While I was thinking about how to approach this week's Inquiry blog, I spent some time browsing Twitter. Since I have never used Twitter before, it took me a little bit of "following" and "unfollowing" until I could really see if there was any benefit to it. I am happy to report that I did indeed find some interesting things! First of all, I found "the big wide world" of Twitter! Wow - there's no way to describe just how much really relevant information and discussions are on there. On the flipside, I found that I was overwhelmed thinking about how anyone can possibly find the time to read all that!. I worried that I might be missing something really good so I ended up staying on Twitter just jumping along from site to site for about 2 hours! In the end, I came to some conclusions about my personal learning and development.
My first realization was that I definitely need to do more networking and in order to do that, I'm going to have to invest some time finding good, reliable sites and people to "follow".
I want to spend some time developing our school library blog and also strengthening the network of librarians within our district. Even today I was thinking about how great it would be if I could just find out which read-alouds other elementary school librarians were reading this week so I wouldn't have to "invent the wheel" on my own! I was also wondering who has recently ordered leveled guided reading books, where did they order from, how much did the books cost...?? How could I find out all this information? A network would sure be handy! So, I turned to Twitter and of course, I found some that I might link to my new library blog...as soon as my District's new technology platform will let me get it started!
1. http://www.goodreads.com/genres/childrens?original_shelf=children-s
2. http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/kids/books/
3. http://www.roomtoread.org/
To help me get started on this social networking quest, I also I looked around on the Internet (2) for some literature about it. Digging a little deeper, I found this video and it inspired me to think about how I can use social media as a professional networking tool in a meaningful way (rather than the social side of it):
Follow up articles from the last few weeks:
I also found these on Twitter which I thought were good reads:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-fishman-lipsey/100-great-ideas-for-the-for-the-future-of-libraries_b_6551440.html?utm_hp_ref=tw
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jordanshapiro/2015/01/30/ordinary-kids-read-as-infrequently-as-ordinary-adults-less-than-5-books-per-year/
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/02/teaching-in-the-age-of-minecraft/385231/?utm_content=bufferf048f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
References:
1) Networking image: https://www.google.ca/search?q=images:+network&client=firefox-a&hs=5ur&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=9hPgVIWCJtDWoASq_YKgBg&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=638#imgdii=_&imgrc=oNSwCTC8cVZQNM%253A%3BidnGWsmy7cZq9M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Ffuturecan.ca%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2013%252F05%252FSocial-Network-Stock-Photo.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Ffuturecan.ca%252Fsocial-networks-management%252F%3B1600%3B1200
2) http://webtrends.about.com/od/socialnetworkingreviews/tp/Social-Networking-Sites.htm
3) Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8
Twitter can absolutely be overwhelming at first. I think of it as a fast moving river. If you are looking at the river, you can see some very interesting things float by to check out. If you look away, you miss out on a lot of stuff, but you have to be ok with that. The really, really good stuff with get re-tweeted lots and you will get other chances to see it again. For twitter, work on finding people that you feel will provide you with good resources. Also, try following a "hashtag" like #bctla or #bcedchat or #tlchat and then you will see sub-group of people tweeting and sharing on a sub-topic like Teacher-Librarianship. Find people on twitter in your own district and then look through who they follow, or who follows them. Create "lists" of people you want to follow a little more closely, as twitter lists let you look 'back in time' at stuff that was shared before you were looking. But most importantly, go slow, don't overwhelm yourself. Twitter is a marathon, not a sprint! Good collection of resources and good reflection on what you are hoping to achieve. Anytime you want to chat about twitter strategies, just send me a note and we can arrange something.
ReplyDeleteThank you Aaron - I love that analogy. It's the perfect way to describe Twitter! I think I better get some water wings because I might just fall overboard while looking into that deep abyss! I will investigate hashtags and lists...
DeleteHey Colline,
ReplyDeleteAlso new to the Twitter world, I love where you are going with this. I too would love to know what resources you are using, which books you shared for read-aloud, what programs you are implementing etc. I'll look for you on Twitter! I'd love to connect and work on strengthening the Vernon librarian connections.
Hi Nicole - let's do it!! Too be honest, I really was surprised that our Librarians didn't already have a good network going. The bright side to that is that we get to pioneer it and hopefully be able to bring people closer together. I have always been a fan of collaboration so this is the perfect opportunity!
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ReplyDeleteHi Colline,
We just ordered some levelled guided reading books from Nelson and they are great! They actually come in boxed sets based on the levels you want with teachers guides. The representative happened to be in town one day for a presentation at the high school and brought some samples in for us to look at. He also gave me some samples of National Geographic magazines that are written in a much more "kid-friendly" way even more so that the regular National Geographic Kids. There were options with the magazines in terms of reading levels. He showed me the same magazine with the exact same covers, content and pictures, but written at two different reading levels. They are fabulous! You can contact Nelson directly and they will send you some catalogues if you are interested in looking at them yourself and showing them to your staff. Sometimes having catalogues in the staff room or at staff meetings is a little easier than trying to show materials online. Hope that helps :)
Thank you Harpreet! We have ordered some Nelson PM libraries books in the past and have definitely found them useful. I like the National Geographic kids materials as well. In fact, I was looking at the Nelson website today! I was interested in their guided reading sets for math and beginner chapter books. That is definitely one of the perks of our job - books, books and more books!
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