Here is Alan's "What Can We Do With Flickr" image -- hover over the boxes in the image to get more info and links:
I have been using Creative Commons Flickr photos with 4th graders to write animal poetry, which we will then record to VoiceThread, but I had also wanted a fun way for students to post the text of their poems onto my Blackboard site...the discussion boards and blogs provided by BB just don't do the job I want! This could be another option...
I was asked to present to our School Board last week regarding my use of Blackboard in the library. This was my first time speaking in front of that kind of an audience and I was so nervous! I think it went pretty well -- they were asking all the right questions about privacy, creativity, maintenance, etc. I felt like I connected. Still, I couldn't help wishing I wasn't using Blackboard in the first place, as it's really not my favorite tool. It could be so much better, but you end up jumping through about 15 hoops each time you try to post something!
The most frustrating aspect right now is that I have trouble providing direct access to the course -- unless you have a login ID, you cannot always get to where you want to go! It makes it tough to get parents, teachers, and administrators the information they need. Regardless, my site is slowly but surely coming along. I have made as much of my own content as possible public, but have protected everything with student content. Check out what's available by clicking on the icon to the right Or you can find it via http://blackboard.ocmboces.org, using my course id: wg_koch.
I just learned about this great charity -- Ethiopia Reads -- which provides books and supplies and builds libraries for children in Ethiopia. There are a number of ways to donate, but here are just a few:
$1 buys one book;
$500 provides an Ethiopian with a scholarship to receive library training;
$6000 provides a fully-functional library!
There are also great ideas for teachers and librarians to bring the program into their schools -- from penny wars to raise money for books, to planning reading nights at school, to sending student-created books to these libraries in Ethiopia. Check it out!
On my first snow day of the year, I spent the morning finishing the book Extras by Scott Westerfeld. I loved the Uglies trilogy and this book is a great continuation of that storyline, but I am not writing a book review here. This futuristic book made some great connections to current times and really got me thinking.
The story takes place in a futuristic Japanese society, not long after the government's ploy to make all adults "bubbleheads" was uncovered and set to right. It has only been a few years since humans regained their autonomy, and of course, thinking for yourself has its downsides. Societies of people are left confused and uncertain, turning in many different directions looking for answers. Standard economies no longer exist and must be rebuilt from scratch.
The Japanese society that is the focus of the book has found answers in a "face ranking" society, where people gain access to goods in only two ways: either by earning merits for good work and deeds, or by their face ranking, which is basically your level of fame. The society is a crazy hybrid of past and present models. Face rankings go up and down by the minute and are maintained by a city interface. Each time someone mentions your name, your face ranking improves. Each time someone links to a story you put up on your feed, your face ranking improves. Good press and bad press are treated equally in terms of access to goods.
So that's the basic idea. But what got me thinking was the use of feeds -- from a young age, all citizens are given their own individual feeds in which to post information about themselves, stories they've written, etc. The whole point is to get noticed, to get linked back to, to get discovered via your postings to your feed. It's like the movie stars of today, but optimized for cyberspace. When you start to think about it, we're really not too far off from this kind of a model right now! Nameless, faceless people can be famous based solely on what they post to their blogs...and when you reach a wide audience, what do you get? People stumbling over themselves to get you to try out or advertise their product, invitations to fancy dinners, etc. It's just taking the way fame works today and turning it up a few notches!
To sum it up: a must-read for all YA lit fans, futuristic society junkies, or RSS feed followers. I guess. Let me know what you think.
I worked up the courage to post my own discussion thread to the TeacherLibrarianNetwork ning forum: Best Grant Opportunities -- "Have you had success applying for grants for your school library? If so, please share any resources, tips, etc.!" I was looking forward to a lively discussion and hoping to come away with a list of resources to check out. So far, I've had one reply...bummer. I'm really hoping that everyone is still in a Thanksgiving food coma and hasn't had much of a desire or chance to keep up with the outside world. If you're reading, please post your resources!
Yesterday was the School Library Systems Conference for all librarians in the Syracuse area. It was AWESOME. The highlight was Will Richardson, my educational crush. Seriously.
He delivered the keynote and then ran three sessions on using technology in education -- one on blogs and wikis, one on RSS and social bookmarking, and one on podcast, vodcast, and digital storytelling. To be honest, the sessions were a little too "Web 2.0 for Dummies" at points, when I had been hoping for more advanced information and/or some discussion about how people are making it work in actual districts around here. He doesn't say enough about how to advocate for change and doesn't really address the reality of what to do when you don't have access to the tools he uses. (I know, that's probably a whole different seminar.) However, he is one of my favorite people to follow in terms of new ideas and possibilities! If you don't already follow Will Richardson, I suggest you do the following ASAP:
Check out his wikis: weblogged has a TON of useful Web 2.0 resources, sample projects, etc.; and willrichardson outlines most of what he talked about in his keynote, including tons of links.
a. Joyce Valenza is my hero. I want to be just like her when I grow up (and when does she ever sleep?)
b. I have joined a few Ning networks in the past, but haven't been able to really get interested in following the action. I'm hoping things are different this time around (and I really think they will be) because the content being posted is more applicable to me. And with someone like my aforementioned hero running things, I know that I can expect a great mix of traditional and contemporary library/information literacy discussion.
