tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187997742024-03-05T00:24:26.452-05:00Laugh Out Loud LibrarianKimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18799774.post-50823531217953215012011-01-20T16:05:00.001-05:002011-01-20T16:08:06.536-05:00Our school's reform effortsI think that effective blog posts cause the reader to see themselves within the "story" or posting. They're honest, straightforward, reflective and don't always paint the poster or reader in a perfect light. I'm going to break this post into portions where the headings promote the keys to effective blogging and we look at my school's goal of improvement in the actual content. I hope it won't prove too confusing!<br />
<br />
<b>Share anecdotes and statistics</b><br />
Right now at my school, we're in Corrective Action; our students are not as successful as they need to be as measured by our state standards. They are not performing as well after three years in our school as they were when they arrived.<span style="color: blue;"> 80% of our students come to our school scoring proficient or advanced.<span style="color: black;"> Our kids *should* be doing well, but they aren't. Even our advanced kids are losing ground over the course of their time at our school. This is the first year that that kind of data has been shared with our faculty and I am not alone in my fear that our jobs are in jeopardy.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Break up content into chunks that make sense</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;">We started Professional Learning Communities last school year to study Rick Wormeli's <i>Summarization in Any Subject</i>. Teachers have been trying to improve student skills in summarization because our data showed that kids did not seem to be understanding what they were reading on the PSSAs. In an attempt to model using summarization, teachers were asked to 3-2-1 (three things I learned, two things i want to know more about, one thing I still don't understand) at every professional development activity after PLCs were implemented. I don't mean to sound critical of our administrators, but 3-2-1 was the first strategy in the book and it made us wonder if they had read any further than that first strategy.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Highlight the key points</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;">This fall, we examined student data more deeply, looked at <b>chunking text</b> and other information so that students got information in more reasonable doses, will continue with <b>summarization of key ideas </b>and found out that in order to make a years worth of growth in writing, students needed to be writing 40 or more times per week. We were trained in the <a href="http://collinsed.com/cwp.htm"><b>Collins Writing</b></a> method in hopes of making teachers more comfortable in assigning and assessing writing. They've come up with a plan of how each department can help students to meet the varied requirements for academic growth and now we're working to implement them.<b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Wrap up and invite others to share their ideas</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;">As a librarian in a school where the library is often overlooked by teachers and students, I'm having a hard time figuring out how I can fit into the solutions proposed by my school. I don't have any assigned classes, I don't even always get to do instruction with classes when teachers bring them to the library. After worrying aloud about this at my last PLC meeting (and I'm in a wonderful group with teachers who do use the library!), I managed to secure an opportunity to collect a Collins sample from 9th grade students. I'm doing that tomorrow, here's my writing prompt: <i>Please write five lines explaining how you know when you've found useful resources for a research project. </i>In my experience, students don't really seem to know how to develop a well-thought out plan for conducting research and evaluating the resources they find. I'm hoping that collecting data that shows teachers and administrators this disconnect will help to further my cause for more teacher-librarian collaboration. How do you work with others in your school to ensure student success?</span></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><b> </b></span></span>Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18799774.post-10906442670796700722011-01-11T20:45:00.000-05:002011-01-11T20:45:20.611-05:00Teacher Blogging Challenge--Down Blogging LaneI've decided to participate in the <a href="http://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/">Teacher Blogging Challenge</a> sponsored by EduBlogs. I resolved last month to post to my blog more regularly, but didn't manage to keep up with the holidays, sick kids and getting back in the work groove. None of those are particularly good reasons, but combined they are my excuse.<br />
<br />
Now here's an exclusive interview with my blog: <br />
<br />
<i>How did you get started?</i><br />
Well, I guess I was a glimmer in my mother's eye. Hey wait, I think that's how Kim was started! Seriously though, I began as part of her professional goal to participate in 23 Things for School Librarians.<i> </i><br />
<br />
<i>What have you learned?</i><br />
You can't have hurt feelings if you're forgotten. A blog is like a good friend; no matter how long you've been apart, you slip back into being comfortable immediately. Life happens, sometimes other things are more important, but when you come back, I'll be here to listen and to share your thoughts with others--because, although friends should keep secrets, I'm more like a friend who plays Telephone. ;)<br />
