Thing #1 - The Networked Student

We’re back! The Common Craft guys are back! The kickball captains have donned swimsuits and life preservers! Woo-hoo!

Librarians will most definitely play a role in “helping students navigate the future” and continue to help our students become lifelong learners. Joyce Valenza put it well in her article “On the Librarian: What’s the point…?, “if you are not an expert in new information and communication tools, you are NOT a media specialist for today.”

As teacher librarians, our charge in all of this is:

1. learning the 2.0 technologies (thanks Kickball Captains/Lifeguards!)
2. teaching/modeling for students and teachers how to use these technologies in collaboration with the classroom teachers and curriculum expectations, while teaching these 3 things - a research model such as the Big6, web site evaluation, and the ethical use of electronic information
3. giving students the freedom to create their learning environment using the 2.0 technology tools
4. having the technology hardware (and GEEK support!) for accessing and using these 2.0 tools.
   

Thing #16 Wikis

Those crazy paper tossing, finger counting, marker drawing CommonCraft guys are a hoot. Talk about making learning simple + to the point + fun + meaningful! Someone suggested that we have a “Thing” devoted just to them next time. I agree!

Posting to the Learning 2.0 Sandbox wiki was interesting. Viewing online video wiki posting help and actually doing it were two different animals for me. I first posted in the discussion area. Oops! When I discovered that my posting was not showing up on the main page, I went back and tried again. Success! The image I uploaded turned out to be animated. Surprise! :-)

Wikis are a great invention and a wonderful discussion and collaboration tool. I can see using a wiki on the SBISD curriculum portal pages for each of the grade level curriculum areas where teachers could share their successes and new resources (syllabi, rubrics, homework calendars, slide shows, etc) for a curriculum area or strand or unit. It would be an accessible and easy way for teachers across the district in a particular grade level or subject area to globally communicate and collaborate. The PB Wiki Tour talked about online chats. Another application idea might be to have an online chat on a district wiki between two or more teachers/administrators instead of a face-to-face meeting. With the cost of gas, leave the car parked and meet online!