I will be updating content as I learn about new resources, events, and applications. Decided to combine earlier posted content. If you know of something that absolutely, should be here, let me know:)
RSS is Really Simple Syndication: Using Feedburner makes it possible to set up an RSS feed in less than 3 minutes, and yes, I really did read all the options:) My husband has been using RSS on the pages that he builds for people, but it had never really dawned on me to use it, until I started subscribing to other people's blogs. Now granted, some of the content I include in this blog will be far from earth shattering to some, but now, at least if someone wants to keep tabs on what I am learning and posting, it will be easy, I mean "really simple":)
Constructing Modern Knowledge: Read about this event in David Warlick's blog this a.m. Looks like a wonderful opportunity for anyone interested in fusing creativity, communication, technology, pedagogy, etc. No go for me--in Texarkana that week for family birthdays. http://www.constructingmodernknowledge.com/Home.html
EPA Education Resources: I will be suggesting this to our Science Club sponsors since much of their programming focuses on conservation, preservation, etc.
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/education/index.htm
Tomie DePaola Lit. Trip : by: Andy Losik--linked via Twitter
Exuberant Games : by: Natasha Oliver--Beginning Math Animated games with NO advertisements--woo hoo:)
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
I never knew that...
I will be updating this regularly, as I seem to learn daily, random, but very helpful tidbits about applications and programs that I have been using for years. I will insert newer content at the top, so, well, you know...
4. Adding labels to a blog post is as simple as noticing that there is a field for labels/tags, and taking the time to key in major topics mentioned in the post. I have been using this blog since Nov. 2007 and I guess I will see if the labels really make a difference as far as people being able to find the blog without me telling them where it is.
3. Clicking History in the drop down navigation of Internet Explorer makes it possible to see and browse to pages that I have visited within the past two weeks.
2. Paint's fill tool will fill in pretty much any space inside black lines with whatever color you choose. Again--had to slow down and explain to someone else exactly what all those tools in the pallette do.
1. Inserting a picture is a fill option in WordArt. I was helping a colleague finish up Techno-Hounds by showing her the how-tos from her how-do-you-do-? list and just stumbled across it when I was showing her how to fill WordArt with preset patterns, gradients, etc. It's been there all along, and I never had noticed it until I slowed down to show her how to access the menus that Format WordArt opens up.
4. Adding labels to a blog post is as simple as noticing that there is a field for labels/tags, and taking the time to key in major topics mentioned in the post. I have been using this blog since Nov. 2007 and I guess I will see if the labels really make a difference as far as people being able to find the blog without me telling them where it is.
3. Clicking History in the drop down navigation of Internet Explorer makes it possible to see and browse to pages that I have visited within the past two weeks.
2. Paint's fill tool will fill in pretty much any space inside black lines with whatever color you choose. Again--had to slow down and explain to someone else exactly what all those tools in the pallette do.
1. Inserting a picture is a fill option in WordArt. I was helping a colleague finish up Techno-Hounds by showing her the how-tos from her how-do-you-do-? list and just stumbled across it when I was showing her how to fill WordArt with preset patterns, gradients, etc. It's been there all along, and I never had noticed it until I slowed down to show her how to access the menus that Format WordArt opens up.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
New to Me
I have met 200% of yesterday's goal:)
Tomie DePaola Lit. Trip : by: Andy Losik--linked via Twitter
Exuberant Games : by: Natash Oliver--Beginning Math Animated games with NO advertisements--woo hoo:)
Tomie DePaola Lit. Trip : by: Andy Losik--linked via Twitter
Exuberant Games : by: Natash Oliver--Beginning Math Animated games with NO advertisements--woo hoo:)
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Has It Really Been A Month???
Yes, Because it really has been a month...
We are currently in full skid and scamper mode toward the end of the 2007-08 school year. After closing our very successful last book fair, I have turned my attention toward several units that will help me get a pretty clear picture of the cumulative effect my classes with students have had. I will also be wrapping up Techno-Hounds and various other staff developments via SEASystem.
We should be hearing about more ACTIVBoard grants soon, I hope, so that I can get the rest of the equipment out of the media center and into classrooms where it can do more than take up space.
