Badges

So there might be a plan in the works to move me from my current classroom and into the library. We only have a couple of weeks left before the school year starts, and it might be very last minute if it does work out. But it's definitely caused me to redirect my focus on pinterest and start looking at library type things. I found this great website called OpenBadges. Basically you can design your own badges for whatever you want. 

This is totally basic, and not anywhere near what I really want, but it's a start, and I'm just learning what I can do with it. My plan is this, create a badge acquisition program for students. I might use this whether or not I'm a librarian. Based on student's reading habits, they can acquire badges. I'm thinking of having them leveled too. If they read five realistic fiction books, they earn the Realistic Fiction Level 1 badge. The tricky part is to keep track of this and well how do I tell if they really read it or not? Maybe I can set aside the last 5 minutes of class for students to give me a brief summary in their folder of the books they've read. Then also, how do I distribute these? They'll be small, and printing out hundreds of them, and laminating, and cutting, will a serious pain in my behind! There might be too many issues with this idea, but I really like it, and I really want to run with it. 


Maybe I can print them on stickers, and the students can keep them on their library folders or wherever they wish to display them. I think the sticker route might be the way to go. But do I also print separate leveled stickers as well, or just hand write those? Hand writing them seems easier, but more lame for the kiddos, you know what I mean?


I guess what I really wanted to say was, check out this website, play around with it, create badges, awards, medallions, etc. You can use them for end of the year awards, character awards, assembly awards, the uses are endless, and it's pretty darn fun to design. 

Screencasts

I've participated in my fair share of webinars using screencasts, as I imagine most of you educators have. They are super handy, especially for us visual learners. Just show me the steps and I've got it. 

I played around with two screencast websites. Screencast-o-matic and Screenr.

I LOVED Screencast-O-Matic. It was super easy to use and super easy to upload. Plus it gave me several options at the end for uploading. I could upload it to the screencast-o-matic website or to youtube. 

I made a screencast using screencast-o-matic for students. Every student in ASD (Anchorage School District) has a Google Doc account, but very few, in elementary, use it. I love it personally, and I'd love to introduce my students to it this year. Fourth grade isn't too young is it? I walked them step by step to logging on to their Google Doc account, and briefly showed how to create and share a document. 

Screenr gave me such a headache. I had issues with java. My computer wanted to block screenr and only after lots of trial and error did I get it to work. I'm trying to not let that affect how I feel about using this program, but it's difficult. I made a screencast for students. I showed them how to create an avatar or custom character to use in their comics. I have to say, that the 5 minute time limit on both of these websites is difficult to stick to! I never realized how fast 5 minutes is, or how long winded I can be!


I can see the amazing benefits of screencasting for students and parents and educators. I can show students how to navigate the many websites I hope to use during the school year, so they can access them from home, I can show parents how to log on and check their child's grades, and I can show other educators how to use some super cool websites. I LOVE SCREENCASTS! 

Hopefully this blog will take off (hint hint follow me!) and what I blog will be of use to someone. 

Final Reflection 5391

What ever in the world possessed me to take two summer 1 classes and two summer 2 classes?! Thankfully I have a husband who is willing to watch the kids once a week so I can retreat to my favorite coffee shop to work. Sleepy Dog Coffee has great coffee and a wonderful atmosphere. There're tables in the front for social folks, and a section in the back that's quieter and usually filled with people reading or working. 
I felt it was a good idea to plug the place that helped me this semester. :)


I have learned so much and accomplished so much that it's a bit mind blowing. I read some wonderful articles at the Pew Research Internet Project. 
I thoroughly enjoyed picking and choosing the academic articles. It's a rough thing, being forced to read extremely long articles that you have no real connection with. But give me the reigns, and let me read professionally, what I know will affect me most, and it'll have a real impact. 

As into social media and I think I am, Twitter is too fasted paced for me. Sometimes I forget to check it in a day or two and I am totally overwhelmed with the number of tweets that I have to file through. Maybe once I get into the school year, and get parents, teachers, and students involved and following me, I can keep up with it, but I'm not real sure at this point in time. 

Creating infographics was super fun. Now that I've discovered the Pew Research Internet Project, I can relay some amazing articles in the form of a pretty infographic. Not everyone has the time or desire to sit and read through a 150 page article just because I tweet or tumblr it. So if I want to appeal to the masses of educators, I think designing infographics is the way to go. 

Tumblr is an interesting little creature. I feel a bit of overlap with tumblr and this blog. Like there isn't enough room in my internet world for both. I'll still work at it, and give it some time to see if it grows on me. 

