The Unquiet Librarian

All a Twitter: Want to Try Microblogging? – 7/1/2008 – School Library Journal

Back in March, I blogged about the joys and benefits of Twitter, an instrumental element of my personal learning network.  If you haven’t tried it, then check out this fabulous article about Twitter from Ellyssa Kroski over at School Library Journal.  This article provides an accessible yet thorough introduction and overview for Twitter newbies and veterans alike!

I am always happy to Tweet with fellow librarians and educators!   

Twitter / buffyjhamilton

Do you ever wonder how much you are Twittering?  Would you like to know the times of day you are most likely to Twitter?  Has it occurred to you that you might need to enter a 12 step recovery program for Twittering?  (LOL! ). 

Here is a fun little tool called TweetStats!  It will calculate the following stats:

• Your Tweet Timeline
• Your aggregate daily Tweets
• Your aggregate hourly Tweets
• Direct replies (percentage to whom you give direct replies)
• Percentage of Tweets per Twittering application

You can view my Tweet stats at http://tweetstats.com/graphs/buffyjhamilton. 

“Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful.”
Rita Dove

Ever since taking Dr. JoBeth Allen’s Poetry course at the University of Georgia in 2003, I have had a passion for reading, sharing, and teaching poetry….no small feat as I hated poetry before taking this life-changing course. 

Inspired by my Podcasting class with Sandi Adams in January of 2008 (one of my Media 21 courses) and the work of Lisa Forrest’s Rooftop Poetry Club at Buffalo State University, I solicited requests for students and teachers to volunteer to read poetry for National Poetry Month @ The Unquiet Library.  Ms. Jane Pickart, teacher for 11th American Literature/Composition Honors, approached me and asked me if I was interested in podcasting a few classes on April 4 as they had been doing some poetry writing.  Of course, I jumped at this wonderful opportunity and offered to podcast every class! 

My original plan was to record each class period’s poetry reading and create a podcast for each class period.  However, I then decided I would experiment with streaming the poetry readings live via UStream TV (many thanks to Twitter friend and fellow librarian Phil Goerner in Colorado for showing me this fantastic tool!).  Excitement about the poetry reading grew this past week as I blogged about our upcoming podcast at http://theunquietlibrary.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/coming-attractions-poetry-reading-with-ms-pickarts-classes-and-the-unquiet-library/, and Ms. Pickart talked up our event with her students.  I also decided I would try to create “vodcasts” as well using one of our new Flip videocameras and upload the videos to TeacherTube!

Today was the big day of our poetry reading podcast!  Ms. Pickart and I began by reviewing the poetry reading protocol for online safety and to create the optimal recording conditions.  Each student had been asked to find a photo of a loved one and to write a paragraph about that person and the photo.  Students then were to create a “found poem” from the lines in the paragraph.  Having written found poems and teaching my students this method of poetry writing in the past, I felt sure we would hear some very special poems.

The students did not disappoint me!  I can honestly say that today was one of the most memorable experiences of my sixteen year career as an educator.  Within a few minutes into our first class period, I felt something special happening as each student came forward to share his/her poem.    Some poems were clever and witty; many were incredibly poignant.  All poems came from the hearts and souls of these eleventh grade students who wrote memorable lines and composed images that I think will stay with many of us beyond our years at CRHS.  Whether writing about a beloved grandparent, a sibling, a parent, aunt, or uncle, these students had something important to say.  I truly felt honored to be able to hear these poems that reflected the cherished memories and experiences with those so important to these students—I felt as though I was able to peek into a glimpse of their souls today.

We enjoyed many wonderful and moving poems today, but the collection of poems from the 5th period class was the one that moved nearly all us to tears.   Perhaps these poems spoke to me because they hit close to my heart—poems about various kinds of loss, of brave souls, of amazing grandparents—it seemed our eyes and souls felt a bit mistier with each reading of a poem.  Perhaps the most moving moment came when a young lady who just lost her mother in the last week bravely came forward to read her poem about her late mother.  How she summoned the strength to read her beautiful poem in front of the class I will never know, but we all admired her courage and grace as well as the gentle dignity of her poem that began with those famous lines from the classic Robert Munsch book, Love You Forever, and ended with her own unique and deeply personal twist on those lines, “I’ll love you forever…”.  Should you choose to listen to these podcasts, particulary the ones from 5th period (and I hope you will…the one I just referenced occurs during the last 3 minutes of the 5th period podcast!), be sure to get your Kleenexes ready!  I was also honored not only to be an observer of this poetry reading, but I was also even asked by the students in 5th period to share a favorite poem of mine, so I read “Orange”, I poem I composed in 2003 about a racist incident that happened to a fellow student and friend at UGA. 

