Lucinda Bishop

Emotional ABC’s

https://www.emotionalabcs.com/

This program looks amazing!  My only complaint is that  you have to be a current teacher to a brick and mortar school and be confirmed as a teacher therefore I could not see the lessons. This also means that nonschool staff can not utilize the material.  I do like the availability for teachers to get a class or school account to allow all students to use the tool in place of the teacher having to pick and choose what to include in the lesson. When the class or school receives the service it has a cost., but then again it would best serve a school as a whole by having all if not several grades participating  in the program.  Social emotional skills are a much needed top priority for schools and home learning.  

Teaching Books 

https://www.teachingbooks.net/

Great website that presents lots of tools for teachers/librarians to engage students in readings.  So many resources and tools for teachers in the classroom and learning virtually.  There are lessons and tools for social emotional learning, library programming, professional exploration, diversity with books, book promotion (great videos and QR tools), and so much more. One area of the site that I liked was under the student section but would be very useful for teachers is called Book Guides and Activities.  You can type any book into it and if available it will give you lesson plans, videos, chapters read aloud, vocabulary, and other resources available online.  There did not appear to be any cost for this collection of resources. 

Blog of interest – The Adventures of Library Girl

https://www.librarygirl.net/blog

The Adventures of Library Girl blog was very colorful and engaging to look at visually.  I found the different blog topics relevant to any school librarian or even public librarian. Topics included programming, book talks, displays, and even advice for new librarians. I loved her professional development under the presentations section and will take the time to complete them in the near future!  The blog is a great resource to stay current with very real programming concerns and how to address them.  I am inspired at the dedication she has shown to the profession and the students of her school.  It appears that she is always challenging herself on how to be better.  On a personal note I loved her article “Librarians Don’t Shush Anymore!” And Other Things I Wish Were True.” that discussed stereotyping of the librarian.  

First I would like to give my honest impressions of Hour of Code. It was extremely boring and felt like concepts were easy and then hard with little progression.  I felt like I was reading VCR instructions that skipped steps. I hope this is not everyone’s experience and I do acknowledge that I struggle with technology at times so my view point can be jaded! `I tried a coding program called Scratch; it was slow to make anything happen with way too many steps and it was not satisfying when tasks were completed like the literature suggests it is for students to see the results of the program on the screen.

However I do agree with Snelling that it is important for students to learn to follow a step by step process to solve a problem. Coding or even the concepts used to be successful with coding focuses on this skill. Students who learn these skills and use them throughout their lifetime will be more proficient and resilient in the career/workforce field as well as in their personal life. I also agree with Snelling that the library in the school setting is the perfect place to teach these skills due to students not feeling the pressure of failing and will be able to explore. If school librarians include coding education in their curriculum then they can “support young kids as they start exploring bigger ideas and provide the tools they need to be able to do that” (Snelling, 2018). Is that not one of the core principals of being a librarian?

So many students I know want to be video game designers. When they state this often parents will role their eyes and see it as a fantasy because the idea of making a living around a video game seems unrealistic to them. Maybe a different approach is in order to get the parents on the same page as their students? Dodge discusses in his article that when designing video games creators will demonstrate many analytical skills that are and will be useful in other fields. The first step is to study current games (what do you like?, what don’t you like?) which is like any other task that requires researching the topic and identifying what subject/area you want to explore more or find a solution to. “Teaching your kids to write code will help them translate their vision onto the screen and finish actual working products on their own” (Dodge, 2018). Video game designers live by the four C’s (Challenge, Change, Choice, and Chance) which can be applied to other fields especially in the classroom. Students need to be challenged so they are not bored, change up the subject or approach to the material, and let students have a choice in activities or assignments. Finally is the idea of chance which clearly describes human nature in and out of the classroom, Dodge describes chance as “in that some players take risks, misjudge circumstances, make mistakes, and add an unpredictable element to the game” (Dodge, 2018). I think this describes typical reaction to students in a classroom and as teachers we need to be ready to support students when make mistakes. So maybe we all can learn from video games, coding, and technology!

Resources

Dodge, D. (2018, May 4). So your kid wants to design games? Here are 5 practical tips to help her design like the pros. Coda Kid. https://codakid.com/so-your-kid-wants-to-design-games-here-are-5-practical-tips-to-help-her-design-like-the-pros/

Snelling, J. (2018, April 3). Don’t stress about coding: Focus shifts to teaching problem solving not computer skills. School Library Journal.https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=dont-stress-coding-focus-shifts-teaching-problem-solving-not-computer-skills