<br />
<i>How do you come up with new ideas?</i><br />
Honestly, I think this blog is more about reflecting than about producing new knowledge. It's a place to think aloud and hope that others will share their ideas too.<br />
<i> </i><br />
<i>What's the most difficult thing you face?</i><br />
It's hard to feel motivated to write when there aren't readers and commenters. Even so, being in the habit of visiting me and responding to others is the best way to engage.<br />
<i> </i><i><br />
</i><br />
<i> What are your hopes for the future?</i><br />
Well, I hope that I get more attention--especially from that Laugh-Out-Loud Librarian. If she doesn't pay attention to me, no one else has any reason to do it either.<br />
<i> </i><i><br />
</i><br />
<i> You mention "LOLbrarian." Who is that exactly and where on earth did the name come from?</i><br />
Well, of course, she's my author. She's a high school librarian who's been around for a while. Back in the '90s, when all of those chat abbreviations began, she was a happy young librarian who has a rather distinctive and, well . . . loud laugh. She liked the LOL acronym and 'brarian seemed to follow it naturally, so she adopted the moniker. Yadda, yadda, yadda--she's lolbrarian. <i></i><br />
<a href="http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/2972384/Untitled"
title="Wordle: Untitled"><img
src="http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/2972384/Untitled"
alt="Wordle: Untitled"
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd"></a>Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18799774.post-32135178010816319472010-12-20T14:03:00.001-05:002010-12-20T21:14:21.627-05:00QR Codes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>I said recently that I was going start using QR codes to share information with students. Since I don't currently have a device that will read the codes (hurry up Verizon, I want my iPhone), I have had to rely on the kindness of strangers and family members (some of them are strange too!) to see what happens when they scan a code I've generated.<br />
<br />
When I get home tonight, I'm going to try and test them myself and see whether I can do what I think they should do. If so, I will be putting them up around my building tomorrow. This blog feed also loads in my libguides page, so it's possible people will get to them that way. Does anyone know if they can be scanned right from the computer screen?<br />
<br />
I would love feedback from others using them in their classroom or library!<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeHQZM3jI9jaWXk_y03ADPL8p5TuGGxVkcKR_LWpUzzjDeoM6EhGI5cRmbyoGlOt1Dzq5_ndSrTbOdKWDoPz-XXpIjxfZcfRqO29MO0JwUOrVsU1tQHtJiefYLw_61QrUchy9c/s1600/qrcodesurvey.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeHQZM3jI9jaWXk_y03ADPL8p5TuGGxVkcKR_LWpUzzjDeoM6EhGI5cRmbyoGlOt1Dzq5_ndSrTbOdKWDoPz-XXpIjxfZcfRqO29MO0JwUOrVsU1tQHtJiefYLw_61QrUchy9c/s200/qrcodesurvey.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">QR Code Survey</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVbxOAKyJTwFeTfNUxE6gtOSNP_Yypk9h2DKD9R96FnvoE4a0fe6U11HGEbJV3pZ2xeQFdbHIl8z9uEiI_FB2CEMNJ_LDbsOKSW-LMsvTxntBiFR-Lvui5xt-RAHZgA9V4cu63/s1600/collegesearch.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVbxOAKyJTwFeTfNUxE6gtOSNP_Yypk9h2DKD9R96FnvoE4a0fe6U11HGEbJV3pZ2xeQFdbHIl8z9uEiI_FB2CEMNJ_LDbsOKSW-LMsvTxntBiFR-Lvui5xt-RAHZgA9V4cu63/s1600/collegesearch.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">College search information</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18799774.post-25393570077957524862010-12-20T09:28:00.000-05:002010-12-20T09:28:46.461-05:00Blocked sitesI was out of the building last Thursday and Friday, so this morning I came in to a stack of notes on my computer about things that happened, things that needed to be done and questions and problems. One of the problems was that our district's filter has now decided to block Wikimedia's Creative Commons images, video and audio. This site is one that I've been promoting heavily to students because the images are allowed to be used and because it has escaped filtering when so many other image engines have been blocked.<br />
<br />
I promptly tested it to see that it was indeed blocked and then sent a helpdesk ticket to get it unblocked with a note "<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Students need access to images for projects that do not violate copyright. Wikimedia provides images with a Creative Commons license and should be accessible to students and staff." </span></span>I honestly doubt that I will get too far with my request, at least not before the winter break. I'm frustrated by the many useful sites that are blocked. I believe our district wants to do what's best for kids and wants to protect them from harmful images, but I don't understand taking the filter with "out of the box" settings, rather than tweaking it for our needs. Any time we ask for things to be loosened up with more permissions the CIPA flag gets waved saying we must do (whatever the current barrier is) if we want to get eRate money.<br />
<br />
There was a recent issue of Knowledge Quest that addressed filtering in schools and the fact that it is a First Amendment issue and that librarians should take up the intellectual freedom mantle and fight this battle. It's never an easy fight, but it's one we must face to ensure that students have the access they need.Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18799774.post-79743003049859737562010-12-14T10:59:00.001-05:002010-12-14T11:00:12.327-05:00Book Trailers Integrated into Destiny OPACI found a slew of book trailers at <a href="http://bit.ly/gBRVR6%20">Scholastic's website</a> today and added them to my OPAC. Unfortunately, I don't know if our kids will notice that they're there! If you publish trailers in your OPAC, or on your website how do you promote them to students? What other means of publicizing book trailers do you do? <br />
