515 Week 2

To answer some questions, I teach library classes to Grade pre-K to 5. But I am responsible for pre-K to 12 library and all that involves. In the lower grades I try to tie my lessons to something that is happening in the classroom. At grade 4 and 5 I teach resources and intro to the web type applications. In the upper grades I support classroom activities, as needed: research skills, searching skills, using databases, etc. I would say that my District is not yet embracing 21st Century skills. A big road block is the filter on the server, which I have no control over. Another road block is that many applications need a email account to set up and at this time, the district does not have student email accounts. I know there are ways to get around that, make the students responsible for setting up accounts from home, But again, the district is poor and some students do not have access at home, and most is dial up.

On to the assignment, I had some problems with GoogleDocs. In the end I was able to solve all the problems, but I don't know if it is because my Internet connection is slower than school, or what, but I had problems with backspacing, it would just stall out and It took awhile to figure out how to work the table feature. And sometimes the cursor would just freeze up.

Here is the opening of my Google Doc paper. "To me ,Google has almost become generic word, like kleenex, xerox, aspirin, thermos, or yo-yo. When someone wants to know a bit of information, I say google-it and by that I don’t necessarily mean go to Google and search, I mean look it up. But in that, quoting Shakespeare, “...therin lies the rub.” Google was conceived by two PhD students at Stanford University (How do I know? I googled-it!) who wanting to make an efficient search engine. It is like the elephant in the room, you can’t avoid it and it is easy. And our society is all about easy. However, most of us, if we are at all thinking, know that Google may not be the best search engine for the search we want to do."

Admit it googleing is easier than looking for the correct search engine. Honestly I didn't know there were all those search engines out there. And, honestly, I will not take the time to try all of them, but I am extremely excited about finding search engine that will help students search efficiently. Students need to learn how to search effectively and I try to teach that. So often I see students typing in a whole sentence for a search. ARRR! So time for a just-in-time lesson.

I have been so excited about using the web 2.0 applications in the classroom, but we struggle in my district with even having hardware that works the way it should. $$$ is a problem, there is too little tech support, not because the Tech person is bad, there is just way too much to do. I admit I am not very tech savvy in the sense of knowing how to install and trouble shoot, but I am pretty creative and know a plethora of programs that we could be using right now if it not for filter, equipment, tech support, and lack of time.

This week when I get back to school, I am going to see if google docs is blocked and if it isn't I am going to use it in my lesson for 5th grade. I am going to suggest to the teachers that have Promethean boards in their rooms that they might want to try a collaborative lesson. I have not done a lot of collaboration as I don't want to push myself on the teachers. But teachers don't tend to ask, so I will have to push.