7.24.11

I really enjoyed our last meeting and being able to listen to everyone show their Prezis.  It was neat to see everyones pictures and see what picture tip each person used.  I enjoyed watching the lip dub videos during class also.  I think lip dubs are a great way to incorporate a large variety of people in a whole production.  I watched the Kids in America video and it thought it was a great  representation of the whole school working on something together.  I'm having a good time working on my Pecha Kucha.  I'm doing it on my trip to New Zealand and Australia.  While I love the pictures that I chose, I'm having a hard time figuring out exactly what tone to take in my voice overs and what types of music and sounds to put in with it.  I am also trying to decide if I should use voicethread or if I should try the slidesix.  I opened an account for slidesix, but couldn't really figure it out at the time.  I think I need to sit down more with it and focus more on it.  My biggest concern with the Pecha Kucha is that I won't be able to get each slide to show for 20 seconds.  Hopefully I will figure that out.

7.17.2011

After our fourth session, I don't feel as overwhelmed as I have with the other sessions.  I'm excited to work on my Prezi and I've actually done one before so I think I'll have more fun putting it together.  I am having trouble picking my top six pictures for my Prezi though.  I wish I had paid more attention to the pictures I was taking when I was taking them, so that would actually be good pictures.  At the time I was just snapping away and I'm having a difficult time pointing out in my pictures what technique I used to get the picture.  I also think the Pecha Kucha will be fun to put together.  I'm still trying to decide what I want it to be on.  I've got a story board going for my ideas to see which might be the easiest and make the most sense.  I have a story board for my trip to Australia and New Zealand and then a story board for my summer camp memories that could be used for the Y.  My fantastic news for the week is that I've had two library media specialist interviews this past week!  I've gone into both interviews being able to talk about the technology we have been learning about and I feel like I somewhat know what I am talking about in the interviews.  We'll see what happens with those, but it's nice to know that the classes I have taken have helped me out so far!!

4.10.2011

I have to admit that when each class session ends I feel a little information overload going on in my head.  The hour goes so quick because we are learning about so many new and exciting things, but at the same time it's overwhelming thinking of everything that needs to get done.  Once I'm able to actually go through the material I am finding that each and everything I go through gets more and more beneficial.  I am really enjoying the Presentation Zen book, but even more I love watching the videos becuase it is really enhancing what that book is saying and what is really important.  I think this last chapter in the book was extremely beneficial becuase it went through all the important key components of a presenation and what I should be working on.  I think what I am liking most about the class is that I am being forced to try new programs and sites and being forced to get out of my way of thinking and into something new.  I am forcing myself to try and expand on what I know and make something great.  I know none of the stuff that I've done so far is very great, but it's so much fun to learn and try to better myself.  Currently for my job I'm in the process of reformatting all of our paperwork and update old presenations.  I haven't started the presenations quite yet, because I want to practice and get better at them before I start, but I'm so excited to start putting new ones together and wow my boss!

CEDO530 4.3.11

I really enjoyed the class from last Wednesday.  I really liked the StoryCorps and have enjoyed watching some of the clips.  It's a neat concept and I've mentioned the site to other people that I work with and have heard great feedback from them about the site also.  Overall, I've had a really fun time taking the pictures each day.  I'm finding that I'm spending more time now looking for things that take picture of then ever before.  I also am really enjoying checking out everyone's pictures.  It's fun to check out and learn a little bit more about the people that you spend time in class with.  Everyone is taking really great pictures and I can't wait to see what we are going to do with them in the future.  I'm a little anxious about the powerpoint assignment at this time.  I haven't done a powerpoint presentation in years so I'm still trying to figure that one out.  I'm hoping that since I haven't done a powerpoint in a number of years that it will be like starting from scratch and I will learn the correct way to put a presentation together from the beginning.

