books to read: January 2016

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Facebook and Twitter

I am not a Facebook user but for this assignment I open my doors and open an account and was flooded with my family LIKES, shares, and comments just on one photo I posted. When I search school library to see what I would found. I saw a large community of schools using Facebook. They were posting of upcoming events, past events, book clubs, new books, pictures of what is new in the library, and author’s new book. The population I saw was high school and middle school but not that much of elementary schools. Fans who posted Likes, shares and comments were not very many in one hundred or less. It was dry and it looked like they were trying too hard to impress.

The advantages I saw was that it kept the community inform. They posted everything about the library activities and life. It had pictures and quotes that kept me interested. If there was a book fair, meeting, or a gathering of some sort it kept the fans in the light. It can inform people of an upcoming event and needed their support. It also gave dates of major test dates. It is free advertisement and you can gain a community of support for any activity you have in mind.

The disadvantages were it was not entertaining or funny. It was flat. I did not feel part of the community. I guess to keep up with the posting is demanding and to find how to grab a viewer to keep coming back can be daunting. They did not update it status regularly. There wasn’t much of conversation with the community. I did not see many parents or students commenting or posting likes. It had very few fans.

When I googled the disadvantage of using Facebook to promote your school library. I found an article in http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1103&context=ulib_fac and found that it take considerable time to keep up the status. One would have to spend considerable amount of time to keep up with its demands. People who are in social media expect a quick respond or else they lose interest. One suggested to use the students themselves to post but that can be risky the librarian will have to be vigilant of what they are posting is appropriate.

Just like when I open a Facebook account and was flooded by likes from my family and friends I felt pressured to keep posting new pictures and comment on others in order to meet their interest. I could not do it I had grades due, projects that needed finished and appointments I had to go to. Social media does take a lot of time and I can’t imagine how librarians do it to keep up with the demands

Twitter

More people and organizations are turning to Twitter to inform people what is happening and what they are thinking. I found that you can have a conversation of 140 characters long and you can connect with more people with hashtags. It’s more popular with teens. The adult demographic are using it to promote their professionals or business. I looked and found each was taking about what the new best and that’s what makes coming to them wonderful. This is what I saw as I went in to Twitter,

KarinLibrarian ‏@kperry 41 mins41 minutes ago

maggie-stiefvater: I love this book. I’ve loved it since @brennayovanoff started writing it and I... http://tmblr.co/Zj3Gay20rhWxx

VIEW SUMMARY. KTHXBYE!

0 retweets0 likes

RETWEET

LIKES

MOAR

Paul W. Hankins ‏@PaulWHankins Jan 29

Getting one more picture of these award winning titles in #Room407 before change up the display for Monday.

Rosemary Chance ‏@texaspageturner Jul 23, 2014

In Rosemary Clement-Moore's Spirit and Dust, Daisy Goodnight talks to the dead, and madcap action surrounds her until the end. Fun read!

John Schu ‏@MrSchuReads 16 hrs16 hours agoHouston, TX

Congratulations, @PamMunozRyan! http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2016-02-07/childrens-middle-grade-hardcover/list.html …

Mr. ©olby Sharp ‏@colbysharp 13 hrs13 hours ago

The one and only @DeborahFreedman is coming to #nerdcampmi!!

Tony Vincent ‏@tonyvincent Jan 27

"5 ways to turn a worksheet into a collaborative critical thinking activity” by @Angela_Watson → http://tonyv.me/turnws

Kathy Schrock ‏@kathyschrock Jan 28

Presenting Creating with the iPad and Creating with the CB/Laptop at #IETA16 in Boise in 2 weeks. Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Jim Lerman ‏@jimlerman Jan 28

Sparking Student Engagement in the Digital Age (Math class) :: ASCD :: Cory L. Haley http://sco.lt/8YwKDh

Gwyneth Jones ‏@GwynethJones Jan 27

See both sides, I just don't want librarians out there feel shamed for not #DitchingDewey I respect a librarians right to choose! #TLChat

Wow, my hour went by fast just looking at everyone’s’ tweets. I enjoyed the last on by Gwyneth Jones. Her overt personality showed through her tweets. They were all informative and cognitive stimulating.

Mary Morris - “Snow” an Adele "Hello" Parody (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)

Facebook for libraries

Friday, January 29, 2016

5 Minutes on Facebook for libraries

5 Minutes on Twitter for libraries

http://ebookfriendly.com/best-quotes-about-libraries-librarians/

Social Media: Libraries Are Posting, but Is Anyone Listening?

