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Google Docs

I admit to being VERY disappointed that I can't get Lee Lefever's In Plain English Videos on Tags or Flickr. Oh, the videos are there, but they are  private. I even tried going around and in through YouTube-no luck. So, I tried to get through a different author's video on tags, and it just wasn't working. I am definitely spoiled by LeFever's simple, concise explanations. I guess I will have to come back to Tagging and Flickr later. I need to learn about Google Docs anyway, because we use it at school, and I have no idea how to use it.

After watching my favorite explain-it-all guy - I discovered another link to google docs for educators http://www.google.com/educators/p_docs.html

This above web page contains 4 different links on how to use Google Docs including the In Plain English video, and also how teachers and principals are using Google Docs in their schools.

I really like Google Docs; it's free and you can use it to create and share online documents. Instead of emailing around files and having to deal with confusion and extra work in managing different file versions, anyone (that you send a link to) can edit the document online from anywhere. This has great applications for me. I was just thinking about our school library's web page. I guess no one has looked at it in a long time because it is very out of date. Since I hope to be working there full-time soon, I really want the web page to reflect well on the library...and it doesn't. The page boasts a "t-Line" internet connection, when we have hi-speed comcast now...I'm sure you get the picture. So, in thinking how to use Google Docs, I could take the scan the original web page into Google Docs, upload it, put in my updates to the web page, and then send it to the Principal, Dean of Students, the Tech guy, and the Web Page person. All could see it and make changes without every having to leave their office or classroom. Cool...and no meetings.

G-Mail Motion

I am so excited about this new technology - I can see G-Mail Motion having wide applications in all forms of communication. People could integrate this new form of communication across schools, libraries and institutions...and the physical aspects of using G-mail Motion increase the physical exercise that we all need.

To understand more about G-Mail Motion, watch this simple, quick video-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu927_ul_X0

Happy April Fool's Day - I hope you enjoyed the good laugh, I know I did!

Books I'm Reading Now- The Giver

The Giver won the 1994 Newberry award and is an excellent thought- provoking novel. Jonas is a twelve year old boy who lives in a utopian society where everything is the same. Everything is controlled; the weather, the landscape, work assignments.There are no colors, everything is uniform. People are assigned mates and children; there are no choices. Jonas is chosen to be a “receiver” to hold the past pain and memories. Slowly coming to the realization of a world of choices and differences, Jonas embarks on a path from which he will never return.

Evaluation: I loved this book, although I am not a great reader of science fiction. The Giver forces you to think about choices in life that all of us take for granted every day. Often challenged in schools, this is not your ordinary book; it will stay with you long after you have finished it.The Giver is great introduction to literature on Utopian societies. It would also work well in an American Government class.

Twitter

 

I am now a huge fan of In Plain English Videos! This one on Twitter is great; Lee LeFever does a witty job delivering information simply and quickly. He explains Twitter in under 3 minutes; and all with a sense of humor! I'm sure he is famous for all his In Plain English Videos - I am going to look for all of them. Here is the link to the one on twitter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o&feature=relmfu

So, about Twitter; I don't understand why people would want to share information about their daily (boring!) activities. Why would you want to know what people are doing 24/7? Twitter is dumb...who cares if you are drinking a cup of coffee, or doing laundry, or reading a book? And all of those people begging to be following. How ironic...the video talks about sharing information with people you care about, yet people you don't know are begging you to follow their daily lives...No thanks!

How to use Twitter in libraries; I think you can accomplish getting out the "breaking news" better with a blog or Facebook. Daily life is just too mundane to be tweeted about. So are all people who tweet, twitter twats?

What I'm Reading Now

Winner of the Newberry Award and the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical fiction, Karen Hesse’s poetry book, Out of the Dust is simply haunting. Written in free verse, Out of the Dust is about a family caught in the dust bowls that hit Oklahoma in the thirties. Told by Billie Jo; a fourteen year old teen, who watches as her family is consumed by dust that covers the land, houses and animals. She must find a way to leave this hopeless place, even if it means leaving her family behind.

Evaluation: I couldn’t put this book down, and I have never felt that way about a poetry book. Karen Hesse is able to capture the heart of this tragic story in just a few poetic lines. Powerful in its simplicity, this book will stay with you. It is an excellent choice for a unit on poetry and to include in American History during the thirties

Facebook

Facebook - I dreaded this "thing" to learn. I have put off learning this, ignored friends requests to join, even resisted the temptation to sign up to spy on my kids. This is just too much information for me, and I feel uncomfortable using it. But, when I viewed the commoncraft video on Facebook at the SLJ Learning 2.0 website, the video made it look pretty easy, so hating and dreading it, I signed up on Facebook to see how it worked. Actually, it was pretty easy. You just go to facebook and then answer the questions to create your profile. And Facebook will add the images to the answers you pick, like a picture of your old high school - that was pretty neat - you don't have to add the images yourself. I have seen all the little Facebook logos on blogs and websites, so I am sure you can somehow follow the business on its Facebook page.

Thinking about how you could use Facebook in a high school library; the first thing that comes to mind is that libraries need to go where students are - and they are all on Facebook. Libraries could have a presence on Facebook and use it to update all the news in the Library - new books, new exhibits.Now that I have my Facebook page,  I am now going to investigate how libraries are using Facebook and I will report back to update.

Here is the link to the commoncraft videos that explain Facebook; it is real simple and less than 5 minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a_KF7TYKVc&feature=player_embedded