Thing #5 Flickr

How about this image....George Washington's teeth! I was frustrated with the amount of pictures to weed through to find what I was looking for. I originally wanted examples of library signage and found some great examples, but then would get stuck in that person's album. Each album had many other pictures other than what I was looking for. Very frustrating! I then decided to head to the creative commons and located some fantastic historical pictures. Children are fascinated with the story of George Washington's teeth and these will be a wonderful lead-in to the book George Washington's Teeth. I also liked the discussion that went with this photo. Many went with general or political comments but others gave a historical perspective that will be invaluable background information. I will keep Flickr in mind when introducing different concepts in the library. Many images can also be found via EBSCO and Encyclopedia Britannica our online Databases. EBSCO provides templates for analyzing photos.

Thing #3 Blogs and Avatars!

Finally, I finished Thing #3. I have been putting off creating a blog; there are so many blogs available and I just didn't want another nondescript blog. I love to read others blogs, but it seems to me that enough is enough and I couldn't quite grasp how to make mine different, interesting and pertinent to others. The actual creation of the blog was easy, for the most part fear is the biggest drawback and I realized that I could click on any button and search without doing damage. I may have more difficulty when trying to personalize my blog and trying to interest others in being a part of my blogging experience.

The Avatar was also easy to create. It helps that I had played with Avatars and knew the basic layout and process. The difficulty I had was in exporting it to my blog. It was frustrating enough that I finally closed it all out and walked away for a few minutes. Luckily, I have enough background knowledge of exporting items that I went back tried a new direction and it worked. I do feel sorry for those that do not have some experience or are still in a mode of fear that something will break or explode by clicking on it.

Thing #2 LifeLong Learning

Reflecting on 7.5 Habits of Lifelong Learners I am trying to apply habit number 4 "have confidence in yourself as a competent effective learner" in my latest endeavor...learning to play the guitar. The quote "words become your reality" hit home when I discovered myself telling people I am the worst guitar player ever. I am attempting to change my mindset by telling myself and others that I am the best beginning guitar player ever. I have created my own learning toolbox (#5) by choosing to take lessons, set aside times for practice, purchasing the proper equipment etc.

Habit 7.5 is my constant struggle...PLAY. How many times do I expect to be perfect and if not perfect then I don't want to continue. In my example of playing the guitar I am quickly learning that new skills that are not automatic require time, practice and patience and it is okay to have fun learning. Life does not hinge on how quickly I can become competent, but on how I enjoy the learning along the way.