Thing #8: RSS Reader

One of my favorite, favorite things is newsreaders. My daughter was the first to introduce me to this beloved tool on one of her visits home from college, and it opened a whole new world of blogs. I love that I can go to one place and read new posts from my favorite blogs or sites just like reading email. I probably subscribe to too many because I cannot get to them all in one sitting. The best part, however, is being able to organize the feeds into different folders according to various topics. I can easily access information based on my moods or needs.

Professionally the newsreaders can help teachers, librarians, and administrators stay current on the literature of their fields in a manageable manner. Colleagues can also share what they find or read with one another.

Through the tutorial, I did learn about features that I did not know about. I can't wait to use the keyboard shortcuts and Google Blog Search to find library/technology related sites/blogs.

Thing 4

Registered, sent email, I'm officially committed.

Thing 3

Creating an avatar was a blast!! It was like shopping with none of the guilt or frustration! I could do that all day. It took me a minute to get it posted into my blog. At first I tried pasted the html into the gadget title line and got an error message. I saved it as a jpeg and saved to my desktop , but that didn't seem to work either. The third time was a charm. I can see where using avatars would be great for student or anyone who is concerned with preserving anonymity online for their safety.

The video "Blogs in Plain English" found at Common Craft was really good, and I plan on using at future inservice with my staff. When I talk about following blogs, some teachers look at me like I am a weirdo.

I enjoy reading blogs and follow many on various topics. I have a personal blog, although I do not post faithfully. I have wanted to start a library blog but have been intimidated by those who do it so well. I am glad that this project has given me the opportunity to just start, and hopefully I will improve with practice.

Thing 2

After watching the Habits of a Lifelong Learner find myself mostly thinking about how we as educators (and parents) can help students develop these habits. I think one of the most powerful habits is taking responsibility for your own learning. Of course, this is also why reading is so important. Think about it--there is a book out there for almost anything you want to learn about or how to do.

Or you can find a website with a plethora of information....
But you have to have that desire and willingness to want the information or skill in the first place. Either because it is something you want to do or you know it is necessary...sort of like participating in this workshop. We are aware that web 2.0 skills are necessary and are taking the responsibility to attain them.

My greatest weakness, and I am not sure how this falls into the habits, is a lack of focus on one area. I tend to hop from one interest or project to another. I always come back but I tend to have be a jack of many trades, master of none.

Thing 1

I have heard about "23 Things" for a while but have never committed to a group. For one I have felt like I was familiar to most of the "things" that were covered and secondly I felt I was always too busy to add one more thing to my to-do list. But I finally decided it would be fun to be part of a learning community and that there is always room to learn more. I am excited and eager. I hope to continue this blog for additional library conversation as well.

We're off....