Those Were the Days: A Meme

Fran Bullington, a media specialist at Boiling Springs High School, tagged me (I’m it!) to write for this meme.  For the meme, I need to share childhood memories of bygone pastimes (that our students don’t have the opportunity to experience).

1. Walking

This might be city/town specific, but I used to walk. Everywhere. I walked to school. I walked around Charleston. Just to walk. I think that with the increase in cars (and the inDUHviduals who drive them) and stranger danger, some parents may not LET their children walk. I used to daydream and think while I walked. Of course, I knew people, and they knew me. I think we lost creativity and friendships with the loss of walking.

2. Playgrounds

Playgrounds are too safe.  I remember the merry-go-rounds, those delightful metal death traps.  Sit on the round part, hold on to the metal bar for dear life, and let an older child spin you until the merry-go-round went into orbit.  Even more fun were the metal slides – especially in the summer.  There were no plastic anythings.  No protective bars or rails.  Just high equipment with death defying drops.  Now along with the plasticized equipment, we have seperate areas for little children and big children.  And don’t forget the helicoptor parents.  They stand hovering over their children (who aren’t always two by the way but are five and six!).  So, children don’t experience playing, falling, or solving arguments/conflicts by themselves.

3. Pictures

My photo book is very small.  Three pictures of me as a baby, a handful of me as a toddler.  Now, I have thousands of pictures of my five-year-old.  They hang out in my camera and on my harddrive.  I attempted to make a photo album.  Once.  Its tough when you have umpteen to go through and choose from.  Expensive to print.  Pictures used to be special and cherished.  I think we are taking them for granted.  Maybe the tribes who believed that you took their picture you took their soul were correct.  There certainly seems less soul in the plethera of images cobwebbing away in my digital dungeon.

4. Museums

Dim.  Quiet.  Tiptoe by the polar bear who stands in an eternal snarl.  Use your imagination to picture him on a floe somewhere in the Arctic.  Now?  Sounds, lights, voices, chaos.  Don’t get me wrong.  I think the interaction is great.  The special kiosks, maps, and computers do add a dimension.  But, they take away something too.  A special element called Mystery.

5. Waiting

Remember skimping and saving to get a doll?  How about spending the day dialing (no voice mail or answering machines)?  Need information?  Search through several books and read.  Now, everything is instant gratification for our kids.  Hurry up.  Get it now.  Act now. 

Bettering Myself and My Program

Opportunities.  How many times do we waste opportunities?  I am not going to waste mine. 

For years, the other librarian and I emailed, sent newsletters, and talked to teachers trying to get them to bring their students in to work on projects.  THE department that should be bringing classes in to research because research is part of their standards does not show up at all. 

Even those teachers who do bring students only have us talk to the students at the beginning.  We have not had a true co-teaching experience.

That is about to change.  Because I am stubborn.  And, I have two great opportunities to better myself and better my program.

The first happened because of a simple email.  I see fabulous resources on Plurk on a daily basis.  I share these with various departments.  Every now and then, I receive an email back saying “Thanks for the email”.  For the first time, I read an email from my health teacher who wanted to take advantage of a website called MakeBeliefsComix.  He asked if I could teach his students how to use the site.  Because of his experience with the site, the teaching, and the students reaction (they were completely engaged), he asked if I wanted to copresent at a district wide instructional fair.  Talk about inroads!  I now have a teacher who sees me as a partner and will be bringing his students in for more projects and will use me as a coteacher rather than a talking head.

The second opportunity comes this fall when an intern starts working in the library.  When the time comes for her to work on her own, I am going to appear at every meeting and planning period.  This is the perfect chance for me to talk one on one or in groups about how co-planning works and how it is beneficial for the teachers and the students. 

I love how doors and windows are flying open. 

What opportunities are you taking?

Blog? EVERY DAY?

I can understand the 365 picture idea.  Truly.  It is amazing what kind of pictures you can get of everyday hum drum life that look incredible when you change the angle, lighting, crop aspect, etc.

But truly bloggin every day.

Like what to say?

I’m boring.  Notice I didn’t say I was bored.  How can one be bored with a full-time job, husband, two boys (10 months old and five years old), a seven acre homestead, a house to try to keep clean (note the word try), multiple emails and Web2.0 accounts to chase, and ad infinitum of minisculality.

