I’m actually pretty surprised at how much fun I had doing
this week’s blog work. I’ve worked as
the librarian as a long term sub at Osuna Elementary school all year and part
of last Winter/Spring. Our library is
fun, but needs a boost in the technology area (a rocket boost….we still have
cassette tapes and DVDs). I talked with
the APS Library Services manager and she recommended the Advocacy for School
Libraries blog which many of the librarians follow. It’s a good site/blog which I will follow,
but there I found a link to another blog:
www.thedaringlibrarian.com
I’ve been looking into how to introduce modern technology
into the library. This was great. Her work with the QR codes looks fun. I got hooked into the twitter like book
reviews. Check this out: http://www.thedaringlibrarian.com/2011/05/twitter-style-book-reviews.html
What a great way to come at info from another
direction.
I’ve been doing this program called Battle of the Books for
years at the elementary. It’s a national
program that we do in NM where 4th and 5th graders read
20 pre-selected books and have to remember the details of those books when they
“battle” or compete against each other in teams from different schools around
the state. They are asked questions
about the books and the answer is always the title and author of the book the
question came from….pretty tough, but lots of fun. I’ve gone a bit further and have had the
classes battle each other so all the students can get involved. This twitter-like book review idea can be
another way to get my kids thinking about how to use their words wisely and
remember their information. Seems like
you’re having a “fun” day, but they’re learning.
I also do the Flat Stanley project with 2nd
graders….I wonder what kind of ideas this blog will give….hmmm
This librarian has some cutting edge ideas about how to
incorporate the latest technology into her library. I love that. I want to get my kids hooked on books…on
reading….it’s why I do what I do. I like
how this librarian goes on the cutting edge without hesitation….I hope I can do
that too.
Also….and this is the big reason I liked this blog….I hope
to get inspired to learn the new tech too.
From the awards she’s earned or been nominated for, it looks like this
will be a blog I will check regularly to keep up to date.
Great blog! It’s amazing what people do to help students. I was involved in Battle of the Books when I was in 4th grade (partially because my mother was the one organizing it and made me). Before that I was not really interested in reading at all. I would have much rather been outside. We lived in a very small town that had a mobile library that served five or six towns. Every week in the summer my mom would take us to the library and we would pick out three or four books each (little books) and then we had thrity minutes of “let’s read” time every day. When my mom started Battle of the Books at our school, she often spent weeks trying to find a library that would loan the books to our small school if our little “Book Mobile” didn’t have them. The most valuable thing I remember learning while doing Battle of the Books was to become involved in the book, not just read it and be done with it. So, I think this is a very valuable program.
ReplyDeleteTechnology has changed so much even from when I was in school. I remember when I moved from my very small hometown to Rio Rancho I had to learn how to use an electronic database in the library to find books and desperately missed the old card catalog that we had at my old school. Times are changing and I think that you have the right idea in trying to offer your students these new technological opportunities.
It sounds like the Battle of the Books is a great exercise for students and I love the fact that you have found a way to get more students involved. I like that you are using this blog to help you grow as a teacher and learn about our advancing technology. I think that it is really important that teachers are constantly challenging themselves to grow and advance as the world and technology evolves. It is becoming a huge part of our lives and we need to embrace it or else we will be left behind and our students will be the ones who suffer. While I do think that our society is over-dependent on technology, it is important that teachers find ways to use it to challenge their students and make them realize that it is a gift that we should not take for granted.
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely the cutest blog I've seen so far. I wish she could be my librarian.
ReplyDeleteMany people agree that embracing new technology is the thing to do in schools. Yet the concept of embracing needs to be differentiated from the concept of replacing. Do those Tweet-style book reviews take the place of traditional reviews? Are QR codes really useful for anything other than advertising? I want to see schools and libraries embracing technology that enhances students' comprehension of crucial information, but many digital trends appear to be shallow illusions that pander to limited attention spans and over-sensitized minds. On a more positive note, I think that incredibly useful technology exists and is being used in classrooms today. Promethean boards, a.k.a. smart boards, give teachers the ability to engage visual learners in many creative ways, and a wide variety of media can be presented easily with a small amount of effort. Once you've used a smart board you realize how much time is wasted writing and erasing things on traditional white- or blackboards. So yes, technology is great for schools, but also a terrible distraction for students... a real double-edged sword.
Great to hear from your super interesting time as a librarian at Osuna! I never had the chance to work in that school as a substitute teacher when I was driving in all four cardinal directions to find schools. However, I did long term assignments in schools that lacked sufficient technology and it was difficult for some teachers to work around the lack of resources. What is beautiful is that the librarian becomes a central element that can compensate from the lack of technology. In fact, a good librarian is far more important than all databases and smart boards one can find! thank you for sharing all your findings.... best luck!
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