Thing 11.5: Evaluation

WOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO right down to the wire, but I'm done!!!

Evaluation answers:

1. Favorite Discoveries: got better at screencasting - loved that and will use it!
Enjoyed searching for videos, too, and will really try to incorporate those more into my teaching.

2. I am definitely a lifelong learner, and using technology to teach myself things on my own time, in my own home is perfect for me!

3. Unexpected outcomes: I HATED Second Life. I really thought I'd love it!

4. Differently? Ummm... it's way more than 11.5 hours of work... I think it should be a "23-things-type" thing with regard to how many hours it took. Also, I want Second Life to go away. :)

This was great, as always! I'm really hoping some of my staff will get into this next summer, as well. It's a great teaching/learning tool! Thanks for all the hard work!

Thing #11: Digital Citizenship

If I could never talk about anything else in the Library again, this would be my permanent topic. It's so incredibly important to help our students understand how to navigate the Internet, various new technologies, and all that these 2 categories entail.

If I were doing a lesson Digital Citizenship right now, I'd start by helping students understand the importance of "telling the computer who they are"... i.e. make sure you log on correctly. I'd then move to teaching about not telling anyone ELSE on the internet who they are! 2 very different things with 2 very important distinctions!

If my students can get these 2 things in the first few weeks of school this year, I'll be happy! Digital Citizenship goes on and on through understanding privacy, being respectful computer citizens, understanding the student role in today's technology, etc., but my first order of business will be to help them get on, and help them stay private while they're on there!

Thing #10: Second Life

I have spent the better part of a week on Second Life for at least 30 mins per day. I can sum up my Second Life experience in the email I got from them, which I've copied and pasted below...

"You have received a message from Second Life:
Your object 'Ponytail Brown Hair' has been returned to your inventory lost and found folder by Naergilien Wunderlich from parcel 'Wunderlich's historical garb' at ZoHa Islands E 246, 70 due to parcel auto return."

Yes, readers... I lost my own brown ponytail somewhere in 2nd life. I spent the entire week just trying to get dressed. I did not make it anywhere. I tried to fly and kept hitting the walls. I can't even walk.

I'm sure that students love this site, and with careful monitoring, could probably go to some awesome places and do some awesome things. However, I don't really see the point of doing Second Life during the school day, simply b/c it takes such a long time to acclimate to the website. I feel like there's not enough time to do it meaningfully. Just my personal opinion.

I am done with Second Life. I have enough trouble keeping my First Life organized.

Thing #9: Slideshare

All students need to find a way to import, manipulate, and present their images, videos, ideas, creations, etc. If students use sites like Slideshare, they can gain access to these projects wherever and whenever they want. They don't have to keep up with a flash drive, they don't have to own a laptop... they create their project, upload it, and it's there for them anytime. In addition, slideshare and other hosting sites would be great for group projects! All students have access and can make changes from home while they chat using their skype cameras, etc. These are great resources that I haven't spent much time with, but for which I'll try to use more.

A slideshare site would have saved my life last November. I had a visiting author come with a Mac laptop, and we didn't have the convertor she needed to use Mac to present. We had to get page by page slides from her publicist and I had to put them together into a power point while she presented to the first group. Insanity.

Thing #8: Screencasting

I am a screencasting novice! After this thing, I've moved up a rung or 2 on the screencasting ladder. I explored several sites, but selected Screencast-o-matic b/c frankly I just didn't want to have to register or download a program, and this one was super easy!

I was planning to create my own movie on how to make a Ringtone for your iPhone, but when I plugged in my microphone (I have an external mike), it didn't work! ARGH! However, I still made the video without audio and it's imbedded (hopefully) below!

Thing #7: Videos

I am guilty of not using videos enough with my students in the Library. I frequently am a person who uses the "teachable moment"... and what I mean by that is, I have lesson plans every week, but I don't always follow them. This means that if I find a cool video on YouTube or another video site that is blocked, I usually want to use it in 30 mins with my students, not in 24 hours... which is how long it usually takes to get ZamZar videos returned to me. I am not a fan of the multi-step video conversion process... I want to be able to take a link and go right to it with no waiting.

That said, this "thing" gave me tons of sites that I think are unblocked in my district to explore and utilize videos in my library lessons. I am so happy to have been directed to some of them! I selected a couple of videos below that I think will be useful at some point this year!

I really like TOTLOL... I think kids will love looking at AAAALLLLLLLLL the animal videos on here.. I got lost looking at some of the puppies and kitties and wild animals! The white tiger video I selected is actually translated from spanish, so it will be nice for my native spanish speakers to enjoy listening to their own language, while my english speakers will have to read subtitles. I think that's cool. :) My only concern is that it's powered by YouTube... will they be blocked at school? I don't understand...

