Thing 7

Thing 7—Communication

I work in a small, k-8 school library which also has a specialized library for adults. (It’s a Jewish day school, so we have an adult Judaica section.) Email has not really been used by students, but I do respond to occasional adult requests by email. However, email is critical for my work with my teacher colleagues. It is the fastest and easiest way to make sure someone sees an idea or request without interrupting a class. (Voice mail seems like a parent thing at school, not a colleague thing.)

Right now, I can’t see the Web 2.0 tools being very useful to the students. Our catalogue, while computerized, is not easily accessible by anyone other than me. Our books are not bar coded. I still read Kindergarten handwriting on little cards from book pockets. We hope to upgrade (eventually), but as small private school, costs are somewhat prohibitive.

On the other hand, I found it wonderful to discover the Minitex web conferences. While I couldn’t do a live one, I watched the webinar on del.icio.us and it was wonderful. I immediately went and set up my account and have told a number of teachers about it. I also think that some of these videos we have been directed to would be useful for our upper-school students as part of our technology training.

I haven’t yet tried to use chat, although I am corralling some of my friends into trying it with me. But I steadfastly refuse to do text messaging. My spouse has a Blackberry, and let’s just say it’s a topic I am becoming increasingly homicidal about. ;-)