Happy 40th Internet...

Several years ago I was assigned to read a book for one of my grad classes. Not having any interest in the topics presented I selected what I thought would be the least boring book, Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet by Katie Hafner. I was pleasantly surprised when the book turned out to be highly interesting and enjoyable (and imagine my surprise...I actually learned something. Gasp!). I remembered this book this moring as I read an Associated Press article on the Internet turning 40. One room, two bulky computers, and a 15 foot cable brought to life the exchange of meaningless data and the beginning of the Arpanet network.

Amazing how quickly the idea of enriching the intellectual research of the military and academic institutions has grown into the socially integrated Internet we all know and love. So...now that this powerful tool has been around for 40 years, how will be continue to utilize it to advance OUR intellect? Is Web 2.0 and social media the answer? Will Twitter and Facebook make us smarter, or help us build a better society in general? I don't know, and I'm guessing there are people out there (much smarter than myself) who are also wondering the answer to this very question.

What I do know is that I have much to learn from the individuals I have "met" through Twitter and/or Facebook. This group of tweeters and posters have exposed me to new websites, new tools, and most importantly new ideas. I might not save the world and bring about world peace or harmony among cultures, but I do have the power to enrich the lives of my students and staff. And that's pretty good in my book!

Thoughts?

Wordles

These simple graphic representations of words created at Wordle.net are on the fast track to become one of my favorite teaching tool. It appears that the Wordle phenomenon is indeed gaining steam as even the White House used Wordle recently to illustrate the need for health care reform.

Several of the ideas I plan on visualizing this year with my students include trivia games, highlighting literary elements, creating unique presentations for reports, help to determine overused words in an essay, and providing another creative outlet. I have way too many ideas rolling around in my head that I know I'll not get to all of them this year. But what fun I'll have trying! These are just a few of the links I found with Wordle ideas.

http://guessthewordle.pbworks.com/
http://www.slideshare.net/JenniferW/wordle-ideas
http://thecleversheep.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-20-uses-for-wordle.html
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6666671.html

Thoughts?

A national assessment of technological literacy?

According to Education Week and E-School News the NAEP will add technology literacy to its national assessment program beginning in 2012. Meant to assess a broad range of essential skills the current model will not be able to assess critical-thinking skills. Although ISTE has developed NETS only a handful of states have adopted testing in this area. Wonderful news for us library tech folks. This type of assessment further validates the need for educated media specialists in our schools. Although there is much to learn about this assessment (there are still a few years for the details to be finalized) I do have concerns with the fact that the states may become involved and we end up with the same broken and varied assessment programs currently in place for reading, writing, math, and science.

Will we be able to create an assessment that provides valid and meaningful data about student achievement. Thoughts?

And it begins....

Yesterday I had my first meeting of the new school year and school doesn't even start for another 18 days. While it was very productive, I now have more work than before the meeting. I expected that. Since when does anyone meet this early in the year and not come away with projects to do?

What are some of my projects? Only two are library related, go figure. Those that do directly effect the library scheduling and marketing. Because I work in a Title I school I use some of my flex time working with specific classes, pushing in during their guided reading time. Hopefully. I still need to sit down with other teachers to work out the schedule, but I'm thinking it will work. The more challenging piece will be marketing my library services. I feel I made progress last year, but there is such a long way to go.

So...here's my personal challenge. Balancing the amount of services I offer with the time I need to complete my tasks (collection management, lesson planning, updating the catalog, etc.). At times I get so caught up helping others I give away too much of the time I need to accomplish my job in a timely manner. This year I'm going to try using Google calender. I created an account for the library, and will distribute the log in and password to all staff. I'm hoping this web tool will keep me just the right amount of busy.

My larger task is working with those teachers who I haven't in the past. What can I do differently to draw them in. I've thought about putting out candy (already done by the secretary), I've considered a coffee maker (not many people drink it anymore), I can't afford daily treats (way too expensive). I've offered to help teach lessons that could use an extra pair of hands/eyes. I've highlighted underused materials. Short of dragging them in and forcing them to cooperate I'm at loss as to what to do.

Thoughts?

Blogging and Tweeting

With so many blogging sites available how does anyone select a site to use? My past blogging experience has been with Edublogs and WordPress, both worked well. I had even started another blog on Edublogs, but wasn't thrilled with the name, wrote one post, and headed off into summer break.

After attending a Web 2.0 workshop I decided to give Blogger a go. I'm happy with the name, and I'm finding the site fairly easy to navigate. There is one problem...I can not find a gadget for feeding into my Twitter account. But after a really quick google, I found a load of Twitter tools to explore. I now have accounts with twitterfeed and twitpic. I'm hoping that by tweeting this blog I can contribute to Twitter instead of only reading.

This all got me to thinking...which blogging sites are most popular with librarians and how many of us are tweeting? I love adding to my reading list.

Thoughts?