Updates on Instructional Blogging

It has been a while since I added to the Knowledge Brokers Blog. A lot has been happening in regard to preparing for a safe and secure way to use blogs for instruction in MCPS. I have been involved in a policies and procedures work group for studying the use of blogs in the classroom and for professional development. We have been participating in a WIKI that allows us to communicate about and enhance our work. So far, we have come up with parameters for appropriate use, Bloggingh use cases, request forms, parent permission forms, Blogging FAQ's, and workgroup news. Alot of interest has been generated on using blogs and we hope our participants will be ready to blog when we come up with the steps for using blogs for instructional purposes on the MCPS server.

Useful Resources

Richardson, Will. Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. CA: Corwin Press, 2006.
Schmidt, Dan. KidCast: Podcasting in the Classroom. Bloomington, IL: 2005.
Warlick, David F. Classroom Blogging: A Teacher's Guide to the Blogosphere. CA: Lulu Press, 2005.

Twenty First Century Librarians

We are working hard to be on the cutting edge. Please share your experiences with blogs, wikis, podcasts and vodcasts so we can all learn from each other.

Please join us in our blog discussions

At last Friday's Middle School Collection Development meeting, I invited any interested media specialists to join our blog list and contribute to adding instructional ways of using blogs to our site. Although we had an enthusiastic response, I have only heard specifically from one media specialist. We need your input!

Internet@Schools East 2006

I just got back from attending the Computers in Libraries Conference in Washington, D.C. The sessions were motivating and informative. I learned about virtual school libraries, podcasting, using blogs as a communication tool with students, RSS feeds and exactly what a wiki is! Excellent speakers abounded, especially keynote speaker, Joyce Valenza. I also enjoyed hearing Alice Yucht, Marjorie Pappas and Johanna Riddle. The strand for school library media specialists was called Internet@Schools. I recommend this conference for anyone interested in information literacy.