Blogs

I oversee five school libraries, grades K-8. Pending approval in a town referendum, we will be building a new school for grades 3-5. I am proposing a Learning Commons in the new school. The superintendent, principal, and architect are all excited about the prospect. I met with the architect yesterday. He has been doing research about Learning Commons and is finding a lot of information about college level and high school level Learning Commons, but very little about elementary level Learning Commons. He has asked me to do some research as well. Can anyone point me to anything at all, whether it be online or print resources that I can share with the architect? I did purchase the two books by David Loertscher about creating a Learning Commons.

Thank you for any help you can give me.

• Flat Classroom Project 11-1
• Flat Classroom Project 11-2
• NetGenEd Project 2011

• Each expert is asked to take at least two times to read and leave feedback on the main wiki page of the group on the discussion tab of the page.
• Your job is to provide feedback and point out resources to the team. You are an "advisor." Please join our diigo group and your bookmarks will be sent to the groups. If you're not sure of what a term is, they align to the Flatteners assigned to each team and from Thomas Friedman's book, The World is Flat.

Hello Search Educators:

Please join us for our free search education webinar: "Maps for Research."  You can find registration information below:

Course description:

You know you can use Google Maps to zero in on your destination. But did you know that you can search by latitude and longitude, recreate the Lewis & Clark Expedition, and use Street View to take a walk through Times Square? In this webinar, we’ll cover the basics of Google Maps, from finding a place to finding your way. We'll also discuss cool tricks and little-known features that will have you creating and editing maps of your own!

Presenter: Trent Maverick, M.A, Education

Please register by clicking on the links below, and feel free to share with others who might find the talk useful:

April 12, 2011—12:30pm PST:
https://googleonline.webex.com/googleonline/onstage/g.php?d=572296451&t=a&EA=tbm%40google.com&ET=48b1b405509391e0221f0716d403fe9f&ETR=f40c1b802b484395c03496e9c61f80b8&RT=MiM0&p

April 13, 2011—3:30pm PST:
https://googleonline.webex.com/googleonline/onstage/g.php?d=578969088&t=a&EA=tbm%40google.com&ET=e6e32e4e1308d2123d05382b9a58427d&ETR=58506e4e99f8601968c8118bf08bac48&RT=MiM0&p

Find the archived version of the talk (posted by 4/15) here:
https://sites.google.com/site/gwebsearcheducation/webinars

Upcoming webinar topics:

Writing Successful Queries I: Visualizing Your Perfect Source--Presenter: Tasha Bergson-Michelson, MLIS
Writing Successful Queries II: Using Visualization to Teach Advanced Operators--Presenter: Tasha Bergson-Michelson, MLIS

Thank you,

Tasha Bergson-Michelson, MLIS

Search Education Curriculum Fellow

tbm@google.com

• • Getting Started with the Search Process
  • Instructional Guidelines Database Selection
  • Deep Web Searching
  • Question to Query
  • Optimal Queries
  • Effective Operators
  • Homing in on Relevant Information
  • Browsing: Directories, Links, Tags
  • Web 2.0 Search Applications
  • Evaluation: Author, Publisher, Bias, Links, Date, Evidence, Accuracy
  • Ethical Use
  • Citation
• 
  
• Who Links to this page?
  An interactive game Micromodule companion: Understand how to discover pages that link to the webpage under investigation.
  tags: investigative searching website evaluation learning game
• Who is the Author?
  An interactive MicroModule companion. This tutorial provides an opportunity to apply research and detective techniques that help you find the author of a website.
  tags: modla investigative searching website evaluation learning game
• Who is the Publisher?
  An interactive MicroModule companion. Investigative techniques for determining the Publisher of a website.
  tags: modla investigative searching website evaluation learning game
• Bias & Objectivity
  An interactive MicroModule companion. How to recognize indicators of Bias. Read passages from actual websites then check your understanding of bias using 5 essential criteria.
  tags: modla investigative searching website evaluation learning game
• What is the Date?
  An interactive MicroModule companion. Determine the freshness of information by fining out how recently a web page was published or updated.
  tags: modla investigative searching website evaluation learning game
• Bad Apple: The Classroom Edition
  Five separate evaluation challenges that compare your investigative findings to those of others in your class. Can you detect which websites are hoaxes and which are not?
  tags: information literacy information fluency' teacher resources learning games
• Use it? or Lose It?
  Live webpage evaluation games that challenge your skills to locate and evaluate information on the Internet.
  tags: information literacy information fluency' teacher resources learning games
• Copyright: An Interactive MicroModule Companion
  This tutorial provides an opportunity to apply copyright and fair use knowledge in a learning game setting.
  tags: information literacy information fluency' teacher resources learning games ethical use
  
