South Orange County (CA) School Libraries

2009-11-20T08:22:00.001-08:00

I am playing with the HTML on blogger to see if I can add code here. Here's a book trailer I have on the JSerra library webpage:

and next a video from Youtube:

End of my test.

The Lion is Back at Her Post

2009-11-16T14:05:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone.

It was great to see a bunch of you at the Diocese meeting last Friday 11/13. oooooooo Friday the 13th and once again nothing of any weirdness happened. How Orange County.

I am back at the helm and am sorry I have neglected the blog for so long. I am hoping that some of you will jump in and add items to the blog. It is our blog - not mine. We are a collective brain and everyone has much to share.

The beginning of school this year has been a whirlwind. I have gotten through all my orientations and spent the entirety of my library budget for this term. As we speak, a fire seems to be brewing east of San Juan Capistrano back near Ortega Hwy. I hope that they get that under control quickly as the Santa Anas are in full and dry force today.

I went with all new EBSCO databases this year and so far, we just really like the products. I have cataloging to do now that all my print orders have arrived. I so love getting new materials on the shelf. I went a little non-fiction nuts this year focusing on required literature, but adding mostly non-fiction titles to the collection.

I want to mention the draft Model Library Standards which are under discussion by the California Department of Education. Now that the focus groups are over, the standards will be voted upon in March 2010. That will be such a major benefit to all California school librarians and libraries and we are all very excited about the new standards.

To view the standards, please visit:

http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/lb

On another note, CUE is looking for Library media educators who are interested in getting involved with their SIG. A phone conference will be held on Monday, November 23, 4:30-5:30pm, as a virtual town hall. Here is more information about that from Mike Lawrence, Executive Director of CUE:

Hello Library Media Educators SIG members!CUE will be holding a virtual "Town Hall" meeting on Monday November 23, from 4:30-5:30pm for Library Media Educators SIG members and regional leaders to generate interest in Library Media Educators SIG. We hope that this meeting will generate enthusiasm for the SIG and its activities. The meeting will be held via phone conference, and all attendees of these meetings will be entered into an opportunity drawing to WIN a CUE Gear bag including a CUE mug, hat, pin and luggage tag!

CALL AGENDA:
Mission and purposes of Library Media Educators SIG
SIG Benefits
Activities of CUE SIGs
New ideas anyone?
Potential leaders
Next Steps
CUE-SN Town Hall Meeting
Monday November 23, from 4:30-5:30pm
Call in #: 888.387.8686code: 1072305
Please RSVP to attend: http://tinyurl.com/cueth09

I hope that many of you will join us on the phone for this town hall discussion. I will be there no matter what. And that is the beginning of our Thanksgiving Break, no less.

Things I am working on for JSerra at present: my Technology Handbook. This book will include all things technological and provide the framework for faculty professional development workshops I will begin teaching in January. Thanks to my healthy PLN, I have learned so much about technology integration and want to share it with our faculty.

Curriculum committee meetings are my focus this year and being able to have a voice in information literacy instruction and integration into classroom curriculum here at JSerra.

I also still have some work to do on the library webpage. JSerra went to a new website this year and a lot of my former content got mudged together in a miscellaneous polyglot of information, so I am working with the designers to move things around. I have access to edit the code on a few of my webpages, so I can add video and other things in order to break up the massive amounts of stuff.

That is all I have to say about that - for now. Best wishes to all my librarian colleagues from the Lions Den.

Jeanne S.
JSerra Catholic High School

Library Live Going Online in August!!

2009-07-05T10:59:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone:

Glen Warren of the OCDE and Jackie Siminitus of CSLA have asked school librarians to spread the word on the new Library Live videoconference workshops that will be offered one Thursday each month beginning August 27th... 3pm to 3:30pm Pacific (Cali) time.

Here is the announcement from CALIB - our CA librarian's LISTSERV:

"Mark your calendars! Here's some great news about a monthly School Library broadcast, starting the last Thursday in August and throughout the 2009-2010 school year. See Orange County Department of Education Library Media Coordinator Glen Warren's announcement below about "Library LIVE!"

