Top Twelve Things Every Educator Should Know About Technology

1. Take the new apps you hear about (Twitter, Digg, Jing) for a test drive. Experiment.
2. Sometimes the kids will know more than you do about certain technologies or applications. It is OK.
3. Ask your students for help. Have them show you how to do things. They’ll like being the “teacher” for a change and it is modeling to them the importance of being a lifelong learner.
4. Don’t be afraid of showing your unfamiliarity with certain technologies with your students.
5. Don’t lecture to the students about how the technology works. Let them play with it on their own. Teach by doing.
6. Give your lesson a trial run at school to make sure everything is working properly. Have a back-up plan in case the technology malfunctions.
7. Watch and consult with other teachers on how they integrate technology into their classes.
8. Take classes to learn more about all of the wonderful applications out there! Be current!
9. Technology can enrich the curriculum and get students excited about learning. Try to offer students different options (Powerpoint, video, poster board, brochure, media collage) for demonstrating their knowledge.
10. Consult/work with the Technology Integration Specialist and/or Library Media Specialist at your school. They just may be able to make that good assignment or project great by suggesting different resources or applications.
11. Google is not just a search internet. It has other great tools like Google Reader, Calendar, Earth, Docs, and the wonder wheel.
12. Most apps are FREE on the internet: Picassa, Google Docs, Open Office, Vimeo, Jing, Creative Commons to name just a few. There are many Open Source or free tools and applications available on the internet. Research them.

SOPAC is Awesome!

I was kinda all over the place this week. First I was researching Follet Destiny because that is what our LMS proposed two years ago. It was quite confusing moving around the site and just getting a good overview. I finally had to submit my name and email and then I received a link to a very boring and dry webinar!

I then heard about Koha from the boards and I was intrigued but then their website turned me off with all of its text.

Alas, through a serendipitous path of researching on Clusty.com, I found a link to this library science class's wiki and a student's awesome project all on SOPAC! I was so pumped after reading her awesome overview with great links and her multimedia collage! So so cool that frankly, it was hard to imagine improving upon it. Thank you Sarah Redmond. wherever you are! FLA? I tried to see if there was a way to contact her but I couldn't so I may try on twitter.

I fear my proposal is not as "academic" in content as others but I really was confused by all of the different options there. No wonder it takes over a year to do all of the research! Breeding's site is also very confusing and overwhelming.

Overall, I'm glad I came across SOPAC and others like it because boy, it makes this job even more exciting!

Feeling Overwhelmed

All this cataloging talk and discussion has me feeling overwhelmed. At my school, we have a library assistant who does the cataloging which is great. However, two years ago her job was cut and while she returned last year and is there this year, her position is once again on the cutting block.

I have my interview tomorrow for the library position at CHS so I am nervous and my mind is elsewhere. I have been practicing my responses to various interview questions all week and have been practicing out loud in the car.

Oh yeah....I'm suppose to be talking about cataloging....

Since this was a vacation week, I didn't have the chance to work in the library on this. I would really like to sit down with our assistant and have her explain it to me again. I did do this about a year and half ago, when I first started the program, but I would really like to do it again because I know things will start to "click" for me when I am actually doing it. Many of the students in class seem to have direct experience with this while I am brand spanking new.

I have to admit that I have been preoccupied with my upcoming interview and haven't had a chance to do the quizzes in the book. I did get two of the suggested books from my local library, Accidents Happen and Bard of Avon and have loved reading them both! But oh yeah, that wasn't the assignment. ...I have to learn how to properly catalog them! :)

I found K&R's logic on NOT cataloging graphic novels separately to be compelling (p.85). If we are to follow the logic of separating by graphic novels, why not have separate spaces for historical fiction and science fiction? Brings us back to the debate of getting rid of Dewey and classifying by subject like Barnes & Nobles does.

There always seems to be room for debate in cataloging which makes it interesting and challenging. However, I am of the school of thought that the intent is to get the item in the hands of the students and faculty.

Catalog Geek?

Wow! I bet the cataloging conferences are rocking places to be! :)



I have to be honest. I find this topic to be very dry and I do strongly agree with you Barb that it is something that you have to go through and do and is not something that one can learn through reading alone.



The chapter on Cataloging Theory and the MARC Record made me finally understand where the word science comes from in the term "library science." All of the codes, structure, tags, and formula for cataloging....oh my! It was a bit jarring and intimidating.



I hope I will be able to do this when the time comes! It seems like most school librarians copy other catalogs like the Library of Congress so I am relieved to know that there are resources out there to assist with this process.