<br />
I would like to run them on a computer monitor, but that it is not currently possible.<br />
<br />
What other sources of book trailers are there out there? I'll be digging around the major publishers sites to see what else I can find! In the meantime, check out this interview with author, Walter Dean Myers. <br />
<embed base="http://admin.brightcove.com" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashvars="videoId=1704033727&playerId=1543302482&viewerSecureGatewayURL=https://console.brightcove.com/services/amfgateway&servicesURL=http://services.brightcove.com/services&cdnURL=http://admin.brightcove.com&domain=embed&autoStart=false&" height="412" name="flashObj" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" seamlesstabbing="false" src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/1543302482" swliveconnect="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="486"></embed>Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18799774.post-4166737179879251792010-12-13T10:41:00.000-05:002010-12-13T10:41:28.927-05:00Back to bloggingI have been away from blogging for too long. It seems that I have been so busy since changing buildings a few years ago, that I just haven't had time to blog. The truth is, I haven't MADE time. My goal is to get back to blogging at least twice a week about the things that will help my students become successful now and in the future.<br />
<br />
Some things I've been kicking around in my head that need to be in the forefront of my goals for 2011:<br />
- providing ebooks to my students<br />
- using QR codes to engage kids around the building<br />
- promoting reading by sharing book trailers<br />
- integrating this blog into the school library site<br />
- promoting PLNs with the high school faculty<br />
<br />
Now that I've put these goals in writing, I need to follow through and develop a plan to make them happen. I know there are models for Kindle/eReader implementation out there, I just need to find a way to get our district on-board! The other things should fall into place as I work throughout the coming year.Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18799774.post-3465134105240973272008-10-05T21:52:00.003-04:002008-10-05T22:01:42.276-04:00Google Docs for informing others<iframe src='http://docs.google.com/EmbedSlideshow?docid=df9h75qd_11cnzt34c2' frameborder='0' width='410' height='342'></iframe><br /><br />I created this slide show after reading an article I can't seem to find again about using GoogleDocs to create informative projects about online databases. This was just a quick thing I threw together to try it out. I haven't figured out how to embed it in a newsletter though, and I really wanted to be able to do that. :(<br /><br />Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/googledocs" rel="tag">googledocs</a> <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/slideshow" rel="tag">slideshow</a> <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/powerpoint" rel="tag">powerpoint</a> <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/informationsharing" rel="tag">informationsharing</a> <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/powerlibrary" rel="tag">powerlibrary</a>Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18799774.post-38277246979043358052008-09-02T14:53:00.002-04:002008-09-02T14:59:27.637-04:00First newsletter of the year distributedI worked on my first <a href="http://wahslibrary.wikispaces.com/space/showimage/sept08libnewsletter.pdf">library newsletter</a> this past weekend and put it out to the faculty and staff today. I've gotten some nice compliments from co-workers, scheduled time to meet with the technology teachers at their weekly staff meeting on Thursday, and contacted people who asked me for magazines we're getting rid of from our archives.<br /><br />Cafeteria duty today was exciting with our first "almost" fight that was diffused by the principal before it got started.<br /><br />I also contacted my Gumdrop Books representative about an order and the local bookstore for The Almanac of American Politics that was requested by a social studies teacher.<br /><br />I think I'm going to be using this to chronicle my days and thoughts as the year progresses. We'll see how well I do at keeping up!Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18799774.post-66909248268640073842008-05-06T10:08:00.003-04:002008-12-10T14:26:01.632-05:00My school library wiki<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtcY3rdr6330M52CS6zxXoYIGLa5KWVrGfj7FzAbEGeAjlJMOMrv5Naa6nY6mnxN8g7Bh8z9JlMilE2XHCRT15r97xZ4A5F1rxVqzzFXeL9PtzrARoOohYaJ5jNisOektZ-zlu/s1600-h/Picture+1.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 345px; height: 258px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtcY3rdr6330M52CS6zxXoYIGLa5KWVrGfj7FzAbEGeAjlJMOMrv5Naa6nY6mnxN8g7Bh8z9JlMilE2XHCRT15r97xZ4A5F1rxVqzzFXeL9PtzrARoOohYaJ5jNisOektZ-zlu/s200/Picture+1.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197273109427497378" border="0" /></a>After the PSLA conference last weekend, I really decided it was time to do something about helping my students with projects. I've started work on a <a href="http://curtinms.wikispaces.com/">school library wiki</a> and will be using it with three classes that I begin instruction with today. At this point, I've got the same basic information I had on my schoolwires page, plus I added a page about the research process that's based on the Big6 and a page on citing sources. I also linked to Joyce Valenza's very comprehensive copyright free image and audio wiki.