Be sure to spread the word. Blog and send a "tweet" about the news. This is not just for teacher librarians. It is for everyone at your library, school, district, or county. Glen will also be at the CSLA Conference with his videoconferencing camera crew, so plan to be a part of this excellent effort to raise the visibility of strong school libraries, teacher librarians, technology, curriculum connections, and more!

- Jackie Siminitus,
CSLA 2.0 Team project manager
CSLA2team@yahoo.com

From Glen:

Library Live!
Want to get the latest news that impacts school libraries and their learning communities?
Want to spread the news about 21^st century school libraries?
Want to MAKE news about them?
Be a part of Library LIVE!
Beginning August 2009, on the Last Thursday of Each Month
Orange County Department of Education, based in southern California, will host a monthly live INTERACTIVE broadcast of Library LIVE!
Each show targets school librarians, media specialist, and technologists across the country, featuring news about the triumphs and challenges facing the 21^st century community.
The Framework of the broadcast will include four spheres of influence within education:
1. Community (educational partners)
2. Curriculum (resources and best practices)
3. Legislation (state and national policy )
4. Technology (technology trends and innovations)
Each show will feature at least one interview, with QA time.
And it's FREE.
You can connect TWO ways to the broadcast:
1. Through live web streaming AND/OR
2. through a video conferencing unit (e.g., Polycom or Tandberg).
The video streaming chat feature allows live interactive chat through most district firewalls.
Each broadcast will have its own unique URL link (for web streaming) and IP Address (for videoconferencing). If you would like to be a part of the Library LIVE! experience and receive up to date program information then please sign up at the below link:
http://tiny.cc/O4Ff0
If you have any questions and/or programming ideas, please contact Glen Warren at: gwarren@ocde.us "

So, I hope school librarians will jump on board for these broadcasts. I have already participated in one, and I am sure they will provide timely and informative content for all school librarians.

Jeanne Swedo
JSerra Cath HS
jswedo@jserra.org

2009-06-11T13:35:00.000-07:00

Here is a great blog post about the differences between public and school libraries after a school district official in another state made a comment that school libraries are superfluous and that students should only need to use public libraries.

http://schoolingdotus.blogspot.com/2009/02/our-students-ourselves.html

Jeanne S
JSerra Cath HS

Latest OC Register Article on School Libraries

2009-06-11T08:13:00.000-07:00

Yvette Cabrera has written another article today, June 11th, on the Saddleback Valley Unified School District protest and elementary school library clerks who may be completely eliminated from the district. Please read and send to friends. I have posted it to the CALIB listserv. Remember, clicking on these stories will keep the Register interested in writing more.

Jeanne S
JSerra Cath HS

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/school-library-libraries-2459333-clerks-parents

A Video Job Application

2009-06-09T10:18:00.000-07:00

I just found this today -- an innovative way to apply for a new position -- via Youtube. You don't need sound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ue6OvW7aHs

Jeanne S
JSerra Cath HS

Pre & Post Assessments in Library Instruction Classes

2009-06-09T08:57:00.001-07:00

Colleagues:

I found this great June 2009 report from Texas college librarians who did a study of pre- and post-assessments in library instruction at their institution. They analyzed results from eleven sections of library instruction courses held in fall 2008. These courses were Introduction to Library Research, their one hour credit course, which is taken by freshmen through seniors and some graduate students as well.

Their introductory class covers:

Campus Libraries & Intro to the Research Process
Writing a Thesis Statement
Search Strategies
Controlled Vocabulary
Proper Citing
Ethical Use of Information
Introduction to the Information Cycle (databases)
Newspaper Articles
Popular Magazines and Scholarly Journals
Documents and Books
Encyclopedias
Critical Evaluation of Sources.

They had 310 students enrolled in the courses, but only 176 of them took both the pre- and post-assessments. They used the exact same questions in both assessments with each question having only one correct answer. The average score on the pre-assessment was 43% and on the posts-assessment was 56%. They attributed these low scores to high turnover in librarians and their relative inexperience as instructors.

They recommended a book: Tools for Teaching by Barbara Davis.

