Thing #23 Final Thoughts

If there's ever another similar program like 23 things on a stick, I would definitely participate! This program was so worthwhile and practical. I liked that it was at our own pace and each step included clear directions. The blog idea for keeping track forced me to reflect and helped me to remember what I did. Now that I've tried new things such as wikis, blogs, podcasts and Facebook, I feel like I can relate to my students better and I feel more confident in using new technology tools. There are so many ways that these tools can be used in the library and I'm excited to try some of them this school year. I enjoyed knowing that others were participating in this program and it encouraged me to keep going. I was surprised by how easy most of these tools are to use. I need to select carefully what I choose to spend my time on but many of these tools are time-savers in the long run. Thank you for putting together this program and helping us along the way! P.S. At the beginning of my blog, I didn't number each Thing, but I did label them similarly to the topic so hopefully you can tell that I did each step.

Thing #22 What did I learn today?

I am really glad that I did the 23 things on a stick. I've learned very useful skills and know about tools that I'd wondered about before. I plan to keep up with reading Google Reader, checking out the network groups I've joined and learned about and bookmark sites that I want to keep using. It helps me to have sites bookmarked so that they are readily available and in one place. I'm also going to keep looking back at this blog to revisit some of these tools I've learned about. and lastly, I like to read professional journals such as School Library Journal to keep up with what's happening. Overall, my hunger to keep learning about my profession and new technology trends will keep me on the lookout for opportunities to learn.

Thing #21 Continued

I also visited the Teacher Librarian Network and love it that it's focused on different types of libraries. I can join the YA lit group. I plan to visit this group in the future to get ideas for my library.

Thing #21: Other social networks

I joined the 23 things on a stick Ning and I'm going to add the badge to my blog. I think I can figure it out! I've also checked out some of the baking/cooking social networks like BakeSpace and Open Source Food. I love looking for recipes and these look like fun resources.

Thing #19 Podcasts

I enjoyed browsing several podcasting websites. I listened to a podcast from the St. Cloud School Media podcast site, browsed the podcasts on the Education Podcast directory, and looked at the MN public radio podcasts. I linked podcasts from John Piper's Desiring God to my Google Reader account. He has weekly sermons that are podcasts. I was impressed with how easy it is to record a podcast with Gcast. Podcasts are one more way to learn and stay up to date on information, so it's a matter of whether it's my preferred way to do that. I think I still prefer to watch the news rather than listen to it, but for road trips or to multitask, I think I could see using podcasts. Podcasts could also be a great way for students to create projects with a different media format. There are enough free online tools to make this a very possible project to do in the classroom.

Thing #20 Facebook and Myspace

I can't believe I have created a Facebook profile, but I have. I've already found a few "friends" and set up a picture. It's amazing how quickly you can get connected. It's a really fast way to see what's new in people's lives and it's easy to add information. I joined the Library 2.0 Interest Group. I think it will be another good way to see what's going on in the 2.0 and library world. I think Facebook is growing and so popular because it's rewarding to be part of a group and be connected to others and it's easy. I looked at the Hennepin Cty. Myspace page. They have different book discussions, you can search the library catalog, and get general info on library events. I'd rather visit the Hennepin Cty library's website rather than their Myspace page, but it's another way to interact with people.

Thing #18 YouTube

Yes, I finally figured it out and found the "embed" code. This is definitely helpful to actually do it myself otherwise I wouldn't remember how to do it or understand it. It's cool that you can put the actual video into a blog!

Thing #18 YouTube

I chose the Funny Commercial about a blond in the library to post to my blog. I thought it was funny but also liked the verses about wisdom that followed it. I'm going to try embedding the link to the video in this post. Hopefully it works!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APWVP459BK0

I may have to try this again. I couldn't find the "code" that the instructions were talking about, just the link to the video.

Thing #17 ELM Productivity Tools

I was surprised by the things you can do with these databases. The search alert feature can save time and keep a person up to date on certain topics. I think I could benefit from emails of articles related to school libraries. People could use this as a time efficient way to develop professionally. The Page Composer in Ebsco makes creating a web page really easy. This could be used for class projects or introducing students or teachers to making a web page. The buttons on the left side of the screen are clear enough for even the less tech savvy people. Netlibrary's feature of taking notes in an e-book is useful, if you prefer to do things electronically. I think it's a good idea, but if people don't make a habit of using Netlibrary, it would be easy to forget about the notes you took. Proquest's My Research tab is great for collaborating and sharing articles with fellow teachers. Of all the tools I learned about with this activity, I liked the search alert the best because it can save me time and keep me informed.

#16 Student 2.0 Tools

I love it when I find a resource that I can use right away! The Research Project Calculator has great tips and handouts for guiding students through the research process. I am helping a teacher with a research unit that starts next week and we are going to use the Big6 skills to guide the research process. But the basic steps and resources are similar so I may use some of these handouts. It helps to have instructional tips as well. As far as teacher resources, I think the RPC has a lot to offer. For students, this tool helps to give structure to their project. The links under each step are quick ways for students to get answers to questions they may have. It can give students more independence.