<br /><br />I created this wiki using wikispaces which I've been using for the conference wiki and have been pretty pleased with so far.<br /><br />What I've got is definitely basic (maybe even below basic, haha!) but it's a start and can be added to as I have the time.<br /><br /><br /><p><img id="image329" src="http://freehogg.files.wordpress.com/2006/04/technorati.gif" alt="Technorati" /> technorati tags: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tags/wiki" rel="tag">wiki</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tags/librarywiki" rel="tag">librarywiki</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tags/psla08" rel="tag">psla08</a></p>Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18799774.post-32322128520124048132008-05-03T22:13:00.002-04:002008-05-03T22:42:15.494-04:00Conference BuzzYou know that "high" you get after spending time with your peers? I'm still on that buzz from the <a href="http://psla08.wikispaces.com">PSLA conference</a> the past three days! We had amazing speakers and wonderful session leaders.<br /><a href="http://competentclassroom.com/profile.html"><br />Allison Zmuda</a> was the conference's keynote speaker and she was so inspiring. I attended an additional session that she lead on Friday morning "Reframing the Work of the Librarian as a Learning Specialist" where she gave us permission to stop begging teachers to collaborate with us, to work with students rather than teachers and document the successes we see and encourage students to work on higher order thinking rather than low-level fact regurgitation. She's got a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Librarians-Learning-Specialists-Meeting-Imperative/dp/1591586798/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209867963&sr=8-1">book</a> coming out at the end of the month that she co-wrote with <a href="http://www2.hawaii.edu/%7Evharada/">Dr. Violet Harada</a> that I cannot wait to order and read this summer.<br /><br />Last night, Ridley Pearson was our author-speaker. He discussed his books, his time in Thailand at 18 and life in a band with Dave Barry and Stephen King. He told us that he never wants to be as famous as King, that his fans are psychopaths--and then he told us about two "fan sightings" that scared him to death--a woman who set her fingernails on fire (instead of holding up her lighter or cell phone at a concert in Tennesee) and four fans who showed up requesting autographs for their copies of <span style="font-style: italic;">The Stand</span> when the band's tour bus stopped for a potty break and to stretch their legs at 4am at a gas station in Alabama.<br /><br />Today I heard <a href="http://psla08.wikispaces.com/Saturday+sessions#D2">Joyce Valenza</a> talk about information equity and our obligation to ensure that our students have access to and know how to use the many Web2.0 tools there are out there to get create information.<br /><br />I'll post more as I have time to review my notes but I wanted to do a quick post this evening.<br /><br />Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/psla08" rel="tag">psla08</a> <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/web2.0" rel="tag">web2.0</a> <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/informationliteracy" rel="tag">informationliteracy</a> <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/information_literacy" rel="tag">information_literacy</a> <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/learningbydesign" rel="tag">learningbydesign</a> <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/allisonzmuda" rel="tag">allisonzmuda</a> <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/professionaldevelopment" rel="tag">professionaldevelopment</a>Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18799774.post-82058622606268922162008-04-29T13:29:00.004-04:002008-04-29T13:35:04.856-04:00Evidence-Based Manifesto for School LibrariansThis <a href="http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6545434.html">SLJ article</a> discusses Ross Todd's vision of what school librarians need to do. This is my place-marker for the article so I can come back and reflect on it after I have time to read it. (Reflections to follow.)<br /><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><p><img id="image329" src="http://freehogg.files.wordpress.com/2006/04/technorati.gif" alt="Technorati" /> technorati tags: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tags/professionalreading" rel="tag">professionalreading</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tags/evidence-basedpractice" rel="tag">evidence-basedpractice</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tags/collaboration" rel="tag">collaboration</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tags/advocacy" rel="tag">advocacy</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tags/schoollibrarianship" rel="tag">schoollibrarianship</a></p></span>Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18799774.post-49536651372144549782008-04-29T09:03:00.005-04:002008-04-29T09:12:22.669-04:00PSLA Conference Wiki<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.psla.org/images/wikilogo1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 247px; height: 155px;" src="http://www.psla.org/images/wikilogo1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>The <a href="http://psla08.wikispaces.com/">PSLA Conference Wiki</a> is getting some use and improvements each day. I see that at least one conference-presenter has edited the information about his session stating that the PowerPoint he's showing will not be printed but will be linked to on the wiki. What a great way to be green--and to give access to content to people who are unable to attend his session!