Week Fourteen (11/29/10 - 12/05/10) - The End?

As the semester finally comes to an end, I realize that I really am going to miss this class.  I have learned so  many things (although copyright is tricky, but it will get easier over time) and I have enjoyed the projects that we have completed.  This is also the best online course I have ever taken because of the course format and the resources that we used.  I can honestly say that in previous online courses, I remember little, as only one format for course information/interaction was used and there was little or no student collaboration or pooling of resources.

I don't know what I will do with myself after the exam is complete.  Perhaps I will continue blogging (I am a horrible blogger so I wouldn't expect that) and add Diigo bookmarks (I KNOW I will do this one!)  but whatever I do, I will forever carry fond memories of a phenomenal course that I learned so very much from!

I thank you so very much for an incredible class and I hope that our paths cross again very soon!!

Week Thirteen (11/22/10 - 11/28/10)

I was not sure whether we had to post this week, so I am adding a brief comment, just to be on the safe side (I hate being an overachiever, some times).

This week, our discussion board topic was about "pulling the vision together" and noting concepts that help to form our vision of librarian utopia.  Until the moment I was made to think about what is important to me, it never occurred to me that so many concepts would come into the fold.  The first three concepts that came to my mind were students first, advocacy, and leadership through knowledge.  Of course there are many, MANY others but those three stood out to me as being the most important.  I now realize it is because all three concepts describe me. 

In my work in the disability community, I constantly stress the importance of student's first when creating IEPs or even in the classroom setting.  By putting the student first, they thrive, regardless of their ability level.  In terms of advocacy, it has been my lifes work for so long, that it is no surprise I included it as an important concept.  Leadership through knowledge is also a personal trait/motivator.  I have always been one to want to be the example for others to follow and often find myself in leadership roles (even if they do make me nuts sometimes!).  When I am in a leadership role, I find it important for me to seek out learning resources - whether they be in the form of conferences, workshops, or even online sources.  In order to be an effective leader, knowledge must always be gained. 

So all of that being said, I now find myself wondering what non-self-descriptors I would chose as concepts that help form my ;library vision.  If I do not find alternate concepts, I fear that I am stuck in a rut of past experiences and that my horizons have not been broadened by what I have learned this semester.  So I end this post, reflecting on not what currently defines me but what I hope will define my library vision in the future....

Week Twelve (11/15/10 - 11/21/10)

This week, we returned to copyright and although it was still a difficult topic to understand, I'd like to think that I am able to grasp it a little more than I had at the beginning of the semester.  What I find particularly helpful is that my classmates are as confused as I am - some even more.  The idea is helpful because I realize that I am not tragically behind my peers; I am getting what I should be, learning on the "job," and will get more as I go along my library way.  Admittedly, though, I do freeze up when I hear the word copyright.  Perhaps it will always be this way.

The information on copyright (and many of the things I have learned in this class!) has helped me tremendously in my classes this semester.  For one class, I needed to make a book trailer and the resources that I found (personally and through the class Diigo group) led me to public domain music and pictures that I used in the trailer.  Another example - I am working on an assignment for one of my other classes and we are setting up a Diigo page for resources that we will be using for the assignment and will be creating Diigo pages for students that visit the library.  I think it is so wonderful to see the knowledge we are gaining this semester be practically applied and it makes me love librarianship even more than I did at the beginning of the semester!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

Week Eleven (11/08/10 - 11/14/10)

Insert picture here

Had there not been Google errors aplenty, an image of children interacting with their teacher from http://learningtocollaborate.blogspot.com/2009/05/fully-engaged.html would have been here!

What a wonderful week of learning it has been!  When I say that I don't know what I will do after this course ends, I am not kidding at all.  I have learned and continue to learn so very much - both from my professor and my peers that the thought of it coming to an end is sad.

I spent much of this week working on my professional development workshop on guided reading.  It was a challenge for me, primarily because I had little knowledge on the topic - a challenge that I welcome.  I do workshops and PowerPoints all of the time on accessibility, disability awareness, and special education so this semester, I have made it a rule in all of my classes to steer clear of that area so that I can grow in knowledge in other areas.  I hope it is working.  :)

All kidding aside, it is working and new worlds are opening up before me every day and I love it. I love learning about assessments, classroom activities, and multiple routes to literacy and  I particularly enjoy the pictures of students engaging in learning in their classrooms!  Guided reading helped me to learn that literacy is just as multifaceted as the human brain - it is just a small piece of a giant literacy puzzle. 

