Brainwaves from Barbara

Kaptain Krunch 1

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 15:17:00 +0000

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Kaptain Krunch video

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 15:14:00 +0000

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Let me know what you think of my philosophy of education

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 03:09:00 +0000

Teaching elementary school children is a job with special responsibilities. School librarians who work with small children should be always kind, patient, and helpful. I take my duties as an elementary school librarian seriously. I love reading, especially out loud, and I place the highest value on inspiring our students to also love reading. When I plan lessons, I encourage my students’ creativity and employ games, active play, music and technology to make learning fun for students of all learning styles.

It is my belief that reading is the key to help all children succeed in school. I believe when children learn to read, there is always some subject that can capture their interest and inspire them to become avid readers. Avid readers will become, in turn, students who can understand their class and homework assignments better. School librarians should purchase books that their students are interested in, and the students need to be given quiet time in school and at home to explore and read them. I can help by selecting and maintaining an extensive library collection and by providing active reader’s advisory help to students. As school librarian, I should be on the floor to answer questions, teach children to work out disputes, and help in any way needed.

As much as I love the books in our school library, books are never as important as the children whom I teach. Our library has a rule that states that a child who forgets his or her library books can not take out more books until the old books are returned. I understand the reason for that rule, but I do not like to enforce it. I do not think that children should be punished with lack of free-choice reading material because their parents are disorganized. If the book is missing for two or more weeks, we send home an overdue notice with cost of replacement, and allow the child to check out new book.

When I was a child, I was never as happy as when I was in the library. Although everyone can love books, some children have difficult home lives that make the wonderful world of books seem all the more special. That was the case with me as I child. I became good friends with my librarian. She modeled for me a teacher/librarian, and always provided me with enough fantasy to keep me reading and coming back for more.

I believe that students given research assignments should have some degree of choice either in the topic of research or in the way that they present their findings. I collaborate with teachers and our curriculum specialist to plan future research projects and to better supply our library with new research materials. I am the school’s reference source for all information needs, and I am equally excited to provide help to students with projects, parents, teachers, administrators or the custodial staff.

The intelligent and equitable use of technology for research is more complex than students or even teachers understand. My education and experience with web-based technologies will be constructive for training students to become efficient and ethical technology users. I look forward to having our students and teachers use wikis and blogs, and create podcasts to share with the world.

A reflection for my online class

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 03:12:00 +0000

I'm reaching the end of my online class on the Theory and Foundation of Education. One of our last assignments is a journal entry, so I thought I would post it here. We are given a few sentence starters and must finish those sentences with a paragraph or more about something we learned in class. This is our third go-round with the exercise and I probably have the same answers every time. I'm impressed with how smart my classmates are compared to me. I'm wondering about how it will feel to actually get paid for working, etc. Oh well, I'll give it one last try, and I hope I think of something new to write.

I am most impressed with how much there is to learn about education. We had a course in our MLIS program about learning theory, media and the curriculum. We focused there more strictly on library theorists and scholars, and what they had to say about teaching and learning in the library and on evidence-based practice. With this course we have covered so much more, and I feel that we have only nicked the surface on some very major topics.
I am wondering how long it will take my school's technology department to learn that the Internet is not our enemy, and that we can all learn by watching and creating videos, by listening and creating podcasts, and by reading and creating blogs and wikis. They are true tools of constructivist learning, and it will excite the students to be able to share their creations with more people than their teacher. Commenting and responding to comments about their posts will stretch their learning to higher levels, as they struggle to defend their posts, and contemplate those of their classmates.
I'm happy to have added new understandings about Behaviorism, Cognitivism and Constructivism, and how they are used in schools in general and the library in particular. With the comparison chart being repeated in each group's work, I was able to review and consider it, and to see the distinctions between Cognitivism and Constructivism. I remembered from Human Information Behavior class that Cognitivism saw the brain as a computer, and focused on how new learning materials are processed, just as a CPU processes information, but most of the theorists of the two schools are the same, and it was confusing to me. Working on this latest unit of study, and discussing the three topics separately has helped me understand how knowledge is not unique to the individual in Cognitivism like it is with Constructivism.
How can I tie this knowledge to what I do in my library? I'm always working on new lesson plans and projects for the kids I teach. It takes a long time to work out the plans, but I enjoy creating them myself, rather than finding already created plans on the net because when I create the plans, they can stem directly from the interests and needs of the children and teachers of my school. Today, while I have been working on homework, I am also mentally working on a lesson plan for second graders making puppets. I want them to think of what types of puppets we should have, how they can use them, what books and resources will they need to learn how to make puppets, what materials will they need, etc. There, I had to write that out.