<br /><br />One of my biggest frustrations about attending conferences is the wide variety of choices that are available and the difficulty in selecting the ones that will suit me best for the coming year. It's always tough to know what will be the best choices--and then even if you've made selections there's the chance that those sessions will be high-demand for other attendees as well and you end up sent to another session that isn't going to be as meaningful to you and your situation.<br /><br />I'm really excited about the prospects of the wiki and using it to get some of the information I'll miss out on from sessions I'm unable to attend! I hope that others will find the wiki useful as well. The more people who use it, the more useful it will be. Thanks to Joyce Valenza for getting this up and running for us!<br /><br /><p><img id="image329" src="http://freehogg.files.wordpress.com/2006/04/technorati.gif" alt="Technorati" /> technorati tags: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tags/PSLA08," rel="tag">PSLA08,</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tags/professionaldevelopment," rel="tag">professionaldevelopment,</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tags/library2.0," rel="tag">library2.0,</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tags/SLL2.0," rel="tag">SLL2.0,</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tags/wiki" rel="tag">wiki</a></p>Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18799774.post-69205286265576503832008-04-23T15:08:00.002-04:002008-04-23T15:10:36.167-04:00PSLA WikiAfter an email I sent to my state library listserv today, I have volunteered to start a wiki for our conference next week. I want to create a technorati tag, which I've done. I'm using this post to get it as a recognized/searchable tag.<br /><br /><p><img id="image329" src="http://freehogg.files.wordpress.com/2006/04/technorati.gif" alt="Technorati" /> technorati tags: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tags/PSLA08" rel="tag">PSLA08</a></p>Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18799774.post-75283734961504071142008-04-22T11:43:00.002-04:002008-04-22T12:28:07.110-04:00PBWiki projectI was talking with one of my co-workers yesterday afternoon and I think we're going to work on his annual Calendar project as a <a href="http://mrgreevy.pbwiki.com">wiki</a>. I spent this morning setting up parts of it (hopefully he and the students can do the rest!)<br /><br />We still need to hammer out whether it will be public or private (so you may not be able to access the above link) and how to set it all up, but it's started.Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18799774.post-75901028199981880982008-04-18T14:43:00.003-04:002008-04-18T14:46:09.347-04:00United StreamingOur district has subscribed to <a href="http://unitedstreaming.com">United Streaming</a> this year. At a training today, the trainer discussed the fact that recent research has shown that using closed captioning on video improves student attention to and retention of the content. It makes sense because I'm one of those people who reads whatever text is put in front of me. I don't believe that everyone will read, but certainly any who do will learn more.Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18799774.post-58896364529162779002008-04-14T22:21:00.004-04:002008-04-14T22:46:00.954-04:00Beating the No U-Turn Syndrome: a New Approach to Teaching and Enforcing Copyright ComplianceI attended a virtual <a href="https://dougjohnson.wikispaces.com/NUTS">discussion on copyright and fair use</a> tonight in <a href="http://secondlife.com">SecondLife</a> and it has me thinking and rethinking (which I'm sure was <a href="http://www.doug-johnson.com">Doug</a>'s goal)!<br /><br />I've only been in SL once before and then I found that my machine's video card just wasn't capable of handling the graphics-intensive environment. Tonight, we downloaded and installed on hubby's laptop so that I could participate. I had some issues with lag and corrupted images, but on the whole it worked out really well.<br /><br />I asked about a specific situation I encountered this year: one of my students was looking for images for a PA History project. The image that he found was on a website where the photographer requested payment for the use of the image. Normally, I would have said that fair use meant he did not need to request permission to use an image, but this situation gave me pause and made me wonder whether the photographer's request for payment meant that the student could not use the image without paying for the rights to do so. What would you have told your student? Doug says he believes that it was likely fair use (but without more specifics he couldn't say for sure.)<br /><br />Someone else in the audience asked about work that he's creating in the SL world and how to make it available to others without losing credit for the development and creation he's done. Doug suggested he check out <a href="http://creativecommons.org/">Creative Commons licensing</a> for his projects to ensure he has the power he wants but others can still adapt for their own use.