All Posts - Blogs - TLNing (teacherlibrarian.org)

End of another year...

Posted by Lisa Hunt on May 28, 2008 at 1:19am

I'm just not yet into the habit of blogging. I tend to "talk" more in person and believe me I have lots to say.This year I enjoyed the company of a new 1/2 library assistant (first time ever at my school) as well as the invaluable services of a 1/2 to full-time volunteer. It was like the library had a STAFF of 3 people.We enjoyed greatly increased and enhanced library programming. I think our best efforts were in the PR realm. We made displays, showcased books for reading and helped students better learn how to use the library for themselves.The schedule last year was really pretty good. I liked it and came to depend upon it strongly. Now, I wait to see if the schedule has been changed for next year. Hmmmm..... I have this feeling that "library" just gets tossed in after all the other hard schedule crunching happens. Well, I think I'll just be glad that I enjoy flex-scheduling. When August gets here I'll just become creative all over again. Isn't that how each year always begins?Enjoy your summer. I plan to read, garden, cook and clean clutter from my house!!!

Pass the word? Help make it a 6-traits online summer!

Posted by Dennis O'Connor on May 20, 2008 at 4:45am

Please forward this announcement to teachers in your district.This summer teachers from around the nation and the world will join online to exchange ideas and share best practices. The conversations are rich. The community is real. If you've never taken an online class before... this is the one to start with!Teaching and Assessing Writing with the 6 TraitsEDUC 744 920 Elementary (Gr. K-4) - 3 gr. cr. begins June 16, 2008 EDUC 744 909 Middle/High School (Gr. 5-12) - 3 gr. cr. begins June 16, 2008Learn to teach and assess writing with the 6-Traits of writing (voice, ideas, word choice, organization, sentence fluency and conventions). Learn to use the 6-Traits with the writing process to teach revision strategies. Help learners meet higher standards and improve testscores.Earn graduate credits via online courses that support your professional development goals for licensure renewal, salary advancement and advanced certification.Sign up soon to reserve your spot! Classes are TOTALLY ONLINE. You may participate from your home or school computer. Registration is limited to 20 participants per section.Syllabus and other details: http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/traits.shtml REGISTER ONLINE or REGISTER BY FAX Fax: (715) 232-3385For more details e-mail Dennis O'Connor: oconnord@uwstout.edu

Power Searching in a Web 2.0 World

Posted by Carl Heine on April 24, 2008 at 10:25am

Dennis O'Connor and I are offering a new session of Power Searching in a Web 2.0 starting Monday, April 28. This 4 week course features techniques to become a more proficient searcher in a world of social networks. Searching Web 2.0 is quite different from Web 1.0 in terms of the purpose and process of searching as well as the need for careful evaluation. The course includes interactive activities, search challenges and asynchronous discussions with educators around the globe. The cost is $99 for the course; 5 CEU's may be earned. Expect to spend 6 hours per week in online study and practice.For more information (includes a link to the section that just concluded)

CMEC Pan-Canadian Literacy Forum

Posted by Richard Beaudry on April 18, 2008 at 6:00pm

Hello everyone, On Sunday night, Monday and Tuesday (April 13th to the 15th) I was at the Council of Ministers of Education of Canada (CMEC) Pan-Canadian Interactive Literacy Forum in Vancouver. This was a rather unique experience in Canada. Educators, learners and literacy providers from West to East and into the North were gathered together to discuss themes such as Aboriginal Literacy, early literacy and workplace literacy. Since we were meeting by webcast with people across the country, we had to start our day in Vancouver at 6:45 am so people in S. John, New Brunswick could start theirs at 10:45 am. Here are the cities/towns who were linked and the themes they worked on: Whitehorse, Yukon: Building Literacy through Technology Yellowknife, NWT : Aboriginal Literacy: Stories of Success Arviat, Nunavut: Literacy: The path to Success Saint John, New Brunswick: Literacy: Passport to Prosperity Montréal, QC: Vision, Innovation, Participation Toronto: Ont.: Literacy for Life Winnipeg, Man.: Literacy Works! Building a Skilled and Resilient Workforce Regina, Sask.: Aboriginal Literacy: Stories of Success Edmonton, Alta: Literacy: Never too Early, Never Too Late. Vancouver, B.C.: Communities Working Together for Literacy The proceedings opened in Vancouver Sunday night because we had to start up so early on Monday morning to catch up to the rest of the country. The first Keynote speaker was the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson (Former Governor General of Canada), who gave a speech recognizing the importance of literacy workers across the country and the contribution of teachers and librarians (teacher librarians included) in the literacy education of the children of Canada. Other Keynote speakers of note were Susan Aglukark who talked about growing up in Arviat, Nunavut and her journey as a songwriter and signer in Canada. Dr. Fraser Mustard, who made a compelling argument for early literacy based on models and studies done in Sweden and Finland. Frank McKenna on how much we can benefit as a society if we increase the literacy levels of our children, In BC, we looked at several models of successful literacy programs. Revelstoke, BC has the regional district, library, city and school board working together on one of the most integrated literacy programs I have ever seen. The Vancouver Public Library and the Vancouver School Board are also working together at integrating their literacy programs but it is still too early to see any results. Richard

