Social Media Lets Me Down

As an avid user of social media, I was convinced that this week would be a breeze. I'd find a few social media accounts I liked and boom, I'd be done.

I was very wrong.

Finding quality school library accounts that I felt would actually assist me in professional development was much more difficult than I had anticipated. A lot of Pinterest posts, for example, seemed great at first, but then I realized most seemed to be teachers trying to monetize their work on Teachers Pay Teachers. I don't know why, but this feels really skeezy to me. It shouldn't! People should get paid for their hard work! But as someone just trying to get ideas, it made me pause because I don't want to be duped into thinking an idea is original, only to find out that it's sponsored or a ~partnership~. Again, nothing wrong with that, but I was really looking for more organic-feeling posts, nothing super sleek. I feel kind of crazy even saying that, but I want to see the real world, not just a fantasy school.

I do think I found some great resources. I really like The School Librarian's Workshop Facebook group. A woman posted this week about what she should leave behind when she retires, and it was interesting to see what people found useful or frustrating when they took over a job from a retired librarian. It seems to have given people a lot to think about. That's the kind of material I wanted to find - accounts or groups that make you think and consider whether you are performing to the best of your ability.

I expected to find more on Twitter. I am sure that as the years go on, I'll come across more hashtags that will lead me to accounts I find inspiring. Same for Instagram. I am excited to check out the #diversepicturebooks tag that was shared in this week's discussion board. I've started following that, since I'm always looking for new books to read with my own children. It very well could come in handy in a future work environment, too.

Creating my own social media plan was much easier. I've been following how my kids' schools use social media and how my friends' workplaces (various archives) use it, so I was able to use what they do with what I want to do to create my plan. I've also been an active user of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat from their early years, so I feel fairly confident in using them at work, as well. I think I understand the dos and don'ts of professional social media, which you won't see reflected on my personal accounts necessarily, and will be able to carry that to my future school.

Honestly, I'm kind of excited about using social media to promote my future library. Here's hoping I get a job in a school where this is encouraged!

Time to admit I am not as current with tech as I thought

Technology sure does move fast! This week I've spent a lot of time thinking about how technology has changed in the past 10 years. And then I got thinking about how it was ten years before that. And then I realized that is going to be a challenge to keep up with this stuff when I'm working full-time. It's hard enough to do when I'm just a student (and mom and volunteer and general person trying to live her life). That's why I'm so happy for people like Joyce Valenza who are able to be exposed to so many kinds of technology and do some initial analysis for librarians and educators. I'm including her list of tech trends from 2015 and my reaction to them behind THE JUMP! at the end of this post.

I really enjoyed the experience of using Flipgrid, not so much because of Flipgrid itself but because of how it forced me to think of integrating technology into lessons. Initially I just thought, "Oh, this would be cool to use as an alternative to a traditional speaking assignment." Then I went further. "What if there is a journalism class at the school?" You could use Flipgrid or another video app as a way to simulate television reporting where you may only have a short time to convey a message. What if you have a student who is home for an extended illness but is trying to stay involved as much as possible? You could use a video to have them record their speech and present it to the class that way. (Then take a video of the class's reaction and send it back.) I know none of these concepts are groundbreaking, but this was a good reminder that new technology can make these sorts of things more accessible. No longer do you need to set up a huge camcorder in the back of the room to make simple and short presentations. I'm glad that I've had the opportunity to play with Flipgrid because it got me thinking about ways to engage with the faculty and the library's resources.

Social media is another topic this week that I feel strongly about. I know that I'm old by students' standards, but I'm a millennial, goshdarnit, and I'm going to use social media to the best of my ability.

via GIPHY

I hesitate to do too much with social media before 8th grade due to these sites' age restrictions, but I know that older students could benefit from using social media as a way to engage with experts in areas they're studying and to stay abreast of current events that affect certain subjects. For example, when I was a senior in high school, I took an environmental studies class. If I was to take that class now, I know that I could have used Twitter and Instagram to follow experts in environmental science, which would have allowed me access to the most current thinking in the field.

I also realize that I have let my tech skills fall behind while staying home with my kids. I knew they were getting bad, but I didn't realize how bad until I tried to center that gif and found out that the <center> tag is now obsolete. While I am excited to create a library website at some point in the future, it is slowly dawning on me how much of a learning curve that's going to be if basic languages like html have changed that much. Again, I can see why as a library media specialist, you need to stay on top of technology.

I really enjoyed this week. The conversations on the discussion board are really interesting, and I'm learning so much from my peers.