Their final evaluation of their study discussed revising the course content and designing a more accurate post assessment, which might include a final exam, portfolio assignment, or standard test.

To read the entire survey, please see this link:

http://www.acrl.ala.org/acrlinsider/2009/06/09/crl-preprint-what-are-they-learning-pre-and-post-assessment-surveys-for-libr-1100/

Jeanne S
JSerra HS

AASL Independent School Section

2009-06-09T08:44:00.000-07:00

Good morning:

It is the first day of final exams here at JSerra. I am knee deep in end of the year duties, as I am sure all of you are as well.

I received an email yesterday from the AASLForum listserv indicating AASL is solicitating nominations for 2010 committees. I have nominated myself for the AASL Independent School Section Chair-Elect position. I really hope I make the ballot so that I have an opportunity to bring a new California voice to this national committee.

As California school librarians, we all have to do our part, however small, to advocate for school libraries in order to end the cuts in public (and some private) schools.

I will be meeting with Darla Magana at St. Margarets in a couple of weeks to discuss the collaborative and plans for a meeting. I hope all of you have a great summer, if you are a 10-month employee (like me).

I also will be visiting UCLA and Esther Grassian this summer, so will report on that visit after it happens.

Jeanne S
JSerra Cath HS

OC Register Article June 3rd

2009-06-05T09:31:00.001-07:00

Good Fri-day to you all.

I saw this article on CALIB today, courtesy of Richard Moore. This OC Register reporter, Yvette Cabrera, did a story on a school librarian in Garden Grove who is being cut to half-time and being put into the classroom half-time. Please read:

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/tsuruta-library-school-2442999-district-students

Jeanne S
JSerra Cath HS

Remote NECC Meeting - June 30th

2009-06-03T12:05:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone:

The OC Dept of Ed is having a remote NECC meeting at their offices in Costa Mesa on Tuesday, June 30th. They are live streaming keynote speakers and sessions from the NECC national meeting in Washington DC. The cost for attending is $105 and includes continental breakfast and lunch.

Please join me and Glen Warren at OCDE and many others for this most interesting day.

Flyer: http://edtech.ocde.us/Assets/EdTech/assets/neccflier.pdf

Jeanne S.
JSerra Cath HS

JSerra Cath HS is now Blogging & Twittering

2009-05-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

JSerra has joined bloggers around the world. You can see their new blog at:

http://jserrablog.wordpress.com/

Plus JSerra is now on Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/JSerraCHS

Are any of your schools/organizations blogging/twittering?

The conversation grows.

Jeanne S.
JSerra Cath HS

New AASL National Survey on Independent School Libraries

2009-05-15T08:50:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone:

Happy Friday. AP Exams are over and graduation is looming just ahead. A very exciting time for a lot of people.

I found this excellent national study done by the AASL (Amer Assn of School Libraries - Independent Libraries section) on characteristics of private school libraries. They covered budgets, staffing, and cataloged resources.

Standard library collection appears to be 10 to 15,000 items. My library's collection certainly needs to grow, but in order to deal with the growing pains of a new high school, I have made myself the main library resource and thus have built a very strong instructional program. Hence, the outreach that I do and my high level of involvement in professional associations.

Read the survey. I am sure you will find it interesting to compare your program to national standards:

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/slmrb/slmrcontents/volume11/cahoy_williamson.cfm

Jeanne Swedo

JSerra Cath HS

Recent Events

2009-05-07T15:26:00.000-07:00

Hi Librarians and Techs:

We are swamped here at JSerra, but I have some new information to relay to all of you. It looks like Glen Warren at OCDE, Michael Spencer (SMCHS) and I will be running a session at CSLA 2009 which will be November 19-22 in Ontario. We plan to call our session something like "Librarians in Exile". We wish to strategize and collaborate with all California librarians and other interested parties in order to maintain contact with disenfranchised LMTs and talk about how to form cooperatives across the state in each district and/or county. We are still ironing out our topics, but we are sure it will be a good session.