Poem in Your Pocket Day-Looking for Virtual Participants-April 17

Posted by karenklieg on April 4, 2008 at 10:18pm

April 17th is POEM IN YOUR POCKET DAY. The idea is simple: have your students select a poem they love during National Poetry Month then carry it with them to share with other students on April 17.We are looking for elementary classrooms to SKYPE with our school for our Poem in Your Pocket Day event! We are hoping that other schools will videoconference with us throughout the day to share poetry via skype! Interested in joining us? Leave a message here!!Curriculum for a schoolwide celebration of poetry is available at http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dvtjctt_371hmjbhpdg. More poetry curriculum is available at http://schools.nyc.gov/academics/englishlanguagearts/educatorresources/poetry%2bresources.htm

Testing 123

Posted by Buffy Hamilton on March 19, 2008 at 3:26pm

I'm playing with the blog feature!My regular blogs may be found at:http://theunquietlibrary.wordpress.comhttp://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.comBuffy

Internet@Schools West 2008 call for Proposals

Posted by Susan Geiger on March 18, 2008 at 5:55am

We’re seeking presenters for our Internet at Schools conference, to be held in Monterey, California, October 20-21, 2008. Sponsored by MultiMedia & Internet@Schools magazine, the conference covers practical and timely technology-related topics and technology-based tools and resources for K-12 media and technology specialists. It is held in conjunction with the Internet Librarian 2008 conference.I'm particularly interested in cool things people are doing in 1:1 laptop environments, web 2.0, the libraries role in staff development and any other thing you're doing with technology that has your faculty and students excited and learning.This is a friendly conference in a venue that encourages face to face interaction with other conference attendees. Volunteer to speak and meet some of those names on your blog roll ! All speakers receive a full, complimentary registration to the Internet@Schools West and Internet Librarian 2008 conferences.

Enough is Enough

Posted by Durff on March 17, 2008 at 1:54pm

(Crossposted at Durff's Blog)This summer the Olympics are taking place in a country that is assisting genocide in another country AND in their own.I call for a boycott! My small contribution will be to NOT watch the Olympics. I'm not an athlete (good thing or we would surely lose) so I can't refuse to participate that way. I'm not the CEO of a major funding source for the games. What I can and will do is not tune in to any tv coverage, any internet coverage, or any other media coverage of any nation that knowingly kills any group of people with whom that government does not agree. I will tell all my students of my decision and rationale. I will use online tools to tell others of my decision.When the Nazi regime was toppled, it was widely proclaimed, "Never again." But now it is happening at least twice.What are you going to do about it?

Searching for the Date to cite

Posted by Carl Heine on March 12, 2008 at 7:13am

I recently got an email from a librarian in Illinois asking about ways to use Google to identify the date of an article. She wondered if there was a command in Google that would provide update information.I responded by saying that I don't think Google itself has a tool for sorting records by cache date, but if any page is cached, students can click that link and find the date it was updated or added to Google's index. Look for the term Cache at the end of the snippet. This isn't the same as "last updated" or copyright, but it's better than nothing.Personally, I wouldn't use it for a date in a citation, but as a guide for freshness if the date of the information was critical (usually for very current events). Back to this point in a moment.I did a quick search using keywords GOOGLE CACHE DATE and found that third parties create tools that come close to what she may be looking for. For example: http://www.webuildpages.com/tools/ advertises a Cache Tool: "Enter in a URL and this tool will check that page, and all links off of that page to see when each page was last cached. Will also show if any pages aren't getting cached. Improved and updated." The tool is no longer free and may be purchased. I think I'll pass, but in case anyone owns this, I'd like to know how you use it.The important issue here is what date to cite: copyright, last updated or cached. I'd like to hear from practitioners what they advise. What if copyright isn't available? If you should assume copyright on all Web content, is "last updated" the most accurate?