  Plagiarism vs Paraphrase? Teach the concepts in depth!
• 
  
• Plagiarism I: An interactive MicroModule Companion
  Our original plagiarism challenge: can you tell which students are guilty of plagiarism? \nTest your skills at detecting plagiarism.
  tags: information literacy information fluency' teacher resources learning games ethical use
• Plagiarism II: An interactive Micromodule companion.
  Part two of this series of tutorial games for improving one's understanding of plagiarism and how to avoid it.
  tags: information literacy information fluency' teacher resources learning games ethical use
• Plagiarism III: An interactive MicroModule companion
  Part three of series of tutorial games for improving one's understanding of plagiarism and how to avoid it. This game asked you to investigate science topics. Plagiarized or Paraphrased? Test your skills at detecting plagiarism.
  tags: information literacy information fluency' teacher resources learning games ethical use plagiarism

 Be sure to get the first phone app for the TLA conference. It is available and it is free!

See you in Austin.

I will be there and I plan to call my representative to schedule a meeting time because they need to hear our stories -those on the front lines of education.

This article below I obtained from the AFT Facebook:

Hear them roar

Record number of teachers headed to the Capitol for Lobby Day and Community Rally

Thousands of teachers, school employees, and parents will amass on the Capitol grounds Monday at noon for the Texas AFT Lobby Day and Community Rally. The event is traditionally held the first day of spring break during legislative sessions, but the numbers coming this year are triple the usual crowd.

“We have a record number of school employees committed to the rally, with Dallas alone busing in 900 people, so get ready to hear them roar,” said Linda Bridges, Texas AFT president. “I think it’s pretty clear that the cuts-only approach embraced by some of the state leadership isn’t cutting it with the teachers and parents who understand what it would mean to try to educate our kids with drastically reduced resources.”

Also unique to the event this year will be the participation of hundreds of parents, union members and school board trustees who are helping to carry the message that a balanced approach is needed to balance our state budget.

Monday’s rally follows a successful “Tele Town Hall Meeting” with 6,633 Texas AFT members that spurred hundreds of phone calls to legislative offices asking lawmakers to keep the 22:1 class-size law. And it will come two days after thousands gather for the Save Texas Schools Rally.

“This wave is going to keep rising, and lawmakers will know that millions of Texans stand behind our kids, because they are our future,” Bridges said.

Speakers for Monday’s rally include:

* Randi Weingarten, American Federation of Teachers President
* Charles Foster Johnson, Coalition for Public Schools, Christian Life Commission
* Allen Weeks , Save Texas Schools
* Anne Dunkelberg, Center for Public Policy Priorities
* Juliet Stipeche, Houston ISD Trustee
* Becky Moeller, Texas AFL-CIO President

The message brought to the Capitol will echo Texas AFT’s petition on www.txcandobetter.org, which asks lawmakers to:

• Save thousands of teachers’ jobs, pre-K funding, and other crucial public education services by taking a balanced approach to balancing the state budget, rather than relying on cuts alone. Texas can do better for our kids and our future.

• Use the $9.4 billion Rainy Day Fund, a self-replenishing stabilization fund meant to meet service needs in tough economic times.

• Maximize federal assistance, such as the Education Jobs Act money—$830 million for retaining teachers in Texas. Legislators should work with the governor NOW to complete the steps needed to obtain the money.

• Closing unproductive tax loopholes, exploring new revenue sources, funding schools equitably and fixing the structural deficit that leaves our state billions of dollars short each year.