I have only cried in front of a class once in my life—it was at the end of the 2003-2004 year while reading a poem to one of my 9th grade classes as a farewell gift the last week of school.  Today, though, the tears flowed freely and unabashedly as they did at a poetry reading I participated in while taking Dr. Allen’s class.  That same feeling of communion and catharsis I experienced at the Athens coffee house poetry reading washed over me today as I was lucky to enough to hear these poems.  Poems are truly meant to be read aloud and not just read silently—the power of the distilled emotion in poetry never ceases to awe me.

Ms. Pickart share with me privately as well as publicly to her classes that today was one of the most remarkable and memorable experiences of her 30 year career.  While she stated she had done this poetry writing assignment before, she had not scheduled a poetry reading in the format we did today.  I am still so overcome with emotions tonight that I can’t really articulate the “specialness” of what I experienced today, but I am so truly grateful that I did. 

This afternoon, Ms. Pickart and I were discussing the incredible turn of events today.   She commented that my presence as a podcaster and the whole podcasting element may have elevated the students’ performance and encouraged them to write something so deeply personal and meaningful.  Indeed, the students had a larger audience to write for and an authentic purpose for writing. 

Thankfully, I only encountered two technical issues.  First, I discovered my digital video camera would not interface properly with the UStream TV software, so I am hoping to get a webcam that should do the trick.  Secondly, the batteries decided to die twice on the Flip video camera; as a result, I lost the chance to video a few students.   The most challenging part was to remember to do all my technical tasks for recording the podcasts and videos—sometimes it was hard to remember to hit “record” and “pause” because I was so caught up in the moment of the poetry reading!

Where do we go from here?  Well, here are some musings and plans:

• Ms. Pickart and I both agree that poetry readings like these should be a more regular part of high school life!  When I started our poetry club (The Live Poet Society) this year, I had intended to do poetry readings in the library once a month in the spirit of the Rooftop Poetry Club.  I have been trying to get donations of free and short church pews that we could store easily and bring out into the main floor of the library (they had these at the coffeehouse poetry reading in Athens, and they were very cool), so if anyone has ideas of free donations, please contact me—I have been trying to find some via Ebay and craigslist Atlanta, but no luck yet. 
• With student permission, we are going to scan in and digitize the poems students turned into today.  I want to create a gallery/page on our website for each class period.
• We will create a living wall of poetry in the media center with these poems as well as some larger posters of the poems for everyone to enjoy.
• I am going to make “poetry books” for each class (a collection of poems by class period)—we will give a set to go in Ms. Pickart’s room, and we will have a set for students to read in the library.  I will enlist the assistance of master librarian Joy Mabry who directs our district Teacher Center to help me with this endeavor.
• We are encouraging students to share these poems with loved ones—can you think of a better gift?  We are offering our services in the library of free color printing and help with importing a digital copy into Publisher or some similar software to create that special copy for a loved one.
• We have asked students to share these poems with their loved ones on April 17 as part of our celebration of “Poem in Your Pocket Day“! 
• We will be having “pockets” of poems set up our library on April 17, “Poem in Your Pocket Day”, in which students can come choose a poem from a range of themes to take for free and give to someone they love or to a classmate as a random act of kindness.
• I will be working with the video next week during our Spring Break to get our vodcast up and going on Teacher Tube…check back for the update links!
• I would eventually love to have a “channel” on You Tube (or perhaps an educator friendly version of You Tube…something more appealing to kids than Teacher Tube) like the Buffalo State Rooftop Poetry Club You Tube Channel—take a look….how is this for inspiration?
• While I am still waiting for our podcasts to come up on iTunes and Odeo, I managed to get most of the initial mp3 files created today.  Please check back for our updated iTunes link, but for now, check out the audio files:
  >1st period readings
  >3rd and 5th period readings
  >7th period readings

