Week 16: Wrap Up Webinars and Final Postings

I made a list of the 23 things I viewed, enjoyed, and created during the last sixteen weeks:
1. Shelfari
2. Animoto
3. Jing
4. Flip camera
5. Windows Media Player
6. Online chats
7. Facebook
8. Google Docs
9. Twitter
10. Diigo
11. Delicious
12. Google Reader
13. Widget
14. Webcast
15. Nings
16. Voki
17. Wikis
18. YouTube
19. Plurk
20. Google Reader
21. Flickr
22. Blogger
23. Priceless: the chance to be a part of a community who helped me explore, pushed me to try things outside my comfort zone and to learn new and interesting tools to share with my students. Thank you!

Week 15: Wikis

At this time I have not edited any wikis. I have looked over the suggestions for the first activity but I don't feel comfortable enough to add any information. I will give this some thought.
I did create my page on 23ThingsKansas wiki.

Week 14: Library Things, Etc.

I have been using Shelfari since I created my blog for 23ThingsKansas. I did explore the other sites listed in this weeks activities. They all had something a little different. I would like to delve into the Library Things for Libraries when I have more time. I have been wanting to set up a blog or wiki for my students to write book reviews or recommendations. LTFL seems to allow the patrons to do this and more. Looks like another summer project!

Week 13: Slide Sharing

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

I was introduced to Animoto at a KASL conference. I have used it several times and have found it very easy to manage and fun. Every March I have a Seuss Cafe for my primary students. The sixth grade students are my helpers. They are waiters and waitresses serving the students refreshments and reading Dr. Seuss books to the children! I took pictures of them and created a slideshow.

Week 12: Screencasting

I haven't completed this project. I finally figured out what I wanted to do but just haven't taken the time to write up the script and do it. At the beginning of this school year, we purchased the Renaissance Place (AR) program. There are many new bells and whistles to this program compared to what we had in the past so I decided to use the screencast to explain this program to the students.

Week 11: Break

I used this time to clean out flowerbeds,clean the house, read a few books and relax. We should have week long breaks more often!

Week Ten: Video on Web Activity 2

OK, I have spent several hours messing around with producing this video. I had to decide what to put on my video then download the software etc. I do love my Flipvideo and have used Windows Movie Maker at school but I didn't have it downloaded to my home computer. I think I will stick with cataloging books!! Producing movies is not my cup of tea! I am sure I will do this again and it will be much easier. On a side note, it is true if you don't like the weather in Kansas just stick around it will change in a few minutes!! :)

Week Ten: Video on the Web Activity 1

This video was sent to me several weeks ago. This video was shown on Oprah. Target is giving their library a makeover! Keep on reading!!

Week Nine: Instant Messaging

I didn't create a Meebo account. My facebook account allows me to chat. When I first opened my account I was pretty green about all the facets and how to use them. I had logged in just reading everyone's news when all of a sudden a little box popped up with a message from my niece. What a surprise! Since then I have used the chat to visit with other relatives and colleagues. It is a nice feature when you want a quick reply or a private conversation. I am so spoiled though with caller id (phones), when someone calls and I don't have the time or don't want to talk at that moment, I just don't answer. This would be a nice feature to add to the instant messaging! I have also used "live chat" on our Renaissance Place program at school. This is a great feature which allows instant feedback on dealing with questions I have about their program.

Week Eight: Cloud Computing

I created an account with Google Docs. It was very easy to set up. The difficult part was finding a new friend from the 23ThingsKansas list. I did not receive any replies from my inquiry left on the website comments. Luckily, I befriended a fellow KASL member at our District II workshop last weekend. She developed an Excel spreadsheet of students and the William Allen White books they had read. She was needing help in organizing the information. I invited a couple of my current colleagues to join us. I can see where cloud computing would work well when creating a collaborative lesson with the classroom teacher(s). This would eliminate the need to find coordinating planning times. Each participant could work the project when they had the time. The only drawback is to make sure the person(s) you are working with replies in a timely manner. I can see this being a tool I would most likely use in the near future.

Week Seven: Microblogging

Today I began to twitter! I don't know if I will like this because I am not on the computer 24/7 and I am not into talking about what I am doing. I will give it a try to see if I change my mind. I did have some difficulty finding people. I am following 23Things Kansas, Library Journal and Andrew Weil, M.D. These are things of interest to me. Hopefully, I will get a chance later in the week to explore some more people or organizations to follow.

Week Six: Tagging and Social Bookmarking

I chose to go with Diigo since I already had an account. I added several more sites to my account by exploring the Delicious and Diigo accounts of other people. This is more effective to have everything in one location. I am still exploring the social aspect by locating friends and joining groups and finding out about the tools in Diigo.

Week Five: RSS and Feed Readers

The RSS feed reader I chose was Google Reader since I already had an account. I subscribed to both of my nieces' blogs. I also subscribed to Kathy Sage's blog because I had attended her workshop a few weeks ago. I am still learning all the ins and outs of the Google Reader. Tonight I added a share widget to my blog. Now I can just click on it to get the latest update.

Week Four: Photo Sharing

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Week 3 Online Meetings

I chose Weeding to Achieve a Healthier Collection by Francisca Goldsmith at Infopeople Webcast. I have weeded my elementary (K-6) school library only once in four years. I am reluctant to weed! After viewing the webcast, I realize there is a very good reason to weed. Weeding actually helps increase the circulation of materials in the library by 20%-50%. The students will be able to locate the books more readily. It allows me to become more familiar with the collection so I can more easily recommend the titles to students. The four main reasons to weeding are the condition of the materials, is it outdated, crowded conditions of the shelves, and redundancy of a subject. There are many ways to weed. You can weed by the subject, at the time of circulation, weed of the month, as well as annually. One point which was mentioned was to store seasonal books if you needed more room on your shelves. I also realized I am "weeding" on a regular basis when I pull books because they are damaged or need repair. Weeding is an ongoing process!

Social Networking

I joined Facebook to keep in touch with my relatives in Europe. I soon found I could also reconnect with friends from school, people I have meet professionally and more importantly former students. It has been fun to share new and old photos. It is also great to have that direct connection to what is happening in their lives.
I have also been a part of the ning community. I joined early on to find others in the profession and share ideas. It really helps to know what others are doing in their library media centers and with technology.
I constantly amazed at the creativity!

Workshop on Blogs

I attended a workshop on Making the Best Use of Blogs, Wikis, Webcasts, and other Web 2.0 Tools from the Bureau of Education & Research in Overland Park, KS on Friday.
Now all I need is time to sort through the information, visit the recommended sites and figure out what I can use immediately!

Week One: Blogging

Hello, my name is Janie. I was a classroom teacher for 25 years. I love children and teaching but wanted a new challenge so I received my second master's degree 5 years ago. I was very fortunate to move across the hall into the position of LMS at St. Mary's Elementary in Pittsburg.

I am amazed and sometimes overwhelmed at all the technology at our fingertips. I decided to participate in the 23 Things Kansas to increase my experience with the use of technology. Sometimes I just need someone else's hand to guide me through and I thought this would be a fantastic way of getting started.