A new school year begins

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 23:03:00 +0000

It's September, and it's hot at the Parkview School. But there is one place where you are always welcome to come cool down. If we have room for your class anywhere in the library, the reading area, the work tables, or in the computer area you can come with your class and read or work quietly.
So give us a call at ext. 1111, send a student down to ask about available space, and come spend some time with us. We're the library and we love to help people.

Join me on the Milltown Public Schools ning

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 21:05:00 +0000

Sorry to disappoint, but I'm only inviting you all to take a peek, not "join".
I created this project, which I hope will take our two schools by storm, to be a private site for Milltown teachers and aides and I guess administrators. I hope it will allow teachers to view and explore some web2.0 tools while learning more about educational topics
Iif you would like to visit, you can use my fake name/id that I used to create a second account for the how-to video. Sign in with the name bwscils and the password bwscils.
You will see that a ning site is basically a social networking site for a specific interest. Like a google or yahoo group, but on a pretty website on which you can throw a lot of tricks .
The site: milltownps.ning.com
also check out the school library blog that I just created:parkviewlibrary.blogspot.com
Click the links to see my school library site I made for multimedia.

Well, that's all, folks!
This email will self destruct in five, four, three, two

Youch! Mixed TV metaphors. Sorry about that Chief.
Can you tell I'm a little giddy to have finished the project?

Video Games Live concert from YouTube

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 15:36:00 +0000

Just in time for our game class this video shows what I spent about 10 years of my life doing.
And bravo Steven Berlin Johnson! The chapter on games from your book Everything Bad Is Good For You is great.

Click here to see this video on the YouTube page.

DailyStrength.org

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 05:35:00 +0000

Just to let you all know that social networking has spread beyond the library and education realms, my friend has told me about a site that she has really become excited about. From their own welcome message:

DailyStrength.org is the largest, most comprehensive health network of people sharing their advice, treatment experiences, and support. Keep a wellness journal, read members’ stories, and chat with new friends. Come in and explore!

Users can join any of 500 different groups that offer mutual support for different illnesses and conditions. Members send each other cute animated hugs and virtual bouquets. Dealing with an illness or a serious diagnosis is hard, and ignorance of the condition is frightening. Support groups have always been a way to improve patients mood, attitude, and even health, but are usually only held about once a month.
Yes, Internet discussion lists have been around for more than 10 years, but check out this site. it is a more integrated, easy to use and spiffy looking Web2.o application.

Social Networking on myspace.com

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 05:20:00 +0000

We used our lab tonight to create and join yahoo and google groups, and to create our own myspace account, since it is a new thing that some libraries are getting into. (trying to meet the teen users in the place where they will be)

If you want to discuss libraries in Web2.0, and have any suggestions of using new technologies in libraries or schools, leave a comment here on on my MySpace.

Jacob's big break on youtube

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 04:19:00 +0000

click here if the above link doesn't work.

You may want to learn this!

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 17:03:00 +0000

Watch my son Jacob teach how to tie a sheet bend

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Posting the Tehya video from Blip.tv

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 22:35:00 +0000

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Clicking the picture or the link will play the video of my young great-niece. If that doesn't work, you should be able to right click and download the file to play it.
Right Click to Save

Meet my great- niece Tehya

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 19:31:00 +0000

or click here

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 00:51:00 +0000

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Right Click to Save

Le Sites de Paris

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 00:38:00 +0000

The romance of Paris in a 2 minute video: If you can't see the video below, click here

Make an origami wallet

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 00:00:00 +0000

This is the video I made for our multimedia class. If you look quick, you can see my dog Pepper.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXaiX70hZCo

Social Networking

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 16:19:00 +0000

Next week our class will be discussing and exploring social networks. Having three kids in the high school to college age range, I am a witness to the use of these sites (myspace and facebook) rather than a user. I do have a xanga account(that I don't update often), but to me its more like a straight blog than a social network. Everyone else in the family migrated to the other sites, and they told me that I'm too old to be there. I can respect their wishes for- can you call it privacy?
Xanga was great when we were all active, though, so I can see why the kids all like being in a social network. It made me feel more connected to all of my nieces and nephews, and I could send them little messages of love or congratulations by responding to their posts. When they bragged about drinking, or loving songs with explicit lyrics, the elders among us would offer some gentle advice. Teens never appreciate that advice, and since their friends were all getting new myspace accounts, they stopped posting in xanga.
There's an interesting young researcher, Danah Boyd, who has been studying teens' use of social network sites, and my real reason for this whole blog post is to recommend that you check out her website, blog and presentations.

