Blogs here, blogs there, blogs everywhere

The time has come to finally figure out this blog thing that people talk about.  I have to admit that I'm no blogger, and I don't know if I'll ever feel comfortable calling myself that.  I figured out, by doing search after search of these so called blogs, that often times these blogs are basically composed of people who want to share their opinions.  I found some extremely helpful blogs and some that I want to revisit when time allows, but some blogs were just, for lack of better words, blah. 

I decided to focus my efforts on creating my Blog Reader using Bloglovin'.  I liked the name, for one, and it was terribly easy to navigate.  This Blog Reader is user friendly and allows the user to navigate the many blogs that can be added for a later time.  The Blog Reader, Bloglovin', has a friendly feed that allows me to read any updates from my favorite bloggers that I happen to be following.  If I wanted to add a blog, it gave me that option and was easily added.  I searched Bloglovin' and found some awesome blogs and added them to my feed along with some new ones that I added along the way. 

The first blog I decided to look at was the suggested School Library Display blog.  I've since added this to Bloglovin', the link is: http://schoollibrarydisplays.blogspot.com/

This blog allows the reader to navigate tons of useful information regarding displays at a library.  I was interested in reading about their crafts and what they do to create appealing displays when it comes to one particular author or book. 

The next blog that interested me was the blog created just for story time.  The title is Story Time Secrets and its link is:  http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/
As an elementary teacher, this interested me beyond words.  I wanted to know what I can do to make story time more interesting for the little ones and sometimes that means that I have to dress up or bring out puppets.  I already knew that much, but it's always nice to know that I'm not the only one making a fool of myself.  Besides, it's fun and that's all that matters.

My third blog of choice was Children's Literature Book Club.  The link is:  http://childlitbookclub.blogspot.com/
I love the idea of creating fun and easy book clubs for everyone to enjoy, but especially little ones.  This is something that I would DEFINITELY have in place at my library.  I can't imagine anything more fun than meeting with these children and talking about a book they enjoyed.  This blog is an excellent resource to have.

Second to last is Caffeinated Book Reviewer.  Link being:  https://www.tumblr.com/search/caffeinated%20book%20reviewer
This blog is highly saturated with opinions, but what else are book reviews made of?  This Tumblr blog is an extension of the web site with a similar name.  It's always nice to get an opinion that may or may not vary from yours regarding a book and maybe a lesson that can come out of the book.  It's definitely nice to know that something like this blog exists and that I can contribute to the discussion if necessary.

Last, but not least, I decided to look at Me, Myshelf, and I.  Clever name!  Its link is:  http://meemyshelfandi.tumblr.com/
This blog is by far the most eclectic and full of varying information.  It's quirky and fun and gives the reader an opportunity to see different aspects of books and reviews.  This blog has more than 16,000 followers, so I'm assuming it's doing something right. 

I found that there are pages dedicated to school library blogs and they're easy to access and conveniently placed in worksheets or charts.  Here is a link to one example:
http://www.onlinecollege.org/2012/07/10/100-best-blogs-school-librarians/

 I also determined that Tumblr, which has been in existence for a while, is quite popular with some up to date subjects and blog entries that are extremely relevant.  Librarians are able to connect with like minded people through Tumblr and can see how others are operating their libraries and maybe get an idea or two to improve their own library.  I decided to play around with Tumblr a bit and posted a pretty cute bulletin board that I created at my school and I wanted to share the end product.  http://melisa473.tumblr.com/  I'm sure I'll be adding more content to this blog in regards to my school work. 

I'm actually starting to enjoy navigating these blogs and having a place like Bloglovin' where I can collect the information and get back to it when I have time.  It truly is a blog world out there.

Online friendships: Are they real?

Lenhart, A., Smith, A., Anderson, M., Duggan, M., Perrin, A., “Teens, Technology and 

      Friendships.”  Pew Research Center, August, 2015. 

      http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/08/06/teens-technology-and-friendships/.

 

Online friendships: Are they real?

            The debate continues on whether or not online friendships are true or just a casualty of Internet trolling.  Add to this the wave of teenage years and adolescence at its best.  Are teens creating lasting friendships formed through social media?  The majority of social interaction is often seen in social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and various other sites that are popping up daily.  Teens are using these sites to form friendships that may or may be genuine.

            As a mother, this poses an interesting situation.  Although my daughter is not quite a teenager, she is exposed to online player who are significantly older than her asking for friendship requests in order to play online together.  I am aware of these and put in place my parental controls, but it makes me wonder if other parents do the same.  Can we truly expect these online friendships to be genuine and do teens view them as such?

            Data addressing these very questions was collected for the Pew Research Center.  1,060 teens, ages 13 to 17, were surveyed from September 25 to October 9 and February 10 to March 16, 2015.  The data collected attempted to address how teens are forming online friendships and in what capacity.

            As we well know, it’s crucial for teens to form friendships and maintain those friendships in a healthy manner.  Social media has made it incredibly easy to connect with people 5 miles to 5,000 miles away.  The data collected reflected 57% of teens met a new friend online (p. 15).  The majority of these friendships were formed through social media or online gameplay (p. 17). 

