Dream Job

I was hired in my dream job today. (Actually, I was transferred within the school district.)  I am officially the new school librarian at T. W. Ogg Elementary.  I started last summer working toward my masters in school library and information science when a missed opportunity served as a wakeup call.  Librarians stay in their positions for a long time, so I was totally unprepared last year when an opening came available.  That spurred me into action, and I went back to school while continuing to work as a teacher full time and take care of my busy family.  With budget cuts in education, librarian positions within my school district were on shaky ground; but we made it.  Now I get to work in my own library while finishing up my coursework.

I started this blog as part of my coursework.  I don't know if anyone reads it, but I felt it was appropriate to post this information where I started.  Hopefully, I'll be better about updating with adventures from my new job as librarian.

I do want to share this bit of advice: if you are thinking about going back to school to further your career or change careers, do it now (or as soon as possible).  You never know when the opportunity of a lifetime will present itself, and rarely does it present itself twice.  If I believed in luck, I would say I am lucky; but I know that I am blessed.  May blessings be bestowed on you as well.

National Society of Leadership and Success

This semester in grad school, I was invited to join University of Houston-Clear Lake's chapter of The National Society of Leadership and Success.  I have been working to complete the requirements for induction these last two months.  At first, I was just interested because this is an honor society (and I'm very competitive academically), and I thought it would look good on my resume.  Of course it will look good, but I have discovered other benefits, as well.  I have joined a success networking team which helps me form goals and then encourages me to accomplish them.  The society has encouraged me to volunteer in the community more.  Also, I have found wisdom from watching speaker broadcasts.

The most enlightening of these broadcasts so far has been by Tom Krieglstein.  He spoke about utilizing social networking sites to create a positive digital footprint that could help you in your career.  I have always been warned about posting on such sites, which is good advice since many people post some extremely embarrassing information and photos.  But if you are careful about your profile and postings, you can actually develop a digital footprint or indentity that could help you in your career or job search.  That is a revolutionary idea to me!  He also encouraged listeners to start a blog.  Since I already had this because of one of my technology classes, I decided to use it.  Just another small step into the 21st century!

Thing #23

I can't believe I made it. This has been quite an experience. I have learned so much and may be almost as computer literate as my husband now. There are so many cool and useful Web 2.0 tools out there. It's a bit overwhelming, but I think I will have some great resources to access when I start school in the fall. For several years now, it has been one of my goals to incorporate more technology in my class. I have struggled because I did not always see how the new, cool Web 2.0 tools could be implemented. But 23 things has shown me how to accomplish this goal. I definitely will start a blog, and I think I have finally figured out how to use a wiki in my class. I am excited. 21st Century, I have arrived!!!

Thing #22

I joined the Ning Texas School Librarians. I find it very useful to be in a community of librarians even though I am not one yet. I love that it has discussions and blogs right there on the site. I am very much a one-stop shopper, so I love anything that gives me access to information in one place. I have a Facebook account, so I am already familiar with socialnetworking. I like how Nings narrows the focus of the group, though. I believe a Ning is useful because I can have professional discussions with colleagues. We can collaborate about common interests and help each other be better librarians.

Thing #20

(This video embedded from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ju3z-EtFQE)

Having access to so many video resources is fantastic. I have often used Discovery Education for videos to use in my classroom, but it is nice to know that there are other resources out there. Teacher Tube has videos specifically for education. I found one on story elements that could be useful in my 5th grade language arts class. The video I chose to embed from YouTube is just pure fun. Who doesn't like to see librarians go wild?

Thing #21

Here is my vidcast using Photo Story. I like this program. It is easy to use so I know my students can do it. Also, I'll be using it in my other class to make book trailers, so I'm glad I got to practice with it.

Thing #18

I downloaded Open Office. I like the idea that I can access the same types of programs for free that I had to pay for with Microsoft Office. I see an immediate advantage for my home. My husband recently bought a new desktop computer that came with Microsoft Works. My young adult literature professor wanted all our papers turned in using Microsoft Word. Fortunately I had Word on my laptop, but I would have had to pay for it if I hadn't. Now I know that I don't have to pay for it because I can save and print my papers as Word documents using Open Office. The only disadvantage I can see is that you might not get the same tech support that you would with Microsoft Office, but Open Office does automatically update the program on my computer. Support may not be an issue after all.