Final Reflection

This course was one of the best ones I've taken at Sam Houston State University.  I never knew all these technology websites and apps were out there.  This course has been an eye-opener.  As much as I thought that I was up-to-date with technology out there, I was wrong. There are so many that are so user-friendly, fun and appropriate for the classroom and library.

• Facebook- I believe every school libraries hold have a Facebook account.  There are many teens who own a FB and they would benefit from a school'd FB.  It could be used to remind students of assignments due, upcoming events, or share with others the great things the school is doing for their students.

• Twitter- Even though I am not too familiar with Twitter, I know it is such a great way to communicate with library associations, authors, teachers, etc.  

• Pinterest: Pinterest is such a great way to get ideas for creating an inviting environment for your classroom or library. You can organize your Pinterest by creating Boards.  For example, "Bulletin Boards" or "Book Displays" and then pin pictures of ideas that you might like.

• Blogs:  I was never really into blogs until I took this course. I realized that I can learn a lot by what people post in their blogs.  For example, if someone was to read my blogs I created for this course, many people would learn about apps and websites that I have recommended.   

• Youtube: It's really sad that some districts, like the one I work for, block Youtube from its users.  Youtube is really a great way for students to view videos on topics that they are learning. It is also a great way for the librarian to make announcements.  Last week, before emu students took he STAAR test, I showed them several video on my iPad about students singing that they will pass the STAAR test. They really enjoyed it!

• Animoto: I loved using Animoto! I was a little scared about creating my own book trailer, but once I was able to play around with it, I realized it was very easy and fun to use.  I can't wait to use it in my future library!

• Podcasts: Podcasts are great for creating small announcement or presentations.  I enjoyed creating one about parts of a book for the little ones.

• Shelfari: Shelfari was my favorite book community to use.  I liked that it's linked to Amazon. For example, if I have a book on my "Want to Read Shelf", I can just click on it and it'll take me to the Amazon website so I can purchase it. Pretty neat!

• Toon Doo: Toon Doo is a great website if you want to make your class a little more fun.  You can create announcements or short presentations with this fun way!

• Tagxedo: Best word cloud website! I am really looking forward to suing this site to create posters for my library!

• Screencast-o-matic: This website was very similar to Screenr, but was my favorite for the simple reason that a circle is created around the pointer when presenting your screencast. I like that the circle catches the viewers attention.  

• Paperli:  I liked how Paperli creates your own newspaper accruing to the categories you pick. I get an email every morning reminding me that my paper is ready. It is such a nice way to keep me informed.  

• Instagram and Vine: Both of these apps are awesome! As a teacher or librarian, you can share pictures and videos about events, upcoming events, or events that are happening at your school.  

I strongly recommend all of the above websites and apps for any teacher or librarian out there looking to integrate more technology into their lessons or classrooms.  

Teens and Online Video- Mini Pew #6

Lenhart, Amanda. (2012). Teens and Online Video. Pew Research Center.http://www.pewinternet.org/files/old-media//Files/Reports/2012/PIP_Teens_and_online_video.pdf

Recently, video chatting has become popular among teens.  37% of internet user teens use a video chatting app with girls being more likely to use it than boys.  27% of internet user teens record and upload a video.  I found these percentages to be a little on the low side. I would have expected them to be higher.  With almost every teen out there with a smartphone, taking videos and uploading them to their social media network account seems like those numbers are wrong.  Maybe teens are really thinking twice about what they are uploading for, practically, the whole world to see.  It would be nice to see teachers and librarians teaching students about apps that are out there that can be safe for them to use when uploading their videos.

Page Count: 13

Teens and Libraries- Mini Pew #5

Raine, Lee. (2014). Teen and Librarie sin Today's Digital World. Pew Research Center.http://www.pewinternet.org/files/2014/04/2014-4.9.14-Young-Amers-Reading-and-Libraries-Texas-Librarians_pdf.pdf

Surveys and research in this presentation show that young readers (ages 16-29) are considered instrumental readers because they read for school or work and when trying to conduct any type of research.  Also it is proven one more time that teens use a desktop computer or laptop more than a smartphone or tablet.  72% of teens used the library in the past 12 months and 23% asked a librarian for help.  This surprises me since it is also proven that many teens use their computers at home to conduct research.  Speaking for myself, I would only visit the library if I needed an actual book.  I rely on my Kindle app for reading books, and databases and the Internet to do research.  I liked how in this survey, 81% of teens suggested that there be library "redboxes" around their town.  I had never thought about his idea and I'm actually liking it.  It would be really neat to drive-up to a convenient store and be able to "rent a book". The public library in Brownsville is about 9 miles away from where I live.  It would be extremely nice to have a "library red box" at the convenient store a block away from my house.

