Week 6

Another class down, and only one more to go until I get my masters! I have statistics to take this spring, which actually has already started. The 515 class has been a great experience. I've learned even more web 2.0 activities and I enjoyed all the different uses of google. I'm starting to use all the different applications more and more now. It's just so handy to have everything right there; word processing, spreadsheets, presenter, calendar, and sites. I didn't use my flash drive at all for this class which is the first time I've done that for my entire cohort. I also have already implemented google calendar at my school to keep track of all the room reservations that I'm responsible for. I also am starting to use google calendar in my personal life too now and love the fact that you can subscribe to a variety of calendars. I already have the Brewer's schedule on my calendar. The spreadsheets are very handy too as I'm using them with my friend's as we keep track of our Brewer tickets. I also have talked to my district's tech coordinator about using google and it seems like it could be a possibility in the near future. The sharing capabilities just make too much sense. It beats saving documents and then sending them out as email attachments or saving them to a computer drive on a district network.

Week 5

What we are studying so far has had some impact on my teaching. I think it will have more effect down the road. I only teach my library skills class for a 3.5 week period to five different groups of sixth graders throughout the year. That does not give me very much time to cover many different things and I haven't had much of a chance to implement what I have been learning, but I will try next year. A major part of my class is dedicated to using voicethread for their final project which I learned in a previous class in my practicum. It helps students bring together everything they have learned in our time together. I would love to incorporate google sites into my curriculum for the future but that would take some discussion with higher-ups in my district.

In terms of my library work for my job, I've already incorporated google calendars into my school by moving all the reservations for the library, library computer lab, and school computer lab to that format. I have also had a discussion with our technology coordinator about using google docs in the district and he sounded interested and mentioned that there had been discussion about implementing it earlier but nobody really knew much about it. Also, just this week a teacher asked about websites that could be used for students to create their own websites and I suggested google sites to her. I just have to find out if our students are able to access google sites or if they'll be blocked. Plus, they probably would have to have some form of gmail to access it.

Week 4

I searched In Time under the subject of Information Literacy and found 8 videos. Only one of the videos was for the middle school level. However, it was for sixth grade which is the grade level I teach my library skills class to. The lesson was about using a WebQuest for a Solar System Colonization project. It is a nice blend of science and information literacy and they also are using the internet for their information source. The teacher pre-determines the sites that the students can use so she knows they will go to appropriate sites.

Students are researching the livability of other planets and are each taking on different roles during the research process and then they will be determining their location for a space station to be and presenting their findings in a multi-media presentation. This lesson is from the year 2000, so it is a bit dated. Especially with all the changes that have occurred in the online world since then. However, it brings to light ideas that I teach in my library skills class such as using reliable websites, how to search for information online, and citing sources. This lesson is a great way for a library media specialist and a science teacher to collaborate on a lesson or unit.

Week 3

This week's main focus was on spreadsheets, in particular google spreadsheets. I found them to be very useful and handy. The recipe was a good way to implement using formulas and I like seeing all the different foods on the forum. I may have to try some of them out. I think the best part of google spreadsheets is the ability to share with anyone out there. I have started a google spreadsheet for my 9 pack of Brewer tickets that we're sharing as a group of friends and we're claiming games on it and keeping track of who is going to which games. In terms of at school, I was thinking about transferring my library budget spreadsheet to google to help me keep up to minute information on my financials.

I have had limited results in my district in terms of finding out about software purchasing. I finally heard back from our head tech guy and we talked for a little while about it. Basically people can pretty much get what they want, within reason, if they're using their own money. For larger district wide things, people make suggestions to him and he will eventually have the final say in the purchasing.