Thing 12: Final reflections

This year has been quite a learning curve for me, but I've enjoyed the journey. I went from a K-12 librarian in a small, rural school to a role at my local BOCES where I wear multiple hats as a shared part of School Library Systems and Model Schools. Though I obviously tend to post in spurts, I have to say that Cool Tools has been kept open as one of my tabs on multiple devices throughout the school year, because in addition to learning the tools for the class, I found myself constantly trying out new things in my support role with BOCES. Doing technology integration for my former district was great, because I didn't have the usual awkward learning curve with a district that would usually happen (I had been their librarian for years), and as a result, my former colleagues asked a lot about new tools that they had heard about...or saw...or they asked for suggestions. Through this journey, I learned so much about so many tools, some of which I had seen before, some I had used but didn't know all of the features, and some of which were brand-new for me.

One of my favorite things that I did this year was to co-teach a workshop with a Model Schools colleague, on using tech tools in Reader's Workshop (and a related one on Writer's Workshop). I was able to directly apply many tools I had gotten from Cool Tools this year, or tools that I saw at the Tech Retreat, and pass those tools on to others. We've shown teachers everything from Booksnaps to Book Creator, features in Google Drive and other Google Apps, using Padlet for sharing out ideas and reflections, and so much more.

Through Cool Tools I became aware of and learned how to use tools such as Google Keep (love!), Symbaloo (I've had my a-ha moment and it's now one of my few bookmarks on an almost-tab-free desktop), Flipgrid, got a renewed interest in Padlet (which I've used before, but it has new features now that it didn't have before), and gotten pretty decent with Screencastify. (My latest was discovering that I could put Screencastify videos into Animoto, and I knit them together into a great little 5th grade advice video for 5th graders in one school to pass on to the younger students.)

I'm gradually working on improving my repertoire with Digital Storytelling tools (I'm familiar with several, such as Book Creator and Adobe Spark, but still learning how to use them well), and I suspect that Symbaloo is going to be my best friend this summer as I continue to find ways to curate some of the myriad of tools that land on my radar.

I still need to work on some of my social media tools and push myself further out of my comfort zone. I need to actively post on GoodReads...do more than occasionally flirt with Instagram...but I'm so thankful to have been able to explore so many different tools this year.

Comments

  1. pollyalidaJune 26, 2018 at 11:59 AM

    Thanks for participating and sharing so many interesting ideas.

    ReplyDelete

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