SLMC Vision

As the end of school draws near :) it is interesting to look back and see everything that we have learned and really think about how this can be applied into a my future school library career. Through my observations, most librarians did not use many of these items but it does definitely depend on the school district as to the technologies used. I could see ways were the technologies could be used and could be beneficial but it seems to be difficult to make time to use them. The most important features seems to be showing the teachers and the students how they can be used as educational tools but can also be fun to use! By showing this students would be excited to use the tools and teachers can come up with ideas that could be bettered by the newly introduced technologies.

Copyright and SLMS responsibilities

This week was another lesson in copyright laws in the school system in regards to how the School Library Media Specialist should be involved. I am realizing that in a lot of school systems it is the belief by the staff that the SLMS should be well versed in copyright law and it becomes most of the SLMS responsibility. I feel that the text used in class is a valuable reference point and I would like to save this text for furture use. It is important to update yourself on the copyright law especially in regards to the school system. After reading how the much of the responsibility does fall on the SLMS, I feel that it is important for myself to be well educated in this area and offer professional development workshops and reference sheets for my colleagues.

Week 10: Tool Belt

Through the questions posted on the wiki page I have found that I have learned many useful tools that I plan to use throughout grad school and in a school library. I feel that students will become more involved when they learn what tools are out there and will become excited to have new tools to use involving the Internet and the computer. If learning tools can be implemented from the beginning they will find that research can be easy if you just have a good starting point. I think it is important to have students understand that they can have a solid approach to their research if they have their own "tool belt".

Week 8... Effective Professional Development

This week was extremely informative and I plan to use much of the information I learned on professional development workshops when I become a School Library Media Specialist. The PowerPoint presentation was effective but covered a lot of information that will have to be reviewed multiple times in order to be fully effective. I wish that there was a printable bulleted outline to accompany the PowerPoint for easy reference and review.

Although the staff development workshop assignment seems extensive I am looking forward to completing the steps to finish a completed project. I hope that this assignment helps me to understand the complexity of the assignment yet give me a better understanding for further workshops.

Week 7: Collaboration

I really enjoyed working on the website collaboration with my group members. We all gave great ideas and built off of each others. It was interesting to see what other people would add to a website and often times it was not something that I would have thought of. I really enjoyed the project and I thought that it was a great learning experience. I am very much looking forward to when I am working in a school library and I get to create and update my own website. I feel that it is such a great learning tool for students and is often times overlooked by librarians. Looking through different websites it was disappointing to see one that was minimalistic. I think students would really benefit from a well put together website and it would make the SLMS look much more professional and very technological. Parents would enjoy seeing an updated blog, especially in the elementary schools because "library time" is just as much a classroom as students other ones.

Week 6...

Another important task for a SLMC is to understand the copyright laws for a school system. I feel that as a SLMC it is your responsibility to educate you students and other educators on the topic because of your background knowledge. Other educators do not have the same background knowledge so it is up to the SLMC to protect the school against illegal copyrighting. The SLMC should have a detailed recorded of everything to protect both themselves and the school. This tasks is somewhat scary because there are so many different rules and regulations in regards to copyrighting. The book that we had to purchase for class is an excellent resource but some type of easy reference guide would be easier to use for in the actually library. The SLMC should think about taking some of the information found in the book and creating a guide for themselves.

Week 5: Cataloging Systems

This week we learned all about the cataloging systems in school library media centers. This was very interesting because the cataloging system is one of the most important parts of the library. It allows the patrons to find the materials they are looking for.. so essential it is the center of the library. If no cataloging system was in place, patrons would become so frustrated for not being able to find their materials that they would leave. A SLMS should keep a up to date and very informative record for their cataloging system. One important piece of information that I learned through the observation was to go above and beyond for elementary aged students. Try to go through the book and think of every specific subject instead of just a broad range. Be specific about the animal(s) in the book instead of just having "animals" for the subject search. Elementary age students may not think to search for "animals" but instead the want a book with "dogs" in it. Try to think as they would in preparing your cataloging system, this way everyone can easily use the system and locate their materials.

Week 4 Information Literacy

This weeks LIS 568 lesson was very interesting and enjoyable. Learning about Information Literacy is a great concept that I hope to master as a school library media specialist. I remember being in high school and immediately just doing a basic google search to complete my research. It would have been extremely helpful as a student to have learned how to evaluate sites in order to find correct and effective material. As a school library media specialist I plan to work together with teachers to educate the students properly. I think that some type of activity such as a scavenger hunt in which the students would have to find proper websites to prove that they have understood the Information Literacy lesson would be effective. I think that by collaborating with the teachers would allow the students to have better research tips which in turn would make for better papers/projects.

Week 2 Post

So... I've had a horrible cold the past week which hindered my abilities to participate in all of the weekly activities. Feeling better this week, I plan to catch up on my missed tasks and complete everything. Setting up all of the accounts required for LIS 568 was quite scary because I did not fully understand all the "In's and outs" of the technology that we would be using and I have never taken an online class. Also, it required a lot of time to play around with the accounts and different systems but so far the only one that still seems complicated would be diigo. Through the readings I have learned about the benefits or web blogging as well as the complicated nature of copyrighting. The benefits on web blogging was especially interested because before reading the first couple chapters I couldn't think of many ways that blogging could be essential to the students. Understanding that students enjoy working on the computers and especially online its exciting to see that blogging can help teach critical reading and writing skills. I thought this was great especially for a student that is having difficulties in that area! If the student can have a better grasp of the concepts through web blogging I think it is worth a try for both teachers and parents. If I can be made into an optimist after reading the chapter, web blogging should be taken into more consideration in class rooms. Plus the added benefit that the teacher can post assignments, instructions and due dates so there is not confusion for the student or parent. At the very least I think every teacher should be able to have their own website (through the school) so that this can be accomplished. I remember being a student and forgetting my assignment pad and not knowing what exactly was due or what chapters to read. I would have thoroughly enjoyed this application as a student to be able to be more organized!

I've never written a blog before...

I've never even considered writing a blog before. The only thing that comes to mind about blogs is from the movie Julie and Julia. So this is a whole new experience for me that I hope to become better at with time. Actually all the new sites that I've signed up for are new.... and I thought I was pretty good at navigating and understanding the internet! Apparently not! I guess that is why it is a good thing that I am taking this class! Through this class (LIS 568) I hope to develop a firm grasp of all of the systems that we will be using so I can apply them in my field.