CEDO 530 6.26.11

The first class session for digital storytelling was very exciting.  I was really nervous going into the class session becuase I've never done on online course before and I wasn't comfortable with the whole set up of the class.  As we got into the class it definately made more sense to me and got me even more excited about the class.  For only meeting for an hour I feel like I've already been given so many various resources that I could use in my work life right now.  I'm especially excited about the picture assignment.  I love taking pictures but never seem to have my camera around.  This will be a great reason to carry it around and I'm curious what we will do with the pictures.  Learning about posterous site has been the highlight of the first week of class and I'm excited to learn so much more through the upcoming weeks.

3.23.11

One of the most important things that I have learned from enrolling in this course is that no matter what your job title is you must advocate yourself and make it look as though you are one of the most important attributes to your co-workers.  I think that that is something a person can always work on, especially myself.  This week I learned a lot about the great things WEMTA had to offer this year.  I was tempted to go, and at the last minute bowed out.  I'm a bit disapointed that I didn't go, but am interested in seeing about becoming a member even though I'm not in a library at this time.  I also enjoyed everyone's presentations tonight.  There are so many neat lessons out there that are beneficial and I look forward to hopefully using some of these in my own library some day.  I'm especially excited to try using screen-castomatic with some of my work tools.  It's going to be exciting to show all my co-workers about it.  Another one of my favorite parts of the class were all of the databases and tools I've learned about over the past few weeks.  I feel like I've learned so many new things and that there can't possibly be more tools out there, but there are tons out there still and I can't wait to learn more and really hop on board with technology!

3.16.11

Some of my favorite things from the dtatbase presentations tonight were... -Tumblebooks - I really liked the read along books and how the story was read out loud and easy to follow along.  It seems like it would be a great way to encourage kids to read.
-WISCareers - I liked the career clusters section which helped pinpoint which careers might be possible for you to pursue.
-Kids Search - I loved the detailed search section.  It was so user friendly with the checkboxes and the many options that you could search by.
-BrainPop - So exciting, bright, and happy looking.  I can see why kids would enjoy using it; definately grabs attention.  The section on teaching to the standards seems so useful to teachers.
-Power Speak Language - This site makes me want to go out and learn a new language.  It seems like it teaches in such a straight forward way and would make learning a new language fun.

This weeks class has opened my eyes to how many really good, quality database are out there for students and staff to use.  I've never paid much attention to databases but I can understand how important and useful they are and why teachers and students would want to use them.  I've used CultureGrams this week for looking up recipes from various countries for some Y curriculum.  It was very beneficial and really convienent to use.  I also liked talking about WECAN tonight and how important in general it is to keep looking for jobs and putting yourself out there.  The discussion at the beginning of class really stressed the importance of putting in applications and to continue trying to find a job.

3.9.11

I really enjoyed listening to everyones interpretation of what they feel their role is being a library media specialist.  It made me think about how there are so many responsibilities for each person and how the job varies from district to district.  I also liked the chapter in the reading about evaluating the library.  Evaluation is such an important aspect of a successful library and I enjoyed seeing the examples in the book as well as the links provided on angel.

I enjoyed the tools that the DPI provided for library media programs.  I thought it was a nice addition for users to look over.  I especially enjoyed the section on design considerations.  It was nice to know what DPI thinks a library should be provided with and how much space and materials they should have.  I also liked the section about connecting the library back to the curriculum.  I think that could be very useful to help make sure that all standards are being met.

I think that evaluation is such an important aspect to a successful library.  As is true in the success of anything, evaulation has to be done.  My role right now as a supervisor for the Y requires me to evaluate all of my staff working for me.  While it is a very stressful aspect of the job it is a great way to ensure that the staff working for me are doing their job and what is expected of them.  I wouldn't imagine working in a library and not being evaluated for the work I was doing.  I think that evaluating in a variety of ways and a numerous amount of times would be most beneficial to the success of a library.

At this time I don't have any questions about that database presentation or the library lesson.