Page Count: 40 

Teens and Technology- Mini Pew #4

Lenhart, Amanda. (2013). Nine things You Need to Know About teens, Technology and Online Privacy. Family Online Safety Institute. http://www.pewinternet.org/files/old-media//Files/Presentations/2013/FOSI%202013_Lenhart_Teens_Privacy-FIN_PDF.pdf

Most teens now-a-days are smartphone owners and users.  A typical teen had about 300+ friends on their Facebook.  On FB, their settings are usually private, while public on Twitter for those who have one.  While teens are exposed to these two social media networks, parent safe becoming more concerned.  They are mostly concerned about their behavior, people they meet, future opportunities and their reputations.  This article got me thinking! Even children are now using Facebook. I asked my third graders if anyone had a FB account and 5 agreed they did. This scared me a bit! I know that as a parent, I would not allow my 9 year old to have a Fb account.  Yet these parents do? With all these advances in technology and social media network, I am now wondering what will be out there when my 2 year old is 9!!

Page Count: 12

Mobile News- Mini Pew #3

Mitchell, Amy. (2012).  The Future of Mobile News. Pew Research Center.  http://www.journalism.org/files/legacy/Futureofmobilenews%20_final1.pdf

With technology advancing, many people now-a-days use their smartphones for various reasons.  After reading this article, I realized how important it has become to own a mobile device.  We can download apps from newspapers or news channels to keep us updated with information, either locally or nationally.  Our mobiles are like mini portable computers.  With it, we can do numerous things: send and receive emails, get the latest news, play games, shop, connect with others user social media networks, read books, etc.   In this article, it stated that 53% of mobile users check their mobile devices for any new news before 8 a.m.  So true! A soon as I wake up, around 6 a.m., that's the first thin I do. I check my local news app, CNN app, Facebook, and the Weather Channel app.  It didn't surprise me that this article stated that Tablets are mostly used by children and mainly used for reading.  My nieces and nephews own Tablets and that what they do! They use them to read and play games.  All in all, we depend on our mobile devices a little too much!  I know I depend on my iPhone a little too much!

Page Count: 71

Facebook News- Mini Pew #2

Mitchell, Amy (2013). The Role of News on Facebook. Pew Research Center.  http://www.journalism.org/files/2013/10/facebook_news_10-24-2013.pdf.

It was no surprise for me to learn that 68% of Facebook users mainly use the site to check up on family and friends.  That's the primary reason why I have one. I have family in Mexico, Nebraska, and Indiana, and Facebook has helped to keep us united and up-to-date with the latest family gossip! I found it very hilarious when 52% of its users complied when they family and friends posted about bragging or complaining about their lives or posting numerously throughout a single day.  in my opinion, this does get a little annoying. I've actually had to delete a couple of people because of their posts invading my wall! 65% of Facebook users use it to keep them updated with local news information.  I am one of those 65% using FB to keep me updated with news.  That is actually how I found out when Paul Walker died.  On my FB, I have local news cast pages and a Brownsville page which keep me updated with what goes around in Brownsville on a daily basis.  I was surprised that 53% of FB user use it on their mobile device. I would assume that percentage to be higher since many of us live off of our cell phones.  It's actually on a desktop computer or a laptop where most users, 88%, use FB.

Do you have aFB?
For what reasons do you have a FB?

