I have one more class to finish before I get my final library certification. The class I need is only offered online at the University that is about 15-20 minutes from my house. Every other class I've taken has been face to face. This online thing is a first. Basically everything we'll be doing will be in the form of an online discussion. Our first assignment was to write a brief summary of ourselves including where we work, etc. When I signed on and started reading, I was amazed. I'm located just outside of Milwaukee, but was amazed at the locations of the people in the class. There are students from California, North Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois, Texas, Ohio, Bahrain (Middle East), Minnesota, Kansas, Indiana, and New Hampshire! Wow, what a collection of experiences we will be sharing with each other.

This brings me to the idea of getting K-12 students involved in something like this. Most schools aren't even close to being ready for something like this, but isn't blogging a start? It brings people together who have a common interest with the hopes of learning something - or at least being entertained. Sure, a class requires people to "be there" where bloggers can stop by if they want, but getting the variety of experiences and backgrounds can really lead to some fascinating learning. While I was not originally thrilled with the idea of an online course (extra $ and no set time to meet) I'm beginning to get excited to see how all of this plays out. Will I find myself more engaged, checking the message boards, emails, and IM's more often? Will I miss the face to face interaction with classmates and the instructor? I guess we'll find out.

One week ago tonight, I was getting ready to attend a little holiday party for the staff of my school and their significant others. I was really looking forward to the party because I really like the people I work with and knew I was going to have a great time. Sure, there are some I'm not that fond of, but at this school, there just seems to be so many people I like. This got me thinking about our jobs as educators. While most of our job deals with working with students, it's those "other people" we work with that really makes a particular teaching position great. We could all have the greatest classes, with well-behaved and motivated students, but it wouldn't be the same if we didn't have other great people we worked with. Maybe it's taken me too long to realize this, but I really feel that the relationships the teachers have with each other can have a huge impact on the overall atmosphere in a school.

Think about that for a moment. Would you be willing to do a little more for the others you work with, including the students, if you genuinely liked the other people in your building? Would you willing to put up with more of the crap from students, parents, and administrators because of your co-workers? I know I would. Team teaching, collaboration, and all the other interactions would be so much better. Kids would also see that positive interaction and it would rub off on them. It would create such a great environment that achievement would have to go up, wouldn't it?

I've been in several different schools in my district and haven't had the same relationships I have now in any other schools. I don't know why. I don't think that the other people I worked with weren't fun, enjoyable people, because some were. The overall attitude of the adults I work with now is hard-working, but fun. They realize that teaching isn't everything and the rest of the picture plays a very important role. It may be hard to describe, but you know the type of person who is willing to work their tail off during the day, but still have the sense of humor, willingness to head to Happy Hour after school, and simply know that regardless of how important our jobs are, we still need to have fun. Did my previous schools have people like I just described? Of course, but my new school just seems to have more.

I'd love to hear about the people you work with? Do you enjoy working with them or do you hope to get to school and never have contact with them? Is it somewhere in the middle?

Just like the insane law that tells us to make sure No Child Left Behind, the title of this blog is just as crazy. There will be children left behind, we know they don't all learn at the same pace. We know there are many things out of our control that impact the success our students have. I could go on, but you've heard it before.

We also know there are a ton of blogs out there that we are missing- many that are left behind. I'm guessing that us bloggers have our favorites among the 10, 50, or 100 we try and follow. If you don't have time to check them all, are there a couple of you make sure you check on a regular basis? If so, let me know what they are - I would like to add more to the list I don't keep up with!

Yes, I've been slacking on my blogging and mostly on my reading. Oh well, things come up. The problem with getting behind is the fact that I find myself still reading everything, okay-maybe skimming, but not commenting as much as I'd like. I also don't think I'm taking the time to really read and think about what others are writing. I have to work on this.

Now it's time to prepare for the week, wait to hear about some of your favorite blogs, and recover from the Hannah Montana concert my daughter and I went to today!

As we all know, technology can be a great thing. Sure, it can be a pain sometimes, but there is often a lot of positives about the new technologies that are out there. Over break, our library automation software was updated and today was the first live day. Overall, you never know what will happen with a software upgrade, but for the most part, everything went rather smoothly. My library and 2 others are piloting the software prior to the rest of our schools jumping on board. I love being part of pilot programs because I'm willing to jump and try new things. I'm open to learning and am always looking for ways to make life easier for my students and teachers. This new software has a lot of great parts and I can't wait to share it with staff and students. They will certainly benefit from it and will hopefully learn more!