The most exciting thing about work this week was that I used Prezi.  I was able to show some executives at the Y my presentation and they loved it.  They were curious about other tools that I've learned about so I've been spending a lot of time trying out new tools.  Now I have been assigned to the summer training committee and I'm curretly working on training materials using Prezi for a new and modern way to teach our staff.  It's been a fun week at work.  The discussions this week reitterated the importance of evaulations.  I've slacked on evaluating my staff lately, and after tonights discussion I will have to come up with some new ways to do so.  I also enjoyed writing what my role of a library media specialist is.  Even though I'm not one, it was fun to write what I think my roles will be some day. 

                                             

                                           

3.2.11

From the readings this week I thought it was really important to always remember and take into consideration working with the teachers in your building.  We talk about this concept often, and since it comes up so often it is so important to follow through with this in your career.  Collaboration is such a huge part of the success of a library.  I also enjoyed the section about the evaulation of your library and yourself as a librarian.  I think that knowing what is done well in your library, and what needs improvement plays a large role in the success of the library.

The search engines for kids page that was provided to look at was full of so many useful and fun sites for kids to look at and use.  I loved the boolify site and I'm a big fan of the kidsclick site.  I think it's so important for kids to have sites that are safe and fun to use while being informational and easy to navigate.
I really like the variety of advanced search techniques that google has to offer.  It's helpful to be able to define yoru search by type of document.  I can see me using the powerpoint document more often than others.  It will be something to work with in the future to become more comfortable with.

I would absolutely use scavenger hunts with my students.  Scavenger hunts are such a great way to let students go on their own to investigate, use their knowledge, and ask questions to figure out their answers.  I think scavenger hunts are very beneficial to the progress and success of being able to search on their own.

I'm working with Kari on presenting CultureGrams for the database presentation.  It's coming along really well and I'm learning so much about a database that I have never known about.  It's been really beneficial working with her on this project.  I'm a little behind on my lesson topic.  I'm still trying to figure that one out.

I'm really excited because I really used animoto for the first time.  I put a slide show together for work to promote our camp programs to show to potential summer camp families.  Class this week has opened me up to using the google advanced tools.  I think I'll have to play around with it a little bit more to fully understand it and get used to it.  I also liked learning about all the google quick search items (calculator, conversions, definitions, weather, flights, etc.)  That is something that I will definately be using in the future and it will save time in the long run.  I also really enjoyed looking at all the internet logs.  All the sites were great and I can see myself using them.

2.23.11

One topic that interested me from the reading this week was chapter 8 on electronic reference sources.  I knew about the boolean operators, but proximity, phrase searching, wild cards, and truncation, nesting, and set logic is something completely new and foreign to me.  I've never really used anything fancy with my research.  I've never been a strong researcher and have never really know where to look for things.  The chapter was interesting but very technical at the same time, but I can understand how useful the different types of searches can be and I plan on trying some more specific searches out in the near future.  I also liked chapter 6 on searching the web.  It was interesting to learn about the four different types of search engines.  It was interesting to discover what type the search engines that I use fit into and the strengths and weaknesses of each.

I think the Big 6 is a great concept to use.  I like how everything is broken down into a step by step procedure and sets a person up for success by doing so. I feel like procedures and expectations are very well laid out through the Big 6.  I like that there are 6 big stesps to start but then it breaks down into two sub categories that are important to be included.  By having the sub categories it really shows what to look for and discover in a specified way.  After discussion tonight I think it's great to have consistency in a school and have all the teachers focusing on research in the same way.  I think it's great for students to know what is expected and take the guessing out of it.

I think as time goes on I will become more comfortable with doing a reference interview.  I think I have all the steps that need to be included in the interview and I have the customer service skills necessary.  At this time I don't have the knowledge to go along with the information.  Once I get into a library and I become familiar with everything included in the library I think I will do a great job with the reference interview.  At this time I at least get to practice some of the skills in my current job which is a nice way to stay up on the steps of it.

My internet log is coming along really well.  I'm finding many resources that are relevant to the area that I chose.  It's actually been really fun putting the log together and it will definately be useful to myself and my co-workers.

The database presentation is coming along.  I am working with Kari to go over Culturegrams.  I'm not familiar with it at all and have never worked with it so it's exciting to learn about something completely new and foreign to me.  I'm sure in the next few weeks I will be learning a great deal about how the database works.

