These were fun “things” to play around with and I really enjoyed them! I was familiar with Flickr but had only used it a few times so this gave me the excuse to further explore what it has to offer. But then when I went to check out some of the fun, and I do mean fun, Flickr mashups and tools that Michael suggested I got even more excited. The 17+ Things to Do with your Online Photos offered so many neat and creative ideas! Students would just go crazy playing around with their pictures and creating some of these very cool projects. ALA’s Read Mini Poster Generator(my attempt at right) would be a great incentive idea to get kids excited about reading. What third grader wouldn’t love to see their picture on a “READ” poster posted in the library because they read a certain amount of books or were a member of a book club. What about having these posters feature teachers holding their favorite books! What a powerful way to help showcase books and promote reading!
I can see how a Wiki would be a great communication tool for teachers and librarians. Teachers can post the units/topics for the month that they will be covering and the librarian could respond with a post citing the different resources/activities that the library has to support the units/topics being taught. Lessons and collaboration ideas could be shared as well. Other teacher librarians within the district could respond and posts things that they are doing at their schools with their teachers and pretty soon there is a Wiki chalk full of wonderful resources that will benefit all the teachers, librarians, and most important, the STUDENTS, in the entire district!
I had previously heard of podcasts but had never accessed them until now. When I first started searching around for podcasts that interested me, I was having a bit of a hard time finding what I wanted. I think part of the problem was that I wasn’t sure WHAT I wanted. I guess I was unsure as to how podcasts could be of a benefit to me and the students in the library.
After a little exploring I came across some great podcasts on the NPR website. There were several podcasts that featured children’s stories read aloud as well as reviews of children’s books. I can imagine the students in the library being able to sit at the computers listening to stories read to them through the podcasts. And I, as the librarian, responsible for ordering resources for the library, would benefit from listening to the podcasts that featured reviews. This then lead to me thinking that I could work with students to record their own reviews of books that they have read. In addition, classrooms could record a weekly podcast to share with the rest of the school telling about all the exciting things that are going on in their classrooms!
I can’t wait to research more about podcasts and uses for them in the school library. I’m sure the possibilities are endless!
I created a Google Reader account and I’m really enjoying it. I find myself checking it quite often to see what new feeds have come my way. I’ve subscribed to about six different feeds/blogs and there seems to be so many more out there that would be of interest to me. I understand now what people mean when they say it can become addictive!!
I’ve mainly subscribed to school library blogs that I’m hoping to get ideas and wisdom from in regards to running an elementary school library. So far I’ve received some valuable info from the posts I’ve read and I’m eager to read more. I’ve also subscribed to a few blogs that provide book/media reviews that will be a great help to me when it’s time purchase new materials. I’m so thankful that I’ve learned to take advantage of this RSS technology!
