Thing 10: Final Reflection

1: What did you learn?

• How did you put what you learned into action at school? Personally?
• I would love to teach video book trailers using animoto and Imovie.  Start a Weebly for a book club blog. Use Stormboard and Symbaloo for group project brainstorming and source curation.  And personally, I would like to spend more time sharing photos with friends and family on Instagram.
• Did you expand your Personal Learning Network? Make new professional connections?
• Polly has been wonderful and the whole experience has made me feel more comfortable reaching out to her.  I would also like to spend more time working with Jen Cannell and Jane Bentley from Questar III in order to become more fluent in our databases and OverDrive services.  
• What challenges did you face during the workshop?
• Two challenges that I faced during this experience were the nature of learning online and the technology access within my district.  I have always learned best by working with people face to face in small groups.   This is the best way for me to acquire information.  However, I must learn to overcome and adapt to learning socially in groups online.   This has always been a challenge for me and I look forward to next year’s program as a way to become more comfortable with this way of learning.  
• The technology access within my district has also been a challenge.   We still do not have access to blogs or certain websites.  I did complete almost all of the things at home.  I am discouraged by this because I am not able to share this information as readily with students and staff.   While I look forward to changes and improvements, I found that it is still very important to build knowledge of technology tools in order to have the skills when access is made readily available.
• Were there projects that didn’t work out well for you?
• All of the projects seemed to work well.  I was inspired by the wide range of choices.  I was more resistant to RSS feeds and I think that spending time with people who like/know more about RSS feeds would be beneficial.
• Other thoughts?
• Unfortunately, we don’t have the best access at school so I had to do almost all of the work from home.   This will also make it harder to implement new tools with students and staff.

2: What’s next?

• Did you start some projects that you’ll be following up on this summer and next school year?
• One of the projects that I have started and will continue to work on over the summer are, improvements to our school library website and facebook page.  I would really like this to be an excellent source of information that is appealing to the eye and well organized.   Being in the high school setting, I get very few opportunities to interact with parents and community members.  Both the school library website and the library facebook page will help me to get the word out about our wonderful programs and activities.
• Are you planning to share what you’ve learned with others?
• Absolutely, I look forward to sharing this information with students visiting the library and with staff during Technology Wednesdays.  
• What other professional development projects will you be pursuing?
• I would love to continue next year with cool tools!!   Having gone through track 1 once, I am excited to go through and work on track 2 next year.  
• Other thoughts?
• I look forward to getting on the tech committee next year in order to help implement and improve technology in the district or at the very least be apart of the conversation.

3: Did you like learning this way?

• For some of you, this might have been your first experience with this kind of independent, self-driven learning. Did this work for you?
• I have taken several online classes and while I like the flexibility, I learn that much more from being face to face with other learners.   I am an extroverted person and I learn more from in person interactions that working through technology.  That being said I am really excited that I rose to the challenge and was able to finish all 10 things!!!!  This is a big accomplishment for me and I look forward to working on more webinars and online learning opportunities.    I liked the choice and variety that this program afforded me.   I did think that each thing had extremely valuable information that helped me to become a better librarian.
• I would like to try hard
• What did you most value about the program? What didn’t work well?
• The variety of choices to explore and the soft deadlines made it a lot easier to catch up and to explore all of the tools that I was curious about.
• Would you do it again?
• I absolutely plan to do the program again next year.   Track 2, here I come!
• Other thoughts?
• I think that this is a valuable program for every teacher and librarian.   The opportunity to gain 20 professional development hours for free is a fantastic way to incorporate technology into curriculum.  The more we work with and introduce students to technology tools,  the more prepare our students are to adapt into the college and career world.    This is a fantastic chance for librarians to become technology leaders in their district.   

Thank you so much for following my Blogger :) See you next year Cool Tools!