Bridges said Monday’s efforts will reap results, especially since participants will spend the rest of the afternoon visiting lawmakers. “Some people ask, ‘Do rallies like this really make a difference?’ Of course they do, especially when the participants are doing much more than just rallying. They’re visiting with legislators to tell their personal stories. They’re writing letters, making phone calls and spreading the word with friends on Facebook. And their message will sink in with lawmakers who know deep down that schools are the cornerstone of their communities.”

Digital_Nation:

     Well this is my first blog and I am sure everyone feels a little awkward starting one of these things.  I am working on my certification for Lib_SCI and am currently doing my internship with NEISD.  I really like everything about a library so far. You get to interact with the kids and parents in a positive way. In addition you get to handle a wide range of activities.   I also love the fact that I work with and around books all the time.  I have always loved the smell of books and still do.  

     Personal I am not a terribly exciting individual.  I love to do all kinds of crafts. Although i am not good at any of them I like to do everything from quilting to painting.  I have the average American family which excites me to no end.  I really like having a quite boring life because it makes me happy do ordinary things.  I have a daughter and twin boys who keep me very busy.  In addition to my husband who I think is the best person I have ever met. I also happen to believe that he is the best teacher in the world as well. ( But I think I might be a little biased)   We just bought our first home and as odd as it sounds I love cleaning it.  I always hated cleaning up until we got our home, but I think it is different when you own it. 

      One of the weird things about blogs is that they make you feel like people are listening to you and the world centers around you.  I find this terribly odd, mostly because I grew up in a world where you did not put any information out into the world except your professional persona.  I know it is typical for people to spill their innermost thoughts into a blog like this but I find it disquieting.  I like the idea that my personal world is private, and the world is passing me by.  This is part of the reason that if you look for me on the internet you won't have a lot of luck.  One of my areas of study during my undergraduate was communication and one major lesson that I have taken to heart is that knowledge is power.  This is part of the reason that it makes me squeamish to post at all.  But you have read enough of my paranoid gibberish - so feel free to move on to more interesting things besides me! :)

Coffee At Midnight

The California School Library Association (CSLA) has announced the launch of the 2011 California Campaign for Strong School Libraries, a public awareness campaign to increase understanding about the importance of strong school libraries for our children. The campaign is being chaired by Connie Williams, a CSLA Past President.

Through a variety of projects and programs, the Campaign for Strong School libraries is targeting areas throughout California to raise awareness about the importance of strong school libraries for our children.  Some of these projects include:

Expanding the CSLA 2.0 tutorials to include: 

• Summer 2.0 fun for teens @ their library [public library summer programs]
• Digital citizenship tutorial – targeted to teacher librarians and other educators so that they are comfortable teaching about and working with Internet Safety, cyber citizenship and information ethics applications
• Administrators 2.0 tutorials in process to provide tech learning for those decision makers in schools and school districts

Campaign LIBRARY STORE:

Book and library-themed gifts for yourself and your library-loving friends! Includes the incredible artwork of children’s book illustrators who have given us art to advocate for strong libraries. Watch for and widely share the announcement about the Campaign LIBRARY STORE.

Bus Ads in targeted areas in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Help us spread the word about strong school libraries!

If you live in California, you can:

• Join the public awareness campaign today by contributing your tax-deductable donation to support new ‘action advocacy’ projects as developed by CSLA members to promote library service, instruction and legislative action.  
• Invite your district and regional library organizations to make a donation to buy regional bus banners and ads.  
• Donate your time as well so that we can build a coalition of library supporters who will work together to ensure that our students have access to the strong school libraries they need to become lifelong learners.

To join or learn more about the campaign, please visit: http://librarycampaign.csla.net/.

Even if you aren't in California,  I wanted to share this with all of you outside California for several reasons:

• We would love any all of you to support our campaign, and/or
• You can use our ideas in your own state, and/or
• You can visit our Campaign LIBRARY STORE and get great stuff for your library, you, and your stakeholders

Here are more information links:

http://www.csla.net/pdf/CSLACCfSSLAnnouncement.pdf

http://www.csla.net/pdf/CSLAIllustratorsGaloreLibraryStore.pdf

Check out this search engine that presents a video with sound for the topic you type in:   www.qwiki.com

For making great videos also check out xtranormal.com - more info.
 and to check the one I made on internet research at: www.readingsanantonio.blogspot.com

Hi Everyone!

