Thing 30: Final Reflections & What’s Next?

Thing 30: Final Reflections & What’s Next?

     Even though my five lessons are done, I thought I would add a few comments here under the final reflection.  I wish the year had allowed me to do all ten, but the five lessons I chose were great for me.  

     From the lessons I chose, I gained experience in working with Google communities which was good for me because we are pretty much a Google school. The ELA teachers are also very happy when I find other resources for them and share these in a way with which they are also getting better. On a side note, I have also begun some serious curation using Pearltrees which was a tool I looked briefly at last year and wanted to get back to. I have and am doing some resource gathering that I feel will benefit my teachers quite a bit. 

     I also have been using Evernote and its tools more and more to gather and store information I want to get back to later. I hope to make a few more infographics now that I have my first one done.

     Lessons 23 ~ Makerspaces and 26 ~ Take the Lead are the two that I hope I will continue to work on the most. I need to get more students involved with the makerspace. I did ask them what they would like to do and learn. I got some good responses that I want to follow up on and that will take some planning and time. It will be one of my major goals for next year - get more kids into and using that space. Lesson 26, though, has given me several ideas for ways to promote the library to all my stakeholders, but especially to students and parents.  I think I have lots I could be doing to reach out to my clients. Pleasantly, most ideas I have are not too time-consuming and are going to follow Heidi's short and simple rule. 

    Professionally, I have added several groups and people that I follow, either via FaceBook, Twitter, or Google +.  I have "listened in" on a couple new Twitter chats and done a couple more of the edWebinars.  I feel that I am keeping much more abreast of what is going on in this profession by simply reading and watching the social media of which I am a part. I also have worked hard to retweet and share items of interest to people who follow me. I am a die-hard edutopia fan!

     My biggest challenge this year was finding the time to get my tasks accomplished. Often, like now, I found I had to work late into the evening to get my work finished.  

     I do love working this way ~ at my own pace and in my own time. I love the articles you collect for each lesson. Reading through your suggested readings in one of my favorite parts of Cool Tools. However, I am not the greatest at setting aside time, but I still like this set up anyway.  :) I like that fact that at the beginning you list each lesson. That was how I decided to participate once again for the third time.  The best thing is that I feel like I have truly added to my tool belt and am prepared to lead students and teachers to some of these tools with a feeling of knowing what I am doing. 

     All in all, this has once again proved very beneficial to me and to my library.  Thank you so much for continuing to do this, Polly.  It is so worthwhile!

Thing 26: Taking the Lead: Connecting with your Stakeholders

     I watched the webinar called Your Stakeholder Connected Librarian Toolkit by Heidi Neltner. 

     I read the following articles:

• 10 things classroom teachers need to know about modern school librarians 
• Four Ways To Advocate for School Libraries
• School Libraries Transform Learning 
• Study Ties College Success to Students’ Exposure to a High School Librarian
• BFTP: What does a good library tell you about a school?
• Inviting Legislators Into School Libraries by Debra Kachel

     I watched/looked at the following:

• School Libraries Matter: The Changing Role of the School Librarian 
• Presentation on ways to Market Your Library and School 
• 10 Ways Librarians Can be a Marketing Genius Like Lady Gaga from gwyneth jones ~ I wasn't going to go through this, but one I started, I loved it. So much great information in nice short little snippets!

     I subscribed to Connected Principals.

     I am now following Heidi on Twitter.  

     After reading, watching and looking over the list of above resources, I am excited to have some time to plan over the summer for next year.  I feel that I am doing okay with reaching out to my teachers and administrators, but there are some simple things that I could still do - more of the "this is what I can do or have for you" type of things. I want to use Piktochart more and learn about Canva and Powtoons. As far as my student stakeholder groups, I want to get better information from the kids themselves so that I can better meet their needs and, more importantly, their wants. The parent group is the group that I may need to really target. I do have a fairly good following with the library FaceBook page, but I want to do more with getting information to parents to help their kids with research and information-finding. 

