Friday, August 29, 2008

Unintended Consequences

I work at a school where a student who is reading and working AT grade level is notable, so a student who reading and working ABOVE grade level gets a certain amount of attention.

One of my fourth grade teachers introduced her class to Accelerated Reader and the STAR test yesterday. Most of the class was involved with this last year and were eager to start earning some points. The students were testing at the two classroom computers. One of the young men, a new student, watched for a few minutes and logged onto the system. He thought a minute and then entered the title of a Leven Thumps book that he had read last year. 70% and about 10 points! Another Leven Thumps title from last year, another 70% and the boy now has almost 20 points! Teacher administers the STAR diagnostic test. His reading range, as a fourth grader: 4.5 - 8.wayoutthere. Not normal for our school. She brings the young student to the librarian where we start planning how best to meet this customer's needs. We're going to be borrowing a lot of books from other libraries, because this kid likes to read, and WE don't have very much at his reading level, and in his interest areas.

He has been made to understand that this year we want him to test on books he reads this year, not that he read last year, but he was so happy to be part of AR that he improvised just a little. OK, I can work with this.

Mom is a teacher in our school. Let's talk. She transfered him in this year from a sister school in the district. A Lake Wobegon school where all the teachers are beautiful and all the students are above average. But the boy was miserable. Seems the school and teacher limited the boy to one visit to the library per week, two books per week, and both had to be at his grade level. Not personal reading level, but grade level. Mom talked to the teacher last year, this is the way it was.

So, I, the intrepid librarian with books spread across three book carts, and shelves with books spilling onto the floor, have promised I will keep up with the boy.

Why would a librarian, and a school limit a student in this way?

It's not hard for me to understand. We librarians are being told that the library of today is all about technology. Electronic products is what we are to be devoting our time to. No one will tell us how we are supposed to balance that against an already full day of providing reading resources to hundreds of students, so I suspect that many librarians have arrived at the solution: limit library book circulation. Fewer books moving in and out means the librarian may have the time to play with all the technology that someone (not my principal, my students, nor my students) is making clear is the most important aspect of our profession.

My customers come from homes where books are not plentiful. We are still trying to move them into the public library. Most are struggling to move into English, so we offer plentiful supplies of both English and Spanish books.

Five years ago, this school was barely acceptable in the TEA rating scheme. My principal brought me in, BECAUSE I was different. We took most limits off of circulation and are now circulating between 400 - 550 books, every day! This requires a lot of work on the part of library staff. But this is part of the school philosophy. We have a longer day and expect more from our students. So, we have now earned our second consecutive TEA rating of Exemplary! And we are pretty sure that emphasizing reading for pleasure plays a big part in this!

My library budget has been increased this year and I am being guided to apply for grants to facilitate even more materials and services. Don't tell me to cut down on my circulation. I won't do it. My principal won't do it. My teachers won't accept it and my students (remember them? they are my customers) demand more and more reading material. And I plan to meet customer demands!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

The Little Engine that Could meets Virginia

Took Virginia to our church day care center this summer, with the train and a copy of The Little Engine that Could. We set up the track and the train. Virginia wore a pink engineer's cap and was the conductor. She had a hole punch and validated train tickets for 3 and 4 year olds before they got on the train.


The conductor kept standing on the track, which caused some consternation from the engineer. She also decided that her ticket office was a high table against the wall, and away from the passengers.

That night, Daddy was putting her to bed and asked about her day. "Well, let me tell you!" she began. "I went with Papa Dan to help him, and he read the story, but I did all the work!"

Ah, youth!

Photo Story

Had lots of fun creating a little show on the Blue Tongued Skink. 3 slides, audio, music.

Spent over an hour trying to upload to the blog. Nope.

I think we can do this at school.

Audacity

Frustration has set in. I am wasting my time and my school's time. I have a library to open and I am ready to quit this profession.

I was able to record with some trouble. I was able to put it in a folder on my desktop but from there I went straight to trouble.

Apparently only one at a time can upload to Wiki. Great. There are 6 of us.

When Vaughn can devote 2 hours to me one-on-one, maybe.

Dan

Image Manipulation

Image Manipulation.

It can be done. It was done. Trading card would not cooperate.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Thing # 23 The End??

This journey has not been easy for me. I am an digital illegal alien, and I spent quite a bit of time lost in the desert without water.