Page Count: 25

Instagram and Vine

I love Instagram!! I've had an Instagram account for a while now. I set one up because I have several friends who do not have a Facebook, but do have an Instagram.  I enjoy the pictures they upload and they enjoy mine! Now, Vine, I had never used before. I usually upload videos in Instagram as well so I didn't see the need for having a Vine account.  But after having to download it for this assignment, I realized that it's a great app to take short videos of important moments, or just for fun moments.  It's very similar to Instagram when it comes to recording. One just has to press on the screen whenever we want to record something or someone.  I really like how you can hashtag on both Instagram and Vine.  For example, a librarian may hashtag an upcoming event (#bookfair or #literacynight) and we can view what others around the world are doing for the same topics.  Librarians and teachers can definitely use these apps for advertisement, announcements, due dates, upcoming events, or simply just to show the love for what we do. =)

Information Curation

APPS

WEBSITES

The above apps and websites are great to be up-to-date with the latest news.  I found all three apps to be very useful. Zite was more user-friendly while I found Google Currents to have more of a variety of news and choices.  Flipboard was pretty neat also, nice aesthetically, but it would get me confused. Instead of swiping the screen, I would go back to the previous screen and I just couldn't get the hang of it.  I would recommend and, personally, use Google Currents.  Of the websites, Scoop It was becoming my favorite until I began to explore Paperli more further.  I liked how Paperli had various tabs on the top of the page and one can click and find various sources on one single topic.  Paperli is my favorite and is the one I would recommend!

Screencasts

I always asked myself how the professors in my Master's courses created screencasts, but I never imagined it was this easy!! Both sites for making the above screencasts were user-friendly and easy to navigate through.  They are very similar. The only difference I saw was that Screencast-o-matic can be used with a webcam.  Also, once the screencast is complete, I like how there is a circle around the pointer on the screen to show viewers where and what the speaker is talking about.  That is the reason I prefer Screencast-o-matic, the circle around the pointer will work well with elementary students.  I had so much fun creating these and am looking forward to creating more!

Playing With Words

Wordle

- This word cloud website was extremely easy and fun to use.  This site would be easy for students to use because its features like color, shape, and text box are user-friendly.  I used my school's mission statement and I really liked how my cloud came out.  I like how these clouds put emphasis on strong words.

Tagul

-Tagul was harder than Wordle to use.  But there were some elements that I liked about it.  It had more fun shapes to pick from.  I also liked how on certain words, you could pick for the font to be bigger.  I liked this feature because it puts emphasis on the words we want the readers to focus on.  For this word cloud, I used BISD's mission statement.

Tagxedo


Tagxedo was so much fun to use! I like the color schemes and variety of shapes that it offers to its users. I like how it allows you to keep or remove a certain word. This is definitely the site that I would recommend to my students! As you can see, for this cloud, I used the lyrics to Firework from Katy Perry and used the musical note as my shape.

Quips and Recite This are great for expressing ourselves. Sometimes I find myself trying to write a quote on a certain picture, and now, I know Quips will help me do just that.  Recite This should have more variety of backgrounds. 

Tagxedo and Quips are the two programs I would use with my students.  They were both very easy to use and had more personalization options for its users.  I see myself using these programs to create fun, expressive posters for my future library.  

Cartoon and Comics

Comic strip about Going Green!
Pixton was easy and fun to use.  Students would have such a good time creating a comic strip using Pixton. It has a good variety of characters, changing character settings, and backgrounds.  Once the comic strip is ready, you can share it various ways. Some ways include: embed, email, print, Facebook, and Twitter.


Spirit Week Comic Strip

Make Beliefs Comix was much harder to use.  In this site, the characters facial features cannot be changed. For example, I would've loved for my poodle to be wearing the same clothes throughout the strip.  Also, it was hard to use some of its features like deleting, making the picture big or small, and moving the pictures around the window.  I can already see students getting frustrated. I don't think I'll be using it in the future.


Library Hours Comic Strip (Screenshot)

ToonDoo is the site that I would strongly recommend to my students. It is very user-friendly and has many options for its users.  My first choice was going to be Pixton, but when I saw that ToonDoo had many more icons, backgrounds, and speech bubble options, I had to change my mind.

I plan to use comic trips in the future as announcements or advertisements for the library, just like the comic strips above.

Tellagami- Fun!
https://tellagami.com/gami/W3NBFQ/

Online Book Communities

I knew here were websites where we could keep track of books that we've read or want to read, but I had never signed up or played around with one.  After exploring Goodreads, LibraryThing, Shelfari, and Booklikes, I found the advantages of signing up for such websites.  Readers can keep track of the books that they have read, they can read comments on books that they want to read and then shelf them.  What I really liked is that you can create shelves with your own subjects.  This can really help in reminding yourself about what you thought about a certain book. I remember reading lots of book in middle school, but I rarely remember details about those books and adding comments to books that you add on your shelves will definitely help! From the four websites, I liked Shelfari and Booklikes the best!