#15 Online Games and Libraries

I took a look at Second Life. Although my computer was slow with navigating the site, I got a good idea of what it's like in that world. It reminds me a little of a SIMS City game. It's neat that it parallels real life in many ways with real estate, the economy and entertainment. For students who haven't been able to experience many of these things yet, I can see how this would be very appealing. Second Life could also be used by Social Studies classes to teach economy concepts. The only thing I can think of for a library connection in my school would be an after school club for students to hang out and discuss/go on Second Life.

#14 Library Thing

My link to Library Thing is http://www.librarything.com/home/lcoddingtonnjh
I had a great time exploring this site. It's a little cumbersome at first learning how it works. But it's very easy to search for and add books. I love it that there are free book covers available too! After creating a small library I looked at how many other people selected those books. I was surprised by the range. The Angel Experiment had 1264 other members and Silverfin only had 11. It's fun to read other member's reviews, look at similar books to my selections and see the tags associated with those books. This site has great potential for use in my library with my students. I could create a library just for my school and have students view it for recommended reads.

Thing # 13: Online Productivity Tools

I chose to set up a start page with iGoogle. It was really easy to select the things I wanted. There are tons of choices! Who knew I could even have Cooking Light recipes posted for me daily? I like iGoogle because it's easy and because I already have a few other Google accounts so it'e easier to streamline things. I haven't decided yet if I will make it my homepage. This could be something that teachers would enjoy trying. I could show them how this works. I like the online calendar although I still would rely on my written planner (old fashioned but reliable!). It's hard to always have access to a computer when I need to get to a calendar. The To Do list sites are similar to the calendar. For me, I may not want to tie myself to a computer.

I think there are definite uses for students. They could use help with organizing and the Calendar and To Do lists would be good for them. But at the same time, many students at my school don't have computers at home so this may not be great for them.

Overall, these tools are great, but take time to set up and have to become part of your daily routine to make them worth it.

Thing #12 Do you Digg?

I think these news article sharing sites could be used in my school through social studies classes. Quite often they use current event articles in class and maybe they could create an assignment that involves one of these sharing sites. For the junior high student I don't think Digg and Mixx and the other sites are really going to be used a lot. I think they'd find it interesting, but reading news articles just isn't really a common hobby for that age group! Also, it's very easy to get side-tracked by articles that don't really have importance to what you were looking for. This could be a drawback for use in the classroom. Personally, I found the concept interesting and I can see why it's popular. But it kind of reminds me of Google Reader where I can get the latest posts from blogs in one place.

#11 Tagging and Delicious

I've used Delicious before but haven't kept up with it. It was good to revisit and take a closer look at how useful the tagging system is. After looking at the examples of libraries who use delicious accounts, I see how useful it is to have clear tagging labels. The patrons of the library can find websites based on the tags that the websites are labeled with. I think this kind of account could be set up for my junior high students to help them with research or finding good books to read. I need to find out if people who view my bookmarked sites can alter my tags or add new sites to my account. It would be best in my library setting to have full control over the account and just make it viewable to students.

#9 Online Collaboration Tools

I enjoyed trying both Google Docs and Zoho Writer. I don't think I have a favorite, they seem pretty similar. When I signed up with Zoho Writer it opened up right away with a bunch of options about what I could do with it (upload pictures, create outlines, share documents, etc.). I thought that was a good way for them to promote their tool. Honestly, doing the activity where we altered the declaration of independence was a useful way to learn about the two tools, but I can't really see how this would ever be used practically. Maybe a L.A. class could use it for teaching grammar, punctuation, etc. The ability to add information to a document reminds me of a wiki.

23 things on a stick wiki

I added a comment to the 23 things on a stick wiki. My comment was "This does seem pretty easy. The tools at the top look just like Word documents. I think if I were to use a wiki from my library website, I'd want more pages linked so that everything's not all on the same page and easier to find. LC 8/08" I put it near the top.

Wikis

This was a really helpful tool to learn about. I've always wondered how wikis work. It doesn't seem hard to use at all. I'm surprised! I'd like to try using this with teachers and students on class projects or maybe create a book review/comment wiki for students to share thoughts about books they've read. I wonder how well it will work with junior high students? Is there a way to keep them from erasing other people's comments? I can picture some messing around with this. But if there's a way to track who does what on the wiki, that could cut down on problems.

Share Your Creations

I learned a lot from this activity. I didn't know you could create, upload and share slide shows from a website. This could come in handy on some of our laptops that don't have Microsoft Office on them. The eFolio idea is really useful for new grads. I liked making a motivational reading poster on Big Huge Labs. The only problem is thinking of creative photos and lines to go with them. It was really easy to make the poster and I think this could even be a project idea for teachers to use. They could have students create their own posters.

