Is there an advantage to this over, say, vodcasts?
Jeri
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Is there an advantage to this over, say, vodcasts?
Jeri
You'll no longer have to login to access our resource kits.
We've added a direct link to the Information Fluency Group here on the TeacherLibrarian Network to our main menu.
We're developing an integrated blog and wiki.
We've added an online store that will streamline Moodle course registration.
The conversion process to our new server has been a long and interesting road. We've still got a few bumps to smooth out. If you notice a problem let us know.In the meantime, take a look and them let us know what you think of the new design?
Dennis & Carl
Last year I attended a workshop on collaboration. The presenter talked about her experiences with collaborating with teachers, but didn't say how she got the teachers to collaborate with her. During a discussion session in small groups she came over to my group and sat down. I asked her how she got teachers to collaborate with her and she reluctantly answered that she and her colleague (2 media specialists at that school) talked to the assistant principals that did the teacher evaluations. They asked the administrators to ask teachers two questions during pre-observation conference: 1) What resources outside your textbook have you used in your lessons?; and 2) How many times have you worked with the media specialists on your lessons? She said when the administrators started asking those 2 questions the teachers figured they better start consulting with and using the media specialists in planning and presenting lessons.
My question is how can we influence administrators to ask these questions. Shouldn't this be a part of their training in graduate school? It seems a graduate course should contain relations with teachers, relations with non-instructional support staff, relations with guidance counselors and relations with media specialists.
Who has influence over administrators? How can this issue be brought to the forefront?
"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.
I had the opportunity to hear Joyce at NECC this past few days, and her presentation was incredibly inspiring. Her vision to share the web 2.0 tools and help students become information fluent infused the whole presentation.
She really stressed creating pathfinders for students, which I do, but she creates them on everything, and ties in many sources that I wouldn't have thought of. And she uses wikis for the pathfinders so that other teachers can add sources as well, which is quite logical.
She mentioned even having students help add to the pathfinder.
She has a site sharing the tools and ideas she talked about, and the updated powerpoint will be added soon. Also I blogged it as I was listening to her presentation and my notes, (which I was taking live) are here.
The other thing she modeled was a great presentation, tying the presentation together with a theme--a great example of a TEACHER/librarian.
Thanks, Joyce, for the inspiration.
I am burned out. I spend my days not sure whether to cry or rage. I am frustrated with entitled students who either a) don't want to learn or b) don't want to think. I know it seems like the same thing but in this era of testing they can consume information without thinking, and feel as if they are learning. I am frustrated beating my head against the same brick wall of staff members that I have for the last 8 years. They will not consider changing, no matter what the suggestion made by who, the thinking goes "we are a good school, we are doing it right, why should we consider doing anything different." I am ready to throw the baby out with the bath water when it comes to technology so irritated am I by what I cannot do for no established reason, and by the mere fact that the systems in place DO NOT WORK! I am limited in my opportunities. I need a new challenge, something to bring the passion back to what it is I do - because once, once I LOVED this job. And really I still do - but I am burned out right now.
So I have a deal with my spouse - he does not ask me how my day went, and I will not tell him. 2 weeks ago I came home totally hyped up. I had what was one of the best student and teacher experiences that I had in say, 5 years. I was invited (well, really I invited myself) to sit in on a "modified" poetry slam, a reading for AAI (our school within a school Arts Institute.) I recorded the poems and promised to post them online - which I have done in a wiki which is a work in progress. I was blown away by their performances, the interest in the room, and the commitment that the students made to this assignment. Today I recorded another set of performances that I will post to the wiki over Winter break.
Meanwhile they have continued to impress me. On their own several students attended a local slam. They have viewed the wiki, and discussed whether to post their names, should it be promoted, if posting the text of their poetry will change the nature of the reading, and stunningly they asked how to protect their intellectual property. We agreed on a Creative Commons license. They are excited about their poetry, and their performances were funny, challenging, personal, sad, uplifting, and really just fun.
I invite people to come listen...... but this is not PG stuff, it is not "school approriate" necessarily (not hosted on our school website for that reason). They were dealing with controversial issues, and like any good library there is something to offend everyone so we aren't really promoting this - but I do have their permission to invite you.
And I thank them for being honest, for allowing me to have a little faith in our students, to open a door for true collaboration with their teachers, to helping me introduce something a little new and different to teachers, to embracing technology - that does work (no tech guy). And I thank them for reminding me that I love words, the rhythm of a spoken poem, the bareness of teens speaking their thoughts without the umms and uhhs, and likes. My favorite by the way is Love/Hate.
And soon I will be posting another promotion - about the arts institute's new book - which they self published through Lulu - which is also a very cool project.
I tend to stay away from mainstream television media, but want to know what's going on in the world. I know some skeptics believe the Drudge Report is a rightwing media tool, however, I find that I am very interested in the obscure stories you can't find on the evening or morning news shows. Also, the Drudge Report is now one of the hottest places to check for new/breaking news....Matt Drudge (site author) updates constantly. Besides there are plenty of links to "bashing" stories on both sides of the political aisle!
I will be attending this conference which has already begun with a preconference session with David Warlick. I signed up for audio podcasts which I thought would help me decide which video sessions to attend. I've listened to David Warlick who demonstrates the lack of boundaries to communication that now exist, yet also the need to create new boundaries in the Web 2.0 world. Now I have discovered a wiki for First Timers which provides helpful info, guides, and links to everything. Check it out.
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).
Just wanted to share our very easy end-of-year display case idea. Our seniors look forward to this all year.
We put out boxes of index cards and art supplies. Each senior decorates a card with his or her plans for next year. They go crazy competing to create the very best index cards--school colors, mascots, all sorts of images. We cluster them. (For instance, all the Penn State cards go together. All the military cards go together.) This year we photocopied their 9th grade pics from the yearbook and put them next to the cards. Put a couple of seniors in charge and the board goes up in no time!
Folks start gathering around the board as soon as the first cards go up.
Hi All,
Check the wonderfull site of "E-Books for Childrens" in various languages.
Regards
Naveed
