Posts (page 2)

   
So, I found this website through, the google librarian newsletter, that linked to the google edcucators site, that linked to the infinite thinking machine blog, that talked about Ning, that had a post about Toondoo being too much fun.  So I tried it.  This is a comprehensive cartoon making site, for free on the web.  You can select backgrounds, characters, props, text, everything, and after your done, save it to the site or upload it to your blog!  The interface and controls are very intuitive and the result, very rewarding!  Very cool app for a person on spring break!

  

  Yesterday I read in the local newspaper that the elementary school librarians in my home district were being replaced by book carts!  The old school library now houses technology and some reference type books.  This, from a school district that when I was in elementary school, staffed and kept open all public school libraries throughout the summer. 

    It was a seven house walk and through the playground for me to enjoy the cool, tranquil, atmosphere and warm welcome by name, from the school librarian(s) --( I still remember their names -- Mrs. Crenell and Mrs. Anderson ). We regularly had a nice conversation about what I had read and the librarian on duty would lead me once again to the kinds of fiction and other books that I would like as well.  This one-on-one with an interested stranger who helped me to feel like I belonged and was even admired for my reading and learning interests, remains one of my fondest childhood memories. 

    I also remember not being able to wait to get home to throw open the book, often stopping under the shade of a tree and enjoying the warm summer breeze and a freshly started new book.  The lack of availability of a librarian to match that special book to a a unique individual is a sad, sad, commentary on the distractions of our plugged-in, electronic oriented society.  Life before was simple but soooo rich!

I blog because I should.
 I am embarking on a campain for student and staff use web 2.0 resources in my school and district.   I should have my own "experience" with all of the tools I am advocating for.
I blog because I want to share.
I also want to use this platform to share the outstanding resources I have discovered while surfing the net, or listening to podcasts.  I post everything to del.icio.us and perhaps am constributing to the "cause" that way, but this blog is about "the best" of those.
I blog because I will learn in the process. 
I am exposed to so many outstanding ideas on the blogs that I read.  Most are professional, but sometimes even those people address and invite comment on timely, important topics.  I feel like I know some people enough to interact with them through their blog. The  blogosphere is a place that is beginning to feel like a community, and I feel comfortable enough here to risk contributing another voice or opinion.
I blog because I want to thank others for sharing and I want to give their work and thoughts further exposure.

My very favorite new site I have subscribed to via Lifehacker is Stumble Upon. After establishing an account, users are prompted for their category preferences of sites returned.  For example, I selected books, libraries, liberal politics etc.  After downloading some tool bar buttons, the user need only hit the Stumble! button, and the site searches for the most popular and intersting websites available within those categories. The variety of sites and categories that the stumble button exposes is amazing and often quite useful.  Once a member is logged in, the stumbler is invited to "rate" the returned sites with either a thumbs up or a thumbs down, thus creating a page of one's own favorites at the Stumbleupon site.  The more members voting thumbs up for a page the more it will be pushed to other Stumblers searching in that category.  The high quality of the sites returned likens the experience of pressing the Stumble! button to the thrill of awaiting the return of the slot machine pull.  Get a cheap thrill at the StumbleUpon site.

        Since I have only "consumed" as much of web 2.0 as I could over the last year and a half, I felt that it was about time to begin to contribute.  The amount of learning I have done as a result of reading blogs and listening to podcasts, is truly amazing.  It is even better than getting the newspaper delivered to your door every morning.  Often what is in the posts isn't in the newspaper until days later!  I am sold on the whole "social networking" thing, so this will be my attempt to enter the "partnership."

    I have been spending a lot of time lately trying to find examples of blogs and podcasts, CREATED BY STUDENTS during the course of the regular school day.  At eTech (Ohio Educational Technology Conference) one of the speakers mentioned a school in Mabry North Carolina that actually used podcasting as the basis for a school web page.
It turned out that the school, Mabry Middle School, is actually in Marietta, GEORGIA, but their web page was definitely worth the trouble to locate.  Mabry Online is a comprehensive page of teacher and student blogs and podcasts.  Be sure, if you visit to check out podcast central and then view all podcasts.  You will be amazed at the breadth of topics covered and the well done nature of the productions.   Don't forget also to check out the staff blogs and notice the variety of teachers who maintain a web  presence and RSS feed here.  I think that its' time that the high school library jumps in......
    Hey, here is where any reader of this post can help............... I really didn't want to have Bellefaire as the title of my blog.  I use the word because it is usually not taken for a log in name in web service sites.  Can anyone help me find where I can change the name of this blog?