Hi MILI folks (especially St. Paul) . . .

It sounds like there has been some confusion about the “Dribbling” lessons www.metrolibraries.net/pro/dribbling.html.  The main thing to focus on are the lessons at the top of the page which are listed under QUESTION, GATHER, CONCLUDE, COMMUNICATE, EVALUATE.  These are “little” lessons you may be able to add to your already established curriculum, and they focus specifically on research and information literacy skills (such as “Narrowing a Topic” and “Evaluating Websites”).  Beginning in January, I’ll be adding to this section, and I would love to know if you have suggestions of concepts to cover or content to include.

Farther down the main page, there are also links to lessons for some subject areas.  The only subjects currently covered are Art, Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies because those are the subjects the teachers in last year’s project taught.  However, this section is really only meant to show a few examples of lessons which effectively incorporate information literacy skills, and they are broadly organized by each subject’s MN standards.  There’s a chance that a lesson or two could fit into what you already do.  At the top of each page there is a link to additional resources which leads to a page with links to websites which consistently offer great lessons so you can find lessons that fit and incorporate info lit.  Also in January, I plan to add more subject areas so it is more widely applicable.  Again, comments and suggestions always welcome!  Maybe we can eventually add a button for that on the site . . .

 Hope this helps.  Great blogging everyone!!

I decided to use Google Reader for my aggregator.  (I like to say “aggregator” because it sounds like agitator and alligator.)  Bloglines looks cool, but it wasn’t as intuitive for me as GR; plus, I use Google, GDocs, Gmail, etc. and I want to use Picasa and more.

I’ve added a bunch of feeds . . . I think I’ll have to remove some after I see which I really like.  I put a link to GR on my blog so that I can get to it that way, too.

While doing this, I discovered a cool tool called Pagekeeper.org.  It is a bookmarking site for teachers and students.  It is not RSS, just a “favorites” site that you can organize in a way you can’t organize your desktop or browser favorites.  It is easy to use, you can access it from any computer (instead of saying “Erg, I can’t remember the site, but it is saved on my Favorite’s), and others can view your page if they know your username (no password required for anyone who is not going to edit the page).  So, take a look at it — my username is simply “Karen” . . . you can look at other people’s pages by searching for a particular subject or grade level.  I really love it!

Well, here is Thing 2!  Just in case you don’t click into my “About,” I’ll reprint the purpose of my site here:

******I like to hike. When hiking, I enjoy coming upon cairns — piles of rock which help me find my way. They are interesting creations, the products of several people who are helping to lead the way.

I am becoming a librarian. While becoming a librarian, I enjoy coming upon “library cairns” — words of wisdom which help me find my way in the library world. They are interesting creations, the products of several people who are helping to lead the way. 

This blog is a collection of the “cairns” I am discovering as I am FINDING MY WAY in the library world — ideas, articles, blogs, discussions, tools, and more — as well as a few of my own comments ( or “confessions”).  Mainly, I want to create a repository of all the great information out there about the future of libraries so that I will have markers to follow as I am finding my way as a librarian. 

Of course, I hope that others who are interested in going in the same direction might find the information in this blog helpful. And just as real cairns are created by more than one person, I hope that others will add their “rocks” in the form of comments, suggestions, links, and more. My thanks to you in advance.

 And, just in case you didn’t notice, “cairn” sounds like “Karen”    ******* 

The Metronet Information Literacy Project is continuing and expanding . . . and becoming the Metronet Information Literacy Initiative.  A great addition to this year’s program is the requirement of “23 Things” — exercises participants will complete in order to become more information/technology literate.

In the first reading I really liked the description of the other literacies: tool, resource, social-structural, research, publishing, media, computer, visual . . .

Fortunately, the second reading  led me to more resources that I can use for the MILI lesson plan website.

The third reading included a great chart: 

• Rename on Metronet homepage — Remove “Dribbling”
• Add button on Additional Resources pages to “Suggest a Resource”
• Organize by Research Process, Reliable Resources, Responsible Use (?)
• Add “Rate This Lesson” (?)
• World Languages . . . Special Ed, Theater, Geography?
• Less print (R learning style) oriented? Podcasts? Pics? Video? etc. . .

“The illiterate of the 21st century will be those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

                                                                                                          — Barbara Thierl

“Prepare to learn how to learn.”

“Life-long learning means we need to continually reinvent ourselves.”

“How can we advocate education as ‘national defense’?”

                                                                                                         — Bill George

C = D x V x F > R

Change = Discontent x Vision x First steps > Resistance                  

                                                                                                        – Doug Johnson

“Be an effective change agent.  No one jumps a 20-foot chasm in two 10-foot jumps.”

                                                                                                         — Scott McLeod