Week 6 #15

I was particularly struck by John Reimer's article, To better bibliographic services. His main thesis is that libraries should get much greater mileage out of the metadata they create. If libraries can begin to move away from proprietary software and begin using 2.0 tools to provide access to their holdings, then tagging can greatly increase the functionality of our data.

#14 Week 6 Technorati

I did explore this and practiced putting tags on some of my postings. I then went back and took them out. I tend to be a private person - note that I didn't even want to creat an avatar that would in any personify me. I realize that much of what I have out on the web is searchable and viewable. I also realize that the current generation is all about sharing and going public. That is fine and dandy for them, and having explored all these tools, I can help them with what they want to do and perhaps guide them to do it in a responsible manner. I just don't want to be out there with them.

Week 8 - #19 Library Thing

I am addicted to mysteries written by female authors. I share books with several friends and we are always losing track of what we have read and what we haven't. We have been using Library Thing since last year to help us keep track. We have yet to do a complete retrospective listing however.

#22 Week9

LibriVox - oh my. There are books for my 9th graders! I could download some of the novels like Pride and Prejudice for my EL and RSP students. We have one CD of most novels, but that means that students have to share. I could download these free ones and put them on inexpensive SanDisk players and have enough for everyone who needs it.

And then - you can volunteer to read. What a lovely way to spend my retirement. Now if only I could retire...

#21 Week 9

I subscribed to Hennepin County Library - TeenLinks Podcasts. I found their podcasts interesting as they reviewed not only books, but movies as well. One of my schools has a Radio Club that puts on radio dramas. I have tried to get them to do a podcast, however, they rarely follow copytight guidelines so I am cautious about posting anything that has questionable permissions.

In UTube I found some videos called BookWink that are book reviews of children's literature. One of the sessions I watched was called Sharks and deals with both fiction and nonfiction books about sharks. It would be a great activity to be able to do with students. They list related books on their website BookWink.com. All the videos are available on the web site - perhaps I'll put a link to the site on my school web pages.

There is also a funny one called Librarians.

Week 8 - #18 Zoho

I created these questions for discussion of the book Tangerine using Zoho and then sent them to Blogger. If this works at my school it will be a life-saver for students. It is very difficult for them to transport work to and from school as they are not allowed to use email, our computers do not have floppy drives, and flash drives are frowned upon. I can't wait to give it a whirl. I have used Google docs to collaborate with staff to create district reports, but it is blocked on the student network. I'm hoping the filter has yet to "notice" Zoho.

Discussion questions for Tangerine by Bloor.

Paul is legally blind. There is physical vision and emotional vision. What did Paul see that the rest of his family could not?

Paul's home is built on termite infested land next to muck fires that burn continuously and attends a school that falls into a sink hole. How does this setting reflect the emotional foundations of Paul's life.

Week 7 #17

One idea for wiki use is for students to create a kidipedia (their own version of wikipedia) on a given topic/subject either as a short term project (ie weather) or a semester or year-long project (ie U. S. history).
Another idea is to use a wiki for Battle of the Books where students create a list of questions/answers for each book to help each other study.

Week 5 #12 Rollyo

This could be handy to focus student research. I am anxious to try it at school tomorrow to see if can be accessed there. I made a search tool for project-based learning which is a topic I do many presentations on for CTAP. It would be useful for participants to have all the resources in one search tool when trying to build their own projects.
I added a Rollyo search box on one of my school web pages (http://www.djusd.k12.ca.us/harper/library/index.html) with searches for current events, reference, american history and mythology as a "test drive". I am talking with the Rollyo team about how to remove the general web search feature which is imbedded in the script that they provide. Even after taking it out of the html script it stills goes out to the general web. It would be most helpful to me if it would lock the students into the sites that I have provided for them.

pbWIKI video

Testing to see if I can embed another type of video file.

Check out my Slide Show!

#11 Week 5

One of the fun sites to explore is Library Thing http://www.librarything.com/ with which I am sure you are all familiar. Library Thing has inspired me to redo the pathfinders on my school web page. Over the summer I intend to redo them so that instead of having them just appear in alphabetical order (or so near and dear to my heart) I will tag them so that they can be searched in multiple ways.
I have been using Writely at school to collaborate on our update for the district Technology Plan. Much better than having to sit through meetings.
I added a brief slide show of Panama - I'm still on Panama time and having a difficult time getting back to work. Sigh.

#8 Week 4

I have been using RSS feed readers for a couple of years now to collect items of interest to me and also to collect information for various school projects/staff members/administrators. It saves time to have them delivered to my doorstep rather than having to go out and find them. It also impresses the socks off some of my colleagues who can't figure out how I always have what they need before they even ask for it. I try to share the secret, but they prefer that I retain the title of Information Goddess. So be it.
My public blogroll for this exercise is http://www.bloglines.com/public/irmapince