Thing 4: RSS Feeds

Will the snow ever stop?  Ever?  It feels like I am stuck in forever winter.
Anyway....

RSS Feeds.  Here's another topic from a professional development of long ago.  I used to have the one through google, but it seemed that was gone, so I looked for something else.  I found the article from Joyce Valenza very helpful in giving me more information on where to start, and one of my fellow librarians was just gushing on netvibes, so off I went to check it out.

I like it.  A technology person I spoke to about them thought I was nuts....RSS feeds?  Too much information, she said.  And sure, it could be.  But I like that I can just go to that website whenever the mood strikes...I would not want all that information sent to any of my emails.  Better to be able to pick when and where and what.  Genius, really.  I haven't figured out everything yet, but I like pulling in so many websites I like into one place.  News, weather, sports...next I must find some feeds for my teams!  Go Orange!

Thing 3: Photo Sharing and Editing

I used to be all about pictures.  I took a ton of pictures growing up, got them developed, got doubles, handed them out to friends and family...it was always a lot of fun and so exciting to open that envelope of freshly developed pictures.  But at some point I stopped taking a lot of pictures.  I have a digital camera I never use.  I have a smartphone with a camera I use to take pictures of our adorable sleeping dog...and that's about it.  I'm not sure when I stopped enjoying pictures as much.

So this item was a bit of a challenge for me.  I do have a Shutterfly account I use when I do actually take pictures, and some of my friends share pictures there, so I had a good handle on that.

I wanted to pick something that I could try out in multiple places, including my Kindle Fire. I chose Pinterest, which I know some librarians (and others) are completely addicted to.  But I didn't get it.  It just looked like a big mess to me.  What was the big deal?

After doing some exploring, and finding a few friends, I set out to build my own board. I focused on my library and called it Reading Promotion (original, I know), but it was really fun checking out other people's ideas.  I'm a big believer in collaboration and idea sharing, and I can see how pinterest fills that need nicely!

Pinterest also started something new where you could add a map.  At first I didn't see where that was all that interesting until I came across a board for where my relatives live.  It included great ideas of things to do in that city, along with a map of where those things were.  Genius!  I immediately looked up a board for Hershey, PA, where I'm headed next month, and sure enough, I found boards entitled Hershey Area Restaurants and other helpful suggestions.  I wonder if teachers ever have their students use this to express their research, instead of a Prezi or PowerPoint?

Oh, the possibilities!

Thing 2! Online Communities

So.  Twitter.  Like Blogger, I had an account, but hadn't done much with it since then.  I decided my goal was to discover the possibilities of twitter for me. I wasn't much interested in following the trendy stuff, (like Richard Sherman and his personal ego battles!) but how I could learn from twitter, or, at least, be motivated  by it.

I love the requirement to be short....it's perfect for a busy librarian.  I found other librarians to follow and give me new perspectives, and I started following organizations that would give me quick links that interested me.

I have to admit though, the coolest thing for me?  Following Pope Francis, hands down.

Thing #1 Blogging

I created this blog years ago, put up a post, and then never looked at it again.  Until now.  Thanks to Cool Tools for Schools.  Blogger has changed since I was here last!

I am glad to have the opportunity (and the excuse!) to explore.  I am a busy district librarian; I teach in our K-8 building and then travel to the high school the rest of the day.  I like to learn new things that I can pass along to teachers.  It is one of my favorite parts of the job.

And we still have the circle table. 

Why circle?

So why would I name my blog using the word circle? Was I being philosophical, and thinking of The Circle of Life? Was there a special circle in my past? A circle of friends?

Well, not so much. I *do* like circles. My favorite table in my library is the round one, and I call it the Circle Table. But most of all, I used to be in a group called Circle K in college. It's a volunteer group. One friend described it this way: If you are in Circle K you would help a lady across the street. If you were in Square L, you'd shove her in front of a truck.

And so it goes.