RSS feed goddess

I tried all week to get an RSS feed to my wiki. I talked to my techie guy, Whitney, and he couldn't figure it out. I showed him the Feedity site, he shrugged and moved on, he's a good guy, really. I was reading the UCET newsletter for a blog assignment for my eMints assignment. There it was, an article about creating a RSS feed. I went to www.make-rss-feed.com. I followed the instructions and snap there it was. I got my RSS feed. Now I have to tell you, as I was coming home to work on this, because it required doing a download, and I didn't want to do this at school, I ran into one of the college students that works with the after school care program. I told him I was going home to work on creating a RSS feed for my wiki. He was impressed, called me a "modern woman", unlike his mother, he was impressed that I knew what an RSS feed was. Ahhh, how sweet it is to be an RSS Goddess!

Thingy 6 Skype

We didn't have to really say anything about Skype, but it is such a cool site. I said a bit about it in in my Twitter blog. I tend to use iChat more, just because it is on the Mac, and my son in Pittsburgh touches base with us several times a week on iChat. It is pretty much the same thing as Skype. I don't like all the ads that pop up with Skype, like the one the other day we got about how Russian women are so much better than American women, and they had a source for us to talk to the Russian women. No thank you. My principal was talking to me about Skype the other day and how she felt it could help with collaboration with the Sorsenson Art Grant. I was glad that I knew something about it and could talk to her about using it as a useful collaboration tool.

Thingy19 Woo Hoo!

This has been an experience! Who would have ever thought that I would have a blog let alone actually blog on it. It has been interesting, I am not sure that I can say "fun", although it was fun. I have learned so much, and if anything, I have learned that I can do this and it can be very useful to me and to my job as a librarian. I just wonder if I will take the time to keep this up? I feel that it can be labor intensive, but if I take a look at it once or twice a week and put some thoughts or ideas into it I could manage this. There are a few of the thingys that I don't know that I will use much. I don't really see myself using Rollyo, Twitter, or Technorati, but who knows? I really like the Books from my Library Thing. What a great, quick way to share book ideas. I am so visual anyway, it just fun to look at. I do have fun with the Bloglines, and having a quick check up on news, book, and library issues. I have learned how to post videos, pictures, and how to make a wiki. That was much easier that I had first expected. I really like my wiki, I just don't think I will be able to use it with students. I am meeting with one of our district media specialist on Thursday, I will ask. I do have a Flickr account, and it is nice to know that I have another source for obtaining images, or getting my images out there. I liked the podcasting, it is great to use for getting NPR and programs that may be airing when I do not have a chance to listen to them on the radio. It is fun really to find podcasts that are done by the average Joe and listen to their ideas and thoughts. Since it is not a produced program with sponsors, anyone can get their ideas out there. This has been good for me.

Thingy13/14

I was in checking my account and couldn't find my thingy 13 or thingy 14. Panic....what happened to it. I searched through all of my thingys and couldn't find them. I remembered doing these things but decided I must have written and didn't save or post. So here I go again. I have a Bloglines account and there were tons of updates. How cool was that!? I have a few sites that I am following. I love the news and it is great to go in and catch quick updates, especially when I don't have time to sit and watch the news, this is a great way to quickly catch up. For instance there was a story today in the BBC News that featured a clip about Prime Minister Brown making a comment about an interview with a "bigoted woman", without his knowing his mic was still on and taping, whoops! In the Library Journal there was a news clip about a Florida Mom that wants the YA books to be segregated and labeled, not she says to ban books, just to inform young people what they are about to read. Not a bad idea, or is it? I also am subscribing to learning 2.0 and some blogs on art, design, books, and food. How could I leave out food. This is really a fun site. My problem is that I need to be sure to go in and check out the sources, but they are great and a quick easy way to get information. Oh, did I mention that John Grisham is publishing a kid book called, Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer. I can't wait to read that. He has a sneak preview of the first chapter on Penguin. Get peeking. I think the only thing that I don't like about this is there is so much information, like being hit with a tidal wave of news, but I can read what I want and be directed to other sources of information on topics of interest very easily.