Goodreads: I use Goodreads a lot when I want to read comments about a certain book or search a similar book to one that I already read and enjoyed reading.   This website was fairly easy to use when searching for books that I wanted to put on my shelf.  But that was about it! I enjoyed reading others' comments about the books that I had chosen.

LibraryThing: This one was the one I liked the least.  I don't know if it was my browser (did not have any problems with the other sites) or the website but searching for books took an eternity!

Shelfari and Booklikes: These two sites are the ones that I would recommend to my students.   They are very similar and fun and easy to work with.  I loved that as you are shelving the books, you can add tags, comments, ratings, etc.  I wish this was available when I was younger so that I would be able to write my comments about the books that I had read.  Most of these ratings and comments can be shared through Facebook or Twitter which is also very nice! I also liked that it is linked to Amazon.  When I clicked on a book that I wanted to read "Love in the Time of Cholera", it was able to take me to Amazon and buy it with one simple click for my Kindle.
 

Podcast

I had previously created a Podcast for another course, but I had more fun creating this one.  Podcasts can be used as a learning resource for students.  Podcasting is user-friendly and is a fun way for students to present an assignment or project and for teachers to present a lesson.  As teachers, we may use podcasting for lectures. These are helpful for when, for example, a student is absent or did not comprehend what was lectured, they may go back and listen to the podcast at their own convenience.  I also liked it for leaving brief "you better behave and complete all assignments" messages for days that I'm out and leave my 3rd graders with a substitute.  As librarians, they can be used for short, brief messages or lessons, like the one I created.  Unfortunately, music cannot be used using Soundcloud, which was the tool I found to be more user-friendly, but I had my iPad on the side to provide the intro and ending music.  Students can use podcasts to present their information on a given assignment or project; I enjoyed the student-made podcasts that Dr. Perry shared with us. Kids now-a-days are so creative!

Webbing/ Mind Mapping

Wow! I didn't know all these websites and apps for web making even existed! It is amazing how far technology has come. These three websites(Spiceynodes, Popplet and Wisemapping) can be very helpful for students.  Of all three Popplet was the easiest to use and it would be the one I recommend to my students.  I also think it was the one that let me create a more fun and pretty map.  Popplet was very easy to type in text and link ideas to the key topics.  Changing the color of the text and text box was very  user-friendly.  Spiceynodes' free webs were a bit too simple. I wanted to add another bubble to my web and I just couldn't figure out how.  The one I thought to be most complicated to work with was Wisemapping.  It took me a while to figure out how to add text, change the color of text, and delete or add a text box.  


http://popplet.com/app/#/1677161

https://app.wisemapping.com/c/maps/183947/edit

Edwards, Sarah & Cooper, Nick. (2010).  Mind Mapping as a Teaching Resource. The Cinical Teacher. 7; 236-239.

Videos and QR Codes in the Library

It is amazing to learn about all these technology applications that we can use in our libraries.  YouTube is a great way to share information about a library and its uses for its patrons.  I would personally like to use some of the samples below in my own library in the near future.  I can use it to promote new books, book fairs, screencasts, share information about resources and create fun videos for the students.

YouTube Videos I liked:

NHS Library
Most Helpful: These videos on screencasts on how to use a Google documents can be very helpful to students.  These can come very handy when working on a group assignment.  Students can share their ideas in a Google document, edit it as needed, and email it to each other.  There are three videos on how to use Google documents from this YouTube user.
Best liked by students: I bet students at Norman High School really enjoy the orientation video. It clearly states its hours of operation, what a student should do to check out a book or use online resources, when they need a pass from a teacher, computer safety, policies, printing, student IDs, and other necessary information.  I especially liked it for incoming freshman who may feel scared their first year in high school.


Unquiet Library
Most Helpful: The video that I found most helpful was the one where the librarian explains how students can use Wiki to search for copyright friendly images.  
Best liked by students: I really liked how this user used animoto to create a quick video on new books at the library.  It's a great way to promote literacy and encourage students to read new books. It seems like the user only did this a year ago. It would be nice if he/she would have been more consistent in creating new videos every time the library gets new titles.