On another note, I attended a webinar with Dr. Loertscher (SJSU) and Dr. Lesley Farmer (CSULB) as speakers and entitled: "Link your Library to Achievement Project 2009/10." They decided to hold this session after seeing the vast amount of pink slips received by California LMTs. They discussed how to collect data to demonstrate what we are doing as librarians. Three levels of data were mentioned: Learner Level, Teaching Unit Level, and Organization Level. At these 3 levels, various types of data can support learning outcomes from the LMC.

Dr. L discussed the 'power of story' idea -- to brag about the best of our impact; to brag about collaborative classroom teachers we work with; to brag about supportive principals, and to brag about tech directors who provide access. He suggested we do like the Washington Moms have done: divide our libraries into legislative districts and post all the stories so that legislators can view the stories in their own districts.

Dr. L also suggested posting your library story on Doug Achterman's pbworks site: http://caschoollibraries.pbworks.com I have already put JSerra on the list. Have you added your school library yet? Compare your library classes to the standards to report organization level data. I have done this through a new Library Instruction Course Catalog that I just started this year. Each library course is accompanied by the AASL & ACRL standards (since we are a high school and I am forward-looking with where our HS students need to succeed). I am going to add the CA standards to each one.

Also discuss your co-teaching units for the teaching unit level data. Work with the teacher to define what a co-taught unit means, and provide links to those units from your library webpage.

Have learners keep a Learner Research Log: a brief log of research projects, on paper or a blog/wiki, over time and various projects with self-analysis over time about improvement and how student could improve more.

Have learners evaluate the technology and also ask them where they got research information?

Another suggestion from Dr L was to form a geek squad of tech-savvy students to assist teachers with tools. It could be a service club.

Use surveys for pre- and post-assessments at all grade levels. I have used Survey Monkey for this purpose and love it.

Dr. Farmer discussed her former TL position at Redwood High School where she implemented Cycles of Inquiry for assessment, skills levels, partnerships, and interventions. She suggested holding focus groups with graduating high school seniors, and with all other grades as well. Another interesting idea from Dr. Farmer was to track HS freshmen by feeder school and level of achievement - by whether or not the feeder school had a credentialed librarian.

Both speakers agreed that we need to reach out to others - find an impact buddy - and that's exactly what this collaborative is all about. We need to talk to one another and share and assist when needed.

There is another Dr L webinar tonight, May 7th, at 5:30pm. I will report on that one after the fact.

Blog authors - please feel free to add to the blog. Tell us what you are doing at your school.

Jeanne Swedo
JSerra Cath HS

Bloom's is Booming

2009-04-20T08:58:00.000-07:00

There has been so much talk about Bloom's taxonomy lately... changes to the original Bloom's hierarchy.. and a digital version as well. I wanted to show you all what I have found.

First, Mike Fisher's digital Bloom's. I think this is an interesting display of applying Web 2.0 to the original Bloom's taxonomy. See this link:

http://digigogy.blogspot.com/2009/02/digital-blooms-visual.html

I am hoping that Mr. Fisher links each element of his diagram to the Web 2.0 application. Some of them I don't know or don't recognize yet.

Next, Tech & Learning just published an article by Andrew Churches (April 1, 2008) called "Bloom's Taxonomy Blooms Digitally." Mr. Churches provides a discussion of the original Bloom's and compares it to the Revised Bloom's developed by Lorin Anderson in 2001. The discussion includes current social networking applications, searching (googling), blogging, and other current Web 2.0 features. Here is the link to this interesting Bloom's revision:

http://www.techlearning.com/article/8670

Jeanne Swedo
JSerra Cath HS

Web 2.0 Summer Self-Study

2009-04-20T08:50:00.000-07:00

Everyone:

It's Monday and I'm back at work. I received an email from CALIB today about The 23 Things -- the web 2.0 self-study program that you can complete over your summer vacation. I highly recommend you go through this little program. It is not difficult at all and hopefully you will find some things you did not know previously and learn other ways to apply them at work.

Check out this link. I plan on doing this, even though I am already fairly tech savvy. I learn something new every day.

http://schoollibrarylearning2.blogspot.com/

I will be in touch with all of you this week. We are on the downhill stretch to the end of the school year. I have one son graduating high school and the other graduating 8th grade and entering JSerra in the fall. My older son will be attending Concordia in August. Big changes this year!!

