This week we were charged with discussing the virtues of filtering school websites. I am late to the party not for my lazy personality but I really needed to understand some of the background before I could truly understand the controversies. I can see both sides of the issues. As a parent I am very cautious with what my children view online…I don’t block anything at home, but I am also right there when they are online and we have had numerous conversations about online etiquette and proper searching. Often when they have found sites that they like I will just bookmark them. A lot of discussion was with my younger son…he is 8 now. He loves the computer! In fact limiting computer time was punishment during potty training. The stories that I could tell…but will spare you. But he LOVES YouTube! He loves videos on legos, Star Wars, Star Wars Legos, silly claymation videos and videos of talking produce. When he first started using YouTube I was concerned, he has a lot of trouble spelling and reading and would this end up taking him to scandalous sites?? Like others have said if you type in White House.com you get something that is not Obama! I debated with my husband on whether we should block him from using YouTube but I saw it as a teachable moment. We told him that he was being entrusted to look appropriately and use his very best judgment. If he stumbled across something that made him feel that it wasn’t something that he should be watching than he needed to tell me. We has been really faithful with this…really his only filter is his older sister who is constantly looking over his shoulder to monitor his viewing habits. I have gone back and looked at his history, and while his taste in videos is interesting he is doing what he is supposed to do. Don’t think that my job is done I am constantly observing and monitoring but I do let them have a certain amount of freedom…to discover and learn for themselves…I won’t always be there and I want them to have the skills to help themselves.
So I guess that I answered the question all on my own already. I don’t think that filtering is a good idea. Children live in a digital age and have to be taught and given the right tools to learn on their own what is right and wrong. In one of the articles with Michael Gras and Scott Floyd they stated that No usable filter is perfect, and the best filter is achieved through training the child to behave responsibility. Proactive steps are taken in making sure the students are aware of policies, problem avoidance, and appropriate behaviors. I thought this to be true and so important.
For students it becomes frustrating when they can’t access information. Relevant, factual information that is key to their research is often blocked because of a word or phrase. It is frustrating to see them want to learn and understand but be limited by a word. We live in a world where information is in their face. In the blink of an eye information is at their finger tips. Students must be taught how to handle this information rather than be kept from it. If we continually limit their interaction with it they will not be able to handle it. It is our job not to judge what students should and not see or experience but give them the tools in which to understand and filter themselves. Horrible things are happening all around us…just look at the horrible story at Penn State. The story is everywhere, I can limit what my children hear, but they still can glean from what they do hear and make up the rest. It is my job to talk to them in a way that they will understand and in words that they can handle to help them understand without all the details what has happened and why it is important to know what is going on. We need to do this with our students. We can’t limit…if we do they will never learn. If we filter who is to say what is deemed inappropriate. If I say we need to filter Hitler and Nazis because of all the horrible things they did than we are denying that it ever happened. If I say that rape and sex are bad than we silence victims of abuse. How than does this become anything more than banning books, or free speech.
We have to educate not filter our students…wow I guess I did have an opinion…
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
Podcasting a go-go!
OK I promised my self that I would not dump a thousand ideas on you about this subject. This is one of my most favorite things we do in the library…I will try to restrain myself.
First let me state that when I started this job I had no idea what a podcast was or how to make one. It took some time to understand how to use the program but once you do it it is so easy you will think of a hundred things to do with it. So do be afraid! I will send you helpful tutorials...just ask!
The project that I love the most is the “This I believe project.” I talked about it at the beginning of the semester. I will post a link again. But this is based on the NPR program, students are asked to write an essay that lets them express what they believe. Students record the essays and incorporate free music to add depth to their recordings. Listening to them you are met with a depth of feeling and emotion that most of these students do not share on a daily basis. They struggle with adult things and they are honest with their thoughts. Some are funny, some are tragic, and some will make you cry. It is a very moving project, and I am honored when I am invited to hear their words. Here is a link to the project and listen to some of their recordings http://web001.greece.k12.ny.us/webpages/arcadialibrary/english.cfm?subpage=30628
For this project there is a writing component, and we work with the teacher and the class to walk them through how to podcast, use Audacity, the editing software…its free! and how to save it correctly...which quite honestly is the biggest challenge that we face when making a podcast.
