Not the road to nowhere

Have just started looking at some wikis that aren’t “wikipedia”. I have to say, I didn’t realise their potential. I have tended to steer students away from wikipedia, because I fear they will rely on it as their only resource. 

After what I have read today, I realise it’s far better than I thought, but I do like the comment I read which says that “it’s a good starting point, but not a good end point”. I think wiki (whether pedia or not) could be a good starting point, and also a way to teach students to cross reference, double check for accuracy etc. 

I had a look at some specific library and school wikis, I would like to see some Australian based ones, does anyone know of any??

New to podcast downloads so only a couple so far. Will add to as I find new ones.

Is it Just Us – Wendy Harmer and Angela Cattearns

The Conversation Hour with Richard Fidler/

As part of the SLJ “23 things” activity, I have just started downloading some podcasts. I have actually done a few seminars on downloading podcasts and creating/uploading them. I have to admit that as yet, I haven’t done any more than attend a few courses. 

The podcasts I have so far are “Is it just us?” an online podcast only show with Wendy Harmer and Angela Cattearns. I’ve always loved Ange from her Simon Townsend’s Wonderworld through her JJ days and now online. They’re fun to listen to, chatting about life for those who are no longer young teens. I’m actually a bit younger than them (their target audience I think is 50 year olds, but they’ve been hitting on a lot of interesting topics – not the least of which is how teenagers know so much more about technology than many of us adults do.

I’ve also downloaded The Conversation Hour, which I really enjoyed listening to but usually can’t because I’m at work. 

I used I Tunes to find my podcasts, simply because I have a Macbook and an Ipod. We don’t have these at work, so I will need to talk to my techies about what we should/can use at school.

I think there’s a value for podcasts, both for our vision impaired students, and those who are better aural learners than visual learners. I also think that producing a podcast, whether audio or video, would be a great learning tool for students and would make a change from the ubiquitous powerpoint presentation.

Had to keep the Talking Heads theme going! I was wondering how each of us came to be teacher-librarians. For me it certainly wasn’t something I thought of way back in high school.

When I was really young I wanted to be a vet, thinking a love of animals was the only criteria. Learning that an ability with maths, science and the need to sometimes put an animal down soon turned me off that idea. 

Throughout highschool I oscillated between wanting to be a lawyer, a journalist or writer, or an interpreter. My eldest brother was a lawyer, so there was probably some hero worship here (don’t tell him). I liked a good debate, I liked to talk, I liked to research and find out about things, I had a fairly strong sense of justice and right. 

My brother told me he wouldn’t employ a woman lawyer, because they go off and have children – he’s since become human, not neandarthal in his thinking.

I loved to read, to write and to research, and was reasonably good at it (imho) so journalism became an interest. Then I realised that I lacked the necessary rottweiller instinct (which would probably have also been needed in law). There’s a book or two in me, I’m sure, but I think I’ll have to wait for a few people to shuffle off this mortal coil before I start scribing. 

The languages I studied at school (of which I now recall very little) were French and German. Even twenty years ago it was becoming obvious that demand for interpreters in those languages was diminishing.

So I went into education (primary teaching) which I did for a while with varying degrees of enthusiasm, always believing there was something else out there. I remember sitting at Sydney Uni one day researching for an assignment for my B.Ed conversion course. Somewhat bored with what I was doing I started looking at University course books and found the M.A in Children’s Literature and Literacy at UTS.

Whilst doing this course, I fell pregnant with my son and left full time teaching. I followed this course with a Grad Cert in TESOL with the hope of gaining some part time ESL work.

I was working as a special education teacher when I found out about CSU’s M.Ed (teacher-librarianship) and decided it was the next course for me. Ironically, I had started it thinking that there were lots of part time T-L jobs. My first job was a terms relief at my old high school, followed by another term at a primary school for 5 days a week. After this I spent a year in another primary school on a 4 day a week contract, followed the next year by a maternity leave at another school.

I started my current job in 2001. In a nice twist of fate, it is at the school my 5 brother’s attended and of which my dad was P and F president, when the library was built.

So that’s how I got where I am. I’m not sure where I’ll go next. I would like to spend some time in the “real world”, perhaps in a legal library at some stage, to give me a vicarious experience of the legal world.

I might study a langauge again one day, just to see if I still can and of course, I’ll try and write something, even if it’s just for myself.

So long post, but please share your journey.

Nothing new there, for anyone who knows me! Am new to blogging, have started a WEB2.0 “course” through SLJ in the hope of becoming more aware of what all my students already seem to know about.