Some discoveries:

Google Tools. And it's free
Teacher tube. And it's cool, and useful.
Open Office. Why are we still paying for Microsoft?? Are there really pitfalls we didn't explore, or does the world enjoy financing Bill Gates' lifestyle?
There are some great places to go for othere views on librarianship.

Some thoughts.

For the next classes, please offer some face-to-face, or phone-to-phone time for those of us who are totatlly intimidated by the technology. Something along the lines of catalog camp would be helpful. Not all would need it, but it should be available.

I will take the next podcast/vidcast class offered, if I can get some gentle one-on-one help.

What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Yeah, sure.

Had fun. Learned something.

Thing # 21 Podcasts and Vidcasts

Alrightty now! I can use this stuff. I finally find something where I can envision uses,I just don't understand how to do it. Due to technical problems (like not being able to spell technical problems) the podcast is not up yet. One of my hang-ups over new equipment (not new technology, but the equipment will be new) that will be coming, is a lack of vision as to how to use this stuff. A student-produced story should just about do this. Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy ride!

Friday, March 21, 2008

Thing # 22 Nings

Don'get too excited folks. I am skipping Pod casting until I can find my microphone. I know I had one here somewhere.

Nings. I went into the librarian sites. I can see that if I had a specific project that I didn't know where to start, like running a dog kennel out of the library, this might be the place to start. But, I am seeing an awful lot of groaning and moaning about how bad we have it, and I've kinda run out of time for that.

And I guess that is something to learn here. I saw it on TLC years ago. I am not the dumbest librarian out there. Nor, am I the smartest. Far from it. But as I went TLC, and tonight, the librarian NINGs, I absolutely know that I have it good. No, I have it great.

My principal drives me crazy, sometimes. I'm sure I drive her crazy most of the time. I would like more communication and more of an idea as to what is about to happen in my library and in my school.

On the other hand (the one with 6 fingers), I pretty much have control over my schedule. I have heard much about fixed vs flexible schedules, and how bad fixed schedules are. I always thought I had a fixed schedule because I try to see the same classes the same time each week. Well, with testing and all the other things going on, I, not anyone else, I change my schedule constantly.

I read lots of complaints about budgets. I have found a couple of things that work. I always have ideas as to what I could do with $500 or $1000. While talking with the boss, if I sense this is a good day for her, I kinda mention something I would love to do, if I had the money. Guess what? It works sometimes.

I also have built a reputation for being able to spend $600 well in a matter of minutes, so that when the boss gets told she can have money if she spends it NOW, she tells me. Give me a school subject, and I can put together a book order in a hurry.

My library is open. Literally. All hallways in the building empty into the library. The perimeter is a series of freeways with lots of traffic, all day long. The place is noisy, and nothing is sacred. On the other hand (the one with the webbing and fur on the palm of my hand) I get to see just about every teacher and staff member each day. This makes it very convenient for them to drop in with questions or requests. This also makes my work with the children very visible.

So, with the NING, I think it has a use. My next crazy idea will be paraded out there for comments and suggestions. Like answering the question "How much is a million?" by collecting pennies. Someone has done that, I know. Or how can I make my circulation desk more efficient without killing the fun?

Or, maybe, I can share how to run a model railroad over the non-fiction section. See, I told you I have it pretty good. Sometimes, I just have to stop the tedium, and get the little Santa Fe tank engine going.

Anyways, I am not through yet, Gotta make the podcast thing fly.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Thing # 20 WOW Factor

OK, Teacher Tube is worth everything.

The samples on the Library2Play site are wonderful. I think I can use all of them at school, now.

When I looked at the Texas History site from UNT, which promises a great time at that website, I found a fun little clip from a school group (high school) that shows me the possibilities of making UTube type projects from school.

So, here is my favorite. I hope to use it with a parent class to encourage literacy and reading to your child.

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=952a85b8551ba726a122

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Thing # 19 Web 2.0 list

I really didn't find much that I was interested in. I found some lists I might have been interested in, but found discussions of porno right along with discussions of everything else. Next.

Ma.gnolia.com Social Bookmarking. I am looking for something like this, but not quite this much. They offer the ability to share and discuss my bookmarks. All I want to do is mark a couple of sites for my students. I am not looking for coffee and a danish with a guy in Sacramento!

But, the basic thing, I can use. I establish an account with ma.gnolia and proceed to bookmark sites for my classes and students. Then I have the kids help me bookmark ma.gnolia on student machines. Now when I find an interesting site, I bookmark it in one place, and every machine in my school can find it.