The tough part is convincing myself to actually dive in and start posting. It is always hard to enter a new learning community, where you imagine that everything you post or ask sounds stupid or has already been covered. For instance, I've been on Twitter for a while but have never actually posted anything because: a. I have people I am following but not too many followers; and b. what do I have to say of importance anyway? I am working on changing that mindset, but it is tough...
I have spent some time this morning exploring Route 21, "a one-stop-shop for 21st century skills-related information, resources and community tools." Specifically, the program focuses on three main components of 21st century skills: life and career skills, learning and innovation skills, and information, media, and technology skills. The site provides "support systems" -- information on standards and assessments -- as well as browse-able resources.
I am excited about the possibilities of using this tool to demonstrate the effectiveness and relevance of 21st century skills instruction in the library (or just in schools in general). Obviously, my focus is on the third component of the framework -- "Information, Media, and Technology Skills." With just a few minutes exploring, I had already found a wonderful set of standards and objectives from the West Virginia Department of Education -- proof that states' education departments are seeing the importance of 21st century skills!
I am trying to choose my three favorite Web 2.0 tools to share...it's been tough, but here's what I'm going with (this week):
VoiceThread -- it is SO EASY, it's almost scary. All you have to do is upload a few images, hit record to talk while each image plays, and you have your very own digital story. It's simple enough that even kindergarteners can create. Just imagine the possibilities for demonstrating knowledge and creativity with those little ones!
Animoto -- it's just too much fun. Upload pictures from your computer, Flickr, Facebook, or wherever. Set them to (creative commons licensed) music, and wait. You will receive a professional-looking video of your photos, set to music, with all kinds of awesome effects. Honestly, this is more of a toy than a tool, but everyone needs it.
I was going to put Jing or Scratch for number 3, but technically neither is completely Web 2.0, as they require downloads. Does that really matter? I'll go with Jing anyway, because it has made my life so much easier. With just a few clicks, you can create, manipulate, and share screen captures AND videos! Sick of showing your students exactly how to get to the OPAC? Create a Jing video for them to watch any time they forget!
In subsequent posts, I will try to post a few of my projects from each of these sources...stay tuned!
I couldn't sleep the other night because my mind was going a mile a minute. I really appreciate my sleep, so that was a bummer. But I came up for a new project idea and I think I'll try it with second graders. The plan is to read the Diary of a... books by Doreen Cronin, develop some information literacy skills by researching flies, spiders, worms, lalala, and then create our own Diary of a something. Simple enough. (Sort of.)
Then, once we've finished the text and illustrations for the book, OF COURSE we will upload to VoiceThread and narrate the text!
I started doing a daily trivia question on our school's morning news and have been working on preparing a database of questions to pull from. I've been getting a lot of great questions from the one pack of BrainQuest cards that I dug up, and I started thinking about how sad it is that BrainQuest doesn't do more online. They have a few great printables and games, but nothing compared to the sheer number of questions they must have created for kids after all these years -- I want them to share more! It would be a perfect site to provide a question-a-day RSS subscription, for instance. So BrainQuest, if you're reading...I've got some pointers!
First-graders are honestly the funniest people on the planet. The other day, I was reading The Brand New Kid to a class of first-graders and discussing how sometimes we are mean to people because they are different. The "brand new kid" in the story is made fun of because he talks funny, so I said to these Central New Yorkers, "You all have probably noticed that I talk funny -- I am from Pittsburgh, PA and I say some of my words differently than you do. Actually, I think YOU all sound kind of funny!" Then one student volunteered, "Yeah, you talk like a boy." What?!?
I realize that this is a few weeks late, but I didn't actually have time to get this blog up and running until now. I did manage to keep a brief record of the note-worthy events of the first few weeks of school, so I'm working from those for now, starting with day one:
The first day of school was a blur. The only things I truly remember are:
1. A kindergartener bawled when he was brought to the library for class, but eventually settled down. Not enough to actually SIT down (he stubbornly stood in the back of the group through the entire class), but at least he stopped crying. Then he cried again when he had to leave the library! Points for me, I guess!
2. A second-grader peed his pants about 5 minutes into class. No, I am not a mean and awful librarian -- he didn't even ask to go to the bathroom! All in all, though, I left school that day feeling like this is something I can do. Thank God.
The most frustrating aspect right now is that I have trouble providing direct access to the course -- unless you have a login ID, you cannot always get to where you want to go! It makes it tough to get parents, teachers, and administrators the information they need. Regardless, my site is slowly but surely coming along. I have made as much of my own content as possible public, but have protected everything with student content. Check out what's available by clicking on the icon to the right Or you can find it via http://blackboard.ocmboces.org, using my course id: wg_koch.
I just learned about this great charity -- Ethiopia Reads -- which provides books and supplies and builds libraries for children in Ethiopia. There are a number of ways to donate, but here are just a few:
On my first snow day of the year, I spent the morning finishing the book Extras by Scott Westerfeld. I loved the Uglies trilogy and this book is a great continuation of that storyline, but I am not writing a book review here. This futuristic book made some great connections to current times and really got me thinking.
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