Thing 9: Databases and Search Tools

I love databases.  I think that the transition from large reference books to the technical skill of navigating databases has been a long time coming.  Working in a high school library, my students desperately need experience using databases and honing their search schools.  In order to become successful citizens prepare for college or career, students must have these skills.   I also feel that as librarians it is our job to share this vital information with the staff that we work with.   Not only do the students need to be comfortable using databases and search strategies, but teachers also need to grasp these techniques to search and evaluate information efficiently. 

I have spent a good amount of time using SIRS Issue Researcher with my students.   In order to have some variety, I decided to delve deeper into Opposing Viewpoints in Context.  A majority of the research that students complete at CHS is either based on the influence of an individual and contemporary issues.  Between SIRS Issues Researcher and Congressional Quarterly the students usually can find enough information, but there are a few subjects that were difficult to find such as welfare and animal abuse.  I was happy to find that Opposing Viewpoints had a wide range of subjects to browse.  I really like the news feed style search results based on a variety of resources and media types. The highlight and notes feature is fantastic for research and can show progress as students are working.  There is a helpful save feature that makes it easy to find and cite the sources you use.   In addition the dictionary function is nice to have when reading academic articles that might have advanced language.  I will definitely promote this to the English classes that visit the library as well as the Participation in Government class during their library project. 

I also can't wait to share 100+ Google Tricks for Teachers!  So many helpful tips!

Thing 8: Collaborating, Connecting, Sharing

I decided to try Stormboard because I love collaborative brainstorming!  Working together in a relaxed group setting can produce the most wonderful variety of ideas.  This tool is very user friendly and pleasing to the eye.  It was very easy to create a stormboard and the introductory tutorial on slideshare made getting started easy.  A help box opened up with a friendly message and it was nice to know I could chat with  I love the fun colored sticky and the range of template styles to choose from.  I could definitely suggest that students use this to fire off ideas with each other.   I appreciate that 5 students can collaborate on one stormboard.  The wide range of templates can be applied to any subject area.  I would like to use it for the wonder phase of research.   However, I am concerned however because on the website the educator's accounts will only be free until July.  I would really like to understand more about what will happen in the fall when I try to use this with students.  This does seem like a really useful tool with a ton of great features.  

Similarly, Popplet is another cool way to collaborate and share ideas. The layout and style is user friendly and fun.  I like the concept map feel and how easy it was to naturally build off a central idea.  I really like the full screen option.  I found that when the address and tool bar are hidden they are less of a distraction. I like that you can export the popplets as a PDF and insert it into a presentation.  Popplets are a fun way to gather information and present information in a clean organized way.  I am not sure how high school students may react to the layout.  I fear that they might think it looks to juvenile, but they will have to be the ones to let me know.  I certainly want to share it with them and see what they think. 

I also checked out the 15 best google drive add-ons for education!  So cool.  I currently have been using the BibMe add-on and I think it's fantastic!   Two of the new add-ons that I really like and want to use right away are Mindmeister and Gliffy for more intriguing visuals in presentations.  Thesaurus and Open Clip Art would be good add-ons for every student and staff member I work with.  I look forward to sharing all of them with the students and staff during Tech Wednesdays.

Thing 7: Podcasting and Screencasting

Hello!

Podcasting and Screencasting both seem to be a great step forward in educational technology. Being able to share information through audio and video is a very easy way to make a big impact on the audience. There are so many ways to use this technology with students and staff.  Podcasts for book talks, reviews and reports, library orientations, using databases, and even our library catalog are just a small amount of the ideas running around in my head.  

I personally have yet to listen to podcasts. I was happy to see the list of 5 EdTech Podcasts You Should Listen To. The first podcast that I would like to listen to is TEDTalks Education because it is so relevant to our field.  Another resource that I LOVED Isinglass Teen Read Award Nominees Book Talks. This is such a wonderful example of what I would like to do with and for my students. 

