Sunday, January 29, 2017

FACEBOOK PAGES AND TWITTER

FACEBOOK PAGES

Mission High School Library is located in my hometown of Mission, TX.  Their Facebook page is very detailed, updated and interesting.  It contained videos of school events such as football that included pictures.  I was especially interested in a posted book trailer for the book 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher which had 10.5K views.  After viewing this trailer, I am definitely going to check out this book.  Also posted on this account were invitations to visit the library.  One such invitation said, “It’s warm at the library, let’s go”.  We do not have many cold days in the Rio Grande Valley, but when we do, it is good to know that we are welcome in a warm and safe place.  Another post announced the birthday of Edgar Allen Poe.  I also liked a post that depicted a display of books at the library pertaining to basketball.  The post was titled “Basketball Books at Your Library”.  This announcement and display will definitely bring in students that otherwise might not venture into the library.  Being a fan of classics, I was happy to see announcements of a classic novel—my favorite—Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.  Lastly, famous and inspiring quotes were posted.  For example, one read, “The future belongs to those who believe in the Beauty of their dreams” by Eleanor Roosevelt.

            Holland Middle School Library was the next Facebook page I viewed.  Posted was the recent remembrance of Martin Luther King.  This included pictures of Martin Luther King.  One post I thought was considerate and important was a weather delay announcement.  At times of such emergencies, you can never have enough notices going out to the public.  I was happy to see that research was occurring at this library.  Such an announcement was posted along with pictures of the students in action. Another impressive post pertained to the Tech Club.  Photos of students surrounded by technology were viewable.  Finally, the last post I viewed was of a guest visiting the library which included photos. 

Noel Elementary School Library was the last school I viewed.  I was impressed to see that this library held monthly “Genre Spotlights”.  This announcements included photos of the events—a great method of interesting student to come visit.  New book announcements were also made available.  I enjoyed viewing these. 

I was surprised not to see many comments on the Facebook posts.  Maybe more promotion by teachers, the librarians and other school personnel will alert students and teachers that this type of social media is available for their benefit.  This is a great method and tool to promote books, technology and upcoming events at the library. 

There are many advantages to using Facebook to promote the library.  Teachers and students can view the latest books available.  The trailers can interest a student who might not have thought him/herself interested in that storyline or genre.  Placing announcements of upcoming events at the library will allow teachers and students to schedule them on their calendars.  Overall, viewing these pages was a great and valuable learning experience.
TWITTER

Educational technology today is vast and highly necessary in our classroom and libraries.  To help us with today’s technology many individuals have taken the leadership role of advising and relating to us what is available to make us better teachers and librarians.  They do this through their Twitter accounts. 

One such individual is Kathy Schrock.  Her Twitter account holds valuable insight pertaining to technology that can interest our students.  One such tweet was about Google's Toontastic 3D for iPad which included a link at her very own attempt at using this technology tool.  Schrock advises that this is a great tool for students.



Kathy Schrock
@kathyschrock

            Linda Braun’s Twitter profile describes her as a ”Learning consultant, educator, teen advocate, librarian, YALSA Past Pres”.  Her Twitter account is full of useful links and references for librarians and teachers.  One such link that I found particularly interesting pertained to an article that addressed the underrepresentation of women in science, etc.  This article went on to explain the research that included interviewing young children to try and find the reason. 


Linda Braun
@lbraun2000


          Buffy Hamilton also has a great Twitter profile.  One of her tweets related her application of writing methods.  She had her students do the following, “Each student received a ‘story starter’ sentence and we wrote for 8 minutes.  Now we have passed to the right and next person is picking up”.  I love to see teachers working with students using methods proven to work in the past, and still manage to incorporate technology.  In her comments she adds, “…we'll type these up and publish them next week!  'm excited to see their finished work! They seem to be having great fun right now”.



Buffy Hamilton
@buffyjhamilton

             I have followed Gwyneth Jones for some time.  I always enjoy her tweets.  The following is an example why:



The Daring Librarian
@GwynethJones
She entices by daring us not to read her blog and thus the series with the directive to not read the blog post.  I recently starting seeing the series on Netflix and have wanted to revisit the books.  This is a great way entice students and others to check out the books.  
  
            I just began following Jim Lerman.  As soon as I looked up his profile, the first tweet caught my attention. It addressed the Seven Systems that Work for Outside-the-Box Learners.  We all have students that seem to not reach their potential.  How can we work with them?  Lerman includes a link to an article by Jennifer Gonzalez.  She interviews Seth Perler, a teacher who was himself such a student.   Gonzalez says, “Because Perler was an outside-the-box learner himself, when he became a teacher, he knew how to reach this type of student. During his years in the classroom and then as an education coach, he has developed seven systems that he teaches these kids to help them meet deadlines, keep track of materials, and manage their time” (http://cultofpedagogy.com/underperforming-students/).  This is an article that every teacher must read. 
Jim Lerman
@jimlerman





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