The Semi-Obscure MAC Software List

I own both a PC and a MAC. By no means am I a platform biggot. In fact, I embrace the qualities of both. As a teacher librarian, you kind of have to. I haven’t set foot in one school in Onondaga or Genesee county that has been running on an all Windows operating environment, or for that matter, on an all Apple operating environment. So, I feel that I need to be well versed in both.

When I come home to visit my parents, I always bring my iBook G4 running Tiger 10.4.5. It’s portability, battery, Airport (ease of use), GUI, etc… make it far superior to any portable PC running Windows XP, in my opinion.

I had some time this week, in between lesson planning and skiing (quite the combo, huh?), to surf around and try to optimize my iBook. On one of my 5 daily visits to Digg I noticed the following list:

http://www.mexicanpictures.com/headingeast/2006/02/10-semi-obscure-mac-programs-you.html

Exactly the types of things I was looking for. Witch, Growl and Delicious Library are my current favorites.

Photo courtesy of flickrich’s flickr photostream

The Top 10 Links

While in Library School at Syracuse I took a class called Digital Information Retrieval. The professor for that class was one of the very best I ever had, Scott Nicholson. He always had a very practical approach, was a big advocate of libraries, and put 100% of himself into teaching his students.

I’m still on the LIS listserv at Syracuse and this came through from him the other day.

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“One of the best ways to keep up with what’s going on in librarianship is through the blogsphere. These Web logs, more commonly known as blogs, are created by people working in librarianship and will help you to get a great idea of current topics and better prepare you for your career.

Recently, there was a top 10 library blogs list created. You can find this list of useful places to visit regularly at”

http://features.lisnews.org/article.pl?sid=06/02/21/1328204&from=rss

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I noticed a few of my favorites on that list. Oh, and ah, he’s right about the benefits of blogging…

The MP3 Option

I’ve come across a few gadgets at conferences and workshops, but the one that takes the cake for me is the Playaway. The Playaway is a self contained MP3 player that comes with a preloaded digital audio book. It’s specs are simple, yet impressive. It looks no bigger than a deck of cards, its controls are on the flip side of the player and earphones come attached. The controls aren’t overwhelming, so its possible that the device can used by a 3^rd grader with relative ease. Perhaps best of all, it nicely tackles the concept of universal design for learning.

The Playaway belongs in school libraries. Imagine being able to expose students to thier favorite novel in a portable and digital format. Imagine providing students with an option to listen to their book in the car, in their room or on the bus. We might be able to hook a whole new generation onto reading through osmosis.

The device is a far from being perfect, evidenced by its weak selection of titles. Currently, there are only around 30 different stories available for purchase. But, I know if I introduced it in my library tomorrow it would be the hottest item in circulation. It’s loan transaction list would top 500 pages by the end of the school year.

Products like this provide an exciting option for libraries.

The Shirt and Tie

OK, so not everything I post on my blog will be about school libraries BUT most of what I post will be somehow related to teaching in a school.

I often get needled by my colleagues about dressing nicely at work so I am going to address it in my blog.

Growing up I was never exposed to the likes of Gucci, Prada or Louis Vuitton. But, you need not have fashion sense in order to know when it matters to dress nicely. And I think dressing up as teacher is a significant part of the job. Many administrators in education reject the notion of a dress code and often allow a lax dress policy for teachers and students at their school. Another popular idea in some circles is to allow jean wearing on every Friday or at least every other (payday) Friday. I’m not a fan of this.

What we wear speaks volumes of what we think of ourselves, but even more so, what we think of the world around us. As educators we’re role models for all of our students. We’re not repairing highway or changing the motor oil in a car, so let’s not dress like it.  We’re educating impressionable young minds. Our dress, as teachers clearly conveys a message of respect and seriousness that should be at the top of every school’s character education and curriculum programs. When teachers dress up they’re honoring education. We lose so much respect in education when teachers wear the same outfit they would wear to school as they would when going to the mall.

I’ve always made an attempt to wear a shirt and tie to work, no matter what the occasion. Without failure, in every school I’ve taught at, I have been met with astonishment from at least one student or one faculty member saying that I am way too overdressed for the job. It’s occurred to me that maybe I’m an anomaly. Maybe children and adults in schools have come to expect slovenly dress. Maybe it’s why students think that they too can get away with the F word on their favorite t-shirt. Maybe they haven’t seen enough teachers dress nicely. We should buck the trend and start respecting the process of education.

As someone new in education, I’d like to lead a revolution. Let’s be leaders and role models in our workplace and in schools with our attitudes, with our actions, and more than ever, our dress. Let’s make an effort, especially for the children.