Using iMovie in the Classroom

Check out my latest iMovie in the Classroom Smore for tutorials and ideas on using iMovie in your classroom!

Book Creator in the Classroom

Using Evernote to create a Student Checklist

I ran across an article today sharing an interesting way for teachers to use Evernote.  I personally cannot live without Evernote.  There are so many different ways it can be used.  The article "I Have Finally Found It!" shares how teachers can create a student checklist and then share it with others, which means more than one person can access the checklist at once.  Think about how many times throughout the school year a teacher could use a checklist... field trips, fundraisers, receipting money, fire drills, etc.
Take a minute to check out this article if it sounds like something you might find helpful!

Adobe Reader app in the Classroom

I decided to jump on the Smore bandwagon this evening and create a flyer about the Adober Reader app.  Take a few minutes and check it out!

Adobe Reader app in the Classroom

Popplet: Mind Mapping on iPads

Mind Mapping with iPads

Horry County Schools is in the process of rolling out 1:1 iPads to all middle school students in our district.  Popplet is one of the apps we are encouraging teachers to use.  It is a great tool for mind-mapping, brainstorming, etc.  I ran across this post earlier this evening on TeachThought titled "10 Mind Mapping Strategies for Teachers."  It has some great ideas to get those wheels turning and to help teachers think of different ways they can begin to use mind mapping tools, such as Popplet, in their classroom.  

Within the article, there is a suggestion to use mind maps as a form of assessment:

Assessment: A great way to use Mind Maps for assessment is to ask students to express their ideas about a topic in a Mind Map before and after a class. Students will retain the information better and it will also reassure teachers that students remember and understand the knowledge.

I was intrigued by a few of the ideas and had to share!
:-) Danielle

by andrea.leyden

Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess

A Look at Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess

Throughout our careers, we all have "those days" at some point, no matter how positive we start the day.  I love the way Dave Burgess approaches such moments.  As educators, we quite often have to teach content we are not excited about delivering.  When those dreary feelings of despair sneak up on us and we discover that we are delivering our lessons without passion, it is time to reevaluate our future lessons.  Just because the content is not exciting to us, we can use the moment to teach what Dave refers to as "LCLs." In his book, Dave refers to LCLs as life-changing lessons, and he proceeds to give several examples showing how he took the normally mundane lesson and instilled LCLs.  As educators, most of us are in the profession to make a difference in the lives of children.  What better way than to sneak in an LCL that might possibly be a revelation to a child in the middle of teaching lattice multiplication!  Great read and I know you are all curious about how exactly teachers can be compared to pirates... pick up a copy of Teach Like a Pirate for a bit of summer inspiration!

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."

http://lauracandler.blogspot.com/2011/03/12-ways-to-motivate-reluctant-readers.html

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!

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

Edmodo in Elementary Library programs

Our school recently started using Edmodo in third through fifth grades. The kids love it, and the teachers are slowly buying into this program.  It takes some extra time to moderate, but there are so many good reasons to use it.  There are opportunities to post quizzes and assignments, as well as a way to share files with each other.   The kids can collaborate online, ask each other questions about homework, share Powerpoint files with each other, and so much more.  There is an online backpack where the students can store great websites and their own MS Word and Powerpoint files. 

Why am I so excited about it?  As an elementary school library media specialist, it is a little frustrating at times that I get so little time with the students.  There is so much to teach them, and Edmodo is the perfect avenue for this.  Because I want to introduce them to new cool websites and Web 2.0 apps, I setup a group for all the students to join called Media Mania.  I post assignments and videos with me teaching them how to use all of these tools, and they watch the how-to videos on their own time and work on learning these new tools outside of the media center.  Many are coming in during recess or before school to watch the videos and work on the assignments.  Since I do not give grades, they can earn badges on their Edmodo profile for completing the assignments correctly. 

In addition to creating Media Mania, we also created a group called AES Chatterbox to give the students a chance to interact online with constant guidance by our guidance counselor, myself and our principal.  After reading the article, "Social Media: It Does have a place in the Classroom," we decided to give this a test-drive for the rest of the school year to see how it goes.  Every student post is public, and there is no opportunity for instant messaging so the students are simply chatting, sharing websites, jokes, and more.  Teaching our students social networking ettiquette is the least we can do to help them prepare for a digital world of social networking around every corner.  In addition to providing this venue for chatting, we can also post websites about internet safety, cyberbullying, and more.  There are so many possibilities and we are hearing nothing but positive feedback and even more school spirit than before!!

