New Blog

I've been working on a new blog, titled Get Going. It is along the line of Girl Scout badges for adults with small projects to work on and then blog about. Check it out :D

http://blog.firsttries.com/

Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary

It's my folks 50th Wedding Anniversary. 50 years, 14+ moves, 2 kids, 7 grandkids, lots of dogs & cats

The Joys of Being Connected

Why I like Twitter & Facebook Friend Feed

At first Twitter seemed a bit silly to me. Mostly for students to send electronic notes and handy if there was an emergency that impacted many. It wasn’t grabbing my attention. But six months ago (or so), I joined Facebook and that was fun for a while. I played the games, took the surveys, wrote a couple of book reviews and tossed a few cows. And then that seemed a little silly too (though the cows were nice). My frustration with Facebook is that I wanted to add friends with my interests like I could in MySpace. But in MySpace I was getting all sorts of folks and well, some were more interesting to me than others.

I found my solution when I found the list of mostly women who had joined the AAUW Facebook group. In a fit of avoiding real work, I asked about ½ of them to be my new Facebook friend. Most said yes. Now this was more like it! Most of these women had interesting lives. I suspect if I got to know them in real life, they would be friends.

But the thing I really like and the reason I’m blogging is that I now follow all of my Facebook friends (my AAUW friends, my library friends, my real life friends that have Facebook and my family) via an RSS feed on my Google homepage. I also follow my Twitter friends that way. I love to see what everyone is doing. My friends are thoughtful, funny and very active. They are inspiring.

For example –

• · Kathryn hopes her words will not be used out of context
• · Virginia will be information-waitressing all day today.
• · Patty Heading out to Brookside Gardens to do some photography.
• · Carolyn is thinking about going to Folklife.
• · Laura is watching Jaws--again.
• · Nancy is getting set up for a computer-free weekend!
• · Laura is enjoying a lovely mango.
• · Patty Reading the new AAUW Report - Where the Girls Are - http://tinyurl.com/5g5zgs.
• · Bonnie says, what's wrong with regular space aliens?
• · Hayley is happy to have won back the money I lost the first night... plus $2!
• · Annabel is trying to browbeat herself into going to grocery.
• · Susan is thinking about what it would be like to work for C-SPAN.
• · Janet is wondering if her cousin is on Facebook.
• · Laura is being the homework police.
• · Kathryn is promising to Skype by Friday. Or Saturday. Definitely by Sunday.
• · Kate is now the public policy chair for her local AAUW branch

(This is part of one day’s feed)

What a lovely time I had at the Washington Library Media Association conference in at Fort Worden in Port Townsend. We stay in very cozy rooms in the barracks (see photo) and the view was wonderful. I just can't say enough about the program of authors, the delightful company and the delicious food. I certainly plan to attend next year.
http://www.nkschools.org/schools/khs/WLMAConferenceMain.htm

Meme: Passion Quilt

There is a Meme: Passion Quilt going around the education/library bloggers, which I really like. So I invited myself! The original directions say “make a poster--everyone uses the same dimensions--that reflects what they are MOST PASSIONATE about for kids to learn in schools today, then hang them on the entrance wall”. The online version states “It occurs to me that as edubloggers, we could create our own passion quilt, starting our own meme, each contributing an image that captures what we most passionately want children to learn in school...from our particular perspective”.

Source: Originated by Around the Corner - MGuhlin.net http://mguhlin.net

My image says 'Read' and that’s where I put most of my effort – into student reading. I don’t teach the students to sound out the words, I leave that to more talented folks. Instead I try to introduce the students to rich literature that they can successfully read and enjoy. I often think, as I have a line of excited elementary students standing (not to patiently) in line, that being an elementary school librarian is so very different than being a public librarian. The public librarian (or more likely the checkout clerk) smiles at the patron, answers any questions, checks out the materials and takes the next patron. I, on the other hand, have to encourage some of my patrons to try more challenging books, some of the patrons to try less challenging books and discuss briefly almost every book they check out. I do this while one is doing the bathroom dance in front of me (here’s the pass – go!), two are fighting over their place in line (he cut me!) and another one wants to tell me that their other library book is at their mother’s sister’s house two towns over and they are going there in a few day. I wonder if any librarians get to know their patrons reading levels, limitations, interests and problems as well as an elementary school librarian who sees every student in the school.

3 Simple Meme Rules:

• Post a picture from a source like FlickrCC or Flickr Creative Commons or make/take your own that captures what YOU are most passionate about for kids to learn about...and give your picture a short title.
• Title your blog post "Meme: Passion Quilt" and link back to this blog entry.
• Include links to 5 folks in your professional learning network or whom you follow on Twitter/Pownce.

Janet’s Soapbox http://crumj.blogspot.com/

Wildcat Cataloger http://wildcatcataloger.blogspot.com/

Free Range Librarian http://freerangelibrarian.com/

Annoyed Librarian http://annoyedlibrarian.blogspot.com/

Elementary School Blog http://elementary-school.blogspot.com/

MiniLegends mentoring program

I was excited to read about the minilegends mentoring program by Al Upton from Australia. I got to the program a little late, but have asked to do added impute for Taylah, who is a natural blogger. I'm looking forward to getting to know Taylah and also more about Australia.

Last Big Push

Capital Building,
originally uploaded by Gexydaf.

Today I need to write to the Members of the Washington State Senate Ways and Means Committee (21 members) and the Members of the House Appropriations Committee (33 members) in support of full funding for House Bill 2773, which would ensure that all Washington students have full-time access to school libraries and a certified teacher librarian to provide a competitive education in information technology and literacy. The funding provided would result in immediate help for the students at our schools. The bill would also support much needed school councilors.

http://fundourfuturewashington.org/

Fund Our Future Rally 2.1.08 Olympia, WA

From the website "Over 4,500 Washington residents have signed a petition asking for our leaders to ensure that Washington students have full-time access to school libraries and a certified teacher librarian to provide a competitive education in information technology and literacy for all children of Washington State." 4,761 signatures as of now.

http://fundourfuturewashington.org/

You must be the change you want to see in the world. Mahatma Gandhi

Happy New Year 2008

Welcome 2008! We went to Tacoma's First Night and we're so glad it has come back after several years.