Reflection

It' just about a week since class ended, and I have found some time to let it all settle in. The class was a terrific eye opener to the wide array of tools available to the 21st Century librarian. Its funny, I went on an interview at the end of June for high school librarian position. I was surprised that I got called in for an interview since I won't be certified until next year, however, I feel that if I had had the course before the interview, I would have been that much more knowledeable and confident.

It is exciting to get to know all these tools and to think of collaborating with teachers to help students learn. I think Microsoft Photostory can be a powerful tool; Prezi is a fun way to do presentations - it looks very cool and is easy to use once you get the hang of it. The countless others that we have looked at during the course can all be incorporated into classroom learning. I am particularly interested in Google Lit and would like to do a literature trip through Sweden just for fun and practice with the book I am currently reading. Although I don't feel completely fluent using them, I have confidence that I can learn all of them as soon as I have time to sit down with them.

One social networking tool that I have changed my mind about is Twitter. At first I thought it was a silly idea, but this morning I checked it out and there were lots of interesting tweets on it. One in particular pointed to a SLJ article on comic books and literacy for boys. This article was relevant to a research proposal I had just finished writing regarding graphic novels and their effect on literacy rates for ELL and LD students. This article may have been useful in my research. I think that the key with this tool is to follow people who will provide relevant information - so thanks for all the terrific contacts, Karen!