Fun Friday

Fun Friday, indeed! It started out that way - the middle school "Gotta keep reading" YouTube video was awesome, the image generators seemed useful, and certainly it was enjoyable to walk around campus with our cameras. But that's where the fun ended... Our assigned presentation tool, 280slides, simply would not cooperate. Pictures seemed to be uploading (albeit extremely slowly), but we just couldn't figure out how to access them. I am using the term "we" loosely, here, because I was definitely no help at all. I'm usually adept at coming up with a Plan B, but with Plan A being totally new and a mystery to me, I had nothing to offer to the endeavor. Totally frustrating and more than a little embarassing! So I went back to it and tried again, the results of which can be seen on my wiki page, optimistically entitled "Presentation." 280slides has you share the presentation [I ended up with 9 slides - 4 pictures of different rooftops around campus and 4 inspirational slides (with a starry night sky background) + the title page] with SlideShare, which I did. But when I copied it over to the wiki, the photos were missing, the background wasn't there, and the text was all out of alignment. Will not be using this site!
However, this new (well, new to me) language that we're learning is nothing short of amazing, and I WILL become fluent! Oh, and thank you to Eileen Mann for emailing her Webspiration. Now this is one useful tool - I can see it being put to good use both in the library and in the classroom. Anything that encourages collaboration between teachers and librarians is valuable.
One more thought - On Friday, Karen mentioned that as school librarians we need to become partners with the principal. So true! But I'm thinking I better have a great rapport with the computer teacher, as well, since something tells me we'll be working a lot together...

Today's lessons.

I have to admit I'm feeling a little bit like Dorothy right now - Twitter and Wikis and Nings, OH MY! (And she thought she had it bad with the lions and tigers and bears...) I guess because I'm more familiar with Google, all those "tricks" we learned about this morning didn't seem quite as intimidating as this afternoon's tools. The more I'm learning, the more I realize I have yet to learn. I just have to have the same attitude towards all this technology as the kids do, and embrace it. I can't wait to be able to use it all in a library!

Using blogs in the library.

Using blogs in the library can greatly increase the amount of learning that takes place in a student's day. But even more than that, it can increase staff's learning, as well. Imagine being able to see what students are thinking! Also, library blogs can be used to assist the librarian in collaborating with the classroom teachers across the curriculum. Test prep might actually become a genuine learning experience...The possibilities appear endless but it's up to us to start the process!