Thing 47 -- Survey Time

Well, I have to say I have enjoyed these classes. I haven't universally loved everything, but I have become much more fearless in trying things, both generally with technology and specifically with the Internet. And right now I have the pleasure of typing this entry on my own laptop that I just got today. I just spent far more time configuring everything than I would have thought possible. But part of that is that I now need to add my delicious bar, and all those other goodies (did I mention puzzle pirates?) that I have become accustomed to.

I am grateful to the powers that be for offering these programs on line. I came to being a librarian via the backdoor (I have a Ph.D. in English), and the work for these programs has made me much more confident in my ability to get the job done.

Thanks so much. Now it's time to play Puzzle Pirates and to watch the American Idol results show. Because sometimes I have to be shallow...

Enjoying and exploring

I found this cartoon at the blog, LibraryBytes. Somehow, I couldn't resist including it here.

So I have further used my 23 things: I have chatted via Facebook with my son in Greece (soon to be home in Minnesota for 2 weeks!), I have found lesson plans on water usage and the Jordan River in Israel, and I have become wicked good at bilging on Puzzle Pirates. (Okay, maybe a little TOO good at Puzzle Pirates...)

Seriously though, I have gotten more comfortable and more efficient at finding materials than I was before, and I was pretty good to start with. This past week I even found a bilingual (Hebrew-English) picture book about desert animals in the Negev for a first grade unit on, wait for it, desert animals in the Negev. And it's even adorable.

Well, enough self-praise. But I wouldn't have been quite so successful at this without the 23 things on a stick. So now I almost have time to play Puzzle Pirates again!

Thing 23 -- Evaluation

Doing this program has made me much more comfortable navigating some aspects of the web. I no longer assume that my students or children know more about things that I do. In fact, now I can see how much more I do understand than they do. That makes me aware too, though, of how much more I need to teach them. They may be digital natives, but sometimes those of us who are immigrants understand the nuances of language better.

My only disappointment in this program was how little other people seemed to comment on each other's blogs. I only received occasional (2 or 3) comments from people who weren't my friends who were reading my blog in that light. I tried to go out and comment on other people's work, and will continue to do so. I would have benefited from, and greatly enjoyed, more commentary from my professional peers. Perhaps you could try to sort people into groups--school librarians, public librarians, etc.--as a way to create a focus for people to "meet" electronically.

I have enjoyed so much about this program it's hard to be very specific. I found much of it directly linked to teaching that I have been doing or am now planning to do. But for sheer fun, I loved the photo sites like Flickr and Big Huge Labs, and I annoyed my family for several days after playing at being a pirate in Puzzle Pirates. What I have learned is already enabling me to help fellow teachers as well as students, and we are building many of these skills into our curriculum maps for the future.

I do hope to repurpose this blog--or create a new incarnation with a new name. I will certainly post it here if I do so.

It has been a pleasure, and I appreciate having the opportunity to participate in this program.

Thing 15 -- On-Line Gaming

I experimented with Puzzle Pirates. I learned both to bilge and to carpent. I think the games are very appropriate for students in the upper part of my school (5 through 8), but I probably didn't play long enough to get a sense of how the interactions would go. I only interacted with the captains of each ship, and while entertaining, I found that I would forget to respond. I'm more accustomed to participating in games that involve my reading and solving puzzles, but not me interacting with other characters. I could see that this could be fun if people signed up with friends, so that you were interacting together.

Still, I'm not sure how much of a role this can play in school. Any games that are out on the Internet inherently are harder to control, and that makes it harder for parents and teachers to know how appropriate they are.

Nevertheless, I say, "Arggh! The Pirate Shalera bids thee fare well!"