Information Overload

As you can see, Keira is ready for me to go back to school so she can have her computer chair back! She grudgingly lets me use it a few hours in the evening while she perches on the desk or the printer/scanner, and she has been most unhappy that I have spent so much time here over the summer!

Ah, well. On to more to-the-point discussion. Professor McGranahan asked that we each post once more to our blogs reflecting on our class experience. I find myself with plenty to say but must admit that finding the right words to express myself clearly on this topic is a bit of a challenge--and that is saying something, since I am a writer by preference and usually find writing both a pleasure and a relief. By far my favorite part of this course has been the blogging experience.

I know why I am at a loss for words; I am still feeling information overload from Information Technologies I. I really considered myself fairly savvy with technology before I started this class, and yet so many of the things we did were entirely new to me and frustratingly difficult. I am wondering if Technologies II is going to require as much time as Technologies I and dreading the outcome if it does. I am now back in school and cannot spend every waking minute on graduate work as I have done all summer. The prospect of trying to work and still spend the time needed on the MLIS program is daunting and worrisome.

Not nearly all of my thoughts about Information Technologies I are negative. What we learned was both pertinent and useful. Certainly being able to work with someone on the research project was a plus. Also, I have found that my classmates are for the most part both sympathetic and helpful in and out of class. I enjoy reading the blogs because they give us all a chance to become better acquainted and at the same time to share our frustrations and joys.

Overall, I would have to say that my second favorite parts of the class was the webliography assignment. I found the examination of websites useful in a very practical sense. I will not be a school librarian as I had hoped to be this year, but I can still use these websites to direct students to valuable sources of information. I would also like to see other people's lists, to find what they located that I did not. In the case of good websites, I do not think there can be too much information! Also, thanks to the assignment on spyware, viruses, etc., I have improved the security of my home computer by renewing my Norton Anti-Virus subscription and by scheduling my Spyware Doctor software to run more frequently.

So, on the whole, I feel that the class was both challenging and difficult at times but nonetheless worthwhile. I know that the rest of the program is probably going to be just as difficult, but I am hopeful that it is also going to be at least a bit less stressful.

New School Year, New School Building

Welcome to Room 274 of East Hickman High School! Actually, I have seince rearranged the chairs so the students can also see the white board in the back of the room and will be less likely to spend all their time staring out the window to see what's going on outside. The room is not so large as my old one, but it's adequate in size, though sadly lacking in bookshelves.

I have to relate the story on that. My friend and I moved our things from the old school last week; we took bookcases that we either bought or repaired and had them alll set up in the rooms. When the director of schools did a walk through before the dedication, he had a fit over the bookcases that did not match the furniture. They took the bookcases off to storage and crammed all my books into the built in cabinets and closed the doors.

They had not ordered any bookcases for the classrooms and seemed to find it odd that we would want any.

I have 20 dictionaries I didn't even move yet. The student desks do not have any book racks on them, and I have no bookcases. And I am supposed to be teaching English! Of course the director of schools IS the same person who once said in an evaluation of one of my college prep senior English classes that I had them doing an excessive amount of pencil-and-paper work.

Anyhow, we are supposed to get smartboard training next week. I hope that goes well.