The three media specialists involved are using Google Docs to keep track of our new discoveries, tips, and other general notes and questions about the software. I introduced this web 2.0 technology and they really seem to like it. This collaboration tool is great and it's letting us work together and learn from each other rather than keep individual notes. As we learn more, we can edit the document. In addition, as the other schools get the software, they can have access to the document as well.

I'm thrilled with Google Docs. For us, the sharing of information is a necessity and this web 2.0 tool is going to be a huge help! I'm curious if anyone has used Google Docs with students? Beyond the headache of getting accounts set up for kids, is it worth a shot?

Okay, now that 2008 has begun, I've decided to take a look at this blog and try to figure out the direction it's going to go. When I started the blog, I picked the title Teaching, Technology, the Library, and Other Stuff. My intention was to write about all of those things and I think I have done that. In addition, I wanted to learn about blogging so I could use it with my students. From writing about what's going on at school - frustrations and excitements to projects my students are working on to my son's eBay adventures to things I've learned about Web 2.0 stuff, this blog has covered a lot of topics. I wonder if this is a problem. Are people looking for certain topics when they visit a blog? Are they disappointed when they visit a site and don't get something they're looking for?

I'm blogging for the conversations and the communication. I feel I have a couple of consistent readers who comment more than others - thanks Rookie Teacher, Mrs. Whatsit, and Happy Chyck. I know there are others that I missed (sorry) - please comment and tell me you're reading. I really value the comments. I guess it validates the blogging for me. I visit my site to see if I have comments and I'm happy when I do and a little bummed when I don't. If I'm writing and no one is reading, should I continue? I have so far, but sometimes I have my doubts.

I read a lot of blogs. I'm doing more professional reading now than I ever have, although some would argue that reading blogs may not be as professional as reading a book. After about 9 months of doing this, I've realized there is a ton good stuff out there, but you already know that. I have my favorites and am finding more by the day. If it wasn't for Bloglines and Google Reader, I'd be lost. I use Bloglines for education related blogs, library related blogs, and other blogs where people express their thoughts. I follow 32 blogs here. Some post almost daily, others not so often. I use Google Reader for Ed. Tech blogs. Most of the blogs I follow there are more serious. I follow 22 blogs here. Rather than blog about a frustrating administrator or student, some focus on a conference they spoke at or attended. Much of the discussion is about Web 2.0 and where it's headed. Some of the discussion is way above my head. Perhaps I'll be ready for more of it some day, but not yet. Is 54 blogs too many to follow? I do know that I'm way behind on my reading. I'm wondering how many other blogs people follow? Please share your answer to this. In addition, one of the problems (althought it's not really a problem) I'm finding with the more serious blogs, is that I read about great Ed. Tech ideas and want to jump right in and do some of those things myself. However, for a number of reasons, I can't. To me, it's frustrating reading about the great stuff teachers are doing and not having the means to replicate the idea myself.

So what should I do with this blog? I'm leaning on continuing doing what I've been doing - blog about whatever I feel like, mostly related to education. However, if anyone has any suggestions, I'm willing to listen.

As far as this blog goes, here are some things I hope for:

I hope to write decent stuff
I hope someone tags me with a silly meme
I hope regular readers visit often
I hope readers comment
I hope to read great blogs
I hope to comment a lot
I hope to create meaningful conversations
I hope to gain friends and colleagues
I hope to learn

If you can help me with this, I would appreciate it.

It's only 2 days after Christmas and I'm already thinking I want to be back at work. Not so much because vacation isn't fun, but more so to have a little peace and quiet. That may sound kind of odd, but since Santa delivered several new toys to my children, I'm constantly being asked to play with them. Don't you think they should be able to handle that duty themselves? Nope, instead, they want dad. Dad wants peace and quiet. Dad wants time to read. Dad wants time to blog. Dad wants time to do whatever he wants. I have some ideas for "deeper" blog entries in the next few days when I actually get a chance to sit down for more than 3 minutes.

On a happier note.....

By the way, at last check the first video has over 400 views - something the girls are extremely thrilled about! We've since added a second by Lexi and Maria and another by 3 other 3rd graders.

Yesterday, we set up blogs with a sixth grade class. I figured it would go fairly smooth since I had a good handout that I stole borrowed (thanks Lou) and everyone would be on task since we were doing something fun and new. Poor assumption. For the most part, things did go fine, but there were some technical difficulties I didn't plan for. For one, not everyone wrote down their password when the website assigned them one. Now, we can request another one, but it's time consuming and I don't see the kids more than once a week. I would like everyone at the same point in the process while we start, but I'm going to have to meet with some of the kids at another time to make sure they are ready for next week. Another problem was the lack of listening skills some of the kids have. This isn't new, I'm taught for a while and I should have known, but for some reason, I was overly optimistic. For the most part, everyone's ready to go. We'll see what happens when we try reading other blogs and actually blogging next week, but I certainly can tell you one thing - I'll be hoping for the worst. That way, if something better happens, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Now, a great tip from the Four Eyed Technologist suggested that I have students read and read and read blogs prior to writing their own. This is a great idea, but I'm looking for some help. If you know of any students blogs that my sixth graders would benefit from, please leave me a comment. If you have students who are blogging, let me know. The more the merrier. I want my students to starting thinking about what they're reading and coming up with thoughtful comments. Once they see good examples of this, their blogging will be better. Thanks in advance for your help.

