Blabber a Book

I just created this on Blabberize as a sample to show my students. We may be creating these after Thanksgiving if I can gather enough working microphones. It took me just 5 minutes to create but two of those were spent looking for a usable microphone. I think it will be a fun project for the students, talking about a book they have read recently in a new way may get some other students interested in reading the books as well.
 

Tundra Connections Webcast - Polar Bears International

All of our third grade classes and our afternoon kindergarten class took part in this webinar this afternoon... check it out. Tundra Connections Webcast - Polar Bears International

We the People Music Video- Constitution Day Library Project

The first time I attended a DEN event I shared a wiki I created that highlights Discovery Education videos that go along with pictures my library was awarded through the Picturing America Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Because of that little bit of sharing I was chosen to attend a workshop with Dr. Lodge McCammon that changed the way I approach teaching and the use of technology. Dr. Lodge shared various techniques for using Flip video cameras in the classroom through a project called FIZZ.

I had avoided using video because of the amount of time it took. I only see each class of students in the library for 50 minutes a week. Video was too time consuming. Dr. Lodge’s methods changed my thinking and the result was learning and the learning was fun! Fun for me, and fun for my students, they actually said, “that was fun.” Imagine having fun in library class! I downloaded Lodge McCammon’s song, “We the People,” from Discovery Streaming, it is also available on his website along with the lyrics. I made copies of the lyrics and handed them out to my students.

I was a lot worried because the song says it is recommended for grades 6-12 and I was handing it out to 4th graders. I felt a little better looking at the Discovery Education Teacher's guide because it recommended it for grades 5 to 12 but I was still a little concerned. After a little tweaking of the assessment provided in the teacher’s guide, I brought the students into the library and showed the students the video on Dr. Lodge's song page.  And I explained what they were going to do. I told them in order for this to work they had to work together while listen to the song over and over again. Practice a lot and read the lyrics over and over to better understand what they were doing. I had a table full of props and told them they could use whatever they wanted and create whatever was not there that they needed.

I know it worked with the adults in my DEN group but would these 4th graders be able to handle it? You be the judge here is one of the videos my 4th grade students created for Constitution Day. Perhaps the best part of the whole adventure took place the following week when the students got to see their video and then take the tweaked assessment. The entire class did exceptionally well on the assessment! So not only did we have fun… it was even educational! Oh, and make sure you notice that Patriot Pete took part in the chorus!

Patriot Pete visits Arrowhead Elementary

Just a glimpse of Patriot Pete's time so far at Arrowhead Elementary Library.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

We are all going to miss Pete when he moves on to another elementary school!

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.

Constitution Day

I attended a Dr. Lodge Fizz session at PETE & C a couple of years ago and I have been fighting myself about how to do this for Constitution Day. Every time I think I have it, it seems too confusing for 4th grade. So now I see this on Lodge's website. Am I crazy to try this with 4th grade?

Behind the Name Part 2

E:\grade 4

View more presentations from Janice Conger

Here is one of the PowerPoints we made in 4th grade a couple of years ago. At that time it was easy to upload a large file to SlideShare but now I would have to buy more space. So, this past year each child got a CD (yes going backward).

Behind the Name

For several years I have been doing a "Behind the Name" project with my 4th graders in March (which is designated as Name Month). We read the book "The Name Jar" by Yangsook Choi which delights the growing Asian population in my school. After we read the book we research our name, create a Wordle of what our name means, write several different types of poems about our name and put it all into a PowerPoint. Today I found this "Behind the Name" project on SlideShare and now I am thinking of incorporating a PhotoStory instead of just a PowerPoint into the project and adding some interesting new dimensions to this fun, painless research project.

What's in a name Workshop

View more presentations from aidenyeh

Thanks aidenyeh on SlideShare for sharing your project and informing my pedagogy!

Infographic on 6 Emerging Technologies in Education

Here is an Infographic on 6 Emerging Technologies in Education... do you use any of them? How will they change our teaching?

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Via:Saint Xavier University's Master's in Curriculum and Instruction

Comic Creator

I just learned about a new comic creator called Make Beliefs Comix that is very easy to use and is quickly becoming my new favorite because it is so simple. I created the comic below in about 5 minutes. I am thinking it may take students (K-4) a bit longer but if we do it in the computer lab everyone could be working at the same time and it should not take longer than a class period to come up with an exciting comic as part of Constitution Day activities.

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!

Matt Damon at Save our Schools March

This past weekend Matt Damon spoke in favor of teachers and against testing at the Save our Schools March. He was introduced by his mom who is a teacher. What do you think of his comments?


My suspicion is that Matt didn't fit the mold of the perfect student and my suspicion is that none of our students do. Like he said each one is a puzzle and parents and teachers are he ones that put the pieces of the picture together.

Library Signage that does not take up too much space...

I have very little shelf space left in my library and it is not because I don't weed. Signage is a problem, there is not room for it on the shelf. What I need is signage that does not take up too much space on the shelf. Take a look at the video and see the solution to my problem! I love it!

ISTE 2011- SIGMs Forum- A Librarian's Take Away

I am so happy that someone posted these videos from the ISTE 2011- SIGMs Forum.  I was so impressed with Buffy Hamilton's talk about Enchantment and so excited that someone besides me knew Guy Kawasaki who I have been following on Twitter from the beginning. Buffy's talk inspired me to see my students in a new way.



Times are difficult for librarians. We are constantly being forced to defend our positions only to have them cut anyway. Gwyneth Jones- The Daring Librarian talked about making a shift.  The shift she is talking about is what this blog is all about.  We are the choir she is preaching to! We are the ones making the digital shifts! We should all be PowerLibrarians so we can shift the perceptions of others and be ready for the flood of people heading to our door!



Having a strong web presence is not showing off, it is not having a big head, it is what Librarians need to do to survive. What do you find when you Google yourself?

ISTE 2011- A takeaway from a Vendor? Sweet... no... SweetSearch!

When I was at ISTE11 in Philly I did not spend much time in the vendor hall. I never feel comfortable talking to vendors since I have so little clout when it comes to what my district purchases. When I did go into the hall I was specifically looking for World Book to see what their new science module was all about. I was so focused on that mission that I almost missed the biggest library takeaway of them all. Mark Moran of SweetSearch lured me in to his booth with bookmarks, yes that was all it took, paper bookmarks (since I give out more than 400 book marks to students each week of the school year this was quite a prize). Anyway, the bookmarks give students tips for Internet Research. Mark who is the founder and CEO of Dulcinea Media, the parent company of SweetSearch, told me about this free search engine for students. It searches only credible web sites. The search engine part is free but there is so much more and it will have a pay component. I love how well researched this product is and I love that some of it is free in case the other librarians do not agree that this is as great as I think! I also just started following Mark Moran on Twitter. And a SweetSearch search came up with a webinar link that explains more about SweetSearch. The video below is what Mark was offering at ISTE11.



A YouTube search of SweetSearch came up with this tutorial from Anna Laura Brown the SocialNetworkingLibrarian.



What do I think of SweetSearch? I am ready to put the widget on my library home page!