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 16:03:00 +0000

Pine tree shadows on SCILS building
Originally uploaded by bwscils598s07

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 16:02:00 +0000

SCILS from College Ave.
Originally uploaded by bwscils598s07

Scenes from SCILS

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 14:57:00 +0000

Last night we took a few minutes to shoot some photos around SCILS, so we could get practice using all the features of flickr.com. The students in our class formed a "group" within flickr, and we posted some of our favorite shots here. (group scils598s07-scils snaps)
Within my own flickr collection, I used the organize tools to create a set of my own SCILS pictures.
If you want to use flickr for free, you cannot upload more than 100MB of images per calendar month, have more than three sets of photos, nor display more than 200 images at any time. The Pro account costs $24.95, but allows unlilimited uploads, photos displayed, and sets. My son Tom has the pro account, and it has helped him develop his talents as a photographer and a blogging journalist

A Photo from the Rutgers Gardens

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 00:36:00 +0000

I don't know what kind of flowers these are. I cropped and edited the photo with Picnik.com .

We're learning in our Social Software Literacy Class about many great free web tools. Our theme this week was "images".

Check out more of my photos on Flickr.com .

A Matter of Taste

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 16:13:00 +0000

After some review, I've decided that choosing between Shelfari and LibraryThing is a personal choice that depends on what the user wants to do with the site. Both will record the books you read, books you own, and or books you intend to read. Both allow for joining or forming social groups around your reading tastes, and allow easy communication among friends or groups.

If you are a librarian, and want to catalog your personal collection like you do at work, Librarything seems more equipped to carefully catalog books using Library of Congress classifications. Your collection records can resemble like real library records. I would even think that it could work for small business or organization libraries, and Shelfari does not seem equipped to handle those tasks.

On the other hand, for the casual user, Shelfari feels easier to use and the display is less cluttered. I like the way the books look on the shelf, like real books rather than cover pictures. Yes, its a cheap trick of taking the cover shot and adding a set image to make it look like a book, but I like it. The discussion also doesn't take the standard discussion list display format.
I did find it difficult to search for a group that showed up once when I clicked groups. It was there as recently updated, and then when I tried to search for it, the search wouldn't search for anything but the entire group name-School library media specialists had to be the entire name. That was a pain. I found it and joined by browsing the list alphabetically, but bad search Shelfari. They could probably do better with a Google search this site feature.

I'm going to continue to play with both sites, I joined Shelfari last night as Bamboo- with the thought of using it for discussing books popular in my school library.

Reading The Social Life of Information chapter 8

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 23:53:00 +0000

I just finished reading another chapter of John Seely Brown's The Social Life of Information and I've recorded a few of my thoughts.

Click To Play

Doing a little more reading about Brown, since the book is pretty old, I was wondering if I could find out what are his thoughts on all this in 2007. After hours of berry picking, hunting for one thing, but finding lots of other interesting "berries", I've learned about another new web phenomenon. Ning. Create your own social network. It could be very useful for us in our application of our knowledge on the job.

What the heck is crowdsourcing?

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 22:30:00 +0000

I've found some more out about crowdsourcing, and I experienced it in person. It is an example of using the social Web in innovative ways. How did I learn the answer? Wikipedia.

Crowdsourcing means that a person or organization tries to get a solution to a problem by publicizing the question and asking the public for help. In the past, they would hire someone to do the job, fix the problem, find a solution. By crowdsourcing, this now usually takes place on the Internet, and sometimes includes large prizes for the answers. Netflix has an offer of $1,000,000 for a better movie rating system, Proctor & Gamble have thousands of scientists working out problems on a website Innocentive.com.

Brian Lehrer interviewed Jeff Howe of Wired Magazine, who has been writing a series of articles on the subject, and they have publicized a project first to count and report the cars and SUV's on your block. Since they started that, now they've issued a further challenge to compile the information on an interactive Google map.

At the Liberty Science Center's new communication exhibit, there are survey questions on computer touch screens asking about how the viewer gets his or her news, communicates with friends, etc. The history of the results are instantly updated and displayed in a visual graph.
The new communications exhibit will be great, right up library and information students alley, when they get all the bugs worked out. Some displays are still under construction. On the positive side, they let us in free precisely because of that fact.

Group 5 Wiki

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara) — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 16:23:00 +0000

Group 5, Daniel, Tina and I, have set up a wiki on pbwiki with instructions on how to find the paintings you seek on the National Gallery of Art (London) picture library website.
You can see our wiki if you click here or paste http://scils598group5.pbwiki.com in your browser.
the wiki is still a work in progress, if you don't see the search guide now, you will be 6 pm tonight!