            Even more of a concern to me is that 20% of all teens have met an online friend in person (p. 21).  That is definitely a scary thought.  I would hope that the data collected is accurate and that teens surveyed were truthful in giving the information.  I don’t know how I would feel if those numbers were bigger.

            The data also concluded that boys are more likely than girls to make online friends (p. 19).  This could be attributed to the online gaming community.  The research shows that online gaming builds stronger connections between friends (p. 48). 

            In contrast to teenage boys’ online activities, girls are also more likely to unfriend, unfollow, and block former friends (p. 68).  Teens come in many forms, but most would agree that friendship is perhaps a top priority.  83% of teen social media use makes them feel more connected to their friends’ lives (p. 54).  Some of these connections include causing or creating drama to receiving support when support is needed (p. 56).  Some teens have felt pressure to post only flattering content (p. 60).  This is just another form of conformity and pressure to look a certain way.  This may or may not lead to self-esteem issues which could become a bigger problem later on.

            The numbers are staggering, to say the least.  55% of teens spend time every day text messaging, 79% use instant messaging, 72% spend time with friends via social media, 64% use email, 59% use video chat, 52% via online video gaming, 42% use messaging apps such as Kik and WhatsApp (p. 3). 

            The most disturbing trend for me is the friendship that finds its way out of the online community.  Teens between ages 15 to 17 make about 60% of teens meeting friends in someone’s home, school, or online platforms (p. 31).  The first thing exchanged is a phone number (p. 22).

            It has become increasingly easy to join social media sites with little or no age requirements.  For this reason, parents need to be aware that it’s happening with ease and on a daily basis.  Teenagers have loads of pressure already from what I can remember.  Do they really need to use technology to achieve lasting friendships?  I sure hope not, but you never know.

 

75 pages

 

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/7927201-teens-technology-friendships

RED HOT Twitter-verse

          Being new to Twitter, I had no idea what to expect.  You know when you’re faced with something new and you don’t quite know what to feel about it?  Should I be excited?  Should I be scared?  Am I going to like it?  Questions, questions, questions.  However, I found the most important question I was asking myself was, am I going to know what to do?  The truth is, I don’t know what to do and I’m slowly navigating this new form of social media.  I have to admit that I’m an avid Facebook user and this “Twitter” people speak of, is a mystery. 

          As I navigated my way through Twitter, I used the search box to locate the names of the people I was supposed to follow.  At this point, I assumed I was following their feed and not them literally.  I found the names and clicked the obligatory “Follow” button and was immediately receiving their recent posts.  The posts varied and some made complete sense to me while others were a bit strange, to say the least.

1.                  I noticed that Kathy Schrock @kathyschrock was enthusiastic about starting a new school year and posted a video of teachers breaking into a rendition of Les Miserables with a variation of lyrics.  Kathy mentioned that every school district should do this type of orientation at the beginning of the school year.  I liked that idea, but please no one ask me to sing. 

What every teacher opening day faculty meeting should be like! https://youtu.be/cGMlPDlY094  You set the bar high, @WDMCS!

            Linda Braun @lbraun2000 believes that there are educational purposes to games such as Minecraft.  It’s an interesting point to explore.  Tony Vincent @tonyvincent is an enthusiastic Twitter user that often incorporates “Tip Tuesday” to help his followers use different types of technology and tries to make things clearer for those of us that may not be as tech savvy.  Tony often tweets about apps that may be free on certain days and this allows followers to jump at the chance to try something new without having to pay for it.

          Buffy Hamilton @buffyjhamilton is a very outspoken Twitter user that often times does not mind posting that she is battling some ticks and I’m hoping they came from her dogs.  She often speaks out about the lack of funding, mistreatment of women, and sometimes tends to wander into tangents that have to do with weather or travel.  It was a refreshing page of funny quips, whether they were meant to be funny or not. 

          The Daring Librarian, love this name, @GwynethJones is a colorful page filled with loads of information for school teachers.  On the plus side, Gwyneth Jones has red hair just like me!  What I found most interesting is her retweet about park rangers being able to Skype with students.  I truly love this idea since we cannot travel to Yellowstone, but let’s bring Yellowstone to the classroom.  Completely awesome!

Did you know that @YellowstoneNPS Rangers can #Skype with classrooms? Find out more: http://msft.it/6013BHLwc  @SkypeClassroom #MSFTEDU

 

            Lastly, Jim Lerman @jimlerman posted a tweet that is near and dear to my heart.  He posted a tweet that shows how technology can help improve nature. 

Injured tortoise gets new face thanks to 3D printing store ^ ABC7 News ^ by Lindsay Watts http://sco.lt/7LDk8H 

Sometimes it’s hard to keep things in perspective when it comes to technology, but when some good can come out of it, I’m all for it. 

          I have to admit that I felt somewhat like a lurker, just lurking around these pages and hoping to find something I may have in common with these leaders.  I found that it’s impossible to say I like this person or that person when in reality, I don’t know them.  I’m learning about them, but how much can we truly learn from someone’s page or tweets?  I enjoyed reading their posts and I enjoyed finding out that some pages offered contests for free signed books.  It’s something that will definitely keep me interested.  Happy Tweeting!