Tool 4

Our little PLN is growing by leaps and bounds. I'm so proud of our teachers because they are beginning to reach out and help each other locate, create, and embed when a few weeks ago they were terrified at the thought of doing 11 tools. Today's class saw conversation turn from being overwhelmed by the many 2.0 tools to how, as their librarian, I was there to help support them and help their students be prosumers. Really cool stuff! I've used Google Docs to collaborate with other librarians and district staff but I haven't had much of a chance at school since so few people on campus were familiar with the 2.0 tool available through the district. Now that others are learning about it in 11 Tools I'm excited about the possiblities to collaborate and communicate with our great staff.
I've used Google forms to survey the staff regarding our school publication called the Flashlight. I wanted to see if the majority of the staff felt it was worth continuing. Since I just finished publishing this year's copy you can see that the responses received were positive.
Next year I hope to allow students and staff to complete even more surveys since the tool won't be so new and unfamiliar around our campus.

Tool 3

Finding and using online resources can be a daunting task. Not because things are hard to find but because there is so much to choose from. I have begun to access and use many online resources when I need to learn something new. Some of my favorites are YouTube, TeacherTube, and Atomic Learning. Going to so many different internet sources can be a challenge when you want to keep the locations a click away. A tool I have used for several years is call delicious.com. It is a way to bookmark websites and blog links that allows you to use those links from any computer with internet access. Gone are the days when you have your favorites on one computer and need the links while using another computer. I've even created an account for our school library to add links I need to share with staff and students.





Over the years copyright laws have been in a state of flux. For awhile educators were told that students shouldn't use any pictures, videos or music without giving proper citations. While I do agree that we must teach our students to give credit where credit is due I think having an expectation of complete citations from our primary students is beyond developmentally appropriate. So I am really pleased in the current definition that allows students to use these materials under Fair Use as long as their projects are contained inside the "walls" of the school and do not include someones complete copyrighted works.

I have tried using Picasa from the district Google site. However, it never loads correctly for me and the only thing I can figure out is my multiple Google accounts interfere with it opening correctly. I have used various image storage tools to find and use pictures. In fact I even made a post on ARK's Instructional Blog about teaching students how to do an advanced image search since it seems most teachers tell them to go to Google to find images. Along that note I have been able to use Google to do a Picasa Web Album search along with the advanced search perimeter of "labeled for reuse". The picture below is an example of one I found and decided to use.

powered by Fotopedia

Tool 2

We had another good turn out after school today to work on Tool 2 and to help beginners get started. All in all I think things went well. Something I really enjoyed watching was peer helping peer. I work with the greatest professionals around! Building Personal Learning Networks or PLN's as mentioned in Tool 2 was evident as I watched attendees reading through blog comments and then adding comments on fellow teacher's blogs. While some of our teachers are beyond the immediate school community everyone has to start somewhere and I for one am proud of the efforts I witnessed. One thing I have found it commenting on someone's blog can be intimadating when the person is someone you look to for help and advice. When I visit blogs by Librarian in Black or i Teach Technology I still find it hard to leave a comment. With that said I will continue to grow and I will continue to grow my PLN!

Tool 1

What an adventure we had in the library at our first after school help session. If you missed it there will be another one next Friday, May 20th right after school. There were nine of us gathered around the library computer bank, helping each other learn about browsers, Google Chrome, shortcuts, links, tags/labels, blogs, Voki's and html code.

If you visit https://sites.google.com/a/springbranchisd.com/11tools2011/home/terrace-elementary you can click on the hotlinks to visit the blogs teachers have already built. The Voki's are great too so make sure you click on the arrows and hear their welcomes.

While this wasn't my first time to do this it is always good to put yourself back into the position of learner and revisit past learning. Along the way I always seem to learn something new. I guess that is why they call it life-long learning!