarianship since I had worked in a public library years ago, but I just didn't know how much. I think it only makes the job that much more appealing and exciting to me. I don't think I'll get bored in the field. It seems like it is challenging, rewarding and ever changing.
After this class, I feel much more equipped to become a school librarian. I look forward to it. I am done now with all of my coursework to get my degree. In the fall, I will complete my practicum.
So I am done with my course work, but never done with learning! I can see that it will be constant work to stay abreast of new developments in the field. However, I think it will be work that I will enjoy.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Pulling it all together
This week we discussed what our visions are for ourselves in a future school library setting. I enjoyed the discussion. I really want to be the kind of librarian who is on the cutting edge of technology and helping to find new and exciting ways to incorporate it into education. I want to be the expert at searching and finding information so that I can be of real help to students when they need it. More importantly, I want to make sure to equip my students with search skills.
I think Gretchen hit upon something pretty important. Building relationships that are positive with students (and staff). No one want to listen to someone they can't relate to.
The other thing we worked on was our resumes. I was a little intimidated by it since I have stayed home with my kids for about 15 years. I have had some employment, but nothing impressive. It took quite a bit of thinking and digging to find relevant things to put on my resume. I ended up being surprised that I cam up with as much as I did. I am having a little but of a challenge putting it all together and wording it well. At least I have a good skeleton of information to improve upon when I have a little more time to seek out people who can help me fine tune it.
I think Gretchen hit upon something pretty important. Building relationships that are positive with students (and staff). No one want to listen to someone they can't relate to.
The other thing we worked on was our resumes. I was a little intimidated by it since I have stayed home with my kids for about 15 years. I have had some employment, but nothing impressive. It took quite a bit of thinking and digging to find relevant things to put on my resume. I ended up being surprised that I cam up with as much as I did. I am having a little but of a challenge putting it all together and wording it well. At least I have a good skeleton of information to improve upon when I have a little more time to seek out people who can help me fine tune it.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Podcasting and more copyright
More on copyright. After I handed in the staff development project, I started workign hard to catch up on my Simpson reading. It's a good thing I did because this week we were asked to discuss chapters 12 & 13 on the discussion board. I'm all caught up and I was able to discuss it fairly intelligently.
I really liked these two chapters of Simpson...particularly the chapter where Simpson discusses how to balance managing copyright in a school without becoming the person everyone avoids. I certainly do not want to make enemies of all the other teachers in the school I work in some day. I think it is very important that the rest of the staff gets some education on this issue. It is not fair for the librarian having the sole responsibility for it simply because we've had training.
As for podcasting, I had never heard of podcasting before the start of this class. This semester I have listened to several podcasts, both for this class and for my other class. I've also found some that are purely for my own entertainment. I listened to a little bit of the podcasting that the kids in Mr Coley's class created. It sounds like the kids had fun with it. Was it an absolutely necessary tool to use? Probably not, but maybe it's good in that it increases their excitement about learning. It certainly reinforces what they learn by having them create a podcast about it. I can see podcasts being very useful in education. My son has recently started listening to entertaining podcasts called "Adventures in Odyssey" which can be found here.
Screencasts are another fairly new tool to use. I've seen several screen casts and have actually used them to learn how to use different tools on the web. I just didn't know what they were called.
I really liked these two chapters of Simpson...particularly the chapter where Simpson discusses how to balance managing copyright in a school without becoming the person everyone avoids. I certainly do not want to make enemies of all the other teachers in the school I work in some day. I think it is very important that the rest of the staff gets some education on this issue. It is not fair for the librarian having the sole responsibility for it simply because we've had training.
As for podcasting, I had never heard of podcasting before the start of this class. This semester I have listened to several podcasts, both for this class and for my other class. I've also found some that are purely for my own entertainment. I listened to a little bit of the podcasting that the kids in Mr Coley's class created. It sounds like the kids had fun with it. Was it an absolutely necessary tool to use? Probably not, but maybe it's good in that it increases their excitement about learning. It certainly reinforces what they learn by having them create a podcast about it. I can see podcasts being very useful in education. My son has recently started listening to entertaining podcasts called "Adventures in Odyssey" which can be found here.
