Infographics

I really enjoyed making an Infographic.  I think when we make things visual it makes it a lot easier for the reader to understand.  Piktochart was the one that I liked the least.  I didn't like how dark the page was because I didn't feel that it was welcoming and I also thought it made it kind of hard to read and navigate around the page.  I felt that it was not as organized as the other two possibly because it was really busy to me.  However, it did include a YouTube tutorial right away.  This was helpful, but I still liked the other two more.  I thought Easelly was very user friendly.  I like how Easelly was welcoming and their colors were bright.  It was simple to navigate and you could include anything you needed to.  I decided to use an Infogram and I really enjoyed it.  I thought it was easy to use and navigate.  It also had the dark colors, but I felt that because the page wasn't so busy it was a balance.  All offered templates you could start with.  There were plenty of different options to fit what you needed it to.  You could edit and change the template you chose to work with your information.  You could also start with a blank page on all three if you needed to.  Overall, great experience!

Check out my Infographic: https://infogram.com/flow-dark-1hxr4z9wd89e6yo?live 

Facebook/Twitter

Until this assignment I had never really searched different library pages on Facebook.  I learned that our county library has a Facebook and even though I know this is existed because we are a pretty big county I never thought to go look and check it out.  I also came across a lot of school library pages.  One high school library page that I came across was Cinco Ranch High School.  I really enjoyed this page because they were sharing what is going on in their library and in the community.  These events they were sharing are going on in the summer, so students can get plugged in else where during the summer.  This library is also open during the summer, but has different hours, which were posted.  I thought this was super cool because our libraries in my district are closed during the summer.  Another page I came across was Swenke Elementary Library in Cypress.  I also liked this page because it shared different activities or events that were going on at the school.  With the majority of the post there was a picture or a meme with it.  I thought this was great because pictures catch our eye.  All the Facebook pages I came across were fun and informative of what was going on in the school, the library, and the community.  Some just had more school things posted.  One advantage to having a Facebook page is that it gets the word out for your parents, students, and community to see.  This is a page they can go look to when they have a question or are curious about what is going on.  A disadvantage is that not everyone has a Facebook or might not allow their children to have one.  You would just want to make sure your important "need to knows" were on your website.     Overall, I think having a Facebook page for your school library is a plus.

Twitter is something that I am still getting comfortable with.  Most of the professors I already followed.  I love following them because I really enjoy how they post about all the different books they are reading.  I also like how if you have a question about a book, technology, or anything education you can post it and someone is quick to reply with an answer or lead you to an answer.  Twitter is so beneficial when it comes to wanting someone else's opinion about something.  If they don't know how to help or guide you they will lead you to someone who does.  I really enjoyed Jim Lerman's Twitter page.  Her shared about math, science, and critical thinking tools.  Something he shared that led you to his scoop that I explored deeper with was a post about De Bono's Critical thinking.  It discussed they different hats of critical thinking.  It told you what each color meant.  Jim Lerman (@jimlerman)   sco.lt/7bDtIn I enjoyed this one about critical thinking because it is something that I struggle with from day to day with my students.  You can use a lot of his stuff in the classroom and the library.  I felt that he shared a lot about taking your students the extra mile with creativity.  I also really enjoyed Kathy Schrock's page.  She shares different things and explains them a little.  I really liked this because it gets you more interested when you know a little bit about it.  For example, she posted about Padlet and Jabber and explained both in her post.  Twitter is just a great "go to" to be familiar with because you can find anything that is going to pertain to you about technology, books, and education in general.  I like that they all shared a little bit about their personal life too and what they are doing! Overall, I need to get more comfortable with Twitter.  

Blog and Blog Readers

My Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/laurenashleybaker

I chose to use Feedly.  I think that Feedly is easy to navigate and it was really east to set up.  You can click something you want to follow on it as well and choose what you want to save it under.  For example, I started following Stacks and I saved it under Library.  Also you could use google for all your login information, so I thought that was a plus.  I really like that you can choose what posted today to read or you can save something to read later and then go to your "read later" tab when you want to access it.  You can also remove things you don't want with "filters." This is really cool because if you are reading or checking out a blog and then don't want it then you can filter it.  You also can create board with your favorites or something you know you will want to go back to often.  Overall, great website and easy to navigate.

5 BLOGS 

1. Mighty Little Librarian - http://www.mightylittlelibrarian.com/

In this blog I noticed she discussed how you can tell when news is fake.  She shares the different events she attends and what she learns at them.  She also discusses a lot about social media.  I feel that this blog is more about technology, but a good one to follow.  I followed this page because we are becoming more and more about social media.  The school I work at now just started really using social media this year.  

2. Elementary Library Mama - http://www.elementarylibrarymama.com/

This might be my favorite blog that I found.  Her about me was so inviting and just made you really excited about being a librarian. She shares different lessons with activities and all the books you need to go with the lessons.  I really enjoyed this page and it was very appealing to the eye.  I followed this page because I can see myself using it in the future and getting different lessons and ideas from it. 

3. Library Patch - http://www.librarypatch.com/

This was another page that was super inviting and appealing to the eye.  What I really loved about this page is that the librarian shared “5 Ways to Supercharge Summer Reading” It discussed why students need to keep reading and different ways that they can.  The page was very organized and easy to navigate.  I followed this page because it also provided me with lots of different things I can use in my library one day. 

4. Mr. Library Dude -  https://mrlibrarydude.wordpress.com/

This blog was not as appealing to the eye as the elementary libraries, but still offered a lot.  He is a librarian at Carrol University in Wisconsin.  Even though he is a librarian at a college I still thought he had a lot to offer.  He shares about different things he has tried or something he might like.  There is no schedule to when he post he just does when he wants and post about what he wants.  I liked this because you never know how it could pertain to you one day when you are working in the library. 

5. The Absolutely True Adventures of a School Librarian - http://www.nikkidrobertson.com/

I enjoyed this blog because it was a little different.  She shared a lot about herself and what she is doing.  I felt it was not as easy to follow, but once you started reading and watching the different videos she has posted you really got into it.  I liked that she shared a lot of technology stuff on her page.