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K12 Online Flyer to download

Posted by Carolyn Foote on September 25, 2007 at 11:23am

K12 Online is coming soon! Check out the website for teaser videos! www.k12onlineconference.org.

It's a great opportunity for staff at your schools, since it's free, and online to be viewed at their convenience.

If you'd like a flyer to share with staff, please download the one attached here!

I attended some sessions last year, and it really invigorated my understanding of web 2.0 tools and how they could help librarians and teachers serve students better.Download k12onlineflyer_letter.pdf

Weeding

Posted by Sue French on September 24, 2007 at 3:51am

Hi,

Quick question. Does anyone use Winnebago/Spectrum for their catalog? If so, when you take books out of the system, do you have to choose "weed" or can you just delete? In every other environment I would just delete the item. Here, the library assistant has chosen the "weed" function which keeps the items in the system as weeded. I would prefer to delete them completely from the system, but am wondering if there is a reason why that would not be the right thing to do. My assistant is a little resistant to change so I want to make sure that deleting from the system is fine before I make that change. Changing over to school librarian is going to be more of a challenge than I thought.

Anyone's help is really appreciated.

Sue

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Posted by bj neary on September 23, 2007 at 1:49pm

I just finished A Thousand Splendid Suns and I found it achingly poignant, just as riveting as Kite Runner and I was so drawn to Mariam and Laila's lives in Afghanistan. This novel speaks volumes about the travesty of revolution in this country, the never ending travails of its people and they are still so resilient. I highly recommend this novel because of its cultural significance, the horrors that young girls must endure marrying when they 13 or 14 and strict adherence to ideas that place educated women as subservient and having no voice in society.

Library 2.0

Posted by holli buchter on September 22, 2007 at 1:32pm

This is one of the best descriptions for the general public I have seen for library 2.0. It is from the Rapid City Public Library's website. Their director, Greta Chapman is one of two people who have had a profound effect on my development as a librarian and an information professional.

Libraries have to evolve continuously to keep up with the changing needs of their users.

In the past, Libraries were just places to find books. Since then, the library has grown to become a community gathering place where people can share ideas and experiences together. When the Internet revolution happened less than 10 years ago, no one knew what kind of impact it would bring. One impact was the creation of Library 2.0, the second generation of enhanced Library services existing in the online world.

Library 2.0 is not something specific—it is a concept that refers to a collection of online tools used to deliver services in an interactive online experience. With Library 2.0, the library will be a meeting place existing both online and in the physical world where patron needs for entertainment and information can be met. 2.0 services also offer patrons the ability to actively contribute information, giving them a stronger voice in library collections and services.

The Rapid City Public Library will release these new interactive tools to the public along with user classes to introduce the tools to the community and demonstrate their usefulness.

http://www.rapidcitylibrary.org/

Boy, I've Been Busy!

Posted by karenklieg on September 15, 2007 at 8:33am

Elementary School Teacher-Librarians-

If you are looking for information literacy/technology literacy integrated reserch projects todo with your 4th-6th grade classes, please look at the projects I have posted, ready tobegin the first week of October. I just finished editing them, and theyare ready for registration. Any teacher-librarian wanting to get involved with their classroom teachers in any of these projects, leave me a message or email me.

Thereare various opportunities for sharing and collaborating with theseprojects. Here are the links to the projects and a brief summary:

Federal Holidays: This project is designed for upper elementary and middle school students studying themeaning of American culture, United States symbols and core values ofthe Americandemocratic system. Federal Holidays proposes two main tasks: 1) students willteach their class about an existing federal holiday by creating a PowerPointpresentation; and 2) student teams will imagine a new holiday that represents thespirit of America and then write a persuasive argument which will be supportedby a poster that visually represents their proposed holiday. Using VoiceThread,student teams will comment on and persuasively argue why their holidaybest represents the spirit of America. The site includes linksto all the required resources and rubrics. Originally created in 2002,Federal Holidays was a response to 9/11, to help students deal with thefeelings generated by that horrible event. I am running the projectagain, with updates.
Explorations: This project is a 4th grade social studies project where students will study explorers from "The Age of Discovery." Students are asked to become "docents" - knowledgeable guides who willvirtually guide "visitors" through our "Age of Discovery Museum" bycreating photostories. Students will place a marker on our Google WorldMap, showing the area their explorer discovered. The marker willcontain a link to the student/docent PhotoStory. The PhotoStory(vodcast/podcast) will inform "visitors" about the explorer theyresearched with narration and images. It would be fun if anotherteacher wanted to do this project as is, or modify it to have theirclass research other types of explorers...for example, 'explorers ofthe sky' or explorers of the arts, etc. etc.
On the Trail of the First People - I have posted about this one before, we do have some teachers who signed up for it! Thanks librarians! Would love to have more!

