Randy de Jong's Friends

Randy de Jong's Groups

About Me:: I am a Spanish teacher with 29 years of experience. I am working on my LMT masters degree through Fresno Pacific University. I have the opportunity to apply for a job this summer. I am just in the middle of my program and am still learning and progressing. I am interested in creating a searchable reference log via a blog that can be used district-wide if I can meet all of the requirements the district may have. I will add more as I have time. I am presently working on the school library 2.0 course and my reference course.

At 8:54pm on January 27, 2008, Tom Nixon said…: I have been in the program for a year at the main campus. I started it after after being offered the job at my school. I had been teaching there for two years and an opening had come about. I officially started in the library in August 2007 (although I began doing things for this year in May).

This is the best job I have ever had. I can't imagine going back into the regular classroom. I am 46 and expect that I will do this job until I retire.

At 10:35pm on January 26, 2008, Tom Nixon said…: Know what you mean. I am in the program at FPU, too. Seems like there is always something to do.

At 8:06pm on August 22, 2007, Sandy Rowland said…: Sounds like you are a positive influence for technology among your staff. Are you at a high school? How large? Do you use much technology in your Spanish classes?

I've heard good things about the Fresno Pacific program. How much longer do you have? I taught for 25 years, then went to San Jose State for my MLIS. I loved it. I learned so much and have never regretted my move from the classroom to the library. I hope a library position opens up for you soon, but it sounds like you're making a positive influence where you are.

The wiki I started for librarians in my district isn't blocked from our school computers. (Maybe the tech department doesn't know about it yet.)

Thanks for writing back.

At 8:33pm on August 21, 2007, Sandy Rowland said…: That's too bad about the library position. What do you teach? Where are you taking your classes? I'll let you know if I have any luck starting a book blog at my middle school.

I am the only one of the four librarians in my district who took the 2.0 class, this summer, so I started a librarian wiki to teach the others what can be done with them. I thought we'd plan our trip to the CSLA conference using the wiki and then plan our annual Board Presentatin using it. If we like using it, we might find some teachers who are interested in trying it too. I've learned to take these things slowly, so as to not overwhelm people.

I taught our computer lab teacher about del.icio.us so she can get to bookmarked sites from home and from school without having to remember them and bookmark them on each computer. She was impressed with that and I know she will teach others. So what I learned this summer is spreading little by little. I'm sure yours will too, even if you aren't in the new position. Keep in touch.

At 10:34pm on August 20, 2007, Sandy Rowland said…: Hi, Randy. Did you get the position you interviewed for? I have been back to work since last Wednesday because I am responsible for textbooks. We have processed the new science adoption and delivered class sets to classrooms and are getting set for the new year.

Tomorrow we have an inservice on the new web-based AR program we are using this year.

Beginning a new year is one of the best things about teaching. Our tech department is in a crunch mode as they moved the district servers and things were not up and running for the return of the secretarial staff, so I've not met with anyone about allowing me to set up a blog where only students registered can make comments to one another. But I think that will be my first stab at getting some 2.0 tools in the hands of our students.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that del.icio.us is not blocked by our system and I can get to all the wonderful sites I tagged this summer.

I'm anxious to hear how you pursue some of the new tools we learned in the summer class.

At 1:33pm on July 5, 2007, Tracy Poelzer said…: Hi Randy,

As far as I can tell, if you want to join a group within the Teacher-Librarian Ning, you just click on the name of that group. That opens a new window, and on the left at the top there seems to be a box that comes up with a description of the group. At the bottom of that box it says, "Join __________ group now". You click there to register for that particular group.

Hope that helps!
Tracy

At 10:42pm on July 4, 2007, Tracy Poelzer said…: Hi Randy,

How are you finding your Masters program? I am just nearing the end of my M.Ed. in Teacher-Librarianship through the University of Alberta here in Canada. I can't say enough good things about the program I've taken. The expectations are incredibly high, but the amount of learning I've done has been phenomenal! Good luck with your recent job application. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!