Hyperdocs are Google Docs that include several different google tools (forms, videos, sites, slides, etc) that engage students (adult and children) in learning. There are many pros of using Hyperdocs for remote learning environment such as students being able to learn and work independently at their own pace due to everything being available and not having to wait for the teacher, the instructor can put in material to encourage students to explore the topic beyond the original assignment, and students can share what they learn with other students. Another positive for the instructor in using Hyperdocs is the ability to make the lesson personal and to easily make changes and once happy about that instructors can reuse the lesson. There are few negatives when using Hyperdocs in remote learning with the most obvious one being a lack of internet access for all students. If students do not have access they will not be able to explore the tools. Another will be students needing a teacher in the room to direct them through the steps and to answer any questions. Ther could be compatibility issues with Google since an hyperdoc is formatted on Google Doc, but I was not able to find any documents or tools that did not work.  I want to point out that currently many schools are using different platforms like Schoology that are based on the idea of Hyperdocs with teacher utilizing Google tools to engage students in learning.

I first want to give a website that includes a list of educational Hyperdocs that I found.  I loved that this site includes different lesson plans that include resources for books so librarians may want to utilize them. https://sites.google.com/view/peterson-web-page/hyperdocs

Next I chose the Hyperdoc that included a study on Greek Mythlogy, I chose this because in our household we are Rick Riodian fans. https://docs.google.com/document/d/10fc5sZ5gs-7rTju9TFplSC3iqPNgFkMPDmI4YqSfeAE/edit

This Hyperdoc could easily be used to go with one of Uncle Rick’s books with some modification. The Hyperdoc has digital assignments such as making comics or posters that will allow student to build skills outside the subject material. The text set with quizzes, Greek gods family tree, and videos are great tools and would be great to compare to the characters in Rick Riodian’s books.  

When doing a presentation there are many options and I explored different tools this week. Let’s dive in. I can not tell you much about Haiku Deck due to it requiring a fee and even the trail required credit card information to bill you after the trail time period. As for Prezi it has great tutorial videos but you needed to pay upfront to even use the tools. I created an account but can not make create a presentation! Frustrating! I used Emaze and loved it. The most difficult part of the presentation was choosing a topic and making sure I did used images that were CC Zero. The platform was easy to use and there are many templates, for education I liked the newspaper and gallery template. Emaze would be a good tool to use for the presentation project because it allows collaboration between group members. Just by clicking Share on the presentation and choosing collaboration, group members can edit the slides. Another tool I will mention is Canva, I loved this when making a Infographic and the presentation tools are just as user friendly. I like that on Canva they have many graphic and pictures available to use that are CC Zero and stress free to use. Canva also allows for collaboration in live time where all group members can use it at once which will be nice to do while on a Zoom meeting with group members. This is the format that our group will be using!

Check out my presentation using Emaze. Someone commeted that the link was not embeded correctly below so the direct link.

https://www.emaze.com/@AOWTRFIQC/top-five-banned-books

And here is the copied embedded information so hopefully it will appear.

So exploring the virtual spaces available on Google was fun. I mentioned an example of this in my last post with Google Art and Culture which allows to you visit museums all over the world. For this post I used a Google site to do Career exploration as a museum photographer. The site allowed me to explore the typical everyday environment of a photographer. It was nice to click on different parts of the images to explore tools and tasks of the career. This site has so many classroom room potential to have middle school and high school students explore their interests in various fields. The link to this site is:

https://poly.google.com/view/51u6JSuygp5

I can not leave this subject without trying at least one virtual tour of a library. http://www.klementinum.pano3d.cz/index-en.html Please visit this site to explore the The Klementinum Library that is in Prague, Czechia which is very beautiful with high ceilings, rich woodwork, large rooms, painted ceilings, and huge reading rooms! It reminded the kid in me of the library in Beauty and the Beast but without the chandelier, I just needed a yellow dress! Actually I just looked at it again and disagree it is more detailed and impressive than the Disney movie. I warn that you may get dizzy if you are heavy handed on your mouse.

This week I reviewed several different school libraries websites at least one for each level; elementary, middle, and high school. The Newbury Elementary School Library Media Center was the most basic site and I don’t know if this was due to the school using Weebly or if it was kept simple to aid younger students and their parents when using it. The first thing I noticed was the link to the public library and how to get a library card to utilize their materials including a collection of eBooks. Another material management system listed was Follet destiny that allows users to check out eBooks, audio book, and other materials that are in the library so that they can be provided online. The grade levels were grouped together by 2’s and each level had different links for students to use. Some of the games or materials provided that I found interesting was National Geographic Kids, Tumble Books, PBS Kids, Google Earth, Brain Pop, and Newsela. What I did not see was reading suggestions, material of digital citizenship/awareness, and education on citation/copyright.

The Exter Township Junior High Library had many tools available for students. I liked that it has a card catalog to provide students to eBooks. There is also research links to World Book, Power Library, and Sora to name a few. It was nice to see information regarding citation resources and digital/media literacy on the website.

