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.