The class this week has once again reinforced the importance of incorporating technology and searching tools into lessons, activities, and everyday happenings.  Every week I learn more about different seraching tools and different web 2.0 tools that I never knew about before.  I feel like I have information overload at times but it's great to have so many resources available that I never really knew about before.  I think the most valuable thing I have learned is the importance of finding new information and the new ways to present information to others.  In my current job we use very little technology when we work with the kids and even when presenting new information to staff for trainings and meetings.  I'm excited to start bringing more technology to my staff members and getting them excited about all the tools that are available to use.  I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do since I'm just getting into all the techonology that is out there, but it's exciting to be learning so many new things that will be beneficial.  We talked briefly this week on copyright restrictions regarding videos in the library and school.  Our first course touched briefly on this topic, but I'm interested in learning a bit more about copyright restrictions and plan on looking into that this week.

Internet Log Link:  https://docs.google.com/a/wolfmail.stritch.edu/document/d/1F6JGDyXgT7D2ifxWPxM-wik04R0HUhK6Q5RIZoxL-MI/edit?hl=en#

2.16.11

All of the articles this week were extremely interesting and provided important information.  There were two comments that were made that struck me as being important and things to always remember.  The first is what Jenny had mentioned about staying up with technology and not using technology just to say that you are working with technology so you don't get left behind.  I think that is very important to remember no matter what field of work you are in.  It's important to stay up with the times and the ever changing aspects of your job.  I also like how Kari's article reinforced the important fact that a library can't succeed without a librarian.  Both of these comments/thoughts are very general, but so important in the success of a libarary, school, and competent staff. 

This weeks reading talked a lot about the reference interview.  It reminded me a lot of trainings I've taken through the Y called listen first where you focus on asking questions and repeating questions back while trying to help the customer/person.  So many things that we read or talk about in the class are new to me so it was nice to feel a little familiar with something that we'll be discussing.  Also, Mary Ann in her presentation shared about the bookclub in a bag that the library provided.  I thought that was a great idea and I really loved it.  I think that the programs at work could really benefit from having something like that in our programs.  I can't wait to try and figure out how to incorporate book clubs into our programs.

My internet log is coming along very well.  I have changed my focus to fit in with curriculum that I am more familiar with and I'm having a lot of fun putting the log together.  I think co-workers will find that it's very helpful to them.

At this time I don't have any questions or concerns about the online database presention.  I have ideas for the library lesson; I just need to figure out the direction I want to go with it.

Reading about the reference interview has reminded me to ask a lot of questions in my professional life.  So much of my job is talking with families and figuring out solutions to behavior problems or talking with co-workers and putting together training materials.  I feel like I can use the reference interview techniques in my converstations with co-workers and families to help me be successful in my job.  I also really enjoyed seeing everyones presentations for the library visits.  It was fun seeing all of the different programs that were used.  I'm planning on working with Prezi this week to put a presentation together for work.  I'm excited to try it and see what I can do with it and hope my co-worker have a positive response to it.

2.9.11

In the articles tonight, Kari brought up the idea of showing your staff all about the library in a fun way.  The library adventure game seems like it would be a great way to teach students and staff about the library.  It would be a great way to have both students and staff learn through actually doing and participating in the activity instead of listening to a lecture.  I also think that Mary Ann's article that was all about collaboration is extremely important.  As with any almost anything in life, collaboration is so important in success.  With my job I have to depend on so many other people so collaboration is a huge part of us succeeding, but we can always improve and work together better.

From the readings, the five elements of evaulation caught my attention.  Of course there are evaluation tools, and I kind of create them on my own, bu then after reading I realized I wasn't all that far off from what the tools are.  I can take those evaluation tools into my job now with all of the different materials that are in my program.  I also just liked chapter 4 which discussed the different types of reference materials.  It was just a good reading describing the types and the characteristics of each of the materials.

My internet log is coming along well.  I have almost all of my resources done, just looking for a few final ones.

