Entry #7 - "Hey, remember when I fixed your pencil sharpener?"

A great way to make a good first impression on your first day at your LIS 524 observation is to fix a pencil sharpener.  You look like superman and all you do is blow some pencil shavings out of the sensor.

It makes sense to use technology to enhance learning.  What doesn't make sense is using technology just for the sake of using technology.  Knowing what technology to use and when to use it is very important to sucessful tecnology integration.  Using a TPACK framework helps plug the right technology into the correct activity use.  Instead of planing your activities around what technology you want to use, you need to plan your technology around what activity you want to use to teach your content.  A helpful resource is http://activitytypes.wmwikis.net/.  Here you can find all kinds if ideas about what technology will support what activity.By following a TPACK framework, you will be successful integrating technology in your school.

TPACK Diagram

Entry #6: "It's not my responsibility!"

Oh Snap!!  I forgot to get my blog done on time!  Bad Felix! BAD!!  Wait... I'm suppose to be finding my professional voice.  I shouldn't be all... "Oh Snap!! I forgot to get my blog done on time!"  That is not how a professional talks.  The problem is when I try to sound professional, I don't sound like me.  Can you have a personality and a sense of professionalism?  I hope so.  If we are to be the leaders of schools then we need to have personality.  We need to be ourselves.  (To an extent.  There is no way I can unleash the full Felixpalooza Experience)  I just hope I can limit all my awesomeness to a safe and acceptable level.

This week we looked at cyberethics, cybersafety and cybersecurity.  Being ethical, safe and secure on the internet are learned skills.  They are important skills to have if you want to be successful in today's world.  It seems that everyone in the education field agrees that these skills are important, however, they cannot agree on how or who should teach them.  Teachers are already overwhelmed with curriculum.  They don't have time to ad yet another thing to there plates.  And even if they did have the time, most don't feel comfortable with the material to teach it effectively.  Do we look at the parents to teach these skills at home?  Do we leave such an important job to an already overworked and under appreciated parent and just assume that it will be taught?  Who is going to teach the parent these skills?  Everyone is looking to pass the buck to someone else.  We are playing hot potato with our children's safety.  So what do we do?  We look to the people who are in the best position to organize and teach these skills, the school library media specialist!  SLMS know these skills and know how to pass them along.  The thing is, they cannot just let others off the hook.  They need to work with teachers and parents in teaching these skills to our students.  It can't be just one person or a small group of people responsible for this task.  Everyone needs to do their part.  Only when we work together can we teach out students how to be ethical, safe and secure on the internet.

Blog Entry #5: "Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming, Swimming, Swimming..."

Dori says in Finding Nemo, "When life gets you down, you know what you gotta do?  Just keep swimming..."  So that's what I do, I just keep swimming.  School is hard.  There is a ton of work that has to be done and not a lot of time to do it.  I often feel like I'm drowning.  I know what your thinking..."Here comes the Pitty-Me-Parade!"  It's not like that.  I don't want pitty, I just want to be done with school.  So I keep swimming and hope for the best.


How do you build a good website for your library?  That is the $100,000 question of the week.  I think David Walbert put it best by saying "What few people understand is that building a good, usable, accessible, attractive school website that meets the needs of students and teachers is every bit as difficult and as complicated as building a good, usable, accessible, attractive school building that meets the needs of students and teachers."  That statement sums it up beautifully, and until you realize the truth in it, you are doomed to have a bad website. The fact that it is hard to create a good, usable website is lost on some people.  There is software out there that makes creating a website easy.  With a few clicks of the mouse anyone can make a website.   Making your website any good is the difficult part.  Knowing that the task of creating a good website is hard work is the first step in having a successful website.  Only after you realize that it isn't going to be easy can you begin to construct.  Then it's a matter of setting out a plan and executing.  I always thought of myself as someone who is good with computers.  Before reading David Walbert's "Best Practices in School Library Web Design" (http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/969) I would have been that guy just banging out a website trying to make it look good but not giving much thought to accessibility and usability.  Now I know what it takes to make a good website.  This is a must read for anyone who is associated with a library and wants to extend their reach beyond their walls.

Blog Entry #4: "Mini-Lesson... Take 34"

I have no idea how I can mess up a recording of a mini-lesson so many times.  Even with a script I redid it too many times to count.  I will say this, it was a good experience (not the redoing the lesson over and over and over).  Working in this kind of medium for the first time really opened my eyes to the portability in the classroom.  I am the first to admit that I kinda don't like the whole "online education" trend.  I am more of a class discussion type of guy.  But, the more and more I use these elements of long distance learning, the more I realize the power and usefulness they possess.  I will never be totally on board with complete online learning (there is something about human to human contact that you cant replicate online) however, I think a balance can be made between online and face to face.  I can envision me creating video lessons online to strengthen or expand what is taught in the classroom.  I am already think that every class and every student should have some sort of online presence.  Whether they be blogs, group wikis or bookmarking sites, the classroom can only benefit from reaching outside the walls of the school.  The key is balance.  Relying too heavily on technology or not relying on technology at all will throw off that balance.  The fact is we live in an always changing technological world.  If we do not embrace this change we risk being left behind.  I just don't want to lose my humanity trying to keep up.