Thing 17-Ning

I visited TeacherLibrarianNing and took a good look around.  I really liked the fact that this site had Twitter Feeds, blog posts, Scoop Its, feeds from journals, all in one place!  There were video links, and as well as Wiki links.  The one highlighted was Elementary Library Routines. This is all just on the main home page.  There are nine other tabs including one for previously posted videos (all 331 of them).  There is a tab called My Page if I were to join it.  I could customize to what I wanted. I can see all the members listed under the members tab; there are over 7,000.  I am not surprised since Joyce Valenza is the creator.  I also notice that there are other groups within this site that are even more specific.  I saw one for Information Fluency, and one to discuss Harry Potter as well as one for Inquiry Circles.  There are over 60 specific groups to join to tailor it to your interests or needs.

I also visited http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/06/12-best-ning-groups-for-teachers-to.html to learn about more Nings.  A few of these 12 were not "found" but most were.  Some of these were, Classroom 2.0, ISTE community, and Technology Integration in Education. 

I think that a Ning would be ideal when I become a librarian.  It would be great to have this social network for my school.  On it, could be the latest library news, book trailers, tweets, blog posts, and links to technology integration websites.  If all of these things are at a teacher's fingertips, they will be effortlessly exposed to much more information than if left to finding it on their own.  There could also be a chat tab for topics of interest or concern.  It seems very easy to set up and could be very user friendly.  

Thing 16-Video Sharing

I thought I'd begin with my embedded video of the most beautiful libraries in the U.S.  Enjoy!

Of course, most people have seen YouTube videos at some point.  Links are usually sent out because they are funny or simply amazing.  There is much to be entertained by on YouTube and that alone is wonderful.  However, there are so many other reasons to visit YouTube.  You can learn so much.  I learned how to stain concrete floors.  (I am thinking of doing this in one of my closets as a first try experiment.)  I even learned how to ride a horse from some middle school girls who posted this as a project.  You can also get recipes, design ideas and fashion tips there.   I have used it for recipes and it is fun to be able to watch and do and pause as needed.

On Teacher Tube, I found that you can be very specific in your video search.  Who knew that you could find videos not only on broad topics such as Living and Non-Living Things but also on specific animals like Mako Sharks or Chickens.  There are even experiment videos.  I have not used TeacherTube much except at home.  In my district, YouTube and Teacher Tube are blocked. Right now, we only have access to Discovery Learning (United Streaming), Pebble Go, and a couple of other sites for information.  All teachers will have to either complete all the NETS tasks or perform a series of tasks in order to receive permission to use YouTube.  This must be done by December 6 so next semester, I will have access!!

I am excited for this new avenue to open up at school.  It will not only be passive watching but interactive with experiments, discussions and response work.  Students will have the opportunity to learn from yet another resource and isn't this the point of information?

Thing 11-Playing In The Sandbox

"Playing In The Sandbox" is a fun term.  It lets you see how many ways you can interact on a Wiki.  I added my blog address to the favorite blogs page so that other students can see that I visited there.  I then created a new page on the Wiki.  On that page, I created a table that lists several categories of my favorite things such as foods, restaurants, activities, vacation spots and vacation spots I hope to visit.  I also embedded a You Tube video of exciting white water rafting in New Zealand.  Maybe I will get there one day!

This let me know that a Wiki can include just about anything you want including getting to know your students better as individuals.  It does not only have to be about the assignments!

Thing 14-Prezi-a presentation tool

I first began using Prezis this past summer for a class.  I made one to convince a school board to switch our library over to an Open Source System.  This second Prezi is one that I share with my parents on ways they can easily help their child at home.


http://prezi.com/jrfomhfwi8cp/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Thing 13-Online Applications and Tools

Here at home, I have a Mac so I use icloud for my personal documents and photos.  I don't have to worry about my computer crashing and then I lose this important stuff.
I created my Google Drive Account here at home and I can see how useful this is for school documents and presentations. Instead of having to save and send as an email or saving to a thumb drive, I can just keep it in Google Drive and access anywhere.  What I like is that if I am working on a staff presentation or a team document, others can give their input and add updates as needed.  This is so useful and would make things far more efficient and productive!

Speaking of efficient,  my brother gave me a Livescribe pen last semester.  This pen allows me to record lectures and also keeps track of everything I write on special dot matrix paper.  I can touch anywhere on the paper and listen to exactly what was being said in the classroom at the moment I was writing those notes.  I can then upload the recorded information, including written, to Livescribe desktop to be reviewed later. If I upgrade the pen, information will be able to be saved or sent directly to a Google Doc.   I am having issues with the pen lately but I sure love the technology when it is working.  It is a great tool for many reasons but it would be especially good for students taking note heavy or technical classes.
I also played around with a form in Google Docs and here it is...
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/13eRlHGaJRRG8IvmW_yUzLXLwpsuiq7b-Z65HCHos7Vw/viewform#start=openformhttps://docs.google.com/forms/d/13eRlHGaJRRG8IvmW_yUzLXLwpsuiq7b-Z65HCHos7Vw/viewform#start=openform

I joined Evernote and plan to explore this more fully.  I know it has such great organizing abilities.  Anything that has to do with organizing is a winner in my book.

Thing 12-Twitter

Okay so now I belong to Twitter! (username: kmcgin5151)   I don't really have a burning need for it at this time of my life but I will certainly give it a fair shake.

I searched for and found some people that I know.  Not much really posted by them.  Also, my school does not tweet as of yet. At first, I was a little confused when I saw a bunch of tweets come up for things I did not choose to follow.  Then I saw the small print that these are suggested posts based on who I chose to follow and what they were following.  Interesting!

It seems most useful for those that have their own business and can use this to promote it or to send out professional ideas or information.  I always thought that the perfect use for Twitter is by food trucks.  They can tweet out exactly where they are located on any given day/hour and their loyal followers can find them.  I think it would be good for actors, dancers, and musicians as they perform at different locations.  They can advertise any last minute events or changes.
I enjoyed discovering the funny things posted by people such as "funny or die" and comedians' various posts.

I can really see a librarian having fun with tweeting as he/she promotes events and new books.
I am honestly not sure how much I will tweet personally but professionally I can see me doing this when I become a librarian.  It's quick and easy.

I plan to play around more and see what else I can discover.  I like how you can customize in privacy settings like Facebook or Pinterest.

Thing 10-Wikis

It was great to see such a wide variety of Wikis examples.  Obviously, teachers of students of all ages have found them useful.
 Some were used generally to post pictures of school events and others could post pictures that they had as well.  Other Wikis had a page for each class that they taught.  Elementary teachers had a page for each subject area and also just to post great student work.  I saw some Wikis that were a specific author study.  For example, one Wiki's focus was Lois Lowry.  Students were working on reviews and projects about two of her books.
For older students, I can really see some genuine collaboration going on as the teacher posts a project of inquiry or exploration and students must upload what they discover and learn.  In this way, students are learning from each other as well as the teacher.
The teacher can also post notes from lessons and students can read them as many times as needed to understand a concept or topic.  They can also post questions or ideas or segues into new avenues of thinking.
Projects can be posted individually or as a collaboration.  Since these can be living documents, students can edit as needed as they go along.
I do understand the concern that some have about the "openness" of a Wiki and its susceptibility to spam and vandalism. I have never used one at school up to this point.  My only experience is with the ones we are currently using, or have used, for our graduate classes but I think that if it's well monitored, then its ease of use and flexibility will outweigh the disadvantages.