My Life as a Book

My Life as a Book by Janet Tashjian was a YA book about stories. A boy doesn't like to read, but finds himself entwined in a story and his curiosity drives him to explore and he gets outside of his box. Great little story of breaking boundaries without being too didactic.

Henry Knox Bookseller, Soldier, Patriot

Henry Knox Bookseller, Soldier, Patriot by Anita Silvey is primarily the story of how Knox moved artillery from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston. The book provides the background for why this was done. It is a great local story by a local author.

No Sleep for the Sheep!

No Sleep for the Sheep by Karen Beaumont is a repetitive, rhyming book for younger readers. Very entertaining!

Little Mist

I just read Little Mist by Angela McAllister and Sarah Fox-Davies. I would use this book as a writing prompt, One day I will be bigger than...Stronger than...Faster than... and so forth. Very poetic.

Summer books I've enjoyed

My new favorite book is It's a Book by Lane Smith. A children's book, it is not. It is more a social commentary that made me laugh out loud.

Lemonade and other poems squeezed from a single word by Bob Raczka was a fantastic collection of poetry created from a single word. I can't wait to share this with a class.

Going Green Week 2

Post my ideas for week 2 here to gather my thoughts for my assignment.

Frequent Fliers

Blackboard
Ice Network

Week 9: Thing #23

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I particularly liked the Flickr exercises. Images can be so powerful and having additional tools to manipulate them is fantastic. I spent a tremendous amount of time exploring the options in the Flickr toys.
2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
Most importantly, this program got me started on my blog and RSS feed. These were things I intended to do and it got me moving, and immediately using the additional features that I probably would not have gotten to on my own (avatars for example).
3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I was surprised at the ease of use of many of the tools that were presented. Most were very intuitive, leaving me feeling fairly accomplished, giving me a certain degree of confidence.
4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
I thought this program was VERY well done. I felt like there was a great balance of instruction and exploration. I never felt like I needed additional help - everything that I needed was provided for on the assignment page. It was very well thought-out.
5. If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
Without a doubt, I would participate again in the future.
6. How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote CSLA learning activities?
Empowering!

Week 9: Thing #22

I love listening to audio books. That has been my primary "reading" method. Having so many books in the public domain grants so much freedom to readers to "read" both in the traditional format and in the audio format. Having books accessible without special software is crucial. This format will not be preferable to all, but it is a great resource to have.

Week 9: Thing #21

I added LibVib: the library news podcast to my reader. I love that so many podcasts are available free to the interested public, without special downloads or programs. Subscribing to a podcast ensures that you get the most recent episode, without having to check every day. Once again, my accolades to the technology that brings ME the information.

Week 9: Thing #20

Ah, YouTube. There are some great videos out there if you can sift through the heaps of junk to find them. Since I am familiar with YouTube, I spent my time investigating the other tabs that I never take time to look at. I chose a humorous video about annoying patrons. I liked that it used still shots and only minimal shots of real people (which means there weren't usage issues). I can see instructional videos being used on library web pages. As a school librarian, I can see videos made by students, FOR students about policies and usage of the library catalog, for example.

Week 8: Thing #19

I added 5 books to my LibraryThing library. Three of them were pretty obscure, but one that I am reading right now had conversations and reviews that I read. I followed the link to the one other person that had one of the books on their list. There, I found other books that interested me. I use this theory on YouTube all the time. Rather than searching around for individual items, I find one that I like and see who else liked it. From there, I often find libraries of related items. Why recreate the wheel?

Zoho blog

Week 8: Thing #18 - Zoho Writer

This is a great way to word process across platforms.  These days pdfs do the same thing, but they require software that not all parties involved may have.  Both this program and Google docs are very intuitive and user-friendly.  

Week 7: Thing #17

Excused

Week 7: Thing #16

The wiki to document procedures is a great idea. This is a great place to share information that often is undocumented or not regularly updated. I like the idea of having a central location for this information that allows changes to be made by all. I also thought that the wikis for reviewing books were a great idea. That is a great place for kids to contribute their thoughts and ideas and share them with others. I like that no html skills are necessary. Wikis make publishing very easy.

Week 6: Thing #15

Library 2.0 is what libraries have always done - take the needs of the clientèle and match it with the available resources to become a place where one can satisfy one's information needs. The unfortunate piece is that keeping up with the increasing technological demands requires money that might not be present. Needs vary from community to community. What works well for one town may not work well for another. The most important thing to remember is that libraries are at their best when collaboration occurs. Library 2.0 means that a school library will face many changes in software and hardware as these things become available and teachers become familiar with them. Anyone that has spent even a handful of years in the same library can probably attest to the changes in needs of equipment and instruction. The closet becomes full of "old" software and equipment that is no longer in demand. It is an ever-changing place, the school library.

Week 6: Thing #14

In doing a Technorati's search, I located 900+ items when searching "School Library Learning 2.0" for blog posts. Many of the findings were not relevant. My findings were relevant when I searched the tags, but only located 9 items. I then searched the blog directory and found 18 related blogs, including the MSLA blog which then told me it didn't exist (technical error in there on someone's part...) I have mixed feelings about tagging. I like the idea that it aids one in finding other items like the one you are looking at, but on the other hand, if someone is using a different vocabulary, that item will not necessarily be identified.

Week 6: Thing #13

I can see how del.icio.us could be a very useful tool. I tried searching for other topics which lead me to aficionados of those topics, and from their links I found related items of interest. It works just like librarything, on the premise of tagging to guide you to what you want. However, there are many companies advertising and lots of other junk out there. It is rather overwhelming to sift through all the junk to get to the heart of what you want. The idea is interesting and if you can find someone out there that has already done the work for you, you could locate some fantastic sites about what you want. However, so many people seem to be out to get you to buy something. It's a little cluttered for my liking, but I think the idea is interesting.

Week 5: Thing #12

I created my own search engine on Rollyo for the Presidential Election. I selected several sites that I regularly visit for information. As with the RSS feed, I like this tool because information comes to me, as opposed to me going to it. I like anything that saves me a few minutes. This really narrows the results down of what could potentially be a very large search.

Week 5: Thing #11

I explored www.librarything.com. I already belong to goodreads.com and was wondering how the two differed. www.librarything.com is more "librarian friendly" because as you add books to your shelf, it is cataloging them and acquiring this information from libraries and other trusted sources. By tagging your books, you can then connect with others and get suggestions from others with similar tastes in books.