   I know most of you from class know me already.  But here goes another introduction. I will revamp it.  I am Ruth Castillo- Rangel.  I just go the new last name :) over the holidays.  I have been working as a librarian at La Encantada Elementary.  It has been enjoyable but I have had some challenging learning experiences!  I am so appreciative of the opportunity I have to be apart of this cohort.  I have learned so much!  It has really helped me in my job this year. I hope that I will be able to keep my job next year.

    I am a mother of a handsome son and a step mom to three great kids!  We are planning to add more to the bunch very soon.  I have two wiener dogs and a schnauzer. The house is usually chaotic with lots of love and laughter. I wouldn't have it any other way! 

I'm very happy to be a part of this class and a part of this amazing program here at Sam Houston for Library Science.  My appreciation for library professionals grows as each day passes.  There is so much more to being a librarian than just shelving and processing books.  I'm really lucky to be a part of such a great program to become a librarian myself.  I'm looking forward to graduation and, hopefully soon, to becoming a librarian myself.

So, now that I've shared some thoughts on the program, I'll tell you a bit about myself.

Studies:

I hold a B.A. degree from the University of Notre Dame that I achieved back in 2006.   I was a double major in English and Philosophy.  I was fortunate to become part of the Laura Bush IMLS Grant at Sam Houston State beginning with my first semester classes last spring.  I'm really looking forward to finishing up this summer.

Family:

I have one brother, my mom, and dad as my immediate family.  I guess I'm one of the very few that hasn't started a family of my own just yet.  I look forward to that chapter in my life happening sometime in the future, but I'm happy where I'm at right now as well.  I'm very fortunate to have the great family that I have and the great network of aunts, uncles, cousins, and, grandfather that I have.  I enjoy my time with them very much.

Interests:

I have a wide range of interests outside of my academic pursuits.  I like to play Texas Hold'em and I definitely consider myself a Texas Hold'em enthusiast.  I also enjoy sports in general, both playing and watching, a great deal.  Both college and professional football, baseball, and basketball are definitely fun to watch and keep up with.  I catch myself on ESPN.com pretty regularly.  I also enjoy reading, rock music, good movies, and spending time with my close friends and family.  Whenever I'm not working on homework, I'll probably be with them having an awesome time.

Travels:

My one regret is that I haven't travelled more during my 27 years on this earth.  I have been able to visit a couple of places in the U.S. like New York City, Ft. Myers Beach (Florida), Notre Dame (Indiana), various places in Texas, and, of course, Washington D.C. this past summer.  I would like to travel the country more in the future and, hopefully, take a few trips to various places around the world.  I would love to visit Europe.  That is definitely something I want to do in the near future.

Pets:

I have three dogs.  They're family dogs though, so they're living with my mother at her house.  One of them is a chiuaua named Rocky.  Another is a terrier mix named Teddy.  The third is a German Shepard (white)/Dalmation mix named Sandy.  Rocky is has been a part of our family the longest.  He will be 15 years old this coming March.  It's amazing to think how long he's been a part of my life.  Sandy was a close rescue.  My previous dog, Babes, gave birth to one last litter and Sandy was the survivor of that two puppy litter.  The other puppy, unfortunately, didn't make it.  My brother and I took very special care of her so that she would survive.  Luckily for us, she did.  I don't know if I could find a more good natured dog out there.  As for Teddy, he was a rescue in the truest sense of the word.  He was a puppy wandering the streets when my mom and brother found him, took him home, and nursed him back to health while I was away at college.

So, there you have it.  I've given you a few things about me.  It's kind of funny to see this and realize how much information I've put down for my pets section.  I love dogs and animals in general.  I hope this helps anyone reading this in getting to know me better.  Like I said, I'm looking forward to a great Spring and to the next several months as we finish up our program.  Good luck to all of you!