Curating and Evernote

I found this exercise very helpful.  It challenged me to try to explore new resources.  I updated my filter on Twitter to pull posts regarding “Reluctant Readers” rather than “Struggling Readers.”  The posts seemed to be more relevant to elementary education.  There also appeared to be fewer advertisement links popping up in the posts.  I have no issue with folks advertising their books, lesson plans, and teaching tools, but I’d rather be referred to the site by a teacher who has used them in their practice.

When I looked back through the links that I had pulled in the previous quarter, I found that I wanted more information up front, so I’d know whether or not the link was something I needed at that moment.  I started writing a small description to accompany each link that I posted to our shared EVERNOTE notebook.  I believe this made the notebook a better reference tool.

I found myself most drawn to booklists. I pored over all the ideas for great stories that would support reading comprehension strategies.  I was excited to have more options beyond the leveled readers.  I found myself flipping back and forth between the lists and my local library link to see if I could add some of them to my own reading list.  Those that weren’t available at my library, I added to my Goodreads account.  I now have a virtual pile of books that must be close to topping over.  I can barely wait to get started.

I have to admit that I did not collaborate with my co-curators as much as I probably should have.  I have followed the links that they posted.  But I haven’t explored them thoroughly.  Neither have I used any of the communication tools to interact with my teammates on what we found while curating.  We were mostly a team of individuals working on the same subject.  I attribute this to the heavy course load and the increased teaching responsibilities, not to any lack of effort by any member of our team.  I can see this being a great tool for collaboration in the future when supplementing a Unit of learning or when simply researching a learning issue.

I’ve included a link to one of my favorite finds.  This link will take you to a playlist of videos.  They are all very short clips, most less than a minute, of educators sharing their ideas.  I loved watching them and hearing suggestions that connected to readings in our coursework.  I loved listening to other teachers share what works for them.  I loved how passionate and enthusiastic they were to help someone else have success with their own students.

http://www.scholastic.com/worldofpossible/