In a class last week, Jenny Brown and Silvia Lilly from the Bethlehem HS showed us how they were linking their students’ book reviews to their catalog. They save the reviews on their school server and then link in the 856 field. Pretty nifty simple trick. Try searching for Kite Runner.
If you’re looking for some great children’s programming incorporating technology, visit the Great Technology Programs for Children wiki page.
There are currently about a dozen listings including programs related to reading, storytime, gaming and more. Detailed notes will help you implement similar programs.
Have your own great program? Contribute! This is part of the ALSC (Association for Library Services to Children) Children and Technology Committee’s ChildTech Wiki.
This past weekend, I had the great pleasure of teaching a workshop for school librarians in the Dutchess & Ulster BOCES School Library Systems. 14 librarians gave up the weekend to be locked away in a training room! We had some great discussions about technology and schools. And everyone went away having learned about some new tools and with plans in place to share what they learned with students and other teachers.
Everyone set up a delicious account and had instant network of colleagues. Throughout the weekend they all added links to their accounts. And they tagged them all with a unique tag for the group so they could create an RSS feed for that later in the day.
The group now has a wiki where eveyone introduced themselves and shared their plans and ideas that came out of the weekend. And they also set up a personal homepages using iGoogle and learned how to add RSS feeds from many different sources.
Amazingly everyone stayed awake for an after dinner session where we did some karaoke with Sims On Stage to get our blood flowing again. And everyone then joined Twitter! I was just going to demo some social networking tools and suddenly everyone was twittering! Again, they had a built in instant network.
The session ended on Sunday with time for everyone to explore the resources in the class wiki, time to work on their own projects and to share ideas with each other.
I don’t know about everyone who participated, but I came away excited (AND exhausted!) Thanks so much to Danielle Boyea (Ulster BOCES SLS) and Rebecca Gerald (Dutchess BOCES SLS) for organizing the weekend. And to everyone who attended. It was an inspiring and fun weekend.
Coming up next weekend (September 27 and 28th), I’ll be facilitating a workshop for School Library Media Specialists. I can promise you it will be a weekend full of learning, laughter and a lot of fun. The workshop will be held at the Hudson Valley Resort in the Catskill Mountains, so it will also be full of beautiful mountain views.
The new AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner include inquiry based learning and student-to-student collaboration for learning. Integration of new technologies is a given. Students need to know how to use ALL of the tools available to them to work effectively and efficiently. Many of the newest tools, such as wikis and tagging, provide for collaborative work. School library media specialists are strategically positioned to lead learning communities in the responsible uses of technology for learning. This two day fall retreat is designed to help library media specialists gain a comfort level with some of the Library 2.0 technologies (blogs, wikis, de.lic.ious, Flickr, Library Thing, Podcasts). Sessions will be informal and collaborative. Strategies for integration into the curriculum will be offered and shared. (Dutchess BOCES SLS Blog)
I love this weekend retreat format for training. It gives everyone an opportunity to immerse themselves in learning, while providing time to relax and network with colleagues. I’ve seen so much learning going on outside of the classroom at these retreats, in what one colleague has dubbed “canoe time”, sharing ideas and inspirations while outside the classroom (whether in a canoe or not!)
Hope to see you there! Sponsored by the Dutchess County and Ulster County BOCES School Library Systems.
Michelle Boule, who blogs at A Wandering Eyre, is looking for public and school librarians who have had success overcoming challenges in dealing with social software.
If you are a school or public librarian and have overcome a challenge or obstacle dealing with social software, please contact me. I would love to share your story. I will, of course, give credit for your triumph or leave you anonymous as you prefer.
I’ve heard some great success stories from folks in my classes, so don’t be shy! Please your stories with Michelle at: A Wandering Eyre.
It’s not too late to join in the All Together Now Learning 2.0 program that started this week. It’s being led by Michael Stephens of Tame The Web.
Free, fun, you’ll learn a lot, you’ll connect with new colleagues. The program will cover 12 topics over the 6 weeks. Join in, have some fun and learn.
To sneak a peek and see who’s already signed up, check out the lists of participants.
p.s. This is being run by School Library Journal, but it’s not just for school librarians!
Looking for a great WordPress reference book? This is one of my favorites. Digging into WordPress by Jeff Starr & Chris Coyier
