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.