Wrap Up

Wrap Up

 

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

I liked creating my own blog the most.  I enjoyed learning about new technology by watching the "In Plain English" videos--they were extremely helpful and entertaining.

 

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?

This program made me take the time to learn about new technology--gave me a little push and incentive.

 

Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

I was surprised about how easy this 2.0 stuff is to learn and use.  I actually like it!

 

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

I thought everything was good.  I would like more information about what programs the district would consider the best to use with our students.  What is the easiest and most age appropriate blogging tool to use with our students ?  Wiki tool ?  I'm leary of using some of the things we explored with elementary students because of the links and ads.  I would like to know how to have access to NetLibrary.

And last but not least…

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again chose to participate?

 

Yes, I would participate again.

Audiobooks

I had no luck getting into the Net Library site. I have downloaded audio books onto my ipod. Itunes is really easy to use. I'm not a big fan of audio books, personally. I have listened to a few on road trips. I like podcasts, so what's the difference? I don't know--maybe it's the character voices that bother me. Audio books are really good for ESL and bilingual students. I would pair them with the book so the student could hear and read at the same time. However, I would not want to be in charge of downloading the books for groups of students--how long would that take ? Hours-days ? Once I get Net Library figured out, I will be able to show students how to download audio books onto their own personal mp3 players.

Podcasts

I chose the NPR Book Review podcast to add to my Bloglines account. I chose this podcast because it had been updated recently. Many of the book review podcasts I found had not been updated in many weeks or months. My favorite podcasts so far are from the Oprah show which I found using itunes. I don't know how well younger students would like podcasts--it seems that they are very visual.

YouTube

YouTube is fun, but it is easy to become overwhelmed with video results if you're not specific. And sometimes, you think you are being specific but you just can't pull out the perfect video that you watch three months ago. Last week, I was trying to find that cute book care video that Leah sent at the beginning of the school year--couldn't pull it up out of the thousands that showed up not having a thing to do with "book care". I finally had to use Google to find a library website that had the video embedded in its site. It would be nice to have a LibraryTube site. I chose the Dewey Cat video because I love cats. We have library cat at Bellaire--one of those mechanical sleeping cats which looks like it is breathing and purrs. New students and staff actually think it is alive!

Web 2.0 Winners

I looked at a site called I'm Cooked. It is like YouTube, but just for cooking. I watched a short video of a three year old boy helping his grandmother make fruit smoothies. He was so excited and proud that he was cooking. What I really liked was the 12 minute video on how to make a video and upload it to the site. This site is very easy to search and use. It could be used for a class cooking project. It would be good for a writing assignment on processes.

Wiki's

Sorry, I'm a bit out of order now. Libraries are using Wiki's for reading clubs, community resource lists, and best practices (like a library wikipedia). I would like to try using a wiki with my students to create an updated library mission statement. I still can't decide which would be better for book discussion: wiki or blog ?

Zoho Writer

I just published a Library To Do List using Zoho Writer. It was very easy to use. I like the idea of having access to my documents from any computer anywhere. It was extremely easy to post the list to my blog. 2.0 stuff works together amazingly well ! I love it!!

Library To Do List

Library To Do List

1. Weed
2. Discard weeded items
3. Find MARC records for Spanish guided reading sets
4. Process four new book orders
5. Shelve books
6. Shelve more books
7. Straighten shelves
8. Straighten shelves again
9. Lesson plan
10. Finish spending supply budget

Library 2.0 -- My Thoughts

My favorite article was "Away from the icebergs" by Rick Anderson. He listed three "icebergs" to steer away from which all involve letting go of the old way of doing things. To really embrace Library 2.0 you have to stand back and look at your library through your patrons' eyes. You have to understand what they need and want right now--not what was important five years ago. After exploring all of this 2.0 "stuff", I really like it and have a better understanding of why it is so important to provide 2.0 applications to our patrons. A lot of 2.0 is better for secondary libraries, but I think wikis are very appropriate at the elementary level.

Delicious

I like Delicious because I have access to my book marks on any computer and my phone. It was also very easy to import my existing book marks into Delicious and add tags for them. I added the Delicious badge to my blog--I actually have 67 book marks, but they are marked private. I need to go through and "unlock" some of them. It is interesting to see who else has the same websites as me. This would be a great tool for teachers to use if they want their students to use a list of specific websites for research.

Rollyo and Play Time

Rollyo lets you create your own personal search box enabling you to search mulitiple sites simultaneously--which is a huge time saver! Very easy to set up and place on your blog.

I've enjoyed learning about these programs and playing with them. Fun!!

Image Generators and Library Thing

I have now "played" with both of these. I googled "image generator" and found comicstripgenerator.com It was very easy to use, and I love Garfield so it was perfect for my blog! Library Thing is a great way for a person to keep track of their personal library--if they were so inclined ;) It is interesting to see how many other people have the same book and how they rated it. I've noticed that all of these sites have blogs. Do people subscribe to multiple blogs? How do they have the time to "talk" to their online friends and have real human contact at the same time?

RSS Feeds

Just figured out how to add these to my blog--not too hard. I like the concept of RSS. It's like my own personal newspaper delivered every day. It's quick and easy to scan the "headlines". RSS will help me stay on top of library news without taking the time to search through several different websites. I liked the bloglines search tool the best because it allows me to search for feeds from websites of my choosing. For example, when I did a feed search for ALA, the feed that popped up wasn't directly from ALA. So I just very easily switched my search to the ALA website and found exactly the feed that I wanted. I prefer getting the feed from the website because then I know exactly what I'm subscribing to. Libraries could use RSS feeds to notify patrons of upcoming events--it's proactive because you are connecting with the patron every day (if you choose) and tugging on their sleeve saying "Hey, I'm here and this is what I have to offer--don't forget about me!"

My flickr picture

Isn't technology wonderful? If you read my blog from your home computer, you will see a picture of Wimpy Kid visiting the Bellaire Library (sent from my flickr page), but alas, at school all you see is an empty box :(

Wimpy Kid

Wimpy Kid
Originally uploaded by julievela

I think I got the flickr thing figured out--pretty easy to use. flickr is a useful tool for sharing fotos with friends and family. The searching is not great. I tagged my fotos "heb 23-3" but search results turn up zero. I'm stumped. I need to work on refining my search techniques because it feels like I get a million pictures back--a bit overwhelming.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Welcome to my blog!

I am in the process of completing the HEB23 program which will help me gain a better understanding of web 2.0 applications. One of the assignments is to create a blog--so far, not too hard. I'm hoping that at some point in the future, Bellaire students will be able to use this blog to discuss books and reading.

Julie Vela
Teacher-Librarian
Bellaire Elementary School
Librarians Educate <>Empower <>Enrich