     Based on the notes I have from the webinar, I know I need to create short and simple messages that are direct and consistent with my programming. By adding visual elements to whatever I use to reach out to the different stakeholder groups, the products will be more appealing and more easily understood. One concern I have is that here in New York State where teachers are using the EngageNY modules, it seems like library use has dropped in several grades where there used to be a lot. I need to convince teachers that I can help them with what they have to do more than ever.  I think that through Heidi's webinar I have picked up several ideas for reaching my staff. I am excited about that - flyers, infographics, etc. that show what they can find, do and use in the library.  
     The one thing I don't have and just can't come up with is my own "elevator speech".  I would love to hear several from librarians who have come up with one.  But, I do have lots of ideas. And, for now, that works for me.  I did really enjoy this lesson, I learned a lot, and I think it will be one that I continue to really work on next year. 

Thing 24: Infographics

Infographics

I originally had this post filled with all that I had read from the Cool Tools suggestions - at least ten articles and several videos. I also had done a lot of research on digital citizenship which I am not going to be able to re-do.  I do not know what happened as I was just copying and pasting a statistic. This is crazy but I just zapped all my research and everything I had done to this point.

For now, I will just add the articles that I need to use to finish:

Cyber Bullying Statistics 2014 from NoBullying.com

11 Online Privacy Statistics You May Not Know from A Secure Life

NEW STATISTICS ON CYBERBULLYING, ONLINE SAFETY from Third Parent

11 Google Tricks That Will Change the Way You Search from Time December 8, 2014

Be a good digital citizen

FACTS & STATS: ACADEMIC INTEGRITY IN HIGH SCHOOL

Thing 23: Makerspaces

     I have been interested in Makerspaces for quite a while now. My library isn't perfect as far as layout, but I want to give it a try. Hopefully, working on this lesson will help me to get it going.

     The first thing I did was to read through the blog post and watch the video:

What is a Maker or Innovation Space?

Next, I read the article: 

Stop, hey, what’s that sound… Maker Spaces are Going Round

I liked several of the points in the article because I realized a space doesn't have to be too tech-heavy. I can start simply and feel out what students and staff would like.  :) That sounds good.

     I have picked my space - the study room off the library and have had one wall painted with Idea Paint so that it is one large whiteboard. See the picture below which is its first creative use.  :)

Drawing by Alyssa Sta. Ageuda, CPCS student

   

  I participated in the edWeb webinar, February 17th by Leslie Preddy called:

 Makerspaces: The Now Revolution in School Libraries!

I enjoyed that hour and spent a lot of time jotting down ideas as she presented.  Again, it made me feel like I can handle this by starting small-ish and working my way along. 

     I have decided to email teachers about the supplies I am getting together so they know. I will also ask about ideas they have for using the space and what I can help with to get their ideas into actions. I will also email the same information to my middle school and high school students. My plan is to also ask for donations of certain items for upcycling and recycling purposes. But, I am waiting on that until I better understand how much use the space may get.  I am also working on developing a Google form to get information about what the school would like as far as guided  offerings in the space.  That I will send out as soon as our mid-winter break ends. 

     I pulled out an old large metal cart that will serve as our storage unit and bought 12 plastic bins that will sit nicely on the shelves. As far as materials, I have gotten lots of art supplies, markers galore for the whitewall, wikki stix, a 3D pen and filament, small spirographs, a makey makey kit, several units of littleBits kits, and lots of legos.

      Next week, I am starting (I know, whack me on the head, another online course when I can't even keep up with this one...) a free online course in littleBits use and creation (http://littlebits.cc/invent-anything ) called "Learn How to #Inventanything" so that I can show my kids how to do this. I am very excited about learning enough to get the kids going.  

    I have purchased several books on Makerspaces and Tinkering and will have those as references when needed.  I also hope to create several pathfinders on topics that our students are interested in once I send out my Google form to them. last, I will add to my whitewall a "wish list/what I want to do" corner so the kids can make suggestions and give feedback as they work.  There will also be a supplies used area.  That is it for now!  :)

           Thing 22: Create a Resource Guide

    After reading the material on the Cool Tools post, I decided that I would try to do this using a tool that I had not worked much with before ~ that eliminated ScoopIt and Pinterest where I already have curated lots of materials and continue to gather great stuff for my teachers (the links go to my boards). Both of those collections are very general and for any and all teachers. 