The Little Prince

Posted by Karrie Romero on September 10, 2007 at 6:47am

I thought I would share my favorite book, which is The Little Prince by St. Exupery. This is the first book I ever read (and not until I was about 21) that ever really struck a chord with me. I felt that I shared many of the Prince's feelings and sorrows, so I understood him. I re-read the book about once a year, and I always find new insights when I do.

k12 Online Conference coming!

Posted by Carolyn Foote on September 10, 2007 at 5:13am

The K12 Online conference is coming soon, in October!

If you haven't participated before, K12 Online is a conference that takes place entirely online, over a two week period in October.

For more information, check out: http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=84

And there are some sample video presentations here as well: http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=104

I'll be posting more about it on my blog as well (I'm on the publicity committee!)

http://futura.edublogs.org/

Many Schools with Blogs

Posted by rnlivingsto on September 8, 2007 at 9:07am

Cold Springs Elementary also is using Blogs (http://csslibraryblog.blogspot.com/). One blog that interested me was the one that had fifth and sixth graders commenting on how they should act when blogging. There was even a video attached to it that talked more about Blogs. This site was not as easy to navigate as some of the others, but still worth looking at.

Grandview Elementary doesn't just have a cool Blog, they have one of the better websites I have ever seen for an elementary school (http://www.grandviewlibrary.org/default.aspx). Their site explains w

Posted by rnlivingsto on September 8, 2007 at 9:01am

Grandview Elementary doesn't just have a cool Blog, they have one of the better websites I have ever seen for an elementary school (http://www.grandviewlibrary.org/default.aspx). Their site explains what blogs are and how students should handle themselves when blogging. They are encouraging students to publish their writing pieces as a blog so that they can get feedback about their writing from other people. I could not figure out where Grandview Elementary is located, or who is creating the page, but I can tell they have really worked hard on it.

How about a place to blog?

Posted by rnlivingsto on September 8, 2007 at 8:50am

Fine, this really doesn't count as a blog where people have commented, but it is a place to set up blogging for your school. Check out Learnerblogs (http://www.learnerblogs.org/). It is a place created specifically for edublogs. I wonder how my school district would feel about starting a blogging place for my students? I personally think this site should count as two blogs found for my college assignment. :)

Book Blog - Interesting Idea

Posted by rnlivingsto on September 8, 2007 at 8:42am

The teacher librarian, Mrs. Horowitz, from Northside Elementary in Midway, Kentucky (http://ilearn.woodfordschools.org/shorowitz/) has an interesting idea. She has created a Book Blog to keep her students informed on books that she has just completed. She gives a little summary and review on each book. I will have to check back to this blog to see if more of her students comment. She doesn't have many commenting right now, but if they start, this will be a great way to involve students.

PowerSearching in a Web 2.0 World

Posted by Dennis O'Connor on September 7, 2007 at 3:45pm

The 21st Century Information Project is offering a Moodle based online class: PowerSearching in a Web 2.0 World.

The course starts on September 24. The class is 4 weeks long. Each week we take on a new topic. We will look at searching, evaluating, and ethically using digital information. Along the way participants create a del.icio.us social bookmarking account to track websites of interest. The culminating project is to create a personal search engine on a topic of interest.

We take a game based approach, using learning games and simulations created by Carl Heine to practice some of the essentials of searching & evaluating.

The class earns 2.5 CEUs issued by the Illinois Science and Mathematics Academy.

I'll be facilitating the course & hope to see some TeacherLibrary members later this month!

~Dennis

It's Elementary!

Posted by Durff on September 6, 2007 at 3:04pm

Please join us Monday night at 23:00GMT for a live,interactive webcast about moodles in elementary education. Our guest isJames Gates. Due to a new server we are directing everyone to join thechat via Worldbridges
Type your name and no password is required. Once you enter the chat room, ask there for sound or listen via the Listen

School Year 07-08 - We're off and Running!

Posted by Nancy White on September 3, 2007 at 12:30pm

I don't know about the rest of you, but this has been the rockiest start to the school year I can remember. The new technologies our district has implemented will eventually (I hope!) make things better . We have a new Internet authentication system, and are struggling with the process of helping students log in - when so many have difficulties remembering their user name & password. The great fear is that students will stop trying to use the online catalog all together.