10 Golden Rules To Take Your Library’s Twitter Account to the Next Level

Monday, January 18, 2016

Technology, Bloom's Revise taxonomy and Prensky

When I started teaching the district asked us to attend more technology inservice during the summer break. They stress to put technology into our lessons. In my teacher evaluation form the principle would have a section for technology in the class observation. More and more we see that schools getting on board with technology. They see that it is not only the future but a wonderful resource to teach our students and prepare them for the workforce.

The older people that were not born with a cell phone on their hands find it odd with so much technology. Honestly, we cannot escape it. We have to dive in or else we will be dinosaurs. Marc Prensky’s article "Listen to the Natives" deals with this issue. He states people who are not use to utilizing technology are out of touch with children of today. Technology is how our children learn and communicate. In Kathy Schrock's Guild to everything" article shows us how technology can be implemented in student learning for best practice. She gives names of IPad apps teachers can use for any specific category in Bloom's Taxonomy to help with cognition. This knowledge educators can utilize in the classroom or for homework assignments. It only gives you a guild to use and not an only tool by which teacher must practice as Prensky claims.

How wonderful, in Bloom’s Revise Taxonomy by Schrock's guild, it breaks technology into different categories to use in apps to teach for comprehension. An example in the Schrock's Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy is found on YouTube video where a class draws pictures in there computer of what they infer from the chapter of the book they are reading, whereby it helps cement their understanding. The teacher was around to help guide them as they got deeper understanding.

Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy with technology is keeping up with today’s students. If you walk into a classroom today, you can find a kindergartner utilizing an IPad for letter recognition and phonics. A fifth grader utilizing Wikipedia to do research on a historic person and a college student utilizing google map to discover where Mark Twain once lived for his literature class. Every students engaged and acquiring understanding through the use of technology. Marc Prensky makes his assertion that technology is where teacher should go to teach any subject because it's how children can only be taught today. Prensky holds a degree from Harvard Business School and is a designer of games for learning, as strongly stresses on his article. His argument is clear that schools much change to meet the children of today and technology is the only thing schools should use.

No one can deny that technology is changing the scope of learning and Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy is an asset for the educator. It is a valuable resource librarian's can use to make the argument of why she is purchasing a certain app. It can be a point of reference to justify why a certain app is needed in the library/school or to engage them in a skill. Although Pensky stresses that technology is the only means for our students to learn. Pensky's claim is far fetch of cognitive understanding. A child learns in different ways, as Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligence identifies. Gardner is a PhD., professor of Education of Harvard University, his theory states that all children have different ways of learning and it is all depending on their intellectual strength. He asserts educator's to employ different means to teach and not use one specific thing to meet all the student's needs.

In David Jonassen's book “Modeling with technology: Mind tools for conceptual change” he addresses the importance of utilizing technology programs as a mind tool to enhance memory, make deep connections, and help the student with problem solving. Technology should be used as a tool for acquiring learning. An example that proves his point is in a YouTube video called “Teaching for Tomorrow: Flipped Learning,” about a science teacher who posted his lectures on YouTube for the students who were absent not miss out on the information on his lectures. Soon he notices that not only were his students who were absent seeing it but the “challenged” students were watching it too. They would watch it over and over again. His entire class changed because in school he would go straight to the experiments being that they already understood the subject. Also he lets his students choose whether to take a paper and pencil test or technology to show what they understood from the subject. In the long run it help with his differentiated learners. This teacher saw the importance of using technology as a tool.

Author Nicholas Carr who wrote “The Shallows” makes a good argument by which technology is not allowing people to make deep connections. We are bombarded with information he says from everywhere. What we are reading goes from temporary memory to only by erase permanently because of technology distractions. In a student of today there is the cell phone, television, and IPad all begging for his attention. A student can be studying from his IPad but also getting texts from a friend distracting him of what is important. When a student is reading or studying they should put away all distractions and only concentrate on one thing at a time or else it will not be a permanent memory.

As future teacher librarians it is critical we know all the facts about technology and how children make deep cognitive connections. Technology makes things easier and proficient but it also can be a distraction. Educators should use it as a tool. We need to keep up with the new technology and be knowledgeable of any new apps or technology gadgets for teaching. We have to implement it in our classrooms and in our lessons for "today’s students". However using one thing to teach all things can be bad. Just because the children love to use technology for everything it does not mean it can be used as all means for learning.