Web 2.0 Playground

Posted by Mary J. Johnson on March 1, 2008 at 4:06pm

I posted this on my “Primary Source Librarian” blog today, and I thought others might want to consider setting up their own Web 2.0 Playground:Yesterday I spent a most enjoyable three hours with nine other people at a Leapday Playday to explore the concepts and tools of Web 2.0. We called our computer lab a “playground,” and we were there to “play.”Why “play?” Because every time I mention Web 2.0 to other educators, they react in at least one of the following ways:* What’s THAT?* I’ve heard of it, and I know I should be doing it, but I really don’t know what it is.* Grrrr. One more thing I have to do.* I don’t even know where to start.* Why should I try? Even if I did know what it was, all that stuff is blocked in my district anyway.A tense look of anxiety typically accompanies each response. Thinking that the best remedy for this anxiety might be to encourage play, I invited a play group made up of former colleagues (including three retired friends) and current folks in charge of technology training in my old school district. You know--all library/tech/teacher types. Well, we had a blast! No pressure. No continuing education credits. No expectation of finished products. Just simple, mostly unstructured time to play with and share the concepts and tools of Web 2.0 that we discovered.We spent a few minutes at the beginning looking at some of the typical features of Web 2.0 such as tags and comments, but mostly we just explored a variety of tools from a Web 2.0 tools handout. (I added professional to the handout title, as in "Web 2.0 Professional Playground," just in case anyone questioned our purpose. I figured I could call it a professional learning community if pushed.)I was by no means the expert in the room, but I’m pleased to say that together, we managed to set up our own Web2Playground wiki with links to everything we explored (including the handout) and potential links to actual projects that we create. This wiki might have a short shelf life, but at least we all now recognize a wiki when we see one. Our playground skills are improving!

LiSRadio

Posted by Naveed Ahmad on February 28, 2008 at 7:55pm

Dear All,Follow the link for uptodate infromation, etc about Lis.RegardsNaveedLink: http://www.lisradio.missouri.edu/

blogging on glogging

Posted by Anne-Marie Gordon on February 20, 2008 at 7:41am

Hello, folks!I'm spending my winter vacation playing with a scrapbook-type website called Glogster. It has a very simple interface and some wild and cutesy graphics, but its real power lies in the fact that the the pages (called posters or glogs) can be embedded in another website. Since my HTML skills are at the cut-and-paste level, using Glogster and then embedding the result in my own website means I can create some nice effects. I made a page for a Europe project for my third grade students, and I'm working on a South America webquest.It reminds me of Scrapblog and similar websites, but the interface is simpler and quicker.

Deep Web!

Posted by Durff on February 16, 2008 at 3:45pm

A while back Joyce asked people to find out what database our state used. Found out last week that via our public library we can use EBSCO! As a very poor excuse for a media center specialist, I was overjoyed!!!Maybe others can access similar databases in their states?

MidLink Magazine Seeking New Teacher/Editor

Posted by karenklieg on February 14, 2008 at 12:12am

MidLink Magazine, is looking for a new teacher/editor to join us! I have been an editor for 7 years and the experience has been so valuable! Our chief editor is Brenda Dyck, an amazing innovative educator from Canada who writes for Education World and who is the recipient of several major awards. New MidLink Editor will be added to the existing team of editors this spring. This is our call for submissions of applications which are due by March 16, 2008. Our editors work with international colleagues to create content for MidLink Magazine. MidLink’s mission is to highlight the exemplary work from your classroom as well as classrooms around the world. The Advisory Board includes founder Caroline McCullen, State and Local Partnerships, SAS inSchool, Cary, NC, Dr. Lisa Goble, Director of School Services, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, and Beckey Reed, Consultant, School Services, NC State University, Raleigh, NC.Download Application by going to the link above and scrolling down to the bottom of the page. E-mail completed applications to Glenn Gurley - glenngurley@gmail.com by March 16, 2008.Please note: This is not a paid position. However, we do occasionally receive funding to meet, usually in Raleigh, NC, for planning and for providing workshops or giving presentations at conferences.Questions? Leave a comment for me.

Koha---who is using?

Posted by Sally on February 10, 2008 at 7:32am

I am very eager to learn more about the Open Source code for Circulation Systems. Koha. Who out there is using this software? What do you like? What needs to be changed? Does it really work?
Send information!

OSLA/OLA Superconference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Posted by Richard Beaudry on February 5, 2008 at 7:30pm

