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Technology (9)

It's Not A Book!

Posted by Nicky Middleton on October 1, 2015 at 4:18am

Word On The Street is a fantastic literacy festival that our team at Brainspace attends every year.

Since our inception back in June 2013, we've enjoyed meeting readers and seeing young faces light up when we demonstrate the augmented reality in our magazine. "Yes, thank you. It is a very smart magazine." "We do raise the bar on content for children. We think our audience is very capable and enjoys the opportunity to learn." Parents, teachers and librarians are always excited about what we're up to.

This year, a youngish man (early 30s) challenged us. In the nicest possible way. "So, why is this better than say going to the library?" I truly didn't know where to begin. In my mind, he was comparing apples and oranges. As my mind was recalculating the information to deliver an appropriate response, he asked again. "I mean, why wouldn't they just get all the information about something in a book?" Ah. Of course. This is the generation that has become accustomed to having a world of resources at their fingertips within seconds.

"You're right. A book is far more comprehensive than this is." I conceded. "However, our children don't necessarily want to know everything about every topic." I went on to explain that magazines serve a purpose. Consider it an appetizer to the main course. Magazines pique the palate and books nourish the need for more. Our articles provide a sample menu of subjects and delve into each area with just enough to tempt the palate to stimulate the craving for more. Does everyone enjoy math? I'd like to say yes but we know that some prefer music or history or something else. Does our article on robotics make anyone an expert after reading. Not a chance! But they may want to become experts. Bring on the books and the guidance to support the next engineer! 

At the risk of sounding like a child stomping her feet, magazines aren't and shouldn't be mere fluff for kids! They can be more than puzzles and games that serve as a distraction. A good magazine should tempt the mind, provoke thought and inspire greater learning.

Appetizers anyone?

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Initiating an in-House Library Digital Publishing Program

Posted by Deborah McCallum on December 14, 2013 at 1:16pm
The Library is a dynamic and ever-changing place in the school. It is a Welcoming place of opportunity for students and teachers, with endless possibilities for Collaboration, experimentation, sharing, and learning.Inspired by the SAMR and Technology Integration Matrix, the Publishing initiative is one where We hope to inspire and motivate students to Publish the wonderful work that they are already doing in their classrooms. It will provide many new opportunities for, but not limited to, collaboration, differentiation, sharing, creating, and consolidation of learning. Work stations will be set up with iPads, netbooks, laptops, and other devices that students may have.This program will meet criteria from:Board Improvement PlansSchool Improvement PlansSchool Effectiveness FrameworksEssential PracticesDigital Citizenship & BYOD policies and ProceduresCurriculum ExpectationsCommunity, Culture & CaringFNMI knowledge and FNMI-friendly strategies can be infusedStudents can come down to Publish their work!This certainly is not an exhaustive list, but these are some of the suggestions of what students will be able to do:Publish short Stories on iBooksBlog your reflections instead of journal writing OR re-blog your journal writingCreate a ‘Fakebook’ page for a character in a book you are readingPublish poetry into an eBookClassroom Newsletters & website updatingWhen a class finishes for example, art work, send a student down with all of the pieces, and we can take pictures of them all and put them into a dynamic presentation‘Explain Everything’ where students can explain what they are doing in math to teach another group of kids, or show to their parents.Publish work anonymously to your website/blogTake pictures of your work in class at various stages, then come back later with those pictures to put them into a slideshow presentation that demonstrates a continuum of learningRecord your findings of an experimentCreate oral or written ‘Book Reviews’ to share with othersDrama Presentations turned into iMovies and even use of GreenscreenCreate infographics, or other visual representations of data from your findings in mathRecord music you have madeDiscover new ways to demonstrate your knowledge from your readings to replace traditional Book ReportsThe benefits of Student Publishing can include:Safe ways to publish student workMotivation for students to get their work done knowing that they can work on it using technologyFeelings of Pride and accomplishment for seeing a Published piece of workSomething to share with parentsOpportunities for students to teach other studentsKnowledge consolidationCreativity and ImaginationDifferentiationCollaboration and support from other people in the schoolGives student work new purposesIdeas can be shared and transferred into different classrooms with students teaching other students about new tools they learn aboutInspiring others to do new things with their workInspiring new types of learningFeedback that Teachers can use for summative assessment and evaluation:Assessment OF learningReinforces the learning processAbility to share work ‘anonymously’ with other classrooms and students. Peer feedback from others.Meeting different needs of students to provide motivation or enrichment to some, but not mandatory for those students who may be overwhelmed or be experiencing processing difficulties with the myriad of visuals and text, for example.I look forward to implementing this with my partner this year,Please feel free to share some of your ideas based on what you have done or would love to do in your own classroom or Library!Deborah McCallum© Deborah McCallum and Big Ideas in Education, 2012-2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Deborah McCallum and Big Ideas in Education with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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Library Tech Geek Tribe

Posted by Diane Cordell on May 25, 2010 at 12:00pm
Tribe: A unit of sociopolitical organization consisting of a number of families, clans, or other groups
who share a common ancestry and culture and among whom leadership is typically neither formalized nor permanent... A group of people sharing an occupation, interest or habit.


