Circulate This! Stories from the School Library

This is great! The California School Library Association (CSLA) is always on the cutting edge of learning and promoting the good things in the library profession. Now they have put together, Circulate This! Stories from the School Library, a digital journal promoting school libraries. Click on the link to listen to the audio journal.

According to the CSLA website the stories in the audio journal were collected by Joe McHugh and Connie Williams. Connie Williams is the audio journal’s narrator and Joe McHugh did the audio production. The production sounds as slick as a National Public Radio program complete with music transitions and interludes performed by Martin Simpson and Joe Weed of Gourd Music. Based on the premiss “Strong school libraries build strong students and lifelong learner,” the audio journal seeks to highlight the value of of school libraries. Hopefully it will be the first in a series of looks into the school library. To that end I ask you to take this audio file on a little web journey! Lets see if, as Joyce Valenza has asked, we can make this production, this audio journal of library stories, go viral on the web. I am doing my part by promoting this 27.4mb audio file. Won’t you do the same? Tweet it, share it on Facebook, e-mail it to your teachers, staff, and administration, blog about it, and have your students listen to it in library class. Let’s see if a simple audio file promoting school libraries can make a difference in libraries and library funding. The dividends will be a informed electorate, lifelong learners who will grow into active, knowledgeable, ethical, and empathetic citizens. And it is school librarians that make the difference. At this time when so many in education and in school libraries are loosing their jobs, lets do something that can make a difference. If you do nothing but listen to the audio journal you will make a difference. It will change the way you look at your school librarian and together you can be the change you want to see in your school. I just finished listening and it inspired me to write this blog post. What will it inspire in you? Listen and find out and feel free to share what you learn by adding a comment below.

Be a Change Agent

BE the Change Agent! This was the topic in the TL Virtual Cafe FREE Webinar Tonight! I for one did not go in and add to the slideshare that was created but I think this is very cool and wanted to share.

Field Guide For Change Agents

View more presentations from Rodd Lucier.

So now I am wondering how I can be the change agent in my little corner of the world. All suggestions are welcome.

The genius of Apple

http://www.flickr.com/photos/syl2m/ / CC BY 2.0

Why come out with an iPod nano with video? Sounds like such a trivial addition to the product but with that single move Apple could be re-positioning itself in the world of education in a monumental way. I didn’t think of it at first, I thought was “what a waste of an announcement, that it was just a ploy to get Steve Jobs out there in front of people again.” But then I started talking to teachers, librarians, and instructional technology integrators in my school district and I began to see a totally different picture of the iPod nano. First, teachers have long seen the benefits of video in the classroom and on field trips. Traditionally that meant lugging the district or school video camera and let’s face it, even the little school video cameras are big. If your district is more forward thinking you may have one of the new smaller video cameras such as a Flip Video, the RCA Small Wonder or similar small video cameras. However, my district will not allow such video devices because of the proprietary software they require. The videos will not download properly without the software embedded in the camera, which our district blocks teachers from downloading and renders the device useless. Now enter the librarians (and music teachers) who already have convinced the tech gods to allow them to have iTunes. The precedent has been set, iTunes is allowed on district computers for music teachers to download songs and for librarians to borrow and download public library audio books. The interface used by the iPod nano is iTunes. Problem solved. And, will librarians have a use for video? As Sarah Palin has said more than once, “you bettcha”! The library catalogs in our district allow for students to create their own video and audio reviews of books and embed them right into the record of the book so others can see and hear it when they search the catalog. What a great way for students to leave their mark on their school by recommending books to their friends. What a great way to get other kids to read, with recommendations from their peers. Can you tell I am excited? Lastly, instructional technology integrators in our districts are very down in the mouth these days since there is little money in the technology budget. Think of the cost savings this little iPod nano with video will give school districts. They will need to buy only one device instead of the two they traditionally buy. One device that is similar in price to either of the other two devices they now buy… a two for one deal sounds good in my mind. One device that now does the work of two, brilliant. Apple had their thinking caps on for this one folks, it just may be a way for them to break back into the education market which at least in the case of my district has gone to the PC side exclusively. What about your district? PC or Apple? Can you see uses for this new iPod nano? Please comment below. I am looking forward to your thoughts and the dialogue.

Print Friendly

Here is a website I found today that will make those unruly websites easier to print for students that are doing research projects and need print out a website that would kill several trees (never mind how much toner is used).

