Based on a report recently released by the National Center for Literacy Education (NCLE), Working Together is Working Smarter, visually demonstrates the role of school librarians as highly involved leaders playing a critical role in their schools through consistent and sustained collaboration with other educators. The infographic reveals our dedicated, voluntary leadership in the delivery of [...]
Shannon’s Padlet on change and our other BLC presos
By on July 26, 2013
Greetings from Boston where I’ve been learning and presenting with friends at Alan November’s Building Learning Communities Conference. I have much to report on, but first I want to share Shannon Miller’s Padlet asking folks to share their vision of library change–roles, responsibilities, physical spaces, collections, etc.–for the upcoming school year. The response was wonderfully [...]
Brickflow for hashtag-based storytelling
By on July 17, 2013
One of my favorite tools for curating a breaking story as reported in social media has been Storify. It’s widely used by journalists to aggregate news photos, videos, and tweets. Conference goers use it to grab and archive memorable moments. I found it particularly handy to make sense of the multiple feeds emerging from the IASL [...]
Shopping for online courses and other educational content
By on July 16, 2013
For the growing numbers of us searching for online courses, as well as online educational resources, the portals are quickly growing in both number and size. Finding the best or most relevant content may be a challenge. Sites like Kayak take care of of the would-be traveler with a cross-portal search, but what’s the would-be [...]
Qwant a one-page, multilingual search aggregator?
By on July 15, 2013
Among my recent discoveries in the world of search is Qwant. Launched in January by a French company, the multilingual meta-search, reaches into news, web, video, image and social content sources and allows (optionally) logged-in users to add and share bookmarks, respond to social posts directly from the interface, and maintain topic-specific notebooks. The attractive interface [...]
Microsoft @ISTE–Surface & Bing for Schools
By on July 13, 2013
Among the many sticky conversations I had at ISTE was one I had with Cameron Evans, Microsoft’s Chief Technology Officer, who generously took the time to introduce this confirmed Apple girl to Windows 8–the biggest change in windows since 1983. We also discussed two big Microsoft projects aimed at education. 1. First a disclaimer/confession: I am [...]
ALA’s Launches “Liberty” and the Privacy Toolkit
By on July 12, 2013
In a powerful, proactive reminder of the principles for which our profession stands, yesterday ALA announced the launch of ALA Liberty, a new website that contains tools libraries can use to host educational sessions and public forums that help Americans understand their First and Fourth Amendment rights. ALA Liberty offers guides and tip sheets for libraries as [...]
Recite this for inspiration
By on July 9, 2013
I was wondering how folks have been making those simple, little quotation posters that I’ve seen around the Web. Until this morning, my dear friend Shannon Miller, shared Recitethis. Recitethis is a super easy and elegant tool for generating motivational images/posters. Enter your favorite quote or message and select the most fitting or most attractive design [...]
Graphite: the new educator/consumer guide for ed tech tools
By on July 8, 2013
One of my favorite discoveries at ISTE was Graphite. Launched by Common Sense Media, the nonprofit known by parents, teachers and librarians for its high quality, nonpartisan reviews and its popular Digital Literacy and Citizenship Curriculum, Graphite promises to be the go-to platform for helping teachers make sense of an exponentially evolving number of digital [...]
Celebrating another meaningful declaration
By on July 4, 2013
It’s the 4th of July and I am delighted to share another important declaration. Our new ALA President, friend, former school librarian, and Syracuse iSchool professor, Barbara Stripling declares that libraries are essential to a democratic society. She shares: My presidential initiative, entitled Libraries Change Lives, will focus on increasing public understanding of the value of libraries, [...]
BiblioNasium: social reading for kids
By on July 2, 2013
My high school readers (and most other serious readers I know) are obsessed with Good Reads. And if they’re not, they are connected on either LibraryThing or Shelfari. Socially connected readers seek and trust the recommendations and lists of their networks; reviews purchasing and borrowing opportunities, as well as the attractive shelf metaphors, fun quotes, [...]
Best Websites for Teaching and Learning 2013
By on June 29, 2013
Here in Chicago, AASL’s Best Websites for Teaching & Learning Committee just released its standards-aligned 2013 list. (Don’t miss AASL’s inaugural, Best Apps For Teaching and Learning list, also just released at ALA!) Sites and tools are selected because they engage users through innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration. Honored websites, tools, and resources will provide exceptional value [...]
What did your edtech year look like? (The results)
By on June 25, 2013
A couple of weeks back I shared a survey that asked the following: As this school year comes to a close, I’d like to call on you to share your discoveries and your wisdom and to help me reflect. Which edtech goodies, tools, apps, platforms, and strategies worked so well for you in 2012/2013 that [...]
Randie’s Pinterest Reading List/Board
By on June 23, 2013
Back in May I shared Elissa Malespina’s media-rich, interactive Choices Summer Reading list. She created it for her South Orange (NJ) Middle School readers using Apple’s iBooks Authors. She hosts the list on the Bookry platform and it feels very much like those cool magazine apps we flip through on our tablets. Randie Groden just shared an alternate [...]
Recording kids’ history as readers
By on June 20, 2013
I had to share this wonderful idea from Sarah Mulhern Gross’s recent Infotopia post: Beyond the Book: Infographics of Students’ Reading History! Sarah, a high school English teacher, was excited about sharing her lesson with the school library community. Sarah describes herself as a book evangelist. She shared her interest in having students think about some of the books that have affected [...]
Infolit, the music video playlist (& some on reading and librarians too)
By on June 15, 2013
I recently discovered a couple of wonderful information literacy-inspired song parodies. Chad Bauman wrote and produced a sweet, clever, slightly goofy song on the CRAPtest mnemonic many of us recommend for evaluating sources. Although I would advise kids about thinking a little more contextually about their sources, it’s a very cool way to open the conversation [...]
What did your edtech year look like?
By on June 12, 2013
Dearest readers, What did your edtech year look like? Let’s create a snapshot. As this school year comes to a close, I’d like to call on you to share your discoveries and your wisdom and to help me reflect. Which edtech goodies, tools, apps, platforms, and strategies worked so well for you in 2012/2013 that [...]
EduClipper: just-for-us discovery, collaboration and curation
By on June 9, 2013
Just about a year ago, I shared my excitement about Adam Bellow’s (eduTecher’s) Alpha launch of his clipboard service for education, EduClipper, as a kind of school-friendly, student-safe Pinterest on steriods, without the shoes. EduClipper is now ready for prime time–growing as a collaborative, global, digital curation hub, search/discovery tool and portfolio platform. It is [...]
Poetry Slam: There will be poems (& art & Springfield flavor)
By on June 6, 2013
After our first/last highly successful poetry slam, demand grew for us to schedule a second event before the school year ended. And last week we did. Although I worried that final projects, prom, graduation, finals, etc. would get in the way, the kiddos from my dear Literary Mag, Gay Straight Alliance, Book Club and Gallery [...]
PowToon + Katie = even more awesomeness
By on June 5, 2013
I am a big fan of the talented, adorable and slightly wacky author/illustrator/kidlit blogger/podcaster Katie Davis. I am also a big fan of the slightly wacky, digital animation tool PowToon with its cool themes, props, animated characters and transitions. So what happens to the equation when a popular picture book author/illustrator partners with digital, comic-based presentation/video maker platform? [...]