Screencasts are another fairly new tool to use. I've seen several screen casts and have actually used them to learn how to use different tools on the web. I just didn't know what they were called.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Project Completed
Well...I am happy to say that as of 1:30 this afternoon, my presentation project is done! So now I can enjoy my Easter weekend with family that is visiting from Long Island. The project took quite a bit of my time and I am glad that I started it well in advance of the due date. I learned a lot about the use of webquests in education and really feel like I could actually give the presentation. Now I know what getting prepared to give a presentation involves and feel equipped to prepare for and give one some day if that needs to happen. I thought it was particularly helpful to have the times that each section would take in order to help stay on task time-wise. I'll have to remember to really take the time to do that rather than wing it.
I enjoyed the reading about eBooks. I do not have any experience using one...other than trying my brother-in-law's rather quickly. I also think that I might like to own one some day...but I'll never get rid of all of my books in paper print. I do think eBooks will become an integral part of education some day and therefore part of the library collection. I don't think that the printed book will disappear any time soon though.
I must admit that I need to catch up on reading Simpson. Now that I am over my biggest projects, I will be working harder on that. I know that understanding copyright is an important aspect of being a librarian. At the very least, I plan on keeping the book as a reference.
I enjoyed the reading about eBooks. I do not have any experience using one...other than trying my brother-in-law's rather quickly. I also think that I might like to own one some day...but I'll never get rid of all of my books in paper print. I do think eBooks will become an integral part of education some day and therefore part of the library collection. I don't think that the printed book will disappear any time soon though.
I must admit that I need to catch up on reading Simpson. Now that I am over my biggest projects, I will be working harder on that. I know that understanding copyright is an important aspect of being a librarian. At the very least, I plan on keeping the book as a reference.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Google Tools
Wow! The Google tools are amazing. I just didn't know these things existed before. I have a lot to learn. I started looking at them and boom! 2 hours were gone! I want to understand Google Earth more. I thought the Google Lit trips were neat. I guess I am starting to understand just how much I really do not know by looking at all of this stuff! I will say that I have a lot to look at and explore further. BTW-I changed my mind. I don't totally hate GoogleDocs after all.
I want to look at Google sketch more too. My daughter is working on a diorama for a book project. It is the traditional shoebox with a scene from the book Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry. It would be interesting to have students use Google sketch to do their dioramas. I'm not saying it is a better way, just a different way. I think there is still something to be said about cutting and gluing and pasting things together to create something. My daughter seems to be enjoying it. I was just looking at Google Sketch when she was working on her project so I thought about it.
Another thing about my daughter is that we got into a discussion about this web site. I had just read somewhere on the web that a large percentage of 5th graders in Holland did not question the authenticity of web sites. That made me curious since my daughter is in 5th grade. (My mother's family was from the Netherlands...so maybe that means something too. Are we more gullible than most? lol) So I showed her the site and sure enough, she totally believed it all! So here was a teachable moment. I told her that it wasn't real and that she should not believe everything she sees and reads on the web. I talked to her about checking sources and what we know or do not know about who puts together a site. She was totally disgusted that someone would put up such a site and exclaimed, "That's just mean!" Then I had to explain to her that most likely this person intended for it to be a joke and not to be taken seriously. I showed her some of the photos people had taken of "sightings" of this endangered creature. Some of them were of stuffed animals up in trees. So I think she understood that it was a joke and meant to be laughed at.
I have been working on my staff development project. I will say that I am glad that I started it in a timely manner. Even with starting it at a fairly early date, I will still be working hard to finish it this week so that I can enjoy Easter weekend with my relatives who will be visiting us. I just do not know the best way to put this all together. I am trying, that is all I can say. Every bit of it is new to me. Even the topic is fairly new to me. I guess it is coming along fairly well, in spite of it.
I am feeling better about my overall workload for school. I have accomplished quite a number of things this week. I am still behind on my reading, but I'll catch up eventually.
