Thing # 22 - Ning, nang, and ping

I have been a member of both the TeacherLibrarian Ning and the TexasSchoolLibrarians Ning for at least a year, so I know a good bit about them. I think that Nings are a wonderful way to collaborate with others in your profession from all over the world. When the last Harry Potter book came out, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the TeacherLibrarian Ning had a discussion group totally devoted to discussing the book and the ending of the series. It was awesome! I got to share my ideas and thoughts about the book with librarians all over the world and read what they thought about the book! The Teacher Ning was great, I liked that it was split by grade levels and that you could join discussions that directly related to problems and ideas that you would deal with on a daily basis.

For me Nings are a wonderful example of the potential collaboration that the web currently offers! I am SOOOOOOO glad I live in today technological revolution ---- what a great time to be a teacher and a librarian!

Thing # 15 - Library 2.0oooooooooo

In the office that I work in I have heard about Library 2.0 and Web 2.0 for at least the past 5 years! This is primarily because I have the kind of boss who is a "visionary" and a great "leader", so we are always (or at least trying) to keep up with the newest developments in libraries, school libraries, and technology. After reading the articles on Library 2.0 I can honestly say I knew a lot of what they were talking about, but there is still so much out there to learn! I was especially intrigued by the metadata ideas and the new browers that allow your library catalog to behave like Google and the thought of sharing materials world wide via the Open WorldCat Project.
I guess the bottom line is that in the Mid life of my career I feel like I am sitting on the edge of a whole new school library world! I am so glad that I have gotten to see this door open and that I have the opportunity to experience it! What a wonderful gift to the world of education and libraries!!! And to quote a popular song, "the future is so bright(for libraries) I've gotta wear shades".

Thing 4

Okay, my blog is registerd, I am on PDLC for district credit and rarin' to go!

I did think about curriculum connections for blogs and as a librarian I think one of the best ideas for using blogging with students is having them express their views about books and reviews of books by using a blog. Two of our elementary schools are already doing this and it has been really fun to watch and successful for both the librarians and the students. Anyway, I would love to see that expanded, especially at the secondary level. I also thought about how you could use blogs in a classroom setting, and I think that the idea of posting and have students respond is a great easy way to use blogging.
How about this --- in a social studies class to study current events you could post a current article from a local or national newspaper and have students respond by posting comments that agree or disagree with the news/issues reported. You would be encouraging writing, analyzing, and forming opinions and expressive writing all in one assignment. I think the best thing about using blogs in an educational setting is that they would allow the student and teacher to address several educational goals with this one awesome tool!

Liz's Library Byte

The Libraries of the past!

This is a great video about how libraries "used to be"! So watch it and enjoy!!!


Okay, I have tried to post this video SEVERAL times and I think it is too big in size for blogger to post, soooooo I am putting a link to it below. The video is in TeacherTube, so you shouldn't have any trouble getting there and it is fun to watch ---- even if you aren't a librarian!!!



Libraries of Tomorrow



BTW, I promise to catch up on my posts this weekend!!!



Over and out!
Liz