Animoto and QR Codes is one area that I know that I really need to invest some time in. Just this morning, walking into the coffee shop, they had a QR code for their coffee punch card. Ugh! I need to get with it! Jump on this bandwagon, before I'm left behind! Maybe at open house this year, I'll have a QR code linked to this blog for parents. :)

Podcasts, one thing I hated doing, but eventually wore on me. My voice, oh the humanity! After doing a few podcasts and screencasts and being forced to listen to my voice over and over, it's not that bad, I don't think. Both podcasts and screencasts will have their place regularly in my blog. Podcasts more for book reviews probably, feeling totally uncreative to come up with any other ideas, and screencasts more for my students, to see how to navigate different sites that I'll be using with them throughout the school year. 

Oh those online book communities! Look, I've added a plan to read book, but that dog gone reading now section is empty! Good thing I have a cabin camping off the grid Alaska camping trip coming up! That's the perfect time to read, when I'm not fishing, canoeing, hiking, berry picking, or whatever other outdoorsy thing I can come up with. 

I can't forget about Toondoo! This will be a fun place to take students first thing in the school year to create an avatar and some school procedure comics. I mean check me out! Oh if I could get away with purple hair, you know I would!!

 
Lastly, Instagram. Oh how I love thee! Ok, about to plug myself here. @mama_bears_cave, that's my personal, anything I can take a picture of and instagram it I am account, and @midnightsun_edu, that's my soon to be off the hook school/educational account. I almost can't wait for the school year to start so I can have an excuse to instagram more. :)
LSSL 5391, I have loved playing with all of the new techie things that I've either already used personally or haven't ever thought about using before. I can't wait to use all of the tools you've given me to be a better educator, more connected with the community, and well just seem cooler. :)

Vine and Instagram in the Classroom

Confession

I have three Instagram accounts. I think I'm ok at this point, but if I begin any more, I might need an intervention!

To keep everything connected, I've titled my professional/educational/teacher instagram @midnightsun_edu, just like my twitter, and similar to this blog. Right now it's summer, and most of my time is either working of SHSU grad school work or hiking and berry scouting. So right now, my instagram is filled with pictures of wildflowers and whatnot. That's educational, and I feel like parents and students would get a kick out of looking through those during the down summer months. 

This is a picture of wild geraniums that I found today. Living in Alaska, and spending a lot of time outside, I felt it prudent to get to know the plant life. 
Right now, I'm fighting the urge to post every one of my instagram images. But let me just say, that right now, there's a marmot (saw my first one and just learned what it was yesterday) and many other Alaskan flowers. I like to think that many Alaskans like to stay in tune with nature, I've learned in my short time here, that the dandelions bloom first, then come the daisies, then the lupines, then the fireweed, and summer is over. I would love to get students interested in their surroundings. Maybe my excitement here on instagram could spur a few of them to pick up similar interests. 

This is a picture of the moment when I completely lost it. I had spent the weekend reading The Fault in our Stars, and I knew that I was in for something big. This is another way that I can connect with other educators and parents and students. I can post pictures of what I'm reading, both personally and in the classroom. 
I know, for me, I mainly read books based on recommendations. So if I can arouse someone's fancy with an instagram image of a book, so be it!

During the school year however, I can really let loose on this instagram account. There will be pictures of projects, book reports, bulletin boards, spirit days, you name it, I'll probably instagram it, just like I do with my other accounts. :)

I took the same simple profile for my vine account. I bet you're surprised to hear that I've never used vine. To be entirely honest, I dislike my voice so much that I wanted to save the world from listening to it. :)
I'm also @midnightsun_edu on vine. 
I can see myself using vine to give students and parents quick book reviews, or showcasing classroom work. Since the videos are only six seconds, I can be a bit more specific in the comments section. 


After creating this vine, I realized that six seconds is not long at all! That's going to be tough to work with!
Teaching in elementary school, I can see more parents rather than students utilizing my vine and instagram accounts. It will be just another outlet to connect with parents. 
Of course I'd have to get parent release forms to post any pictures of students, or maybe I won't even go down that road, too many obstacles, too many issues that I'd rather not deal with. 
My vine videos need some work. I'll get there. For right now I'm pulling some inspiration for future vines from The Daring Librarian. 