The high school library I explored was Bella Vista’s in California. The website was very detailed with many pages. The first one that catches your eye is the library orientation videos including a different one for incoming freshman. There was distance learning tools to assist with virtual learning and to give students and parents resources regarding the format that the school was using. If interested in eBooks there was a link to the Sacramento Public Library. I liked the Reading Literature list for each grade level so that students can start their reading over the summer. Libby and Hoopla are two of the databases provided for research. My favorite link was to a bookshelf graphic that provided the entire text of popular books online or as PDF’s in case students did not have the ability to get an online public library card. This link also had audio books but at this time it looks like only the Harry Potter series but hopefully the selections rotate. Another favorite part of the website was Webcomics in which students can go to different sites to read graphic novels or comics online. Last but not least that separated this high school website from the younger schools was the Career Planning Resources link that addressed career exploration, college applications, creating resumes, cover letters, etc. Often I do not see these skills covered in the schools but then again I have been in the middle school setting for the last 6 years.

The one thing that is very clear is that libraries cover many areas that can be used in and out of the classrooms. The different databases, tools, games, and areas to explore varies depending on the level of school.

There is a saying that goes “seeing is believing” or “a picture is worth a thousand words”. We learn so much more seeing something than reading it, our brains take in more information this way. During this pandemic the use of video is vital for students to learn through virtual learning. Many students have agreed that the videos teachers post allow them to complete the assignments much easier and the Zoom meetings provide that much needed way to connect with their teachers and to ask questions. Zoom`is a great tool to use for virtual learning, teachers can record the meetings and send the links to students who were not able to attend the classes. I like that a Zoom recording can be posted on Blackboard and many other platforms. Another tool would be Loom in which I joined. It is very easy to understand with quick instructions on site to explain. I like that you can share the video with the group and even have them edit the video/presentation. This would be great for group projects when students can not meet in person to complete a video. When using Powtoon there is a free option but I did not want to deal with canceling it later. I love the templates that were easy for students to use; two templates I suggest to use in the library would be the book report and project goals. Now Wevideo offers a free version that allows up to 5 minutes a month; I myself have used this tool and enjoyed the easy editing to include music and fade in and out. There was many other tools that I have yet to explore. Under the Support link there are tutorial videos to assist in using the program including how to make a video. The Read Aloud function has not yet been explored by this user but I am eager to see the pages of the book be the focus while I can read the story. The 30 second book talk would be a great tool to introduce the new materials in the library. Another function of the tool was to create a book trailer; the examples were beautiful! Another tool to use during the pandemic would be Google Arts & Culture which has awesome tours of museums around the world. I know the sight does not have video but the pictures allow the ability to explore the exhibits and I love it!

This week I spent a lot of time exploring Flipgrid by navigating the website or watching tutorial videos online on how to use the tools offered. I liked the feature Disco Library that provided ideas and already created templates for use. I agree that when using this tool with middle and high school students (even adults) it would be a best practice to set video moderation to check for appropriate content before posting the videos. Flipgrid makes this option very simple with just clicking a button! I explored many ideas that were of interest to me and I look forward to incorporating them into a library’s website for the purpose of engaging students, teachers, and parents. With Flipgrid you can have book reviews that will introduce others to new or favorite books in the library; students can then review and make a video of their favorite book. Other topics to explore are “What did you read this summer?”, “What are you thankful for?”, or “What do you love about (name of school or community)?”. These are just a few that caught my eye but I am sure there are many more in addition to being able to create your own topic and share with the Flipgrid community or just your students.

https://www.voki.com/site/pickup?scid=16934260&chsm=0efce4b1e9f2f72972c8dbaaea5b45e8

Above is the link to my Voki Avatar and I can say that Voki is easy to use and it was fun creating the Avatar. The hard part was limiting my audio to 60 seconds. What I also found difficult was embedding it to WordPress; you had to have a premium membership and WordPress would not allow the link to be embedded. I feel this may be my lack of technology and I apologize to my viewers.

I also like Vocaroo very much but found the same issue when asked to embed or upload the file to WordPress I was told that it was not allowed due to a security issue. So here is the link:

https://voca.ro/17J2lmhROdJv

I enjoyed trying Speakpipe and AudioPal. Both were easy to use as far as making the recording and saving the file. With Voki and AudioPal you have many options for the audio including downloading a file, use type to talk features, or leaving a message on the phone with AudioPal. I did not like that to use Clyp you needed to create an account but it was easy to use and had several background sounds that I found interesting.

I think using audio tools in the classroom or library has many uses and advantages as far as engaging the students. A librarian could introduce the new books on the library page each week using a podcast or teach students to utilize different areas and services of the library. Teachers and librarians could have students give book reviews using audio files/podcasts or have students teach each other about the library.