Wiggling and Weaving

I had my interview for the Youth Services Librarian position on Wednesday. It was quite the learning experience and not at all what I had anticipated. I thought of all kinds of things I wished I had said, after the fact. I think that places of employment should email you the interview questions the evening before your interview, so you can feel better prepared. And more relaxed.

On Wednesday evening I succeeded in gathering 4 of the 5 girls I wanted to interview for project. It went really well and we all had a good time. Afterwards, we enjoyed pizza, vegetarian of course. I learned a lot from the girls. I imparted my knowledge about the importance of iron in their diet and each took home a copy of the vegetarian food pyramid. I was surprised that none of the three vegetarians had done any research on this diet decision before heading into it. And two have not shared with their family physician their dietary choice.

Students planning to do an interview, outside of school, as a part of their inquiry could easily abandon this option. When a deadline is at stake and the interviewee is elusive, students, especially those nervous about this type of interaction would eagerly take an easier path. But first hand information is interesting and adds elements not found in text.

Thursday, I received a call back for a second round of interviews for the library position! All I know is that this round will focus on "practical application of skills." That could cover a lot of territory. The big day is Thursday, Oct. 13th.

Last blog I promised to try and add a visual I created with a free trial of software from Inspiration.



I checked preview. It worked, yay!!! The Inspiration tools worked well and the instructions were easy to understand. The many options available with the software make it a useful tool for students. I noted the outline feature. Outlines are often required by teachers for students to get a visual idea of where they are headed with their topics. The outline template on Inspiration would be easy for a student to enter information into it and then to transfer it into other useful templates. If students were blogging their way through a project, these would add visual interest. These completed templates could also be added to a PowerPoint or webpage.

I'm now involved in seeking out information on how to create my final product. I have used the help features, watched tutorials and checked out a book about making imovies as well as looking into the movie features of PowerPoint. I used a friend's digital video camera and they were unsure if the camera was compatible with my Mac. So I gave them a disc for them to burn the video onto. They saved it two different ways and tomorrow I will attempt to, what's the appropriate term, upload it on my computer? I may consult knowledgeable friends about best tool for creating the blend of text and video I want to produce. Or just go with the trial and error method. I'm also planning to type up my research on Word. Up till now I have been using a notebook, with a separate page or two for each question.

Stay tuned.