Thing # 17

I couldn't help myself, I had to post this picture of the cast of the Cullens. It seems the Twilight movie is well underway. Can't help but wonder who will be Jacob. My students are so excited they can hardly stand it. I even received a phone call from a former student who is at MIT to tell me about the cast.

I played in the sandbox and was very nervous doing so. I kept thinking about the video on Wikis and how easy it looked and thought okay here I go. As our Senior AP English class hosts a "Beat Nite" in the library every year I feel a Wiki would be a perfect tool for the class to collaborate and organize the event. So much is involved in this project. From setting up the stage to decorating the library to refreshments, getting ready for this poetry reading night is a huge job. I will suggest a Wiki to the teacher and see if together we can make this work.

Thing # 16

Wiki, Wiki and more Wiki. It always takes me a while to gather my thoughts after reading the latest "thing" and then deciding what I will be posting. This much I know right away, as I progress deeper into the 23 Things I realize how much there is to learn.

As I look through some of the teacher and school produced wiki's I keep thinking of the teachers and students on our campus and what they could put together. Our city of Brownsville is getting ready to celebrate our annual fiesta, Charro Days. Our art teachers have been using the library with their classes having students search for Mexican symbols for art projects and ideas for our school float that will participate in one of the parades. An art Wiki where all of the classes could collaborate would work so well with this project.

Thing # 15

So much to think about. The video was especially compelling though I am not quite sure how I feel about it. As a parent of a college senior I would hope she is not off task on MySpace while her professor is lecturing. I agree with the outrageous cost of textbooks but have no sympathy for students not reading them or skipping class. Should our teaching methods change to reflect new ideas and technology? Yes, although I feel some students are not motivated enough to learn and explore on their own. Reading blogs and collaboration in cyberspace is one thing, learning microbiology or calculus is another. Okay, I guess I'm a little old fashioned.

As far as libraries are concerned, I love where the next generation is taking us. As a high school librarian I have seen the shift from books to web based searching. It is impossible to teach 2500 students to properly sift through what is reliable information and what is not though there are days that I give it my best shot and I have the tired feet to show for it. Putting our OPAC online and directing students to the best possible databases accessible from any classroom and from home have worked well with our students. I have already contacted teachers about conducting inservices on del.icio.us and other social networking sites.

I have never been big on keeping stuff "just in case", not in my personal or professional life. With school budgets getting tighter and tighter I have made a major shift in my book buying. No longer do I purchase expensive reference books that I know students will not use, the bulk of my money goes towards fiction and high interest non-fiction which my students love. This has kept our circulation statistics high and our students are happy. They know they can find resources online either on their own or with my help.

Thing # 14

Tag, tags and more tags. I don't think I played this much tag as a child. I searched for "School library learning 2.0". The keyword search brought up multiple postings. Not all were as helpful as when I explored blogs. Visited the blog of an educator who works with ESL low income students and was fascinated by what he had to say about technology and getting more educators to use it. As a school librarian at a low income school with a large ESL population it is always interesting how other educators work with their students.

Thing # 13

del.icio.us was really easy to use. I spent lots of time visiting many of the different tags that people have set up. Once I felt ready I set up my own tags and now have a couple just for fun. Cooking is one of my favorite things to do since eating is one of my husband's favorite things. I have some tags for cookbooks and cooking and have even added some blogs to my Google Reader. Love, love, love the videos on Common Craft. I am already planning on presenting at an inservice and using some of the videos with my teachers.

Thing # 12

Well I did it, after a little bit of work, I finally was able to create my own Rollyo Searchrolls. The title is Young Adult Lit. It was a little confusing at first. I was able to see my searchroll as a category in my Rollyo page but was not quite sure how to link it for this assignment. Kept at it and eventually figured it out. Here is the link to my Searchroll. By the time I figured out how to make it public I was also able to add more links.
Every year I make it a point to attend department meetings to remind teachers what the library has to offer and how we can help them achieve their objectives. I have so many teachers who would love Rollyo and would either create their own Searchrolls or would like me to do it for them.

Thing # 11

LibraryThing is so much fun. I was able to add books as requested and I joined the YA Lit group. I am already looking forward to joining an online book club. It is so refreshing to know that there are other readers like me. As a child growing up I always felt like I was weird because I would rather read than do anything else. Now I realize there were lots of kids just like me. Too bad they didn't grow up in my neighborhood. Adding the widget was so much fun and very easy.