Pikesville HS Library
Most helpful: Wow! I extremely like what this librarian did for the high school's students. The librarian created videos about the courses that students may take during their high school years.  Professor explain what the course is about and what is required from the students.  The videos also include mini interviews with students themselves expressing how the course has helped them.  This is a great idea because sometimes teens are confused about what courses to take; this types of video would be really helpful in making their decisions. Below is the video on AP Spanish.     
Best liked by students: I know I might sound silly, but I like to see videos where "fun" teachers and administrators allow their students to record the Harlem Shake song. I say "fun"because I know the administration at my campus would not allow it!  How fortunate for these students to have been allowed by the librarian to "shake"and record a fun video.  This experience will forever be in their minds!





BB MS Media
Most helpful: The video on books with strong female lead characters is very informative.  The librarian suggests titles to students by showing them the book titles and explaining that they have a female playing a strong role.  This would be helpful for students wanting to read a book for fun, for a book review, or a research paper.
Best liked by students: Those videos on overdue books are so great and funny!! I loved, loved the Taylor Swift video on overdue books. I liked how they used trendy music/artists to express how irresponsible it is to have overdue books. They are a must watch!



Book Trailer
I decided to do my book trailer on The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Alexie Sherman. I read this book last semester for YA course and I absolutely enjoyed it so much.  I was a little nervous about this whole making a book trailer thing, but Animoto made it so easy.  I liked Animoto to introduce new stories in my classroom.  As a future librarian, I plan to use it to expose students to new books.

Synopsis for the publisher: Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he thought he was destined to live. (Amazon.com)

Scan on the QR code below to view my trailer!

The use of QR codes is quickly spreading.  QR codes can be used in various ways.  A librarian may chose to use them as a link to surveys,  songs, videos, or other information that the librarian want to send out to teachers, staff, and parents.  

Blogs and Blog Readers

This blogging thing is all new to me so I had no idea that blog readers even existed. It is such a neat way to keep all the blogs I like in one page, similar to Pinterest.  The blog reader that I decided to use was Feedly. The others I found a little more complicated.  Feedly was a little more user-friendly, starting with how to add blogs to my blog reader.  All I had to do was click on "Add COntent" and search for blogs. On the other blog readers I had to really search through their sites to find out how to add my blogs, especially in Bloglovin- I never found where to add my blogs. =(  

Once I learned to add blogs to my blog reader, I could easily locate where my favorite blogs were, "My Feedly".  Once I was there, I clicked on the blogs that I had added and I could very easily browse through their content.  Feedly is the blog reader I liked best and would recommend. 

As I searched through blogs on the web and Tumblr, the following blogs are the best that I chose to follow:

1. http://mrlibrarydude.wordpress.com/ 

This blog belongs to a librarian, male, who works at the Carroll University.  The post on this blog are about the librarian dude describing his job, posts pictures of events he has going on in his library, and in general, what good libraries should look like and what services they should provide. 

2. http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com/  

I really enjoyed reading through this blog.  I would recommend it to any librarian working at a high school.  This blogger posts lessons and pictures of students as she is delivering the lesson.  I especially liked the Twitter one.  I liked how well she planned with the teacher and how it was implemented. She also included a section where student got to evaluate the lesson and it seems like they all enjoyed it.  She has excellent ideas!

3. https://blog.library.si.edu/

One of my dreams is to hopefully visit the Smithsonian Museums someday.  When I found this blog about the Smithsonian Library, I just had to read through it. This blog provides articles about books being added to the library, internship and scholarships information, and events.  I really enjoyed reading the blog about the best of 2013. It shared a link to their top 5 blogs fro the year 2013.  They also add their tweets to their blog.

4. http://libraryashleyschool.blogspot.com/p/library-displays.html

I like how this elementary school librarian used a blog to deliver information to students, parents and teachers. She posts pictures of displays, hours of operation, library rules, top 10 popular books, and videos of her lessons.  

5. http://schoollibrarydisplays.blogspot.com/

I will definitely use this blog in my future as a librarian.  The pictures of various library displays are so creative.  I sometimes get "Creative Block"when trying to decorate a bulletin board in my 3rd grade class.  So this will be a neat blog that I will refer to when I get "Librarian Creative Block". LOL