Learning in the Library

I like playing tag.  It’s fun.  I don’t even mind being “it!”  In the past, I have used Portaportal.com to create a list of links on a specific topic (i.e. Ancient Egypt, Steriods, Middle Ages, etc.).  After I created the pportal, I created a link to the portal on my library webpage.  (The kids don’t like using the portals because they prefer to “google” everything, but that is a discussion for another day. )  Now I can use delicious.com instead.  I think kds would be fascinated by the number of people who have tagged a particular site.  They might even start tagging on their own.  It would be cool to have kids tag a minimum number of sites before doing research and for the class to give them feedback on their choices based on website evaluation criteria.  It might make the website evaluation process more interesting and relevant to the kids. Read the rest of this entry »

What are my goals for this class?  To learn, learn, learn!  My BIG goal is to learn as much as I can so that I can continue to use the tools I am learning about.  Under this BIG goal, I have a couple of ideas I want to try.  One is to use podcasting for booktalks.  I would like to feature students booktalking.  Last year a couple of fourth grade teachers had their students booktalk and that got the students reading like crazy!  I think it would be great to record their booktalks and have them available to a wider audience.  (I had heard Karen  Westerberg’s podcasts about new and seasonal books available at Wells Elementary School’s library thanks to Bob Sprankle.  I was really impressed! Unfortunately, the library no longer has a visible presence on the school’s site.)  Another goal I had coming into this class was to explore the possibility of a vocabulary wiki.  There is such a need for vocab development at my school!  In a professional book group, I read Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction, a book by Isabel L. Beck, Margaret G. McKeown, and Linda Kucan about vocabulary development.  Some of the activities I read about seemed to match my limited understanding of a wiki.  I should know more as this course progresses.  Wikis are one of tomorrow’s topics!

Since this course has started, I have a possible new goal.  I have been trying to create a new webpage for my library by teaching myself FrontPage.  It is a slow process.  Now I am thinking of using a weblog instead!  My head is spinning with the possibilities!