When I first heard about Twitter, I was definitely one of those people who scoffed and said "Why in the World would I use Twitter?"  It wasn't until someone shared with me the professional and personal learning that goes on in Twitter and other Social Networks that I got into it. Now I understand and use Twitter and other Social Networks like the TeacherLibrarian Ning to my benefit.

I admit that I'm still not an avid user of twitter like some people are. I rarely post things and usually it's a retweet. I've stopped posting anything personal, mostly because I don't think what I'm doing right now matters much unless I'm sharing something educational. I.E. I don't tweet stuff like "Off to Lunch!"

I do however learn a TON from twitter and I hope that in the future, when I'm actually working in the library I'll use it more, share more etc. My favorite people to follow are the ones who share fun an interesting ways they are using tech in schools or libraries. But I admit I also follow a few other types. There are some fun YA authors that I follow. I also have some scrapbooking people who share tips and tools.

I have not figured out the best way to use these tools with the kids yet. In fact, I'm not sure how much students use Twitter. I think there are tons of ways to get information out to people and that is one that may work for some and not others. As for other Social Networks, such as Nings (these are great for specific communities and we use them in our school) and Facebook (which can reach a ton of people) there is potential for both professional growth and connecting to our students and their families.

The thing I like about the blogs I read is that every time I read them, I find another great idea. Two blog posts I read today gave me great ideas I want to use in my library someday. The first is book trailers. I've read and seen a lot about book trailers, about having kids make them, but I didn't really get it before. Then I watched this book trailer on TLC = Tech + Library + Classroom

Now this is a professional looking trailer but boy is it it fun and catchy. Now I get how I can use them. I think these can be a great tool to get those kids who aren't "readers". They may find this visual much more engaging than reading the description or even a book talk. 


Reading the blog about the video trailer also lead me to A Year of Reading blog where I found another great idea. Here the author talks about getting to think of kids as readers and describing what that means. I think this can be really great and the list of items she came up with to start her 100 things about me as a reader list is great. Doing this kind of activity can really open kids up to the possibilities of reading as they may think of it in a whole new way. I would think it would be especially helpful to have kids share some of there 100 things to give each other ideas. Love these ideas. 


I also want to share that blogs are great for personal things too. I learn a ton about cooking, scrapbooking and fun activities to do with my friends and family through blogging as well. So although this is my professional blog where I can reflect about what I'm learning in Grad School and through work, I always remember that learning doesn't stop once I leave school. In fact, I taught myself photoshop through online scrapbooking sites such as this: http://spraguelab.squarespace.com/  Through this blog I learn about scrapbooking and about fun activities as the author, a pro at all this, shares her life and her love of scrapbooking.