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

Thing 4- Wikis

Wikis - A Wiki is a website that people can access and work on together. So, if you had a document or an idea that you wanted other people to comment on, you would start it and send it around to other people. Eventually, you would have one finished document instead of 20 emails. I didn't realize that Wikipedia was a Wiki! Wikis are attractive to use because anyone can write, edit or delete content. Tracking tools allow you to keep up with what has been edited and by whom. Libraries all over the country are using them for collaboration and to share knowledge. I like the idea of using Wikis on the school library's home page. It would lend itself well to a "favorite books" page. Also, adding pathfinders to highlight a schools books and resources on a given subject is an interesting idea; although it is a huge job for the librarian!
I loved the "In Plain English" - Commoncraft Video explaining Wikis - I have become a huge fan. Take a look at his video by clicking on the link below- Wikis explained in 3 minutes!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY&feature=relmfu