Booktalks

I wanted to post my book talks that I did on the topic of stories underground. I hope that you enjoy because I did, and it was pretty fun to make. The books are all great books and I highly recommend anyone reading them.

2010 Story Book Characters at Wasatch Elementary

Here are the entries for the 2010 Story Book Characters at Wasatch Elementary School for the National Library Week. We have done this as a tradition at Wasatch for many years and it has become a favorite event at our school. The students from kindergarten to the sixth grade participate. The students are invited to create a story book character from a book they have read or had read to them. They make their creations from many creative materials and the work is all to be done by the students themselves. There were 90 entries this year, the most we have ever had. There are three entries chosen as winners for each grade level and these students are awarded a book. Every student who enters a story book character gets a book mark. The teachers that did the judging this year had a very difficult task and were impressed by the quality of work this year. Thank you to all of the students that participated this year. Come in to see our entries at the library. They will be on display through May 21st.

Podcasting, Thingy 17

I looked at several of the podcasting sites that dealt with books. I decided of the ones that I listened to that the one I best liked was NPR: Books. I loved listening to the program in which Seth-Grahame Smithe talked about the book he most recently wrote, Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. I have been interested in reading this book and it was fascinating to listen to the author's point of view in writing this book. I liked the analogy he made about vampirism and slavery. His analogy suggest that both required the taking of blood and stealing lives to benefit ones self. I really like listening to the authors talking about their books. This author also wrote the Jane Austen zombie books. That was also fun to listen to him talk about trying to write using another author's writing style. Listen to this podcast site, I know that you will enjoy it. The link is: http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=89697155

Wordle, Thingy 18

I love Wordle. I discovered it at a workshop this last fall. I have used it a number of times. It is a great tool.

twitter me pink, Thingy 15

I set up my twitter account and it was not too bad. It was pretty easy to do. It was great to learn that it was Daisy's third birthday, thanks for the shout out from Jennifer. I thought it was also fairly easy to do the follow me button into the blog spot. I did have to figure out where the tools for this was in blog spot, but with the help of my daughter-in-law and son I found it. My son was on iChat with me at the time, so we were talking and seeing each other while he was in Pittsburgh and I was in SLC. It reminded me of when I was ten years old and had gone to the New York World's fair with my family, and I was blown away by the thought that you could talk to someone by phone and see them at the same time. They had an exhibit at the fair with a phone, and a screen in front of that. You could talk to someone that was on the other side of the grounds and see them on the screen, and well, we are living that reality today. I am following the New York Public Library, British Library, and get, this Neil Gaiman. He was chasing sheep out of the garden the other day. Go Sheep, Go Neil!

The Two Bobbies, Thingy 16

The Two Bobbies is a wonderful book that you should read. It would be appropriate for any person of any age to read. It is based on a true story of a cat and dog that survived Hurricane Katrina. A definite must read!

Thingy12

I can certainly see that being well versed in Learning 2.0 could be exciting in the world of learning and education. How cool is that to have a discussion about Elie Wiesel's book Night with students across the country by blogging about the book. I just find that it is taking me incredible amounts of time to figure things out and then to even use them. It truly lets a person "transcend" the walls of the classroom. I am a very visual person and I love the LibraryThing, to see books and see what others are reading and getting ideas about future reads for myself. How fun to have students doing "Book Talks" with one another and letting them fuel the excitement about the wonderful things they enjoy reading. I face problems in my own district with being blocked from so many of these sites at school. I can have a blog with students through my UEN site, but I have been cautioned about other blogs with students by my district. I have been told that I should not even Facebook with former students that are in college. So I have to admit that I do not want to cross a line of what is considered appropriate internet use involving students. I hope that students in my library can have a rich library experience without the Learning 2.0, I just don't see much of it happening in my school.