I wanted to learn more about Screencastomatic to start off because I have heard buzz about it.  Once I got acclimated I figured that I would just try to do a basic overview of how to use our library catalog to find library resource.   While this is something that I hope students would be comfortable with at the high school level, the students still need support.   The next area that I would like to explore is the editing features to cut down on repetitious content.   Overall, I felt that Screencastomatic was user friendly and straight forward.   I would definitely recommend this site to students and teachers.

Thing 6: Curation Tools

Salutations Techies!

Curation Tools are a new term for me, but the concept seems reasonable: select, collect and share collections of digital resources.  I found the selected readings very helpful.  I liked the helpful tips and user friendly format as well as the variety of tools presented in Developing Digital Literacy Through Content Curation.  I also really loved the curation infographic presented by Content Curation Done Right.  I would definitely use the sources to explore more in the future 

There are so many ways to use curation in the school library. I would love to collaborate with teachers to enhance the library website links on their specific curricular topics. I will start with the heads of the departments in order to get a sense of what digital sources they regularly use. We could even create collections based on specific research projects to help students access quality information quickly.

I also think that this is a fabulous technique to use with students. It would be awesome to use curation to teach students to evaluation of websites. I loved the activity  Building Link Collections. This would be an extremely beneficial activity for students and a great way to assess their ability to evaluate websites. 

I am very familiar (maybe too familiar) with Pinterest, so I decided to explore Diigo.  While it did take me a while to get started.  Once I was signed up and added the various apps,  I was really able to see the value of this website.   I like the highlight and annotation functions.  This will make it easier for me to remember what I love about the sources I collect.  I will continue to add to my library and use diigo to being curating sources for our school library.  I am so excited to get started.   

Check out my brand new Diigo Library!

Thing 5: Digital Storytelling and Presentation Tools

Hello Fellow Librarians!! 

I chose to explore Piktochart. When I got started I was so excited to learn more about the different formats. The formats are traditional infographic format, presentation format, reports and banners. I decided to work on the traditional format just to get more practice since I have not ever created one before. I am really excited about the possibilities that the presentation format can offer students and staff. I prefer PowerPoint and Google Slides, but by high school students are desperate for something different. That is the reason why Prezi and EMaze have become so popular among my students. EMaze is another presentation tool that students have started using for projects.

I really like Piktochart! It is so fun and user friendly and each of the formats is extremely useful. There are a reasonable number of templates to use and modify. I decided to create an infographic Piktochart to post library expectations. A traditional list of "rules" can seem oppressive. I like the way the infographic came out. It gets the expectations of the library across with appealing icons and a clean layout. Unfortunately, some aspects of editing are blocked without signing up for the Pro version.

I loved the article How to Create Stunning Infographics in 30 Minutes or Less. I specifically like the rules for effective infographics. I love infographic and want to use them more. It is hard to keep the attention of students and staff and these tools allow for quick delivery and attractive design that are memorable

Another tool that I have found and really like for creating pleasing infographics is Canva.com!

Here is the link to my Library Expectations Piktochart!

Thing 4: RSS

Hello All!

I have to admit that RSS feeds are somewhat new to me.   I am sure that I was introduced to them in my grad program, but it didn't ever stick.  I literally laughed out loud when I read the first sentence of the Thing:4, "Our next topic is all about RSS, a cryptic and perhaps scary sounding acronym. I have to admit, RSS Used To Scare Me!"  Not knowing where to begin made the whole process seem intimidating, but it is nice to know that I am not alone.  After watching the tutorial and learning more about Netvibes the fear is almost gone.    I feel a little silly for feeling so resistant to it.  

I love that RSS feeds allow me to save time staying connected to the blogs and websites.   There are times that guilt washes over me for not being as informed as I should be.   Let's face it, any amount of time that is not dedicated to helping students and staff is precious.   Having all of the information pulled onto one site will make it less daunting to keep current on issues facing the library world.   

In addition, I would like to add an RSS feed to the CHS library website to share with the school community.  It would also be beneficial to share staff and teachers during my professional development program Tech Wednesdays.  Saving time is, in my opinion, one of the most useful aspect of using RSS readers.  

