Tech Tips & Timely Tidbits

“Three Lessons from High School”

If you work in a high school (or in education in general), you MUST watch “Three Lessons from High School” by Anthony Chivetta over at the Student 2.0 blog. In his own words: “As a senior who will be graduating, I took the opportunity to share with my school the things I learned during my journey from a freshmen struggling to stay in school to the reasonably successful senior I am today.”

“The Musings of U. S. Army Captain Adrian Massey”

I tried to pull out just one post to showcase a new blog I’ve subscribed to, “The Musings of U. S. Army Captain Adrian Massey,” but there is just no way to pick only one. I think I read about this blog in the American Libraries Journal, but am not sure. Massey is stationed in Iraq and blogs about his experiences, thoughts, and poetry. Full of powerful imagery and hauntingly beautiful words.

NYT.com - Pogue’s Post: “A Lesson on BCC”

So that’s what bcc is used for! David Pogue provides a tutorial on the “bcc” feature in email and it’s proper use.

National Archives Experience: The Digital Vault

The Unquiet Library wrote about this great resources, The Digital Vault, from the National Archives Experience. Since the Unquiet Library summarized it so well, read the post for ideas on how to incorporate this resource in education.

A Big Thank You:

I also want to take this time to say thank you to Cathy Nelson for her recent post “Do you recognize these southern voices?” in which she mentions my blog. Cathy’s encouragement to step out on the Web 2.0 limb instead of just lurking in the shadows a big reason for why I started this blog. Thanks for holding my hand through my baby steps.

I believe this was in partly in honor of School Library Month and partly National Poetry Month, but didn’t have a chance to ask since the teacher came and left so quickly. The Teacher Cadet teacher gave me a certificate of appreciation signed by all of the students and a poem they wrote for me/the library. Of course, I immediately posted it to the library web page, but had to share it here, too:

Our Library

The Library is the place to go
When there is something you want to know.
It always has a lot of books
And is full of places you should look.

There are a lot of things you can achieve
But in Ms. Loy’s library wear long sleeves.
There’s only one in our small town
So we hope it does not burn down.

While you’re there don’t overlook the videos
They’re on the shelves and are stacked in rows.
Don’t chew gum
Even though it tastes yum.

Come and try the computers
They work better than most tutors.
Watch out for what you may find
Because some things will put you in a bind.

Remember no loud talking
Or Ms. Loy will send you walking.
So come and check out a book for anything
And we may do karaoke and sing.

© 2008 Wagener-Salley High School

Written by Mrs. Mason’s Teacher Cadet class

Isn’t it great. They got some things right (”wear long sleeves” as I keep it VERY cold in the library) and some things not so right (”don’t overlook the videos” as there aren’t any for students to check out, only teachers), and I’m not so sure about the computers being better than tutors, but they made me feel so happy. I even think the headache I’ve had for the last three days went away after their wonderful gift! (Or maybe it was the double dose of caffine and Naproxin?) Naw, it was those sweet teenagers! I’m also glad they mentioned the karaoke we had for Teen Read Week. The whole class came over and everyone had to sing at least once!