Thing #16 Wikis

I created a wiki last year for my library and library newsletter: The General Dispatch
I intend to continue it this year, but expand it. Our school district does allow wikis, so it can take the place of blogging with students. Our library program director set one up for librarians and we use it to communicate. I think it has been very successful and give us a quick way to see what we are all doing as a group. It is truly more efficient than email for group projects. I found wikispaces to be the most user friendly. PBworks was not as easy to use at first, but now I think that has changed. Wikis can be used to create assignments for students on the computer. Also, they can be used for assignments from home, book clubs, or any activity that requires posting and collaboration. PBWorks is a good site for this type of assignment. One great thing that I realized is that Library2Play is a wonderful resource blog!

Thing #14 Technorati

About Technorati: categorizing posts on blogs. I can see that there is a need to categorize tags and grouping them together is useful, as well. For bloggers who are blogging all the time and for those who wish to make money from blogging, I can see the value. I can also see the value for finding tags that are of interest to you. However, time spent in Technorati could be overwhelming, with all of the different tags floating around in all the clouds. A keyword search resulted in finding more than 700 posts for School Library Learning 2.0. Who has time for browsing all of the posts? Perhaps keeping abreast of what is going on in the world is a plus for Technorati, but I do think it is most valuable for very serious bloggers or a quick way to find out what someone thinks about something other than the usual "professional" opinion. I wish I could hear some discussion on this "Thing." I feel certain that there are many opinions about the value and purpose. I tried to add a Technorati cloud, but failed. I will try later when I have finished Thing #23.

Thing #15 Library 2.0

In a School Libray 2.0 article titled "Say good-bye to your mother’s school library" Christopher Harris speaks to school librarians about ways to engage Web 2.0 technology and apply it. I like ideas and he has some. I am personally overwhelmed with the tools, and I need help tranfoming them into my library to use with teachers and students. After reading all of the articles listed in Thing #15 I began to think about what I recently said to my principal during my evaluation: "I keep getting older but my students are always 14." This was a more profound statement than I realized at the time. My incoming students were born in 1995. They were 10 in 2005. Their experience with the world is digital. Much more so than the students I had even six or seven years ago. My library motto has always been that famous quote from an anonymous person: "Half the knowledge is knowing where to find it." Finding it is becoming increasingly easier with Web 2.0 and the interactive web based tools it is offering. Helping our students become information artisans is the challenge. Yes, we must say good-bye to our mother's library. A visit to the new Houston Public Library is proof of that statement. As Mr. Harris suggests, we must undergo a mental transformation if we are going to take on the responsibilities of helping our students become literate users of information and the tools that offer access to the information . The quest is the same but way we teach them to conduct the quest has changed. I particularly loved the statement in the article "Away From Icebergs" that stated that if our services require training for all of our users then the services need fixing." The article further stated that we need to integrate our services into our users' environment. I need a collection my students can download into their MP3 devices and this would be a good running start to serving and connecting. A few Kindles wouldn't hurt either.

Thing #13 Tagging and Delicious

Delicious is a very handy tool for everyone. Assuming that my students can sign in at school and tag, this will be a wonderful way for them to save their research pages accessed on the Internet, especially those who do History Fair. When I have more time I will spend some time looking at tags related to elesson plans, school libraries, and education. But it is time to keep moving. I love the example of the group creating special tags so they can see what they have collected and share resources. This is a great collaborative tool and a huge time saver. Overall, Web based bookmarks are wonderful. I have always been looking for the wrong bookmark on the wrong computer. That stress is now ended.

Thing #12 Creating Community Through Commenting

This has been a challenge and I am still not sure I have all the information I need about commenting. Mostly, I gather that when a person comments they would like to hear back regarding the comment. Also, I think there are guidelines about posting a comment, but based on many comments I have read over the last year, most people do not follow them. I posted comments to five Library2Play participants (two from my school distinct, Aldine) and to LibraryThing and CoolCatTeacher blog. The CoolCatTeacher blog has some wonderful advice for starting the school year. This would be helpful to all teachers but also to new teachers. I am not sure how I came across this blog for educators but it is a good one that I have in my Reader. For LibraryThing I commented on a book I really enjoyed reading this summer: Sweethearts by Sara Zarr. If you have not read this YA fiction novel I highly recommend it. I am looking forward to Story of A Girl. I am always challenged by Bill O'Reilly who wants only "pithy" comments.

Thing#11 LibraryThing

LibraryThing

Easily created an account for this site and listed five YA titles of interest. I enjoyed viewing the various groups, especially the YA group Read YA Lit where I found some interesting discussion threads. This might be a good one for me to join to keep informed on what is going on with readers of YA literature outside of journals. Checking out what is going on in our local area is also a plus. I was somewhat confused by the author chats, but will return for further investigation. This site is a plus for those who do not have access to other book databases.

Thing #10 Images

Well, the image generators are many and I have many "Things" to complete. However, it is very nice to have this resource in mind for myself and for students. Our students have used the cartoon maker to create multi genre products related to research assignments. Writing on images allows for creativity for students setting them on the path to information artisans. I think one of the most popular sites is Imagechef. I plan to create a Wordle and I know students will have great opportunities to show understanding using this image generator.