Hello everyone, I had the opportunity to attend the OSLA/OLA Superconference in Toronto, Ontario last week. It is considered to be one of the best librarian and teacher librarian conference in Canada. Mother nature threw us a major snowstorm of 20+ cm on Thursday but we managed well in the conference centre. I was present at two important launches while I was there. A group from the Ministry of Education in Ontario and the Ontario School Librarian Association have just tabled a draft document for study: "Together for Learning: Transforming School Libraries in Ontario". The province of Saskatchewan and now Ontario have now drafted new language for teacher librarians in their provinces. In Ontario, this is the first significant school library document drafted since the early 1990's and it recognizes the importance of school libraries and school librarians in Ontario schools. TALCO, (The Association of Library Consultants and Coordinators of Ontario) will reviewing the draft. I have been offered the opportunity to offer feedback on behalf of CASL. OSLA is hoping that the draft will be the official document for teacher librarians in Ontario by this fall. The other launch was Ask Ontario. From the website: Ask Ontario is the Knowledge Ontario project focused on delivering and implementing real time, collaborative virtual reference services for the province. AskON is the name of the online research help service being launched by libraries, in collaboration with Ask Ontario, in January 2008. This is there website: http://knowledgeontario.ca/AskOntario/index.html Other than that I picked up some newly printed books for teacher librarians that I have brought back to share with the teacher librarians in my school district: Rosenfeld, Esther. Loertscher, David V. (2007) Toward a 21st Century School Library Media Program. Scarecrow Press Inc. Stephens, Claire Gatrell. Fraklin, Patricia (2007) Library 101: A handbook for the School Library Media Specialist. Libraries Unlimited. Kuhlthau, Carol C. Maniotes, Leslie K. Caspari, Ann K. (2007) Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century. Libraries Unlimited Loertscher, David V. Koechlin, Carol. Zwaan, Sandi. (2007) Beyond Bird Units: 18 Think Models – Unit Planning guides – Fresh Unit Ideas. Thinking and Understanding in Information Rich and Technology-Rich Environments. Hi Willow Research and Publishing. The next major librarian conference in Canada will be the Canadian Library Association Conference in May in Vancouver British Columbia. Hope to see some of you there. http://www.cla.ca/conference/2008/index.htm

A New Twitter

Posted by Laura Summers on February 5, 2008 at 10:17am

"I'm all a twitter!" Doesn't this sound like a line from a teen movie?
Guybrarian finally talked me into taking time to "twitter" yesterday so now I am curious of how this tool is being used by other school librarians. Twitter (if you are new to what Twitter is) posts your 160 characters-or-less messages on what you choose to type in. So some folks tell everybody when they are washing the dog to actually sharing links to a great lesson for students. You can add your brief messages to the Twitter network board. You decide who's comments you want to follow.

I also like what I have read so far at: http://blog.twitter.com/.

Stay tuned for my notes on twittering.

I can be found at twitter as "lsummers" you are out there on the twitter network. If not, sign up at http://www.twitter.com.

Budget cuts

Posted by Jeff Vogt on February 2, 2008 at 4:34am

Thanks to the Governator and his quest to balance the state budget (hey, he's only been in office four years to do this) California education seems to be in full swing panic mode. There's a list being put together in my district of proposed cuts. One of them of course being the elimination of the Teacher Librarian position. Our school board proposed to eliminate these four positions (yes, there are only four Teacher Librarians for a growing district that includes two high schools, three middle school, four K-8 schools, and 13 elementary schools) in March of last year as a way to balance the budget during contract negotiations with our teachers union. A month later after tremendous support from parents and the media (I am a former TV producer for a local news station) our positions were reinstated. Now it seems to me that my job is at stake again and I don't know if I could fight it as much as last time because the cuts that need to be made are so great (9 million dollars in our district).

Our union/bargaining team has asked for input on what can be cut. Here is my list...

Getting rid of....
-Plato (a drill and kill computer program that is too slow and too many technical problems)
-Nettreker (rarely used)
-Teachers preps
-Avid programs

Reduce...
# of school counselors
# out of town professional growth seminars
# of K-8 schools
# Athletic transportation (Hanford is too far)
# of Security
# of ELD classes

No longer purchase...
-Promethian boards (too many times used as a expensive projection screen)
-laptop carts (too expensive for the amount of wear and tear put on them)

Misc.
-Have Middle School Teacher Librarians split time between the middleschools and the elementary schools that feed into them (District woldbenefit from the library skills that could be taught by the TeacherLibrarians and maybe the salary cost could be split up between all theschools).

"Filthy" book

Posted by Jeff Vogt on January 31, 2008 at 12:45pm

Recently a parent spoke at one of our districts board members ranting and raving about a "filthy" (her exact word) book that her child checked out at a middle school library. This parent did not contact the Teacher Librarian at the school nor did she contact the principal. She went straight to the board meeting and blindsited everyone involved. As a result our district has pulled this particular book and removed the Accelerated Reader quiz. I do not have the title in question "TTYL" but if I did I most certainly would have been advised to pull it from my shelves.I am embarassed and angry that this parent went over the head of my collague. This book has been in this particular school's library for five years! Five years before anybody said anything about it. Of course the parent has yet to return the book in question.

Games in the library

Posted by Jeff Vogt on January 30, 2008 at 9:49am

Currently enrolled in school right now is the video game generation. Why not take advantage of this in the library by programing lessons on the computer that are like video games? I've been researching this recently along with my school site computer tech. We're exploring ways on how to incorporate a role playing game such as "Age of Empires" into Middle School Social Study standards. It does seem like this is possible but there are obstacles like expense, copyright issues, and time. Stil, I think innovative forward teaching that can use what kids are interested in could be the future. Sort of like hiding some vegetables in a kids favorite meal.

Note: this page contains paid content.

Note: this page contains paid content.

Note: this page contains paid content.