Thing 9: Evernote

Evernote is a free web based application that you can use on your computer or other devices (IPad, Iphone, etc.) that will allow you to keep track of things.  I plan to use Evernote now instead of my sticky notes on my desktop.  It is a convenient program that keeps everything in one place.  The one thing about this that I need to spend more time on is learning how to save webpages and edit.  I have done notes, saved pictures, url's with notes, and created tags, but not a specific page to this point. I can see the importance of this program, and it could come in handy for certain situations.  The one downfall I see is that if you use the free version, there is only 60MB per month to use, and for people who frequently use it there could be a problem here.

Thing 8: Google Calendar

Since our school district uses iGoogle for our e-mail, I decided last school year to infuse Google Calendar with some of the things we do at school.  My primary focus for the elementary school was to get my schedule out to them, about the times I had classes and the times I was free to help them or their students with questions they may have. For the Jr.-Sr. high school, I went a little deeper and created calendars that the staff could look at for computer lab reservation times.  We now have a Google Form that teachers fill out and submit, and my para and I check it and then we have full access to these calendars along with the technology director and make the edits needed.  We are still fielding e-mails, and I hope to have that eliminated by the end of September. I do keep my personal calendar on it as well, setting it to private and I usually list those items as an all day event with the times in the titles.  I have my book club meeting times, my quiz bowl meeting times, the FCA meetings listed as well, along with our district calendar as well. I find it very easy to use, once you understand how to use it.  Is there a better calendar application out there? Probably, but I’m not going to fix something that works for our school district.

Thing 7: Face-to-face networks and professional organizations

When I was in  college I joined a group called ACEI (Association of Childhood Education International) and went to an International conference in San Antonio, Texas where a group of my college friends in the education department presented on different countries and how education was having an impact at the time. I also presented to a group of leaders in the organization about how to start a group at the college level. I was a member of the Student Education Association of Nebraska in college as well.
 
Right now, I am a member of school district’s association, a member of the National Education Association and the Nebraska State Education Association.  I currently have no library memberships, however I get information from  NEMA (Nebraska Educational Media Association) and have been considering joining the Nebraska Library Association. What I should have done was joined when I was in grad school (I’m still kicking myself for this two years after the fact). I would like to join a national organization as well, ALA or AASL. Determining factor for not joining: cost.  I have other things I need to take care of first, my family, a new house, purchasing a water softener, barn being built this fall. Some of that read this will be thinking excuses, excuses. This setting is teaching me that I need to take my profession more seriously, so I will post if I join any new organizations between now and the end of our program.

Thing 6: Online Networks

I think that LinkedIn and Facebook are the most useful sites.  Linkedin is a place for future employees. It could be a good place to work on collaboration as well.  I can see the value for LinkedIn for the business community and I will be exploring it deeper with librarian groups in the near future.

Facebook is a way connect with friends and family.  I use Facebook for those reasons, but I also use it to connect with my High School quiz bowl team, my Fellowship of Christian Athletes group (I have a group page with info about upcoming events and what happens at meetings in case they can’t make a scheduled meeting), and I am revamping a group for Nebraska School Library Media Specialists, made up mainly of students I went to Graduate School with at Nebraska-Omaha, we share ideas, post questions and can talk about current events.  This group has been inactive for a few years now and I want to get it back up running soon.

I looked into LISNPN and have created an account. I’m working through my profile and I hope I can find people that I can network with. I’m not sure exactly how I am going to use it yet, but I always looking for new ideas for the libraries I work in.

I was interested in the Librarians as Teachers site when I read about it, but was disappointed in the lack of participation and keeping things updated.  I have decided not to join at this point, but will be looking into the tabs more closely to see if there is something I can pull from it.
I haven’t looked at CLIP to this point and by the description it probably won’t be something that I pursue, being form the US.

With the comment of Reid Hoffman, I’m leaning towards agreeing with him and how LinkedIn is set up.  I prefer Facebook, because I’m not sure how many of my friends know about LinkedIn, whereas most of them are aware or have a Facebook account.  I will continue to use both, but right now in my opinion FB gets the thumbs up from me.

Google+ is something I think our school district would be interested in. We use Google for our e-mail, A majority of what I type up is done in Google Docs, like my pre-posts for this project, our teachers have created sites, they upload video to share with parents at the 7-12 level, and with the other apps available I’m sure our technology director has begun planning an integration of some sorts once the program officially goes live to the public.  There’s always room for new ideas like Google+, because our society is always adapting to new technologies on a daily basis. Everyone has heard how students are wired differently in their brain than we are, it is second nature to them, while we struggle to understand some of the basic concepts.  I have said before, as librarians, we need to stay ahead of the curve if we are going to be of service to the public and communities, because when we fall behind, we are doing a disservice to the general public.