Due to copyright issues (about which librarians are VERY serious), we were unable to continue offering Library Tech Geek Squad buttons for sale.

The good news, is that our talented designer, Gwyneth Jones, has created an even better design: we are now the Library Tech Geek Tribe!

Items currently available on Zazzle include Tribe buttons and stickers, with other products in the works.





As before, any profits from the GeekTribe line will be used to help support the Teacher Librarian Ning.

Please visit my Zazzle page for ordering information.


*Bonus!
A week before ALA and ISTE we'll be publishing a copyright free conference badge for new Tribe members to print out and proudly display!




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Running for ISTE PK-12 Board of Directors - I would Love Your vote! :-)

Posted by gwyneth jones on March 26, 2010 at 3:30am
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Isn't this a face and a cartoon you can trust to represent you in the PK-12 for ISTE Board of Directors?

Voting for the 2010-2011 ISTE Board of Directors will begin March 11 and end April 12, 2010.

Hi everyone! Well, I've never run for a position like this before (local sure, but not international!) so I'm not sure this blog is kosher...but I'm really passionate about working for the PK-12 Ed Tech peeps out there and I'm shameless enough to PLEASE ask for your vote! :-)

Here's where you can find out more information and can vote.

Voting for the 2010-2011 ISTE Board of Directors will begin March 11 and end
April 12, 2010.

I want to thank my good friend, mentor, and Maryland buddy Ms. Brenda Anderson for nominating me for a position on the ISTE Board. ....so Thank YOU dear amazing Brenda for not only believing in me but taking the time and effort to encourage me to step up and try and make a difference.

I also want to thank my good friend and mentor Joyce Valenza for supporting me in her award-winning recent Never Ending Search blog. She asked me to write up my goals and my vision for leadership within ISTE. I'm gonna re-post that here:

I was amazed and honored to be nominated for the board of directors of ISTE. Now more than ever, I passionately believe that we need to be seen as vital to our schools and the technology education of our most important customers - our kids. As a Media Specialist and a Technology Leader for over nineteen years, I think I am in a great position to see how to advance technology integration, digital citizenship, and helping our students create a digital footprint they can be proud of.

Innovative professional change is very important to me. I believe we need to support the effective use of technology in education to better the earning experience of the teachers and students.

I am also enthusiastic to bring in new members to the association and to foster those new members to contribute, participate, and join personal learning networks to create a more involved community of learners. Collaboration, innovation, approachable leadership, and building community bridges are central to my vision of leadership if I am elected to the board.

If you're reading this ISTE10 blog that means you're already committed to your own professional growth, and you're probably a change agent for your school and county, and I'm "preaching to the choir." For years I've been active with ISTE locally but meeting and working with Joyce Valenza and the geek squad has inspired me to step up and try and make some changes for us and for our profession - changes for the BEST!


Oh, and in the above paragraphs I realize there were WAY too many "I's" for my liking - But hey, it's not easy to write about one's vision of leadership without them...but if elected I promise that it will be about the we, us, and about the you. Thank you for your time and consideration! Cheers!

If you are a member of ISTE I really would appreciate your support....and though I am a teacher-librarian I am very appreciative and supportive of all my other subject area technology education colleagues, related arts, and support staff! - If you teach in a PK-12 School - I would be honored
to be your voice to ISTE and am very approachable for any concerns you have - you would have an eager advocate in me! Here's where you can find out more information and can vote.

Voting for the 2010-2011 ISTE Board of Directors will begin March 11 and end
April 12, 2010.

Follow me on Twitter
My Electronic Portfolio
My professional blog: TheDaringLibrarian
I also want to thank former MSET
president Julie Wray for her support!

Bren1.jpg

\And if you're a SIGMS member please consider voting for Brenda Anderson for Professional Development chair! She's AWEsome! (and not just for nominating me! LOL) - for real she rocks!

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LIT framework from WLMA

Posted by Craig Seasholes on October 23, 2010 at 5:57am
In Jan 2010 WLMA advocates drafted a great one-page School LIT Program framework, pasted below. I shared it today with the British Columbia Teacher Librarian's Association leadership meeting in Kewlona, BC. In a similar way, they announced their new "Points of Inquiry" framework as the culmination of three years work. Here's to sharing!