My primary use right now will be game sites, many of which are blocked by the powers that be, wherever and whoever they are. A very free, and effective incentive for my students is the offer of 30 minutes free time on a computer. Good, free, un-blocked sites are not easy to find. My 5th graders can find them, but many of my 2nd graders are getting un structured access to the Internet for the first time. They don't have a clue where they want to go, and waste a lot of their (and my) time just typing the urls.

If I can show them one bookmark with many sites, without having to type it 12 times, I will be happy.

And free time does have educational value. Some of my kids are motivated by the offer of free time. Several have been perfectly happy in pure education sites like Odyssey and Kid Pics. The favorite right now is Scholastic, because of Goosebumps. And that, my friends, is reading.

Aren't I having enough trouble with English and Spanish? Ma.gnolia offers "bookmarklets" These made up words slay me.

By the way, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I just started singing: There's a light...... over at the Frankenstein place. Rocky Horror ruined my brain.

So, yes, this is useful.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Why do we do this???

OK, so I am taking a break from the technology Things.

I had lunch with "Eileen" this week. She earned the priviledge because she has earned more than 20 points in Accelerated Reader. Someone forgot to tell her that she could bring a friend (most of her class has long since had lunch with the librarian), so there she was, by herself, grinning at me in the library. I grabbed my lunch box and sat down with her.

You need to know that "Eileen" is a second grader. She will be 10 years old this summer. When Eileen came to Ms B's class in August (from a sister school district), it quickly became obvious that the girl did not yet know her ABCs! And guess what? There is no evidence in her record that any of a number of schools ever tested her for any learning disabilities. Ms B. has had an interesting 6 months, especially since she herself is fairly new to this teaching game (and by the way, the teacher is herself dyslexic). And we have seen remarkable progress. We probably broke several inane laws in September because Ms B. asked everyone in the school to help her with Eileen, while the incredibly slow process of needs identification crawled along. No one at my school shunted her off to the side because she was so far behind. No one told Ms B. she couldn't do anything until the entire process was done.

So anyways, here I am talking about reading to this dark haired angel, when she looks at me and announces: "Ms B. doesn't read to me anymore."

Whereupon, I, the librarian, immediately somewhat concerned, ask, "Why not??"

She smiled this smile that melted my heart and declared, "Because I can do it myself!!" There is intelligence in those eyes. There is determination in that face. And one of my teachers put it there!! So, Texas, you can keep your TAKS tests. My school is not going to leave anyone behind!!

Thing # 18 Microsoft Who??

Looked around the website for awhile before downloading Open Office. They do make it possible to pay for this, but this is the last thing they mention. Open Office really would like everyone to contribute time to improving the program.

So far the only downside I can see is how long it took me to download. At one point, on my desktop, I seemed to be in a loop.

The product looks enough like MS Word that I could easily create a document. Some features that I looked at, like envelopes, are in a different place, but seem better than MS Word.

Can I gather that if the district were to adopt this, our Geeks would be able to load it much quicker than I did?

A question I would have, is how much is our school district spending now on site licensing from Microsoft, and how much would we be willing to donate to Open Office for what could be a better product?

I really liked several places in the final download where they did not force themselves into my life as my one and only software. This may change when it is time for my next computer.

What a concept. I am impressed.

Thing #17 Play in the sandbox, WIKI

SoIwenttotheplaygroundandgotinthesandboxandstartedplayingandwashavinglotsoffununtilalittlegirlstartedthrowingsandandigotupsetandsaidi'mtellingandanywaystheyaskedmenottocomeback.

OK, been there, done that, find my comments in the sandbox cause that's all I have to say about that.

Thing # 16 WIKIs

Before I talk a bit about WIKIs, I finially found my avatar! It is on a sample page for a school WIKI. I never got into any of the avatars that I found while doing that project. Maybe I am just paranoid, but I don't want to ever give anyone on the Internet the impression that I am anything but a grumpy, 55 year old elementary librarian. The furry creature to my right not only bears a resemblance to me, but I think it conveys my mood at least once in the last week.

Anyways, I need to get on with WIKIs. I really can't see using them with my elementary school students anytime soon, unless it were as a way to write a policies and procedures handbook for the library, and the kids were to get input.

However, I can really see WIKIs as a great way for committees, and small working groups of teachers, to create grant proposals, projects, almost anything. Instead of having to come to one spot at one time to plan, I could put out a WIKI and tell my group how to get in.

