I’m so excited
about being able to see all my favorite blogs in one place, by using a blog
reader! This is such a helpful
tool! There were so many enticing
readers to choose from. I wish I
had more time to play with a few more, and I’m sure I will in the future. As for now, I chose the reader,
NewsBlur, mainly for two reasons: simplicity and price. There were a few other readers that
caught my eye, but they seemed a little out of my league (for the moment) or there
was not a free version. Since I’m
just starting out using these readers, I want to be able to explore without
commitment, just yet. Other
aspects of NewsBlur, that appeal to me, are the way that you can change the
view of your feed, from a simple view or to where you actually see the site’s
info that you are following. In
addition, although I haven’t had a whole lot of time to play with this feature,
I like that it has smart filtering where you can highlight or hide stories, so
that you see only what you are interested in. I also like that you can share what you’re reading within
the blog, and see what other’s are reading too. Seems like a good way to be introduced to sites that I might
not otherwise ever know about. Since
I got the free version, there were aspects that I couldn’t gain access to, that
I think would prove beneficial, should I decide to stick with this blog
reader.
Blogs that I chose to follow in my blog reader:
Cozy Up and
Read
A blog about
early childhood education and children’s literature. The blog shares book recommendations and ideas on promoting
literacy. I chose to follow this
blog because I want to be an elementary school librarian and I think this blog
will greatly benefit me in that role.
I think I will learn a lot of great things to implement in my library
and to share with teachers as well, as to how to promote literacy.
Musings About
Librarianship
This blog
shares interesting and cool ideas for libraries. Although it’s not strictly for school libraries, I feel like
this blog would introduce me to ideas I might not know about and help me to
stay current with technology or other current ideas.
American
Association of School Libraries
A blog that
shares news and information about Libraries and Librarians. I chose to follow this blog because it
will help me as a professional. I
can stay up-to-date on important news, as well as current events in the school
library world.
American
Library Association TechSource
This blog
lists reports on different technology.
I chose this blog to follow because it will help me to make informed
choices about technology that I might want for my future library or
school.
Information
Literacy meets Library 2.0
A blog about
the latest technology and tools for learning. I chose this site because I want to stay up to date with
technology. This site introduces
technology and shares ideas on how to use it in education.
Watch.
Connect. Read
Book trailers
covering the best children’s literature.
Created by the librarian, Mr. Schu. I chose this blog because I like book trailers and I think
students do as well. I think this
would be a great blog to share with students. It also introduces me to new books as well.
A note about Tumblr…
Tumblr is a microblogging platform and social media website,
similar to twitter. In searching
for school libraries, to see how schools are using tumblr, I found many
similarities between how schools are using tumblr and what I found upon looking
at how schools used facebook. I
saw a lot of book reviews and pictures of students in action in the
library. This isn’t my favorite
platform to use, but probably because I’m not as familiar with it, as I am
twitter or facebook.