I have created a new account on Netvibes.  After going through all of the websites that I regularly visit, I added the awesome librarian blogs that I usually don't get to spend time on.   I also used the best library blogs from 2014 rated by EduBlogAwards.   It was helpful and a great way to find great librarian blogs. 

I haven't figured out how to add widgets yet.   If anyone has any helpful tips please add them to the comments below.  I looked at the help page, but I haven't been able to figure it out.  

Visit my RSS feed page at Library RSS Feed.  Thank you!

Thing 3: Online Communities & Personal Learning Networks

Hello!

I hope everyone has been having a nice spring break and enjoying some well deserved time off. On to Thing 3: Online Communities & Personal Learning Network! I am familiar with Facebook and we do have a CHS Library Facebook page. Unfortunately, we have no access to the site in school. However, that may change at some point and I want to begin updating and posting on our library page. Another reason why social media is so important to me is that as a brand new high school librarian I don't get a whole lot of time to reach out to parents and community members. One of my goals is to use the library page to share what we are doing in the library.  I do have to admit that most of my social media participation is in the Lurker zone, but I am hoping to gain confidence and start sharing.

Since I am familiar with Facebook, I wanted to expand my Twitter horizons. I chose to work on Option 2: Jump Right In. Since I have a twitter account that I created at our Technology Retreat I didn't need to set up a new account. I searched the hashtags tlchat, edchat and slscooltools . While exploring, I found that 10 Smart Tools for Digital Exit Slips was awesome and a great way to get quick summative assessments for library mini lessons. I also found the a link to Poetry Out Loud for great ideas for April's poetry month. We are planning a poetry slam, but I have been talking with an English teacher to perhaps do a poetry recital contest next year and this is a great resource.

I started following new people in the field in addition to I hope to use Twitter to stay up to date with cool new things going on with other libraries as well as to educate myself on issues facing libraries today in order to become a better advocate for my students and school district. My twitter username is @LibrarianKateIsend me a message and help me become less of a lurker!

Thing 2: Photo Sharing

Hello Again Friends!

Here we go!  It has been a very busy and very cold winter.  Spring is here and I am ready to dive right back into our cool tools program!  I am determined to make the most of the time we have left together!  Thing 2: Photo Sharing has been a wonderful exploration.  I am not the best photographer and I rarely remember to bring a camera around.  Hopefully with my smartphone and using these awesome photo sharing websites I will be more motivated to share my library world with the school community. 

I decided to explore Instagram.  I have an account that I started but never use.  However, almost all of my friends and family rave about the photo sharing site.   While it is on the social side of photo sharing, it has become so popular that I believe that it will be most beneficial to learn more about.   Teaching high school students is a balance of finding what technology they are passionate about and creating learning opportunities that capitalize on those interests. 

My Instagram username is @kmingham24.   I have a profile picture, but I had not added any photos besides a profile picture.   Since it is spring and I am down on Long Island with family I decided to take a walk and try to see signs of spring.  I  posted the pictures on my instagram.  Take a look! I hope that you are all as excited for spring as I am!  

With April being poetry month I would love to work with the Book Club or my regulars to create book spine poetry photos with students.  I am not sure if Instagram would work best, but I would also like to create a Shelfie Display.  Teachers, administration, students and staff will take a picture of their home book shelf and a selfie and then students will have to match the bookcase with it's owner.

Ultimately, I will create a CHS Library account in order to keep my personal photos from the professional ones that I take in school, but by navigating through my personal account I will be that much more prepared to start one for our library.   The advanced features like simultaneously posting on Instagram and Facebook is awesome for making marketing the library easier. Two birds with one stone :0)! I really do love the possibilities of using photo sharing in the library.  Thank you for checking out my Cool Tools blog.  Check out this link at the picture that I posted :)   https://instagram.com/kmingham24/  

Wahoo Spring!