The Impact of Digital Tools on Student Writing and How Writing is Taught in Schools

Purcell, K., Buchanan, J., & Friedrich, L. (2013, July 16). The Impact of Digital Tools on Student Writing and How Writing is Taught in Schools. Pew Research Centers Internet American Life Project RSS. Retrieved July 20, 2014, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/07/16/the-impact-of-digital-tools-on-student-writing-and-how-writing-is-taught-in-schools/

   For this article, some thousands of Advanced Placement and National Writing Project educators were surveyed. For the most part they believe that digital technologies make writing better, however there are a few trouble spots. I'd like to focus on some of the negatives, and maybe through writing this, I can come up with a plan of attack. 
   These educators rated their students lowest in two area, first, navigating issues of fair use and copyright in composition, and second, reading and digesting long or complicated texts. 
   Could the second of these issues be because students are reading short blurbs online, from texts, to twitter, to facebook updates, they're all relatively short? Students are not performing well when it comes to citing work. I'm not sure what the reason for this could be, other than it's a time consuming formula that you have to take a break writing to complete. 
   According to these educators 58% have students write short essays or responses on a weekly basis, 77% assigned at least one research paper during the school year, 41% have students write weekly journal entries, and 78% have students create a multimedia or mixed media piece in the year. So students are getting plenty of writing exposure right? What's the deal? They spend so much time in the classroom, that their online habits at home shouldn't affect their school work right? 
   Many of the educators surveyed said that in this day and age, students have much more opportunity to write and express themselves than ever before. They are creatively writing in texts, tweets, and blogs. In my opinion, blogging could be the great bridge to connect informal writing with structured academic writing. Blogging gives the time, space, and audience that teachers could only hope for for their students. They can write a real argumentative or persuasive piece and see it's impact. Before, they've written for a grade, and that's it, but if we can transfer their blogging into the classroom with formal writing. I think we'd have a real game changer. 

   If you look at the chart on the right, you'll see, just as I saw, that educators hearts are in the right place. We know what's important, we know what our students need to be able to do, but there's a gap, getting most of our students to reach those goals. I'm not trying to be critical, I lump myself right in there with everyone else. There needs to be a shift in the classroom, in the way we teach writing, in the way we grade writing, in the way we think about writing. 
   
   We'll get there, don't worry. I only hope it won't take us too long. And I hope the technology slows down just a tad, to let us catch up.

114 pages

Libraries + Parents = Innovation and Success

Rainie, L. (2013, June 30). Libraries + Parents = Innovation and Success. Pew Research Centers Internet American Life Project RSS. Retrieved July 20, 2014, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/06/30/libraries-parents-innovation-and-success/

Libraries + Parents = Innovation and Success from Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project

1. Libraries are important

2. Libraries stack up well against other institutions

3. People like librarians

4. Libraries have rebranded themselves as tech hubs

5. Parents over-index on library use in person via tech

6. Among library users, parents do more activities than others

7. Reading is alive and well

8. E-book reading is growing; borrowing is just getting started

9. Parents own more e-book reading devices

10. Parents eager for new tech services

11. The public invites you to be more engaged in knotty problems. 

12. Libraries have a PR problem/opportunity

13. Mothers are special

Basically, libraries are important. People enjoy the experience of going to the library, both alone and bringing young children.

Most people still read a physical books versus e-books. On slide 11, I was most surprised to see that breakdown of numbers for books read, e-books read, and audio books. I would have thought that the number of physical books and e-books would have been closer in number, but physical books are much higher. 

In the end, libraries and cool, and awesome, and still very needed in the community. 

19 slides

Speaking the Language of the Next Generation

Rainie, L. (2012, February 18). Speaking the language of the next generation. Pew Research Centers Internet American Life Project RSS. Retrieved July 20, 2014, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/02/18/speaking-the-language-of-the-next-generation/

Speaking the language of the next generation from Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project

As a 31 year old, I have honestly no idea if I'm generation X or Y, and quite frankly, I don't care. Oh No! Going though this presentation, I am sad to say, that I am most definitely lumped in with the Millennials. Ugh! 

This was an interesting little read. The 18-34 (Millennials) crowd is way more active in quite possibly every social, political, and cultural endeavor you could imagine. They are cocky and consider themselves the experts on all things tech. 

On slide 31, I was most taken aback by the lists of qualities each generation felt made them most unique. The Silent, Boomer, and Gen X groups all listed 'work ethic', but not the Millennials. Interesting huh? The Millennials also listed technology, music/pop culture, liberal/tolerant, smarter, and clothes. It seems like a super vain generation. Yes they have some great technology skills, and they have a loud voice that demands to be heard. This is most definitely a challenging generation to lead and guide and educate. 

50 slides

Comics and Cartoons

Make Beliefs Comix is a super simple and easy to use comic building website. This is a great starter website for anyone interested in toying around with making comics. You're allowed one of three panel options, two panels, three panels, or four panels, all horizontal. You can choose from ten different backgrounds, or choose one of seven colors. There are a limited number of characters and items, and the speech bubbles are a set size of three different types. I would recommend this for younger students or in an elementary setting, or for anyone just starting out.