Here is how things went.

Step 1: Audience

     It took me a while to decide for whom I should create a resource guide. I thought my ELA people, who are good library users and quite open-minded about trying new things, would be a good choice. I am focusing on the middle school/high school teachers for now (that is grades 5-12). 

Step 2: Tool for sharing

     I ended up deciding to set up a Google+ Community. We are a Google school; and even within my small ELA group there is a wide range of comfort levels as far as technology. I decided to go with what they know (or know better). Another factor is that it is easier to find information that we read.. First, there are not as many posts to deal with and to try to recall. Second, the community's posts are searchable. That little tidbit I didn't even know about until Polly mentioned it to me ~ thanks for that!!  :)  And, third,with Google+ it is easy for us to comment on each others posts, if the members choose to do that. The members of the group can also share,too. It does not all have to come from me.  Right now, the community is a private one, but I am planning to change it to public community just to see what the difference is.  

Step 3: Resource Gathering

     I am constantly watching Facebook and Twitter posts for educational resources for all of my staff. I have professional accounts for both to make it easier to find and follow what I want.   For the past few weeks, I have been more conscientious about keeping an eye out for ELA materials. Although I found some, I ended up going to Edutopia and Educational Technology and Mobile Learning and even Googling some resources to start.  Once you find some, then BOOM - off you go and there are lots! 

Step 4: Share, Promote, Maintain!

     Once I made my decision about the tool to use, I emailed the people and asked them if they would be willing to do this. With Google Communities, people are invited to be members. Next, I set up the community called Engaging ELA and invited the participants to join. All have done so. Twice, I have sent out an email with a message about adding some new resources. We are now on a mid-winter break and I may not hear much.  With most of the blogs and other such things I follow, there are "share" buttons to quickly and easily share information to Google (or Facebook or Twitter). Once there, I just click the Community that I want to share it with (as opposed to sharing it with one of my Circles) and the resource is posted.  I am trying to remember to add hashtags to the posts so they are even more easily searchable.  That takes practice!  :) I will invite you, Polly, to the group so that you can see what I have shared so far.  

     Hooray, I am done with this blog post and now will just be maintaining my Engaging ELA guide!  

     

Thing 21: Productivity Tools

     Things have just been hopping! It is January and I am just getting start with the first item, #21, in Track 3.
     As I have been reading over the material for productivity tools, I thought I would make a list of those I really want to use to start. Then I will trim the list to two.

• Tweetdeck ~ Very similar tool, helps you see your social media streams all in one place. Tweetdeck is desktop-based rather than web-based. Recently purchased by Twitter.
• Workflowy ~ Keep Workflowy open in a browser tab – add, delete, organize ‘to-do’ items very easily.
• Evernote ~ Not specifically a bookmarking tool, but it can serve that purpose. If you’re already using Evernote as a note-taking tool, make sure you add the WebClipper to your browser so you can save web pages too.
• Clearly ~ This tool is a one of my personal favorites. I hate pages with tons of ads. Clearly strips out all the advertising clutter so you can view pages without distraction. It installs a handy button on your toolbar and all you do is click the button to reformat the page. Highlight text on the page and Clearly sends the document and your highlights to your Evernote account. This tool is amazing!
• OneTab ~ Too many open tabs? Add this Chrome extension and save all your open tabs into a simple list. It will speed up your browser!

Article to read:

18 Productivity Apps

(Hooray!  I am glad to get started!!)

     Evernote

     I read the above article and decided to focus on Evernote to start. I set up several folders and then began to experiment with Evernote's Web Clipper and Evernote's Clearly. I am loving using them both. Because of this, my folders in Evernote have been tweeked and changed. That will probably happen more often. I have added the Web Clipper and Clearly tools to all my browsers so that can read, clip, and save whatever I need to and I can do it faster than before. What a find! 

