Thing 36 - Web Presence (New for 2017-2018)

Thing 36 - Web Presence (New for 2017-2018)

As I read through the updated assignment for thing 36, I  thought about my use of Blogger (which I use for this course) and Weebly (which I’ve used in the past in my personal life). Both are straightforward and easy to use, andI like both equally.  It’s great that II can continue adding to the same blog via Blogger for each new session of Cool Tools. It’s very useful to have this a reference for myself when I want to revisit the tools I investigated in each of the “things”. I looked at some of the examples and particularly liked how The Brown Bag Teacher used her site to both explain how to use it while also showing examples of how it actually looks. Great visual!

My District uses Google Classroom but not Google Sites for individual teachers. I looked at some of the examples to see how they might be set up.  The Sunset Reads site is a great idea, and ideal for club announcements. As advisor for both my school’s Yearbook Club and Book Club, I might try my hand at setting one up in the future.

I didn’t spend much time on the Professional Portfolio section. I know it’s a good idea, but at this point in my career I have a system for keeping track of my APPR materials. I have a folder in my gmail set up where I organize messages for each category, and a folder in my Google Drive where I keep documents I may want to access later.

My main focus for this “thing” was the LibGuides. I had touched on them during my first thing (Search Tools Ninja) and Polly’s comment about them being further explored in thing 36 brought me here next. My District purchased a subscription for each of our four buildings, but so far I am the only library media specialist to tackle them. As soon as I get more comfortable I will teach the HS media specialist. Personally though, I don’t see the need for them at the elementary level, and will likely not renew for my K-5 buildings. But for secondary level grades and collaborative projects with core area teachers, they are super! I was amazed to explore some of the LibGuide examples and see one for Empire State Information Fluency Continuum , which provides support resources to SLS Directors integrating the use of the ESIFC and Common Core Learning Standards. What a resource! I am going to figure out how to add that to a new link on my page for “librarian resources” for future reference.  

LEARNING ACTIVITY
The Science7 teacher asked me to do a research project on the elements and periodic table with her classes the week we return from break, so I decided to focus on creating an official libguide for her as my thing 36 learning activity. Last year when I was first introduced to LibGuides I had tried replicating one on my own website without a LibGuides subscription. The result was okay, but nowhere as polished-looking and easy to use as the official site that my District now subscribes to. Check out my finished product for this year at https://millbrookcsd.libguides.com/elements and you’ll see a decent collection of resources for the project.