On a brigher note, I had a delightful full day retreat with all of the school librarians from my district, and we spent some time exploring 2.0 technologies, and how they might be used in their school ibrary programs, or just to provide a platform for them to share ideas and best practices with each other between meetings. We looked at the issue of information literacy assessment, and I learned that they are doing some great things to be sure our students are learning and practicing these critical skills. Research reflection journals, peer evaluation, checklists, conferencing, and more.

Hoping all of you out there are off to a great start!

Lunch Bunch Ideas

Posted by Brenda Branson on September 1, 2007 at 12:15pm

Do any of you guys do Lunch Bunch Book Clubs? How do you organize them, how often do you meet, what do you read? I'm looking for some new ideas for this year's groups. I'll be working with 4th, 5th and 6th graders.

Why I like the Drudge Report.....

Posted by Helen Swiski on August 29, 2007 at 6:38am

I tend to stay away from mainstream television media, but want to know what's going on in the world. I know some skeptics believe the Drudge Report is a rightwing media tool, however, I find that I am very interested in the obscure stories you can't find on the evening or morning news shows. Also, the Drudge Report is now one of the hottest places to check for new/breaking news....Matt Drudge (site author) updates constantly. Besides there are plenty of links to "bashing" stories on both sides of the political aisle!

Stephenie Meyer books

Posted by bj neary on August 28, 2007 at 1:57am

I am the kind of person who reads and loves almost everything I read, but I was never a reader of horror fiction- vampires in particular. But students kept asking for the books after Twilight in the spring and since Twilight was on the Reading Olympic list for '08 I decided to take it home for the summer, read it and make up questions. Well, I am hooked! I read Twilight in July and I couldn't put it down, Meyer has a unique way of writing seductively and from the teen perspective. There is so much angst with Bella and Edward Cullen, you just have to keep reading to learn more about their very different, yet alluring love. My students never minded that the books were 400-500 pages long- they were clamoring for the next one and the next one! I am now halfway through New Moon and once again, the suspense, fear and unrequited love keep me reading! Now I am learning more about Bella and Jacob's friendship/realtionship and boy is this different. When I went to Borders last week to purchase New Moon, my neice told me I just had to buy the 3rd one because it was 30% off and I would be saving money so I purchased Eclipse as well. I don't really booktalk these books (because reluctant readers would see the size and not touch them), the students who are readers come and ask for them in groups so I am more than happy to get these vampire books for our library because they are very read-worthy! So if you have become an ardent fan of Stephenie Meyer, pick up Twilight and I guarantee you will be seduced!

Gearing up for September--best ideas?

Posted by Joyce Valenza on August 27, 2007 at 11:30am

I would love to hear what brilliant ideas you are planning for this coming school year. What 2.0 excitement is brewing? What new bulletin board ideas do you have? How will you be greeting and orienting your new learners? Please share any special, nifty ideas for the greater good.

It's Elementary!

Posted by Durff on August 26, 2007 at 9:58am

Join us this Monday at 23:00GMT. Hear a special guest talking about Web 2.0 tools. Join the conversation by going to this link.
Typethe name you want others to see, no password required, and click"Login". Then type in the yellow box asking for where you can hear thelive show. Others there will tell you the location of the stream andhow to access it. During a show, you will hear live audio and be ableto interact in the chat room with others.See you there!

Improving Your Tech Skills in Bed!

Posted by Connie Masson on August 26, 2007 at 9:30am

Have a laptop and wireless in your home? If so you are probably so tech savy already (or someone in your house is) that you don't need to improve your tech skills, but you can if you want to - even in bed! If you have a desktop at home, you can still improve your tech skills as well and you can do it in your slippers and pj's. So says a recent article from eSchool News: " Teachers gain tech skills while in their PJs ". Check it out. Sounds like this Louisiana district started out with a concept for homeschool professional development for teachers that has expanded to students as well and they are having record successes.

"As the teachers have done, students took tests to see how IT proficient they really were, and the same test will be given next May to measure their progress. Students also have been offered incentives such as meal passes and theater tickets for completed courses." They like it so much "one group of students has logged in over 128 hours during their summer vacation".

Susan Dupre, technology facilitator for the St. Mary Parish School Board said: "We're seeing an amazing jump in numbers in tech literacy, in teachers, admin, and students."

If you have investigated this resource, I'd love to hear your feedback on the pros' and con's of InfoSource Learning's Learn It! for use with teaching teachers as well as students.

_______________________________________________________________________

"Teachers gain tech skills while in their PJs. Home-based professional development is big success for La. district" By Meris Stansbury, Assistant Editor, eSchool News. http://www.eschoolnews.com August 24, 2007. Contents Copyright 2007 eSchool News. All rights reserved.

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Note: this page contains paid content.

Note: this page contains paid content.