     Today as I was getting set to start my day, I found that Knowledge Quest's "Technology Tuesday" tip features these tools. This article focuses on using these tools (plus a couple of other tools, too) with students for close reading. I can't wait to share this idea with some teachers whom I think will be really excited about the idea.  I am including a link to that article below:

Technology Tuesday – Tools for Close Reading

   


      I also have read about and started using Tweetdeck. I love Twitter and I use it most to share resources, ideas and professional education articles with my administration and teaching staff, who are also big on Twitter. Twitter seems easier to pick out and see the good stuff with Tweetdeck. I am hoping to see if others use this tool and if there are any tips for this tool, too.  So far I like the layout and design, but I had thought I could add things like my Google + and my Facebook accounts to it, kind of like Hootsuite. That does not seem to be the case. At least, I can't figure it out if there is a way.

     Those are the two tools for this session that are working well for me.  At last, I have finished my first session!! Not too bad, it is only February 10th.  :(

Thing 20: Tools for creating websites, pathfinders, portfolios and more

      I started Thing 20, like I did the others, (but in that it is a crazy time of year, maybe with a little less enthusiasm) and read through and checked out the links. I kept thinking about what I could do. I would read, look at the examples, work on my own projects and just couldn't come up with an idea. I had a teacher who wanted to start a project and I just wanted to get this done. Then, I thought just try combining the two - use the project and get Thing 20 done. 

     That is what I did. I decided to give Smore another look. I clicked around and figured I could use it as a sort of pathfinder. It took me more hours than I originally thought it would, but I like the end product and so does the teacher. Monday, I will email it to the kids and we will be off. 

    Here it is. It doesn't look quite the same as it does on the web page; but you can get the idea. It was actually fun to do. I used a few resources I hadn't before.  I like the look better than the Weebly look, I think.  I could not figure out how to format my works cited, but at least I included it. 
     I will be happy to get opinions. So, let me hear what you think, please.  I am happy to say I am now DONE!!!  :)

     

Thing 19: Online Learning & DIY PD

      After reading through the material that is posted, I have decided to do a couple of things. The first is to participate in an edWeb seminar. I selected one that is happening next Wednesday, April 23rd at 5:00. It is from the Emerging Tech: Using Technology to Advance Your School Library Program Community and is simply called eContent: Round 4.

      The other item I am going to work on is getting to know Schoology in more depth. After I completed Thing 12, I had thought that I would focus on all that Google can do for me and I have been. But, at my last School Library System meeting, I found out that our BOCES is going to use Schoology to connect people via networking. As librarians, we have been trying to connect online. Some schools have social media avenues blocked, some are Google schools, some are not. So, Schoology are kind of come out as a way to do this and have it usable in all schools. I need to get back to it and see what is up and how it might work for networking with my local school librarians.  I am excited about that.   
     I did do the edWeb seminar on Wednesday, April 23rd from 5-6 p.m.. It was through the Emerging Tech community and was called "eContent, Round 4".  Although it was not what I thought it would be, it was really informative. Michelle Luhtala from Connecticut led it.  She has a good handle on how to deal with all the books that are now available in e-book format.
     I am just going to list some of the points I took away from my hour webinar.  The issue seems to be with vendors/publishers and authentication.  There is also a lot of issues with all the different devices and ways econtent can be accessed. Librarians are encouraged by some who are well into this already to buy materials at the consortia level, if at all possible.  As always, we need to think about integration and not just "owning" econtent. We need to know our needs, as with anything we add to our collections.  :)  At the end, people asked questions and all that was exciting to see, too. I picked up an idea or two to try. Since the webinar, I have changed my opacs' looks to reflect more keenly our ebook collections. I added icons to take people directly to them, even in our Owl Beginner OPAC. 

Colton-Pierrepont Elementary OPAC (Owl Beginner)

Colton-Pierrepont 7-12 OPAC

Here is my certificate (I used PicMonkey to add my name and school :) ):

    It was a very beneficial hour, leaving me with lots of ideas and lots of issues to consider and plans to put into action. I realize that I need to spend some time getting the e-book collections out there but in a way that makes it easy for my students and teachers to access the information, without having to use several logins, etc. 