This might also be a good way to improve on the "one-person-does-all-the-work current methodology of many of our campus projects, such as the carnival.

As my campus becomes better at keyboarding, it might be fun to create a story in a WIKI.

(For some reason, every time I type WIKI, it starts as WIKE. Is this the new footwear created by a committee?)

So, off I go.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Thing # 15 Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and Why am I so tired?

I found some useful ideas here.

Away From Icebergs was interesting.

Into a New World of Librarianship. Breaking down barriers. I don't know Vern, what barriers are in my library? There are no doors. My circulation is way up there, because we do not limit our patrons to 2 books a week. Heck, I have 2nd graders that we don't limit to 2 books an hour! Last week, in preparation for closing the library on Monday (laptop rollout) and Wednesday (TAKS) we pretty well let all students check out as many books as they could carry, without regard to age or current standing. And we survived!

Michael Stephens coins a term I could hang on someone who shall remain nameless - technolust. Going after technology because you can. In the same article he admonishes us to keep moving forward.

But the article I will talk to you about tonight is The Path to Becoming a Literate Educator (Barry is always pinging on me to technolofy!) here is a plan that seems to suggest starting with just a couple of teachers with drive and vision to move forward. They should include the librarian (That's Me!) and hopefully someone from the school or district who can help with the technobabble (Media Services, prepare to be boarded!). We will learn together. Blog (got that).

I see some good ideas for building a core of several classes with which to get technology learning kicked into high gear at my school.

Back to the district help, Yes, need that. I will need one-on-one help face-to-face.

Now, if I can just convince my principal that the TAKS is way too overrated.........

By the way, apparently I was numbering these posts wrong. This is Thing 15, and with some work, I got # 13 numbered right.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Thing #14 Technorati and other things I don't understand.

OK. The video of the Technorati people was, to me, more of a thing about blogging in general, and less about tagging. I tried looking at "School Library Learning 2.0" through Technorati but felt as if I was an univited guest listening in on random conversations that had been going on for months. I guess I don't get it, as usual.

While we are here, let's look at Dan's understanding of Blogs. A bunch of people, either semi-annyomious, or blatently out for a buck (newspaper columnists) post a stream of consciousness, 24/7. There is little citing, less proof that what they are saying is anything but drunken musings. Our own people in my school district (God bless them, they are the most knowlegeable people I know!) post constantly without giving their names.

It seems, from what I gathered from Technorati, that blogging is now what the Internet was 15 years ago. Anarchy. Anyone says anything they want, sharing their opinions, but not having to back anything up with facts.

Yet, in my reasearch classes in college, and in what I teach my students, we must have some sense that the source is legitimate and not just another student who could be making it up as they go (like me).

If blogging, and its close cousin, Wikipedia, are so wonderful, why is my school district spending so much money on dull, corporate databases that can back up everything they publish with citations?? A 5th grader who writes a paper about the presidential election based on what the other 5th graders in his class tell him, is probably going to write an interesting paper, but I doubt much of it will be relevant.

I get that I am supposed to be sampling blogs for new ideas and procedures, but I'm kinda busy working with my students right now. What I am doing in my library seems to work. The teachers respect me (they don't understand me, but they depend on me), my students love me, and I have some evidence that I am effective.

Using facts from Texas Education Agency, I can prove my effectiveness.

I was the Sterling City ISD librarian for 6 years. The high school was exemplary all six years, but not before I got there, or after I left. In fact, now, after 3 years, they are just acceptable. They also do not have a certified librarian anymore!

I have been at Treasure Forest Elementary for 3 years. before I arrived the school had never risen above acceptable, and at one point was almost unacceptable. In my three years, the school was "recognized" for 2 years and is currently "exemplary".

See, I made the difference!


See, what I have been seeing just these past few days reminds me an awful lot of what we used to do in the Army. Listen in on other people's converstations (Ever read The Puzzle Palace ?). But there was so much stuff out there, and you didn't always know who was talking, and it was just as easy for the other side to salt the airwaves with garbage and send us looking for boogie men while the real bad guys laughed themselves silly over how much trouble they were causing us. The National Security Agency can probably record every telephone call in the world, and store it on the biggest computers in history, but it takes a whole lot of analysis to find what is truly important. Most of it is not.

And the above paragraph is one of the reasons why I wear hearing aids today, too much listing to static in the hopes of hearing a really good morsel, like Gorbachev wears lace underwear! That's all my wife wanted to know.