Another fun thing to do is to create stations and use it as a component of that station. Many of our Social Studies and ELA teachers put short video clips on the iPod to show students as a part of a lesson. Students can watch and listen to short videos that enhance the lesson. We download clips from sites that our BOCES subscribes to, from Teacher Tube, or YouTube. We also can add sound clips to for students to listen to; we have used recordings from Supreme Court proceedings and radio addresses.
A project that I developed last year with the LOTE department has also evolved and grown. I had an Italian teacher who wanted to help her prepare her regents students for their conversation final. I suggested that they could record their conversations, post them to their teacher’s site and they could access each others and use them for practice. We thought that we would do this project three times during the year. In the fall students would work their partner and write the conversation in English and then convert it, record it and post it. The second time they had to write it in Italian first and then record they could use a dictionary. By the third time students had to write the conversation without the aid of anything, to help simulate the final. They than recorded the conversation and posted the link. Students really liked this process and felt that it helped them understand and prepare for the final. We have archived the podcasts so others can listen to them and use them. We have since expanded to Spanish, and German.
You can use podcasting to add and enhance PowerPoint…especially great if you have shy students, or one who have trouble speaking in public. Create a podcast and import it to the PowerPoint to play along with the slides. There are a ton of different ways to use podcast that isn’t just a book review…which is still an excellent use of podcasts! Let me know if you want further information on any of these projects or other ideas that I didn’t talk about…its so much fun!
First let me state that when I started this job I had no idea what a podcast was or how to make one. It took some time to understand how to use the program but once you do it it is so easy you will think of a hundred things to do with it. So do be afraid! I will send you helpful tutorials...just ask!
The project that I love the most is the “This I believe project.” I talked about it at the beginning of the semester. I will post a link again. But this is based on the NPR program, students are asked to write an essay that lets them express what they believe. Students record the essays and incorporate free music to add depth to their recordings. Listening to them you are met with a depth of feeling and emotion that most of these students do not share on a daily basis. They struggle with adult things and they are honest with their thoughts. Some are funny, some are tragic, and some will make you cry. It is a very moving project, and I am honored when I am invited to hear their words. Here is a link to the project and listen to some of their recordings http://web001.greece.k12.ny.us/webpages/arcadialibrary/english.cfm?subpage=30628
For this project there is a writing component, and we work with the teacher and the class to walk them through how to podcast, use Audacity, the editing software…its free! and how to save it correctly...which quite honestly is the biggest challenge that we face when making a podcast.
Another fun thing to do is to create stations and use it as a component of that station. Many of our Social Studies and ELA teachers put short video clips on the iPod to show students as a part of a lesson. Students can watch and listen to short videos that enhance the lesson. We download clips from sites that our BOCES subscribes to, from Teacher Tube, or YouTube. We also can add sound clips to for students to listen to; we have used recordings from Supreme Court proceedings and radio addresses.
A project that I developed last year with the LOTE department has also evolved and grown. I had an Italian teacher who wanted to help her prepare her regents students for their conversation final. I suggested that they could record their conversations, post them to their teacher’s site and they could access each others and use them for practice. We thought that we would do this project three times during the year. In the fall students would work their partner and write the conversation in English and then convert it, record it and post it. The second time they had to write it in Italian first and then record they could use a dictionary. By the third time students had to write the conversation without the aid of anything, to help simulate the final. They than recorded the conversation and posted the link. Students really liked this process and felt that it helped them understand and prepare for the final. We have archived the podcasts so others can listen to them and use them. We have since expanded to Spanish, and German.
You can use podcasting to add and enhance PowerPoint…especially great if you have shy students, or one who have trouble speaking in public. Create a podcast and import it to the PowerPoint to play along with the slides. There are a ton of different ways to use podcast that isn’t just a book review…which is still an excellent use of podcasts! Let me know if you want further information on any of these projects or other ideas that I didn’t talk about…its so much fun!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Collaboration
I love to collaborate with my teachers! It makes my day to think I helped to make a difference in my students lives. Being a teacher librarian it is crucial that we learn to collaborate with other teachers. This relationship is the key to the foundation of a successful library. We are there to aid and assist others in their pursuit of information and if we can bring that to them and create and aid in their lessons than they begin to depend on us and want to work with us all the time...and well that just makes me happy. When my library is empty I fear I did something wrong, did I anger someone, don't they like me? But when my phone is ringing off the hook and I have five classes going I am the most happy...cause I know that they like me...they really like me...little humor for the post 40 crowd...google it. But I also know that they need me and want to provide something different for their students.
