Webby Wednesday - School in the Cloud by TEDxer SUGATA MITRA

Appy Friday - Remind101

Appy Friday - Moxtra

Subtext in your Classroom or Library

Subtext

"Subtext is a free iPad app that allows classroom groups to exchange ideas in the pages of digital texts.  You can also layer in enrichment materials, assignments and quizzes - opening up almost limitless opportunities to engage students and foster analysis and writing skills."   I see so much potential with this app!  See what teachers say here and I will walk you through how easy it is to get ePub documents on Subtext. 

I collaborated with 5th grade teachers on a series of great tools for students to respond to the book Wonder, by R.J. Palacio.  I want to make some cross-curricular connections by bringing the disease that August had; as well as, bringing in some math and social studies.  The first thing I had to do was build my library with some articles.  You can see my library below.  

You will also have to set up your class groups.  Subtext works with Edmodo, so if you have Edmodo, it will populate your groups for you.  When you create a group, you are given a code that students will need to access their Subtext group.

When you first get subtext, it will ask you to save a link to your bookmarks bar so that you can easily convert articles.  

Next, begin searching for articles you like on the web.  I loved this article.

 When you find an article that you like click the "Save to Subtext" link and you should see this....

 When you click the Save to Subtext, you will see this next prompt asking if you want to save to one, two, or all of your groups.

Then, when you go to your library, you will see your article in ePub format.

Then you have an option to create questions for discussion.  You are given options for True or False, Multiple Choice, Polling, or Paragraph responses.  I chose a poll to bring in some math statistics.

 After a group has been given instructions to read an article, they would choose the discussion link to respond to the literature.

I found this tutorial - so I am going to include it here....

 Can you see the possibilities of this platform?  My mind hasn't stopped spinning since I have come across it.  Please share your ideas for using Subtext in your library or classroom by leaving a comment below!

Digital Media Academy - Teaching Kids to Code

A couple of months ago, I wrote about the importance of teaching students how to program.  I was a CIS (Computer Information Systems) major in college before I decided to go into education.  As one who enjoyed programming, I believe it is beneficial for students and adults alike. So, I decided to expose my 13 year old son, Sebastian.  He attended the Digital Media Academy at the University of Texas this summer.  He spent 5 days learning to code with Unity3D.  His biggest take aways from the whole experience were:

• Coding is a different language that forces you to thing logically
• 3D figures require you to know density, height, width, length, etc.
• Scripting - nothing moves in your game unless you have scripts
• Making a game on unity requires you start out in a empty dimension. To actually make the game, you must know how to use an XYZ coordinate plane.  
• When coding a script, titles and commands must be uniform throughout the program.

So what does coding with unity look like?  For each type of action, Sebastian had to compose different scripts.  See below:

After getting all the components together - he had enough elements for level 1.  According to him, it takes at least 30 levels to create a small game.  Here is some video of me trying to play his game and getting killed quickly:

Whether we are in the library or in the classroom, our job as librarians is to expose students to effective tools to help them learn.  Coding has so many benefits for students.  Maybe you can host a coding class in library or expose teachers to all the free resources available to students.  You can refer to my earlier blog about coding here:  http://librariansonthefly.blogspot.com/2013/06/coding-have-you-considered-using-it-in.html

Using Padlet in and out of the Library

Using Padlet in and out of the Library

Okay fellow bloggers, help me out here.  I happened upon this gem called Padlet, formally known as wallwisher.  What is that you ask?  

I love that not only can you post ideas, but also you can post documents, slide shows, and videos!  I was able to get an account with my Google account - so it took a mere 4 seconds to sign in.  Then, I was given an option for an icon and backgrounds.  See below....

You are able to choose between a streaming list of responses or a free form list of responses.

Padlet allows you to easily embed your wall within seconds.  I am thrilled to see this new updated version and I hope you will take the time to add to the wall below.  I see numerous ways that this can be used in the library and within subject areas like ELA, Science and Humanities.  So go ahead and share your ideas with us all!

Created with Padlet

App of the Week: Diigo

I first got excited about online bookmarking when I completed a 23 Things course about four years ago.  And while I really liked the idea, it fizzled out for me.  

Then I took this job, and in February, I found a NEED for social bookmarking (to support our Extended Essay students) as well as a TOOL (via Katy Vance's blog) with which to do so.  