     The other thing I did for Thing 19 is to set up my Schoology account. I did that and then I let my SLS Director know that I did so when she is ready to create a librarians' group, I will be set to be her guinea pig, so to speak. I can see already that Schoology has great possibility for the school librarians in our School Library System.  

Thing 18: Digital Tattoo & Digital Citizenship

     Digital Citizenship has been a big interest of mine and of our school for some time. It is always a work in progress and something on which we can't let up. Our district has adopted the Common Sense Digital Literacy and Citizenship Classroom Curriculum as a guideline for our teachers and students. I work with several teachers on a variety of  lessons for the different age groups. So far, we are pretty pleased with what they offer. And, it is a lot!
     I started this lesson by watching Common Sense Media: Digital Footprint Intro Vimeo and then by searching for myself using the suggested search engines. Nothing horrible appeared. I am thinking that is a good thing.  ;-) I decided to have eighth graders Google themselves next week in a lesson we are doing on Google tips, etc.  I read the articles:

• Skills We Can’t Teach: Facilitating Authentic Experiences with Digital Citizenship
• Digital Footprints — How big and do they stink? 
• Is your school’s “digital citizenship” practice a pass or fail?
• It’s Complicated: the Social Lives of Networked Teens.

These articles and blog posts were good and reaffirmed what I believe and try to practice. I decided I needed to share the one called "Skills We Can't Teach" (and, maybe a couple others, too) with my superintendent, who is a huge Digital Citizenship promoter because he believes in teaching social media, not blocking it.   
     I went through the Digital Citizenship Education curriculum that was linked and found a lot of useful information, including the video clip below and the fact that BrainPop and BrainPop Jr. both have a lot of great resources related to this topic.  

Living in the Digital World video clip

(from Cable Impacts, part of Cable in the Classroom, looked good for use with students in grades 4 -6)

      I am going to start using the Digital Passport from Common Sense with my fourth grade students.  I have set up a group and added most of the names. I will begin after break, I hope.
      As I read through the variety of material you provided, I found another great edtech information source to follow on Twitter.  I found several other hashtags to watch: #EdTech, #satchat, #pypchat, #satchatoc, #teacherwellbeingchat. 

              Polly, I am wondering one thing that I might have missed

              in a lesson last year. Is there a way to save hashtags that

              interest you so that when you want to check in you don't

              have to try to remember them?  

    Last year, when we learned about Pinterest and ScoopIt, I set up a board in Pinterest and made a topic in ScoopIt on Digital Citizenship.  Both of which I use all the time to save materials and use items in my instruction.  You can see the resources I have collected by clicking the links below:

• ScoopIt topic:  Digital citizenship for a K-12 School
• Pinterest Board: Education/Digital Citizenship

     I have an image that has been posted and pinned all over, but I really like it for our students. I have printed it and used it. It is brief and to the point. There are a couple of versions of it, but I am particular about mixing upper and lower case and this one is less messy that way.  :)

      Last, Edutopia has a nice collection of resources. I don't think you had that as part of the lesson.  

Digital Citizenship: Resource Roundup | Edutopia

     This was fun and interesting to read about a topic I really enjoy. I gathered several resources I hadn't stumbled up on and learned about some great things that I have right at my fingertips. I am excited to try some new lessons and to use Digital Passport.  I linked so many articles and resources here so that they are in one quick spot when I want to re-read them.  Thanks, Polly - this is great stuff!!  :)

     4/18/14 I found a new list of resources "Scooped" this morning:

21st Century Educational Technology and Learning: Part One: Digital Citizenship Education...Over 20 Essential Resources 

Track 2 Thing 17 Coding

     This is one of the first lessons that has been pretty difficult for me. One thing was finding the quiet time I needed to get something accomplished was very tricky; and, the second thing  was that the concepts were a bit puzzling. I certainly could tell characters to follow directions and I could follow directions, but the problems were what to do with what I did. 
     Anyway, here is what I did: 
     I started by watching the videos on the Cool Tools site. I watched and completed "An Hour of Code".    I worked with Blockly.  At code.org I completed "One Hour of Code" and got my certificate (see below).