Toondoo is a bit more advanced. There are many more different panel options, and even more different characters, backgrounds, images and more. You can choose a character and change their facial expressions! That little feature sold me on it. You can create your own character as well. Which I've been thinking about doing lately, and you can use it as an avatar. I've always been jealous of people with clever avatars, and now I'll have one! There is literally, so much stuff, so many things to customize, that you could spend all day playing here and still not see everything.  This is definitely one that I'll use with students, but only after they get used to the flow of creating a comic strip by using MakeBeliefsComix first. I can see students having a great time with this website. Maybe have them start by creating an avatar, that will be a reoccurring character in later comic assignments. 

Pixton is a buggy little site. It's good enough, and gets the job done. You can add on panels as you need, create your own character and change their hair, hair color, eyes, height, size, clothes, etc. Then there are preset movements that you can make your character do. When you are finished with your comic, you click save, and the website sends a copy to your email. Supposedly. I checked my email multiple times, double checked the spelling, checked the spam folders, and nothing. Once I get back to the website, I'm unable to start a new comic, or even return to the main page. 


All in all, out of all three websites, Toondoo is where it's at. I can see myself using this to create interesting directions for students or for SEL (social and emotional learning) lessons. I would love to create a set of beginning of the year procedures and classroom rules. As far as students using this, SEL comes to mind first. I would love to have students create a scene based on one of our SEL lessons, standards of behavior, or character traits. I feel like that would be a great beginning of the year lesson. I could also have students recreate their favorite scene from a book that we're reading in class. There are tons of of activities you can do, from science and social studies, to SEL, reading and grammar. 

Online Book Communities

Now I've used GoodReads before, but only to look up book reviews to see what others thought. I've never really thought about using an online book community to keep track of the books I read (mainly because it's depressing how little I read), but browsing a few different sites gave me a new outlook on the whole thing. They aren't just one dimensional sites, they're legit social media sites focusing on literature. I love it!

Goodreads is a handy little site. I've used it to help me create bibliographies because it gives you all of the book information. I've used it to read reviews, but there are way too many spoilers! For my own bookshelf, I really like it. Goodreads is super easy to use, easy to find books, easy to rate, and easy to add whatever other book information you feel is necessary. While browsing the Goodreads site, I noticed many comments/reviews looked like responses to an assignment. I think this would be a great way to get students involved in reading and rating books. It's a great way to use technology and literature and take a grade. I wonder if my students would have to create their own Goodreads accounts to comment on books. That's something I'll have to look into. 

LibraryThing is yet another online book community. This one is a bit less interface pretty if you know what I mean. It's very linear, providing a list of your read books and any recommendations. You do have the ability to follow other readers and their profile, but for me, the lack of aesthetics, makes me not want to use it. I don't see myself using this site mainly for the reason that I see it as a mere log book for books read, nothing more, nothing special. I don't think that I could get my students to buy into this one. Out of all of the online book communities that I've tried, this is definitely at the bottom of the list. I hate saying that. I feel like I'm going to hurt someone's feelings. It just doesn't work for me. Finding books is easy enough, but when I went to add a book, there was way too much involved, many sections and options that I felt unnecessary. It just made the entire process of adding books to my shelf feel like a chore. 

Booklikes is one of my favorites so far. The user interface is lovely! It's pretty, streamlined, easy to find and add books, and has a posting style similar to twitter or instagram or facebook. I love this! I can simply add books to my shelf, or post a status update with pictures, URLs, or videos. This is definitely the one that I'd use from here on out and in the classroom. I can see students really getting into Booklikes. They would get a kick out of creating their own profile, adding books and reviews to their shelf, and posting updates as they read. This has so much potential. Of course we'd have to have a long discussion about internet safety and privacy issues. I'll play around with this one more and then get back to you on how it's working out for me. Guess that means I need to get a new book started ASAP. :)

Shelfari is linked to your Amazon account so, all of those kindle e-books you've purchased show right up on your shelves. That feature is fantastic. I don't have to manually search for what I just read, it's already there. Plus the website is super good looking! Visually appealing! It also has the great social media style of following other readers and groups. I don't know that I'd use this website with my class, but it's definitely a contender with Booklikes.  I wonder if I download a kindle e-book from Amazon, if it'll show up automatically or if I'll have to figure out a way to sync it. That gives me an excuse to download something now doesn't it?


All in all Shelfari and Booklikes are two online book communities that I can see myself using on a personal basis. I feel like Booklikes lends itself more towards use in the classroom. Students can blog about reading, take photo status updates with a book, and ultimately add the book to their virtual shelf. I would love to look into using this site more. Will there be any privacy issues, bandwidth or accessibility problems? I could assign work for students to complete at home, but not all of my students will have access at home. This is one that I'm willing to fight for computer lab time for. I honestly believe that students would love to use Booklikes. There is so much potential here!