At Diigo, I have created "groups" for each of the six Extended Essay general topics.  While student use is slow to get off the ground, I can see that some teachers and students have already joined and are adding sites.  As I continue to meet with EE groups, I anticipate more will join.  But I expect it will really be next year's group that benefits from this tool.

Since joining, I have added Digolet to my Chrome toolbar and downloaded the app.  Both are easy to use, but in all honesty, I prefer to use this tool via my computer.  The app, however, keeps improving and is an easy way to access my favorite sites while on my iPad.

In addition to curating websites for our six EE groups, I have created a number of lists for myself - library related as well as personal interests.  Some are public, others I have chosen to keep private.  

I can't put my finger on why this bookmarking site is working for me when others have failed, but Diigo has become my new favorite tool.

What bookmarking tools do you use?

Revisiting VINE

I love twitter and vine.  The fact that you are forced to summarize a thought into 140 characters or 6 seconds of video is the perfect way to get students to get to the point.  I look at creative experts that I follow and see how they really have to find a beginning, middle, and end to their outcome.  I wait patiently for the following #vine posts daily.......



Here are some book trailers I have created and that are only six seconds long.


Here is a six second video of an art exhibit I went to...


Getting students to think about what they put on social networks is a daunting task. Giving them a purpose for their posts, makes them think, plan and organize their thoughts.  Right now educators host educational chats using twitter.  When using vine educators might ask students to summarize a book, create a book trailer, show how their science experiment works, create a historical timeline, or develop a step by step art project video.

 How can you implement this into the curriculum you teach?

Broadcast your Google Hangout on YouTube

Google Hangouts are a great way to meet with your contacts, in fact, you can host up to ten people when you hangout.  I tried it out a couple of times with my daughter just to see how it all worked.  The first thing you need is a Google+ account if you don't already have one.  After you have created your Google+ account, you will need to find others who have a Google+ account so that you begin creating a contact list.

When you get to your home page on Google+, you will see options on the left side that you can choose from.

 You can see the highlighted Hangout in yellow in the photo below and the red Start a Hangout in the top right corner.

When you click on Start a Hangout, you are given an option to enable hangouts on air, if you select this, your hangout is no longer private, but allows you to broadcast your hangout on YouTube for an audience to see.  You can see that a pop up making sure that you want this session to be broadcast and not private requires you to click your decision.  You are also asked to name your hangout, maybe Author Visit with John Green or April Library Meeting.

The person or people that you are asking to join your Hangout Session will be notified in their Google+ account on the top right corner.  Once they click to accept that they are joining the session, all parties in the Hangout will appear on the bottom.  Again, you can have up to 10 people in the Hangout and the person talking will be the one that appears in the large screen.  The microphone detects the speaker and displays them for all to see.

As I presented this to the library coordinators at their monthly Region One meeting, I had the camera focused on them, so when they spoke, you would see them on the screen.

There are a lot of options you have access to during the hangout like chatting between participants that displays on the side, sound effects and even props that you can use in a more relaxed environment.  My daughter was putting eye patches on me and a tiara on her.  

How is this all different than Skype and Face Time?  For one, the sheer number of participants allows it to be more conducive to conferencing than the other two.  Of course the best part is the broadcasting you can do.  Imagine having an author visit with schools across your district and being able to broadcast it for parents or others.  As I brainstormed ways Google Hangouts can be used, these things popped into my head: Authors, graduations, professional development and even tutorials with students that would give them the capability to come back and review the whole session on your YouTube channel.  I saw these examples on twitter today....

And this video of an Atlanta Zoo Hangout....

And information about a Hangout with Atlanta Zoo's Ivan the Gorilla....

Are the wheels in your brain turning yet?  How can you use Google Hangouts?

A Look at Buffy Hamilton's - Librarianship of the People, For the People and By the People

I love twitter and follow the wonderful Buffy Hamilton.  She posted a link of her Iowa Association of School Librarians Spring Conference 2013 presentation and after reading it; I asked her if I could share it on my blog.  Her response: 

Her presentation makes you think about where you are as a librarian.  I fear there are librarians out there that are living the status quo and not working to keep up with technology and change.  Key words Buffy uses like: innovator, linchpin, partner, and mentor - this is the type of librarian all schools should be afforded.

