Second try at Second Life

About a year ago I took a class at PLCMC to explore Second Life. I learned some basics then went home to try it out some more. I was not good at navigating around which must have been obvious to others on the site. Then another (aggressive looking) avatar started blocking my every step. Even virtually it's possible to feel assaulted. So I shut down the site and never went back....until today. I am taking an online class in Electronic Resources for Youth, so as part of our instruction we are visiting Second Life. This time my navigation skills were much improved, but I had problems getting my Avatar to look like I wanted. Nevertheless this visit was much more pleasant and I visited several interesting islands thanks to the various tutorials we were able to preview first. I may be back.... so aggressors back off!!

Podcasts as a teaching tool

Here are links to two great video podcasts from the Letsknit2gether website.
Sheep shearing in Hudson Valley, NY and More from Hudson Valley Fiber Farm. As part of our public library's summer reading program I will be conducting a program on the art of weaving. Children ages 5 to 12 will be able to make their own woven yarn project, assist in creating a ribbon weaving for the library, and explore both fiction and nonfiction library books on weaving and wool. These two podcasts will expand the teaching by demonstrating to the kids how farm animals are raised, sheared, and the wool is processed. The second podcast shows spinners and weavers. The whole community comes together to celebrate the shearing with a potluck dinner, bonfire and music from members of the local high school band. All ages are present, and men and women alike join in the fiber arts.

Programming with an Ipod

My job at the public library includes children's programming for preschoolers both at the library and at area day care centers. My musical abilities are lacking, so I was thrilled when each of our branches received an Ipod loaded with favorite children's songs to use in our programs. The Ipod and docking station are easily portable so that I can take them with me to outreach visits. I am able to create playlists for the various age groups I serve, and add my favorite songs to the lists. One of the kids' favorite songs is "Drivin In My Car" from the Ralph's World CD. We pretend hoops are our steering wheels and we act out the song. We sing and dance (another one of my lesser skills) along with reading stories and using flannels and rhymes. The Ipod and docking station greatly add to the quality of my programming. (I wonder if there will be a new tech tool to enhance my dancing ability??)

Podcasts - Creating and Listening

After much technological confusion by this digital immigrant, I was able to create a brief podcast about one of my favorite children's authors, Margery Williams Bianco. Her best known story is The Velveteen Rabbit. Since my purchase of an Ipod Nano at Christmas, I have become a fan of listening to podcasts during my lunch hour. I often read, but a book read on a podcast gives me free access to my sandwich without having to hold a book flat. I am a Jane Austen fan, and all of her books are available in recorded form free from Itunes. I plan to get caught up on many classic novels this way. I also have a favorite knitting video podcast. Etsy has one with fun craft ideas. NPR has several of its radio shows available. Podcasts allow me to listen to selections when I have time versus a television or radio schedule.

Does this make me a "Twit"?

I signed up for Twitter in order to follow some public libraries to see how they are using this technology. Since it takes me forever to text, (my phone is a dinosaur and the number 7 sticks) I am viewing messages from my computer alone. "Tweets" from Scranton, PA, Orange County, FL, Ann Arbor, MI, and Casa Grande libraries publicize their upcoming programs, promote Summer Reading, provide brief book reviews, and give fun and interesting facts for the day. This is a fast, timely way to keep patrons updated on library happenings. Although microblogging is fairly new, each of these libraries have several hundred followers. A very efficient way to reach hundreds of patrons in just seconds!

Ravelry

Ravelry, originally uploaded by ex.libris.

Public library knitting programs bring families and neighbors together sharing in a creative manner. Knitters can join together and create hats for newborns, afghans for the homeless, and sweaters for needy children. Now these programs can incorporate social networking within their group and with other knitters and crocheters. Ravelry.com provides organizing tools to make sense out of the chaos of your stash along with a wealth of patterns and yarn sources. I can post my collection of pattern books, chart my needles and crochet hooks, join groups of interest, and locate the yarn shops nearest to me. Check out Ravelry's blog at http://blog.ravelry.com/.

SMARTboards

Many of my classmates who are or have been teachers have made comments about the use of SMARTboards in classrooms. My daughter's new high school has them. Because I was unsure how they worked, I viewed this brief tutorial to give myself an idea. The possibilities for teaching use seem almost endless and give kids a chance to demonstrate their answers with just the touch of a finger. (I can remember when it was a treat to be chosen to clap the erasers)

This video came from YouTube. This was the first time I have posted a video to my blog. Like most media tools it is simple to do, but it took me quite a while to figure it out (frustrating!!)

Librarian Skills

Today was the first meeting of my summer Storytelling class. I was struck by the contrasting skills I am learning in my Online Resources for Youth class and my Storytelling class. The online class is a little daunting for me as I struggle to learn to use media tools and think of how to implement them in library instruction. In storytelling class today we were reminded of simple fingerplays and poems, some of which I learned as a child myself. Both classes are teaching invaluable skills for librarians to be used to teach very young children through teens. I will be thrilled if I ever get to the point that media tools are as easy and comfortable for me in instruction as a simple fingerplay. Somehow with the ever changing technology, I doubt that will happen. The Itsy Bitsy Spider is still the same as ever, and I love it!

Research Teaching Models

Today I read about a variety of research models including the Big 6, Super 3, Pathways to Knowledge, Cornell University Library's Seven Steps of the Research Process and 2Learn. Having never been a teacher, all of these were new to me, even though I had heard of the Big 6.
These models provide the structure for answering any research question no matter how basic or how complex. Mike Eisenberg's Big 6 research steps are Task Definition, Information Seeking Strategies, Location and Access, Use of Information, Synthesis, and Evaluation. The various media tools can play a part in each step of the research process. Email, chat sessions and blogs can be used to exchange ideas with project partners. Students must decide what types of resources to explore (using internet search engines, databases, catalogs) and determine how to access them. Once information is found students must use their skills to download, cut and paste in compiling their notes. They may use word processing software, powerpoints, wikis or spreadsheets to compose and present their finished work. Students will reuse helpful resources on future research. Each step in this research process does not need to be followed sequentially.

I also set up my first wiki at http://bookmobilefan.pbworks.com/ using pbworks. Currently this wiki is a list of media tools that I have recently explored.

Sink or Swim???

Learning to create a blog, a wiki, a social networking page, etc. can be a challenge for someone who has made it through 50+ years without. But continued success in communication and teaching depend on my using media to add interest to lessons and projects not possible before. This blog will document my explorations with various media tools.

Kali, originally uploaded by jpughmorgan.

Today I'm using flickr. Flickr (available at http://www.flickr.com/) is a website that allows you to upload photos and videos. The steps are minimal. One click and flickr opened my collection of pictures on my computer, allowed me to select one, give it a title, tag it and write a description if I so desired, and set it to public or private. To upload it to my blog, the setting needed to be public. This is a picture of my daughter's cat Kali. We have three cats and this one thinks she's the boss, although she is terrified of the ceiling fan.