     My hope is to continue with more of this during the summer and to get some kids to try this, too.  After code.org, I moved on to Khan Academy and began their "hour". I onlu got through the first two parts and will get back to that at a later point. I got these items accomplished during some staff development time where my administration was kind enough to let me work on this.  :) Because I wanted to see several different organizations offerings, I moved on to CodeAcademy and did the "Animate Your Name" lesson. That was fun and I got it done. I still have not figured out what I can do with the code I used. It doesn't seem to embed here or at my library's Weebly site. But, I will provide the link so you can see Melinda in all its colorful glory.  :)

Melinda

 By doing this, I could better understand the importance of commands and the order they are used.  I also realize that punctuation for coding is also important.  
     Next, I downloaded several apps for my iPad: Kodable, Hopscotch and Daisy the Dino. My next mission was to  find some apps for my Nexus 7s and let the 5th and 6th graders play around with them. Although, I have found many fun and educational apps for the iPads, I have learned there are not nearly so many for androids. I did find a great article at Common Sense, which I am posting.

Cool Coding Apps and Websites for Kids

     From this article, I decided to download Light-bot, the free version (an hour of code) and then purchase the Light-bot Programming and the Light-bot Coding Puzzles.  Next week I plan to set the Nexus 7s out for the kids to try.  Here is the review from Apps Playground, a British site:

Light-bot is the latest app teaching kids to code by Stuart Dredge.

     While I was searching for apps for androids, I found other articles about apps that I liked:

Five iPad apps trying to teach programming skills to kids

How and Why to Teach Your Kids to Code

Teach Kids how to Code, Make Apps and 3-D Models With These Tools

Teach kids programming A collection of resources

Tynker is the latest iPad app aiming to teach kids to code

     I also discovered a couple more great tweeters to follow. That was a big plus!  :) 

     What I learned from all of this is that we need to be teaching coding to our kids. At first, I thought it would be for older students, but now I realize that it is another item that works with young students. For our school 4th-6th graders might be a good group to target.  I hope it is something we will see more of soon.  I shared some coding articles with others and hope to share a few more.  All in all, this lesson turned out to be very informative, interesting, and one that I (we) will need to re-visit here at Colton-Pierrepont.  Thanks!

Thing 16 Do Your Own Thing

Tools for Staff

     I have been bouncing back and forth from the list of articles on apps to the tools that I have learned about and like. It is my hope to have created a document that is useful to the teaching staff here at Colton-Pierrepont.  
     I read several of the articles on the tools I like. I have found and/or created descriptions of most of them.  My hope is to use this is as a part of my annual Board of Education presentation. Although I hope to add a few more tools to the tool list and to give a bit more description to those items which need it, I am basically done. It is now time to share it with you.  :)

Independent Project ~ Tools for the Staff

Thing 15: App-palooza!

So Many Apps, So Little Time

         After reading several articles from Edutopia and the blog assignment post, I think that I will try setting up a "pocket library" for CPCS. I have not decided on the age level yet, but I may go with PK and K because we have iPads in those grades plus I have a personal interest in apps for the very youngest children.  :) I will be working on that for the next few days. Then, I may try one for our high school students because that would be fun. I will report more when I have collected some apps.  Because we are a "mostly" Google school, I will explore Google apps that our students can use with their Chromebooks, too.  I am starting with Kathy Schrock's lists:

Bloom' Apps and iPads in the Classroom

     After reading a lot of articles related to apps, I have decided to hold off on the "pocket library" for now because many of our resources could only be placed in the library via a QR code because there is no app, as such. I might work on that for my independent project. Instead, I am creating a Google doc that is a database of articles and lists of good apps for different grade levels and subject areas. That way I can share it with my staff. They can pick and choose what they want.  Link will be forthcoming. 