One of the fears I had when I thought about working with high school students was knowing the content. I had horrible flashbacks to 10th grade algebra...I still shudder at the thought! How in the heck was I going to teach math or chemistry? But I had to learn that I am not the content area teacher I am the teacher librarian. My job is not to teach math...thankfully but instead work with the math department to find resources that support and enhance what they are already learning...which is good since I can't even help my 6th grader do her math. I don't have to teach physics but I can provide the window in which they can test gravity by tossing pumpkins out of it. OK that is not a good example...but it was really fun though! One example of the type of collaboration that we do is with science and it began with two earth science teachers who wanted to find some ways to help students learn vocab words. We developed a lesson that students would create interactive games to create interesting ways of defining their vocab words. Working in pairs the students choose their games and created their answers. From there the students from each of the two classes graded and commented on each others work. We saved the student work in a shared drive and students could access the games at any time. The result was more than anyone hoped for. Not only were students engaged, but they collaborated with each other, they were excited to play the different games and they were honest when it came time to judge each other. They said they really learned a lot and many can be seen going back and replaying the games to study. Since last year we have also added physics, chemistry and biology. We use http://superteachertools.com/ to create the games.
We podcast with everyone from LOTE to English to business to science. We help create movies and advertisement for health to forensics to sports marketing to history. We use a lot of technology in our library and many teachers are often too afraid to use it. So we make it easy for them, we walk along side of them and teach them as we teach the students. If the class is podcasting so is the teacher. If they feel comfortable with it than they will want to try it again. Or they will want to use it in a different way. We are always trying to learn and develop new programs that will enhance student learning. We just purchased new webcams so we can Skype with authors and take virtual field trips to the art gallery for lessons that will cover many different subjects and not just art. I would love to create a wiki for the library and allow student work to be added. I would love to create a bigger space to include book reviews, book suggestions and a forum for our students to talk more about what they are reading. Many of our participants of the summer reading program stayed behind to continue to talk about their books even as class was ending. I would like to provide a forum for them to continue to hold discussions like this.
I realize that not everyone is going to want to collaborate with me or use what the library offers. I am OK with that. But I am not going to stop wanting to support what you do and finding tools that you could use. I may tell you once in awhile that I found a cool website you might be interested in or if you need any DVDs or books that you might want for your class that I would happy to purchase it for the library for you to use. That way when and if you are ready to collaborate on a project I will be there waiting for you.
Collaboration is what makes us valuable to others and in turn what gives us the greatest feeling of fulfillment.
One of the fears I had when I thought about working with high school students was knowing the content. I had horrible flashbacks to 10th grade algebra...I still shudder at the thought! How in the heck was I going to teach math or chemistry? But I had to learn that I am not the content area teacher I am the teacher librarian. My job is not to teach math...thankfully but instead work with the math department to find resources that support and enhance what they are already learning...which is good since I can't even help my 6th grader do her math. I don't have to teach physics but I can provide the window in which they can test gravity by tossing pumpkins out of it. OK that is not a good example...but it was really fun though! One example of the type of collaboration that we do is with science and it began with two earth science teachers who wanted to find some ways to help students learn vocab words. We developed a lesson that students would create interactive games to create interesting ways of defining their vocab words. Working in pairs the students choose their games and created their answers. From there the students from each of the two classes graded and commented on each others work. We saved the student work in a shared drive and students could access the games at any time. The result was more than anyone hoped for. Not only were students engaged, but they collaborated with each other, they were excited to play the different games and they were honest when it came time to judge each other. They said they really learned a lot and many can be seen going back and replaying the games to study. Since last year we have also added physics, chemistry and biology. We use http://superteachertools.com/ to create the games.