Maybe this summer I will come into the Media Center and sit at the feet of my mentors and make sense of the blogosphere, but I will worry about that tomorrow, at Tara, after all..........

Thing # 13 Tagging and Del.icios or something like that

OK, now I'm really getting lost. Tag is a game I played as a child. Delicious is what I say about my wife's potato salad.

But I digress. I was unable to fully view the video due to audio problems that I do not believe are at my end.

Tagging really looks like more work than I want to do. When I tried to look at the examples of sweets, I could not see the point. I found myself in websites in every language except the one I understand.

And from my experience with cataloging materials, and the 650 marc line, there needs to be standardization of the tags, or it just will not work. I cannot remember my work login half the time, how am I to remember the tag system I made up for stuff I find just as easily by google?

Now, once I get rid of all my library books and quit reading to my children, maybe I'll have time to tag the Internet. Until then - Next!

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Thing # 12 Rollyo

So far I am less than impressed. You can't spend 20 minutes creating something unless you know where you want to search. If I know which websites I want to search, why do I need Rollyo??


Powered by Rollyo


Anyways, I tried.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Thing # 11 The Library Thing

I have begun to catalog my father's books in Library Thing. My parents moved into a retirement community last summer, and I took Dad's Clancy and Grisham collection because he really didn't want to part with it, but their new place already has more books than Mom wanted.

Library thing is real easy to use, especially after using TLC, two library circulation systems, and Marc Magician. With Library Thing, all I inputted was the ISBN and the location of the books (4th room).

I think I may catalog all of Dad's books and give him access to Library Thing.

I can see several uses for this contraption, now that you ask.

1. Teachers can catalog their classroom collections, quickly and easily. Tags could include ownership (school or personal), location, genre, author.

I can also see times when I might want to establish special collections for teachers or students.

What I really need to do with it, now that I think of it, is ask my students to catalog their personal collections. This could help me determine what AR quizzes I need to order, and might go a long way to demonstrate the state of our school's reading mindset.

Not a bad little tool.

But it's still cataloging. what is the marc tag for "go to bed, Dan!"??

Sunday, February 24, 2008

The Train in the Library






The most massive part of the Treaure Forest Rail Road is the 10 foot long stone arch bridge. 5th graders did the painting.

I tried to use a re-painted cheap Christmas train, but I wasn't happy with the performance of the train.

In one shot, my grand daughter, Virginia is helping me inspect the train.

And I have been getting suggestions that I be sure to measure everything before we take it all down to change the carpet. You bet. With luck, it will come back better than ever.

Thing # 10 Images



I had some problems with the image gizmos. The only one I could make work for me was the trading card maker.

I can see many uses for this one. I would like to make trading cards for about 50 of the authors in my library.

I have made a card from an activity from the past. I think we could have fun with this.

I think my colleague who does the morning broadcast for our school will have more fun with this.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Thing # 9 RSS

I'm still not all that wild about this whole blogging concept. Don't I shoot the bull enough at work where there are people who will tell me to shut-up!?!

The thoughts on how to choose who you get blogged by was interesting. OK, it was a high-tech version of older suggestions on surrounding yourself with people smarter that yourself. Like that's real hard for me.

So, to the assisgment for this particular treasure hunt. I didn't find a newspaper dated Feb 1, but a neighbor did have a seat cushion for a high school stadium.

What did I like? I liked Google Blog Search best, probably because the RSS gods actually gave me blogs when I searched blogs. I asked for "million pennies" because I am about to propose our elementary school collect them next year, first to raise money, but also because there may be no better way to show kids just how much is a million. A Gifted and Talented group was proposing everything I would, but the kids are doing all the work. So much the better.

What did I not like? most of the rest of the search methods. Maybe my feed just doesn't like me but I tended to find commercial news rather than the folksy stuff like me.

An unfortunate bit of timing is that right now, when you search "million and pennies" you are going to find all sorts of stuff on the lucky stiff who just auctioned off 301 pennies for ten million dollars!

An observation on postings. I Google Blog searched SBISD and found an article on a recent school bus shooting. The comments were almost as frightening as the shooting. I saw racism, vulgarities and just scary stuff. What was it a colleage called it last week? Cyber bullying or Cyber trash?

I can see curling up with a couple of search parameters and looking for people who have already answered the questions I am just now thinking of. Like I have that much time.

