Thing 4: Photo Sharing ~ Take two

      I have been trying to add a picture according to the directions in the video. So far, no luck. But I am giving it one more try. If you don't see a picture, then the copying of the html stuff just isn't working for me.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/4211204782/

     I can still see only the link and no picture. I will stick to downloading and inserting the photo unless I get some guidance.  Oh well, I tried.  :)

     Here is the photo, but as an upload, not with copied and pasted html.  

Thing 4 : Photo Sharing

     I have been doing a little exploring with Flickr and think I am figuring it out.  Things have been really busy. You know, it is that time of year, and so I am running a little behind.  Here is a pic I found that I like. Later I will post our version of this sort of holiday tree with our weeded fiction books.  :) I followed Polly's directions and it was pretty simple.

     I searched Flickr using some pretty specific topics and found pictures from geographically nearby, pictures of decorations, pictures of book trees like the one above, and lots more with quick simple searches. It is not to difficult to find things.

    Several weeks ago, Polly mentioned the editing tool, PicMonkey. I have been using it for my library's facebook page and other little projects since. It is so easy and fast.  Our art teacher has put all kinds of her Studio Art class projects in the library. Within minutes, I took pictures and quickly made collages. It is one of those tools I wish I had know about long ago ~ what an absolute time-saver for me!!

       Okay, here is our tree, I used PicMonkey to crop and re-size it in about 45 seconds from the time I opened it on my computer.  :) Love that!

      Trust me when I say that if I can do this, anyone can do this. Below is one of the collages I created, again for our fb page, of the student art work.

     If Flickr is as simple and useful as PicMonkey, then I will have another tool down soon, I hope.  Students are always needing to do things with pictures, so how can we go wrong in learning these tools ourselves?  The ability to search and limit to the Creative Commons pics is a great feature in itself.  Goal for the next few days: become a Flickr expert... well, at least get out of the novice category.  ;-)

I am trying to add a picture following the directions in the video today. I am not having the best of luck, but here we go again.

http://flic.kr/p/7q8wt1

Thing 3: RSS

       Working with Thing 3 has been tricky. First, because it is such a busy time of year and it is hard to find the time to really learn what RSS feeds, etc. have to offer. Second, it seems a little more difficult to get a feel for what works for me.  I have been using both Google Reader and Netvibes.  Both seem fairly easy to add subscriptions to but neither seems very easy to manipulate  or make more manageable.  I think I am going to have to let these go and move on to the next lesson without having accomplished what I wanted to accomplish.  I will keep working at it.
     One other thought before I stop typing is that with my iPad I like using Flipboard which I think is the same sort of thing; and it is very visual and easy to navigate. 

Thing 2: Online Learning Communities...even more

     I am really liking Twitter and following along so many folks in the library world.  But, one thing remains a mystery and that is how people keep up with all that gets tweeted that you want to check back with later or try out or just remember.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  I do use Diigo for some things, posted information in my last blog post for others and, yet, there is still more that I just haven't been able to deal with yet.  
     As far as my learning experience, after watching the screencast that Polly posted, I do have a better understanding of hashtags and how to use them. I also find that I recognize them much more in the tweets I read. There is some improvement.  I have retweeted several tweets.  I am not sure what that is doing, but I use a retweet kind of like I would like the "like" button on facebook. Who knows if that is the point?  For now, it is my point.
   

Thing 2: Online Learning Communities ...more

     I am discovering there is a lot to learn about Twitter; but, there is lots going on with Twitter. I am still trying to figure some things out, but it is getting better. I did decide to have a professional Twitter me and a personal Twitter me, like I do with Facebook.  I am following quite a few folks already. What I am trying to work out know is how to quickly mark/save/store links and info that I want to get back to.  The ease of this eludes so far.  But, I am liking what I read and find. That is for sure.  Here is one link I don't want to forget: http://keltchat.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/new-to-twitter-chatting-heres-a-beginners-guide/
    This may be the way I remember what I want quickly - paste it into a blog poste.  I would love to know how others do it and manage all the info that is passed along with Twitter. 
     I did retweet one thing I liked. So, I guess that is progress. Okay, that is it for tonight, unless I find more sites to paste here.  :)

List to refer to later:
From #tlchat
http://d97cooltools.blogspot.com/2012/10/common-core-connections-powerful.html

http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/neverendingsearch/2012/10/21/educational-twitter-hashtags-the-infographic/

From #edchat
http://blog.alwaysprepped.com/8-technology-tools-that-every-teacher-should-use-in-the-classroom/


And, last, I need to find out more about what TweetDeck is. 

Thing 2: Online Learning Communities

         I am wondering a couple of things about Twitter. The first things is ~ for librarians who are  using it regularly, do you have a school/professional Twitter account and a personal Twitter account or do you do it all as one?  The second thing I wonder is ~ When using a hashtag, which I don't totally understand yet, do you have to search for a hashtag each time you want to find information or can you somehow follow a hashtag like you would a person?  If you can't follow a hashtag, is there a way to bring the info up each time. There are my "wonderments" for today.  Any comments would be greatly appreciated.  :)

A Librarian's Thoughts on a Thursday

     Today is a fairly typical day here at the library.

     We have several batches of kindergarten students in to exchange books, first graders in to hear Too Many Pumpkins, a favorite story of mine (I have many favs), and tenth graders researching their debate topics: gay marriage, gun laws, and, of course, the ever-present topic, legalizing marijuana. 
     All the teachers are working, thinking, doing APPRS, SLOs and assessments.  As a librarian in New York State, I am exempt this year; and, hopefully will always be.  That way, I can focus on the teachers' needs and help them.  However, our School Library System is getting us prepared because we will most likely join the rest next year. That is truly worrisome to me. For now, I am playing an ostrich.  :) 

“Thing 1: Blogging”

     Hi, I am Melinda Miller. I have the pleasure of working in the PK-12 library at Colton-Pierrepont Central School (http://cpcs.k12.ny.us/ ), a small rural school in northern New York State. I have been the librarian or library media specialist here for over 30 years. I love my job and all that goes with it.  I am giving Cool Tools for Schools a try because I like technology and learning new things and because I hope it will help me help my staff and my kids. 

     I work in a lovely, relatively new library. This is our circulation area.  I will post some other pictures later.  Okay, I think that is it for now. :)

     As you may have seen, I already didn't follow directions.  :(  I have changed the title on my first post from "About Me" to  “Thing 1: Blogging”. I am using Blogger because our school is a Google School. I didn't even have to create a login or anything. I just clicked on it and there I was logged in with my gmail info.  I am finding it a bit tricky to work with, but that's okay. I do wish I could change the size of the picture I used in the title of the blog.  I haven't figured out that yet.  Oh well, I will keep working at this.