Monday, March 19, 2012
Review of Learning 2.0 Assignment
For the most part, I liked the learning 2.0 assignment. I enjoy learning on my own, and the wiki was extremely helpful in giving plenty of information. I learned a lot, mostly about how to make a wordle and the image generator was pretty awesome. Most of the other stuff I had used at least once, and much of it is a regular part of my day (blogging, skype, twitter, podcasts, google docs). But it was good to get a review of these things, especially google docs. I had never used the form component before, and I genuinely enjoyed making up my own survey and finding the results.
Wordle
Okay, I've seen these everywhere all over the internet, but I had no idea what they were or how I could make one. I am so excited that I know what it is now!
I think this would be valuable for teachers who are trying to help their students learn vocab. They could take a chunk of text from a book the class is reading and "wordle" it, then they would know what words were used the most in that text so they could use those words in their vocab lists! Not to mention, it would be cool to put a poster up of the "wordle" every week!
I think this would be valuable for teachers who are trying to help their students learn vocab. They could take a chunk of text from a book the class is reading and "wordle" it, then they would know what words were used the most in that text so they could use those words in their vocab lists! Not to mention, it would be cool to put a poster up of the "wordle" every week!
Podcasts
Who doesn't love podcasts? I know that I love them. I listen to everything from NPR to the ESPN podcasts my husband loves.
http://ia600808.us.archive.org/23/items/HiddenTreasuresLabriolaCenterKachinaDolls/101_HT_Kachinas.m4v
I learned about Kachina dolls painted by Tony Dukepoo. They are part of the Hopi culture and they are representations of the Hopi spiritual beings. They were used to teach Hopi children about the spirits of their culture. This podcast was centered around the Labriola National American Indian Data Center. This center is one of the best places for resources for those interested in Native American anthropology. A great deal of the material is completely unique to that center, not available online or anywhere else.
http://ia600808.us.archive.org/23/items/HiddenTreasuresLabriolaCenterKachinaDolls/101_HT_Kachinas.m4v
I learned about Kachina dolls painted by Tony Dukepoo. They are part of the Hopi culture and they are representations of the Hopi spiritual beings. They were used to teach Hopi children about the spirits of their culture. This podcast was centered around the Labriola National American Indian Data Center. This center is one of the best places for resources for those interested in Native American anthropology. A great deal of the material is completely unique to that center, not available online or anywhere else.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
YouTube/TeacherTube
Will Tweet for Work
I've used twitter for more 3 years. "Used" is a huge overstatement. I only get on when I have to find information for my work newsletter and/or when I want to see what my co-workers are up to when they are away on business trips. I pretty much only followed people in my field (web accessibility), with the exception of "E!" entertainment and The Wall Street Journal.
Little did I know that I can follow a library. A LIBRARY! Wow! I'm embarrassed by how little I know about something I have used for more than 3 years...
Anyway, I found some awesome people/institutions to follow. Like YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) and Library Journal (they do book reviews, and I am a sucker for book reviews).
But my favorite, by far, is NPR. What "bookish" person doesn't like NPR?! None, I say. So now I follow NPR, and I find out all their exciting news/latest posts without having to search through their site. I am so happy.
I think that twitter is essential to any job at this point- it's a great way to network and keep track of your field. But I think a librarian can use this to show students how to follow each other, and then glean information from each other that way. I also think librarians could use twitter to keep parents updated on what books they are getting, if parents have any suggestions for books the library should invest in, etc. Twitter is a great place for a community to communicate quickly and collectively. Social media is a two edged sword, and if we teach kids from a young age that twitter/facebook/blogs aren't for bullying or back biting, but a great way to meet new people and learn new things.
Little did I know that I can follow a library. A LIBRARY! Wow! I'm embarrassed by how little I know about something I have used for more than 3 years...
Anyway, I found some awesome people/institutions to follow. Like YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) and Library Journal (they do book reviews, and I am a sucker for book reviews).
But my favorite, by far, is NPR. What "bookish" person doesn't like NPR?! None, I say. So now I follow NPR, and I find out all their exciting news/latest posts without having to search through their site. I am so happy.
I think that twitter is essential to any job at this point- it's a great way to network and keep track of your field. But I think a librarian can use this to show students how to follow each other, and then glean information from each other that way. I also think librarians could use twitter to keep parents updated on what books they are getting, if parents have any suggestions for books the library should invest in, etc. Twitter is a great place for a community to communicate quickly and collectively. Social media is a two edged sword, and if we teach kids from a young age that twitter/facebook/blogs aren't for bullying or back biting, but a great way to meet new people and learn new things.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
RSS- Google Reader
I've been on the Google Reader bandwagon for a long time. In fact, just a few hours before looking at this assignment, I de-junked my reader- I had tons of old blogs I never read any more and wanted to put them in the right "files". I feel much better with my Reader more organized.
Anyway, the two blogs I found were these:
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com
gotthamschools.org
The coolcatteacher is all about how to reach our more technology savvy students, and it is geared especially toward teachers who didn't grow up in the computer age. The thing I love the most about this blog (and any blog/website) are the freebies. She has a ton of awesome downloads for everything from internet safety for teens to tutorials on how to use technology to your advantage in the classroom.
Gotthamschools.org is about "what works and does not work" in the NY public school system. While it is technically geared toward New York schools, most schools face many of the same problems- delinquency, drop out, ethnicity issues, lack of funding, etc. It was so interesting to read what teachers were saying about how to help students succeed when it seems like the world is against them.
Anyway, the two blogs I found were these:
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com
gotthamschools.org
The coolcatteacher is all about how to reach our more technology savvy students, and it is geared especially toward teachers who didn't grow up in the computer age. The thing I love the most about this blog (and any blog/website) are the freebies. She has a ton of awesome downloads for everything from internet safety for teens to tutorials on how to use technology to your advantage in the classroom.
Gotthamschools.org is about "what works and does not work" in the NY public school system. While it is technically geared toward New York schools, most schools face many of the same problems- delinquency, drop out, ethnicity issues, lack of funding, etc. It was so interesting to read what teachers were saying about how to help students succeed when it seems like the world is against them.
Diigo
I found a lot of interesting things in Diigo. I started out searching for terms like, "library" and "librarian" and got some awesome results, one of which was, "librarians know everything."
Obviously.
When I clicked on that tag, it took me to several things that surprised me; it wasn't necessarily library related. It was all kinds of information that people had found from librarians. SO. AWESOME.
Ultimately, I think Diigo is a very cool way of keeping track of the stuff you like. Unfortunately, the people who need it most (like my mom who literally has 300 sites bookmarked in her browser) may not understand how to use it (like my mom, even after I called her and talked her through the sign up and everything).
Obviously.
When I clicked on that tag, it took me to several things that surprised me; it wasn't necessarily library related. It was all kinds of information that people had found from librarians. SO. AWESOME.
Ultimately, I think Diigo is a very cool way of keeping track of the stuff you like. Unfortunately, the people who need it most (like my mom who literally has 300 sites bookmarked in her browser) may not understand how to use it (like my mom, even after I called her and talked her through the sign up and everything).
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