Learning Technology

Much has been written on the kid lit blogs recently about the use of technology in the classroom, or in my case, the library. Franki and Mary Lee have dedicated many posts to The 21st Century Classroom on A Year of Reading and I have posted about finding time to learn the new things and putting them to use to improve literacy. I know that I need to increase my use of technology in the library this next year, but since I'm not willing to totally give up the books, I'm looking for ways to merge the two. Mary Lee has been posting a mosaic she creates periodically and I really liked the looks of them. The thought occurred to me that the kids could create them using features from their favorite books and then others could try to identify the book based on the pictures. I used Flickr's Big Huge Lab to create this mosaic of our recent trip to the beach to try and learn how to do it. It was fairly simple, fun and not too time consuming. The only trouble I may have is that our school filters won't let us use Flickr for the project. So I'll continue to look for a school friendly program or site to use.

21st Century Classroom Add On

After reading Karen's post about the Kindle, I've been kicking around the idea of adding on, because there was one more piece to the story that involved me and the library. Since we are in the last two weeks of school and the kids can no longer check out books I asked that they come to the library with a book to read every time. I know, crazy, reading, books, in the library, what am I thinking!? Anyway, last week as Karen dropped her kids in the library she brought Jay to me with his Kindle. She asked if it was OK if Jay used the Kindle instead of a book in the library. She thought it would be OK, but wanted Jay to make sure before he assumed anything. My response was something along the lines of, "of course it's OK, it's a book isn't it?"

I've thought a lot about that conversation over the last week, and have read some of Franki's posts on 21st century classrooms and I have to say, I'm a bit nervous about all of this change. When I moved into the library last year I stated plainly that my focus is THE BOOKS! I'm really not very good at technology, truthfully it frustrates the heck out of me, so I decided that in our library computers would be used to search for books and that's about it. Oh sure I've done the obligatory internet searching and basic introductions to various programs, but honestly, the students generally know more than I do and they ended up teaching me things. I'm OK with my kids teaching me things, in fact, I love when they teach me things, but I was way out of my comfort level with this.

Fast forward back to the present and I'm being hit with all sorts of new technology that I have to figure out how to bring it into the library appropriately. For example, we now have Smart Boards which I love and have found several awesome uses for and want more. The introduction of the Kindle by a student, something that I'm not sure about, I'm kind of old school about books, I like turning pages and watching my book mark move from front to back. And a Flip camera that I purchased with the encouragement of Franki, it's a fun toy and I know I want to use it, I just wish I had more training with it. All of these are exciting new technologies that I know are going to really draw kids in, but my job just got harder. My challenge next year is to use the technology and still keep the kids loving books. Summer can't come soon enough so I can start thinking about next year!

21st Century Literacy in My Classroom

This week, I had an interesting experience. I'm currently reading aloud Found (The Missing series) by Margaret Peterson Haddix. It is engaging from page 1 and the perfect read aloud to keep my students' interest as the school year is winding down.

Many of my students are so intrigued by this book, that they've either purchased their own copy of Found, or they've gotten a copy from the library. They're huddled in groups around the room, looking at various books, following along as I read aloud.

And then, on Tuesday, a first happened for me. One of my students (we'll call him Jay) brought in a Kindle that had Found downloaded onto it. The other students swarmed around Jay, wanting to see how the Kindle worked. Jay was the most popular guy in our class that day.

Some of you may have seen a Kindle before, or maybe you own one yourself, but for me, this was my first encounter with this wonderful tool. Jay gave me a 5 minute tutorial on how to turn pages, and how to download books. It was fascinating!

For me, that tutorial and watching the engagement of a variety of students with this reading tool, was a wake-up call. I realized that the Kindle was a reading tool that I could see myself using. I think that it will be something I may give myself for my birthday.

I still love the feel of a paper book in my hands, however, the ease of downloading a book with the Kindle, its ability to fit easily in my purse and travel with me, and the large font that is easy to read are just a few of the reasons I'm looking forward to owning this tool.

So, a huge shout out to Jay who brought 21st century literacy into our classroom. And, a huge thanks to Margaret Peterson Haddix for writing a book like Found, so engaging that a student had to get it on his Kindle!!!