Podcasts

I have wanted to use podcasts in my classroom for a long time now. The timing has never really worked out for me though. For several years I've wanted to teach this Iditarod lesson. Living in Alaska, and near where the start of the Iditarod sled dog race starts, I feel like this is a lesson tailor made for me. Basically, students will choose a musher to follow, then create daily podcasts about that particular musher and his status within the race. I feel that students would have more buy in with something that is so relevant to their lives as Alaskans. 

I have to say, I hate hearing my own voice. Do I really sound like that?! Do my students have to listen to that voice all day long?! Poor kids!

I thought of a few different ways that I could use podcasts. I could make messages about homework, give weekly updates instead of a newsletter (plus that's more green of me right?), or I can make book reviews. As far as students using podcasts, I would love to have them practice giving book reviews or summaries, maybe biography reports, or read their own writing, like a technological author's chair. 

 I opted to make a book review right now, just to see how it feels. It takes a long time to get used to my own voice. I got tongue tied often, brain farted, and was disgusted with where the podcast was going. So suffice it to say, I did many a retake. I finally settled on a book review for The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Yes I jumped on that bandwagon, but I am a firm believer in book before movie. Oh man guys, this book, there are no words! I couldn't even give a real summary or review without fear of giving anything away. This book is best read without any background knowledge, so you're surprised and heartbroken, like you should be. This podcast was made with Audioboo. 

listen to ‘Book Review - The Fault In Our Stars’ on Audioboo

 
To play the podcast field, I made another book review for Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book on Soundcloud
. 



So I tried out three different podcasting websites, Soundcloud, Audioboo, and PodOmatic. 
I'll start with the bad. PodOmatic didn't work out for me. I worked really hard on my podcast and when I was finished, I went to publish it and I'm not sure what happened, but my recording wasn't there. They do have the option of uploading my own recording or recording on the site. Maybe I'll go back and look at the site some other time, but I was extremely frustrated when, after all of my hard work, there was nothing there. Probably user error of course. 
Soundcloud and Audioboo are both great sites, both very user friendly, and both easy to record, download upload, and share. They both give you the option to find other podcasts and follow people, but I really like Audioboo's interface. It's very similar to Twitter or Instagram or Facebook. I'm not sure which embedded podcast I like better. I like that I can attach a picture to the Soundcloud recording, but it might also be a bit much, I'm not sure. 
I'd definitely recommend either Soundcloud or Audioboo for any beginner podcasters. They're also super easy to use that students can easily record. I'd probably set up a classroom or schoolwide profile and have students record podcasts there. Then I could share the link with their teacher or parents.

I will ask you to be kind when listening to my podcasts. I felt like an awkward teenager who couldn't get the words to come out right. 

Videos and QR Codes in the Library

I have to give a huge thank you to the students of Bonnie Branch Middle School for making this Twilight spoof PSA for overdue books. Yes I'll admit that I read the entire Twilight series, twice, including the 5th,  not published, online only, half done book Midnight Sun, which is the first book retold from Edward's point of view, but I digress. Don't judge me.

Now to the nitty gritty. There are loads of schools that have their own youtube channel. When it comes to making videos for your staff or student body, you've got to balance entertaining with information. I'll highlight a few different channels and show you two videos, one that is great for information, and one that the students will absolutely love.


The Norman High School Library youtube channel has only 13 videos. A couple are entertaining, but more so for the staff than for the students. The others are quite good for information though. They include screencasts. I love screencasts! They're perfect for those visual learners, who need to watch someone walk through the steps.

The first video is the entertaining one. I can see high school students giggling watching this.

 The second video is super informational. It gives students an introduction to using Google Docs. I love using Google Docs! I use it all of the time! With older students, it can be quite handy for homework, classwork, and projects. Teachers, you'll never have a student 'lose' work again because it's forever in the Google Doc!





The Unquiet Library has a plethora of informational videos suited perfectly for students participating in library and research activities. I need to set aside some time and really work through these videos, because honestly, I'm new to the librarianing world, and many of the niche ideas like creative commons, citations, intellectual property, and so on, are so new to me, I'm a bit overwhelmed. Instead of having a professor spoon feed me, I need to get out and figure this stuff out on my own. 

First, the fun video that students will love. Looks like they have a great music club. They record practices/meetings, and I particularly loved this one. I do love me some bluegrass!


The second video is a short tutorial for finding creative commons friendly images on Flickr. I used this a tiny bit when creating a book trailer on Animoto. Random CC images question, do I have to cite my sources when using a CC image?



The Pikesville HS Library is by far the most interesting, well for me as an educator. They are using youtube in a way that I would never have thought of! There are Animoto videos of the fun stuff that students get to do, student reflections, and the coolest of them all, the teachers created videos introductions of their classes so that students know what they're in for when they sign up, or to possibly peak students' interests into signing up for their course.