Jeanne Swedo
JSerra Cath HS

Time to get reorganized

2009-04-19T09:41:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone.

The NCEA/Cath Lib Assn conferences are over and it's time to get rejuvenated and reorganized. My workshops at the conference with Chris Plaia, JSerra English instructor and founding Chair of the department, and Dr. David Loertscher, from SJSU SLIS, went very well. We received great evaluations and most people agreed that we could have used up a double session to deliver all our info.

The slides that I and Dr. L presented are on the JSerra library webpage, http://www.jserra.org/library under the downloads section. Dr. L discussed his latest publication, The New Learning Commons, which is available from LMCSource.

NCEA was held at the Anaheim Convention Center and CathLA was at the Hyatt Regency a few blocks away. I attended several sessions, but spent a lot of time going back and forth. The tech sessions seemed very low level to me, but I know I have a lot of knowledge in that area.

Next on my agenda is preparing for my panel discussion on information literacy at JSerra for Esther Grassian's UCLA library school grad students which will be held in Second Life on April 29th, 1:30pm to 5pm.

I understand many changes have occurred in the public schools regarding our precious LMTs and I am going to spend some time this week ascertaining the current status of our local school districts. Then we will regroup and move forward.

I was in a videoconference with Glen Warren at OCDE and some other CA librarians in March to discuss the new task force being formed by Glen. I will have more information for you about that this week.

I will be contacting all the co-authors of the blog this week. It is important that we all communicate and collaborate.

More from me later this week!!

Jeanne Swedo
JSerra Cath HS

Back from CUE

2009-03-09T10:26:00.000-07:00

Hello Fellow Librarians and Library Staff:

I have been away at the CUE (computer using educators) conference in Palm Springs. It was a wonderful conference. I met some amazing people and have lots to share with everyone. I met Glen Warren from the OCDE, Dr. Lesley Farmer, from CSULB's LMT program, and many ed tech experts from all over California and the U.S. There were only a few librarians at this technology conference, but we sought each other out.

Just as a reminder, I know everyone is very busy, but I hope that more of our Blog Authors will contribute to this blog, as Nikki Imai from Sage Hill did recently. Thank you Nikki!!

There are some things in the works that I will be discussing with all of you soon. The OCDE has plans to form a coalition of Orange County school librarians, and they want our help. Plus, I am looking to form a cohort of 20 schools from So Cal to be part of the PLP Network program. If you are interested, please contact me, and join JSerra in this endeavor. The cohort would begin fall 2009 and last throughout the academic year.

hope all is well with all of you.

Jeanne
JSerra Cath HS

CNN Article

2009-03-03T14:05:00.000-08:00

"Hard economic times a boon for libraries":

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/28/recession.libraries/index.html

Free Webinar on VoiceThread

2009-02-20T13:19:00.000-08:00

On Sat. 2/21 at 9am there is a free webinar offered by Classroom 2.0 explaining the use of VoiceThread in the classroom. If you haven't tried it yet, VoiceThread is a really easy way to use photographs to make movies. The basic software is free. For more info about VoiceThread, see this link:

http://voicethread.com/#home

To join in the Sat. webinar, see this link:

The topic this Saturday is: "Using VoiceThread in the Classroom". Our special guest will be Colette Cassinelli, author of blog, “edtech VISION”. Our Newbie Question of the Week will be: "What is VoiceThread and Ed.VoiceThread and how are they used?". We hope you'll join us to share your ideas and questions. The show lasts an hour and links for more information can be found at http://live.classroom20.com. We strive to make our shows beginner-friendly and if you've never participated in a live web meeting don't be afraid to come and take a peek at the show's format. We love newbies to join us and 'dip their toes in’ the conversations until you feel comfortable enough to "jump in the conversations with both feet"! We want to encourage "experienced Web 2.0 users" to join us by contributing and extending the conversation by sharing real-life examples and tips/suggestions. See the website to suggest future show topics!Date: Saturday, February 21, 2009Time: 9:00am PST/10:00am MST/11:00am CST/12:00pm ESTOther time zones link and a link to the actual meeting room can be found at http://live.classroom20.com/.Location: Elluminate https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008350&password=M.435BAE14FFB967CCCC1E1F74F3DCA2

Jeanne
JSerra Cath HS

Developing a Toolkit

2009-02-20T13:16:00.001-08:00

Dear librarians:

I am currently working on a toolkit to organize my program here at JSerra. I am creating a course catalog and applying all instruction to the CA Standards, the AASL standards and to the ACRL standards. Once created, I can share this toolkit with all of you.

