Today I made a most surprising find. A piece of history, just sitting on a counter, at The Last Chance Mercantile. Last Chance is just that, a thrift store, at the dump. The last chance for broken chairs, strange electronics, lamps with just a tiny hairline fracture. You have to have an eye for recycle and reuse when you shop at the dump. Many of my yard decorations and quite a few of the treasure that are on display in my library are Last Chance finds.

Today my cart was filled with a broken bushnell telescope, a huge, green glass decorative jar, a spelter lamp which I think dates from the 30s, and then I came upon them. Twenty-five German magazines, published in Berlin titled "Die Woche" dated 1932-1936. There he is, the smiling Furher, getting ready for the 1936 Olympics. Happy blond children doing folk dances...along side maps carving up the world for a bright tomorrow for Germany. Amazing. I literally had chills run through me.

I have to go and get an archival box and magazine sleeves. This next year, when we are studying the Holocaust, what a piece of the past my students will be able to access. I think it will really bring it home to them. It certainly did me.

I truly want to thank the SLL 2.0 team for putting this course together. I have taken lots of classes, been to many conferences, and spent hours (years?) at SBC days in which I walked away thinking, "That was a waste of time! I could of been cataloging!". That has NOT been my experience here.

My one sentence description would be, "Undeniably, the most useful course I have ever taken."

When I began this, I remember thinking, OMG they want me to BLOG???!!! I don't have time for this. Over the past few weeks I have come to enjoy sharing this learning experience. You are going to have to remove me from your RSS feeds, because I can't envision myself stopping. Hopefully, this blog will add to the blogosphere in a positive manner, not disintegrate into a whine festival.

You have taught me about so many valuable tools. These are things I will actually implement at school. My friend, John the tech guy, and I have been trying for a long time to find that, "Killer School App", that would allow the teachers to save time and become more tech oriented. I think my library wiki may be the perfect next step, an easy way for the ludites on campus to see the value of technology. Even the things I already knew about, i.e., del.icio.us, bloglines, & LibraryThing, I have come to view in a new manner and to see additional, better, applications.

I have made "friends" with people on the Ning networks. I anticipate their help in continuing my life long learning journey.

The only thing I would change about this course is the ability to converse with the other students & teachers. When people made comments on my posts, my immediate reaction was to talk back, but the blog format is not condusive to that. Perhaps a wiki, meebo, or private Ning network specifically for those taking the course?

Thanks to all who read and commented.

I had fun making this cartoon. It's from ToonDoo It was easy and gives you lots of options. I don't know how to shrink it to fit this blog spot though. Maybe if I saved it to my pictures instead of trying to embed?

Maybe this is a common experience for some of you, but I assure you, it seldom happens to me.

I was reading the Duke Gifted Letter this morning, because of Debbie Ablilock's post to the Calib list serve and found, to my amazement, my reading program cited. What a roller coaster moment!

Aptos Junior High has a chapter of Jon Scieszka's Guys Read program. For my part, I created a Blog where boys, fathers, and the male teachers on campus, get together to share books. It has been fun. It was so popular that I had to create a Girls Read Blog as well. Gender in reading is a particular interest of mine.

I am feeling all floaty and happy. Now I have to go shampoo the carpet. Whistle while you work!