Only the Good Spy Young

Only the Good Spy Young by Ally Carter

Cammie Morgan questions the loyalty of her classmates and friends after she learns that one of her most trusted allies is actually a double-agent, and now danger follows her everywhere.

My Thoughts - I liked this book! I'd waited awhile to read it and it didn't disappoint. However, at the beginning I felt like I was dropped right into the story and I had to take some time to remember what had happened in the previous book. I would recommend to other readers to page through the previous book in the Gallagher Girls Series to remember what happened so you don't get confused when you begin this one! As always, there is a great cliff-hanger ending! I can't wait for Ally Carter to write the next book in the Heist Society series!

*Summary taken from CIP data.

Babymouse Skater Girl

Babymouse: Skater Girl

Babymouse is sad because everyone has a special talent and she doesn't know what hers is, so she starts ice skating and is excited when an Olympic coach notices her skills.

My Thoughts - Babymouse learns that if you really want something, you have to work hard at it. And if working hard at it is hard for you, you have to decide if what you are working for is really worth it to you! Funny and pink as always!

* Summary taken from CIP data.

Thing #23!!!

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

I had to look back at the whole list to find my favorites. I can never pick just one! I really liked Twitter and have been told by friends who use it often that it is adicting. I feel a little more hip knowing what it is and trying to use it. I really liked delicious too. I think that it is helpful to me, both professionally and personally. Learning about delicious really helped me understand tagging, how it works and how it helps! I liked the online image generators because they were just fun!

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?

This program made me learn but in a fun way--through play! I learn well this way. Having the time to participate in the summer is great! When it comes to technology related things, hearing someone tell me how to do it or just reading about how to do something isn't enough for me. I have to fiddle around with it and work with it to really learn how to use it. This program has also expanded my horizons and made me think about things in a new way. I have been challenged to become a serious Web 2.0'er and to encourage my collegues to join me!

Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

I am surprised at how Thing #15 challenged me to think about how important it is for me to learn all about the Web 2.0 world and apply it to my library. I need to really jump in and challenge myself to learn more and more and not just stop with these 23 Things. If not, I think I would be in danger of being left behind. Before I started this project, I was content to let the busyness of my day to day work keep me from learning the new Web 2.0 tools. But I know now that that isn't a good plan any more. I need to be active and not complacent about new things.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

I'm not sure. I liked that it was on a blog and that it was self paced. I liked that we had to create a blog to share our experiences and see what the experiences of others were as well.

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?

Yes!!! How about the Next 23 Things? Or 23 Things - Part 2?

How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities?

23 Things has been a relevant, challenging, valuable, self-paced professional and personal growth experience!

Thing #22

I was quite excited to see the Texas School Librarians ning but then disappointed when I logged in because of the small number of people who are members of that ning. I thought it would be a greater number of users and that they would be much more active. Instead, the Teacher Librarian ning seems to be more of what I was thinking the TSL ning should be. I think the nings seem to have similar information that I find on the TLA list-serv. I liked the groups feature, that allows people of similar interests within the profession to share information within a smaller group. There were a few I checked out, but there didn't seem to be lots of newer posts. I'm guessing this is because it is summer time and people are taking a break.

I don't see myself joining lots of nings, maybe just the Teacher Librarian ning and monitoring it for new ideas and a way to share ideas with a wider group of people. One of the things I like about my school district is that the librarians have monthly meetings. Sometimes we are split up by elementary and secondary level and sometimes we meet all together, but the most valuable thing about our meetings is the sharing of ideas. This seems like a virtual way to do this and on a larger scale.

Thing #21 - Part 2

Did I post my Photo Story correctly? When I tried to view it, the screen said it wasn't currently available.

Thing #21

Photo Story took me awhile. I have recently learned how to do Windows Movie Maker and I assumed they were similar, but they aren't. I was a bit confused at first because Photo Story didn't seem as sophisticated as Movie Maker. But once I understood they how they are different, things got better.

My Photo Story is an advertisement for a reading program I am planning to do in my library this year called Read it Forward. A few of my collegues heard about it from the Round Rock ISD librarians at a presentation at TLA this past spring. It is based on the idea from the movie Pay it Forward. We will distribute a limited number of the book Schooled by Gordon Korman for kids to read then pass the book forward to a someone else to read. We plan to have activites for the kids who have read the book to participate in throughout the year.

Thing #20

I found the following video at TeacherTube. It is a book trailer made by a librarian in my district. Book trailers are like video teasers for book, similar to movie trailers. It is for a great book: What I Saw and How I Lied.



(Ok. The embeddable player didn't work and I don't know why. I copied and pasted all of the info in the Embeddable player box, but it didn't work. It just posted html code when I published this post and it didn't link to the video. So I just pasted the info for the Video URL instead. If you know what I did wrong, I would love a tip in how to fix it!)

(Thanks for the comment! I fixed it!)

I think having access to these videos is great! There are lots of possible uses for teachers and students. I think it would be neat to allow students to create videos as their final product and post them to TeacherTube. There are lots of quick how to videos that are great--I especially like Common Craft videos! As a librarian, I like book trailers to use with my students. I took a course in making them and hope to put my finished product on TeacherTube for others to use.