I don't think I will fall in love with cataloging like some librarians but there is comfort in knowing that there is an organizational system like Dewey that makes the process easier.

Internet Safety Resources & Annotated Bibliography

I think Internet Safety "lessons" or programs should be something that all schools implement K-12. The internet is and will be a presence in all of lives and we have to teach students about it in a developmentally appropriate way. This is something that can and should be integrated across the curriculum and is worthy of our time.

I think resources and Powerpoints should be prominately shown and available to students on school library websites or wiki's.

1. Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center

www.webhost.bridgew.edu/marc

Located at Bridgewater State College, this organization and site is a wonderful resource for educators and parents. They do "Train the Trainer" workshops and will also do parent workshops. In recent years, their focus has been on cyberbullying and they offer many workshops and conferences to assist school systems in implementing anti-bullying policies.

The site has wonderful brochures to download and a more recent one was added called Avoiding and Responding to Problems on Facebook.

2. Ad Council PSA: Online Sexual Exploitation-Bulletin Board

Access on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja8xtQNQYDQ

This a wonderful one minute PSA by the Ad Council that shows how what one posts online is never truly gone from the Internet, even if you delete it.

On the YouTube comments message board, a naive teen wrote that she didn't understand what was wrong with the picture. If I showed this to grades 6-12, I would emphasize that the picture represents any type of picture you'd be embarrassed by (nudity, under the influence etc.) but obviously, the Ad Council cannot use frontal nudity to get the message across.

3. CyberSmart Curriculum (http://www.cybersmartcurriculm.org/)

WOW! This is a great resource! packed with online lessons from K-12. Great content with more in the works. I highly recommend this site.

4. Wired Safety (http://www.wiredsafety.org/)

This site proclaims to be the "world's largest internet safety, help and resource." Its executive director. Parry Aftab, is an attorney and has been quoted and interviwed in numerous media outlets. This website is chockful with helpful links for teens, parents and educators.

5. Wired Safety YouTube Video: Cyberbullying Part 1 and 2

www.youtube.com/watch?v=T38-9OCDrP4

This is an eight minute video that describes four types of cyberbullies: the vengeful angel, the power hungery cyber bully(includes the revenge of the nerds), the mean girls and inadvertant cyberbully. It gives great advice such as Stop, Block and Tell. What makes it powerful is that the kids speak about their experiences. It seems geared towards middle schoolers but could also be used for 9th and 10th graders.

6. Stop Cyberbullying (http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/)

This is a powerful PowerPoint presentation created by Parry Aftab, the woman who started http://www.wiredsafety.org/. When you log onto the site, the Powerpoint immediately begins and moves and tansitions with type on the screen. It could be shown to both students and parents.

I think I am going to use it in my 10th grade guidance seminars.

7. Massachusetts Anti-Bullying law (http://www.boston.com/)

News article from the Globe but I would like to see the specific wording and consequences if found guilty.

8. Connect Safely
http://www.connectsafely.org/

This is another great site with helpful tips and suggestions for parents and kids. Even though there are many of these types of sites out there, each one I have gone to seems to add a bit more or has a different or additional viewpoint that was not on another site. For example, this site has a tip sheets on Virtual Reality.

9. NetFamilyNews http://www.netfamilynews.org/

This is a blog started by one of the co-directors of connectsafely.org, Anne Collier. This is dubbed the Kid Tech News for parents and is a wonderful resource so parents can be "current" with what is going on with kids and technology. I just signed up for her weekly email list!

10. NetNanny (www.netnanny.com/)

Since I am in the market for some type of filter for my PC and our home computer, this commercial site interested me. For $39.99, it can and will block pornography and will track profanity other potential online dangers.

My ten year daughter is starting to use the computer a lot now and she goes to Google Images to print out photos for school projects. My fear is that she will enter a search word with a double meaning and porn will come popping up! I have to get on this now.

This program caught my attention because it was the first on my Google return list and because it was named the *Best* filter by PC Magazine. I will ask around though before I purchase anything and consult my Tech Dept. and our School Resource Officer.

5 Favorite Apps & eReaders

My favorite web 2.0 apps are:


1. Wikis---wikispaces.com is a great site, very user friendly and I believe many students would like to contribute and edit their work for an assignment.

2. Flickr---photosharing at its best. Students could look up photos related to their topic and then discuss why they chose those photos in either.

3. Blogs---you can incorporate so much into blogs---photos, text, videos---it really is the catch-all for many wonderful things plus you can get feedback from your readers.

4. Evernote---I love this tool! It makes the web seem less intimidating and overwhelming. Knowing I can copy, save and tag all of my web searches is so helpful. I still need to check out pageflake but I think either of these tools would be helpful to teach faculty and students.