But, can one READ normal life and be engaged?

Fiction certainly doesn’t read like that.  Course, I just finished Wolf Tower and Eighth Grade Bites.  Not exactly normal fiction.  But even Oprah Winfrey best selling run of the mill I would die before picking it up fiction doesn’t read like an every day life would.

For example:
On Monday, I woke up at 5:44, took a shower, made and ate breakfast, woke my older son, finished getting ready, and got us in the car by 7:00.  Dropped him off and went to work.  At work, I (yada yada yada)

Imagine that repeating for five days.

Wonder if an author had dared tried writing about real life in real terms – not capturing the exciting stuff- an succeeded?

Good Vibrations

I’m getting some good vibrations.  School has gotten me down before.  The lack of technology, sites being blocked, and etc.

However, a combination of attending a state-wide library conference, a potential library redesign, and teaching classes for two days is making me feel more upbeat.

At the conference, I learned about creating trips in Google Earth and about a resource called LitTrips.  Because English teachers got excited about LitTrips, it was unblocked, and our in-house technology guy figured how teachers could download Google Earth onto their computers.  One victory.

I teach SCOIS (a career resource on the Internet) to an English teacher’s classes.  For some reason, I have never hooked up the LCD and laptop to SHOW the students what we were doing while we are doing it.  I finally did this year.  DUH on me.  Because, walking through SCOIS was  MUCH MUCH easier.  I had just three students in one class who did not create their username and password.  In the pass, multiple students in every class would not have created a username and password.  Two victories.

Finally, we think the administration will help us redesign the library.  Currently, sixteen computers stretch across the front of the library.  We want to move them to one area right in front of the office.  This will make it easier for us to monitor the students, easier for teachers to  monitor their classes, and easier to keep the study halls seperate from the classes.  Suprise hidden benefit – we could have FOUR distinct areas teachers can sign up and use (including the lab) instead of just three.  Three victories.

*runs around with her hands in the air*

Get It Your Way – NOT

So, the plan this afternoon was to take my son shopping.  I was going to get him some short sleeve shirts, swim trunks, maybe get something for myself springy (not high priority), and socks for the baby.  But, the number one item was a hat for my baby who has blond hair; thin blond hair.  He really needs a hat before he goes to the park again. 

So, we set off to the outlet mall.  The outlet mall has a playground so that makes it number one in my book.  We arrived a half hour before the stores opened, which was fine because that allowed my son (who is five) to blow off steam.  When the stores finally did open, we went to Eddie Bauer first, where I purchased two shirts and a pair of pants.  This was the low-priority item -remember?  Next, we went to not one, not two, but four children’s stores.  And bought a pair of swim trunks.  That is all I could find.  The selection of shirts for my older son was terrible.  While I was looking at baby socks and hats, I realized I really needed my baby there to make sure the fit was right.

So, aftger I arrived home, I offered to take the baby shopping and leave the older son.  The entire family ended up shopping at Sears where we purchases shirts and shorts for my older son, socks for the baby, and a car seat (baby is too big for the infant seat).  Guess what we did not find.  A hat.  Sears does not sell hats for babys.

Despite what the ads tell you, you can NOT have it your way.

Combining Web2.0s?

So, as promised to myself, I am NOT whining.  I created a blog called Vikings Read for students to post books they have read.  I invited two students today and will invite more to author and post.  I also created a Shelfari account thinking it would be a great service to link to my WordPress blog.  Well, the best I could do was put it in my blogroll… the Shelfari widget does not work in the wordpress.com site.  Oh well.  I will have to find another widget/Web2.0 that DOES have a widget I CAN attach to the Vikings Read blog.  Any suggestions?

Implementing Change – Web2.0

My district blocks sites.  I have talked to a superior in the district office – complained about teachers being blocked.  I recently sent an article called “Orchestrating the Media Collage” from Educational Leadership to my principal and an assistant superintendant.

It is time to quit whining and take action.

So, what Web2.0 do I find that is NOT blocked and push to the students and the teachers?  Blogs?  Picture sites like Flickr? Wikis?  Thoughts??