<br /><br />Doug compared current copyright law to the old Blue Laws (like the one that said that more than four women living in a house in the borough of State College was a brothel and therefore sororities were prohibited from having houses like fraternities did.) He says that it's outdated and that mostly it isn't enforced so what's the point? The <a href="https://dougjohnson.wikispaces.com/space/showimage/nouturn.pdf">text</a> of his discussion is available on the wiki.<br /><br />The one thing that I really like is his suggestion of branding ourselves as a copyright counselor (rather than the copyright Nazi some of my colleagues have deemed themselves--and others have labelled me!) If we talk about what can be done rather than emphasizing what can't, we're their cheerleaders, their helpers, we're enabling success and helping students (and teachers and administrators) to take advantage of open source software, and royalty free and public domain sources.<br /><br />One database our schools have access to is the Associated Press's Multimedia Archive (I think the name may have changed recently and I don't recall the new one.) I helped a student to find images of 50 Cent there for his project. He was searching images on the web and was coming up with things that were so small that when they were enlarged to the size required for his project they were pixellated and unusable. He was thrilled with the images we got from that database and I have been able to convince others to use it on his recommendation.Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18799774.post-48202951484595876502008-04-11T12:26:00.003-04:002008-04-11T12:53:35.678-04:00"A Few New Things" by Joyce Kasman ValenzaValenza, Joyce Kasman. "A Few New Things." <span style="font-style: italic;">Library Media Connection</span> April/May 2008: 10-13.<br /><br />This article was based on Joyce's <a href="http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334/post/760015876.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">NeverEnding Search</span> post</a> from SLJ.<br /><br />One of the things she's suggesting that I want to think more about is using wikis to create and maintain pathfinders. I think this is a wonderful idea and it's one I hope to implement with some future projects. Our music teacher did a webquest for her composer project and I suspect it could be the basis for the start of one. They're supposed to be re-writing the guidelines for this project over the summer and have asked that I be allowed to sit on the curriculum writing committee to offer suggestions and support. My exploration of <a href="http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/">Oxford Music Online</a> yesterday will definitely feed into this project and curriculum writing.<br /><br />There are so many ways that web 2.0 engages students and forces them to become creators rather than consumers of information. I hope that I find others in my school who will be interested in bringing students into the 21st century as learners.Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18799774.post-6856432396611811352008-04-09T15:07:00.002-04:002008-04-09T15:17:18.444-04:00ePEARL--electronic portfolio encouraging active reflective learningI found <a href="http://grover.concordia.ca/epearl/en/epearl.html">ePEARL</a> as a link on the <a href="http://remoteaccess.typepad.com/">Remote Access blog</a> today. I haven't figured out yet if it's truly available for everyone or if it's only free for Canadians. I do know that our Family and Consumer Science teachers are supposed to have students maintain a career portfolio over the course of their middle school years and at least the one in my building is concerned about students losing their materials from year to year. This would be a great solution. It would also be useful for teachers to use as they enter the district and want to show growth as a teacher. Lots of interesting ways this could be used. I need to do more checking on it.Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18799774.post-28217401914223656002008-04-09T10:35:00.003-04:002008-04-09T10:42:41.723-04:00Wiki WebquestIn Joyce Valenza's podcast, she mentioned that any pathfinders we create should be in the form of a wiki so they can be edited by the teachers and students who are using them. In looking at <a href="http://blog.wikispaces.com/2008/02/a-classroom-wiki-webquest.html">WikiSpaces Blog</a> today, I found this post about a <a href="http://rockwritelisten.wikispaces.com/">wiki webquest</a> done by 7th and 8th grade students on popular musicians.<br /><br />My music teacher does a project with her students on composers which has slowly evolved to include or allow popular contemporary performers as well. We've been talking about how to revise the project so she gets a better product and the kids aren't just regurgitating information. I like the interactivity of the wiki and the fact that there's an opportunity for discussion and critique of classmates work, but it certainly would need to be monitored to be sure that kids aren't being abusive. I've forwarded the links to Marisa in hopes of adding to our list of potential projects for the future. I really like this idea!Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18799774.post-73461652284680702892008-04-08T21:05:00.002-04:002008-04-09T12:59:24.068-04:00#23 Reflections and what's nextParticipating in the CSLA's School Library Learning 2.0 program has been beneficial to me. Even though I was familiar with some of the tools that were discussed, I really took the time to reflect on how I can use these in my instructional practice and how my colleagues can use them with students.