Jeanne
JSerra Cath HS

Info Lit Panel Discussion in Second Life

2009-02-12T12:40:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone:

I will be on a panel with librarians from all types of libraries speaking about JSerra's information literacy program in the virtual world of Second Life. This takes place Wednesday, April 29, from 130pm - 5pm. Esther Grassian, Information Literacy Librarian at UCLA, is offering this panel discussion for UCLA library school students in SL and for any other SL avatars who wish to attend. If you don't already use SL, I highly recommend its use for networking and professional education purposes. It is free. You just download the software onto your computer, select an avatar, and get involved inworld. If you have any questions about SL, I'd be more than happy to help you.

Jeanne
JSerra Cath HS

AASL Meeting at ALA National

2009-02-12T12:26:00.000-08:00

The ALA National meeting in Chicago is shaping up to be an excellent time with many learning and networking opportunities. I have been asked to speak for a few minutes at the interdivisional meeting of the AASL/ACRL information literacy committee's workshop regarding collaborative partnerships. Here is the summary of the workshop from the conference webpage:

AASL
Closing the Gap: Making Information Literacy Seamless Across K-16
Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education and AASL’s Standards for the 21st Century Learner. This will be followed with short, showcase presentations highlighting effective collaboration between K-12 and higher education library personnel to bridge the information gap. The session will close by sharing resources to facilitate similar collaborative efforts, including a presentation about the Committee’s toolkit.

They are gathering school & higher ed librarians from across the country to speak about their programs and ideas that they use to cross those divides. This should be an enlightening discussion, and I am excited to be a part of this. I will share everything I learn with all of you. I hope some of my local colleagues will be able to attend the National meeting as well.

To look at the preliminary list of workshops being offered, see this link:

http://www.ala.org/ala/conferencesevents/upcoming/annual/2009/Early-preliminary-programs-an09.doc

Jeanne
JSerra Catholic HS

Video

2009-02-09T13:34:00.000-08:00

Fellow Librarians: I found a funny youtube video called "Librarians to the Rescue" from the University of FL which is intended for university freshmen. I am going to show this to my juniors and seniors. It is highly applicable to what they do not know about college level research.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwANhl6QSk8&feature=related

Jeanne
JSerra Cath HS

The Latest

2009-02-09T09:27:00.000-08:00

Good day everyone. I am reading two very good books that I wanted to pass on to all of you. The first is called Information Literacy Instruction Handbook by Christopher Cox distributed by the ACRL (2008). This book is comprised of chapters written by librarians who have some expertise in their subject matter. For example, there are chapters on Teaching, Curriculum Issues in Information Literacy, Collaboration, Program Management, Academic Integrity, and Instructional Technologies. I highly recommend your picking up a copy of this manual, as it is concise and to-the-point.

The other book I am reading is called College Knowledge: What it really takes for students to succeed and what we can do to get them ready by David T. Conley (1995). This book has been designated by my ALA LIRT committee as required reading for our meeting at ALA national in Chicago. LIRT is holding a summit meeting with the interdivisional AASL/ACRL information literacy committee to discuss the book and what is happening in schools across the country. I hope to have tons of great info to share with you after I return from that meeting.

Jeanne
JSerra Cath HS

Wiki or Not?

2009-02-03T08:20:00.000-08:00

Dear members: I am thinking that instead of the Ning community that we start a blog of best practices. What do you all think of that??? Please comment here and let me know.

