Thing 23

Some of my favorite discoveries on this learning journey were http://delicious.com/, http://docs.google.com/#all, and http://bighugelabs.com/motivator.php.

This program has assisted my lifelong learning goals by showing me how much more is out there. Although I felt knowledgable about electronic resources I learned so much about how many more were available.

The main "take-a-way" from this program is probably the use of blogs and wikis for educational use. I had never realized all of the possibilities that a blog or wiki had; especially for a library program.

The format of this program was very effective to me. I am a hands on learner so reading about it then actually doing it was a great way for me to learn in such a way that I will actually be able to apply it.

I would absolutely participate in another program like this in the future. After seeing the abundance of resources out there tht I had never even heard of I realize the need to keep more current.

23 Things To Keep Your Current in a 24 Hour World!

Thing 22

I enjoyed looking at the Teacher Library Ning. These pages in particular were of interest to me: http://teacherlibrarian.ning.com/group/schoollibraryadvocacy, http://teacherlibrarian.ning.com/group/web20inthelibraryworld, and http://teacherlibrarian.ning.com/group/elementaryschoollibrarians.

I think this a great networking and idea site. It is a great resource for new ideas or answers to questions and problems. The site did have a few places where people had just posted 'ugly' comments but for the most part it was easy to use and very helpful.

Thing 21

Here is my Photostory about my son's birthday:

This technology was fun to explore for personal use but there are so many things you could use it for as a Librarian. You could easily create tutorials, read-alouds, or videos about library rules - just to name a few things. This software was very easy to download and use (once I got my microphone working.) I plan to play with this program a lot more during the upcoming school year!

Thing 20

YouTube had some great videos about the library. You need to watch them because you never know what they might actually say. Here are a few that I would suggest; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYOVlcBl4WM, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faP3-M0ypaw, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWGJw6O8_k8.

There are so many videos out there for educational use. The videos are funny and educational. Having so many video resources available can make teaching or enhancing lessons so much fun.

Check out this funny Dewey Decimal video I found at TeacherTube:

Thing 19

Delicious (http://delicious.com/) is already one of my new favorite sites. I love how easy it is to use and organize. It would be great to create a school account with a list of all of the great student sites or teacher sites. Then students or teachers could log on and do a search for what type of information they need and the sites would be listed. Other teachers could add to the list and it would be a wonderful collective resource for everyone.

Lulu (http://www.lulu.com/) is also a great site. This would be a great tool to use for school fundraisers by selling class or school created books. It is also great for aspiring writers to 'publish' their own books.

Biblio (http://www.biblio.com/) is a great alternative to amazon. Although I love Amazon it is often hard to find used & out of print books. This would be a great site to use for text books, collectors books or just for cheaper prices in some cases.

Thing 18

I am just in love with GoogleDocs. I think this is a great site to use at a school if you wanted to have a PowerPoint that everyone could access or a document that multiple users can contribute to. Here are some of the features that I loved about http://docs.google.com/#all:

• You can upload existing documnets or create your own
• Edit documents simultaneously
• Keep track of who made changes to a document and when
• Publish the documents as webpages or into a blog (easily)
• Control who can see your pages.
• Access the information anywhere from any computer!!

Thing 17

I enjoyed using the Rollbar bookmarklet. I found it a little confusing but I think that the more you used it the better it would get. I did like that the Rollbar bookmarklet gives you access to all of your Searchrolls wherever you are. Here is a link to my search:
http://rollyo.com/search.html?q=Elementary+Book+Club&sid=110547

Thing 16

I posted on the http://sbisdlibraryfuture.wikispaces.com/SandBox site.

I had never thought about all of the uses for wikis. Exploring the suggeested wiki led me to lots of great information. I even found a great list of user-friendly images at the teacherlibrarianwiki. I liked the idea of creating a "top 10" lists and supporting material.

Thing 15

I agree with the statement made on http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/2.htm that we need to focus "not on research skills but on eliminating the barriers that exist between patrons and the information they need." Very often in my school we have a transient population. I do not want students to feel overwhelmed because they have not yet been taught research skills. I believe that it is part of my job to design and layout the library in the most user-friendly way. Students and teachers alike should be able to enter the library and find exactly what they need - even if you are not standing right there!