Here is the link to what I put on my list:
Articles that Review Apps for Education

     After all the reading and searching I have done, I now realize there is a huge number of apps out there available to educators on all kinds of subjects and to do all kinds of things. It seems that the end user needs to pick and choose the apps with which he/she is most comfortable and not what someone says should be used. The variety is huge and the quality of the apps very varied.  I think that there is a lot of opportunity for designers to come up with apps for kids because there are great ones in some fields, like science. But, other subjects could use work.

     Last, I am including a link to an article about handheld devices and children that recently appeared in The Huffington Post, just a sort of aside, but something about which we need to think and of which we need to be aware.

10 Reasons Why Handheld Devices Should Be Banned for Children Under the Age of 12

Thing 14 Social Reading and Book Stuff

Thing 14 Social Reading and Book Stuff should be fun...can't wait!    

     Here I am running way behind, again.
     I started by going down through all the information that was presented. I have been a part of Goodreads for a long while. I am going to try to use the widget on my library page. I looked over LibrayThing. It looked fun and interesting but, I am learning from past experience not to get involved with too much.
     I did register for accounts with Riffle, BookBub, and BookGorilla. I decided to try all three and see which I liked best ( more to come on that later). I have had a membership to WeGiveBooks for several years and love it just as a change of pace to use with my K-2 classes.
     Several days later:
      I decided to see if I can get a Goodreads widget to work here first. So here we go:

Melinda's bookshelf: currently-reading

The Storyteller

by Jodi Picoult

tagged: currently-reading

Enchanted

by Alethea Kontis

tagged: currently-reading

Tampered

by Michele Martin Bossley

tagged: currently-reading

     Hurray! It worked. So, I will try putting it on my library page next.  :) Hurray! That worked fine, too. I just need to decide where I really want the widget.  :) CPCS Library: Your Information Place Right now it is underneath the slide show of new books. Any suggestions on a better placement are appreciated.  :)      Sometimes I just can't believe what I miss. That is how I feel about LibraryReads. I signed up for thier monthly newsletter and can't wait for the next one already. I love reading about what others are loving.         In the past few days I have gotten information from both BookGorilla and BookBub. So far, I am feeling that what comes from BookGorilla is more the kind of stuff I would try.  I even downloaded a couple of the freebies to see. However, I know some students who would like some of the suggestions from both. That is positive.  :) I haven't done much with Riffle and will probably let that one slide.       WeGiveBooks has been a organization I have used and supported a lot with our library program. They always have several titles to use at different holidays and for seasonal themes.  Our students enjoy listening to me read but watching the story via a projector. This works especially well with a large group of young students.         I am still working on ways to deal with the few ebooks I have added to our OPACs. I have to spend some serious time trying to make them easily accessible to our students without a ton of logins.  Hopefully, that will happen sooner than later.  But, for now, I am loving Goodreads, WeGiveBooks and BookGorilla and LibraryThing ~ some new to me, some old friends. I am excited to share new tools with my older students and staff, making this lesson another one that helps out here in the day to day business of school librarianship. That's success!

Thing 13 Media Skills

    Well, here I go...Media Skills ~ I  am running about two or three weeks behind, but chiseling away at this topic. I have finally come up with an idea for a (very) short video. Coming up with an idea was the hardest part of this topic's assignment, I think.  :)
     
     Okay, here is what I did and what I learned.

• I looked over the two links under Photography in Education.
• I used Quozio and made a couple of quote posters.
• I watched "How to Make an Animated Gif". 
• I made a silly little Dr. Seuss gif using book covers and a couple of my Quozio posters.

• I "transformed" a photo to use, too. First I used Pixlr Editor and layers to add The Cat in the Hat to my circ desk. Then I added the text to the saved image using Picmonkey, because I just love Picmonkey! I went back into the Pixlr Editor and put my little cat's conversation balloon around the text.  