This first video that students will find most interesting is an Animoto slide show of a fun night called 'Wii like to party'. Looks like some of the students got to stay and play Wii games together. What a fun incentive to work hard and do well!



The second video, showcases the Human Geography teachers. They each give a brief summary of the class, some of the activities students will participate in and the overall learning objectives for the year. I think that students and parents would love to get a sneak peek into the classes they are signing up for!


The video at the beginning of this post is from the insanely creative kids at Bonnie Branch Middle School. They have an Advanced Film Production class, and boy are those kids invested! What an awesome use of student talent!

The first video is one that students would find interesting and entertaining. BBMS has tons of overdue library book parodies, but this one is by far my favorite. I felt bad watching it though, like I shouldn't be laughing at such a serious piece of history. But the kids at BBMS totally get my sense of humor.


This second video is one that, if I were a student at BBMS, I would totally ask this guy (the librarian I think) to make more of. He has a few book reviews on the youtube channel, but this is one that I am going to definitely check out myself. I LOVE 1984, and yes sequels can be horrible, but it's not really a sequel, just a continuation of the idea of the story. So we'll see. I'll let you know when I check it out and what I think of it.



I know that I can't really have the same level of videos as some of the middle school and high school channels in an elementary school setting, but I can do my best. I'd love to have book talks and book reviews on my future library youtube channel. I'll also throw in some Animoto or GoAnimate videos to showcase some of the fun school happening. 

Can I tell you that I have NEVER used QR codes before. I'm sorry, I'm ashamed. I'm fairly with it when it comes to tech stuff, but QR codes are just something that I haven't had the time or desire to really dive into. Today that changes! I have this grand idea of creating book reviews or trailers, then setting up a book display in my library with the QR codes next to them. When students or parents come in, they can scan the code, watch the video and decide if it is a book worth checking out. Good idea right? I'm so late and behind on this, I'm sure librarians have been doing this for years. 
Here is my first, of hopefully many, book trailer for Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. Scan the QR code (you can download a QR code scanner here) and go watch my book trailer. 
Here is the Good Reads synopsis:
After the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise him as one of their own.

Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead. There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod's family . . . 

Beloved master storyteller Neil Gaiman returns with a luminous new novel for the audience that embraced his New York Times bestselling modern classic Coraline. Magical, terrifying, and filled with breathtaking adventures, The Graveyard Book is sure to enthrall readers of all ages.

I found a great resource for ideas on using QR codes in the library here. I could set up a beginning of the year get to know me and the library QR code scavenger hunt. I can highlight the different areas of the library, genres, tables, etc. Right now my brain is rigged for elementary libraries, but who knows what the future holds? Right now, my idea for QR codes really focuses on parent involvement. Parents are in the library during registration, I can have QR codes set up for different teacher's classroom websites, during the book fair, I can have QR codes with book summaries and videos at the display tables, and during holiday events, I can have QR codes set up with recipes for the many treats available, with directions for the crafts being made, and even a code linked to the video I'll be making with photos of that particular event. Am I on the right track here with QR codes? I feel a bit bush league here. I may not be ready for the major league yet, but with some practice and helpful colleagues and professors, I can get there. 

Blogs and Blog Readers

I have to be honest. Blog Readers intimidate me. Why? I have no idea. It was unknown, seemed way above my pay grade. In all reality, it's super easy to use and way streamlined! I'll admit, I have at least 7 window tabs open at a time. Usually it's more like 15+ with more than one browser open at a time. You have seen that e-card haven't you?


I can't help it! I'm like a hoarder with websites. Thankfully Digg Reader gave me the intervention that I needed. The way of the favorites and bookmarked pages is gone. I can keep all of my blogs and frequented sites here. As much as I love flair, I love the simplicity of Digg. It's not cluttered, and everything is listed on the left hand side of the page. It operates, in my opinion, a lot like my Outlook email. It lists my blogs on one side, and the expanded view with new posts on the other. I can use a handy little search tool to find blogs based on the keywords or topics I choose, or if I find one via the classic Google search, I can input that directly into my Digg account. Just to see what Digg could do, I followed my own blog. Not vain at all!
I can share interesting articles and blog posts on Twitter or Facebook. I like this connection. I hate having low followers, being new to the twitter scene, and if I can tweet great articles, maybe, just maybe, I can attract some more followers.



I have to say, that my favorite blog found through the Digg Reader search tool is Awful Library Books. Weeding the library of old, outdated, and unread/inappropriate books is a huge but much needed task. Sometimes you might just come across some hilarious gems. The entire website is dedicated to those awfully funny books. Each book submission is followed by a short blurb about the book and why it needs to be weeded.