I also believe that the statement "Library 2.0 also attempts to harness the library user in the design and implementation of library services by encouraging feedback and participation." found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_2.0 it a crucial concept. If we do not design libraries with the users in mind and with their input then libraries will become obsolete. Information is everywhere now and if a library is hard to use and not set up for the current population then people will simply find their information elsewhere.

Library 2.0 embraces many things. It means that the library should be welcoming, current, collaborative and user friendly. Library 2.0 simply means to me "What a Library Needs To Be." Libraries need to remain at the forefront of technology and resources for students and teachers to continue to find in useful.

Thing 14

http://technorati.com/ is a site that is very user friendly. This site makes searcing for blogs very easy. Searchin by tags or in posts did reveal different results for “School Library Learning 2.0”.

When I explored the "Popular Blog" I did not see anything suprising. I did, however, enjoy the fact that the popular sites were broken down into "Top 100 Blogs by Fans", "Top 100 Blogs by Authority", and "Top Searches." Those different lists make it easier to find what you are looking for.

I have really started to understand the need for tagging. Tagging in links and websites simply makes things easier. It simplifies searching your own and other's resources.

Thing 13

Social bookmarking is a great way to share intersting resources. This is such an organized way to keep track of all of the sites you find and can never find again. Bookmarks can be overwhelming - I know that I probably had 50 in my list and could not even remember what half of them were for.

This would be a great site to use to share resources among teachers and librarians. You can add a link to your blog, website or even Facebook as a way of sharing all sorts of resources. You can share educational resources with co-workers and extra currciulur resources with friends.

I have added a link to my Delicious account on my sidebar!

Thing 12

1. There were several great ideas that I learned about making succesful comments. The two that stuck out were leaving a meaningful comment and knowing who people are. I had never though about the importance my comments could make on someone elses blog. I realize that by leaving a 'meaningful' comment you can help the blogger and any other people reading it. It is also important to identify yourself. The blog creators are interested in the type of audience they have so they can better address them.

2. I commented on the following Library2Play blogs: Brooke's 2.0 Blog, Kindergarten Teacher's Education Journey, Aspiring Librarian, http://23thingsilearnedduringthe09summer.blogspot.com, http://libraryplay23.blogspot.com

3. First I wanted to discuss the website disqus which can be found at http://disqus.com/people/RochelleJerla/#main. This site is a way to keep up with all of your own blog comments. It really is a great tool.

The first site I commented on was the Cool Cat Teacher Blog discussing how to comment. (Cool Cat Teacher Blog: How to comment like a king (or queen!)) This site gives very detailed explanations of the corrent way to comment and why. Having it explained it detail really helps a new blogger/commenter.

The second site I found was from the unquiet librarian (http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com). The site contains lots of ideas for incorporating technology into a library program. There are links and pictures to various pages to give you ideas.

Thing 11

I love the website Library Thing!!!! Being an elementary clasroom teacher (and always having a love for books) I have accumulated quite a few books over the years!! I learned last year (my first year as a librarian) that although the library has thousands of books I still turn to my personal collection quite often.

Library Thing is such a fantastic way to keep up with books you own and books that you.have read. The search feature is SOOO great for looking for and keeping up with books!!!

A few of the groups that I liked were; Librarians who LibraryThing and Children's Fiction.

I am just IN LOVE with this site. I plan to add all of my books to this site and have it bookmarked on my school computer!!

http://www.librarything.com/ is wonderful!!

You can search my books at LibraryThing by using the link at the bottom of this page!

Thing 10

This was definitely the most fun "thing" yet.

There are so many fun ways that you could use these sites. You could design reading posters and magazine covers. (using student pictures)You could help students create comic strips, post it notes, design logos for book covres or even create avatars. All of the things that they generate could be tied to a piece of writing they have done or the images could be used as a writing prompt. The possiblities and uses of these in the library are endless.

The only problem is that these site must be monitored! Several of them had chat rooms at the bottom that could contain improper information.

Here are some fun images that I created:

http://www.fototrix.com/upload.asp

http://www.signgenerator.org/

Thing 9

The coolcat blog is a great website for teachers to stay current and for librarians to see what new ideas are happening in classrooms. When I search Library2Play I saw the blogs that were made by people regarding the Library2Play site. There were even comments about the different 'things."

