Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Reflection

Looking back on this program, my favorite things were the FlickR Mashups and Image Generators. My least favorite was Twitter. I just didn't get into Twitter, even though I know that a lot of people love it. I feel like I learned a lot, especially about blog readers, RSS feeds, and the section that covered more on Facebook. I didn't find too much challenging, except for Twitter. I just don't feel like I "got" it. As for use in my library, I would love to show my teachers how to use some of this technology. I think my elementary students would love to use Flickr, if access is available at our school. I also think they would love to make a podcast, and that is one goal that I hope to do this school year.

This has been a great learning experience, and it has helped me to see the social aspects of technology!

My Own 23 Things

I think that 23 Things is a great program. While I am the only one working in my library at the elementary school, I think this would be a great program for the teachers and staff at my school. If (I mean when) I create a 23 Things program, I would try to center the program to make teachers aware of the technology that is available to them like the online databases, video streaming, online library catalog, eBooks, delicious, and Flickr. With the program online and at their disposal at any hour, it negates the excuses of timing that comes into play, and even if the teachers learn only one new thing, that is still a step forward. Plus, I think a program like this that is adapted to the needs of the staff is a great form of positive PR for the library.

Podcasts

I looked at several podcast sites. The first one was Worthington's site that had several readings of different picture books. I listened to The Mitten. It had very poor sound quality, but then I listend to The Night Before Christmas. It was much better. This just goes to show that not all podcasts at the same site are of the best or worst quality.

I also tried to go to the Thomas Ford Library Click a Story because I thought that would be great for using at my elementary school, but the link was broken.

I also went to Denver Public Library's site and listened to the bookIt's Quacking Time. I was interested in this because this past spring I read that book to my Kindergarten classes. After listening to this, I think the younger children would need the book with the pictures. Although, this could be useful in a center where students could listen to the audio while looking at the book themselves. I also liked this site because it stated that they had permission to post the podcast from the specific copyright holders.

There was another site that I saw. It was a site that did book talks. I listend to Skulduggery Pleasant. This book talk seemed more interesting than the others because the audio quality was good and because they also provided short clips of music used in transitioning the sections of the podcast.

I don't see elementary students using podcasts too much, other than what I mentioned above. It also seemed evident that many elementary school librarians had not ventured to using podcasts, as all the school podcasts listed on the wiki were high schools. I think the book talks would be good for patrons, but I am not sold on if they would be interesting enough to hold their attention. I got the following idea from another librarian in my district, but I might try this year to work with a teacher that does biography projects to have her students create a podcast talking about their person. Then, when parents come to Open House, a highlight of Open House is walking into the classroom and hearing their child's report.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

YouTube

I had fun with YouTube. I just wanted to see what it had to offer, in terms of library stuff. I watched a Dewey Decimal Rap. It was very entertaining and informative. Instead of my fourth graders watching my PowerPoint presentation, I might use this instead to reinforce what the Dewey Decimal system is. I just have to get the IT people in my district to unblock YouTube for me.

I also saw a librarian give a tour of an elementary library. Wow! I would love to forward this video to one of my superiors. She had a lot of space in her library. I wish I could have that kind of space. This was a good idea though! It was a quick way to show the different areas of the library. This would take very little time to make, and it would help me not to have to walk around the library at least 18 times in one week when we discuss the different areas. Plus, think of how much it would save my voice from repeating it. Instead, it would be taped once and shown to the kiddos.

Then, I looked at the 2007 ALA book cart competition. This is great entertainment, and it also provides an idea of what a book cart competition is for anybody who has not seen one before. I participated in the TLA book cart competition in 2008, and I wish that I had gotten on to YouTube to see one of these done before I did it.

I think videos to teach library skills are great. Instead of hearing my voice, the children get a different format to teach the same thing. I also think that these are great to use in staff development. In the past, I have watched the copyright video that uses the Disney clips to explain copyright, and I have always wanted to use it. The only thing that has held me back is that it is a little hard to hear, especially if you are hearing the information for the first time.

I'm not sure of other uses for videos in the library except those mentioned above. It is hard to tape a large group of kids and show it on YouTube with making sure that all kids have permission to be taped.

Google Docs

I had fun exploring Google Docs. I had always heard of Google Docs, but I really didn't know exactly what it could or could not do. The tools seem like they are between a mix of web pages and MicroSoft Office documents. They seem like a great collaborative tool to use with others, especially since you can send them to others. I also thought it was neat that you could send them as a PDF file. Thanks for pointing that out. I also liked the forms. I didn't know what to expect until I played with it. I would love to use this to send out a library survey to the teachers at my campus. Also, from reading the blog posts, it seems like they are trying to improve GoogleDocs with added features, like tables. (I remember a long time ago that adding tables to some webpages was not an easy task either).

Wiki

I have used PB Wiki in the past, and I really liked it. One of the librarians in our district tried to get an elementary page started so that we could discuss items and collaborate more. Once I got the hang of it, I really liked it.
When I used the Wiki for this thing, it seemed very easy to use. I liked it a lot.

I know that a lot of librarians have issues with Wikipedia, but if it is used with your eyes being wide open to the fact that not all statements might be valid, it can be a great source for starting an information hunt. Wikipedia provides librarians with a great teachable moment in regards to sources, valid data, and research. From exploring this thing, it did make me aware that the site does try to provide some means of providing valid information. I was also very impressed with the comments of others on the site that I looked at. Several people commented that the information was wrong, and according to the history, it was either changed or removed.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

LibWorm

I didn't feel very successful using LibWorm, but maybe I was being too specific in my search. Although I didn't find anything on lessons to use in an elementary library, I did find a lot of other information. I found a lot of book reviews. I also found some thoughts about Smartboards. I was surprised because I saw more interesting results when I searched by categories and subjects than by phrases. The tag search was interesting in that it allowed you to see which topics were popular. I did not get any results from typing in the name of my school as a phrase search.
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