Library Garden is a more professional blog. I had to start you off with a fun one right? Library Garden is composed of many authors, each a librarian, but with different perspectives. Some public, some academic, some state, and some youth librarians. The one things every author has in common is a desire to ensure the health and relevance of libraries. The posts are entertaining and engaging, with the latest post being about Twitter and one librarian's journey to get back into actively using it.

AASL Blog is a fantastic source for all educators and librarians. They host a What to Read Wednesday post featuring a new and upcoming book, a Tuesday Tech Tip featuring a social media or app to look up and use, a Let's get Together Thursday featuring an upcoming conference or collaboration idea, a Friday Find with something new, and a Monday Means Advocacy featuring a professional topic to explore more on. This most definitely needs to be on everyone's must read list.

Scrolling through Tumblr's library tagged blogs, I found many with beautiful pictures of books and libraries. This one however, is worth a follow. Things Library School Didn't Teach Me offers a great variety of fun library pictures, links to articles, and general librarian question and answers. She is professional and down to earth, making her easily relatable and very readable.

My final blog/tumblr follow recommendation is Library Schooled. This clever blog is written by a Library School student. He posts clever library and college student centered comics, interesting news articles, and reminds you that you are not alone. Right now I'm in grad school for MLS, and boy is it daunting and overwhelming. It's nice to read about someone who is in the exact same boat as me, and give me brief moments of levity and occasional moments of library wisdom. 

I have high hopes for Tumblr. I have a million ideas running around in my head. Let's see if I can stick with it and have a Tumblr account worth following. Tattoos and Funky Glasses
Follow me, and maybe, at some point, I'll have some insightful, interesting, educational, librarian things to say.

Infographic for Teens and Mobile Apps Privacy

Playing around with infographics is fun! Now that I've played around in a few different websites, I can officially say that I am trying to figure out a way to integrate this into the classroom. This would be a great book report or biography alternative. Imagine the looks on your students' faces when you tell them that they have to do a research report, then show them examples of infographics used as school reports. I guarantee you, you'll have a lot more buy in than assigning a traditional paper.

Easel.ly gives you the option to start with a blank template or use one of the many premade templates and edit it with your information. With it being my first time creating an infographic, starting with a blank template was a little overwhelming. I added a background, then my main idea, and then hit a creative wall. None of the templates really suited what I was looking to do, so I moved onto the next website.

Piktochart has only a few templates to choose from before you have to upgrade to the pro version of the

website. However, even though there are a few templates, those few are pretty fun and user friendly. I knew that I really wanted a good graph (or two) in my infographic so I played around with the few that had graphs, and found that they weren't as pretty as I was hoping. This website is definitely worth another shot.




Infogr.am is definitely the winner today. The templates are super user friendly, and make it look like you

spent a lot of time on them. The graphs are what sold me though. There are lots of creative graph options. You can input your data and then play around with the graph style until you find one that suits your needs. The other main point for me was that I could continue to add graphs, text, or images and make my infographic as large as I needed. The other websites had a set page size.


I recently read an article about teen mobile app privacy. It was full of data that was just begging to be put into an infographic. Here is my first ever infographic. It's definitely not up to Pinterest standards yet, but I think I've caught the bug, and I'll be looking for more excuses to create another!

Teens and Mobile App Privacy | Create Infographics

Teens and Mobile Apps Privacy

Madden, M., Lenhart, A., Cortesi, S., Gasser, U. (2013). Teens and mobile apps privacy. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/08/22/teens-and-mobile-apps-privacy/

I saw the cutest thing on pinterest the other day. It was a clear bucket with thick black stripes and the title 'cell jail'. It's a creative way for teachers to get rid of those cell phone distractions in class.

Every year more and more of my students bring cell phones or tablets to school. According to this article, 58% of teens have downloaded apps to their mobile devices and 51% of teens have avoided, blocked, or uninstalled apps due to privacy concerns. What's more interesting to me, as a teacher, mother, and female, is that girls are more likely to disable location features on their cell phone or app. Some suggest that teens turn off location services to hide from their parents, but part of me wants to see more studies. I would love to see why females, in particular, are more likely to avoid location services. It is because they are more aware of the 'big brother' internet, because of safety, or because of their nosy parents?

