Tales of a Future Librarian

WOW! I did it! As technological savvy as I thought I was, I had no idea and have yet to incorporate ALL of the wonderful technological and digital aspects that I've learned in this course. I can't even wrap my head around this being my final reflection for such an amazing course.  Image retrieved from "We Did It" Google Image Search I do want to THANK YOU Dr. Gross for such an amazing semester full of learning! The past 7.5 weeks flew by and I am beyond thankful for allowing us to recover from Harvey before jumping into things! So again, thank you! Image Retrieved from "Thank You" Google Image Search Now, onward we go, to finish the final blog post of the semester! Blogging is not one of my strong suits, I see parent blogs, school blogs, and more and I just wonder how do they have the time? But, as a teacher, student, and single mother, I made the time! Now, if only I could go viral! HA!  One of my favorite activities we did this semes

Online Book Communities Good Reads Because I have never used GoodReads or knew how simple it was to create shelves, I only created two shelves. I created one for Picture Books and one for Young Adult books. The more I used GoodReads this evening, the more I realized that I could've very easily created more shelves to give a more organized look to my shelving. There are advantages of using GoodReads are that it's easy to use, students would be able to use this website easily to sort the books that they've read or want to read, they have a wide selection of books, and creating shelves is very simple. I don't have any disadvantages at this time. I did click the wrong buttons a few times and placed a book on the wrong shelf, but it is very easy to change the shelves if you do mis-shelf a book! My fourth grade son sat with me and wanted to shelf a few of his favorite books and he was able to do it with minimal instructions from me. That helps me gauge how easy

Sound Cloud https://soundcloud.com/user-414260882/overduebooks Soundcloud was easy to use but had to follow more steps than I thought. To get my podcast uploaded, I had to first record a "voice memo" on my phone, email it to myself, download via computer, and then upload to SoundCloud. Since my podcast was very short, it didn't take long. It was easy to use and can see students using this if they have access to the voice memo app that Apple has.  Audio Boom See how I incorporated a QR code? (LOL!) AudioBoom was the easiest to use in my opinion. AudioBoom allows you to upload the podcast straight to the computer without having to jump through hoops. This will allow for student friendly use and students can use Audio Boom without needing a certain brand of computers/tablets. I can see students creating podcasts for book trailers and other events happening at the school. This was my favorite one to use as it was so simple and easy to do. PodOMatic htt

Toon Doo Toon Doo was so fun to work with! You have the options to do different layouts! You have quite a few options of backgrounds, props, characters, and voice bubbles! The thing I really enjoyed was that you can change where the voice bubble is! So for instance, I was able to add a second voice bubble and put it to the side of the character instead of on top. I decided to have some fun and do a Christmas themed cartoon and rewrite the "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" Christmas song! Students will love the options and experiences that they can gain with Toon Doo! You have the option to save, print, or email to yourself. It is very easy to use! Pixton For Pixton, I decided to do one over that librarian no one wants to be! Yes, you know, the one that should've retired 20 years ago!! These can be used in SO many ways and I am glad that I'm getting this exposure to all these wonderful apps. This one was one of the easiest to use. When you clicked "nex

Videos and QR Codes in the Library YouTube The NHS Library:  1.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BezObVKkqOo Students learn how to use EBSCO Host from the librarian! 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjpxzgZQkZM Students will like this one because they are able to learn about their school website! The Unquiet Library: 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmc9nh62ltA Students will learn how to use EBSCO Host! 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9FAb3dQmPY Students will enjoy watching themselves and earning themselves a spotlight for library/media use! A great way to motivate students to engage in the library! Pikesville High School:  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNcgW6y3gU0 Students are able to watch a presentation about filling out financial aid for college. 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTqy_KdeAPc Students will enjoy watching their own video of their senior party! BBMS Media: 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-x0no_15a0 Students will learn how

Screen-O-Matic, Instagram, and Flipagram Hi there! This week I've been using Instagram, Flipagram, and Screen-O-Matic to learn how to use them effectively in teaching or in the library! Now, I used to be an Insta-fanatic and uploaded everything to it! However, I downsized my social media usage and Insta was the first to go-right before SnapChat. So, I am fairly comfortable with Instagram and it's uses. I can however see myself making on and sharing photos from the library. As of now, I use an app called ClassDojo so I share the classroom pictures that way. Flipagram was a new app but I enjoyed it. I love the fact that you can add and edit the mini-videos. On my flipagram account, I went into our library and filmed about the book fair. I can see myself using this to share the happenings going on in the library as well! Lastly, my son and I have been using Screen-O-Matic at home (because he's trying to go viral on YouTube--he only has five subscribers though HA!). It was