Thanks,

Jeanne
JSerra Cath HS

AASL Learning 4 Life & Survey

2009-02-01T09:04:00.000-08:00

The AASL has a new initiative called Learning 4 Life. They are developing standards for the 21st century learner which will be published soon and are encouraging all SLMS/LMTs to get involved in AASL. AASL is in Second Life (I am as well) and on Twitter. If you want help with either of those things, just ask. I'd be more than happy to help you get into SL -- the networking and educational opportunities are vast!!

For more information, see this link:

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aaslproftools/learning4life/index.cfm

Also, the AASL has asked all school librarians to take the following survey about their library. The last day to complete the survey is March 12!!

http://www.aaslsurvey.org/

Jeanne
JSerra Cath HS

"7 Things You Should Know"

2009-01-31T14:47:00.000-08:00

The Educause Learning Initiative offers excellent info for educators, but I particularly like this webpage because it focuses on one technology at a time and explains its usefulness. So far, technologies covered include: Ustream, Zotero, Second Life, Wii, Alternate Reality Games, and more. Make this page one of your Favorites.

http://www.educause.edu/EL17Things/7495?bhcp=1&time=1225774460

Jeanne
JSerra Cath HS

Free Webinar - Feb. 4 on using Wikispaces

2009-01-31T13:31:00.000-08:00

I just signed up for this webinar... there are many FREE online opportunities to learn more about integrating technology into education. This is just one example.

Join Wikispaces and Chris Bell for our February Education Webinar on February 4th, 5pm-6pm PST. We'll cover the basics of how to start an educational wiki in your classroom, create accounts for your students, and begin building content. Then Chris Bell, the Technology Project Manager at the Julian Charter School, will present his work. Chris' school has been using wikis in its classrooms for several years. He'll introduce you to his school's Wikispaces Private Label site, show you the wikis he and his colleagues have built, and highlight features and practices that he has found valuable for his classrooms. Join us and learn how to do more with your wiki. You can find more information and register for the event at:

http://wikispacesineducation0902.eventbrite.com

Jeanne
JSerra Catholic High School

Collaborative Invites have Gone Out!

2009-01-30T16:50:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our Blog. All the invites went out today. Had a little glitch with Capo USD - all those emails bounced back, so they will be resent. I hope you all will join in and enjoy our network. Add content to this blog and participate on the Ning as well. I also put this group into Facebook. After speaking with some contacts I have in Second Life, I have three virtual meeting spaces that our group can use for meetings for free!!! So when we cannot meet, perhaps we can schedule virtual office hours. Let me know your thoughts on this. I will be setting up a SL group. If you want, go ahead and get a SL account and an avatar and search for me: Veronica Piers and I will help you get thru the basics. You will find, as I have, that it is a marvelous networking tool. I am so looking forward to working with all of you!!

Jeanne
JSerra Cath HS

Meeting Today

2009-01-13T14:58:00.000-08:00

I am very excited about my meeting this morning with two professionals from St. John's Episcopal School who are just as interested as I am about networking and establishing a learning collaborative between local school librarians. We are establishing the underlying structure for our group and will be personally inviting others to participate and co-author the blog. We all have so much to share with one another. Each person's contribution will add to our professional growth exponentially and in a practical manner. I said this once before, and I'll say it again. I have attended conferences and attended seminars where the speaker had great ideas, but the ideas were over-arching. There was no practical application. That is my hope for this learning community. More to come!

ALA National 2009

2009-01-07T12:40:00.000-08:00

The latest projects

2008-12-26T14:53:00.000-08:00

I have been practicing with Second Life and have been able to join a couple of educational groups within SL which has helped immeasureably. If you are inworld, email me and we can exchange SL names.

I am now going to begin my research for the workshop I am teaching in April on Transitions to College. My co-speakers are Dr. David V. Loertscher, school media guru from SJSU, and my English Department Chair, Mr. Chris Plaia. We will be addressing the millennial generation that we teach, using collaboration to set up our seniors for success in college, and my partnerships with K-8 and higher ed librarians to ensure ongoing information literacy instruction.

I have been letting my PLN work for me and have made fairly amazing contacts in interesting places. It is definitely worthwhile!

I will be purchasing a coursesite from Blackboard and integrating Wimba to start a library info lit course through my English department.

Lots of changes.