<br /><br />Prior to beginning the program, I used many of these tools in my personal life (blogging, flickr, YouTube) as a way to record the things that are going on in my family and so that relatives and friends who live far from us are still able to keep up on what is going on with my children. I've even used my blog as a professional journal to track the things I want to remember related to work, like articles I've read, things I've done in the classroom that have worked well, and my notes on previous professional goals like last year's collection analysis and comparison to the other secondary schools in my district. I've struggled with what's appropriate to put on that personal blog and found that for my own comfort, I really need to keep my personal and professional blogging separate. I expect I'll continue to use this blog professionally because I want to be reflective about my instructional practices.<br /><br />One of the things that happened this year in my school was very exciting to me: I had a teacher whose professional goal was to have her students blog. A few years ago, I created a <a href="http://library.bigbadwolf.org/">blog</a> that I host from our home server called Read Write Think Repeat. We used it briefly during a summer reading program and I also used it to post announcements about new materials as they were purchased. I worked with Robyn and her students to begin using that blog for student-created book reviews and discussion. The students voted to change the name to Rockin' Reads so that's its current title.<br /><br />Changes in the way our network is administered meant that I can no longer make that page the library computers' homepage. I cannot even add it to the bookmarks on computers as everything is wiped from the history and bookmarks on our computers when someone logs out of them. One of my biggest personal frustrations about technology in our schools is the lack of communication and information sharing that goes on.<br /><br />To get to my <a href="http://wasd.schoolwires.com/5118421020155830/site/default.asp">school library site</a>, one has to start at the district website (every computer lab and library computer's homepage), click on schools, click on schools again and find my school in the dropdown list, click on library and the click on website in that dropdown list. It can't be bookmarked by students at school. (Teachers can bookmark it, but based on the phone and email requests I get, I'm pretty sure no one has.)<br />Because it's not used, I'm not very motivated to work on the site. Because the site has limited use, it's not used. It's a Catch-22. I think I could use the library blog site to be the library website adding pages to it, but that probably involves negotiations with the district technology department to figure out how to make that work. At least it is a relatively easy address to remember.<br /><br />As a district we applied for the Improving Literacy through School Libraries grant. Technology and technology training is a significant portion of that proposal. Some of the things that teachers said they wanted to learn more about are PowerLibrary (our state-provided online databases), pod/vodcasts, wikis and blogs. I will probably be involved in providing some of those trainings, so participating in SLL2.0 has helped to prepare me for that--but I'll certainly need additional work to provide the best possible training. I've signed up for some training at our state conference and I'll probably do some additional self-discovery and learning to supplement what I've learned from the CSLA program.<br /><br />I would wholeheartedly recommend <a href="http://classroomlearning2.blogspot.com/">this to any teacher</a>, administrator or librarian who wants to learn more about web 2.0 tools. Thank you to CSLA for making it available to anyone! I was <a href="http://lolbrarian.blogspot.com/2007/11/1-23-things-week-1.html">supposed to have a partner</a> working on the tutorials with me, someone from LM_NET, but she ended up not posting much after her initial few posts and the emails that I've sent to her asking if she needed help or support have gone unanswered, so I'm not sure what happened to make her abandon the tutorials. We're also supposed to discuss a book we were planning to read together, but I suspect that will go by the wayside as well. I hope it does not impact my evaluation because she hasn't followed through.<br /><br />A few weeks ago, I found reference to the next 23 things (<a href="http://explorediscoverplay.blogspot.com/2007/02/adventure-continues.html">Library 2.1</a>) from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Library and I believe I will continue my learning by doing those things as I have time.Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18799774.post-23345366417698736832008-04-07T10:19:00.003-04:002008-04-07T10:55:49.491-04:00#22 eBooks and eAudioBooksOne of my favorite sources of eBooks is available through our <a href="http://www.jvbrown.edu">public library</a>. <a href="http://tumblebooks.com">Tumblebooks</a> are children's books that are read to you/your child. This is one of my son's favorite things to do on the web and is often part of our bedtime routine. They're set up so that they read the book for you, but you can also use them to develop your reading skills by reading them yourself--we're not to that point yet, so I don't have much experience there, but I know that we've read many books that we might not have found on the shelves of our library because of our access to Tumblebooks. One of my favorite authors, <a href="http://www.robertmunsch.com">Robert Munsch</a> has several books there and AJ has loved reading all sorts of different books on this site.