Candidates demonstrate the ability to establish connections with other libraries and to strengthen cooperation among library colleagues for resource sharing, networking, and facilitating access to information. Candidates participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners.
SLM 508 My blog Communication is essentially the biggest component of being an effective educator. Keeping the lines of communication open between parents, students, administrators as well as community members is the best way to advocate for our libraries and our education system as a whole. During the Learning Technologies course I created a blog using WordPress as a way to communicate to my students and teachers about the activities, events, and new technologies available to all. The AASL Standard 4.1 asks librarians to “demonstrate the ability to establish connections to other libraries…network and to facilitate access to information…to participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners.” While there are certainly an overwhelming amount of blogs floating around in cyberspace, there are ones that have something to offer to teachers and their students. It is with these blogs that can add to the education environment. A blog can also be a great place to showcase our own work as professionals, as well as a way for students to showcase their work. The blog can become a digital bulletin board. The blog that I created, includes multiple links to other librarians’ blogs with valuable information and examples of what a library blog can look like. I included my own thoughts and reflections on these blogs. Among the descriptions and reviews of the library blogs, included a digital story that I created using Kerpoof, a digital storytelling program. This web 2.0 tool could be used in collaboration with an English teacher or other content area teacher. This tool would help students who need more visual or hands-on type lessons to learn concepts and skills. Using blogs in this way make them an essential tool for librarian/media specialists in today’s fast-paced, immediate-response, Google-searched tech-savvy world. These types of media outlets and social networking are perfect outlets for ideas or resources to use in our own libraries and classrooms. A major strength of a blog such as this one is that it makes for a great option for communicating with teachers and students even beyond the school day; in other words, the library and its resources can always be available. Creating a blog and continually updating it on a regular basis can be a time-consuming task; however, I feel that this is a necessary component to include in my library. I can use this format to communicate to teachers and parents the learning that is happening in the library. In the future I will certainly have a library blog where I will post useful resources for teachers and myself, display my students’ work, and log upcoming events and activities happening in order to keep patrons informed. Library websites and blogs, while they may take some extra time to create and update, are a way for educators to keep the vital lines of communication open. |
"Library websites and blogs, while they may take some extra time to create and update, are a way for educators to keep the vital lines of communication open." |