Final Reflection

On the first day of this class I felt overwhelmed, exhausted and confused. I wasn't really even sure what web 2.0 meant. When I read the Unquiet Library Blog I sometimes felt like I was reading a foreign language. I was wondering how I would ever learn about all of these tools enough to actually use them while appearing tech savvy.

Now that this class is over I still feel overwhelmed, but in a different way. At this point in time I feel excited with the possibilities of web 2.0 tools that I can use in a future school media center. I never imagined that I would be capable of creating a blog, a wiki, a digital story, a cartoon and a voice thread in my lifetime, never mind in a 5 day class. I had heard about some of these things in other classes but never felt confident enough to take a stab at them. This class showed me that these web 2.0 tools are very user friendly and have many really great applications in the media center. Now that I have learned about these tools I feel that I can successfully be a 21st century teacher.

I think that my favorite web 2.0 tool we learned about is digital storytelling. I think this is such a wonderful and intriguing way to get students interested in reading and learning about stories. Digital storytelling teaches skills on so many different levels. It teaches literacy skills through reading of the book, technology skills through use of the Photostory software, copyright skills through the use of finding free use pictures, and assessment skills by having the students evaluate each others projects. I really love Photo story because it was very user friendly and creates a very polished product and is fun!

Overall I feel that I have learned a tremendous amount in this class and that I am armed with many resources to continue learning. I believe that I now have the skills to be a 21st century librarian. The web is such a great collaboration tool which provides me with so many resources to use and build upon for a media center and I am looking forward to doing so in the future.

Class is Over!

Wow this has been a whirl wind 5 days. Today I thought Google sites was really cool but since I have been using wiki spaces for the duration of the class I feel much more comfortable with it. I wish we had time to experiment with it more but I also think that we could use at least 5 more days to get a handle on everything we covered.

I am really excited to use Goggle surveys. Spreadsheets are my specialty so I think that I can really do a lot with this program, even if its just to get myself oriented with the students.

I was really happy how our final project started to come together. Our group worked really well together and made a really nice wiki. I am really lucky to have such a great, helpful group! I am off to tackle the projects!

Digital Storytelling

Today we learned about digital storytelling. This is going to be a wonderful tool in the school media center. The possibilities for lessons are endless and add a whole new level of excitement to reading. In our class we explored with Windows Photostory. This post is linked to my Beezus and Ramona digital story that I created in Photostory. If I had more time I could have spend hours playing with all the features. I had a great time making this book talk and think this would be a very fun way to have students do their book reports and to really engage with the students. Kids are thrilled with technology and love to hear their voices recorded so this would really be a motivator to do a book report.

I am still feeling a little overwhelmed with all of this new technology but today I am leaving feeling like I have one really good tool mastered and know that this is one I can utilize with great regularity.

Technology Overload

Today we learned more technology than I was even aware that existed. My brain is spinning because I can't seem to get my head around the amount of information that I am supposed to be reading, commenting on, subscribing to and tweeting as a school media specialist without ever stepping into the school environment. When will I ever have this much time to read everything out there?

One of the best things that I am going to take away from our class today is www.delicious.com. I love that this site keeps all of your favorites on one website so wherever you are, you have your bookmarks. When I am a media specialist I can go home at the end of the day and I can read that great website I learned about at the conference I may have hypothetically attended that day. I also think this site is a great web sharing resource to "borrow" ideas from other librarians that have been done before. Why recreate the wheel? Why not just add to it to make it fit my school?

My other favorites from today was the overview of Google applications. Using Google books for my summer reading list would save so much PAPER, time and hassle. It would be easily accessed by parents, public librarians and the student's and would make everyone's life involved easier. I am also very excited to try out some the tools in google labs. I think that fast flip is a great way to find current events and show student's a new way to do searches. I think we could have an entire class just on Google!

Using Blogs in the Library

I think that a blog would be a wonderful addition to the Library Media Center. Blogs are a great way for student's to share their opinions with their classmates and improve their writing skills.

One way to use a blog would be as a literary review. Student's would read a book and prepare their book review on a blog. Other student's can read their review and comment on it and also add their individual opinions. The blog would become a good source for student's to read what others liked and disliked about a book before taking it out for the library. It would essentially be an online book review. Books could be organized on the blog by category so that students could easily find a book to read that interested them.

A book review would also be a great way for the Engligh department to have their individual classes collaborate with each other, because all the student's could have access to the other classes.