Read Poster

Read Poster
Originally uploaded by lauriecoddington

I created this motivational reading poster on Big Huge Labs.

Web 2.0 Communication Tools

My junior high library doesn't use email to communicate with students. However, staff use email frequently to communicate requests, ask questions, and get help from the media center. Our district may be giving students school email accounts this year which could open up possibilities for the library to utilize student email in the future. I think that the Web Reference tools that libraries are using are great resources. I've used the "Ask a Librarian" question/answer method for getting help with questions before. I do not text message or IM so I don't use those resources, but I think it's great to meet people where they are at with technology. I plan to attend a webinar through Minitex this week on the Gale K12 database offerings.

Online Image Generators

I really like the Image Chef website. The templates they offer are great! I came up with a few signs that I might use on my library web site. This website makes it easy to be creative and liven things up.

READ

Good Books

Laurie's Learning Blog

More Flickr Fun

I had a great time learning about these tools. I created a mosaic of pictures and made a puzzle out of one photo. I also collected the letters to spell the word READ in photos. I think these tools are a great way to create signs/posters for the library. I could also envision posting photos of book covers (not sure about copyright, but if I take the photos myself it would probably be ok, right?) and having students post comments on the books they've read. I'm glad I took a closer look at all of the photos available through Flickr and the useful tools that are out there! I don't mind sharing photos as long as they're scenic and don't include shots of myself or my family.

My creation

My creation
Originally uploaded by lauriecoddington

I created this puzzle on Big Huge Labs

My creation

My creation
Originally uploaded by lauriecoddington

I created this mosaic of pictures using Big Huge Labs.

Flickr

I created an account with Flickr and uploaded a photo, added a tag to it and marked it as public. Then I sent it to my blog to be posted there. The directions are really clear and walked me through each step. It's not too difficult!!!! And I feel like I did something cool.

How can I use Flickr in the library at my school? The only thing I can think of is to post pictures of the library and/or of books. I could take a picture of several book covers and create a group of these pictures on Flickr. Then I could link the book cover pictures to my media center website and students could look at those photos to help them select a book to check out. Perhaps students could even comment on the books they've read!?!

I also have used Picasa and Shutterfly to create web albums and share photos with friends and family. Each photo sharing website has a few unique features, but basically they are similar.

Hmmm.... I may have to look into this idea of using Flickr to promote books to students!!!

Flowers

IMG_2054
Originally uploaded by lauriecoddington

Practice for 23 things on a stick

RSS Feeds

I really like this invention! I have heard of RSS feeds before but never bothered trying them out. So I opened an account with Google Reader and I have already added several feeds on news, school library info, and cooking (for fun!). I liked the tool in Google Reader that allows you to add a subscription by typing in a few words about the blog. It searches and pulls up blogs with those search terms in it and you can click to add the blogs you want. It's very easy to organize your feeds into different folders too.

This technology will help me to stay up to date on the news in my profession and save me time. I will be reading blogs more often now that I have them all compiled in one place. And I can just quickly skim the new additions on each blog without taking a lot of time.

Doug Johnson has a list of blogs that he reads so I checked that list out. I selected a few good school library blogs from his list. This was a great resource to help me narrow down my choices. You can find this list at doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blogsiread.

Library 2.0 - Thing 2

Reading the blog about the 11 reasons why Library 2.o exists and matters, woke me up to the fact that I need to start thinking creatively about how my school library can change to incorporate more of these elements. The three main things about Library 2.o that I can start focusing on are from Sarah Houghton's quote: "making your library's space more interactive, collaborative, driven by community needs".

In the article from Library Technology Reports, "The Ongoing Web Revolution", a definition of Library 2.o created by Darlene Fichter was given. She defines Library 2.o as: (books 'n stuff + people + radical trust) x participation. Trust and participation really go hand in hand. As a school librarian contemplating how to best incorporate Web 2.o tools in my library, I am considering how the concept of trust plays into that. How much should I/can I trust my students when having an interactive communication portal that is affiliated with the school? I want to try having a blog and letting students post comments or questions but I'm not sure if it would come back to bite me (if, for example, a student posts a wildly inappropriate comment). But I think I'll need to be willing to take a few risks if I want to drive change and bring more interaction into our school media center.

It helps to see examples of ways that libraries (particularly school libraries) are using Web 2.o. Practical examples help to jumpstart creative thoughts and ideas that I can apply to my school's library.

Starting the 23 things

I am finally getting around to working on my 23 things on a stick. Setting up this blog wasn't really that hard. The hardest part was deciding what Avatar I wanted to use. I'm glad that this is one of the things we're learning how to do (blogging) because otherwise I may never try it. Doing it myself is going to be much more worthwhile than just reading about how to do it.