Apple TV

My husband finally asked the question... "So what's on your Christmas list?"  Wow!  Things have been so busy, I have not really stopped to think about it.  Maybe an Iphone alarm docking station would be nice...or what about a new Apple TV?   So I immediately decided to check it out to see if it is something I might find useful.  As you can see from the picture, it easily fits into the palm of your hand and can do so much.  So many possibilities!

You can project home videos, movies, tv programs, photos, youtube videos, apps, etc.  onto your widescreen tv.  You can also access your photos and videos in the Apple icloud through the Apple TV. 

Since I got my Iphone last year, I look back and wonder how I ever lived without it.  I am so connected now.  I see so many others with Iphones, as well, and I am always sharing my favorite apps with friends and colleagues.  Wouldn't it be great to share some of these apps with parents and colleagues in some kind of inservice or staff development!

What better way than with the Apple TV! The Apple TV projects the screen of your Iphone up onto a widescreen tv.  Check out the Youtube video below for a quick demonstration of Apple TV Airplay Mirroring.  The drawback seems to be that this feature is only available to the newer Iphone 4s and the Ipad 2. 

For more information about the Apple TV, check out Apple's official website @ http://www.apple.com/appletv/

Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon

Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon

As an elementary librarian, I am asked quite often for David Shannon books.  He is a popular author of children's picture books, but the kids seem to favor his books with his most-popular David character.  One of my favorites is Bad Case of Stripes.  Camilla Cream, the main character, loves lima beans.  She will not eat them, however, because she is afraid of what other kids might think of her. 

I love teachable moments, and I cannot tell you how many of those moments are talking to students about the importance of being true to yourself and embracing our differences.  This story takes this lesson to the next level and really allows for some great discussions, especially with some of the older students.  We recently had a Book Character parade at our school, and I took the opportunity to share this book with as many of our students as possible.  The kids got such a kick out of it.  My husband woke up 45 minutes early that day to help me "get into character," shaking his head the whole time!!  It was so much fun.  As I popped in and out of classrooms that day, we read the story, making predictions along the way and discovering new vocabulary words like "contagious."  In one of the child development classes, after discussing "contagious," the classroom teacher wanted a photo of the kids with me.  One child was so cute, saying "Do I have to stand beside her?  What if I get sick too?"  They are too precious!  If looking for a good read-aloud with a good lesson, Bad Case of Stripes is your pick.  Happy Reading!!


Edmodo

I am now on Edmodo.  Our school district is staying on top of the newest web tools available to help us all stay connected.  I have always said that there is no need to recreate the wheel...just tweak it!  Edmodo is the educational equivalent to Facebook.  It is a great way to connect with colleagues and share ideas, files, etc.  I am @ http://www.edmodo.com/dwest001.  Let's connect and start sharing!! :-)  Oh...and don't forget to download the Edmodo app to stay connected on the go!

 

Jing

I have heard of Jing, but I never took the time to play around with it to see exactly what you can do with it.  Jing is a simple program that downloads quickly and is at your fingertips within a few minutes.  It gives the user capabilities to capture image and video screen shots.  When doing any kind of work with images, this is a must-have.  Let's say you want to make a quick image for your webpage.  You could use a simple program like Microsoft Publisher to create the image, take a screen capture image of the image in Publisher, and you have a web-ready image in a matter of minutes without using any complicated graphics programs. 

I wanted to create a colorful image for our school webpage, so I used Microsoft Publisher to quickly use the shape and text tools to create the image and used Jing to capture it as a web-ready image. I then uploaded it to the web.  Super easy!  Check it out on the web at http://ae.horrycountyschools.net.  Now that I know about Jing, I don't know how I ever lived without it.  There are so many other uses, as well.

It can also be used to capture images on the web.  Many Smartboard users who have access to Smart Notebook know about the screen capture options available to create interactive documents to use on the Smartboard, but there are also those still teaching without Smartboards.  Let's say you are on the web and run across some useful worksheets, and you only want to use bits and pieces of different ones instead of printing a whole worksheet.  Capture sections using Jing and import into Microsoft Word or Publisher to put together something that will work in your specific situation.

I hope you find this free tool as useful as I have.  Enjoy!
http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html

Proper Email Address Etiquette - Correctly Using To:, CC: & BCC: Addressing | Russ Harvey Consulting

When sending emails with long lists of recipients, it is proper etiquette to remember that everyone values their privacy, even when considering email addresses.  This is why it is important to use the BCC email addressing option when sending emails to more than one person.  What is the difference in TO, CC, and BCC?  Below is a link to a website explaining these in more detail; there is also an example posted below.  Basically the BCC option hides the addresses from view when the recipients receive the message.  Let’s say I am composing an email to several recipients.  The best way to send this email is to place my email address in the TO field and the remainder of the addresses in the BCC field.  This ensures privacy for all receiving your email… just something to think about!