Thingy9

Select Search Engine...Children's BooksSearch The Web

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Thingy11

I went into the Technorati today and it was interesting, actually a pretty good site if you are looking for some blogs to read or want to get involved in blogs of a specific topic. I noticed that the most read blog topic is about food, surprise, surprise. The least read blogs were about pets, anime and motor sports. Interesting to say the least. Blogs about books were interesting to look at, there was a blog, Book Smugglers that was geared for teen reads. It was fun to read about some books for teens that I had not heard of before. When I did an blog search I found blogs that were related to that word, such as food, in other words the blogs were all on the topic of food. If I did a blog posting search, I got blogs that had the word food in it, but were not necessarily about food overall. I think this is a useful site and would use it again if I want to blog on a specific topic.

Thingy10

I played with delicious and didn't think too much of it. I have so many things in my UEN site that can be accessed and in my favorites folder that I don't see myself going to delicious, but who knows. When I go to school I can access all of my favorites, but let's say I'm on vacation and I want to access some of my sites on some random computer I can find these sites with delicious. I can see also when it makes it possible for me to see what others are looking at and other sites that may be useful that I was unaware of.

Thingy7

Thingy8

This was a bit trying and it took a moment to figure out that I had to search a bit to find book covers. The first few I chose had just blacked out book covers, but then I realized that I could go to next page and find pictures of the book. I really like this site, and it is fun seeing the books and rating them. I also found that if I put in the author, I could find the book cover. I never did find a cover for Catching Fire, but I may find one yet.

what about wikis? Thingy 5

Wikis, wikis, wicked wikis....that just keeps going through my head. It is one more thing to keep track of and spend more time doing. I don't know what I would really wiki about. I just keep coming up with a dead end brain freeze. I looked at the summer reading wiki and I just don't see myself doing this. If I want to talk about books I talk to friends about books, in person. I spend as little time on my email, the internet, using a computer as I can. I don't even really like talking on the phone. I am just an old school girl that prefers speaking to someone in person. I know this is not practical in our society today, and I know I need to learn to use these things, but it is still just overwhelming to me. I am not really having fun with this. It is still just out of a sense of duty that I am doing any of this. I don't even keep up my Facebook page. I don't look at my friends or relatives blogs. I have so many other things to keep up with this is the last kind of thing I would want to do. This may not all seem relevant at this time, but I realize that I need to do this. I need to learn about these wikis and every other technology thingy and, it can become relevant! I will do this, I will conquer and I will succeed.

Poetry and Prose Night

These videos are about the Poetry and Prose Night at Wasatch Elementary on January 28, 2010. It was a fun evening of sharing poetry, some going solo others in groups. We heard everything from Shel Silverstein to Shakespeare. Here is a video of some sixth grade students in masks doing The Jabberwocky.

Here is my Flickr link to all my library related videos and pictures, be sure to see the hot seat. http://www.flickr.com/photos/47076777@N04/

Therapy Dogs in Training at the Library Thingy 4

This year at Wasatch Elementary School there are two dogs that are in therapy dog training. They come to school and read with the students in the fourth grade. It has been a great experience for both the students and the dogs. Smoky, one of the therapy dogs in training is dressed up for Halloween as a devil. She was rescued from a fire as a puppy and she thinks reading is "hot stuff".

Tabula Rasa Thingy 1

I am basically a blank slate when I go into a learning situation. I am wide open to any new ideas and thoughts. I do view problems as challenges. Challenges are good and make it possible for me to grow. Many times I learn the most from my mistakes and those mistakes spur me on to new paths of learning. I am pretty good at not making the same mistakes, especially if I am aware that I made a mistake. I wish I had more confidence in myself. I really have so much to learn and I learn so much from the others that are along for the journey with me. I develop confidence as I have more successes. Technology is a good example; I still have so much to learn about technology, I am an emerging technological moron after all. I need to just keep at it and I will eventually feel comfortable with it. I am not very enthusiastic about having a blog....I don't even keep up my Facebook and I avoid my email. I do feel that I need to know how to do this, I need to know how to help my students blog. It is the wave and I need to catch it and enjoy the ride. Cowabungga!!!! I am really pretty good at play. I look forward to playing with technology and teaching it to my students. They have already taught me a number of things and I do learn best when I teach what I have learned. I am going to the UCET conference in February. I have gone the last four years and it is amazing. So here's to learning and all the fun that lies ahead.