She also addresses the building communities in our schools.  How do we do that?  We can target student and teacher passions and interests as a start.   I invite you to peruse through this inspiring presentation and to take it all in.

Culture: Librarianship of the People, For the People, By the People

People, Partnerships, and Participatory Culture: Librarianship of the People, For the People, By the People from Buffy Hamilton

So, to conclude this post, I am going to use one of Buffy's slides.  Think about it.  I think this is where all librarians are at, and if they aren't, maybe they should be.

How are you collaborating with teachers and students?  Are they part of the library or just a visitor?  How can you take some of these ideas and implement them where you are?  But, most importantly, how can you share what you are learning with other librarians that may not be where they need to be?

Book Trailers... Who is Doing the Learning?

Thursday was one of those days that, despite the busy-ness, I was invigorated at the end, rather than exhausted.  The teachers and students I work with inspire me!

Once again, Mr. R, a Grade 6 English teacher, and I teamed up for a collaborative project: student-made Book Trailers.  Up to now, I had learned how to make trailers, promoted books via trailers, and offered to teach trailers, but the opportunity to actually TEACH how to make book trailers to real students had eluded me.  Making trailers takes TIME, of which no one seems to have enough.  But Mr. R decided his students needed this opportunity to use their 21st Century skills to share their recreational reading, and he took me up on my offer.

Using resources I have gathered from Teresa Schauer's workshop at TxLA as well as Mrs. H's website, I consulted with our Tech Coordinator to better understand with which software applications most grade 6 students are familiar.  Mr. R and I discussed how designated classtime would be used, and when I asked about evaluation criteria - to make sure I addressed what was necessary - he told me he had not planned to evaluate this assignment, since it is part of the students' recreational reading.  Can you believe that!?!

Our Plan

Monday

Before he brought his students to the library, Mr. R instructed his students to begin thinking about which book they would like to use, to select a partner if they so wished, and to watch a few trailers to identify what they liked and didn't like.

Wednesday

Students were given a story board outline to help them think about the sorts of images they would like to use.

Friday

Class was held in the library, where we reviewed the definition of copyright and plagiarism.  Students were shown two sources for copyright clear images and how to properly cite them.  They created folders in their EDU2.0 accounts to hold the images as well as the Word document with the citations.

Tuesday

Serendipity brought the same students to the library with another teacher to research images.  Students are in the process of desgining and creating robotic bugs, and used their library time to find inspiration for the color scheme and overall design of their insects.  Although royalty-free images and proper citations were not necessarily REQUIRED for the specific project they doing in Design Technology, their wonderful teacher seized the opportunity to have students practice their searching and citing skills.  I introduced Google advanced search, and how to select "free to use or share" under usage rights, as a third source of images.

Thursday

Students returned for a double period.  The Tech Coordinator joined us to help with trouble-shooting issues, so there were three teachers on hand to assist.  It was suggested to students to use Keynote, since they are all familiar with this program, but they were allowed to use any software application of their choice, such as Animoto or iMovie. What could have been disastrous was a wonderful informal assessment opportunity for me.

Four students were able to complete their projects by the end of class, with many others very, very close.

This was one of those "Hollywood" lessons, where the students were completely absorbed in their work, they were teaching each other, and the teachers spent a lot of time observing... and learning from the students.  Students would ask questions of us, all the while looking around at their classmates, and ending their questions with, "X knows how to do that... I'll ask him!"

What I Learned Today

• Where to locate royalty-free music (see below)
• How to access and save on our school's groups drive
• I knew this was possible, but had never actually done it.
• How to embed music on a Keynote presentation as a soundtrack
• I have been a PowerPoint girl for years.  But I am at an all-Mac campus, so I have committed myself to learning Keynote this year.
• What my students need from me.  Students here are well-equipped with tech skills, so I found that what they needed instruction with was:
• The books they choose.  We suggested they choose a book they could picture in their minds as a movie.  Many chose books that had already been made into movies, and therefore wanted to use movie images and video clips... which, as a plus, did create teaching moments about copyright issues.  In the future, I would make it a requirement that books that are already movies not be used for their first projects.  
•  The types of photos they choose.  Often, a LOT of time was spent finding the "perfect" photo of someone/something that precisely matched the book's description, rather than accepting a representation.  Helping students focus on one or two details (the feathers on the wings) rather than the whole scene (a girl with a 14-foot wingspan soaring over a cityscape) was a frequent conversation. 
• Proper MLA format.  There is a great variety of citation formats in this first batch of trailers.  While credit is given to sources, we still have some work to do to get it right.
• Application of visual bookmarking program:

