Learning Commons Webinar

Joyce Valenza- Wow- there are so many free tools out there available for my students and myself, and I feel so lazy for not taking advantage of it!! One thing I for sure plan on looking more thoroughly for is the Maps/Posters she showed later in the presentation for search tools/ references for kids. I would love to have a poster like that in my room, so students could see visually what is available for them. Also, I’d like to connect a few of those to my classroom webpage. The Google Apps poster would be neat, because I’m not aware of all the possibilities, and this would be a reminder, or even an encouragement to do more research into them. What could I integrate into my school’s library tomorrow? The biggest thing for me was the idea that work is not created just for the teacher anymore; it is the students’ responsibility to publish their work. I think this is a fabulous idea because it gives them ownership. I did something similar with my students, but it didn’t involve technology (cringe!), but they created their own book, I had it published, and parents even had the opportunity to purchase a copy if they chose to. They did their very best work on this project because they knew that others would be looking at their publications. Another thing I would like to look into for integrating soon would be the idea of Skype (hopefully I can talk someone into taking down that firewall) for Children’s Authors and presenters. I do currently have in the works something I learned in this class. I have already changed my newsletter from a link on our webpage, to a link to our new classroom blog where the newsletter will be provided. The next step? Taking Lit. Circles to a blog form, I think I have a lot of convincing to do on that part!
I absolutely adored the ‘adding chapters to the textbook’ activity. We did something like this in high school, but had to outline it and present it orally. There are so many learning opportunities with this activity its mind boggling. It’s been proven that history books are written from a specific viewpoint, and I find it very important that all aspects are provided. This not only gives the missing groups a voice for their time period, but the students as well for presenting the information.

David Loertscher- I found his graphics to be visually arresting, it was hard to take your eyes off of them, because they were so clear and related directly to what he was saying. The one that really jumped off the page to me was the first one he showed with the idea of physical space vs. virtual space. So many librarians get stuck in just that physical realm they completely forget about the biggest resource they have (or have the possibility of having)- wireless capabilities. Collaboration was a big concept Loertscher stressed. I liked how he included everyone in the learning process and not just the students within that group. My students are put into groups based on their reading levels, it would be really neat to have an assignment where they have to relate their book to a different book that another group is reading. They could simply look on the other groups blog/wiki and comment directly on there. This assignment would be very easy to see once it was completed, and it would start even more conversation within that group. Also, David makes a good point that what you are teaching is available in a documented record online! It’s always nice to be able to go to administrators and say “This is what I’m doing, isn’t it great?”. Overall I think David’s quote summarizes it nicely, “Taking a stream of information and turning it into a giant conversation.”

Doug Johnson- It was refreshing to see an administrator so involved and current on technology within the district! With someone like Doug it would be a lot easier to convince the necessity of taking down a few of the firewalls or other blocking tools. His 5 essential conditions for educational networking were very powerful. The one that stood out the most to me was to support best practices not technologies. So often the school I work for (and I’m sure it’s this way nationwide) gets stuck on one idea or concept and we diverge onto it whole heartedly. Johnson suggests that instead of jumping on the bandwagon to take a step back and look. How much would it hurt to combine these new programs or technologies together to create a ‘master plan’? After all, the best technologies do not improve achievement, but they can support the best practices, which in turn leads to achievement. I am also a fan of the idea of creating a ‘galaxy’ instead of a few bright stars. At first I thought he was talking about students, but I quickly realized he meant the educational staff itself. Here it’s easy for me to be ‘all on board’, but I think that often time’s resistance will follow. I work with people who can’t operate Microsoft Word, let alone PowerPoint, and a blog is a form of some kind of Japanese food to them. I think as long as administrators realize there is a learning gap in their staff, just like their students, and they are patient, they will see bigger results than just pushing issues.