Am I doing enough to prepare my students for the future?

I am often plagued by this question. Did I do enough today to get my students ready for their tomorrow. A tomorrow that may take them around the world in an instant. And honestly I am not sure. I often wonder how much control I should give them in the library because giving up control in the past has often been loud. In a library built in the 70's without any walls, in the center of the building, loud is not always looked upon as a good thing even when loud means learning is happening. Thanks to this video I am again re-thinking my pedagogy. Am I doing what is best for my students. I ask this question of myself every day. Let me know if you have an answer to this age old question. In the meantime enjoy LibrarainTiff's video.

Book Care

Book Care is one of the fist lessons school librarians teach at the start of every school year and depending how things go, they may teach it again after break. George Mason University has a very cute video to show proper book care at the university level. I was considering using this with my 3rd and 4th grade students and telling them that proper care of books is something that will follow them to college, so they should start practicing now. However as cute as this video is, it made me wonder if my students will even be using books by the time they get to college!

ISTE 2011

My Brain is full. My Mind is tired. ISTE 2011 ended just 6 short hours ago and already I am making plans for school year 2011-2012 that include what I have embraced over the past 5 days in Philadelphia. I can't process it all right now but as the song says: I Love School.

The music video features Temple University's Broad Street Line and the Alliance for Progress Charter School's 4th Grade Class. This video made me smile while I watched it and helped me realize what ISTE is all about.

Tony Hawk's Reading for Scholastic

Scholastic Inc. has a new (well, new to me) YouTube Channel with the unforgettable name "The Scholastic Channel's Channel," and it's all about reading and Book Talks. Well, maybe they could have been a little more creative with the name but there are also channels for Scholastic Kids and Scholastic Teens. It is super exciting for a librarian to have YouTube Channels directed at getting kids to read. The Scholastic Channels also have author interviews and so far the comments seem positive! Too bad YouTube is blocked in my district. But the good news is that the powers that be are thinking about unblocking it for teachers so librarians like me can use this wonderful tool to promote reading!