Thing 26 -- More Things on a Stick

I joined the 23 Things on a Stick Ning last year in Round 1. I tried posting a question, but didn’t get any contributions or commentary. This time around, I took down the old question and reframed it as a new question as a discussion. I also created a “School Librarian – Media Center” group, so that I could find local teacher-librarians. I did join a group in the initial round called “Teacher Librarian Ning” that had some useful information and discussions. I thought I would try to do the same thing within our own little group.

I also left a comment for a metro area school librarian because I went to her school’s media website and liked how it was organized.

I would love to be able to use this forum for getting and sharing ideas from other people who work in a school. However, given that no one commented on my discussion for a year, I’m not sure how practical that might be.

Thing 22 – Planning Ahead

I find that I will miss the demand of 23 things. It’s easier for me to meet a challenging deadline than it is to make time for things I want to do. But I am glad that I am being asked to create a plan—I do have the capacity to create a plan and stick to it. (Sometimes, anyway…)

So here goes—

1. I have signed up for Web Junction and subscribed to the Crossroads newsletter. That will get me to look in at specific times.
2. I am already enjoying getting emails from the Ning sessions that I commented on. I plan to stop there when I have an occasional question or to see what people are talking about.
3. I have made “iGoogle” my home page, so that I check the feeds I subscribe to on a daily basis (at least). I also can check my Yahoo mail there with a widget and I subscribed to technology and education news sites so that I frequent updates.
4. I will be using many of the early tools on a regular basis. I have already used Flickr and Big Huge Labs for signs, I will be using them for a student project soon, and I will be exploring podcasts in the not too distant future. We will also be considering having our students use Blogger to correspond with our partner school in Israel, since Blogger is Hebrew capable. How cool is that?
5. Given that I am a former writing teacher, I think I will be able to make time for blogging. My only fear is that no one will read what I write. (That is what Site Meter has suggested lately.) Still, that never stopped me before. I may, however rename it or create a new one. If I do, I will put the link into my 23 things blog.
6. I will share with my fellow teachers. One of the best ways that I have discovered to sharpen and to retain my skills in any given area is to share what I have learned. I plan to offer opportunities for the teachers at my school to learn some of what I have learned during this course. They may not be sure at first, but…
7. I plan to teach students how to use some of the tools we have been exploring. I especially want to show them Google Docs and the power of Wikis, the value of using a Research project calculator, and the wisdom of using something like ELM.

I have benefited greatly from the experience of doing these things. I look forward to looking forward to Library 2.0 and counting!

Thing 21 -- Other Social Networking

After reading the articles that you listed, I found myself somewhat curious about how I could use these social networks. I don’t live on line at home, and wouldn’t really want my elementary and middle school students contacting me that way anyhow. (Not that they would want to talk to the librarian outside of school—EWWW!) Anyway, I joined Ning for the 23 Things on a stick Group and the Teacher Librarian Ning. It was pretty interesting to look at and comment on some of the forum issues being discussed. The Teacher Librarian Ning had a forum on blogs, which I both subscribed to and added my own for some more traffic (I hope!).

I think the forum questions and responses might be useful to look at occasionally or to post to if I run into a professional question. But I find the feeds more useful because I can glance through those more easily in the morning when I get to work.

Again, given that I don’t live on line at home, I probably wouldn’t spend quite so much time looking at all this material if it weren’t for doing this program. But I am glad to get the exposure and to know that the opportunity is out there for when the time is available.

I will say that I found these options more useful for what I do and plan to do than Facebook. Being on Facebook simply makes me feel old. Sigh.