Thing 8: del.icio.us

del.icio.us is similar to pinterest and evernote, a place to pin information that you want to go back to later.  It frees up your favorites on your computer, and is a cloud, so it's accessible on any computer you sign in on.  So is pinterest, and evernote has a web sign in as well as an app.  I have used it before, but it never really hooked me, so I just sort of forgot about it...until today!  I could see it being valuable for a student doing research with free websites, or a teacher wanting to create something for students to go to.  You can link it to a website for viewing by students, and they could go through the links...maybe for a lesson on website evaluation for high schoolers?  I did like Steven's page, that was linked in the directions, and could see how a librarian might use the to keep information ideas together, but in this day and age sometimes it is overwhelming the abundance of ways to make things "easier," so you need to pick just one and stick with it.  For me, that's pinterest and evernote.  Oh, I did find a cool Delicious page called, "Books Born as Blogs, & Kindred Beasts" that was pretty cool.  It also lead to the oatmeal, and I love that site!

Thing 7: Facebook and Social Networking

I have had a Facebook page since I was a college student (back then it was only for college students), and I recently started a facebook page for the PHS library, and I also have a group I started  for fellow librarians that I went to school with at UHCL, so you can see I'm a facebooker.  I started our library facebook page in order to further get out information about upcoming events and successes.  I was really excited to see that we are at 48 likes, already!  I was able to post about our upcoming Name That Book, as well as Teen Book Con.  It is just another was to disseminate information to the students of Pasadena High School.  A library should be a cool, fun place to go to get information and if you aren't involved in social networking then you aren't relevant to your students, as least that's how I feel.  I also found the Harris County Public Library page and "liked" it so that I could know what is going on in a public library that many of our students go to.  It is just a way to link myself to my community and get outside of my cocoon.  As well as facebook, I can also say that I am addicted to Pinterest!  I just love it.  I've been using an app called Evernote for a while now, you can create notebooks/notes from websites, pictures, or voice, and it works on my iphone and mac.  It is like a cloud, so anything I put on one shows up on both.  Pinterest is like this, but you basically create bulletin boards.  I love being able to visually see what I pinned and then being able to go back to the source and read it later on.  I've also created my own pins, which is really easy.  Can you tell I'm in heaven when it comes to these kinds of things?  Next on my list, to concure Twitter...I haven't started on that one, yet...

Things 5 & 6: RSS Feeds

I love my Google Reader!  I've had it for a few years, and it makes life so simple; I can just pull it up and see all the blogs and sites that I often travel to in one convenient place.  As well, it is easy to post to Facebook or other social medias from there, or now...you can even Pin!  I have used and explored sites like Technorati, but I prefer my reader.  I feel like all I'm doing on Technorati is searching, and that annoys me.  I did click on the link to share my public reader URL, but there were no instructions and after some searching I failed to find anything, but...you can subscribe to my blog!  I have an RSS icon on the left, just scroll down until you see it!  It always amazes me the little things people come up with to make our lives easier, of course getting that little icon onto your website or blog can prove more difficult, lol.  As for what I subscribed to on my reader, my friend's blogs, photography blogs, library blogs, and of course People (because I need a little trash in my life).  I'm definitely a fan, thanks!

Week 3: Flickr

, a photo by farmerdaughter21 on Flickr.

This week I discovered that PISD blocks teachers from uploading photos to Flickr, but you can use the handy, dandy iPhone app to upload photos and they appear on your account since Flickr is like "the cloud." I uploaded photos from happenings at my school and decided to add this one to my blog. This is the Monday after John Green visited PHS through Blue Willow Bookshop. It was a great event, and our students were the volunteers that got to help make it all happen. John Green's newest book, Fault in Our Stars, is our next read, for sure! Nerdfighters, remember...Keep Calm and DFTBA (Don't Forget to be Awesome)!

Week 2: Blogging

Here I am, finally a School Library Media Specialist, and I'm back to 23 things as a professional development. The difference this time, is that I'm gearing this towards my specific library, Pasadena High School, in Pasadena ISD. This is my first year as a librarian and so far, I love it! I can say with honesty that I picked the right specialty for my masters degree, and I look forward to experiencing 23 Things, Pasadena style, now that I have a different frame of reference than I did as a student. Here we go...again!

Poetry - can it be relevant and exciting?

As teachers in the classroom, and library media specialists, it is important to remember what an impact there is seeing poetry instead of just reading it. I love listening to Maya Angelou when she recites her own works, and I still remember these two scenes from Anne of Green Gables, and can eve recite some of the lines, all because I saw it instead of just read it. I just wanted to share them with my fellow bloggers, teachers, librarians, etc...what do you think about teaching poetry, how do you make it more relevant, or at least exciting? Signing off!

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