Permission was granted from parents, so here's the video described in the previous post.

The past couple of days brought some technology related excitement to a couple of my students. Two third graders, Lexi and Maria, are working on a podcast project with me. During center time in their classroom, they are coming down to the library. Our plan is to create a weekly podcast where they review a book they've read. It's actually going to be a booktalk/book review podcast. They've completed the first podcast and we are really excited about it.

I'm not sure how many people are using podcasts with their students, but I see great potential in a project similar to what we are doing. For this project, the students are first reading a book, then they are writing a short summary and booktalk. This time, I wrote the script with them, but my hope is that after we do a couple together, they will be able to do all the writing themselves. I see this project really motivating the students to read and write. In addition, creating the podcast will improve public speaking skills and increase technology skills. The first time we did the recording, we used Audacity. This was a pretty simply program to use, but I was hoping to take the podcast a little further. I wanted to submit the podcast to iTunes so people could search for it there and subscribe to the weekly podcast. I didn't know how to do this with Audacity and since we don't have Macs in our school anymore, I brought in my MacBook and used that. Down the road, I think using my Mac and GarageBand may be the way to go. Submitting the podcast to iTunes was simple and now we have an RSS feed for "Lexi and Maria's Weekly Podcast." If you are visiting the iTunes Store, search for "Lexi and Maria" and you'll find their work. At our school, we have over 70% of our students on free and reduced lunch, which leads me to think that not a lot of people will even be checking out the podcast through iTunes or listening it on their iPod, but who knows? Those who do have computers, will probably check out the podcast through our school website. Either way, I guess one of the goals is to share the work of the students to as many people as possible. Perhaps you want to share their work with some of the students you work with. I think the link listed is correct, if it's not, let me know.

Where is this project going to go? I'm not sure, but it's already grown. When I was using iMovie to edit the video they made (see next paragraph), I wanted to try and add a little music introduction, a sixth grader was watching. She's really into music and plays the guitar and drums. I asked her if she'd be interested in creating some introduction music for the podcasts. She liked the idea and hopefully her talents will be added to future projects. In addition, after I emailed the staff about the project, I had a fourth grade teacher ask if there was room for some of her students to do something like this. My answer - OF COURSE! It appears that what started with 2 students could grow to much more.

One of my next goals is to create a video of each book review. We already filmed the first one, but I'm hoping to share it with the world. I'd like to post the videos not only on our school website, but also on TeacherTube. I'm not going to go the YouTube route with third graders. I've sent permission slips to both girls' parents for permission for the video to be posted online. Knowing the parents a little, it shouldn't be a problem. I will certainly update this post to add the video if I get permission. I think it would be pretty powerful if the students noticed that hundreds of people have seen their work.

Take a peek at their work and let me know what you think? How can we make it better?

I mentioned in an earlier post about making the switch to del.icio.us for students links on my school website. While I'm nowhere near complete making the full transition, I'm loving the result. We used to have links for the students all ove the place - on 3 different pages of our school website and in folders all over our school server. Now, they are going to be in one place, organized well with easy access. I introduced the new list to a fourth grade class today and they picked it up quickly. To me, the best part is going to be the ease of adding new sites to the list. In a matter of seconds, I can add a new site and have it ready for the kids. I no longer have to be at the one computer in our computer lab that allows me to update the school site. I no longer have to go through multiple steps to simply add a link. Now, with just a few clicks, we can add more great resources for our students. The thousands three of you reading this probably know quite a bit about del.icio.us, but if you don't, I came across an outstanding video about social bookmarking that describes how social bookmarking works. I have to check out more of the videos this site has to offer because from what I've seen, they are pretty good.

As far as the blogging goes with students - we introduced the concept of blogging yesterday and later this week or early next week will get one of our sixth grade classes blogging. Hopefully setting up their blogs won't be too troubling. If any of you have your students blogging and are looking to expand the conversations, please let me know by leaving a comment. We should have our first blog entry in the next week or so. I'd like to get the kids up and running so they could possibly add entries over Christmas Holiday break that is coming in a couple of weeks.