We podcast with everyone from LOTE to English to business to science. We help create movies and advertisement for health to forensics to sports marketing to history. We use a lot of technology in our library and many teachers are often too afraid to use it. So we make it easy for them, we walk along side of them and teach them as we teach the students. If the class is podcasting so is the teacher. If they feel comfortable with it than they will want to try it again. Or they will want to use it in a different way. We are always trying to learn and develop new programs that will enhance student learning. We just purchased new webcams so we can Skype with authors and take virtual field trips to the art gallery for lessons that will cover many different subjects and not just art. I would love to create a wiki for the library and allow student work to be added. I would love to create a bigger space to include book reviews, book suggestions and a forum for our students to talk more about what they are reading. Many of our participants of the summer reading program stayed behind to continue to talk about their books even as class was ending. I would like to provide a forum for them to continue to hold discussions like this.
I realize that not everyone is going to want to collaborate with me or use what the library offers. I am OK with that. But I am not going to stop wanting to support what you do and finding tools that you could use. I may tell you once in awhile that I found a cool website you might be interested in or if you need any DVDs or books that you might want for your class that I would happy to purchase it for the library for you to use. That way when and if you are ready to collaborate on a project I will be there waiting for you.
Collaboration is what makes us valuable to others and in turn what gives us the greatest feeling of fulfillment.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
RSS feeds
I really like RSS feeds. I started out pretty simply...news outlets and Irish dance info. Than I found fun stuff like the Onion and Cake Wrecks which piqued my interest even more into RSS feeds. Than I was asked to follow feeds for school...hmmm, not as fun. But I did end up finding some really interesting sites to follow and I haven't looked back since! I really enjoy RSS feeds, it allows me the opportunity to find information quickly without wasting time finding and contecting to all of the sites I really enjoy. Need a laugh go to Cake Wrecks, need info on the lastest library trend go to The Shifted Librarian.
I would love to use this tool in a school setting. I would love for students to use it as a means for keeping informed and up to date with current events but also as a way to express themselves.
Blogging is something that I would love to find time to do! I would love to write about my adventures in Irish dance and librarianship. I would love for it to be humorous and witty. I would love to have millions of followers who can not start their day without reading another of my witty, funny, inspiring posts. I would than like a book deal that takes all of my blogs and puts them in a book, and becomes so popular that they make a movie out of my life and my blog. Hmmm I suppose for that to happen I have to write more often than once a year. I also have to get over thinking I am talking to myself when I write one...I suppose I really am...
I really like blogs, I have followed many of them...until they become wildly popular, they get free products, free trips, and book deals...than I am just jealous. I think it is a wonderful way to view into another person's life and see their point of view. They are often funny, and often sad. I have learned a great deal reading blogs...one being that my life is not as crazy as some...while others make me incredibly blessed for the life I do have. I think they are a vehicle to express ourselves in a way that isn't offered in other web 2.0 tools.
Perhaps I will dust off my blog and give her another try...stay tuned!
I would love to use this tool in a school setting. I would love for students to use it as a means for keeping informed and up to date with current events but also as a way to express themselves.
Blogging is something that I would love to find time to do! I would love to write about my adventures in Irish dance and librarianship. I would love for it to be humorous and witty. I would love to have millions of followers who can not start their day without reading another of my witty, funny, inspiring posts. I would than like a book deal that takes all of my blogs and puts them in a book, and becomes so popular that they make a movie out of my life and my blog. Hmmm I suppose for that to happen I have to write more often than once a year. I also have to get over thinking I am talking to myself when I write one...I suppose I really am...
I really like blogs, I have followed many of them...until they become wildly popular, they get free products, free trips, and book deals...than I am just jealous. I think it is a wonderful way to view into another person's life and see their point of view. They are often funny, and often sad. I have learned a great deal reading blogs...one being that my life is not as crazy as some...while others make me incredibly blessed for the life I do have. I think they are a vehicle to express ourselves in a way that isn't offered in other web 2.0 tools.
Perhaps I will dust off my blog and give her another try...stay tuned!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Chapter 12 Reference Service: the Personal Side of Librarianship
David Tyckoson writes that "the reference librarian is the human face of the library"(p.128) and"the reference librarian remains one of the very few professionals that any member of the community may consult on a personal level"(p.134). Whenever I tell people that I am going back to school to be a librarian I am often met with the response "well that will be easy," or "they have degrees for that?" Have they ever given any thought to what a librarian does on a given day?