Ever have a student print something out only to have the last two or three words of every sentence cut off? Annoying! Because you know they are just going to print it again in landscape. The new web app is called Print Friendly and it does just what it says, it turns any webpage into a print friendly version that does not cut off margins and even conserves spaces to help us kill less trees while we are printing out research documents. Oh, and if you are really interested in saving trees, there is way to download and save the material as a PDF so you don’t have to print it out at all.

I have included a button below that will take you right to the site.



Look what it did for my last blog post in the pictures above.

Baby Name Wizard on Jumping Monkeys

I do lessons with third grade students to teach them to use PowerPoint. We take pictures of each other and insert our own picture into the PowerPoint along with information we find about our names using a website called Behind the Name. It is great for even the most unusual or ethnic of names. It gives the history, origin and pronunciation of the name as well as derivatives and some famous people who share the name. Almost everyone can find his or her name there. In fact, I have never had a student not find their name there in the three years I have been doing the lesson. I love this lesson because it is all about the kids. They learn to use PowerPoint while finding out about themselves and their name. But I am always looking for ways to make the lesson better and thanks to Leo LaPorte and Megan Morrone and their podcast “Jumping Monkeys,” I think I found a way to do just that. Their guest on the October 4th program was Laura Wattenberg who wrote the book the Baby Name Wizard and created Baby Name Wizard.com. No only is the website fun but it will give the students a wealth information about their name and where and when it was popular in the United States. According to Wattenberg even more tools will be coming onto the website in the next couple of months so by the time I use the site with my third graders in March it should be all new. Wattenberg uses US census data to populate her statistics and charts. I am very excited about this website. Try it and look up your name. My name peeked in the 1940’s and it’s been all-downhill since then. So, is it better to have a popular name or an unusual name? Is it better to have a name that is popular at the time? Why are we drawn to the names we give our children? Is it what is popular at the time? I can’t wait for my students to start looking at their names and seeing if their names are popular, unusual, even on the charts. I hope we get some synthesis and analysis out of this lesson this time around. How exciting to add a new tool to this lesson this year. I hope my students find it as exciting as I do and will want to keep on learning. After all, that is what I am tying to do… create lifelong learners!

Is it Web 2.0 or are we turning into Educaterers?

I first heard the word Educaterers while watching the 1951 movie, “Goodbye, My Fancy”, staring Joan Crowford and Robert Young. Crowford is journalist Agatha Reed returning to her alma mater for homecoming, but if the truth be told, she never really graduated. Apparently she and Young, who is now the college president, were caught in a compromising position and Reed left before graduation rather than expose Young. Reed wants to rekindle the romance but finds out the college president has made a few too many compromises and has turned into an Educaterer, one who thinks students need puff and fluff rather than the true knowledge needed to make them think for themselves.

I have not seen this movie in years but its themes are constantly on my mind as I examine my own pedagogy. Recently I have been considering the term Educaterer because it seems that students are no longer taught to think for themselves. Do I prohibit them from doing so? Am I turning into an Educaterer? Am I giving them the tools they need to succeed? Am I demanding excellence? How do I tell if they are equipped for the future? Am I properly molding the next generation, the next electorate? What will be important for them to know when they graduate and go out into the market place for a job? I had a college dean tell me at a technology conference that I was not preparing students very well at all. He actually was speaking to everyone in the room but it made me start thinking.

He told of several students in an astronomy class not knowing the difference between a planet and a star and not knowing the names of the planets. Forget about Pluto being demoted, students are leaving our K-12 schools and don’t know the names of the planets in our solar system? Does that mean I am an Educaterer? I am not so sure. What I am thinking is that children are being bombarded with information. There is too much information out there that it is impossible for them to remember it all. Even Einstein didn’t remember everything. But he knew where to look to find the information he needed when he needed it. As a librarian, I can teach students where and how to find the information they need to know. I can get them so comfortable with searching that they can find information easily. I can make a difference in their lives by equipping them with technology tools and teaching them how to use them. Educaterers spoon-feed information. I am not an Educaterer. I am a librarian. The difference is that I show students where and how to find useful information and then teach them how to extract the good parts, so they have the information they need when they need it. I can also show them Web 2.0 tools that will enhance their education, not spoon-feeding but technology enhanced education. Finding and using information is not Educatering!

School Reporter... oops I mean Librarian!