It goes without saying that no standardized test could come close to measuring the talent, creativity, and passion these students demonstrated today through their poetry.  Perhaps “no child would be left behind” if more poetry readings were part of our daily classroom life instead of some ridiculous EOCT question!  I will definitely be creating podcasts of poetry readings with my 10th and 11th grade night school students later this month.   Podcasting poetry readings will now be a regular and new element of my poetry immersion unit I do with 9th and 10th graders (thanks to Dr. Allen….she inspired me to develop this organic unit while I was her student). 

Today truly exceeded my expectations—it was one of those magical experiences with words that I wish everyone could feel at least once in a lifetime.   I feel that being able to capture those readings with podcasting is a way that we can all relive on some level that communion of human experience today and our witnessing of the power of words!

This is a test post to test Twitterfeed.

Last summer, I registered for a Twitter account, but drifted away it from it quickly as I thought it was more of a “fun” social networking tool that did not have any real meaningful application.

Was I WRONG!

I reconnected with Twitter last week thanks to my friend Stephen Rahn at the Kennesaw State Ed Tech Center.  In the last week, here is what I have found and/or accomplished thanks to my connections on Twitter:

• I discovered an amazing library blog, http://libpower.blogspot.com/, and connected with a new colleague, Phil Goerner!  Through Phil, I now have great ideas for a “Grab-n-Go” event for our faculty!  Thank you, Phil!
• I am following the Tweets of great leaders in my field like Doug Johnson, Joyce Valenza, “Cool Cat” teacher Vicki Davis, and Will Richardson!  Doug Johnson is now one of my “followers”!  It is something akin to rubbing elbows with Hollywood stars at an Oscar party! 
• Discovered and have been listening to some amazing educational podcasts at http://edtechtalk.com/live, an amazing resource!  I haven’t had a chance yet to listen to a live broadcast although I hope to catch one today at 10:00 A.M.
• Discovered the YALSA Blog (which is TERRIFIC!) through a Tweet from YALSA on Twitter!
• Found and installed Twhirl, a Twitter client.
• Found ChitChatEd through Vicki Davis, “Cool Cat Teacher.”
• Found an excellent blog of an Instructional Technology Specialist, http://kenrodoff.blogspot.com/; Ken Rodoff is the ITS at Joyce Valenza’s school.
• Discovered Ted Talks through a link to a post from Will Richardson on Twitter.  Find out more about TedTalks at http://www.ted.com/index.php/pages/view/id/5 ; this is a COOL resource!  Here is the RSS feed for TedTalks:  http://feeds.feedburner.com/tedtalks_video.
• Found this blog, http://plethoratech.blogspot.com/,  through a Tweet from becksintex.
• Found this interesting article from a Tweet from becksintex, http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/03/is_web_20_an_en.html.

As you can see, Twitter can be a great resource for networking with other people and sharing resources in real time.   You can Twitter me at http://twitter.com/buffyjhamilton!  Come join in this fun way of learning and networking with others!

In addition, here are some ideas for using Twitter in your library:  http://del.icio.us/theunquietlibrary/twitterlibraryapplications

We all know how cumbersome it is sometimes to work with screenshots when we are creating screencasts or handouts as part of a tutorial or “help” resource.  You have to use the “alt” and “print screen” keys to capture the image; then, you have to use some kind of photo editing application to edit and clean up your screenshot.

Labor no more!  Kwout is a free and cool new tool that debuted in December 2007 that allows users to capture screenshots with ease; furthermore, you can embed that screenshot into your webpage or blog.   You can even embed the image into Flickr!

The first thing you have to do is visit http://kwout.com/.  At the bottom of the screen are two options for grabbing the “bookmarklet.”  As an Internet Explorer user, I simply right clicked on the first option and saved it to my “links” folder under “Favorites.”  This puts it into your “Links” toolbar at the top of the browser. 