I want to look at Google sketch more too. My daughter is working on a diorama for a book project. It is the traditional shoebox with a scene from the book Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry. It would be interesting to have students use Google sketch to do their dioramas. I'm not saying it is a better way, just a different way. I think there is still something to be said about cutting and gluing and pasting things together to create something. My daughter seems to be enjoying it. I was just looking at Google Sketch when she was working on her project so I thought about it.
Another thing about my daughter is that we got into a discussion about this web site. I had just read somewhere on the web that a large percentage of 5th graders in Holland did not question the authenticity of web sites. That made me curious since my daughter is in 5th grade. (My mother's family was from the Netherlands...so maybe that means something too. Are we more gullible than most? lol) So I showed her the site and sure enough, she totally believed it all! So here was a teachable moment. I told her that it wasn't real and that she should not believe everything she sees and reads on the web. I talked to her about checking sources and what we know or do not know about who puts together a site. She was totally disgusted that someone would put up such a site and exclaimed, "That's just mean!" Then I had to explain to her that most likely this person intended for it to be a joke and not to be taken seriously. I showed her some of the photos people had taken of "sightings" of this endangered creature. Some of them were of stuffed animals up in trees. So I think she understood that it was a joke and meant to be laughed at.
I have been working on my staff development project. I will say that I am glad that I started it in a timely manner. Even with starting it at a fairly early date, I will still be working hard to finish it this week so that I can enjoy Easter weekend with my relatives who will be visiting us. I just do not know the best way to put this all together. I am trying, that is all I can say. Every bit of it is new to me. Even the topic is fairly new to me. I guess it is coming along fairly well, in spite of it.
I am feeling better about my overall workload for school. I have accomplished quite a number of things this week. I am still behind on my reading, but I'll catch up eventually.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
I Loved the Online Conferences!!!!
This week has proved to be a busy one. I admit that I am in panic mode right now...everything seems to be overwhelming. Many projects are due at or about the same time. It just doesn't seem possible to get it all done! So...I am feeling some anxiety. It is generally impossible to do all the reading that have been assigned to me between the different classes I am taking. I am forced to let some of it go. I plan on coming back to it once the semester is at a close. There are so many interesting things to look at or read. So that is my complaining for this blog. Sorry. It is just where my mind and heart is. I wouldn't be honest if I were pretending that everything is easy.
I loved all the content and information this week in class. I watched about 9 presentations. I was only supposed to watch 6, but some others looked too interesting to pass up. (as if I had time to watch the extras) I think one of my favorite presentations was "Geo-caching
Across the Curriculum." My son and his friends are into geo-caching. I got really excited about it. I love history and I love geography. I just think it would be such a fun project to get involved with. I passed on some of the information to a friend of mine who is a Global teacher here in town. He loves all the interesting ideas...but the reality is that he does not have time to do anything like this. The "No Child Left Behind" education act has done none of them any favors.
I also watched "Living History" presentation about a class of 5th graders in Indonesia. It made me want a job at their school. My daughter is in 5th grade and I don't see any of this sort of things being done. Her education is very traditional so far...although she did do a PowerPoint presentation with a group of students on a book that they read. She is learning and she seems to enjoy school. Anyway, the kids in the presentation created their own virtual tours of some local museums. They also have been communicating with a woman who lived in the Dutch Indies as a child during WWII. This experience has enabled these children to put a living face on some of the events that took place in their country over 60 years ago.
I have been working on my Power Point presentation. I have to admit that I am a bit nervous about it, having never made a PP before and also...not being sure of the best way to organize the information of my topic. Talking with a couple of students from last semester's class has helped. They have both said, "Oh...you'll do fine. It all comes together. You'll see."
I just loved the article "School Libraries Renewed" by Ann M. Martin. I bookmarked it to be able to easily refer back to it. One of the librarians at a local primary school retired last year. The school board opted to NOT hire a certified librarian. The position has been filled by an aid. To be honest with you, the aid probably can do the same job that the previous librarian was doing, as she was not exactly the most creative or innovative librarian that I have seen. I have talked to many people who are surprised that I need a Master's Degree to become a librarian. They still think that librarians simply sit behind desks and check in and out books or only read stories to children who come to the library. This article is really great. I'm not always good at articulating arguments for libraries...something I am happily getting better at as time goes on!
