And here come the back to school sniffles

No matter what you do by the end of second week back you start getting the bugs running riot, I went home on Friday sniffing and generally feeling pants! Spent the weekend wrapped in warm clothes doing little and napping often and I am back at work for Monday, sponsored by painkillers and supported by hot lemon drinks and multivitamin tablets. There are a few staff gaps today and more who are feeling rough. It always seems strange to me that kids get ill and parents send them in regardless, but staff ill is not good and if they don't come in they still have to make work for classes and are expected to do things. Too many staff out has seen the school in danger of not opening, or sending classes home. I will be getting my flu jab soon.

In the wonderful world of Libraries we have the build up to the AGM and the more local build up to The North Branch of CILIPS looking to start up again. Also I note that today they are looking for Nominees to serve on their Scottish committees, which would be really tempting if I didn't have a lot on my plate this year, next year I will be considering it   :-) may be even do some ground work now. The Autumn Gathering is during the school holidays and I would love to go, but work hasn't happened for my other half yet this school year so finances are tight. Ho hum another year I hope, I have been very very lucky this year with both the Dundee Cilip Scotland conference as a sponsored place and Umbrella booked well ahead keeping costs very low.

I am up to my eyes in the mop up work from the Library introduction. Lots of new cards to make and old cards to remake, children to find in the system or to get info from them if they are not in the system. We had a member of staff leave and they are much missed already, but it makes you look at your own job and work load and world, and I do need prodding now and then to appreciate what I have. The new intake have been a lovely group, best full year group in years and I can't wait to do more with them, roll on the Write Path in October, and roll out the Scottish children's book awards already :-) and maybe I shall get other plans done, now all I need is time and health!.

I saw this today and am in awe, I love Ned Potter's work and have mentioned him here before but this is a masterful work. I plan to share this prezi with all my English teachers and the management too! and maybe get it spread further afield.

Quick snap of Dunnet head and Orkney beyond it, the weather turning more Autumnal and the green being gradually replaced with the brown. Now I just have to get through my day and go home for an early nap! sniff.

CPD Thing #17

Thing #17 is Medium is the message, Prezi and slideshare.
I love Prezi, I played last year and made some quite slick productions for a few minutes of play, I have found other uses and had much fun since then too. Also had friends share their prezis and other information all of which I would have no idea with out this thing :-). Slideshare from what I have seen is more like a powerpoint and business tool, the market is much more traditional and is a very slick way to make and show information across many systems and means the finished item is what every one sees, and not as powerpoint which can sometimes reformat if the end user dosen't have microsoft office. I have browsed slide share and watched many different presentations, which have told me loads.
Prezi mean while is more the play side of presentations. I like Prezi, you can drag and twist, make funky or tone down, increase speed or freeze it, add moving pictures and anything else you have in your computer. Its fun and you can make rubbish and still learn through it. Of the two prezi is the one I would turn to to make some fun of my kids, or to show off some plan I had, while slide share is more a report format, calm and infomation heavy. But both are good tools for use.

Things #17 and #19

I have just spent a morning making a prezi presentation which turned out to be harder than I first thought but ultimately easier than I feared, this was my first try and very bitty it looks now I am done but I didn't have a plan when I started it. HLH Libraries which was fun to make... So I can rate Thing #17 as a success, I will be making more and dragging it round to the teachers and other librarians as and when I can, I am so glad I did cpd23 and have been recommending it round when I can.
Thing #19 is more reflective, I haven't kept my diary as well as I had hoped but find myself doing the tasks even in my head most days and just adding them to paper if I have too much or if I start missing things, mostly I have sorted out my head with it and hope to keep reapplying it, I am not all efficent and organised but I am getting there. Some things I have tried and not found to my liking, I loved the idea of google documents but didn't find them good to use, the calendars managed to get others interested and now the ICT suites and the library in the school are all bookable through an online google calendar which means you can see the whole school provision at a glance (not my own work but I clami midwife rights) I am enjoying my CPD23 time and make a little bit most weeks for it, I don't always blog as sometimes it takes me a few days to get my head round an idea. It is harder to Blog when I don't see any use for a tool as I don't know if I should look closer or it just isn't for me!
I shall be catching up again this week but may not get blogged until the holidays next week when I should get more peace time.