Sunday, February 3, 2008

Week 9, #23

Wow! How to summarize this program in one word or sentence? Challenging! Eye-opening! School Library Learning 2.0 provided me with the kind of professional development and learning experience that previously has been available only through CSLA, AASL and ALA annual conferences or weekend workshops. Breaking the tools to learn into manageable pieces reduced the material into a format that became approachable and less intimidating. My personal gratitude goes to Connie Williams, Jackie Siminitus, Rob Darrow, Jamie Boston and all the other CSLA members who give their time and expertise so generously and graciously.
Setting up the program so that the participant completes each element with a blog post creates the kind of learning experience we recommend for our students: looking back over the process to reflect on what was learned and how to capture the positive parts while trying something different for those that weren't satisfactory. This reminds me of the last item in the Big 6, which is the evaluation part. Most often students and teachers do not devote any time to either evaluating the actual process that helped the student develop the final product or to examining how to do the research differently the next time. Keeping these thoughts and reflections in a blog enables the learner to go back and remember each piece of the learning puzzle. I plan to redo several of the elements that I would like to improve, like my librarian trading card "mashup." In addition, getting feedback from others through a blog gives both good suggestions and a friendly boost to the learner. I am interested in looking at other blogs in this program to see the same "things" through other eyes. In addition, the reflection process in creating each blog post helped me think of applications for the tools I was learning. I already have several projects I have reviewed with my district's technology director, and have received the okay to move forward. One is a wiki for students to interact with each other about books and genres they like, and the other is a school history wiki.
Having been a teacher librarian in California since 1973, I am glad to keep learning; this is what keeps the profession up to date and vital!

7 comments:

Becca said...

Yay!!!!! Congratulations, and I agree, revisiting some of the tools and developing their applications is very empowering.

IrmaPince said...

You did it! Congratulations on completing SLL2.0 and on continuing your journey as a life-long learner. It has been a delight having you as a passenger on this trip. Now you can become one of the drivers. All aboard!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations RenewLMT2 on completing the 23 Things! Please do go back and read other blogs- and comment on them too! Many a friendship has started up over a blog :)
I'm glad that you were able to work through all the Things, there are so many things out there to explore and the only way we can find some of them is via our friends, so keeping in touch is important! Add your cool projects into the calcurriculum wiki so that we have them available for others too. I use these project ideas all the time and find that they help me collaborate more effectively with my teaching colleagues.
Again, congratulations and think now, about leading Classroom Learning 2.0 with your classroom teaching colleagues!
Connie

Jackie S, 2.0 project manager said...

Congratulations! You have successfully completed School Library Learning 2.0. We love your assessment and encourage you to cheer along other "winter 2.0 fun" participants. Your blog is now on the "Congratulations! 2.0 Team" list.

Best wishes.
- Jackie
CSLA 2.0 Team project manager

Marie Slim said...

Congrats! Way to go!

Liz Dodds said...

Congratulations Ellie! Still doing National too?

Libladylib said...

Congratulations. You did a terrific job.The hard work always pays off. Hopefully, it was fun along the way. We all learned a great deal.
http://explorediscoverplay.blogspot.com/
Here is a link if you'd like to try more "things". Cluick on "The Things" on the right side. 2.1 here we come.