Thing2 finally done

I was so happy that I finally figured out how to get my avatar into my blog. It is not exactly where I want it to be but then neither is my Voki. But They both made it on and that is the first step. I guess I also did Thing 3 since I set up an account in Flickr and uploaded some pictures. So onward and upward.

My favorite technology this week

There is so much technology out there that I really do end up following a certain technology for a while as a favorite. Recently it has been using Audacity to make podcasts. I want to have the students create audio booktalks that we can connect to the books with a sticker so that students know they are available on the network. I have the equipment but I haven't yet tried the class set up yet. I learned in a great class where we all read a poem and then added sound effects from a folder. I will plan to do the same. 

I created a Flickr account. It might be nice to have my photos available from wherever I may be. I know my sons rely exclusively on their online photo accounts. I recently converted to a Mac and am still having growing pains on the easiest ways to locate what I am looking for. My pictures seem harder to f ind, my files. I can't rely on the same tools I have been using with my Windows machines all these years. It has been a challenge. The photo for my blog is there as well as the Two Moose Brothers that came to visit us one day.

Week#1

I forgot that the first blog I wanted to enter was the contract that we found in Week 1. So here it is:

1. I would like to learn podcasting well enough to deliver a great 4th-5th grade lesson in the library.
2. Main obstacles will be the time I need to get up to speed, the length of our class and whether we could get everything done in one class period and the constant interruptions that occur in the library. I guess the way I could get around them is by practicing at home in the quiet, planning out the lesson well and enlisting help from other technology focused people. Call on the instructor of the course where I learned.
3. Based on my goal I would need equipment which I have, the contact information of the podcasting teacher, on-call help from technology friendly people in our building
4. I have a list handy
5. I will work next on a time table and get back to this blog.

Musings on Day 1

My library literacy journey actually began much before today's post. The birth of my journey could probably be traced to 2004 when I began my first job in a high school library. I was fascinated at how technology in an educational setting took on a whole new meaning when you were facing time, budget and teen issues. My quest began as a simple desire to make technology access easier for school personnel, faster to set up, requiring less intervention by others to get running and I hoped as a result, to make using technology easier to integrate into lessons. There were many mundane ways I began this journey; I won't belabor the details. But at that time I did not know that it was a journey of evolving library literacy upon which I had serendipitously embarked and continue to pursue. 

Libraries to me seemed the logical starting point for any journey of literacy. We have books, computers and people with a love of information. Helpful sorts of people tend to gravitate to working in the library. We actually enjoy making someone else's day better by introducing them to a new Fiction title or nurturing a budding interest in technology by teaching them a new technology tip or technique. I soon found however that each person had to pick and choose from the plethora of new sites and capabilities. Try to share too many new Web2.0 capabilities and you lose your audience altogether from sheer overload. So, how do I find the best Web2.0 objects, learn them well enough to retain them and then how best to preserve that knowledge until it is ready to be revealed to an audience? One easy way is to learn something and use it on a regular basis. But I soon found that impossible to maintain. Real work duties kept interfering with this grand plan. So I continue with my quest and continue to learn as much as I can of the Web 2.0 as it grows and develops. My hope is that as my learning expands it will lead me to a manageable way to preserve and protect this knowledge until the time is right to unveil it for the willing audience. What I began in http://libraryliteracy.edublogs.org I will continue here with the PA Web 2.0 project.