Getting Going

Welcome to the Wild Animal Explores Blog! If you're reading this, thank you. I named my site after my favourite quote from a Monty Python skit wherein the character says, "You see, I don't believe libraries should be drab places where people sit in silence, and that's been the main reason for our policy of employing wild animals as librarians." The first time I saw that quote, which was only about six months ago, I laughed so hard. I thought it was incredibly appropriate for both me and my library which is a happening, busy and very wild place!

I have created this blog for the purpose of fulfilling an assignment requirement as I work toward my Masters in Education specializing in libraries. The course is a Web 2.0 exploration course, and practical in nature. I will actually be investigating and using the variuos tools that I keep hearing about, and some that are brand new to me. The plus side of this is that it gives me license to actually just play around on the computer, something I don't take the time to do.

Honestly, as much as I am willing to embrace technology and the many advancements that are available, it scares me. I find that I want to learn about them for work, so that I can incorporate them into my classes and perhaps raise the level of engagement as well as teach new skills, but I am not anxious to take the time to learn about them in order to fit them into my personal life. I love my e-mail, but rarely use my Facebook page, and I have never twittered or followed blogs on a regular basis. I'll say it is a time factor, but I can't promise that's an honest answer. In fact, I would suggest it has less to do with time, and more to do with fear.

Last year, I worked with a Learning Support Facilitator named Carlene Walter who helped me to create a blog to do a To Kill A Mockingbird project with my students. It was a great project, and I enjoyed it as did my students. At any rate, we did the project on Blogger which is why I chose to create my own blog here - a level of familiarity. Unfortunately, Carlene did most of the setting up, so I have found it a brand new learning experience for me to do it myself this time!

I tried to use Gimp, a Web 2.0 tool that is free and allows a person to manipulate images to create a banner on my page. I wanted an animal print background. I'd never heard of Gimp before, but it was suggested by my friend Carlene when I explained what I was trying to do. Since I have no experience with any image manipulation, the whole process was probably a lot more trying for me than it would be for someone who had half a clue about what he or she was doing! My first attempt took me a couple of hours, and I did manage to create a banner with an animal print background, however, it wasn't big enough to fill the banner on my blog page. So, I deleted everything and went back for another try. This time, it took me half an hour to figure out what I had done before, and then I wasn't able to do it again! I could create the banner, but I could only get one small square of animal print into it and couldn't manage to make it longer or fill up the whole banner. After about 90 minutes of fooling around, I gave up again. Not for good. I will give it another go, but I intend to find an expert to give me some advice first. In the interim, it'll be a pretty plain page!

I was pleased that I could get the blogs I follow listed, but I am very puzzled by a slide show from Asia that appeared in my blog list. I cannot figure out how to delete it, and I don't know how it got there. Very strange! Another question for the expert I have to bribe to answer my many questions!

I am looking forward to working on my own blog. It will, hopefully, reflect my learning and my questions about the new tools I am working with. I'm really excited to learn about the new tools. I have actually had my students use some of them, but they seem to be so much better at figuring out how everything works on their own. For example, I have had the kids create and maintain a wiki, but I didn't actually teach them how to do it. They figured it out. I think that's one of the main differences between the learning styles of kids today and me. I am content to have someone instruct and show me how everything works. Kids today are much more inquiry oriented. They seem to enjoy playing and problem solving (which is a good thing) whereas I seem to be more impatient with the process. I wonder if that will change as I move through this course?