Web it, web it good…
Which is a dreadful pun on some half-remembered song from the 80’s, but I just couldn’t resist!! You see, I am participating in an online conference Your School Library – Transforming School Libraries, which goes live tomorrow night (or possibly early Saturday morning once I work out the timezone issues) for about 9 days.
The main theme is how we can delve into the world of web2.0 and beyond to connect and evolve the traditional work of school libraries with the new interactive techonologies available online. So far I have viewed/listened to a presentation on Voicethread, downloaded a PowerPoint from the conference site (my internet was too dodgy to cope with streamed content today), am downloading another ppt from Slideshare, and am hoping for some vodcasts (fingers crossed!!). There is a conference blog, discussion forums (I’m a moderator for one of them – exciting!), chat room, networking tools, participant profiles, and so many possibilities for “walking the talk”!!! I have yet to add a profile pic or fill out my professional details. There appear to be 149 members, I just noticed a new ppt called ‘giggleit’ and there’s a button there for creating ‘web meetings’ – what more could a click-happy TL want?
Aside from all that, I am madly pulling my head together as we launch into Term 1, with a number of changes to The Way Things Are Done, eg a new group-work, collaborative, integrated approach to library time for years 5 and 6, with three teachers here for those lessons!!! Can you imagine???
For now, however, it is time to go home, be a parent, talk to hubby, veg a little in front of the gogglebox, and maybe send a few emails:>
Hi Kate – Saw your link to this blog in the online conference, and remembered that I always enjoy reading your entries.
Would you consider adding the RSS feed for your blog to your profile feed at http://me.edu.au/p/katereid so it gets a wider audience?
(login – edit my profile – feeds – add new feeds – http://katemreid.edublogs.org/feed/)
Look forward to catching up in Sosius once this week is finished.
Cheers, Pru
Hi Kate
Great to hear you are bubbling over with enthusiasm. Hope the group work goes well. The cataloguing and spine labelling is going great guns here. I am working with two Tanzanian trained English teachers who have been assigned to the library, Charisma and Faith, and a wonderful Askari called Forehead. Earlier in February the school opened a shipping container from Australia and the boxes were carried up into the library. Susan a TL volunteering from San Diego has been unpacking the books and putting them on shelves so we can at least see what we have available. Found lots of real treasures.
There are three libraries now at the School of St Judes which educates over 1,000 very poor children through a sponsorhip scheme. We urgently need 2 Teacher librarians, and I am investigating the possibilities of accessing training for locals here. If you know of anyone contemplating a year in Tanzania that has the knowledge and skills to train TLs, or would like to serve in a library please point them in the direction of the St Jude website.