I was wondering why I couldn’t subscribe to our Tech Camp participants’ blogs and continue to get subsequent posts in my RSS feed reader.  I finally wondered about this when I had the time and inclination to check into it further through the Edublogs Help and Support blog, The Edublogger.

The answer was found in a two step process…  (Without the second step, subsequent posts still don’t show up in my RSS feed reader, which pretty much defeats the purpose.)  The second step in this process requires you become an Edublogs Supporter at a cost of $25 annually.  I thought it was a small price to pay for this next endeavor in my blogging adventure.  Check out the Edublogger posts on Adding a RSS Feed from FeedBurner AND Redirecting your Blog Feed to FeedBurner for detailed instructions.  It’s easy and your readers will thank you for allowing them to subscribe to your blog through their favorite RSS reader.

Keep reading and keep learning!

This is a busy week.  Every grade is coming in the library this week for Library Orientation, an overview of how to behave in the library, where to find things in the library, how to use our online catalog, etc.  To prepare for this week I started digging into my flash drive, pulling up the lessons I’ve done before and seeing what I can add or change to make them better, more up to date.

My Library Orientation lesson was prepared in PowerPoint.  I started using PowerPoint many years ago, preparing financial presentations for executive management in my previous career.  The downside of learning PowerPoint so long ago is that I’ve been using it the same way for years, not really exploring it past selecting designs, typing in text, and inserting graphics.  As I was updating my Library Orientation lesson, I discovered that there is a drawing feature in PowerPoint.  Two icons in the PowerPoint toolbar that allow you to insert arrows, circles, etc. to highlight parts of a slide.

I’m embarrassed that I’ve used PowerPoint forever (it seems like it, anyway) and didn’t discover this feature until now.  Moral:  Keep reading and keep learning… …even when you think you know it all (smile).

If you’re in the habit of wandering around the great blogs we have here in this school district, you’ve heard about a cool online application called Wordle.  I was inspired by the Wordle creation of Latonya Taylor, who writes The Tiger Den blog, and have been wanting to give it a try.  I’m holding an “Open Library” Reception for our faculty and staff this week to highlight some of our newer books and the many resources we have available for our teachers and students.  I thought using a Wordle on the teacher’s invitations to the reception would not only catch their eye but also convey the fun and creativity available in our library.  It was fun to try out different fonts, different layouts, different combinations of words, re-shuffling the order.  I really like this and, more importantly, it rated fairly high on my teenage daughter’s “cool” scale!

Wordle Tip:  If you want 2 or more words to be shown together (name or phrase), use a ~ between those words and Wordle will translate that into a space between those words.

Keep reading and keep learning!

I discovered a thrilling little nugget in a blog called The Shifted Librarian by Jenny Levine (Internet Development Specialist and Strategy Guide, American Library Association).  I don’t know a librarian, or reader for that matter, who doesn’t love those celebrity READ posters that show famous people with a favorite book.  I have several of these posters in my school library and even considered purchasing the CD’s that allow you to create your own posters.  Funds at my school are limited, however, and I’d rather put books on the shelves than create posters, even really cool ones.

Imagine my excitement when I read about creating mini READ posters online…. for FREE!  I’ve made two so far (see below) and am looking forward to creating many more throughout the year.  The ALA website (click here)allows the download of a picture, provides four format choices, and even lets you add text.  It creates a jpeg file you can then download to your computer.  I’m envisioning mini-posters throughout the school, use in library publications and school flyers/newsletters, offering students their own mini-posters as reading incentives, highlighting guest readers at our school, promoting RIF, letting teachers show off their favorite books… …you get the idea. In fact, I’m sure you have more ideas.

Keep reading and keep learning!

This is the time of year when school librarian’s everywhere are creating folders, request forms, informational sheets, pamphlets, etc. to inform their teachers of all the wonderful resources and instructional opportunities in their school library.  Creating a consistent logo for all library publications and correspondence conveys the professionalism of the school library management.  All that… …AND making your own logo is just plain fun!

Logo Ease is a FREE online tool, highlighted during Tech Camp 2008, that allows you to create your own logo and download it in a variety of sizes and formats to use as you see fit.  Logo Ease’s varied selection of art and wide number of fonts allows for the creativity of the user.  It’s easy and fun!  Go for it!       Oh, and Keep reading and keep learning!

If someone had told me a couple of months ago that I should “jing my wiki”, I’d've slapped them first and asked questions later.  Seriously, I wouldn’t have had a clue what they were talking about.  Now, thanks to Tech Camp 2008 and the instruction of our incredible MCS Ed Tech team, I am reasonably familiar with Jing, wikis, blogs, podcasts, vodcasts, and all manner of impressively innovative technology tools.

I mentioned in a previous post that I have created a wiki for my middle school.  I was asked to prepare a brief overview of this wiki for a presentation and was unsure whether or not I would have internet access at the presentation site.  You know how it is… Be prepared for all possible problems.  I decided to use Jing to record the screen activity as I “toured” my wiki on my computer at home the night before the presentation.  I figured that if I couldn’t access my wiki online at the presentation site, I could at least show my Jing video of the wiki, which was saved in the Jing History on my laptop.  Even though I ended up having internet access at the presentation, I showed the Jing video to illustrate how Jing can be used to create tutorials for our classrooms and teachers.

Click on the picture of my screencast below to watch a Jing video of my school’s wiki.  I’ll warn you… This was my first attempt at a Jing video and I was a little tentative in my delivery.  I’ll speak louder next time.