• Then, using Animoto, I worked on a little video that is PR for Read Across America Day. It has my transformed photo and some other little pieces. I could not get my little gif slideshow to run within Animoto. But, the video clip was not too hard to do. Here it is embedded (I believe) below:

RAA Day PR

     I did try using Wordle but could not figure out how to save it. I seemed to be able only to print it.  That was frustrating because I wanted it in my slideshow.
     There are so many interesting tools to still look over and great articles to read. But, for now I am wrapping up my work with Thing 13. Added to my list of tools I will continue to use  and get my students to use are Pixlr Editor and Animoto. Picmonkey was already #1 on my list.  :) 

Thing 12: Social Learning & Learning Management Systems

     When I read the title of Thing 12, I was a little overwhelmed by the thought of what it would involve. But, I started slow and watched the two videos from Schoology and Edmodo. I realized then that working at pretty much a Google School, I might want to do some exploration on my own of all that Google can do for me. We had some recent introduction to Google+ and I have been looking at building communities for the groups I am involved with. So far, I have set up two - for two professional groups ~ our school mentor program and our shared-decision making team.  I belong to one of the student communities but I did not set it up.

     Then, of course, I got really busy and put off working on Thing 12 for several days.  That turned out to be a good thing because when I returned and started going through several other resources listed, I realized that I really can use Google for this assignment. I read all about Mightybell and began to set up a "student circle" in Google+. 

     An aside ~ At our school, we have, as a faculty, unofficially decided not to "friend" students on FaceBook. But, with Google+, we are trying to teach and work with our students to model good social media behavior.  We have several circles and communities of staff and students.

     Today, I joined the Mightybell Book Club. I don't really have anything to contribute to that right now. Hopefully, when things are a little less busy, I will. I have been a quiet member of Goodreads for a long time ~ just to see what people are reading and keep track of my own.  I really like the looks of Mightbell, but think most of what it can do, I can do similarly with Google.  We are going to be doing a school-wide staff read after break which we had intended to blog about. I could see Mightybell working well for that, but again, we will probably use Google+.  My hope is to watch and learn what Mightybell does and then apply that to Google+ and eventually set up book groups that look about the same as groups in Mightybell.

     I love Edutopia and have followed them for a long time on FaceBook and Twitter. I registered as an official user  several days ago.  I now joined several the their groups in order to get more specific information to share with my teachers and staff.  I find that they have a lot of offer!

     I have read about edWeb and decided to join that one, too. I am not sure how much I will use it, but I have read information from there that I like ~ so, I am giving it a try.  :)
     My focus for now is going to be on developing more connections to our students via Google+ circles and communities. I have started posting information for the students on the many books being made into movies, on being a good digital citizen, and giving back to your world and your community; all focuses for us at Colton-Pierrepont this year. 

     I also read the article entitled "Facebook, Edmodo, and Schoology. Oh my! Choosing a social network platform for learning". Reading down through all the different elements that were compared made me realize that Google can do almost all of that with its ability to share, create forms and docs for quizzes, polls, etc. and linking all together easily in Google+.  (I linked it so I can get back to it quickly from here.)  :) It might be worth adding to the list of resources that is on the Cool Tools Page ~ just my two cents.  :)  Thanks, this piece (which I originally thought I would not be able to deal with) has been really educational and helpful for me. 

     December 19 Update ~ Some positive information! I have already reached one of my goals for this course and that is to learn enough to help staff here with some of the projects they do. 

      After posting the information here on my blog, I went back to edWeb and registered. I joined several communities that sounded good, read through their "about" information, set up my profile, and did some searching. The next day one of our middle school teachers, who had just recently attended a Google Summit weekend in Montreal, came in to talk to me about one of her ideas. After she explained to me what she wanted, she said, "but I just don't know where to find another teacher from away who would want to do this with me." 

     Light bulb! I told her about my social learning assignment and EdWeb. I explained that you could search for different subjects and groups (communities) and told her I would do a quick check for middle school science; which I did. I emailed her and, later, she arrived at my door and said, "can you show me that site?" I showed her what she needed to do and off she went to do it. The following morning she ran in and told me she already had a contact who was interested in her collaborative idea. She was thrilled and so was I!! For me, this is a big piece of what Cool Tools for School does for me. I love learning to use these tools but when I can take one and say to a teacher that I think it would work for him/her, that makes it even more worthwhile.