Professional Journal Entry #6 - The Horn Book

RESOURCE  The Horn Book   http://www.hbook.com/horn-book-magazine-2/#_

SUMMARY

Recommended Books – This section title speaks for itself.  It is a section that supports The Horn’s editorial mission of promoting good books for adults and children.  The annotated list provides the basic book information, including reading level and pricing along with a summary.

RESPONSE TO RESOURCE

LIKED - This section could definitely be helpful for teachers and librarians to keep current with quality titles.  I liked that the list included a variety of genres and topics, from YA to books that support Shark Week.  The tags (i.e. boys reading, biographies) helped narrow the search and connect to similar books/topics.

DISLIKED – This isn’t necessarily a dislike, but the list was lengthy.  Perhaps a top 10 of the year would be helpful.  Or maybe there is a top 10 and I haven’t found it yet. 

FUTURE USE – Absolutely!  Whether it’s using the list as a reference to stay current, or to search specific topics or genres, I could definitely see using this in the future on an as needed or on occasion basis.   

 

RESPONSE TO CONTENT

LEARNED- This is a great reference list for recommended children’s titles.  Much like Amazon’s tracking, I can click on the tagged subject and find similar recommended titles (i.e. Back to School).

USE AS A SCHOOL LIBRARIAN – I could definitely see using this when I wanted to add to my library, whether it is looking at freshening up the collection or building up a certain area such as boys reading (mentioned above). 

QUESTIONS – So many book lists!  Which ones are the best?  Why these picks?  I definitely would like to explore this resource further to understand how the recommended list is pulled together as well as build a better understanding of children’s book lists (i.e., Caudill). 

 

Professional Journal Entry #5 - Wikispaces

Song - Newcleus Jam On Revenge (The Wikki-Wikki Song)

Reason - It's a song with Wiki (sp) in it.  Finding songs, pics or videos to connect to a project is Ruth's influence from TCH 416. 

1.       HOME LINK – www.wikispaces.com    MY LINK - http://hradwiki.wikispaces.com/

2.       LIKE ABOUT THE TOOL I like the tool in many ways.  I like that it was easy to set up.  I like that I can sign in my students and I don’t have to worry about emails.  From what I’ve read and explored a little, I like that there seems to be a lot of options for management, privacy, student collaboration and student engagement. It is also a bonus that there is a specific classroom component and that it is free of charge!

3.       DON’T LIKE  It was easy to set up, but I am still not quite sure about how to use it/make the most of it.  That part wasn’t so clear. 

4.       SUMMARY – As I said, it was pretty straight forward to set up (though I did accidentally create two wiki spaces).  I read through all sections of the program description as well as reviewed all settings.  I hopped out to Google to track down a video that summed up using wikis collaboratively.  I definitely want to take more time to explore this tool.  It appears that it is a very popular tool, so I need to take more time to research it and actually use it with my students.  I’d like to specifically explore setting up a project, working collaboratively and the assessment component.  I believe that this could be very useful in my LRC, but I need to better understand it.  I’d also like to check out how I can use it for parents to view student projects.  I just need to take more time with it.  There were FAQs that helped. More specifically, the Teacher FAQs were helpful and I plan to refer to those often. 

5.       FUTURE USE – Though I am not entirely sure what wiki is capable of, I do believe I could use this with my 4^th and 5^th grade students at a minimum.  I could see using it to inform parents and students of activities and projects taking place in the LRC.  I would like to use it for students to collaborate in teams (I already set up 3 – 4^th grade teams).  Finally, I’d like to use it to assess the students. 

Professional Journal Entry 3: RSS Feed/Google Reader

I'm On Top of the World - Imagine Dragons 

Reason - It is the song I used to intro my first classes in the LRC to pump kids up for back to school and the infinite possibilities for them in my class.  Hoping my feedly helps me discover new tools and strategies to use with them.

 

 

 

 

 

1.       Link to Tool Explored  Feedly.com- http://feedly.com/index.html#my

2.       Liked About Tool – My head is spinning because there is so much I like about this tool. I love that it forced me to understand how to follow blogs.  I knew they were out there, but had no idea that there was a technology tool like feedly to help me follow and organize the blogs.  I like that it will help me stay current with conversations in the ed, tech ed and library worlds.   Ironically, setting up an RSS feed was one of my PLN goals for this school year.

Don’t Like About the Tool – It’s a little overwhelming. I started searching and adding blogs and my anxiety started to build because there are so many blogs out http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/there.  How will I find the time?  Then, I decided to stop adding for now and my next focus will be carving out time to read the blogs.

 

3.      Summary – I was a little worried going into this because I had never used a blog reader before, but feedly was pretty user-friendly.  I used the assignment links to start and then found a few sites on my own.  I created the following three folders to organize blogs:  LIS, Children’s Lit and Technology in Education.  The blog sites I added were:

Kids’ Lit

      A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy http://www.lizburns.org/ (new location)

     Good Comics for Kids http://blogs.slj.com/goodcomicsforkids/

     100 Scope Notes http://100scopenotes.com/

     Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast  http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/

LIS

      The Adventures of Library Girl http://www.librarygirl.net/

      The Daring Librarian http://www.thedaringlibrarian.com/

Technology in Education

      Free Technology for Teachers http://www.freetech4teachers.com/

      Lisa Nielsen The Innovative Educator http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/

      Bit by Bit http://feedly.com/index.html#subscription%2Ffeed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fbobsprankle.com%2Fbitbybit_wordpress%2F%3Ffeed%3Drss2

I was able to figure out how to follow and organize. Once organized, I do need to figure out how I can move blogs and delete or rename categories.  I will absolutely need more time to explore it.  Right now, I feel like I have too many blogs that I am following and would like to carve out time to regularly check blogs.  Then, I’d like to prioritize the ones I feel are the most beneficial and unfollow those that are not as beneficial to me.  I was impressed that this tool existed.  I was able to set up some RSS feeds within feedly too and that was one of my PLN goals from the summer class.  I look forward to comparing blogs and RSS feeds. 

 

4.        Future Use

Since I work with elementary ed students, I don’t plan to  use this tool with my students or necessarily to promote the library, yet.  My students are young and not all of my students have access to digital technology with wi-fi on a regular basis.  My plan is to use this tool as a form of professional development for now.  Once I become more familiar with blogs, I would consider setting up a blog for the Learning Resource Centers in which I teach.