The Daring Librarian

Ain't it grand? Freedom of speech, blogs... opinions? The ability to mouth off & share? Buckle up dear readers, this is a wordy one...I'm gonna opine! Whether one person or one thousand reads it - I think very fact that we can publish to the WORLD freely our thoughts & ideas without license or permission... THAT my dear friends is a true definition of Web 2.0h,  the read write web. And I reckon, THIS is what we should be celebrating not hating on the nomination & voting process of Edublog Awards OR #Eddies12 ! I've gotta say being recognized for what ya do feels grand. It would be a load of BS to say otherwise, right? And though being included as a finalist after being nominated by your peers is heady stuff - it's the very fact that WE CAN EFFIN WRITE whatever the hell heck we want to write is the real winner. For a matter of fact the Edublogs is quite democratic & anyone, anywhere in the world can nominate any blog! It's not an American aw...

Only 3 weeks until the ISTE11 conference kickoff with Mario Armstrong! OhEmGee, I am SO excited! Besides being super busy with with ISTE Board service, meetings, poster sessions, Blogger cafe hanging, and playgrounds - I'll be presenting twice on two exciting (but very different!) panels! !! Game Show Learning! Learning Tools Family Feud: Crowdsourced Edition with Geek Tribe pals my dear mentor the amazing Joyce Valenza, super cool & smart Shannon M. Miller, slick Chad Lehman, hilarious & high-energy Nick "The Nerdy Teacher" Provenzano, and the wonderously sweet & funny Matthew Winner! With our special game show host the AWEsome Steve Dembo! Survey Says! This is gonna be GROOVY! We're gonna re-visit the favourite 70's Game Show with a Twist! We've crowdsourced the survey with over 100 of our PLN answering questions using a Google Form and will be going head-to-head boys against the girls to see if we can guess what the top learning tools wi...

The 2010 Edublog Awards – Nominations Open! Nominations: Close Friday 3 December! Voting: Ends Tuesday 14 December! Award Ceremony: Wednesday 15 December! The EduBlogger award nomination process is a wonderful opportunity Pay it Forward by recognizing those in our PLN for their hard work and generosity. Thank you all! (and I wish I could name more than one on several of these categories! Gah!) My Nominations: Best individual blog: Shelly Terrell , Teacher Reeboot Camp Always cutting edge, compassionate, and savvy - Shelley Terrel is a true web wonder! Best individual tweeter: Shannon Miller Shannon Miller has a zest for the new, the challenging, and is a true change agent in her school, district, & community! She also is one of Cengage/Gale and SLJ's 5 national new library leaders program! (me, too! YAY!) Best new blog: Sara Kelley-Mudie - K-M The Librarian Honest, fearless, and willing to share both triumphs and failures on her new blog, Sara Kelley-Mudie is an inspir...

I was asked to give a short overview about advocacy for school libraries (and librarians) to the middle school media specialists in my district and created a Prezi giving quick highlights. I based it on the powerful & informative School Library Journal article co-written by Joyce Valenza and Doug Johnson that really spells it all out! Things That Keep Us Up at Night along with a few of my opinions thrown in for good measure. This incorporates a lot things that I've been thinking lately AND issues we've been discussing at the TL Virtual cafe and within the Geek Tribe. I foresee this evolving into a larger presentation at some point - because we're all passionate about keeping school libraries funded and staffed nationwide - and being the best teacher-librarians we can be! Get the BIGGER Prezi Experience HCPSS Library Media Wiki

WARNING : Much like my AASL-Charlotte debrief this is bound to be a bit stream of conscience and edited over a few days. Background: This was a very special & crazy busy ISTE for me. After being newly elected to the board of directors of ISTE I had duties for my new position that would sometimes interfere with my ability to hang out at the Bloggers' Cafe, the SIGMS 21st Century Playground, and the SIGVE Second Life playground ....AND go to all the sessions I wanted to. But in all honesty? ...being able to go greet & thank attendees, vendors, & poster presenters on behalf of the board and serve was both a joy and an honor. (and fun!) The other ISTE board members and the amazing full time ISTE staff (more about them below!) were so awesomely welcoming and helpful! Especially Annette Smith and her amazing crew from Wisconsin and Mike Lawrence and his crew from CUE! See Annette Smith dancing the Affiliate dance! I got a LOT out of the Leadership Bootcamp by lurking o...