By the way, for those who miss the train, our second graders still get a kick out of running the train when they earn the time. I entrust the remote to my more trusted readers and let them supervise the others. So far the train has not left the tracks (that are over 6 feet above the floor).

The district will be replacing the carpet in my library this summer, so all furniture, including the book shelves have to come out. That also means the train must be disassembled this May. Wish I had paid more attention to how I built it!!

Blessings upon all

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Thing # 8 RSS

RSS Means Really simple syndication, but that doesn't mean anything to me. Really simple stuff might work.

Anyways, I created an account in Google, added several library blogs, my preacher's blog, and a library comic strip that hasn't really impressed me, yet.

What do I like about it? It's easy to do.

How do I think I might use it at school? I might look for blogs about grants, Accelerated Reader, and read-a-louds. I am interested in a project where we would try to help parents become readers to their children. I hate to re-invent the wheel, so I will look around for others who are already doing this.

With a little work, I think I could assemble a number of worthy feeds that could provide useful info to me without me having to search for it.

It's worth a try.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Why I am a Librarian

Last week I had an experience akin to a father teaching his daughter to ride a bike, or the first time a grandfather plays catch with his grandson.

I couldn't find the book I had intended to read to my Kindergarten classes, and the first class was on the carpet, criss-cross, indian style. In desperation I grabbed the first book I recognized, and headed for my seat.

Keep in mind that I am from a middle-class background where we five children were surrounded by books, picture books, chapter books, grownup books. (Dad's Clancy and Grisham collection is here for safe keeping, Mom says they are out of room!) We subscribed to the monthly Beginner Books in the early 60's.

So, anyways, here I am with a book I assume every 6 year old has memorized, since my 4 year old sister actually did.

Those of you who work with underpriviledged kids will understand when I tell you I actually introduced 200 children to "Green Eggs and Ham"!! They had never heard of it! What a rush!! Of course they loved it! We made it into a shared reading, I would stop and let them finish each line. When our protagonist (does he have a name??) fell into the sea, I held my nose and gargled "Sam, I Am". The place fell apart every time.

I have introduced my 4 year old granddaughter to many books, but last week, I did it for over 200 children!

This is supposed to be a post about technology, but if my Kindergarten and 1st graders have never had their parents read to them from the good Doctor Seuss, I have a bigger calling.

Did you realize there are only 50 vocabulary words in the whole book? Seuss was challenged by his editor to write such a book, on a bet, and set up a whole industry.

In the Spanish edition, Sam I Am become Juan Ramon, which does rhyme with "Juevos Verde con Jamon", the title.

I have actually eaten green eggs. It happens in the Army when scrambled eggs spend too much time in the field warming containers, known for some reason as mermite cans. I have eaten them in a box, and in a house. I'm pretty sure I've eaten them with a mouse. The mouse was present, not part of the meal.

We are trying to establish a reading culture in the library. Our 2nd graders are major players in Accelerated Reader, a program where you read a book and then take a test over it. The computer awards points based on your score. Our second graders know how many points their classroom champion has, and also track the progress of neighboring classes. Dog tags for 50 and 100 points are worn proudly like Olympic medals. Friday afternoon there was real buzz among the dozen youngsters who were testing in the library when Christian, a precoucious Kindergartener, stepped up to the computer and took his first test of the day. All crowded around to see if the lad could do it. 100%. He tested on his second book. 100%. Whispers and comments of admiration and respect. A Kindergartener!

I actually get paid to do this. Life is good.

Thing # 7 Google and other venal sins

OK, boys and girls, I'm back. Bless me Father for I have sinned. It's been a month since my last posting. After getting set upon by two colleagues at today's library meeting over being AWOL, I am back.

But now I remember why I was gone. Google. My assignment is to play in Google.

So I tried to do Google notebook. A friend said I would like the features. I suppose I will when I can find the instruction book. Google has spent so much time shoving the toolbar at me, they forgot to tell me what to do or how to do it once I get into the notebook.

Now, I have looked at Google Maps, I go there all the time. I like to look at airfields and harbors on satelite, realizing that the images are about two years old, based on progress on the Katy Freeway.

I plan to use Google Maps and the satelite feature with my classes. I will start with the image of the US, zoom in on Texas, then to Houston, and finally to our school neighborhood. I dont' think many of my kids understand how their neighborhood fits into the Very Big picture.

So now that I have vented my frustration over Notebook, I am going back in. Someone cover me. Make sure the rope around my waist doesn't get tangled around my neck!