Now that my class is over I am trying to decide what I should write about on my blog. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

23 Things I Learned from 23 Things Kansas!

1. Blogging is easy and can be about most anything!
2. I think blogging can be a great outlet for anyone.
3. I love facebook! It is a great way to reconnect with friends!
4. Online communities is a great way to connect with people who have similar interests as you.
5. You can find a webinar about most any topic!
6. A webinar is a great way to learn a new skill.
7. There are lots of places to upload your photos.
8. You can make your photos into almost anything from a coffee mug to a hardback book.
9. RSS feeds are a great way to keep up to date on your favorite websites.
10. I love checking my Google Reader to see what updates there are.
11. On delicious you can find other websites similar to ones you have already tagged.
12. Who knew there were so many websites about literacy skills!
13. Twitter is a great way to give a quick update.
14. Sometimes it is hard to keep up with all the tweets!
15. Cloud computing affords a great opportunity to meet other librarians.
16. You can have as many collaborators as you need on a project!
17. IM'ing can be a great way to brighten someone's day.
18. Anyone can make a video for Youtube!
19. I have shared Screencast-o-matic with all my coworkers. It is the best!
20. Animoto is a great way to share a short video about family or friends.
21. I love the recommendations Library Thing offers when you put in the books you have read.
22. Wikis make it easy for anyone to edit a web based document.
23. I have so many username/passwords I need to keep a blog about it.

I am glad I took the time to complete 23 Things Kansas. My favorite item was using the screencast-o-matic. I can see myself using this most with my students.
Some of the assignments I don't see myself using again or are blocked at my school.
I have learned a lot from this class and have enjoyed seeing what others are doing.
I am hoping to continue my blog especially since I will begin a new library position in the fall. We will see how it goes. Thanks for everything.

Wiki's

When I started reading this week's assignment I really wasn't sure how to begin. I have always told my students to be careful using information from Wikipedia since anyone can edit the pages. I never realized how easy it is to edit the pages. I looked through a few pages from my hometown and alma maters. I really wasn't sure what to add and didn't feel comfortable adding anything.

The 2nd part of the assignment was very easy to follow. I like the idea of having a collaborative page for all the participants to work together on. The wetpaint site was easy to use and follow. This would be a good way to get students to work together or give comments about a topic.

Have a great week!
Jean

Week 14 : Library Thing, etc

I have used similar library shelf programs through facebook. The hardest part is keeping your list up to date. I found Shelfari very easy to use and found some of my favorite books. This site would be a great way to connect with friends about what books they are reading. I like that you can find similar books to read as well.

Week 13 : Slide Sharing

After yesterday's frustrating experience trying to make a screencast I was a little reluctant to start this project today. Luckily I found Slide Sharing to be much more user friendly and easier to use. I chose Animoto and uploaded some pictures from a family birthday party held a month or so ago. Once I uploaded the photos I just added music and the program did the rest. What a fun way to share photos or videos from an event! I think my students would like this program to make short videos to share with others.
You can check out my video on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yueXi08FXt4.
Enjoy!
Jean

Week 12 : Screencasting

So I decided to try to do a screencast with Jing. I downloaded Jing and got my computer all set up to record a video about changing a document into PDF. I tried to record numerous times and encountered many problems. 1st the delay before it actually started recording seemed really long, like 5-10 seconds after the mic on countdown finished. 2nd everytime I moved the mouse it caused a skip in the screen shot. So now I am going to try the Screencast-o-matic and see how it goes. So far this is the most frustrating week!!!
Update--after having so much trouble with Jing I have Screencast-o-matic to be very easy to use! The only trouble I had was the amount of time it took for the document to open while screencasting. On my 1st try I lost the record button and was disappointed to find I could not edit out the last part of my video so I had to make a 2nd video.
The final product came out a little dry but I got the point across. Check it out on You Tube. Not sure if I'll use this feature too often. Maybe it would be a good tool for the kids to use. I could see them getting into it and having a lot of fun with it.

Week 11 : Break

Thank goodness we had a break in this class! I somehow have gotten behind. I am going to blame it on Kansas Assessments and No Child Left Behind. Now the teacher is behind!!

Week 10 : Video on the Web

Somehow I have gotten behind, but I am going to try to catch up this week! Taking videos is something I forget about. My camera and phone have the capability but I usually don't think about using either until after the fact. I chose to take a few videos of Silas and Sage singing their favorite songs. They found the camera really interesting and wanted to be able to see themselves while the video was being shot. Once I finished the video clips I used movie maker to put them all together. This would be a great tool for students to use to do book reviews or reports. They could video each other and then put them together and present.
Here is the link to my fabulous video. We Love to Sing

Jean

Week 9 : Instant Messaging

I have used instant messaging on yahoo and facebook for quite some time. This week I did sign up to be a member on meebo as well. Instant messaging is a great way to catch up with someone online or just to ask a quick question. By using a chat feature you can communicate someone without interrupting what is going on in their room. They can answer when they are able.
Sometimes I do worry about instant messenger. I have had people who connected with someone they don't know online and then of course problems can occur. This can also happen in group chat rooms and someone says an off comment and others take it badly.
Jean

Week 8 Cloud Computing

What a great way to share great information with many people quickly. Google docs! My group decided to start an ongoing list of great read alouds for kids. We wanted to get some great ideas from others and be able to have the page in one spot. Within a day we had more than a dozen books to choose from. I am sure our list will continue to grow as the year progresses. In addition to finding new books to read, I have also found new librarians to share ideas with.
Hope you have a great week.
Jean

Gadgets were hacked!

