Thing 4 -- My Hometown

New Kensington Pennsylvania by Joseph Nicholson

I looked for images from my hometown, and found a wonderful photo collection on Flickr. My hometown is an old rust belt town that has become, as the photographer calls it, a ghost town. The images are haunting. I can't link to the particular photo, but I am including a link to the set of pictures of the town. The link is ttp://www.flickr.com/photos/joeinfulleffect/sets/72157600225626992/

It's a sad, but moving testimonial to the impact of an industry leaving a one-industry town.

But, lest you think that the area is only sad, I've attached a photo of one of the near-by state parks, called Kooser State Park. My family spent a great deal of time camping in my childhood, and we spent many weekends at this park. The photo is by 1CraftyLady.

Thing 3--RSS Feeds

I am glad that I waited several days before I responded to using RSS, because I find that my reaction has changed. The process of working my way through setting up the reader and figuring out how to include blogs and feeds in the reader, and then trying to post some of them as listings on my own blog proved confusing and difficult. But now that I have waited, I have become more of a believer.

I now have figured out how to list Google reader as one of my shortcuts, and then I can just pop in and read anything new that looks interesting. This morning, I found my son's new posting from Greece (how much travel is he planning while he is there?!), some new 23 things listings in blogs, and an item in the School Library Media that related to curriculum at MY school that I could pass along to the appropriate teachers. And all of this before my first cup of tea at work!

I think that as I know what teachers are planning in their curriculum, I can pick up feeds on appropriate sites to help them find more material. Or, perhaps even better, I can teach THEM how to set up their own feeds so that they can be kept up to date on the material that they are trying to work with in their classes. We are a small school, and collaboration is very much a reality, so I think this idea could be very beneficial.

I am not sure any of the tools or feeds are particularly easy to use, but I did eventually figure them out. I am currently sticking with Google Reader, because that was the one I had the most material in by the time I worked out what I was doing.

The feeds I have found outside of the places the program suggested tend to be related to the specialized needs of my school (or its librarian!): one on Jewish Day Schools and my son's blog from Greece. I am glad that we are able to see each other's blogs--it helps me know where I am in the process. I have listed most of my finds in the folder called 23 Things to the right.

Thing 2 -- More on Library 2.0

I found Stephen Abram's video interesting. Perhaps I am just someone who always likes a challenge, but why would anyone be hesitant to embark on learning this material? I do have concerns--as a former writing teacher and as someone who cares about copyrights--about how people use another person's material, but I think that we need, as the video suggests, to learn by doing. I like the thought of meeting my students where they are, and I confess to finding personal satisfaction in impressing my 14 year old and my 20 year old by having a blog before them. (I did, however, only beat my 20 yr. old by a day or two. He is blogging during his semester in Athens, as the link soon to be posted beside here, indicates.)

The article "The Ongoing Web Revolution raises some of the concerns I have. I like, though, the idea that "trust drives change." As many people have noted, the web is currently like the wild west, with not much in the way of regulation or control. But as time passes, users or netizens will begin to police their own ranks, much as that wild west town chose a sheriff.

I just remembered where I found my analogy above--the UN Guide to the Internet for teens. It's fairly basic and focuses on social networking, but teachers out there might find it useful for the middle school aged student.

Thing 2 -- Responding to learning about Library 2.0

I’ve embarked on this journey of learning about “Library 2.0” via the 23 Things program for a number of reasons.

The Background
I am currently the sole librarian (at 72% time) at a private K to 8 school. Our library is unique insofar it also contains a rather substantial specialized adult collection that is used by our religious community as well as parents and teachers at our school. I am not, by training, a librarian—I have a doctorate in English. The school recently remodeled the library and computer lab to create a “Knowledge Center.” Since the Technology Specialist and I like to work together and to collaborate, the change is welcomed. As part of the process, the whole Knowledge Center is wireless-capable. Our goal as teachers is to make using technology a comfortable, yet safe way to find information while also making clear when books and other reference material might be more appropriate. I also hope to find ways to make our materials (and our skills at finding materials) available to the larger community. As of yet, our catalogue is not on-line.

Goals
I want to become more comfortable with various aspects of how various types of information technology works so that I can be more knowledgeable when dealing with students and their families. Often, students THINK they understand something, when in fact they only have a cursory knowledge. My colleague and I have surveyed students in the upper grades and have discovered that while they are comfortable using GOOGLE, they have no idea how to focus searches, how to evaluate sites, or how to navigate the sites once they find them. Yet students are far more fearless than most of my coworkers in trying the various options that technology offers. Young students are enjoying Club Penguin and Webkins, older students have Facebook accounts and IM, and a few have even experimented with web cams and their own websites. If I don’t become more familiar with the technology my students already use, I run the risk of not truly being able to help them when they need help.

I would like to be able to create a virtual community for our parents and teachers. Families and teachers often have such busy schedules that it is difficult to connect in thoughtful and meaningful ways. If we embrace the technologies that make these virtual connections possible, we might be able to strengthen our community at large.

I hope to continue learning about the ins and outs of research and possibility on the Internet. While I worked on my dissertation (back in the dark ages of the early 1990s), the Internet proved invaluable for me, since my topic was somewhat obscure. I gained a fair amount of confidence in navigating the materials that were then available. Clearly, if I were embarking on the same projects now, I would find vastly more information available. The trick is to keep aware of how to tell the useful from the junk.

Comments on Byberg’s article
Some of the material in this article seems more relevant to public libraries. Yet the uniqueness of my school library also being a community resource makes some of the observations relevant for me as well. I think the very nature of a school library makes it a place of collaboration and interaction. Because the Technology Specialist and I have team-taught the older students, the students have come to see technology and libraries as belonging together. Perhaps in the end, that is the comfortable goal. Now we just have to convince everyone else.

Thing 1 -- Avatar and Photo

It was fun to create the avatar but the choices for us more "mature" types are somewhat limited. I suppose I could have given in to my inner teenager, but no one really wants to see that. Uploading a photo was pretty easy too. Next time I have a chance I will try to add the site meter. So far, so good.

Thing 1--Learning the E-Way

Well, I have moved further down the road of learning by setting up this blog. I hope to use this space to explore the interconnections between my work as a K through 8 school librarian and my own learning in the realm of electronic media.

While I have always considered myself reasonably "tech-literate," the experience of setting up this blog has helped me find compassion and empathy with my students who get confused when they are given a task like scanning a web page or setting up an essay template. It's always good to remember to be humble.