Wikis

=**Wikis**=

I found a great wiki... http://schoollibrarywebsites.wikispaces.com. This wiki has so many useful links all in one place. It has links to many different elementary, middle, and high school libraries. The links I was most interested in, however, were the Blog links which included blogs by librarians, blogs about libraries, blog from various educators, and blogs about other things in the "library world". Blogging is such a useful tool for educators, which is how I currently see the information on this wiki being used. I would use the links encountered on this wiki for exactly that purpose as well. It's important for all of us as modern day librarians to have many professional development opportunities. Sometimes this can be hard to accomplish, expecially if you work for a smaller school district like I do. There is not a lot of opportunity for exchange of ideas amongst many different media specialists unless it is done online and through a larger "gathering" of professionals through a popular web 2.0 Blog tool.

Amy Taylor

Hello, my name is Elizabeth Jane Rader. Under Social Networks I mentioned this wiki as one that I was directed to through the Teacher Librarian Ning, so I thought I'd put the address of the wiki here, as well. Go check out http://elementarylibraryroutines.wikispaces.com/ if you are working in an elementary school. It's a fabulous resource.

1000 Names by a 1/2 Canadian classroom http://1000names.wikispaces.com/home

A 1st/2nd grade class' visual depiction of 1000. They actually got a few more. School librarians could help students visualize the first 100 days, how many books (titles) they have read, you could take photos of 100 or 1000 items. This reminded me of Spine poems- the photos could be shared via wiki. (Spine poems are poems built with the titles on the spines of books. You stack the books to write your poem, then photograph. Carmon Annetta Thomas

PBWiki http://prhslibrary.pbworks.com/w/page/18403516/FrontPage This is a great wiki. The librarian has used it to create a page for each teacher in the school. On their page, the teacher can then list any sites that might be helpful throughout the course of the school year as well as a link to their individual blog that also has info pertaining to specific assignments. As a librarian, I would definitely have a section like this on my wiki. I would also use a wiki to communicate with parents and teachers as well. I would have a section that listed helpful sites for parents as well as a collaborative section for teachers that listed helpful web pages for them to use in their classroom. Through my wiki I would ask for feedback on what my patrons would like to see in the library as well as a link to the library homepage and blog.

Kimberly Jones

Wikis

http://classroombooktalk.wikispaces.com/

I discovered this wiki a few weeks ago and thought it was wonderful. The wiki is actually a product that came from a collaboration of several schools from the US, Australia, and New Zealand. US schools ranging from New York to Oklahoma were involved in the project as well as one from Australia and four from New Zealand.

Although I found the collaboration intriguing, I found the collection and organization of the book talks well organized and diverse. Although several of the book talks are Glogster posters, many of them are embedded files created with a tool that is new to me called VoiceThreads. This tool allows students to combine their voice with graphics to illustrate their point while they read their book talk. It’s a fascinating idea. Although this tool is not free, it is only 60 dollars a year. Well worth the price if you use is a couple of times a year. Voicethreads also allows you to have up to one hundred student accounts tied to a single teacher account.

I see all kinds of opportunities for use of this type of wiki in a school library. Imagine librarians, teachers, and students collaborating to create a lively and dynamic gathering place for the best of the best. YouTube videos, VoiceThreads, Glogster posters and even MP3 files can be embedded into a Wiki. What an amazing idea!

C. Jonas

Wikis

http://teacherlibrarian20.wikispaces.com/home

This is a wiki by librarians on web 2.0. It is a collection of web 2.0 resources for the teacher-librarian. I think it has some great information that would help a librarian educate the teachers on his or her campus.

Holly Anderson

Wikis

The website I found is a wiki called Kid Blog ([]).

It is suggested that Kid Blog is a safe and easy way to incorporate blogs into a school library setting (more specifically through collaboration with teachers).

Kid Blog could be used with English as a Second Language (ESL) through use of student literature discussions. The site could also be used in conjunction with other campuses to create a multi-campus book club discussion on various books.

Olga Barreto

Book Trailers for Readers

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This is a fantastic wiki! Teachers, librarians, and students can create book trailers and upload them. There are many categories to choose from. I love the section where teachers can upload what they read when they were kids. This is a great place to have students visit when they ask "What should I read?" It would also be a great place for teachers to go when trying to decide what read aloud they want to use next. I think that having kids make a book trailor after reading a great novel or completing anovel study would be an excellent idea.

I think the neatest part would be looking at the small interactive map to see how kids from all around the world use the wiki.

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