I have heard of Blinkx, but haven't used it. There is a great link on the home page to the "kids" category, and students can scroll through one of a zillion appropriate videos to learn how to do something, explore science, animals, and the world around us. I really love this site! I have provided the link to making tissue paper stars (something tons of young girls enjoy - along with a lesson about Van Goh). I didn't see the ability to imbed the video, though.

Super fun!

Thing #6: iTouch Applications

I have spent several days exploring the last "things" and am going to do one giant blogging session today to get the posts finished!

Ok, to begin... iTouch Applications... I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE my iPhone. I recently upgraded to the 3G from the Gen 1 phone, and it's been an awesome experience in speed acceleration for only $100 bucks or so. However, I hadn't thought a great deal about how to use the iTouch with students until this past Spring. I still think I'm a bit fuzzy on the overall value vs. the potential for loss, breakage, screen crack, stress to "sync" when only 1 computer is allowed to "own" the iTouch. Those "cons" said, though... the iTouch is an amazing piece of technology and it is SO intuitive.

My 2 1/2-year old nephew can work his parents' Applications on their iPhones. It's incredible!! I know that students will love to play the math facts application, the states/capitals application, and even will enjoy some of the music apps and the games (Labrynth, PacMan, Falling Gems) if they were gifted a few free minutes. It's super easy to find and DL an app, although within the app search, there are some questionable applications for young people to use, so application DLing would need to be strictly monitored, for sure.

Ways for multiple users to spend time on the iPhone?
* Work in a small group together to select, download, and take turns working in an app
* Have 1 student do the browsing, 1 student do the typing, 1 student do the application searching, etc.
* Time limits for each student to explore so that all students are given an opportunity
* Each month a different group of students is allowed to use the iTouches for projects/products

I really look forward to seeing how these can be used in the library and classroom setting!

Thing #5: Microblogging

I. Love. Facebook.

I. Love. Twitter.

These 2 sites have taken up the better part of my free time for the past year or so. I am on facebook at home for several hours each night. I love to read about what my friends, family, and co-workers are doing. When I joined FB last July, I discovered many long-lost childhood, school, and college friends. Some of them are people I used to talk to nearly every day, and just lost touch with them over time. It's been an ABSOLUTE JOY to return to a little piece of their lives, even if it's on the computer and rarely face-to-face.

I have carefully guarded my facebook from parents of students at my school and from former students, as well. In most cases, I do not choose to accept friend requests from former students, nor do I accept requests from their parents. If I feel I have an actual friendship with parents, or if the students have graduated from high school and I still know them well, I may accept a request. However, I never initiate them, nor do I seek out opportunities to "friend" them. I think Facebook is best reserved, for me, as a personal social site. In fact, I have about 50 "friends" that I wish I didn't have. Some are work colleagues, some are people I hardly spoke to in high school and frankly don't care about... but I have trouble "de-friending" them b/c I think it's rude. In addition, relating to the work situation, I may offend those people if they notice they've been de-friended... it's kind of an awkward situation, and I'm torn about what to do about it.

As I work in an elementary library, my students should NOT be on Facebook (minimum age is 13), but I know some of them are. My goal is to help them be educated about it, and SAFE with whom they friend and communicate, but other than that, I don't involve my students in Facebook conversations very frequently.

Twitter has come to me later than Facebook. I began "Tweeting" about 4 months ago, and currently follow some work friends, family members, and authors (Oh, and Britney Spears, too, LOL). I like it... but I frequently forget to check it. One thing I don't like is that some people Tweet INCESSANTLY and it fills up my iPhone application and I don't see or notice other tweets. There is definitely some Tweeting etiquette that people don't subscribe to.

Both of these sites are great to use with appropriate-aged kids, b/c it's right where they are. Students old enough for these accounts could create accounts about book characters, historical figures, etc., and get closer to understanding of these characters as actual people, which always cements the learning better.

Backchanneling I have less experience with... I tried it at a meeting and we got WAY off-topic. However, it's a great way, if one is able to multi-task, to keep the right side and left side of the brain occupied so that learning can take place. I'd like to use backchanneling with a small group of students before introducing it to an entire class. I'm not sure they'd listen to me if they were all backchanneling at the same time!

