The Evolved Librarian

Who would've thought last September that I'd be making comix and movies and powerpoints that could have incorporated sound? I've had several classes in my quest towards Librarianship that have involved technology, but none as profound as this class. The Webquest was my first true immersion in the unfamiliar territory of the 2.0 world and I came out on the other side less frightened and more confident.
I had been introduced to wikis, blogs, and many other 2.0 pieces (one of my faves is pim pam pum) but have yet to try them with many of my classes due to network restrictions for elementary schools. This seems to be a huge hurdle to overcome for most of us, whether you are a classroom teacher wanting to try something new, or a librarian wishing to explore new territory with the students.
Have my eyes been opened? Yes. Will I remember all of it? Probably not. But, I will be more open to the investigation on my own and for educational purposes. I wow'ed my friends and family when I changed the leaky faucet by watching the vlogs on MonkeySee. And I amazed myself just by setting up the Weebly site. I couldn't believe that stuff is really out there.
Overall, as time-consuming and brain-taxing as it was, it was all worth it. I also liked the working through the professional philosophy. Incorporating things from the UVM course and the CCV course made it a unique semester, and one that will impact my outlook on education for years to come.
I will probably not continue with my blog, but you never know. Good luck to all.
Melissa

Google Earth, Moon & Mars

This has really changed since my kids first started playing around with it a few years ago. Finding the house in Vermont was kind of difficult as the satellite imagery was not so great. I'd never been to the educator background portion of the site and that really opened my eyes to all sorts of neat investigative tools. It still seems like a really cool site just to noodle around on, but yes, it does have applications for the classroom. I love the plans by teachers, for teachers. Historic maps, creating maps, math, science, physics, geography. The map maker looked realy interesting, but I didn't try it. As a librarian, I would suggest using this to actively engage students in the daily lessons, but also create an anchor activity for kids who just want to explore. Putting Google Moon up on the Smart board would give kids a glimpse into what many of us grew up watching. I remember getting almost uninterested in the moon shots. "Oh , it's splashing down, today? Great. No, I don't need to watch it, again." Now when I watch the movie, Apollo 13, it gives me chills. I wonder if the youth of today is getting the same feeling I once had about the space station and the Shuttle. Maybe taking them back 40 years to the moon walks accessible through Google Moon would give them a greater sense of what pioneers the astronauts of the 1960's and 70's really were, and why today, the space station is being utilized for so many experiments. I wonder where the next 40 years will take us?
Melissa

Educational Philosophy

Just a start, but when people say they want community, they seem to only want those that are available all the time in the community. As a .40FTE and .60FTE Elementary Librarian, I get to see how much I don't get asked or included in the classroom research projects. In one school I am fairly new and the prior librarian did an excellent job of filling out the Non-fiction with all sorts of curricular support books. I definitely have the "I'm not worthy" feeling when I see how much she was able to accrue on things like American History, Medieval Times, and Farming. Being .6, I am on site three days. But the teachers there know where the books are and rarely need my help to attain any more information.They come, borrow books, and return them. At the .4 school, I am rarely asked anything by the faculty.They rarely borrow books for their classrooms and don't come to me prior to assigning research. Very Frustrating! But I'm only there two days a week, it's kinda outta site, outta mind. I also think that the larger the school faculty, the harder it is to maintain that sense of community.
The two emails I saw on the Reflective Teacher that really helped were: keep it simple:" It's not about me. " stated by E. Hveding, on April 18th, 2008 . And," Why do I teach? " posted by JK, on October 14th, 2008. These are the best responses I saw concerning personal educational philosophies and not loaded with language that constantly needs to be updated. Buzz words and popular lingo are very frustrating to get used to when they are constantly changing.

Web 2.0 in the classroom

Most students can at this point put an adult to shame with their knowledge of navigation of the web. What better way to shock them into paying attention, but bringing out the the new technology. Students seem to want more work on the computer, not less. Every time I bring the library class to the computer room, their eyes light up and they want to know what we are doing today.
Of all the new bits of technology that we have investigated during the semester, I found the webquest the most satisfying. It was the very difficult to organize and feel comfortable with, but making me step out of my comfort zone was important. I had a teacher friend be very supportive and wishing I had followed her request to do a slightly different topic, but I'm doing something for my UVM class with her students to keep her happy.
I have used a wiki before, and looking around for eportfolio sites to make your own site really wouldn't be something I'd pass on to students, but to other educators. Librarians have to be able to support staff as well as students. (I truly dread having to teach my first inservice.) I know this class has impacted my sense of confidence to handle lots of different topics and questions that come my way.
Melissa S 11/29/09

To Vlog or Youtube?

What did I find when I looked into vlogs? Well, I discovered there's a world beyond Youtube. I went to vlogblog and found out that there are well organized sites with a variety of helpful vlogs or videos. I liked WonderHowTo, Monkeysee and Videojug. On vlogblog I searched for some information on vlogging, etc. To my surprise, I kept coming up with Youtube videos. I guess Youtube was the first and what people still search. Monkeysee had some well-done videos on pet care, performed by a veterinarian, and the site seemed well organized to find topic material. I also liked the way Videojug was organized. Checked out some of the family information videos just for interest. Monkeysee has a byline of "see how the experts do it" and information included on the page for the video of the expert in the video. One on car care even included a phone number as well as a website. I liked this site and felt that the authenticity was founded. I would like to look into this site more for more ideas. Check out some of these for yourself and see if you find them better than Youtube.
Melissa S 11/22/09

One more try

This is the embed code to my presentation. I'm really having problems getting this to post.

Sir Ken

Teaching to the tests. Sound familiar? Gotta pass those NECAPs, NAEPs ,SAT9's. Or the dreaded checkmark may visit your school. I thought about something I saw recently,(sorry I can't remember which class) about high schoolers taking the SAT or ACT and how they couldn't apply the Pythagorean theorem to the problem and most got the answer wrong. Isn't Bloom about using what we have learned creatively? Applying it to new areas to solve problems? And back to the original thought-is teaching to the tests teaching us to be less creative? I think so. As a librarian, I see students 40 minutes a week. Same for the music and the art teachers . How can we incorporate more creativity into our students' day with less and less time being spent on the arts? What does it take for teachers to differentiate lessons so that options for assessment can meet a student's learning style? How can we gently nudge the student's into another style of assessment that may expand their creativity and learning?
I often wonder about the grants that allow schools to investigate an arts program for a week, month, quarter. How do the grades of the students change during that time? How is their attention in class? What does the opportunity to break out of the mold of regular school routine do for the students? Has anybody tried to pay attention to these things or are the days too busy to even think about assessment during these times? Just a thought.
Melissa 11/15/09