So I thought my whole blog had been hacked! I found out it was one of the gadgets I had put on my page. I had put those gadgets on the 1st day of class but I guess sometime last week they somehow became a spam website transferer. Anyway I took ALL the gadgets off my page and it now works fine. I will wait a few weeks and then try to add a gadget back on the page.
I thought I would share in case anyone else is having the same trouble.
Jean

Week 7: Microblogging

This week's task was to learn about microblogging and I found it to be quite frustrating! It was easy to sign up for an account and then the trouble started. I am still having a rough time trying to find people/things to follow. If you want to follow someone aren't you supposed to search for them? Everytime I search for someone I couldn't find them. So the only people I could follow were the ones given on the "suggestion" page from 23 Things Kansas. I guess I could have sorted through the millions of pages of music, etc, but I don't have that much time.
I think I would use this more from a mobile standpoint if I had a smart phone. At this point I don't think I will use it on a regular basis.

Week 6 Tagging and Social Bookmarking

It is hard to believe it is already week 6 in the 23 things Kansas class! This week's topic used the delicious site to discuss social bookmarking. What a great way to find new websites! I set up an account on delicious and started bookmarking and tagging right away. I found some sites I use to find computer lessons and activities, tagged them and then put them into a tag bundle. I also some library sites I use on a regular basis.
I am sure I will use this site more and more as I work from several different computers at work. This will prove to be an invaluable resource to find websites quickly from any computer. If you care to see my bookmarks just go to www.delicious.com/beanbump. I could see some of my students being interested in this site, especially middle school. They could keep track of all their favorite sites from all the computers they use. The possibilities are endless!
Hope everyone is having a great week!

RSS Feeds

This week's lesson was on RSS feeds. I have seen those on many websites, but had never taken the time to find out what they were all about. I decided to use Google Reader since I have my blog site through them and you can see the blogs you are following along with the RSS feeds on the same page. I like the idea of having everything on one page, but not having my inbox get packed full of stuff. This way I can go look at the page on my time.
I decided that since my job involves both the library and computers I would try to find RSS feeds that will help me with my job. The 1st one I chose was from CNET. Since many people look to me to fix their computers and be up to date on the latest gadgets I thought their RSS feed would be a good way to start. It includes informational and fun tips everyday. The 2nd feed I found was called Techlearning which has all sorts of tech gadgets and ideas for teaching technology to children. I would like to stay more up to date on new literature for adults and children so my 3rd RSS was for the NYTimes book review feed.
Now that I have figured out what that little orange button means I may have dozens and dozens of feeds by the end of the month!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Flickr

YA Collection
Originally uploaded by Beanbump

This is one of the pictures from my library. This week's entry is on flickr. I uploaded 12 photos from my library (It is really small) You can see a slide show of my library as well.
It was quite easy to set up a flickr account and get the pictures uploaded. The only thing I didn't like was the photostream puts the 1st picture I uploaded at the end of the list so my photos came out backwards. I did figure out how to put them into a set so I could have the photos in the opposite order and follow around my library. I forgot to take a photo of my "whole" library and will upload that soon. I think I would probably use this more for personal use than school use since I teach in an elementary school.
Have a great week!
Jean

WEEK 3: Online Meetings

I have seen webinars advertised before, but have never taken the time to "go" to one. While perusing infopeople.org I found an interesting one titled "The Deweyless Library: An Innovative Approach" with Marshall Stone. I enjoyed listening to this webinar and liked the fact that they added a powerpoint and a resource list to go with it. Oh, the things you could do with a library. My library is very confined by space so I don't have a lot of room for displays, creative design, etc. I am always trying to make my students aware of the new books or featured books. They had some really great ideas with this approach that could be incorporated in small ways.
I think webinars are becoming a norm in many workplaces. They are great for staff development and help get information to lots of folks quickly. I do think it is hard at times to find the time to "attend" a webinar. Maybe there should be a built in monthly or quarterly time set aside for such things. Especially with budget cuts I think webinars will be the new meeting for state and national events.

Week 2: Online Communities

This week's lesson is on online communities. I took the plunge and joined facebook about 1 1/2 years ago. My initial reason for joining was my high school class was planning a 20th reunion and many of them were on facebook.
I have mostly used facebook to reconnect with friends and family. It has been great to find out how people are doing and to see pictures of family, kids, etc. I have also found it is a great way to get a lot of information out quickly. Through facebook I was able to raise my fundraising goal for a cause I am passionate about, PKD.
I joined Ning (without realizing it) last fall. After attending a workshop about the Technology Rich Classroom I joined their group to find out more about the program and stay informed.
I think facebook would be a great way to get information out about your library. You could make announcements, let people know of events and happenings.
Facebook may not work for elementary school libraries, as many firewalls block this site. Plus the minimum age to be on facebook, legally, is 13.
I truly enjoying checking in on facebook and keeping in touch with others. It provides at least 1 laugh a day for me!
You can find me on facebook.
See you soon!

Week One: Blogging

I am the librarian at Queen of the Holy Rosary-Wea Catholic School. It is located in the country, surrounded by fields of grain and horses, although right now there is a lot of snow!. QHR-Wea is a small school with students in preschool through 8th grade. Although my library is small (20' x 50') it is wall to wall books, media and resources! WE LOVE BOOKS! In addition to my library duties I also teach K-8 computers. I feel 23 things Kansas will give me the opportunity to become more technologically savvy.