20 pages

Teens and Libraries in Today's Digital World

Rainie, L. (2014). Teens and libraries in today's digital world. Retrieved from http://http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/04/09/millennials-and-libraries/

Reading Lee Rainie's presentation on teens and libraries made me feel old! As a young(ish) educator, I view myself as tech savvy, up to date on the latest technologies, and able to keep up, but I certainly don't see much of myself in these teens. I can certainly say that I have seen teenagers and young children exhibit these symptoms. They have unprecedented access to the internet. It's at home, on their phones, on their televisions, and never out of their reach. They are unable to function without a connection. I'll be honest, I've found myself in that same boat, when I was out of cell service or during a power outage. Why is it, during a power outage, that we suddenly have a million things to do online?
Teens, even with a wealth of information at their fingertips, are creating a type of ying and yang paradox in the classroom.
Yes, digital and internet searches have greatly impacted their classroom work, but it's also created a distracted generation.
Yes, the internet offers endless amounts of information, but teens become frustrated when they don't get their answer right away in the search results.
Yes, the internet creates self-sufficient researchers, but it's overwhelming.

With this generation of multitaskers, we are uncertain of the outcome. Will it be good? They can cycle through personal and work related issues quickly, find information at lightning speed, and work collectively. Will it be bad? They are easily distracted, they don't retain information, they operate in short social messages, and lack deep thinking capabilities and face to face interactions.

40 slide presentation

Educational Leaders on Twitter

Twitter is such a fast paced bit of social media. But the information being posted is wonderful! There are so many great educators and so many of them are worth the follow. They post relevant and insightful nuggets. 

Linda Braun (@lbraun2000) is a Youth Services Manager for the Seattle Public Library, an Ed Tech Consultant, educator, teen advocate, librarian, and YALSA Past Pres. Many of her tweets have focused on Connected Learning. Connected Learning is a type of learning that integrates personal interest, peer relationships, and achievement in academic, civic, or career-relevant areas. She recently attended the Presidents Program with YALSA and she had wonderful snipets, especially about fan fiction. Reading fan fiction can be super fun, and allows those characters that you love to move and evolve. 

RT @libraria: #alaac14 Fan fiction makes great authors- yes! @yalsa #connectedlearning #presidentsprogram
— Linda W Braun (@lbraun2000) June 30, 2014

Tony Vincent (@tonyvincent) is a huge proponent of using the iPad in the classroom and really giving students freedom to play, explore, and learn on their own with technology.  He's even designed his own app! Stick Around is a creative app that students and teachers can use to label, design, and sort puzzles. Check out this awesome iPad infographic.

Ever heard of Plickers, Quick Key, Kahoot, Silent Light? These + more in this infographic for teachers: http://t.co/rHOSFFl1Et #slide2learn
— Tony Vincent (@tonyvincent) July 2, 2014

Buffy Hamilton (@buffyjhamilton) is a librarian and teacher who loves Atlanta. Her tweets are often personal and localized, focusing on Atlanta. When she does have education tweets, they are usually links to articles like this Huffenglish blog post about professional development. It's quite funny, not really, how students don't ask for professional development before using a new piece of technology, but educators refuse to even open something new unless they've been through rigorous training. 

Excellent and thoughtful post from @danamhuff I Don’t Get What’s Wrong with Asking for PD | http://t.co/aj1OGtwXtt http://t.co/HYT7WzcKoi

The Ultimate Guide to Embedding Social Media Posts on Your Website via @askdebra http://t.co/xh0JYrusJa
— The Daring Librarian (@GwynethJones) June 27, 2014

— Buffy Hamilton (@buffyjhamilton) June 30, 2014

The Darling Librarian (@gwynethjones) is fun and all things ed tech. Reading through her tweets, the one that I found most useful, had a link to her scoop.it website. http://www.scoop.it/t/daring-library-dispays

The Ultimate Guide to Embedding Social Media Posts on Your Website via @askdebra http://t.co/xh0JYrusJa
— The Daring Librarian (@GwynethJones) June 27, 2014

Jim Lerman (@jimlerman) is an educator who is focused on new schools with new learning. Jim, like @gwynethjones, has a scoop.it website. http://www.scoop.it/t/into-the-driver-s-seat
He focuses on higher education, secondary education, and educating educators. I found his tweet about social media and improving classroom writing quite interesting. It certainly got the wheels spinning about how I can twist this into the elementary classroom. 

Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator: 10 Ways Social Media Can Improve Writing in Your Classroom http://t.co/uYrjtMHU4s
— Jim Lerman (@jimlerman) June 23, 2014

Kathy Schrock (@kathyschrock) is an educational technologist and all around ed tech guru. She tweets about new apps, new gadgets, and how to implement all things new and fun tech into the classroom. Her blog is worth checking out too. http://www.schrockguide.net/online-tools.html. I love that she has tweets that let me know when certain apps go free, or work great with another app that I already use. 

EleEditor app from Kdan is free today. Great for you @Evernote users. https://t.co/A4LbHtcqBB
— Kathy Schrock (@kathyschrock) July 3, 2014