Summary

My favorite discoveries throughout the 23 Things unit were podcasts, mashups and more aspects of Google. Podcasts are a tool I have little experience with, but a great deal of interest in. Mashups were a completely new concept that I see many applications for in the classroom environment. Integrating a mashups as a new project outcome can be a fun way to engage and motivate students. With Google there seems to be more aspects everyday and Google docs, reader and sites are terrific ways to encourage collaboration and manage information. Lastly, the concept of tagging, which was not formerly a component of the 23 Things study was a new technique I was able to practice and integrate into my way of organzing my electronic information.

The 23 Things program has affected my lifelong learning goals by reminding me to always welcome the new. At times, the amount of new technology is overwhelming and there is often the temptation to not explore the latest; however, as a librarian I must. Once I welcome the new it is important for me to be selective, find a purpose for the new technology and integrate it in the meaningful way. My role as a school librarian demands that I support many different teaching styles so I must always strive to try new things for the benefit of those faculty members.

Throughout this experience I began to think of education in a new ways. This was something I didn't expect. I have come to realize that I need to spice up my expectations of my students and I need to be a brighter beacon to model digital citizenship to the students, facutly and adminstration in my school.

Another surprise was the opportunity to network with other librarians. Following so the blogs of so many different kinds of librarians was a great opportunity. I found it very beneficial to see their unique points of view and use them as inspiration for new ideas for my own library and its resources and programs.

There is little I would do to change the format of this program. I really loved it. In fact, I would consider modeling a unit of study of my own after it. The 23 things programs was exploratory, collaborative and current. The only small criticism I have is I would have liked to have learned more about technology hardware. This is an area I would like to improve upon. I also would like to learn more about screencasting, which was not addressed in this program.

In a word I would describe the experience of the 23 Things as exploratory. This experience was very much based upon trying and experimenting. What you put into it was what you received in return.

Week #9 - Thing #22 - eBooks & Audiobooks

Once upon time, I was a big fan of books on tape. While drivong, I would fumble for the correct tape, check to see if it was the correct siide and insert it into my car's tape deck. I enjoyed many fantastic books this way. Now it is amazing to see that books can be downloaded into audio and/or pdf files to be enjoyed and shared.

Downloading the text of a book or an audio file to be listened to are excellent resources for school libraries. In my experience special education teachers are particularly eager to take advantage of audiobooks, but truly, listening to a story is a completely different way to enjoy a book and could be integrated into any classroom, regardless of the kind of learner.

Currently, my school's library has very few audiobooks in their collection. Just a few books on CD, but I am very interested in expanding this portion of the library's collection. I have been eyeing Playaways for some time. Playaways are individual MP3 players with a single book already pre-loaded onto it. They even comes with headphones. Here's a link if you'd like to take a look. I think they would be a fantastic addition to a school library collection, although they are a bit pricey. They could circulate as support for teachers and students or just for fun!

Recently, I was researching databases to purchase for my school library and the salesman pitched the company's line of ebooks. The company was Gale and their ebook collection was impressive. Had I had the funds (isn't that always the case) I would have strongly considered purchasing a set or two. My school has several classrooms that are equipped with laptop labs and ebooks are a great way of extending the library's resources beyond its walls.

Week #9 - Thing #20 - YouTube & Video

What's not to love about You Tube? It's a great tool to grab students' attention, introduce a topic, or use as an outcome for a project. Although it is a blocked site in my school district, I ALWAYS unblock it to use it as a teaching tool. I had seen many of the videos mentioned in the Classroom Learning 2.0 blog before and I particularly liked the "March of the Librarians" clip. Hysterical!


I have never inserted a video into a blog, so here is my first attempt. I struggled to figure out how to do this, but never fail. I found this YouTube video that taught me how! Here it is, if this is your first time, too. :-)



Here is another video on how to use a Flip Video camera. A great tool that could be used to create videos in the classroom, that could be posted on YouTube.

Week #9 - Thing # 21 - Podcasts

Podcasts are a very new and exciting topic for me. I really enjoyed reading "Podcasting in Libraries" by Chris Kretz. It clarified a number of things for me; primarily the difference between an simple audio file and a podcast. I especially like Kretz's analogy of podcasts to newspaper delivery. I am always looking for concrete ways to explain the improvements technology can make in our lives, particularly when collaborating with teachers who sometimes need a little more time to warm up to a new idea.

I checked out a number of podcasts that Kretz mentioned with regards to teen library culture. I subscribed to a few via my Google Reader. Here are some links to make it easy for you, if you are interested.

Nancy Keene's Booktalks Quick and Simple - Grades K-12
http://nancykeane.com/booktalks/podcast.htm

Isinglass Booktalk Podcasts - Grades 7 & 8
http://www.hopkintonschools.org/hhs/library/podcast.html

Teen Podcasts @ the Cheshire Public Library
http://www.cheshirelib.org/teens/cplpodcast.htm

OCLS Teen Podcast
http://podcast.ocls.info/index.php?post_category=OCLS%20Teen%20Podcast

Prime Speaks
http://library.townofmanchester.org/teen/podcast.html

Week #8 - Thing #18 - Google Docs

What more can you say? Google rocks! The more I learn about Google the more I think, I could teach an entire unit of web 2.0 technology around Google!

Google Docs is a breeze to use. I'd like to practice sharing a document with some of you. That way we could practice manipulating the text and viewing the changes of the document. Leave me a note in the blog's comments and I will invite you to participate in the a shared Google doc. http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AQBUCQ-h4vapZDQ5bm1zaF8yaG01cmozZjM&hl=en

I could see myself using a Google Doc for classroom projects. It could also be used when collaborating with staff members on grade level or departmental matters. It could also be a great way to communicate with students who are a part of the library's teen advisory board. In fact, shared Google Docs could be very helpful for advisors of extra-curricular activities because often times it is very difficult to get all the members of clubs and activities together. Google docs could be a great remedy. Google Sites may also be a way to coordinate a library's or club's information.

Week #8 - Thing #18 - Zoho Writer

This is my first experience with Zoho Writer. I wanted to experiment with it before Google Docs, because I expected Google Docs to be the ultimate in productivity tools, but I have to say Zoho Writer has most of what I need and use. It was a cinch to create an account and very user friendly. I like the tabbed browsing menus. It never seems to take more than two clicks to do anything. I especially liked that you could tag documents, save templates, and import existing documents (even from Google Docs). This makes it very easy to migrate your existing documents. It is also impressive that Zoho saves the history of each document. Very cool. This could be key when using it in a classroom setting. I could see myself using Zoho for sure.

Library Thing

Tonight I explored LibraryThing. I had heard about Library Thing, but never took the time to visit it. The first thing that struck me is that it is a wiki!

The second thing that struck me is that it would take a lot of time to insert all my library's books into Library Thing and that may not be a good use of time. However I did take a look at the groups and talk links and there I found the treasure. Library Thing is a terrific way to network with other librarians and get ideas for your own. Within a few clicks I read a few easy to library games to do during Teen Read Week or National Library Week. This is invaluble. As one of two librarians in my district I am always in need of someone to brainstorm with. Library Thing could provide that for lirarians, like myself, that run solo in their buildings.



My WebQuest is a project on natural disasters that I have done with 8th and 9th graders. I have selected 5 titles that could be great resources for this project. http://www.librarything.com/catalog/mwells2920