Online Portfolio Website Topic

I was happy to find out that my online portfolio is an acceptable topic. Now I have to determine what pages to include. Since I have a background in sales, I think my professional experience needs to be a separate section.

Professional Experience
Library experiences
Examples of class assignments that can be used in a school.
Classes taken ( I don't know if I want or need to add this)
Contact page
Links (incorporating my other idea of doing a library page for a school)

A color pallet is hard for me to determine right now. I know I prefer lighter backgrounds with dark text. This is a portfolio, so I need to keep it clean and professional. Looking at the RGB chart some page options could be DDDDDD, FFFFCC, FFCC99, CCFFCC. But I will have to see how they look on the site. Maybe a different color background for each section? These colors may not be light enough for what I am looking for, but they are a place to start. Text colors will mostly be black and blue. Maybe I can have a little more fun on the contact page. But that is still to be determined.

Online Portfolio

I am a little confused about what topic needs to be created into a website. I have created two wikis and this is my second blog. The topics I think about would probably be better suited for a wiki format.

When I did my observation for one of my education classes, the SLMS that I worked with suggested that I create an online portfolio because she feels that is where our profession is heading.

Last quarter my professor, who also teaches this course, kept mentioning this class. When I looked at the assignments for her class I saw online portfolios as final class projects. My interest in taking this class was to learn how to create my online portfolio.

Some of the projects I could add to my portfolio are:

http://mksya.blogspot.com/ - Young Adult Book Blog

http://teengriefsupport.pbwiki.com/ - Teen Grief Support Wiki

http://sites.google.com/site/mllcitizenshipresources/ - 9^th Grade Citizenship Pathfinder

http://battleofthebooksclub.pbwiki.com/ - A wiki for a 4^th grade Battle of the Books club. It is a private wiki. I will need to set up a password for anyone outside the school to view it.

I have a webquest I created on Alice Paul and Women’s suffrage for 4^th grade students that I did not publish up to the web yet.

I worked on a group 5^th grade multi-media lesson on how Science influences the Olympics.

This would be a very helpful project for me to work on with only two more classes to take after this quarter.

New Opportunity?

Well I might have an interesting opportunity to work part time in a private school that just received a donation to promote the library to the teachers and Kindergarten students. I was checking the school’s website and they do not have anything on their website connecting to their library. If I get this job, maybe I could create a website of library resources for this school?

Still Thinking...

Andrea’s question, “What user-group do I understand well enough to adequately meet the needs of?” leads me back to my first thought. I have been involved with a grief support group for women who have lost their mothers. It is the type of project that I do on my own time and enjoy the contribution I can make. I own all 4 books in the God Winks Series, but I like “When God Winks at You” the best. It was the first book I read because I saw SQuire on Good Morning America promoting the book. Here is the website: http://www.whengodwinks.com/ If you scroll down the page you can see an example “Wink of the Week”.

Maybe I can expand the topic further with other coincidence topics: other authors, famous events as well as personal events from people I know.

My own reading preference is in inspiration and motivational materials. When I was unhappy in my first job out of college I looked at a book list that the Dale Carnegie organization put out and read, “The Greatest Salesman in the World” by Og Mandino. It is a simple story with a positive message. After that, any time I was having a tough time I would turn to a motivational book to boost my spirits. So maybe this combination of interests can work together for a solid topic.

Photography?

I have no interest in the technical aspects of photography, but I do love taking pictures. Well to be honest, I guess I use to. I haven't been taking a lot of pictures in the past few years. I would love to get back to it.

Several years ago (I don’t want to admit how many unless I use this topic ; - ) I took a lot of pictures of the Flyers during practice and games. I was thinking I could create a website with the pictures I have taken of some of the players and some interesting memorabilia I have. My parents got Flyers' tickets from the beginning. The first 2 years they tried different seats around the rink and they found the seats they wanted: 3 rows from the ice, in the corner, to the left of the Flyers’ goaltender. That changed some when they changed buildings. I recently found my parents Stanley Cup tickets. I also have commemorative coins from when the Spectrum was opened and when the First Union (now Wachovia) Center opened.

Still thinking….

In search of a topic...

It was nice to hear that other students struggle with finding a topic. I love to play volleyball and take pictures, but I don't have enough experience in either to create a website.

The one idea that I am thinking about is, "The God Winks Phenomena". My favorite book is: "When God Winks at You" by SQuire Rushnell. It brought me a tremendous amount of comfort after my Mother died. I have suggested this book to a number of people who have found the same comfort in this book. After they read it they always want to share their own God Wink stores. I made a joke that we have our own God Winks cult. It is nice to be a part of something positive. Once you read the book you are actively looking for God Winks in your own life and you naturally want to share them with other people that can realize the connection.

I gave a copy of the book to a friend who lost her job and she has given the books out to others as well.

I don’t know if this topic is strong enough for this project. One page can be about my experience with the book. A second page can be about the author, his website and his four books. The third page could be a collection of stories from the group I have shared the book with.

The search continues…..

Welcome

Hi my name is Maryann. I have 4 classes left to earn my Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree at Drexel University. I have been working as a substitute teacher for grades Pre-Kindergarten through 8th grade while I work on my degree. My initial goal was to be a Youth Service Librarian in a public school. Since I have been working in schools for the last 4 years I would now like to become a School Library Media Specialist. I will need to take some additional classes to become classroom certified.

3 websites I have found interesting:

http://www.comcast.net/a/ - I have a Comcast account and this is the home page for it. What I like is it has a variety of information: In the News, Latest Headlines, Top Videos, and Sports stories.

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/xwords/index.html - This website publishes 2 crossword puzzles a month that can be played online or printed. They organize the puzzles for teachers in subjects that they can use in schools. There are additional educational links on the side.

http://www.websudoku.com/ - This website provides Sudoku puzzles in four different levels: Easy, Medium, Hard & Evil.