I especially like the site http://libraryblogs.suprglu.com/. I find the site easy to use and especially helpful. It seemed to have the most information for what I would be interested in. I would have to say that the site http://www.topix.net/ was the most user friendly. I loved that it recognized my location and suggested sites for me.

I did not find any of the sites 'hard' to use but the site http://technorati.com/ was the most overwhelming. It seemed to have a lot of information and could make you unsure where to even start.

Thing 8

RSS feeds are one of the most time saving tools I have every seen. Not to mention all the space it will save on my Favorites bar.

I love that I can access all of my information in one place. From library news to celebrity gossip, I can see everything through one site.

It is a wonderful tool to keep up with current library news without having to check in with 20 different sites. This would be a great tool for teachers and principals as well. They can easily keep up to date with news regarding teaching practices, legal implications, etc.

You can access my public page through Google by searching "Rochelle Jerla"

Thing 7

I explored the iGoogle feature and now have this as my home page. They have so many gadgets you can add. Here are a few that I chose: Google Calendar- The Official Google Calendar Gadget, Doppler Radar and Severe Weather Alerts -Doppler radar of your surrounding area, severe weather alerts in your county, and local weather information, and Joke of the Day
Clinically proven to elicit at least one smirk daily.

I also love Picassa. It is a very easy way to organize pictures both on your computer and through their website. You simply download the software and it can be used to automatically organize downloaded pictures. This would be a great way to use a school e-mai acocunt and share school photos or photos that will be used for a class project.

I'm not sure if you can simply log-on an view my photos. My Picassa web album is under this e-mail account: rochellejerla@gmail.com .

Thing 6

All I have to say is "How fun are the 3rd party sites?"

I could have spent days (and surely will in the future) adding, changing, editing, and trying all the different options that the "Big Huge Labs" site had. I simply uploaded a picture that I had (on Facebook) and starting playing. It really is playing - I had so much fun trying everything (I do mean everything).

This site could be used in so many ways. One way students could use this is to create a poster or magazine cover for a specific image. It would envoke creative writing and artistic abilities.

Thing 5

Flickr really is jsut a great site. You can find a little bit of everything there and it is sucha great way to share pictures with your family & friends.

I did not realize that it was the first site to use keyword "tags". This is way to link photos and users with similar "tags" or titles. It makes it very simple to search for similar items or browse pictures from a photographer that you like. I can't believe that the site has more than 2 billion images and 20 million tags!! I can see how this would be very useful in higher education. It would be great for students in a specific field to find vrey subject specific images.

The commons is actually where images from the Library of Congress are posted. That is a wonderful wonderful resource.

As a mom I really love how Flickr partners with other companies to provide printed products such as calendars and greeting cards.

Flickr is a great site because of it's accesibility, conveinence, licensing options and various resource tools.


Here is a gorgeous beach picture from the creative commons site.
　

(By Rene Ehrhardt - "Palm tree at dawn, Patong beach")

Thing 4

Well I have "officially" registered my blog. I am know "officially" addicted to blogs and blogging. I have discovered so many people that have blogs that I never knew. It has been fun designing and redesigning my blog and playing with the layout. I definitely plan to keep up with the blog and start adding friends and various blog lists.

Thing 3

I had SO much fun setting up my blog. I have always used Myspace & Facebook for communciation and posting pictures. I looked at a few friends blogs and discovered some neat add on features like the "the cutest blog on the block" website. A blog is such a quick and easy way to give updates to friends and family about your life. It is also a great resource for sharing ideas or life experiences with others that may have the same beliefs as you.

Thing 2

Life-long learning is so important, especially with how quickly information & resources are changing. I really enjoyed watching the 7 1/2 Habits video. I really had never thought of decorating as a life-long learning skill (very interesting!)

My easiest habit is probably to begin with the end in mind. I usually start off with the end result and do anything possible to get there! Sometimes I can be too driven to reach a goal that I become totally focused on it.

My hardest habit is to view problems as challenges. I often view problems as another stumbling block instead of a building block. I like to be in control so when a problem occurs I tend to see this as a fault and not a learning tool.

Thing 1

I think that Library2Play is an a great way to learn about various emerging technologies. Although you may feel current there seems to be new things every day!! I love that the Library2Play program "contains direct links and offers suggestions for ways to incorporate these tools into your classroom and teacher collaborations." This is such a great tool to use for teachers, classrooms, librarians, networking etc.