This was also the class for which I built my first Symbaloo.  While not outstanding, I am comfortable sharing:

Next Steps

Students are expected to polish and upload their trailers to the groups drive in the upcoming week.  I will be reviewing trailers, uploading them to our YouTube channel, and then embedding them in our Digital Hub.  The Tech Coordinator is going to take students through the process of creating QR codes, and my assistants will attach the codes to the books.  A blurb will go out in our weekly newsletter to our greater school community.  And then it will be time to begin the process again...

Grab the Popcorn

Here's a sneak preview...

For the Love of Poetry

For the Love of Poetry.....

I had the pleasure of listening to Sylvia Vardell speak at Region One's Spring Librarian Meeting today.  Vardell and her co-author, Janet Wong, compiled a treasury of poems for the whole school year.  They took wonderful works, connected them to the TEKS and prepared lessons for librarians and teachers to use every Friday for one whole year.    What an inspiration to librarians and educators to share the love of poetry!   Scroll over her book cover below and read about some of the phenomenal author's who shared their works in this anthology.

6 Easy Tutorials to Get the Most out of Google

6 Easy Tutorials to Get the most out of GOOGLE!

Use your cursor to scroll over the Google image below to access tutorials on how to use the Google Research tool, Create appointments on Google Calendar, Use Google Script Flubaroo, Email your form results, and access Google's Research Lessons.

Google is one of my favorite tools to use with students and teachers. What other Google tools would you like to know how to use?

Holiday Gift & Collaboration Idea

One of our middle school English teachers uses a teacher-designed reading program that encourages recreational reading in a variety of genres throughout the year.  Reporting is minimal and requirements are flexible to give students as much ownership as possible.  This teacher is new here this year, and although he has inherited the program from the existing teachers, he is taking it in exciting new directions that incorporate more library collaboration.

Once a month he brings his students to the library for book selection and silent reading time.  These visits have included library orientation and book talks, while future plans include book trailers. Students typically spend more than half of their time draped over the library furniture reading quietly.... just what we love to see!

For the reporting assignment in October, the teacher worked with me to ensure all students had and knew how to access their Destiny Quest accounts.  He then had them write online reviews, which I printed out in report form for his assessment purposes.

For the December library visit, he is collaborating with me to make it a holiday party.  He wanted to distribute awards and asked for my input, as he was looking for award ideas beyond just the "top" readers.  I suggested we tie them into the IB Learner Profile to reward a broader range of attitudes and attributes, an idea he embraced heartily and shared with his department.  

Snacks (normally taboo) are going to be allowed at this meeting in the Media Centre to add to the festive feel.  But what I am most excited about is the "gift exchange" he organized.  This English class will be giving "Secret Santa" gifts, but no purchasing is required.  As a parent I am thrilled I will not need to make a last minute run for some random item, nor will I be disposing of a useless trinket in a couple of weeks.  Instead of favorite foods, colors, and music, the Secret Santa slips this class filled out were about authors, titles, and genres.  Slips were exchanged and now students must SELECT A LIBRARY BOOK for their Secret Santa!

While collaborating, one of his concerns (and mine) was to whom should the book be checked out???  We could check it out to the giver... but what if the recipient loses it?  And if we check it out to the recipient, what happens if the giver forgets to bring it?  My contribution was to provide a gift wrap station in the library.  Once a book is selected, the giver may wrap and tag it, then leave it in the library until the party.  If the recipient decides to read it, they may check it out before they leave the library.

There are so many win-win's with this event.  In addition to all those mentioned above, I am having more one-on-one conversations with students, some of them are with those who may go all year without talking directly to library staff.  While they are confident and independent in their own reading selections, they are seeking advice for their gifts. Asking for help in a library sometimes takes practice!

I am eagerly awaiting next Friday.... feeling much like I did as a small child waiting for Santa!

WallWisher.com

Here is fun tool for gathering info from students, colleagues, etc. Visit our wall to leave a comment.