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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Encouraging Reluctant Readers

 
As media specialists, parents, and educators, we want to see our students succeed.  We want them to love reading fiction, losing themselves in a good book.  Reading, however, is also the first step to their success throughout their life as learners.  Without a love of reading, there is no inquiry-based learning taking place.  We want our students to love fiction, as well as exploration into nonfiction to broaden their learning experience.  Check out Laura Candler's blog posting below titled "12 ways to motivate reluctant readers."


Troubleshooting Ipad Apps in the Classroom

Has your Ipad app lost sound?  We are excited to have many new Ipads in our classrooms this year.  From a tech standpoint, that means more IT support.  Over the past several weeks, I have had many students come down to the media center, Ipad in hand, with an app with  no sound.  In my first encounter, I did some basic troubleshooting.  I made sure the Ipad had sound by recording a short video using the camera app and replaying.  There was sound, which meant it was something within the app.  I checked settings within the app to no avail.  I did the basic shutdown, made sure the app was closed, and reopened to still find no sound.  I finally resorted to calling Apple's support line, still only hearing that it was probably something within the app and we might need to contact their support line.  After a few minutes on Google, I found the fix in an online Apple forum.  I discovered that when some apps lose their sound, it has something to do with the Orientation/Mute toggle switch above the volume on the side of the Ipad.  In most of our issues, we have found the fix to be simply to open the app in question and toggle the switch. This will restore the sound within the app and the students are quickly back to work!  Happy troubleshooting!

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

My Son's Debut as a Songwriter

I know I should not be posting personal material but I could not resist. Such a proud mom!
http://youtu.be/LHL6ihzfl5s