MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

This has been an AMAZING experience for so many reasons. Honestly, I haven't felt this passionate about a course since I took New Jersey Writing in the Summer of 1999. That's saying something!

The most important THING that I've learned is that I CAN DO TECHNOLOGY. When I realized I wanted to be a librarian, the only thing that was holding me back was the technology; it scared me. I felt confident that my passion for books and kids would make me a good librarian, but I don't just want to be good--I want to be EFFECTIVE, and I know that being an effective 21st century librarian means embracing the technology instead of shying away from it. So that's what brought me to add 23 Things to my BUSY Summer To-Do list. And I'm so glad that I did. It's been well-worth the COUNTLESS HOURS that I've invested.

I have taken the time to soak up all of this information so that I will USE it, and I WILL USE all of these amazing tools. Here are my promises:

• I will continue blogging because it feeds my writing soul; corny but true. As a writer, I need to do this for myself. In fact, I want to start a personal blog where I focus on my family; my two daughters are growing up too fast, and I want to capture as much of their childhood as I can; this blog would be a perfect way to encapsulate these moments . I'm hoping this will make me more accountable in my writing because I suck at keeping a journal. I will continue with this blog as a professional one where I can write about my passion for the library, students, books, and TECHNOLOGY.
• I will continue to make my Google Reader a part of my reading life. I want to enlarge my "circle of the wise" with more RSS feeds. I have been amazed by the ideas and voices that I've been introduced to. They inspire me.
• I will start small and incorporate some of the tools into the library--a bit at a time. My fear is that I will overwhelm my faculty and my kids with my excitement about all of this cool stuff that I've learned. I don't want to scare them off by coming on too strong. I'm still new at this job and new to my school, so I need to proceed with caution. This year I will incorporate in the library: wikis, podcasts, Animoto, Google Docs, Google Calendar, image generators, blogs...okay, I want to do them ALL! I don't think I'm going to have a problem with implementation; my problem will be with integration. I have to find the right time and way to introduce these tools to my own faculty and students to have optimum buy-in.
• I will try not to become a LIBRARY THING addict. That's the one that I loved the most personally. It could even replace my Facebook obsession. Uh oh.
  

Thank you so much to all of the facilitators for working hard to make this class so effective. A special shout out goes to Marnie for reading and commenting on my blogs! Thanks, Marnie! I'm sure there are 23,000 more things to learn about Web 2.0, and I will jump at the chance to take more courses.

I'm a 23 Things believer!

Thing #23: Neat Nings

I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge that this is MY LAST THING!!! I made it!!!

Nings are neat, and it's going to take some time playing around with them to discover their usefulness. Classroom 2.0 is a great resource for educators because it fosters ideas and collaboration with Web 2.0 tools. I LOVE the TeacherLibrarianNing. I joined, and my membership is "pending approval." This is the kind of resource that I need to "pick the brains" of the wise, experienced librarians who are out there. I look forward to checking this out on a regular basis! I also was excited to find the Elementary Librarian Routines Wiki. Awesome! One thing that I've found liberating (and also frustrating) as a rookie librarian is that there are so many different ways to do this job, and most of those ways are right. When I would ask some of the other librarians how they did something, I would get six different answers, and all of them were great ideas. But which one was the RIGHT way? As a perfectionist and someone who wants to do a good job, this drove me CRAZY. But then I realized that I have to figure out what the right way is for ME and MY STUDENTS. And that will just take time...and patience.

Another invaluable resource was the List of Networks Wiki. Holy cow! I definitely bookmarked that sucker in my Delicious account. I noticed there is a Schools on Facebook site, which is designed specifically for higher education. I would love to have a Ning for the Shaw Library. Now I feel comfortable playing around with one!

Educators should embrace social networking as a tool for learning rather than shy away from it. Like all of these amazing tools that I've learned about, social networks meet students where they are in this technologically-saturated world. With so many social networking sites available, it's obvious that there's a right one for every kind of student at any grade level. Teachers should be educated about these and encouraged to try them out; I think that's a big part of my job as a school librarian. I need to be a lifeguard/fellow swimmer/coach to my teachers as they venture into the waters of Web 2.0. Now I'm ready to take on that role!

Thing #22: My Ode to Facebook

Now this is a Thing I know ALOT about...too much, in fact.

Oh, Facebook.
You connect me with over 400 "friends."
Former students, long-lost friends from elementary & high school,
I collect "friends" like a greedy kid in a candy store.
Are they true friends?
Mostly, no.
Then why am I addicted to you?
You provide an outlet for my joys and frustrations;
You give me "status."
You steal precious hours from my life.
You are a siren that calls my name while I'm trying to take care of my responsibilities...
My housework,
My grad classes,
My family.
"Oh, just check me quickly, Amianne. See what's going on in my world.
It won't take long."
One quick second turns into an hour.
I love you, Facebook.
I curse you, Facebook.

Yes, Facebook and I have a love/hate relationship. I've had to go on many self-imposed Facebook fasts, and it's been HARD. I've realized that Facebook is my personal drug of choice. Honestly, as I've learned about some of these "Things" I've thought, "Now this is going to cut into my Facebook time." Sad but true.

