SLJ Article - Teaching in the Cloud

I am back! Another article for SLJ - this time on how librarians can support teaching in the cloud.  

I love writing for them. I will be speaking at the SLJ Leadership Summit about my Feed and Read for Sudan Project. 

Girls and robotics

Here is a shot clip of a couple of 8th grade girls showing me the robotic train they made in the library using Cubelets Modular Robotics. Pretty neat stuff!

Digital Storytelling Presentations

Here are a few links to various presentations I have done in the past:

ActivLoudoun Plus 2013
Loudoun County Public Schools
Storytelling in a Digital Age

VSTE Summer of Learning 2013
Shenandoah University
Storytelling in a Digital Age - Bridging the Gap

VSTE Digital Storytelling Webinar 2013
This was a live Webinar.

iPads Have Arrived!

With funds from our book fair, we recently purchased 4 new iPads for our library. We chose the iPad 4 rather than a refurbished 2 or 3 because we felt it wouldn't get outdated so quickly. The iPads are to be checked out by teachers for classroom use. We purchased adaptors so the iPad screen can be displayed onto a Promethean board. Now, I am in the process of selecting and downloading apps to be used by the teachers.

What apps do you use for your school iPads? I will compile a list of apps once I have them downloaded.

Advanced Power Searching With Google

Have you heard about this free course, Advanced Power Searching with Google? I would definitely recommend this course to anyone who is interested in becoming better power searchers with Google. With challenges and videos like the ones above (Google Scholar) you'll learn how to use their advanced searching tools. It's a free course and you get a certificate at the end. Check it out!

VATE Literacy Explosion! Glogster, Book Trailers and Book Jackets.

I've been working in collaboration with a 6th Grade English Teacher on a cool project that is part of a contest by the Virginia Association of Teachers of English (VATE) called the Literacy Explosion. Once the word got around that I was doing all kinds of fun technology stuff,  the teacher approached me and asked if I would be interested in working with her on this project. Of course I said YES!

According to the VATE website, this is a competition that celebrates and promotes the integration of literacy and 21st century learning skills. Students read a novel and then create a media literacy project based on that book - either Glogster, Book Trailer, Podcast, Digital Movie, Photo Essay or Book Cover/Jacket. We introduced the project by having students select a book in the library and then I gave an introduction to the six categories.  Next, we had the students narrow it down to three categories: Glogster, Book Trailers, and Book Jackets. Now we are in the phase where they are creating their project and so far it's been a blast (or should I say LITERACY EXPLOSION!?).

For the Glogster project, they are using ww to create a Glog, which is basically a web-based multimedia poster with images, text, sound, video, animation, links, etc. For the Book Trailers they are using PhotoStory 3 to create trailers and for the Book Jacket they are just using a template I created in Microsoft Word to create their Book Cover. Our school already owns PhotoStory and Word through their Microsoft Office package, but I had to purchase a subscription to Glogster EDU in order to get enough student accounts, and for all the bells and whistles. It was only $99 for the whole year though, for 200 student accounts, which was reasonable.

Although I was familiar with all the technology, prior to this project I had never used Glogster or PhotoStory to actually create something. As I started playing around with the programs, I found it to be relatively simple to use. With Glogster, at one point I had a question about adding student accounts and I instant messaged a customer service rep about 2 minutes before the class walked in and he helped me out right away. Crisis resolved!  For PhotoStory, I was introduced to the program in a district training seminar about integrating technology. I created an easy trailer in about 15 minutes. Done. Ironically, the book jacket in Microsoft Word probably took me the longest to figure out how to do, but once I decided to create a landscape template, it was no problem. Once I learned the technology, I taught lessons to the students on how to use the programs. Now it's pretty much just computer lab time- answering questions about citing music and image sources, trouble shooting technical questions, helping students follow the rubrics, etc. As far as the technology side goes, as usual, I have found that the kids are very good at figuring out how to use the programs and they enjoy creating the projects and taking ownership of their work. It's cool to watch and be a part of.


It's been a lot of fun and I would definitely recommend this type of project. Although the idea of taking on several different software programs at once may seem daunting, you will find that the students are more comfortable with technology than most adults and can figure out the problems on their own or just work around any issues.