I will also be helping with the Rockingham County Reading Association's Community Reading Conference to be held at RCC on Saturday, June 7. I will be chairing and running the book fair in the Whitcomb Student Center.
Enough about that...I am going to make a concerted effort to at least pop in daily, if only to describe one thing new that I have learned. I have got to get better at this, eventually:)
We are currently in full skid and scamper mode toward the end of the 2007-08 school year. After closing our very successful last book fair, I have turned my attention toward several units that will help me get a pretty clear picture of the cumulative effect my classes with students have had. I will also be wrapping up Techno-Hounds and various other staff developments via SEASystem.
We should be hearing about more ACTIVBoard grants soon, I hope, so that I can get the rest of the equipment out of the media center and into classrooms where it can do more than take up space.
I will also be helping with the Rockingham County Reading Association's Community Reading Conference to be held at RCC on Saturday, June 7. I will be chairing and running the book fair in the Whitcomb Student Center.
Enough about that...I am going to make a concerted effort to at least pop in daily, if only to describe one thing new that I have learned. I have got to get better at this, eventually:)
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
A Weeding We Will Go...
A team of five media coordinators from across our district converged upon Central Elementary to help Ms. Smith with weeding. These observations are as much for me as they are for anyone else who wants to use them, and these are not intended to lay blame. The present media coordinator inherited these situations from other media coordinators who inherited them from their predecessors, so on and so forth-- ad infinitum. These are situations that exist in many media centers, and because they have the potential to create collection development nightmares, should be avoided:
1. Failing to check copyright before making purchases. Several of the books in nonfiction were technically too old when they were added to the collection, and many were already four or five years old when they were added. Your collection will be better off in the long run if you allow minor gaps to avoid purchasing "old books". If patrons ask why you haven't purchased for a particular area, simply explain to them that no one has published a suitable book on that topic in the past one to two years.
2. Beware: Celebrities and bulging biography collections. Celebrity biographies are high interest materials, but should a celebrity meet an untimely death (think Heath Ledger), all of a sudden, the biography has inaccurate information and should be removed. Also to be considered, several weeding guidelines suggest removing biographies in general according to demand. It is so easy to crowd the biographies by falling into the what-if rut: Q: "It's not that old; what if I take it off the shelf and someone asks for it?" A: You will make a note to replace the one you removed and you will replace it with one that has a more current copyright.
3. Pretty is not always a good sign. Don't be tempted to breeze over a section of books that are in emaculate condition. These "pretty books" may be exceeding their shelf life, because they never leave the shelves. If your media center's circulation system is web-based, wireless laptops are an excellent tool to use during weeding, because you can key in the item barcode and check to see how many times it has been circulated. If it is not being used--get rid of it. Your patrons have to search for the other books they want in the midst of all those pretty...I mean, pretty useless books.
4.
1. Failing to check copyright before making purchases. Several of the books in nonfiction were technically too old when they were added to the collection, and many were already four or five years old when they were added. Your collection will be better off in the long run if you allow minor gaps to avoid purchasing "old books". If patrons ask why you haven't purchased for a particular area, simply explain to them that no one has published a suitable book on that topic in the past one to two years.
2. Beware: Celebrities and bulging biography collections. Celebrity biographies are high interest materials, but should a celebrity meet an untimely death (think Heath Ledger), all of a sudden, the biography has inaccurate information and should be removed. Also to be considered, several weeding guidelines suggest removing biographies in general according to demand. It is so easy to crowd the biographies by falling into the what-if rut: Q: "It's not that old; what if I take it off the shelf and someone asks for it?" A: You will make a note to replace the one you removed and you will replace it with one that has a more current copyright.
3. Pretty is not always a good sign. Don't be tempted to breeze over a section of books that are in emaculate condition. These "pretty books" may be exceeding their shelf life, because they never leave the shelves. If your media center's circulation system is web-based, wireless laptops are an excellent tool to use during weeding, because you can key in the item barcode and check to see how many times it has been circulated. If it is not being used--get rid of it. Your patrons have to search for the other books they want in the midst of all those pretty...I mean, pretty useless books.