How cool is it that being a librarian is more thrilling than being a reporter? Of course it helps that a lot of the skills I acquired as a reporter now fit very well into information literacy standards. I am thrilled that I can pass on my love of creating a broadcast quality piece onto students. It is amazing that making a video or audio package is now something being done at the elementary school level! Things I did professionally in radio are now in the mainstream. Reel to reel tape editing is now a push of a computer button. Recording does not need a studio, only a microphone and a computer. The mechanics may be different but there is still an art to creating good radio and television. Telling a good story is still good storytelling even if that tale is put on the computer and not on a broadcast network. Storytelling is powerful and seeing your story on the Internet is powerful. What will that mean for literacy and more importantly information literacy? Stay tuned as we explore this new medium. And here is hoping the students will be as excited as I am, as we wonder together if Marshall McCluhan's words, "The medium is the message," are still true.

I remain constantly amazed that being an elementary school librarian is more fun and challenging than being a street-reporter on assignment! :-)

Blogging in the School Library!

Blogging. It is a new concept for elementary students at Arrowhead. But, we will be blogging for the first time this year. How cool is that? I am excited. I can’t wait to see how my students react to blogging. Students are going to blog on books they are reading and voting on for the Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Awards. To see the blog go to: http://arrowheadstudents.learnerblogs.org. Only students who know the password will be able to blog! They have to ask me for the password and logon. I am hoping this will be as much fun for them as it is for me to do this blog. I am also hoping we will be able to post some podcasts and videocasts on this blog. Stay tuned!

Introducing the Arrowhead Library Wiki

I know now that the link to the MCIU wiki is password protected and you need to be invited to see it. So, if you tried to go and see the page I created, I apologize. But, here is a new link to the Arrowhead Library Wiki.  I am told everyone can see it.  It is very new, so there is not much there yet but I like what I've done so far, if have some suggestions I am open to them.  Check out the wiki at: http://arrowheadlibrary.wikispaces.com/.

The Ning I love...

SKILLS Act

A blog Woo-Hoo to Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Representatives Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) who on June 26th introduced the Strengthening Kids’ Interest in Learning and Libraries (SKILLs) Act. As a librarian, I applaud their actions and as a citizen, I will be contacting my own Senators and Representative in Washington asking them to add their name to the Senate Bill (S. 1699) and the House Bill (H.R. 2864). Please contact your Representative and Senators and do the same. Among other things the SKILLS Act believes every school library should have at least one highly qualified librarian/library media specialist and it provides funds so those highly qualified librarians can purchase appropriate books and other materials for their libraries. What a novel idea, providing funding for libraries! My tongue is in my cheek because studies prove that libraries work. It was Walter Cronkite who once said, "Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation. "

If you want more information on the SKILLS Act, check out The American Library Association’s Issues and Advocacy Page: http://www.capwiz.com/ala/issues/alert/?alertid=9951101.
Don’t forget to contact your Senators and Congressmen!

Which Wiki is Right for Me?

Shonda Brisco is one of the most techie librarians I know. Well, I don't personally know her since she is in Texas and I am in Pennsylvania, I virtually know her from my great library list-serve LM_Net. She wrote a wonderful article for School Library Journal about choosing the right Wiki. Since I am interested in starting a Wiki, I loved it. If you are just starting out with Wikis, maybe you would like it too. I think my favorite Wiki for elementary students is pbWiki and I want to introduce it to my students next year. So, I will be playing with it quite a bit this summer. What is your favorite Wiki?

Sports Illustrated Halts Swimsuit Issue in Libraries

I am a librarian. I select books and magazines to put into a school library. Selection is a lot different than censorship. Selection denotes knowledge of one’s audience, what they like, what they want to read. Selection is not censorship. I am against censorship. In fact, it is the librarian’s code of ethics to hate censorship of any kind. Is it any wonder that librarians are upset with the publishers of Sports Illustrated? What made The Time Inc. Magazine Company think librarians would not be upset when they took the liberty to censor what librarians put on the shelf? Sports Illustrated magazine’s swimsuit issue was not sent to any library in the country: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6422838.html. I have to admit that my K-5 library no longer subscribes to Sports Illustrated and it has nothing to do with the swimsuit issue. It has to do with the 5 to 10 year old audience the library serves. We now subscribe to Sports Illustrated for Kids, which caters to this age group. Censorship is wrong, in a school library it is all about audience appropriate selection.