Once you have taken these steps, you then browse to the web page that has information you want to grab.  Simply click on the “kwout” button that is automatically installed when you follow the directions in the previous paragraph, and depending on which option you chose (open in a new window or open in the same window) earlier, the webpage will load along with the “Kwout” tools.  You just click and drag the area you want to capture; then click on the “cut” button.  Your embeddable HTML code will appear in a few moments so that you can then copy and paste that code into your blog or webpage, impressing your patrons and fellow colleagues!  

Meda Montana Hallyburton Brendall: Veterans History Project (Library of Congress via kwout

There is also now a “My Kwout” feature.  What does this do?  In the words of the “about” page, “My Kwout”:

“my kwout” is a collection of the sources that you quoted via kwout. With “my kwout”, you can share with your friends what you are/were interested in. You can also use it as like your online bookmarks.

Please note that “my kwout” doesn’t show a source until you post the quotation to your website/blog except Flickr, SNS (such as MySpace and Facebook) and other private sites.

The latest quotations may not be shown for a while. We update “my kwout” pages periodically, once a day or more often.

Give Kwout a try!

We are pleased to announce the debut of our Unquiet Library Pageflakes pagecast! What is Pageflakes, you may ask? It is a cool Web 2.0 tool that allows users to create personalized online desktops similar to that of iGoogle. Users can easily add widgets related to education, photos, social bookmarking sites, news, podcasts, fun games, and even comic strips! Our pagecast is designed to give you another avenue for accessing our library resources as well as provide a little fun for you where you can play online games, listen to our podcasts (coming February 1!), and view RSS feeds to some of our most popular library resources.

Please add our pagecast, http://www.pageflakes.com/theunquietlibrary/, to your favorites! We will also be linking our pagecast from our blog and regular media center website the week of January 21, so check back next week!

You can even create your very own pageflake account at http://student.pageflakes.com/. If you need assistance utilizing our pagecast or setting up your own student pageflake account, see Mrs. Hamilton or Mrs. Fleet! You can learn more about Pageflakes in this PC Magazine review from December 7, 2007.

In the meantime, get it together @ The Unquiet Library Pagecast!

I stumbled across this fun and oh so librarian 2.0 tool this afternoon!  Go to http://www.blyberg.net/card-generator/ and fill in the fields to crank up your very own catalog card!  Yes!  If you don’t like the way it looks, just hit F5 to refresh, and you will see slight changes in the fonts, tint, and handwriting style.  When you are happy with the results, right click on the image and save to your computer.

You have the option of making a “traditional” print card, an audio card, or even a video card! 

How cool is this?

Are you trying to create a cool, Photoshop-ish badge or logo image for your website, blog, or wiki?  Check out this cool new tool I found courtesy of Joyce Valenza:  typoGenerator.  You simply type in your text, click a button, and this magical web 2.0 tool will create a beautiful and striking image for you!  If you don’t like what it generates, you can keep repeating the “try again” button until you get something you like.  Here are some samples I created for our new 23Things@TheUnquietLibrary project.

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.437676&w=425&h=350&fv=]

Check out this COOL and easy to use Web 2.0 tool:  VoiceThread!  Voice thread allows you to record a single or multiple voices and images to create a multimedia show that is personalized and applicable for educational projects as well as personal multimedia endeavors.  Your VoiceThread presentations can be made public to anyone or you can make them accessible to selected individuals.  You can even set up an account for individual classes that will allow multiple classmates access to the account for group projects!  As you can see, you can also embed your VoiceThread presentations in your blogs.    To learn more about the exciting features of VoiceThread, check out their FAQ page! 

Better yet, visit this actual VoiceThread presentation that SHOWS you what VoiceThread can do!

Check out these great sample VoiceThreads created by teachers and students….the possibilities are endless for integrating this into your classroom!  Goodbye, PowerPoint!

• VoiceThread as a Multimedia Venn Diagram (very cool)
• BookTalks/Book Reviews/Book Reports
• What is Function?
• Measurement and Uncertainty
• Density
• Measuring Volume of Weird Objects
• Graphs of Functions
• The Industrial Revolution

If you want to use this as an instructional tool or as an learning artifact for your students, please see me or Mrs. Fleet—we will be glad to help you get started!

Buffy Hamilton