I have no questions on the library visit, online database presentation or the library lesson at this time. I'm sure questions will come up soon though.

Since starting to talk about reference material and visiting reference setions in libraries I have started organizing and "weeding" the reference type materials in the office at the Y.  We have a closet full of materials (similar to what a reference section that teachers would have) that are outdated and rarely used.  My co-worker and I have made cleaning the closet a project for the week and so far it's going really well.  We are keeping the important items and tossing the "junk".  I think the most important thing I learned from this week is the importance of collaborating with others and how beneficial it is to the success of the classroom, library, and my professional life.  I also really enjoyed the library visits that were presented.  It was fun to see how each library displays their reference materials in various ways.  I also loved learning about google wonder wheel.  I've been using that more since class and have even showed a few co-workers about it.  We all really enjoy using it.

1.24.11

There were two things that really stood out for the arcticle discussions.  The first was that as a library media specialist it really is important to educate the teachers in the building about all the online databases and other reference materials that are present.  In order for teachers to teach their students about the reference materials they first must feel comfortable using these materials.  The other information I really enjoyed was the musty technique when looking at materials and trying to determine whether to keep them in the library or get rid of them.

In the school I am working with there isn't a lot of talk about "digital footprints."  The students do use the computers a good deal but mostly for writing papers and research.  The students seem to know how to navigate computers well enough but I have honestly never heard any of my students speak of facebook, myspace, etc,  Granted the students I work with are only in elementary school; it's still pretty amazing considering these sites seem to be out there everywhere.  Throughout the week I think I am going to "poll" the kids in my after school program and just see exactly how much they use the computer for and what purposes they are using it for.  I'm excited to see the results!

My internet log is coming along nicely.  I have a number of sites already picked out and I just need to review them.  I am planning on focusing on fourth grade science especially weather and land formations.

I've narrowed my library visit down to two libraries.  I will either be visiting the Verona Public Library or the middle school library in Verona.  I'm not sure which one yet, but I'll decide by the end of the week.

I am currently job searching at the moment.  After watching the digital footprint video, class has encouraged me to take a closer look at my facebook page and make sure it is nice and clean it up a bit.  I'm pretty confident my page is pretty good, but I'll take a closer look just to make sure after reading all of the statistics on the video.  Class this week just reinforced how important it is to make sure you are leaving a clean "digital footprint" out there and reference collections seem to be an ongoing task/struggle for library media specialists to figure out.  This meaning whether to get rid of reference materials, whether to keep materials, what databases to use, and how to make sure people know how to find what they are looking for.

1.19.11

My understanding of reference materials so far suggest that they are dictionaries, encyclopedias, thesauruses, world books, atlases, etc.,  and various online databases.  They all constain a lot of information.

At this time I don't have any questions or comments.  I'm positive that as the class goes on I will have a ton of questions reference methods.

Louis Question
We talked about starting internet logs during class.  For my teachers in my after school program I started my own "internet log" for them to use when looking for activities for their groups.  I think it will be helpful for them to have a listing of various sites to check out.  This week I also learned that I'm not familiar with badgerlink at all.  I've spent a lot of time working around with it and trying all of the aspects that are provided on it.  It will definately be something I have to keep using and become more familiar with.  I've also learned that I need to become way more familiar with various internet databases.  Hopefully that will happen throughout this class.

01.12.11

I honestly started this class without any expectations.  I really didn't know what to expect and was going to be happy with anything that I learned.  I started just ready to try a new experience and I've been pleasantly surprised with everything so far.

I really loved putting my website together.  It was a huge challenge, but a ton of fun to do.  It was nice to challenge myself to learn something new and create something from scratch.  I think the experience will help in the long run in many aspects of my professional life.  Titlewave is another thing I learned about and think will be extremely helpful to use.  I enjoy looking at the numbers and comparing the data.  It's a great way to analyze the library collection.  I also enjoyed putting the three year plan together.  Even though it took a ton of time and energy it allowed me to understand the school better and the resources that the school has to provide.  Even though I've only scratched the surface of the school and the district, I understand it better but have a long way to go to learn everything I need to.  It will always be an ongoing learning proces.