School Library Information and Technology Programs for 21st Century Learning
Mission: To ensure that students are effective users and producers of information and ideas
Three essential functions of Teacher-Librarians:
  1. Information and Technology Literacy Instruction
  2. Reading Advocacy
  3. Information Management and Services
The scope and mix of these functions will depend on the program priorities and goals of each local school district and school building.
  1. Information and technology literacy instruction
  • Leads information literacy instruction including evaluation and analysis of the credibility, relevance and currency of information
  • Coaches instructional staff in support of curriculum, information technology and information management
  • Teaches students to be critical consumers and producers of information
  • Teaches students and staff to use emerging learning technologies for school and lifelong learning
  • Teaches students to be safe, ethical and responsible digital citizens
  1. Reading advocacy
  • Establishes and models a powerful, fashionable and ubiquitous culture of reading in the school community
  • Motivates and guides students to read for enjoyment and understanding
  • Develops a relevant collection of fiction and non-fiction in a variety of formats, ensuring quality reading choices for all students
  • Manages resources in support of established curriculum and student passions
  1. Information management and services
  • Provides open and equitable access to resources, technology and information services for the entire school community
  • Develops and administers inviting and effective physical and digital library environments
  • Manages resources to support teaching and learning
  • Administers information management systems to support student learning and school and district programs
Program framework development group (January, 2010):
Secondary Level
  • Marianne Hunter, NTCB (North Thurston S.D.)
  • Stephen Coker (Rainier S.D.)
  • Sarah Applegate, NTCB (North Thurston S.D.)
  • Mark Ray (Vancouver S.D.)
  • Roz Thompson (Tumwater S.D.)
Middle Level
  • Linda Collins (University Place S.D.)
  • Linda King (Yakima S.D.)
  • Leigh Lohrasbi (Yakima S.D.)
  • Nancy Mowat, NBCT (Bellevue S.D.)
Elementary Level
  • Dave Sonnen (Edmonds S.D.)
  • Wayne Osborn, NBCT (Clover Park S.D.)
  • Laura Berry, NBCT (Issaquah S.D.)
  • Steve Goodwin (Edmonds S.D.)
Higher Education
  • Mike Eisenberg (University of Washington)
  • John Marino (University of Washington)
  • Betty Marcoux (University of Washington)
  • Lorraine Bruce (University of Washington)
  • Christie Kaaland (Antioch University)
With additional contributions from Lisa Layera Brunkan, Washington Coalition for School Libraries and Information Technology and Colet Bartow, Montana Office of Public Instruction.
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Research Made Easy

Posted by Keith Schoch on February 21, 2010 at 3:30am

Okay, not easy, but much clearer! Kentucky Virtual Library's Research Rocket offers a student-friendly, step-by-step introduction to the research process.

While the screen shot to the right gives you a basic idea of the steps involved, what it doesn't show you is that each individual step provides its own easy to understand tutorial (see below).

For media center specialists or teachers introducing students to the research process, this is both a great introduction and a great stand-alone resource to which students can refer when going through the motions of information collection and organization.

(The picture to the right is the page a student would access if she clicked on the "Scan First" square of Step 4 on the map. As she reads over the information provided, she can also roll the mouse over the graphics, which provides additional visual cues).

And of course, there's always the option of using individual components of the whole process (such as the Scan/Survey module here) as reading comprehension skill builders in the elementary classroom.
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Telling a Story at PETE & C

Posted by Mary Schwander on February 13, 2009 at 10:30am

My seven days at PETE & C allowed me to see a lot of fabulous tools which our students can be utilizing in the classroom. Brilliant podcasts; terrific music compositions; professional-looking movies, cool virtual spaces for learning… Most of the technology, perhaps all, I had already used or had explored at some point prior to this conference. But then again, learning how to use a new piece of technology is not necessarily what this conference is all about.The biggest thing I took away was a continuing theme I heard throughout my days there. I heard it from all three of the keynote speakers as well as from many of the session presenters: the importance of giving students the ability, tools and confidence to tell a story.As keynote speaker, Jason Ohler pointed out, stories help us to organize information, remember a place and express the emotion of an event. Everyone has a story; he or she may just need help in finding how to tell it. Keynote speaker, Daniel Pink, described design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning as the six aptitudes of the right-side of the brain which are so crucial to our students’ success. Similarly, Rafe Esquith brilliantly and emotionally demonstrated the importance of creativity, innovation and empathy in a child’s learning experience. The videos he shared of his students' learning celebrations clearly verified that these components matter - really matter - in a child’s learning experience.Ken Rodoff’s session on Improving Student Presentations reminded us that students need some guidance in telling a story: they need to find the story's “hook” and they need to realize that they are entertaining an audience, not simply completing a class assignment. Mercyhurst College's session on Imagining in Second Life had a very creative way to tell a story – using Second Life islands as a stage for Abraham Lincoln revisions or a gallery for art work.Students deserve to have all the tools and opportunities they need to tell their story. Technology holds a mother-load of them. As Ohler points out, a big amplifier won’t make a bad guitar sound good – the story has to be good in order to sound good. But whether it’s a movie, a song, a play or a podcast – it’s another chance that a good story will be heard and shared.
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