Pinterest for School Libraries

I started using Pinterest a while ago but never really got into it. Most of the pinners I followed were my stay-at-home mom Facebook friends and they seemed to follow recipes, crafts, and those funny/sarcastic greeting e-cards that are always going viral on social media sites. Although it was cool and creative, it just wasn't my thing. Now that I've gone back to work full time as a school librarian, following my crafty friends on Pinterest just made me feel like I wasn't channeling my inner Martha. 

Recently, however, Pinterest was reintroduced to me in an SLJ article from an educator perspective and I think it really makes sense for me. According to the article, pinterest is "fast becoming a powerful resource where teachers and students share images, store lesson plans, read about current events, watch video clips and collect their favorite apps." This sounds like a useful tool for sharing and organizing links. In fact, I set up a Pinterest account just for professional use and created 4 boards- New Books (In my library), Library Stuff, Education - General, and Library Media Technology.  I also shared this account and info in an article I wrote for my monthly School Library Newsletter that I send out to my entire staff. 

Are you using Pinterest? Follow me.

Inanimate Alice with 6th Graders

   At the VAASL 2012 Conference this past week I learned about this cool Australian Digital Novel Project, Inanimate Alice. Virginia Tech Librarian and presenter Heather Moorefield-Lang, introduced this website to a group of us in a session about AASL's 25 Best Websites for Teaching and Learning. As soon as I saw a little clip I knew my students would be interested and I couldn't wait to share the project with them. It's a free site. 

    Inanimate Alice is a digital novel about a girl named Alice who travels around the world with her parents. She uses a hand-held device to communicate with a stick figure she created named Brad.  The digital novel uses sound, animation and text to tell the story. It also requires the reader to interact with the story using the mouse. According to the website (InanimateAlice.com):

 "Inanimate Alice is Transmedia - designed as a story that unfolds over time and on multiple platforms, the episodes are available on devices capable of running Flash Player. Alice connects technologies, languages, cultures, generations and curricula within a sweeping narrative accessible by all. As Alice's journey progresses, new storylines appear elsewhere providing more details and insights, enriching the tale through surprising developments."

    Today I taught this as a lesson in the library to five 6th grade Language Arts classes. The class levels ranged from honors to special ed.  There are currently 4 episodes of Inanimate Alice and in the first episode about China, (which takes only about 10 minutes total to read with students) Alice and her mom leave their base camp in Northern China to search for Alice's father who has been missing for two days after working in the oil fields. 

   The students really enjoyed this episode. In the first class, I just played the video on the overhead and clicked through it myself, making the students read the text. They were an honors class and seemed to enjoy the book. I had multiple students ask if we can watch the next episode. In the other classes, I read the text in a read-aloud style, which was helpful for the ELL and Special Ed students. Throughout the story and after the story I asked students questions, some of which I found in the Teacher Resource Guides on the website. At the end there was applause in some classes, and every group was asking really good questions (Do they have cell phones in China? What time period is this set in? Is this free? Is Brad a GPS system or like SIRI? Can we watch the next episode?). Students described it as awesome, exciting, and more interesting than a regular library book. The teachers thought it was pretty cool, too. 
     
   I would recommend sharing this with your students and teachers. 

VAASL 2012 Conference

I just got back from the VAASL 2012 Conference in Hampton, Virginia and I am feeling inspired! My district sent me, since I serve on the Loudoun County Public Schools Library Advisory Committee. Wonderful experience. I learned so much and I can't wait to start some of these ideas with my own library.

Some presentations that resonated with me:

1. Heather Moorefield-Lang's session on AASL's 25 Best Websites for Teaching and Learning  
2. Michelle Luhtala's session and keynote speech on Virtual Library Services for the 21st Century. 
3. Kathryn Jones' session on Student News Broadcast
4. 100 New Titles for Young Adults by Maureen Wierbach and Jenny Ashby

I am trying to digest everything. Michelle Luhtala really inspired me to get back into a groove with social media. I need to make some some changes in our school library and set up a twitter account for the library media program and bring our school into the 21st Century. I set up this professional blog to share some of my efforts in this area.

I was very excited about Heather Moorefield-Lang's session because she showed us awesome free websites that were awarded by AASL for their awesomeness, and we can start using them NOW. 

I have a bunch of new titles to bring back and also some ideas to make our school's news broadcast even better. 

Thank you VAASL. I better get started.