Once my workload settles down (hehehe...I'm laughing at myself! Does my workload EVER settle down?), I am going to go to many more online conferences. I just loved them!
I loved all the content and information this week in class. I watched about 9 presentations. I was only supposed to watch 6, but some others looked too interesting to pass up. (as if I had time to watch the extras) I think one of my favorite presentations was "Geo-caching
Across the Curriculum." My son and his friends are into geo-caching. I got really excited about it. I love history and I love geography. I just think it would be such a fun project to get involved with. I passed on some of the information to a friend of mine who is a Global teacher here in town. He loves all the interesting ideas...but the reality is that he does not have time to do anything like this. The "No Child Left Behind" education act has done none of them any favors.
I also watched "Living History" presentation about a class of 5th graders in Indonesia. It made me want a job at their school. My daughter is in 5th grade and I don't see any of this sort of things being done. Her education is very traditional so far...although she did do a PowerPoint presentation with a group of students on a book that they read. She is learning and she seems to enjoy school. Anyway, the kids in the presentation created their own virtual tours of some local museums. They also have been communicating with a woman who lived in the Dutch Indies as a child during WWII. This experience has enabled these children to put a living face on some of the events that took place in their country over 60 years ago.
I have been working on my Power Point presentation. I have to admit that I am a bit nervous about it, having never made a PP before and also...not being sure of the best way to organize the information of my topic. Talking with a couple of students from last semester's class has helped. They have both said, "Oh...you'll do fine. It all comes together. You'll see."
I just loved the article "School Libraries Renewed" by Ann M. Martin. I bookmarked it to be able to easily refer back to it. One of the librarians at a local primary school retired last year. The school board opted to NOT hire a certified librarian. The position has been filled by an aid. To be honest with you, the aid probably can do the same job that the previous librarian was doing, as she was not exactly the most creative or innovative librarian that I have seen. I have talked to many people who are surprised that I need a Master's Degree to become a librarian. They still think that librarians simply sit behind desks and check in and out books or only read stories to children who come to the library. This article is really great. I'm not always good at articulating arguments for libraries...something I am happily getting better at as time goes on!
Once my workload settles down (hehehe...I'm laughing at myself! Does my workload EVER settle down?), I am going to go to many more online conferences. I just loved them!
Friday, March 5, 2010
Learning PowerPoint and spinning other plates
This week I'm beginning to feel more pressure build. I have big projects coming up for both classes I am taking. I'm starting to spin quite a few plates now. In the mean time, my house is looking messier and messier because I haven't done much in the way of housework.
It took me awhile to catch on with the PowerPoint that Dan created to help us learn how to create a PowerPoint presentation. I really need to watch and listen to it again. I have never done this before, but I think I can do it. I'm a little nervous, but somehow these sorts of things seem to work out.
I liked the presentation that Susan and Dan put together about making a presentation be professional in appearance. I'm a little overwhelmed with the project, but I started breaking it down into "bite size pieces." You know what they say about eating an elephant? Eat it one bite at a time.
I have so much reading to do for my classes, that I'm afraid I may fall behind.
I am taking my last two classes for SLMS now and today I was able to talk to someone about doing a practicum in their library during the fall. She is willing to take me on and I think it will be a great experience!
It took me awhile to catch on with the PowerPoint that Dan created to help us learn how to create a PowerPoint presentation. I really need to watch and listen to it again. I have never done this before, but I think I can do it. I'm a little nervous, but somehow these sorts of things seem to work out.
I liked the presentation that Susan and Dan put together about making a presentation be professional in appearance. I'm a little overwhelmed with the project, but I started breaking it down into "bite size pieces." You know what they say about eating an elephant? Eat it one bite at a time.
I have so much reading to do for my classes, that I'm afraid I may fall behind.
I am taking my last two classes for SLMS now and today I was able to talk to someone about doing a practicum in their library during the fall. She is willing to take me on and I think it will be a great experience!
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