<br /><a href="http://gutenberg.org"><br />Project Gutenberg</a> is probably the most famous of free online eBook providers, but I didn't realize just how many free eBook providers there were--<a href="http://worldebookfair.com/Collections.htm">World eBook Fair</a> has links to sites in all sorts of content areas and includes numerous government documents. Due to our district's participation in AccessPA, we've got access to over 3000 free eBooks through <a href="http://netlibrary.com">NetLibrary</a> and also to those our local public library has purchased for their patrons. The most aggravating thing about NetLibrary is books are opened one page at a time and it's very time consuming to "read" an eBook. It would be useful though for research and books can be searched for specific content.<br /><br />Audio eBooks are available for purchase through several sources. We've had a subscription to <a href="http://www.audible.com">Audible</a> off and on over the past 5 years and this is definitely my husbands preferred way to read. My public library also provides access to recorded books, although we were disappointed to find that iPods are not compatible with their provider<span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span>, <a href="http://www.overdrive.com/">OverDrive</a> because of DRM (digital rights management) issues. Had we known that audiobooks were available through the public library before we bought our iPods, we might have made a different choice.Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18799774.post-49027832501620936032008-04-07T09:46:00.005-04:002008-04-07T10:02:57.850-04:00#21 PodcastsI've listened to podcasts from <a href="http://www.npr.org/">NPR</a> and <a href="http://www.theonion.com/">The Onion</a> for a few years now. I've listened to some educational podcasts and <a href="http://voicethread.com/#home.b36941.i200553">Voice Threads</a> and have a VT account. I like being able to use iTunes to subscribe to updated podcasts.<br /><br />The best podcast I found in my recent searching is <a href="http://www.sdst.org/shs/library/jvweb.html">Joyce Valenza</a>'s <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://a330.g.akamai.net/7/330/2540/20070822155906/www.schoollibraryjournal.com/contents/media/SLJ_SIGMSForum_Joyce_Valenza.mp3">21st Century Librarian's Manifesto</a>. It's got an <a href="http://informationfluency.wikispaces.com/You+know+you%27re+a+21st+century+librarian+if+.+.+.">accompanying wiki</a> for people to edit and add their thoughts and vision.<br /><br />I would really like to encourage my students to do some podcast-based booktalks or book reviews. At this point, I don't really have a teacher who will work with me but I'm working on that for the coming school year. I know that if we get them started it will open a whole new aspect to my library program and engaging learners in the use of various web2.0 tools. I'm hoping to learn more about podcasting at <a href="http://www.psla.org">PSLA</a>'s annual conference in May.Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18799774.post-29076961136422984612008-04-02T10:25:00.002-04:002008-04-02T10:26:59.615-04:00Blogging from ZohoI am trying out publishing to my blog from <a href="http://zoho.com" >ZohoWriter</a>.<br >Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18799774.post-29507621378730247642008-03-31T21:21:00.004-04:002008-04-09T09:04:42.157-04:00#20 YouTube<a href="http://youtube.com/">YouTube</a> and <a href="http://teachertube.com/">TeacherTube</a> are both blocked by Bess our webfilter so I am not able to complete this portion at work. I did spend about an hour tonight looking through the recommended videos on YouTube; I particularly enjoyed <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td922l0NoDQ&mode=related&search=">The March of the Librarians</a> a parody of <span style="font-style: italic;">The March of the Penguins</span>. I decided to see if I could find a good demonstration of boolean search and found this:<br /><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vube-ZcJFk4&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vube-ZcJFk4&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />I think it will be useful in explaining effective web searching techniques to students.<br /><br />I would love to have students do audio or video book reviews and add them to our book discussion blog. I'm working with our Literature and Media teacher to see if this is something we can collaborate on in the future.Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18799774.post-90318215176793494272008-03-30T21:19:00.004-04:002008-03-31T13:37:13.662-04:00#19 LibraryThingI've seen <a href="http://www.librarything.com/">LibraryThing</a> before and actually thought I'd created an account, but I guess I was mistaken. I do have an account with <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/">GoodReads</a>. It's pretty amusing to me that they're selling the CueCat that you used to be able to get for free from RadioShack. The price is decent though, compared to my school barcode readers--I wonder if it's compatible with Destiny! I love that it will display a book cover and is integrated with Amazon and Library of Congress.<br /><br />One thing I like about GoodReads (and LibraryThing may have the same functionality, I just didn't notice it) is that if you're willing to give up your book to someone who wants to read that, you can indicated it on your list. If you don't covet books and you're willing to give up what you've got, GoodReads might be better for you. I think it's a cross between LibraryThing and <a href="http://bookcrossing.com/">BookCrossing</a>.Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12527583048912800553noreply@blogger.com1