Proper Email Address Etiquette - Correctly Using To:, CC: & BCC: Addressing | Russ Harvey Consulting

Forwarding Email Hoaxes

The weekend is finally here.  We are sitting at home kicked back checking the fifty emails we did not have a chance to check at work today while hearing "Mommy, Mommy" in the background!  What fun!  Among the emails are several that begin with "Fw:" which means someone finds us worthy of recieving a very important forwarded email.  We are touched that our friends and colleagues think of us, yet we eventually realize the email about Walmart giving out free gift cards is actually a hoax.  While we enjoy the forwarded jokes and inspirational messages if time allows, many forwarded emails are quite often fake petitions that need to be signed, baby car seats beside the road luring women for gang initiations that never happened, prayer requests for children who do not even exist, etc.

I thought I would take a few minutes on my blog to introduce Snopes.com.  What is Snopes?  This is the place to go if you have a question about the validity of an email.  Please take a moment to check out this site's credibility by visiting http://www.snopes.com/info/articles.asp.  You will find Snopes has been recognized as a reputable fact-checking service by ABC News, CNN, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Reader's Digest, and many more.  It is so important to check out information in our emails before passing it along.  If you receive an email about a car seat beside the road, simply go to Snopes.com and check it out.  There is a search box at the top to type in the search, and a true or false response is returned with sources cited and the email explained in detail, along with the many variations floating around in cyberspace.  As educated individuals, it is so important to realize that everything in our inbox is not true.  I guess it is the information specialist in me, but I have a strong feeling that if we know the information is false, there is no way we would continue to forward them.

I know that so many of us would be embarassed and feel almost violated once we realize
the email that found its way into our hearts...
the email that took time away from our children to read and forward...
the email that truly tugged at our heartstrings...
the email that resorted to rage and calling up a political official...
the email that brought tears to our eyes...
the very email that we took our precious time to forward to our dearest friends and colleagues...
is actually a hoax that has been circulating since 1975.

Hope you find this information useful in your future emailing!  Have a great weekend!

Storybird...Collaborative Storytime Online

 

I recently found this Web 2.0 tool and could not wait to share.  What is Storybird?  It is a website were you can create imaginative online books with illustrations that are available for others to read instantly.  I see so many possibilities with such a site.  Take a few minutes to look over some of the books that have already been created.  Visit http://storybird.com/tour/ for a tour!

Making Creative Bookmarks

While browsing Service learning projects, I ran across the following website with ideas on some really creative bookmarks and wanted to share! I think it would be great to work with the art teacher to make some of these to spread around the community or even have a Bookmark Center in the media center for those creative helpers who love to come to the media center daily during break and recess.  This would be a great activity for almost any child-centered program.  Some of these could easily go with different themes.

http://www.kidactivities.net/post/Make-Bookmarks-with-Kids.aspx

TITLEWAVE | Follett Library Resources app for Iphone

Remember a few weeks ago when I raved about the new Titlewave app for Iphones?  As a librarian, it is just too convenient!  I went to Disney last week with my family and was able to enjoy many educational centers with my kids.  There we were checking out this really scary-looking tarantula and I looked over and spotted a children’s book called Harry the Tarantula.  It was the cutest book so I was thinking… wouldn’t it be great to purchase this title for our Media Center?  My handy Titlewave app made this task so simple.  So many of the displays included books of interest to elementary-age students.  It was too easy to pull out my Iphone, scan the barcodes on the books my kids could not put down,  and quickly add the titles to a new Disney list I created on my Titlewave account.  How cool is that…and the books are already ordered!  Apps are the future!

TITLEWAVE | Follett Library Resources

Kindle vs. Nook vs. iPad: Which e-book reader should you buy? | Crave - CNET

E-book readers are the buzz!  I have had several friends and family members ask which one is better.  There are so many options now varying in style, performance, price, etc.  Check out this website for an updated comparison.  This information was updated just a few weeks ago, and current information is key in making such a decision.  I personally have a Nook Color and do not know how I ever lived without it, but everyone has a different preference.  Talk about a great Christmas gift!!

Kindle vs. Nook vs. iPad: Which e-book reader should you buy? | Crave - CNET