The Good, The Bad, The Challenges

The start of a new school year always brings changes.  This year, the middle school where I work is dramatically changing its schedule.  The good news is that I no longer have to teach classes.  I will now have a completely flexible schedule.  The bad news is that the students no longer have any free time (study halls) to come to the library to select books, work on projects, read for pleasure.  Of course, every change brings new challenges, and I have two main challenges for this year.

My first challenge will be to build a stronger collaborative environment with my teachers.  Previously, I just did not have the time and flexibility in my schedule.  There were certain teachers and projects that I worked with, but overall, I was too tied down to with classes to reach out to more teachers.  So, I'm trying to be proactive before school starts.  I have created a packet of information to advertise what I have to offer at the library - description of offerings, example projects, and our research guide.  (see below)  I plan on starting small.  I want to focus on language arts and history, then I will broaden my scope to target science and specials as well.  I will be meeting with teachers individually and talk to them about how I can help them and what the library has to offer.

My second challenge will be to provide library opportunities for students without study halls.  I'm thinking about lunch passes of some sort, but that will needs to be worked out.

I would greatly appreciate any suggestions that you have.  How does the library scheduling work at your school?  When do students use the library? 

GLOG DESCRIPTION OF OFFERINGS

Example web2 projects for LA

View more documents from Miss Makatche.

PLUSS research guide

View more presentations from Miss Makatche.

Desk photo used under Creative Commons license from dcJohn.

It's Been Too Long

Eternal Learning of the Open Mind is open again for bogging.  I took the past year off from writing any posts.  Sometimes you just need a break ... but it's good to be back.

I have decided, though, that this blog will look a bit different than it has in the past.  Before, the focus was primarily on using technology.  I am going to expand it to include all my work as a librarian ... what I do to promote reading, how I help teachers with research, how our projects integrate technology.  I'll still highlight new technologies that I love, but those posts will be part of a larger variety of posts.

Open sign used under Creative Commons license from Tanakawho.

Mashup Heaven

"All it needs is a little salt . . . pepper, mustard, catchup, sauce, flavour." ~Trapper (M*A*S*H)

The photo mashup sites are like the salt, pepper, mustard, ketchup, and sauce that can be added to a photo to take it to the next level. A picture truly is worth a thousand words, and these mashup sites let you express the message you are trying to convey in a way pure words cannot!!! There are a ton out there, but here are my favorite four:

1) ImageChef - Provides you with hundreds of templates which you can modify for your own purposes. Some of the categories they include are signs, work, sports, music, characters, license plates, holidays, buttons, etc. Best of all, this site is soooo easy to use, especially when you don't have any of your own pictures off of which to work.

Example: This took me about 15 seconds to create!

Classroom Ideas: Jazz up your PowerPoints, wikis, and blogs.

2) Flickr Toys - You need a flickr account to be able to use this one. There are so many awesome toys here: create your own movie poster, magazine cover, ID badge, CD cover, jig-saw puzzle, trading cards, and much more.

Example: Here's my pathetic attempt at a magazine cover highlighting some spy novels. I apologize for the size of the picture here.

Classroom Ideas: historical figure trading cards, magazine cover about a book, poster about vocabulary words, movie poster about a country/nation, etc...

3. Bubblr - Create mini comic strips using pictures from flickr. This is site is so easy to use (and fun)! (no account necessary)

Example:

If you want to see a larger version click here:

Web 2.0 by Warrior Run

Classroom Ideas: storytelling, a fun way to summarize a current event, practice with grammatical concepts (adverbs, adjectives, prepositional phrases), poetry, etc.

4. Bookr - Create short books using photos from flickr (no account necessary).
Example:

Classroom Ideas: practicing synonyms and antonyms, poetry, figurative language, retell an historical event using few words and powerful pictures, vocabulary, book reports, etc...

Some other good image creator sites are:

add letters, fodey, picnik, spell with flickr

condiment photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/wordridden/2669139338/

Beginnings

My web 2.0 journey actually began in May of this past year after attending an eye-opening workshop by the always inspiring Joyce Valenza. (If you don't follow her blog NeverEndingSearch - what are you waiting for!) I have never been in a workshop where so much new information and so many new ideas were crammed into so little time . . . and so I had to explore more.

My biggest problem will be that I think I started the blogging process too late in my journey. I wish I could have taken this course 4 months ago. I have so many ideas and I have stumbled upon so many neat apps that I think I could sit here all day and night continuously blogging about it all. That said, I'm so glad that the first thing the web 2.0 class does is force me to start a blog. Now that I'm almost done my first entry I'm wondering, "why didn't I start blogging sooner?!?"

So, my goal for this class is to learn how to organize and process, in a more structured manner, the actual fruits of my life-long learning.

Photo by
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jim-ar/2195132024/in/set-72157606026728896/