Thing #4: Video Hosting

I have done quite a bit with YouTube and TeacherTube. My personal preference is YouTube, but it's blocked in our district. Hopefully that'll change soon, although I do understand how difficult it will be to keep certain students away from videos that are not school and age-appropriate. I know we can do it, though, with diligence and good digital citizenship teaching. :)

2 years ago, I went to Atlanta to see Stephenie Meyer when she still toured at your neighborhood book stores. My friends and I had a blast, and I used a Flip video camera to record the Q&A, came home, and transferred the video onto YouTube. It's been viewed several hundred times, and every now and then, I still get a comment or 2 on how cool the interview was, etc. I wasn't able to upload the whole thing at once, so it's up there in 4 different parts, but it works! 1 part of my upload is below. I did 5 total. I'm still pretty proud of them. Hee Hee. :)

I am not a fan of TeacherTube. It takes WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too long to upload stuff to that site. I have tried no less than 10 times, and still have not been able to upload my products. However, it is not blocked in the district, and obviously lots of people get their videos up, so it's a productive place to search, for sure!

There are many advantages to having these learning opportunities available to students. Quite frequently, students need to *see* things to understand and cement their learning of concepts and ideas. Videos from sites like YouTube are perfect for this. They're usually short, direct, and obvious, and kids absolutely eat them up. Teaching with video is the "way of the future", and we need to get on the boat or we're going to be left at the dock!

Thing #3: Skype and other things...

I have to say that I'm not a huge fan of skype and video-conferencing camera-type stuff, as a general rule. I don't like the way I look when I catch myself in a computer-camera image... and it distracts me from the task at hand when I am able to see myself talking and communicating with others. Maybe this makes me shallow, but I can't ever stop looking at my wrinkles and my stupid facial expressions, etc. I am definitely not one for movies or TV exposure, for sure!

However, kids LOVE skype and all types of camera-based learning and enjoyment opportunities.

Thoughts on using skype and cameras in the Library/school environment:

* virtual visiting author
* online storytime (could even be done in the summer! so fun!)
* communicate between classrooms for teacher lessons and student presentations
* virtual book clubs - students in classrooms (or at lunch or something), Librarian at her desk or in the Library doing a book club from halfway across the campus
* teacher/librarian training from campus to campus

The possibilities are endless! I look forward to having cameras and other visual products in the Library, hopefully SOOOOOOOOON! :)

11.5 Things: Thing #2

I am familiar with some of these word manipulation sites already... I have used Wordle quite a bit and I love it. However, some of these are new to me, so I'll highlight those and give examples related to those "new" learning opportunities.

* Wordsift is similar to wordle, but with less options, in my opinion. I see its value, but I'll choose Wordle over it any day. Students could take a paper, poem, or anything they just wrote and enter it to see where the cloud "settles"... something I know they'd enjoy!
* Glogster... I have heard of this and played with it very little. Making a poster online is simply spectacular. It's kind of like a graffiti wall on crack. I definitely love it! I think it's a much more valuable assignment than cutting and pasting to a piece of cardboard to turn in to a teacher. It requires a great deal of tech-savvy-ness (is that a word?) to get everything set and ready for display. I spent a long time selecting a background and uploading pictures, etc., and then my computer froze and I had to restart, therefore losing my project. :( No fun.
* Voice Thread was fun, but I liked the other things better. Students would enjoy it and it's a good thing to offer teachers as an option.
* Animoto and I are friends, but not as good as I want us to be. I frequently forget that I've subscribed and can make whatever videos I want! The thing that bugs me most is the music... it never comes out the way I want it to and I don't enjoy it as much as if I could put my OWN music on, but that would be a copyright problem, of course. But I do love it.
* My Voki is over on the left. Can you hear the audio? I can't. And it's cut off on the right. Hmmmm.... but it's cute, right?! :)
* Bookr - LOVE it, but I see how students could get caught in here and never return! Sometimes having lots of options for young children (unlimited photo access) is difficult! However, I love it, and it would be a great way to teach students about how to find copyright-ok photos!

11.5 Things: Thing #1

I loved this video. It was exactly and completely what the Library 2.0 Librarian should be doing for students. In addition, she should be providing the teacher with the tools to positively affect students in the way depicted in the video.

If only schools were able to have this type of "utopian" learning environment in every class...

Loved this video! I want to show it to my teachers at the start of the year!

Attention 23 Things Players...

I am a fellow colleague who works in Spring Branch ISD. If you see a few comments on your 23 things blogs, don't be concerned... it's just me reading and learning along with you, and enjoying your blog comments.

I will shortly be starting the 2nd version of 23 things called 11 1/2 things... but for now, I'm just a commenter in your learning process.

:)

Cafe Read 2009

A 3rd grade teacher at Valley Oaks decided to create a Reading Restaurant of sorts to celebrate Read Across America Day... thus, Cafe Read was born. Last year, she did it in her classroom and we all visited. This year, we decided to host it in the Library and collaborate on it together. It was fabulous!