Growing up I spent a lot of time at our local library. It was a haven to me, a magical place that had floors that creaked, a certain comforting book smell and always seemed to be too hot, even in the winter. Up on the second floor was the children's area nestled in the back behind the fiction section. I loved going up there to find my next treasure. There was a wonderful woman who worked the second floor. I wonder if I ever knew her name. In my childhood innocence she knew everything and held all of the secrets the library had. She could find anything we asked her. It made a lasting impression on me. As I grew older she was still there to help me with research projects for school or finding new books that I might like. Even after all of these years I think of her and the impact she made on me. Her desire to serve, helped me become a lover of books and a life long learner.
As times have changed and technology has made it easier to find information, why am I still drawn to the librarian? I still love the personal connection I have when talking with a librarian. The exchange of ideas, thoughts, and similar pleasures always out win to the coldness of a computer. It takes a unique individual that can balance the traditional and the new. I believe that the role of a librarian is changing but there will always remain the desire for the "personal interaction" (p.145)that Tyckoson talks about.
The job is not as easy as it seems. Who else is called upon at a moments notice and find, locate, and suggest topics that they may know nothing about. What job requires someone to instantly understand a customer's request and fill it? Who else can inspire a child to try a book, even when they "hate to read?" Who is expected to answer technology questions, even if they have no clue as to what they are doing. That is a small chunk of what a librarian is responsible for. I wonder if it seems easy now?
Source:
Tyckoson, D. (2008). Reference Service: The Personnal Side of Librarianship. In Haycock, K., Sheldon, B. (Eds.) The Portable MLIS Insights From the Experts (pp.127-146). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
Growing up I spent a lot of time at our local library. It was a haven to me, a magical place that had floors that creaked, a certain comforting book smell and always seemed to be too hot, even in the winter. Up on the second floor was the children's area nestled in the back behind the fiction section. I loved going up there to find my next treasure. There was a wonderful woman who worked the second floor. I wonder if I ever knew her name. In my childhood innocence she knew everything and held all of the secrets the library had. She could find anything we asked her. It made a lasting impression on me. As I grew older she was still there to help me with research projects for school or finding new books that I might like. Even after all of these years I think of her and the impact she made on me. Her desire to serve, helped me become a lover of books and a life long learner.
As times have changed and technology has made it easier to find information, why am I still drawn to the librarian? I still love the personal connection I have when talking with a librarian. The exchange of ideas, thoughts, and similar pleasures always out win to the coldness of a computer. It takes a unique individual that can balance the traditional and the new. I believe that the role of a librarian is changing but there will always remain the desire for the "personal interaction" (p.145)that Tyckoson talks about.
The job is not as easy as it seems. Who else is called upon at a moments notice and find, locate, and suggest topics that they may know nothing about. What job requires someone to instantly understand a customer's request and fill it? Who else can inspire a child to try a book, even when they "hate to read?" Who is expected to answer technology questions, even if they have no clue as to what they are doing. That is a small chunk of what a librarian is responsible for. I wonder if it seems easy now?
Source:
Tyckoson, D. (2008). Reference Service: The Personnal Side of Librarianship. In Haycock, K., Sheldon, B. (Eds.) The Portable MLIS Insights From the Experts (pp.127-146). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
Chapter 11 Information Retrieval
Finding the right piece of information is critical when writing and researching. Our ability to find vast amounts of useful information has expediently grown with the birth of the computers and the Internet. You can type in one word and receive a million hits all relating to the word or phrase you typed in. However, when looking for something specific it often feels like you can never find what you are looking for.
Understanding the abilities of different search systems will help decrease the levels of frustration when we are unable to locate a certain piece of information. With some it can be a certain word that the program doesn't understand, it could be the sentence structure, too wide of a search or too narrow. If one does not understand what the limitations are of the system we will not receive our desired results. We also need to understand as Weedman states that"very few researchers find the information in a single search"(p.122). We need to try multiple searches to find as much information as possible. I think we have grown accustomed to instant access that will immediately solve our search situation. But just a few years ago we would have gone to other sources trying to find as much information as possible. I remember filling an entire library table with books as I tried to write a history paper, one source was not going to be enough information.
