Week 4: Things 8 & 9: RSS and Library Feeds

I’m hooked on RSS feeds- so easy, so convenient, and such a time saver.  What was I waiting for? Why didn’t I do this sooner?  I’m almost kicking myself.  I added Read Roger (Horn Book), The Children’s Room (Springfield VT Town Library), Picture Book of the Day, PlanetEsme and many more.  I suspect some of these will help keep me up to date on new picture books and make me a better member of the Red Clover Committee.  I’d love other suggestions on feeds to add, especially any related to being a k-6 library media specialist.

Does anyone know why some blogs/sites cannot be added?  I was hoping to include the SurRural Librarian and the VSLA site but couldn’t get them to work.  

I’m not sure if I will use this with students, but I would love to demo it for teachers.  It’s a great way to keep up to date on news and events in the field.  Perhaps we need a working inservice where we can assist teachers in finding and feeding useful sites and blogs in the field of education.  I certainly plan to spend more time thinking about how to use this tool more and how to educate others about it.

Week 3: thing 6: Ravelry

I see that social networking is coming up so I thought I’d share a little about a site I love.  I’m not that into social networking in general but I am into knitting.  Ravelry is a social networking site for knitters (and crocheters too) and I love it.  Using Ravelry I can organize my knitting projects like so:

 

Other Ravelers can comment on my projects or “favorite them” (the little hearts represent how many times a project has been selected as a favorite).  From each project you can link to other projects by different knitters but from the same pattern, or the same yarn.  The possibilities are endless.  I use this to decide whether or not to knit a pattern, which yarn to use, to discover new patterns, to see what other knitters are doing and how they are solving problems, and so on.  Here are some of the favorites I’ve selected, which helps me keep track of what I want to knit next:

It really is an incredible *free* service with all of the features of a social networking site: forums, groups (I’m in the VT knitters group and the Librarian knitters group of course).  It’s an excellent way to compare work, look for new ideas, talk to others, ask or answer questions, and waste a lot of time!

Is there anything like this out there for librarians?  Anything like this out there about children’s literature?  I would love to hear about it if there is.

PS. This is another use for Flickr- all of my knitting photos are in my flickr account which feeds them to Ravelry.  

Week 3: things 5 & 6: Flickr

I have used Flickr with kids many times.  I’ve had them create magazine covers and posters, badges and trading cards.  The trading cards were perfect when Mudball (Matt Tavares) was a Red Clover Book- our whole school made trading cards- faculty included.  This past year I used the badges as an assessment for fifth and sixth graders- each student created a badge putting the school’s acceptable use policy in their own words.  We printed these out and I laminated them.  They loved it.  Here are some  versions I modified to keep our students anonymous:

Week 2, things 3 & 4: blogging

Well, I have already set up my blog and written a few posts, so it is time to register my blog with Vermont’s 23 Things.  I’m a bit ahead of schedule but that is the beauty of a self-paced educational experience!  

Week 1: thing 2: lifelong learning

Hmmm… having just watched the slide show on lifelong learning I am left scratching my head.  It was well organized and thoughtful, but if you are already a lifelong learner, do you really need such basic “habits” spelled out for you?  There was nothing earth-shaking there.  Having said that, I suppose it does outline the steps that many of us take without thinking much about it.  

We are being asked to elaborate on which of the habits is hardest for us and which is easiest.  I would say that most of the habits come easily to me:  

• I do set small goals for myself 
• I am a very self directed learner
• I overcome obstacles 
• I believe I have the ability to learn new things
• I’m a librarian- so of course I create a “toolbox” of resources as I learn
• I use technology in a variety of ways
• I teach others (another trait of a librarian, no?), sometimes even when they don’t want to learn.

The hardest for me is definitely habit 7 and 1/2: Play.  I can get way too serious about my learning and forget to have fun with it.  This was a good reminder of what all good teachers know: the best learning happens when you are having fun.  

 

Week 1, Thing 1: about Vermont’s 23 things

I’m spending some time this summer exploring Web 2.0 tools with Vermont’s 23 things. This opportunity really appeals to me as an independent learner.  I’m looking forward to learning at my own pace and on my own schedule.