Cool Librarians?

I recently was talking to a friend of mine and she sent me a link to a fabulous article. It's all about how being a librarian is becoming a cool profession. It's more about public librarians, but much of the info can easily be for school librarians. Check it out, who knew how hip we are ;)


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/fashion/08librarian.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

To the Classroom and Beyond :)

Reflecting back on this week, I see podcasts and vcasts being the most liked out of every thing I recently learned by students. I think video conferencing is neat and see many ways to use it in the professional world. In teaching, I would use it the most to conduct online field trips to save money in today's economy. I think I would also use it if a student has to stay at home and I may use it to conduct a parent teacher conference. One minor drawback about video conferencing is that it is not nearly as convenient as a cell phone because you have to be in front of a computer. It's almost like back when I was growing up having the one phone at home that everyone fought for to use. Second phone lines started to eliminate the problem and cell phones solved it. I guess it's only a matter of time before that "cell phone" like convenience will trickle into video conferencing. In a sense it could already be on it's way, I suppose, because cell phones have the Internet. The only downfall is that web service on a cell phone is rather expensive and if you got Internet on your cell to use video conferencing programs, why not just use the cell phone to make a call?

YEAHHHHHH!!!

I finally figured it out. I've been trying to get this posted and got very frustrated and discouraged. Now since I got it working I definitely see that I will be using this more. I always love finding out what the new hip books and think this is a great resource as a LMS in training.
http://www.shelfari.com/o1518088137

Gcast and Ning

This past weekend I tried to set up my gcast. I was surprised on how easy it was to get the ball rolling and do the audio clip. In fact, I really like the idea that you don't have to be by a computer to record. I did, however, have trouble trying to get it onto my blog. I have no clue where to add what is needed in the long HTML address. I even had my boyfriend look in the address because four eyes are always better than two and he couldn't figure it out. I know once I figure it out, it would be like it could have bit me in the face.
I also started to set up my Ning which focuses on building miniature things and now I wish I would have gotten my digital camera before my 30th birthday in December last year. I say this because then I could include pictures from my past holiday villages that I have set up. I guess I'll just have to include pictures from future holidays at my NEW house!!! I like the idea of setting up a Ning because you never know who is interested in the the same stuff as you are. I wonder how many people will find my ning, time will only tell :)
If you what to check it out here it is http://minisminiatures.ning.com/

Hungry?

As I play around more with Google reader I know that the following websites will be some of my favorites because I am always looking for new meals to make and it nice to find the new stuff right away. Check them out.
http://allrecipes.com/
http://copykat.com/

RSS

I think I am finally seeing the light! As a played around with my Google reader, the ideas were pouring in. I definitely think that some of this stuff would be rather difficult to do with first graders and easily with a bit older students. As I tried to find feeds geared more towards younger children, I didn't find many sites. Let me know if any one finds a feed for younger ones. I could just be doing it wrong too.

Crazyness

I had such a busy week and feel that I am a little behind with the assignments. I started my new job (always a bit nerve racking) , been house hunting and found one that I will bid on Monday(nerve racking), and spent almost the whole day yesterday getting the pre-approved loan(even more nerve racking). Hopefully I'll get it, talk about an emotional roller coaster :)
I think this RSS stuff is pretty cool. It definatley cuts down time. I tried to watch the brief video on bloglines but there was no picture, only sound. I tried to listen along but was a bit confusing considering I'm more of a visual learner. I hope I am not the only one with this problem, but I'm sure everything will come together. I still feel like I have two left feet with some of this stuff but I am getting more comfortable with it. Anyway Happy 4th everyone.

Using blogs

I am extremely new to all this blogging stuff and don't know how people can do this all the time. I mean in between balancing families with full time careers, with graduate school, with whatever life throws at you, how can one find time. In a study group a few weeks ago I asked my colleagues what they think will happen when the first generation of "digital natives" have to balance the issues I mentioned above. Did they think they will keep up their blogs? They thought people would but the other past times such as reading books will be replaced or be not as popular. I just don't know how I feel about that....yet.

Shelfari

I started to check this out and wanted to add it
http://www.shelfari.com
This is right up my alley

How I can apply what I am learning.

After a long week with working with everything that I learned about, I see many ways that I can use technology in the classroom. I love the concept of google docs (I have been telling everyone about it) and think that students could do a collaborative presentation on a subject. Considering I am teaching P.E. next year, students could pick a sport that interests them. I also see having a classroom blog for parents and students to see what we are working on and pictures of what we are doing.

Last Day

Well, today was the last day of school!!! We had an all school picnic and the storms held of until we were done. Everyone had a nice time. We did have a tornado warning right before the school day ended, so the kids had to stay a few extra minutes in the basement. Thank goodness nothing happened, but I think I might start building an ark soon.

My first blog

Tonight's class has been exciting!!! I am learning a lot of new things, some are a little overwhelming. I am looking forward to seeing what else I can learn.