Question #3

{Throughout the readings, advice was given for successful blogging. What do you think was the best advice for individual blogging? What do you think was the best advice for classroom blogging?}

Best advice from the readings to individual bloggers? post regularly. As a consumer of blogs, this is the most sure-fire way to keep my attention. As a blogger, this is the single most stressful thing!

Best advice from the readings for classroom blogging? keep comment moderation on. It's the simplest way to filter out unwanted material in the comments section.

Question #2

Question 2:

{The additional readings give examples of how blogs have been used in the classroom. On the news this week, I learned that a science textbook has included blog entries from students at Central Square Middle School.
What are other ways that blogs are currently being used in the classroom and how else do you envision blogs could be used in the future?}

Janie Cowan mentions using a blog as a forum for booktalks, an idea that appeals to me. It allows an easy way for the LMS to share resource suggestions without worrying about formatting, and provides a platform for students (and teachers and parents, too!) to 'talk back' about the resources via comments. Students that love or hate a booktalked book may comment to recommend a similar or 'better' book -- and the weight that must have with other students!

I think it would be cool to have an English class blog responses and plot forecasts for each chapter, as they read through a book together. If students were allowed to make whatever observations they liked, as long as they included certain elements in each post, they might feel more ownership of the story.

Overby comments that a classroom blog is a "visual record of conversation." I find this fascinating to think about in all the ways that can be an information literacy lesson -- if what you say as a contribution to a discussion is adding to the general body of classroom knowledge, and you and others will be able to refer back to it again and again, then WHAT you say and HOW you say it becomes even more important. That leads into lessons about our digital profiles, etc. I think it can also help students see that that their contributions to class discussions MATTER and can enrich the experience for everyone.



"Diary of a blog: listening to kids in an elementary school library" by
Janie Cowan. Teacher Librarian. Seattle: Jun 2008. Vol. 35, Issue 5

"THE NEW CONVERSATION: Using Weblogs for Reflective Practice in the Studio Art..." by Alexandra Overby. Art Education; Jul 2009; 62, 4; pg. 18

Question #1

{In Mary Ann Bell’s “Celebrating Communicating: Blogging Redux”, she itemizes people’s favorite blogs and why they follow them. What are some of your favorite teacher, librarian or educational technology blogs and why do you follow them?}

I prefer educational technology blogs that are full of links and reviews of actual web 2.0 applications. I don't have time for the "big ideas" blogs. Perhaps when I'm finished grad school and I'm not engaging in these discussions anyway; but not now.

I like: http://www.freetech4teachers.com/ -- he posts cool applications that could be used to introduce a topic in the classroom or could be a value-added feature in a lesson using a smartboard.

I also have: http://ozgekaraoglu.edublogs.org/ in my Google Reader. It's full of annotated links for internet-based applications.

I love the snarky Librarian's Guide to Ettiquette blog. It's not necessarily edifying, but the tongue-in-cheek 'advice' to librarians makes me chuckle with its loving jabs at the profession. http://libetiquette.blogspot.com/

IST 611 Blog Discussion

Now that I have backed up and listened to the learning module podcast and read the resources, I know that I'm supposed to respond to the discussion questions HERE ... not on the facilitator's blog. (Sorry Julie!)

What's that about a cart before a horse?

Syracuse University

The week done

The group assignment for IST 511 was presented this afternoon as a poster session. My group's poster was discussing the arguments for policies in public libraries that either restrict the use of their public meeting space or do not have any restrictions. The topics needed to be those in which there is not a consensus among librarians, and judging by the wide-ranging policies we found in public libraries across the nation, there is no one standard in use. Although libraries may want to provide equal access to space, there are practical considerations that often result in policies that place restrictions on who or how or why. Our poster explored these issues.

It's been a long week. I'm glad to have been able to devote my whole week, morning, noon and night, to this endeavor. There are several classmates who went home at night to be mommy or daddy or dish-washer or dog-walker, and I can't imagine trying to integrate the week into my home life. However, I *AM* glad that I didn't stay on campus. Driving Rte. 20 each day through the beautiful apple orchards and up and down the rolling hills was a good way to prepare for the day and then unwind again. I miss living in Central NY, and it was a soul-restorative to drive in from Skaneateles to S.U.

The downward slope

One more day left of Library School Bootcamp, and although tired, I have held up pretty well. (Which is more than I can say for my car, which died in Skaneateles this morning, but is hale and hearty again... $229 later.)

I am getting a much better grasp of the multifaceted world of Librarianship, and don't feel nearly as overwhelmed at the prospect of changing careers as I did a week ago at this time. I don't know that a residency is necessary to achieve this introduction to LibraryWorld, but I suppose there has to be some way to verify that we distance students actually exist.

We talked about unrestricted access a lot this week, and especially today. I have trouble accepting the professional ethics that place access above parental authority and common sense (which I have blogged about previously, I believe). Maybe 99% of the time, librarians should provide unfettered, unmediated access to information resources. But to push that "ideal" too far is no service to our patrons.