Reality Check

Spent the last week in Naples, Florida.  So fun and relaxing!
Now that I'm home I have to prepare for pre-school dinosaur reading day, teach Fakebook to several English classes, polish my solo paper, and finish preparing for my Web 2.0 workshop.  I've taught adults before, but never Web 2.0.  There's a gazillion tools out there...so which to choose?  I'm going to stay somewhat safe my first time out and stick mostly to those tools highlighted by the NJ Assoc. of School Librarians.  They're tried and true, and I'm pretty sure most of my attendees are new to Web 2.0.  I'll throw a few extra fun things in though...
Alligators are not the monsters we think they are.  Before the photo was taken, Tiny Turbo (3 ft. long) had his muzzle off and never opened his mouth.  Apparently they only eat once a week, at the most.  The rest of the time they conserve heat and enjoy being rubbed on the cheek:-).

Angry Librarian

I'm officially strung out on information literacy and what it means in our computer/Web 2.0 age.  I submitted my rough draft early because I won't be in class on March 19 and also because I have a lot to say and wanted to do it sooner, rather than later. 

I'm at a professional impasse.  I completely embrace the idea that the nature of my job is changing.  What it should be changing to is an increase in collaboration with teachers.  However, even though the standards and our curriculum emphasize the teaching of research skills, no one is knocking on my door this year.  I've taught Web 2.0 tools but not research.  When I address it with the English supervisor I'm told that despite what the state standards say, meetings are being held that will change them.  Apparently teachers are now supposed to hand students research materials, thus cutting out the information gathering aspect.  But I can't find evidence of this shift anywhere.  We'll send kids off to college and the real world and they'll have no idea how to seek information.  Shame on us.



2010 Common Core Standards for Writing--

Apparently I'm Supposed to Ignore Them

What scares me the most is the fact that if this keeps up, my position will become irrelevant.  So I'm constantly trying to come up with ways to make myself necessary, something I've never had to do before.  I wish I could get the straight story.

Enjoy this video from a more innocent time. 

Don't get me wrong...it's not that I want to go back in time, I just imagine less "grey areas" in the library field!