I can't get enough of learning and I am thankful that I will be staying at UB for my PhD in Education and LIS.  There is so much more for me to discover and I am thankful that this course has given me the desire and excitement to continue on (even when I am absolutely exhausted!).

Week Ten (11/01/10 - 11/07/10)

Image source: http://www.ziggitsawards.com/tag/awards/

My how this semester is flying!  I wish I had a moment to bask in the glory of half-semester completion; but woe is me!  I have so much to do that if I bask for even a moment, I fear that I will drown....but I digress!

I was sitting here today, think about the toolbelt (or toolbox) conversation that we have been having on the discussion boards and I was suddenly struck sad at the thought of my fellow classmates not liking the idea of Diigo and that they plan on not visiting the site after the semester is finished.  Diigo isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination (hello - who is?!) but the site does promote collaboration and the exchange of information.  I think that is why I was so dismayed.  Not using the site means that both the student and myself suffers because communication comes to a grinding halt.  Trust me, I am a realist and understand that many people want an "over and done" with kind of class, but I am not one of those students and I put great value on acquiring information; especially information that I had no prior knowledge of.

I guess I feel a little like the "monkey with a toolbelt;" I want to be able to find information about almost anything and doing so with the help of classmates and friends will help this find to become a well-rounded exploration rather than one-sided.  Which brings me back to the K-12 conferences.  Whenever I feel as though I am alone (although I never truly am in LIS), I need only view new and archived conferences to get additional resources and for that I am grateful.  Do I hope my classmates will continue to add to our Diigo group long after our course has completed?  Absolutely, but if they do not, I am happy that my toolbelt (toolbox) will continue to grow because of the class resources that have been given to us.

Comment on Web Conferencing - Can We Chat?

This week has been a very good one in terms of Internet resource discovery.  As I noted earlier in the week, Karen Blumberg's K12 conference presentation was so invigorating and provided me with a plethora of links that I will surely use as I continue on in school and in my future career.  (and did I mention that she commented on my post?!  how awesome is that?!)  Kim Caise's Web Conferencing - Can We Chat? was also incredibly informative and provide many helpful links.

An interesting comment that Caise made was that she hoped that with the tools that she provided that our students will feel inspired.  I have to tell you, I was just as (if not more!) inspired by the resources that she gave.  For instance, I found the site The Global Education Collaborative to be extremely helpful.  I appreciate the global-connectedness that the site promotes and truly proves how small our world really is.  Another site, Virtual Field Trips is an incredible resource because it provides students more educational opportunities because they are able to visit places across the global that the class would not necessarily have the funds to travel to.  How incredible it is for a student to "visit" the Louvre in the morning and then Madagascar in the afternoon!

I also found Caise's personal blog to be incredibly rich in resources and I have book marked it for our Diigo group (and can be found here http://kcaise.wordpress.com/).  I hope that you will all have time to explore Caise's "Ventures," and get to take a look at all of the wonderful resources she has listed for educators.

Week Nine (10/24/10 - 10/31/10)

Image from http://feelfree3333.blogspot.com/p/basics-of-this-project.html.

I cannot stress enough how much of a positive impact the K12 conference site and presentations has had on me.  It is as though a new world has been opened up before my eyes; a world that prior to learning of the site, I did not see a connection to, yet it is a world that has welcomed me with open arms.

I will be the first to admit that I never knew the educational involvement SLMS had; I am a new SLMS student, after all, and I am still learning the ropes.  Yes, I knew that all librarians needs to participate in continuing education and keep informed of the latest and greatest in books and technology, but I never imagined how important collaboration between the librarian and teachers would be in the school setting and that when the collaboration was working, what incredible results would come of it.

Of course, I have heard horror stories where school librarians were seen not seen by teachers as equals in education but as inferiors who were expected to act as a sitter for students when they were dropped off in the library for study periods, but fortunately, there seem to be more positive stories of collaboration and educational partnerships.  At the end of the day, all educators - teacher or librarian - realize that the more that we know and can pass along to our students, the more that they will benefit by growing and learning.  After all, as educators, isn't that what we are supposed to do?