Understanding how information is stored so it can be retrieve is very important. It is key in locating the information that we want.
Source:
Weedman, J.(2008) Information Retrieval: Designing, Querying, and Evaluating Information Systems. In Haycock, K. & Sheldon, B. (Eds.), The Portable MLIS Insights From the Experts (pp.112-126). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
Understanding the abilities of different search systems will help decrease the levels of frustration when we are unable to locate a certain piece of information. With some it can be a certain word that the program doesn't understand, it could be the sentence structure, too wide of a search or too narrow. If one does not understand what the limitations are of the system we will not receive our desired results. We also need to understand as Weedman states that"very few researchers find the information in a single search"(p.122). We need to try multiple searches to find as much information as possible. I think we have grown accustomed to instant access that will immediately solve our search situation. But just a few years ago we would have gone to other sources trying to find as much information as possible. I remember filling an entire library table with books as I tried to write a history paper, one source was not going to be enough information.
Understanding how information is stored so it can be retrieve is very important. It is key in locating the information that we want.
Source:
Weedman, J.(2008) Information Retrieval: Designing, Querying, and Evaluating Information Systems. In Haycock, K. & Sheldon, B. (Eds.), The Portable MLIS Insights From the Experts (pp.112-126). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
Chapter 15 Research
Research should be a key component in every discipline. It helps to define how we are changing, what impact we are having on our patrons and what can we do better. Research is ultimatly learning about something that you want to know more of.
Ron Powell states that "virtually every definition of profession indicates that it should have a solid theoretical base of knowledge as its foundation: it follows that if a profession is going to advance, its practitioners must be engaged in creating new knowledge relevant to that profession."(p.176) As our profession is changing we need to establish a solid way to help support who we are and why we should exist. Powell also stated that a study showed "that over 90% of LIS practitioners regularly read research-based journals"(p.177). There is a desire for quality based information that will help us understand what we need to do to improve ourselves. I like finding out what we are doing right and change what is not working. I want our library to be an amazing space. I also want our students to learn what they need to succeed, to be able to move up to the next level. Without state standards to guide me, how will I know how I am doing. We need to promote developing methods of research that can determine what impact we have on student learning.
As our profession changes we need the ability to qualify and quantify our existence with facts and figures not "assumptions" and "past-practices"(p.176). I can not assume my students are learning how to use a database without asking them and evaluating the data. I can't assume that a student understands my directions on how to use an iPod until they create a podcast. From there the information needs to be shared. I think that collaborating our research findings will defiantly make us a stronger profession willing to understand who we are.
Source:
Powell, R. (2008). Research. In Haycock, K. & Sheldon, B. (Eds.), The Portable MLIS, Insights From the Experts (pp.168-178). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
Ron Powell states that "virtually every definition of profession indicates that it should have a solid theoretical base of knowledge as its foundation: it follows that if a profession is going to advance, its practitioners must be engaged in creating new knowledge relevant to that profession."(p.176) As our profession is changing we need to establish a solid way to help support who we are and why we should exist. Powell also stated that a study showed "that over 90% of LIS practitioners regularly read research-based journals"(p.177). There is a desire for quality based information that will help us understand what we need to do to improve ourselves. I like finding out what we are doing right and change what is not working. I want our library to be an amazing space. I also want our students to learn what they need to succeed, to be able to move up to the next level. Without state standards to guide me, how will I know how I am doing. We need to promote developing methods of research that can determine what impact we have on student learning.
As our profession changes we need the ability to qualify and quantify our existence with facts and figures not "assumptions" and "past-practices"(p.176). I can not assume my students are learning how to use a database without asking them and evaluating the data. I can't assume that a student understands my directions on how to use an iPod until they create a podcast. From there the information needs to be shared. I think that collaborating our research findings will defiantly make us a stronger profession willing to understand who we are.
Source:
Powell, R. (2008). Research. In Haycock, K. & Sheldon, B. (Eds.), The Portable MLIS, Insights From the Experts (pp.168-178). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
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