News, Features and best practices in technology for the k-12 classroom and media center from wikis and podcasts to the latest gadgets from School Library Journal
Social Networking By Staff - 10/01/2007
Look out Friendster and Xanga. The attorneys general of 50 states have banded together to pressure social networking sites into creating policies that would make it more difficult for minors to access these sites. Led by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, the coalition says it has a “strong and urgent interest in tracking down ... More
Unlock the Web with Open Source By Steve Hargadon - 12/01/2008
OK, so you’ve been watching the read/write revolution take place, but you feel that your students are destined to stay on the sidelines of history because these great Web 2.0 services are blocked at your school. Don’t despair. Open-source solutions can help bring Web interactivity to your classroom or library while still withstanding the scrutiny of your network administrators.
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Big House Library By Kathy Ishizuka - 12/01/2008
One of my favorite things about Twitter is making connections—with great new people, ideas, and sites, like this one. The online portal of the Casa Grande High School library in Petaluma, CA, Big House Library was created by Anna Koval, the school’s teacher- librarian, who’s also a Twitter friend.
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The Inside Story: Find the full content of children's books on the Web By Anna Adam and Helen Mowers - 12/01/2008
Nothing beats cuddling up with a good book. But when you’re looking to get your hands on the right title or want to do something more, like share a good book with a class or access full-text volumes from a vast collection, technology can help. Whether it’s a peek inside a book that you’re after or a good chat with like-minded bibliophiles, these digital tools could be a reader...
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We’ve Got the Technology: But our today's schools ready for a radical transformation? By Marc Aronson - 12/01/2008
“We are 20th-century teachers using 19th-century methods to reach 21st-century students.” That’s what I heard a bright, committed teacher tell her fellow educators at a recent educational technology conference. That terse, powerful statement reflects what many people, including myself, have often voiced or thought.
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Got a Question for Obama? By Debra Lau Whelan - 11/05/2008
If your students had one burning question to ask President-elect Barack Obama, what would it be?
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Teens Help Convince MA Voters to Save Libraries By Debra Lau Whelan - 11/05/2008
A bunch of teens from Milford, MA, may have been too young to vote in Tuesday’s election, but their efforts to save their state’s public libraries have paid off big time.
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Everyday Explorers Kathy Ishizuka - 11/01/2008
everydayexplorers.nationalgeographic.com There’s a new user-generated video site, but it’s perhaps not what you’d expect. Among the posted clips: a pair of mourning doves, in time-lapse, busily tend a nest atop an air-conditioning unit. A school of Pennant Butterfly fish descend through a group of divers off the Maui coast.
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PreS-K–A five-year-old (rabbit) awakes one morning to discover that there will be no school, no daddy flying home today, and no going outside–until the snow stops.
Your Photos
The staff of Salinas Public Library (CA), aka The John Steinbeck Public Library, pose with Lewis Buzbee, author of Steinbeck's Ghost, a middle-grade novel that centers around the threat of the library's closing in 2004. After a difficult struggle, the library remains open and has just extended its hours to seven days a week.