A Thankful Librarian

It's almost here... Thanksgiving break!  I have so much to be thankful for in my personal life, but what about professionally?  Yep, professionally as well.  I LOVE WHAT I DO!  Growing up, I never imagined myself as a librarian.  I ALWAYS had the career goal of being an English teacher.  For 11 years, I taught English in the traditional sense of literature and writing.  When I transitioned to the library last year, I feared I would lose touch with the very things that I loved the most about my subject area... sharing great pieces of literature and developing the skills of young writers. Thankfully, I still have the opportunity, on a daily basis, to share with students elements of literature and to assist students in growing as writers.  In addition, there are so many other reasons to be thankful.

• I am thankful for my colleagues who support my efforts to bring 21st century learning to our students.
• I am thankful for the students who have discovered the library and realize it is a welcoming environment with many resources available to them.
• I am thankful for abundance of free resources available that make building a 21st century library possible despite difficult economic times.
• I am thankful for my PLN that continually inspires me to continue to strive for change and advancement in the library and the way we educate our students.
• I am thankful for the opportunity to do what I love!

In this season of giving thanks, what are you thankful for?

About 2 months ago, I began a new venture called The Friday Find.  I wanted a simply way to share all of the wonderful tools that are shared with me through my PLN and other resources. 

I decided to create a wikispace for the sole purpose of  posting and linking web 2.0 resources.  The design of the wiki is simplistic - intentionally so.  I want to give people a fighting chance when evaluating new tools.  So often, I venture onto websites that contain hundreds of links to new tools.  For someone who counts every minute of each day, these types of websites can be overwhelming and defeating.  The Friday Find is organized by posting date. Each resource is linked for easy access.  And only 3 resources are posted each week.  Why 3?  3 seems to be  a reasonable amount when attempting to quickly assess the usefulness of a resource.  As mentioned earlier, many sites boast about having lists of the 50 newest tools, or the 100 best apps, or the 30 greatest resources...   Agh!  Too much, too much, too much.  Most teachers are only looking for one or two great tools to be incorporated into a unit / marking period / semester.  I want to encourage the use of new tools, so 3 it is!

The Friday Find includes resources to be used for a variety of purposes.  Some of the resources are new on the web 2.0 scene while others are oldies but goodies.  All of the tools are ones that I have taken the time to test and evaluate (using my judgement - not predetermined criteria).  There is no sense in posting a tool that is glitchy or destined to send a user down a path of failure.  It is my goal to share great tools that others will find useful. 

If you are looking for a great new tool or are simply curious... visit The Friday Find!