4.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Walking in a Wiki Wonderland
Spent a good bit of time today updating Wiki 101, HESMedia and MCNNC wikis. The information shared at NCAECT really helped me get a better grip on the outline and structure that wikis should follow. I realized that I created Wiki 101 and HESMedia needlessly; I could have just added them as a page to the existing MCNNC wiki. Now I need to decide if I want to consolidate.
Excited to share the idea of students using the wiki to publish their booktalks in a medium that their parents can see. I hope their classroom teacher gives me the go ahead.
Not really surprised at all the edits to the Educators wiki at PBWiki--lots of new pages added/edited today. Curious to see if PBWiki will send me a presenter pack, considering that I have already presented.
Excited to share the idea of students using the wiki to publish their booktalks in a medium that their parents can see. I hope their classroom teacher gives me the go ahead.
Not really surprised at all the edits to the Educators wiki at PBWiki--lots of new pages added/edited today. Curious to see if PBWiki will send me a presenter pack, considering that I have already presented.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Dewey Is Not Dead
Phyllis and I gave our kids a very telling, but very unintentional pop quiz on how to locate materials in the media center.
We had long been lamenting the state of the upper end of our E materials, because our E SHA all the way through E Z were all smashed together on regular shelving and were perenially out of sorts. We decided that if we moved the materials on the other side of the shelving, that we could spread out our E materials and be able to keep them better organized. Doing so required us to flip our F section (our shelving is on casters, so we literally turned the shelves around).
After the switch we began to encounter many students who were asking questions like:
"Where did the Captain Underpants books go?"
"Where are all the Louis Sachar books?"
Once being reminded of the shelf labels, the kids were like, "Ohhhhh---", but this little experience emphasized that our elementary readers are creatures of habit. Our kids were familiar with where things were located, but their familarity more closely resembles spacial familiarity, not expert use of the Dewey system. They were sort of on Dewey Auto Pilot.
Funny to watch, and also neat to see them use the signage and find what they were looking for.
We had long been lamenting the state of the upper end of our E materials, because our E SHA all the way through E Z were all smashed together on regular shelving and were perenially out of sorts. We decided that if we moved the materials on the other side of the shelving, that we could spread out our E materials and be able to keep them better organized. Doing so required us to flip our F section (our shelving is on casters, so we literally turned the shelves around).
After the switch we began to encounter many students who were asking questions like:
"Where did the Captain Underpants books go?"
"Where are all the Louis Sachar books?"
Once being reminded of the shelf labels, the kids were like, "Ohhhhh---", but this little experience emphasized that our elementary readers are creatures of habit. Our kids were familiar with where things were located, but their familarity more closely resembles spacial familiarity, not expert use of the Dewey system. They were sort of on Dewey Auto Pilot.
Funny to watch, and also neat to see them use the signage and find what they were looking for.
Monday, February 18, 2008
High Tech in a Hurry
Kudos to our Dept. of Instructional Technology and Media and Maintenance
Departments for working together to install ACTIVBoards in what will be 6 21st century classrooms. Looking forward to all the great things that will result from this initiative. Hoping that we will be successful with grant cycle II--I think we have 18 teachers interested in writing a grant. If we continue at our current rate, we will hopefully be fully outfitted with 21st century classrooms by the end of 08-09.
Departments for working together to install ACTIVBoards in what will be 6 21st century classrooms. Looking forward to all the great things that will result from this initiative. Hoping that we will be successful with grant cycle II--I think we have 18 teachers interested in writing a grant. If we continue at our current rate, we will hopefully be fully outfitted with 21st century classrooms by the end of 08-09.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Surprise--It's a snowday:)
Checking back through some of the projects that I have been slack with, and this is one of them. Going to begin sharing this blog with other elementary media coordinators in my district, because we never seem to have enough time--just to talk about all the directions we are moving in. Really great break out session yesterday seemed to help gear us up to try some new things, then wouldn't you know it---SNOWDAY--plan E--only 12 month employees are to report today:) Good day to catch up around the house and make a big pot of noodles. Going to Blue Man Group in Winston this p.m.
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