Since I came into the class not knowing what to expect, the class definately fulfilled my expectations.  I feel like I have grown professionally and my understanding of the field has improved dramatically.

I definately think Chris was very accessible.  I used google docs for the first time ever this class and in the beginning I had no idea what I was doing with it.  I appreciate that she never got frustrated when I would email over and over again to make sure she had received my assignment.

I think the assignments and the course work was very appropriate for the class.   All the assignments related to the topics really well and I thought they were spaced out nicely.  It was nice that everything wasn't due back to back; that there were weeks in between due dates.  I do wish that we could have had a little bit more work time during the class periods.

I feel like I have learned a great deal over the past few weeks; more than I thought I was going to.  It was an enjoyable experience and it's given me things to contribute to my professional life.  I also enjoyed having the beginning of each class period as a sharing session to talk about highs and lows from your professional life.  It's a great way to start the class and get to know a little bit about what is going on in other libraries.

01.05.11

Webpage features:
-Jenny's - I really loved the library thing where the books were displayed out and switched out every 15 seconds or so.  I thought that was a great feature to have and would keep students interested and on the site longer to see what was up next.
-Dan - Shelfari - I liked that it allows you to see book reviews and it's another great way to view books and get more of a visual on what you want to read.
-Kari - I like that the district takes part in classroom connections where all the resources link back to one place.  I think that's a great way for families and students to be assured to get all the information necessary to succeed.
-Brian - Atomic Learning - It seems like a "new' way to view things on the internet.  It seems like it would engage students interest and make them want to learn more.
-Megan - Ideas Project.  This seems like such a great way to get students to open up their minds and be creative.
-Alyca - I really liked the Wix website that was used.  It seemed like it had a lot of layouts and graphics to display.  This would be a great site to have students use for web projects.

My three year plan is done as of now.  The most difficult part in the whole plan was just not being in the library and becomiong familiar with the library and the resources that are offered.  I had a great librarian to work with so I think the plan will be alright.  I feel though that if I had been able to have access to all of her accounts and an endless amount of time where I could work with her and "shadow' her and just have access to the library whenever I wanted it would have turned out much better.  Either way by completing the project I have a much greater understanding of the amount of time 'weeding" takes and what to look for and the amount of time it really takes to find new, quality books and other resources to add to a library.

I think the age of your library is a great way to evaluate your collection.  Materials need to be recent and make students want to read the books that are in the library.  I also think that looking at check out history is another great way to evaluate your collection.  If students aren't checking out a book there must be a reason.  I've seen a couple of reports of collection mapping for the school that I'm working with.  I've seen a titlewave report and a bound to stay bound report.  It was interesting to compare the two reports and to see which company suggested certain books and what resources weren't recommended.  I think it's important to do collection mapping and I will plan to do it when I'm in my own library.

The most critical learning network that I have developed throughout this class is the librarian at the school I am working with.  I really don't think I would have been able to do much for this class without her.  She has been such a supportive role throughout these past few weeks and is always offering guidance and support.  Everyone in the class has also been a great learning network for me.  I enjoy sitting back and listening to everyones comments and struggles and hope that some day I'll be able to have my own struggles to share when I finally find my own library.

(Louis Questions:)
This week's class, and the class in general has made me feel more comfortable stepping out of my comfort zone and doing things that will benefit me.  Talking about how library media specialists need to show they are important to the school and fight for their job is exactly what I am feeling with my current job at the time.  Over the past few weeks I have been making it known that I'm an asset to the company and letting people know all the great things that I do.  I definately think the class has helped open my eyes to this.  This week I have learned that there is always room for improvement.  I thought my website was pretty decent, but after looking at everyone else's I wanted to add so much more and knew that if mine was a real website I would never be done.  I also learned that it's great to collaborate with others and to bounce ideas off one another because that is when great ideas come about.

Web Site Address

http://mhansen.byethost33.com/Home.php