Week 9 - Thing #23

Wow! 23 Things in about 10 weeks! I went back through my posts and I feel that I learned so much more than what appears in my blog. For example, I stumbled upon Glogster and I didn't even post about that. I think I want to go back to the Web 2.0 awards this summer and really explore some more.

Like all teachers, the biggest obstacle to all these tools is finding the time to implement them because it takes time and planning to change what we're currently doing to something else. In many of my posts, I've mentioned our Pennsylvania Classrooms for the Future grant in our high school which put many laptops and white boards into our high school as well as an abundance of technology training for our teachers. Most of their training has been on Apple products but also some Web 2.0 tools. The advantage that I now have after going through this Library 2.0 experience is that I can help them be more creative in the planning of their technology projects. And when I can suggest something that they don't know anything about - I have created a need for them to collaborate with me.

We have the same pressure as the classroom teacher to keep up with new technology tools - and Web 2.0 is changing constantly. However, the pressure is even greater for school librarians because we are expected to support and service our faculty and students, we need to be one step ahead of the classroom teacher. We just can't be the same librarian that we were 10 years ago - or even 5 years ago.

I think the 23 Things and the activities for each were very well designed and well worth the time I spent learning. The blog is a great way for me to share my experiences as well as go back and refresh my memory of the last 10 weeks.

Thanks CSLA and PA Commonwealth Libraries for a great professional development experience!