When I taught high school, I refused to accept students as friends until they had GRADUATED. But now that I no longer teach in high school, I've accepted all of my former students as "friends" when I get a friend request from them. It's my way to stay in touch with them because some were very upset that I was leaving Poteet. I don't know if this is a good or bad thing, but I just keep this in mind when I'm posting my status updates. (I have to self-censor sometimes.) When I taught Creative Writing, one of my students made a "Mrs. Bailey Fan Page." I was flattered, and I was able to post to it without crossing that student/teacher line. But now I'm "friends" with most of these kids, and I think that's okay.

I think social networking definitely has a place in school, but I think teachers must use it professionally and cautiously. Common sense, people!

And here's the link to my beloved Facebook profile.

Thing #21: I Heart Google!

Google tools make me happy. I can't wait to go back and play with ALL of them. But here are two that I've chosen to try out today:

Google Calendar: My head is spinning now. Could I use this for teachers to sign up for library lessons rather than a Wiki? This seems so much easier and less intimidating for teachers. I'm worried that a Wiki might freak out some of them. I need to figure out if I can only allow a week at a time to be viewed; otherwise, they will sign up for the same time every week and it will turn into a fixed schedule. Also, I want to see if I can change the times to 15 minute increments. I definitely need to play around with this and ask Mary and Debbie if a Google Calendar is the way to go. I hope so!! Here is my personal calendar for the week:



Picasa: I usually use Shutterfly to share my personal photos, but I really like Picasa. I think I'll use this to share my library photos. Mother Goose visited Shaw in May, and the kids ABSOLUTELY LOVED her! Just look at their sweet faces! Looking at these pictures again makes me really miss my kids and excited about the upcoming school year. AND I know all of this cool new stuff to share with them! WOO HOO!! I love the idea of embedding a slide show, so here it is! I'm so proud of myself for figuring this out!! I LOVE TECHNOLOGY!!

Thing 7b: More Heartbreak from My Reader

I found this article from the Education section of the New York Times via Facebook, but it's from the writers of a blog that I get in my reader. I am a Facebook "fan" and a subscriber to the blog of Two Writing Teachers.

The article brought tears to my eyes and fury to my soul. It's about a dedicated principal in Burlington, Vermont, who did astounding things at Wheeler Elementary, a school that makes our Title I schools in MISD look like Highland Park. However, the district has removed her as the principal so that the district can receive $3 million in federal stimulus funds. Asinine.

I hate politics, and I just can't bring myself to type a monologue about our broken educational system. But I will say this: Before anyone who reads this jumps on the Blame-Obama-Wagon (which is a very popular ride these days), please realize that this atrocity stems from NCLB. I'm not saying that President Obama is free from blame in this MESS, but it stems from the Bush administration's insane obsession with standardized testing. Standardized testing is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. When will we realize that it is STUPID to expect ALL kids to excel on ONE TEST on ONE DAY?? Wait. There I go getting all political, and I'm starting to pound the keyboard. Breathe...

Okay, please read the article AND the 292 comments. They are enlightening, and I actually enjoy reading comments on the NY Times website because they are (for the most part) written by open-minded, intelligent people, and they always get me thinking even more.

My heart is broken again by my Google Reader. I need to find some happy reading in that thing!

Thing #20: Google Docs ROCK!

I didn't know much about Google Docs until I became a librarian, and they ROCK! Here are three ways that I will use them this year:

1. SURVEYS! I love that you can make a survey so easily with Google Docs. I made a survey for this "Thing" that I'm going to embed into my library web page (I think I can do that, right? Or at least I can have the link that takes kids there). Anyway, I want to find out how my kids spent their summer vacation, and this is a cool way to do it.

2. TO BUILD COLLABORATION! What an awesome way for kids to take notes on a project and then collaborate with kids from another class. This would be great to incorporate during research lessons so that kids can share their findings with kids in other classes. I want to play around with the presentation feature. That opens up even more doors!

3. REVISION STRATEGY! I would like to play around with using Google Docs for revision, and I wish that I had this tool in my arsenal as a high school English teacher. So many kids try to make it LOOK like they revised an essay by marking it up, but the content never changes. Google Docs could help teachers track the revision. This would probably work best with older writers.

With Google Docs, the possibilities are endless.

Thing #19: Voicethread...Wow.

Now I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. Every "Thing" that I've encountered so far has been familiar to me; I have heard about most of these tools as a librarian, but I have never heard of Voicethread until now. It's a podcast on steroids.

Once I figure out how it works, the possibilities are endless when it comes to Voicethread. It would be great to use in book discussions because of all of the commenting options. It's interactive, and that's what makes it so powerful. I liked the idea of using it as a tool for creative writing. We do a strategy called "Writing Roulette" in the NJWP Institute, and I can see how Voicethread would enhance it. Voicethread would be effective for all different types of learning styles and all different ages of learners.

But first, I must conquer the Podcast. Then I can move on to Voicethread. This is definitely a tool that I want to learn more about!