Thing 5: Reflective Practice

Blogs-There are people out there with good blogs.  The part that difficult for me is finding the great ones that I can use.  I’m not into personal blogging, however my blog is strictly professional, trying to learn new social media.  I started a few years ago when the Nebraska Library Commission started a Nebraska Learns 2.0 site.  I didn’t finish it, but I’m thinking after I finish the CPD23 program I will go back and finish that up, as it is important for me as a librarian to stay on top of new social media that the teachers in my school district could be using in their classrooms. I don’t mind blogging once on in awhile, but I don’t know if I could do it everyday. Perhaps introducing some new projects and co-teaching with the classroom teacher could be one way.  Another situation I’m dealing with trying to get a high school book club started, but the only time I can do it is over lunch and those interested have different lunch times. Maybe setting up a blog is the way to go with this project, let them read and comment and allow them to comment on the other posts, hmmmm?

Branding is something I have thought about doing, but not seriously, especially when considering the Internet.  I did change my Twitter account from smittynebr (the name I use for virtually everything) to Mr_Smidt to reflect more professionalism. I haven’t followed up yet on the idea of posting to Facebook to let my friends help me choose a persona that fits me. I know I need to develop a brand soon, because as a school librarian I need to make sure students of all ages can see and relate what I’m doing and know that it is a reflection of myself as well.

Twitter for me has picked up considerably since it was reintroduced through this program. I’m looking for new people/groups to follow.  One thing I think I will have to do is create a second account to follow celebrities and my sports items. I’m currently following 205, and that is way too many. I did learn more about retweeting and the hashmarks, seen it quite a bit but never knew the importance of it.  One project that I plan to start next week for the elementary school I work at is getting a Virtual Meeting with Nebraska’s astronaut, Clayton Anderson. I noticed he was on Twitter, and included his handle in a tweet about possibly setting something up, needless to say I was shocked when he retweeted to me and gave me a contact name and number in Houston. For a school that K-6 and has about 215 kids in it, something like that would be huge. The whole reason I got into Twitter in the first place was our High School Spanish teacher was using it with a few of her classes and I signed up to see what they were doing in the classroom.

RSS was first introduced to me in graduate school.  I don’t use it as much as I should. There are a lot of great websites you can subscribe to, but again it takes time to find the ones that fit you. I love reading Unshelved, even started a collection of the comic strips. I feel like overkill can be bad for anyone, and I need to find that happy medium. I don’t like starting or creating something and let it sit without doing anything. That’s what happened with RSS for me. However with the new version of Firefox, I have pinned my feed site so that anytime I open my browser it will be there for me, a nice quirk to have.

I have not used Pushnote yet. I have installed it on my laptop, but I think I need to do some additional research on it. I can see the importance of having it in a school setting, sharing sites with other teachers could be a benefit for all. Once I feel more confident, I may share this one with some of the tech-savvy teachers and see how it goes.

As for reflective practice, I’m always trying to make myself a better teacher, and anytime I present to members of the staff, administration or students I ask for feedback, whether written or a form online.  Librarians cannot stay stagnant in what they do. We will fall behind if we choose the easy route.  As a teacher, I want what’s best for the students, and it’s my responsibility to keep up with new technology and databases that I can pass on to them, so that when they graduate and go to college, they aren’t bombarded with new concepts while trying to adapt to a new environment. I did start a journal online through Google Docs of the things I do at the high school so I can reflect later and see what I can do better.

 

Thing 4: Current awareness - Twitter, RSS and Pushnote

Of the items in Thing 4, I like Twitter the best, followed by RSS and then Pushnote.  I enjoy Twitter becasue it’s short, sweet and to the point, plus sometimes people need to be crafty with only 140 characters. I had a Twitter account before I started this activity and I follow a lot of different people and organizations in the library world.  People like Steven Abrams, Joyce Valenza, Kathy Schrock, Jody O’ Connell, writers Maya Angelou, Scott Westerfield, JK Rowling, Anne Rice, and various groups like ALA, YALSA, AASL, VOYA, and of course friends and celebrities. All of the names listed above are just some of the information I can get from these people/organizations just by looking at what they tweet.  For current awareness, ALA and AASL are great resources to use. On my RSS feeds, I like the Annoyed Librarian, and the NCompass feed I get from the Nebraska Library Commission. I’m just starting with Pushnote, for me this is the new kid on the block.  I’m not sure how I can fully use it, but the more I use it, the more comfortable I will become with it.

23 Things 2.0 Learning Thing 3-What is My Brand

On the first page of a Google search, 4 of the first 10 searches are about me.  I would be okay with the things that are out there if someone was wanting to learn about me. First was my Twitter account, then my Facebook page, then my Bio on my school’s website, and last is my Library Thing account. I am very cautious about what I post, especially on Twitter and Facebook, because there are students who have access to view my account, so there is a fine line to walk.  I don’t post offensive comments, I don’t put myself at risk with pictures on Facebook, and I’ve never had to remove a picture or a tag of a picture of myself that someone has posted of me on Facebook. I take that to heart and am very serious about taking care of myself on the Internet.

I do need to update my bio on our school website.  One thing I did read about that I would like to do with some of my social networking sites is come up with some sort of picture that reflected my personality. I am thinking about asking my friends on Facebook for suggestions (I really liked the idea of having an emblem like the penguin idea on the page, but a penguin doesn’t fit my persona). There’s something for me to work on!