5. YouTube/TeacherTube----love these sites! So much great content and I like how students/faculty can be the creator with these tools. Having a $100 Flip Video to loan out from the library, groups of students could create some very interesting content to upload and show their classmates. Great for the visual learners.

eReaders

Like most people, I was skeptical when I read and heard about the digital book Kindle. Being a die-hard book fan, I thought I would never even consider purchasing one. However, I have since changed my tune and am now thinking about purchasing one (iPod Touch vs. Kindle? Kindle or iTouch? Hmmmm. Gotta start saving!)

One of my friends in my Book Club has had a Kindle for quite some time (2+ years?). She got it when it first came out and she loves it! I could not meet up with her and play with it this past week nor could I go to B & N and check out their eReader.

However, I did watch the promo video on Amazon and I was quite impressed! I had heard that it is light and I was quite surprised its battery lasted like 5 days. I had thought it was short-lived. The template seems really easy to use and the buttons to push the pages up (or turn the page) look to be quite user friendly and the internal dictionary is a great feature.

I had heard that the special text and lighting technology made reading easy on the eyes and most people claim that it s great. So that for sure is a big factor for me and seems to be OK. Another big thing for me is that I like to write in my books and highlight passages etc. You are now able to annotate on the Kindle so I am now completely sold! :)

I only know one person who owns a Kindle. I went to a library conference recently and one of the presenters said her school just received 3 Kindles I think (maybe even more!) and that the students in her Book Club were downloading the books they liked. I can't imagine being in that position in our library. That would be so cool yet I feel like that would be ions away because of budget cuts and funding issues. However, I can see how the argument should be made to have these readers in schools so students can be familiar with them.

And oh, I loved the newer feature of the text reader---how cool is that?

I am sold on eReaders and it seems like Kindle has set the standard, just like the iPod is the best MP3 player.

***I'm getting better with placing the images! Yeah!

SL & FB

OK, I tried Second Life but didn't get off the ground, literally and figuratively. I think I have to download the program in order to change my Avatar.

My SL name is Josie Lynkskey which I think is a real cool name. Signing up was fine and easy but then I got confused. I watched the how to change your avatar video and did think it was amazing how you can change the physical features. I couldn't help but think of that SNL skit Franz and Franz from the 90's---"I'm here to pump you up!" when the chest size changes! :)

I liked this place: Literary%20%26amp%3B%20Artists%5C%26%2339%3B%20Villageand found it so easy to export this link to my blog. I am finding sharing a site or link to be so easy on so many applications. I think the programmers are on to something here, they want it to seamlessly interface with many different apps.

Overall, I don't know if I am an SL fan because I haven't had a chance to play and fly around it. I did find everyone's comments interesting this week and was a bit put off hearing about the weirdos and stalkers and child avatars. I did think the big picture of SL, the different worlds, the way you can change yourself, how you meet people ...to be incredibably creative.

As I mentioned in a post, I think in the future, virtual worlds will be popular and more defined so I hope to have a SL world geared towards educators like wikispaces and PBwiki are geared towards educators. I would like that environment. SL seems all over the place to me right now.

FACEBOOK

(For some reason, I can't import the Facebook Logo here. This is where I find technology to be so challenging! I checked the "import photo" button and it doesn't do anything!)

I am not a regualr user of FB but I know many people who are, especially my friends who are in their 40's. I know there are heavy users of FB all out there but it is just not me. Every time I go on FB, I am on it for much longer than I wanted to be. One thing leads to another, reading everyon'e wall etc.

I first set up an account about two years ago because my high school kids were using it and I wanted to know how it worked. I orginally didn't use my full name because I was unsure of the technology and didn't want to be too public.

I do have private settings but I can't stand how I can read a friend's friend comment on their wall. The whole wall thing bothers me or maybe it is the status updates and how people feel compelled to let eveyone know that they just worked out at the gym and will be having a tuna sandwhich for lunch. I just don't get it.

Facebook is great for connecting with people from the past and I was so happy that a college friend found me as soon as I added my real name to FB. I like chit chatting with old friends but at some point, what else more is there to say? And I really don't want to read about all of their mundane activities nad see their "trail" when I log on.

FB can be a huge time sucker and that is probably the main reason I do not use it as much as other people. Maybe when I am done with this program I will spend all of my "free" time on FB? LOL! :)

I would like to learn more about how FB can be used by school libraries. I get the whole group thing (X Library Group on FB) and students /faculty could post about books and links but how can you monitor what people say or upload? That is my most pressing question and one that I am realizing way too late in the week!