Last post of the summer! It's been a very long process, but I finally finished my first two library science classes. I am excited at everything I have learned to take back into school. Here is the link to my portfolio presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/SusanMatney/a-novel-idea-matney-lib-602 Slideshare got a bit cranky with me and would not allow all of the links to work, but I posted the URL whenever there was an issue. If you are taking more classes in the fall, I will see many of you then! Have a good last few weeks of your summer.

There are so many great blogs out there from school librarians.  One of my favorites is The Daring Librarian.  On her blog, she lists a wonderful variety of tools that can be used in the library as well as the classroom.  She gives examples of ways to use QR codes for parent contact, how to incorporate new technology tools in the library, etc,  Her blog inspires me to step outside of my comfort zone. I have used technology in my classroom, but it is easy to get stuck with what has worked in the past and not try anything new.  It takes time to utilize these tools, and sometimes that isn't possible with the limited time we have.  However, I am going to slowly make some thoughtful changes this year.  Trying to overhaul everything is impossible, but I will venture outside of my comfort zone to incorporate some of these new tools.  Baby steps!

For my last blog assignment, I am looking at a variety of technology tools to incorporate in the library or classroom.  The first one I want to highlight is PearDeck.  Basically, you have a presentation, and your students log in with computers, tablets, or smart phones throughout for an interactive lesson.  You can ask them to put a thumbs up or down online if they understand a concept, ask a question, give a multiple choice question, etc.  This is a really cool tool.  I have students who hate drawing attention to themselves by asking questions and may be more willing to ask something online.  Even though their name appears, it seems “safer” them than by raising their hands.  I can see this tool working well in a collaborative library lesson.  As librarians, we can quickly check that they understood the information since we do not have as much time with them as their classroom teachers.  Definitely going on my list!

Storyboard That is another great tool for students to create a story.  They can customize many details of either their own story or understanding a concept from a story.  I have already looked at some cool video and comic strip tools, but I really like how easy this storytelling tool is.  One of the examples they give is identifying a character's harmatia or tragic flaw.  I can see this tool being used to reinforce a concept such as gravity, characterization, or the causes of WWII.  A great idea for both classroom teachers and librarians.

What Was There is a tool where people upload various photos of locations within a town.  They may be from as far back as 1880!  When you click on a town, various photos appear depending on what you want to view.  It is a community effort; the more people that contribute the more photos they will have.  This is a great tool to use with students while reading historical fiction, learning geography, or studying history.  It is quite simple and quick to use.  The best part is that it requires nothing on the part of the teacher/librarian other than typing in a city.

The only negative side to these tools is that for many of them you have to pay to use after a free trial.  That is frequently difficult for teachers to get money to incorporate these tools in their classroom.  In Newport News Public Schools, teachers can apply for mini-grants through one of our organizations and receive up to $500.  This could be a possibility to try out new ideas in the classroom.

So many choices out there for presentation and digital storytelling tools.  I remember about seven years ago being amazed by using Photo Story, and there have been wonderful advancements in presentation software since then.  It is so easy to become complacent with just using PowerPoint that you don't take the time to look and see what else is out there.  After looking through many choices, I narrowed it down to a few favorites: Blendspace, Emaze, and Slidely.

Blendspace would be a fantastic tool for a lesson or giving a presentation.  What I found to be quite interesting is the fact that you can incorporate videos, text, and images by simply dragging and dropping them right on the program.  You can label each element as you go.  Usually, when I want to show a series of videos and text, I spend time trying to remember where this document is saved and then waiting for the link to load.  I really liked how everything was in one, interactive place.  This would be a possibility for our group presentation.  We could upload the pictures and videos taken during our construction of the circuit.

Emaze is another tool that was my favorite.  This is a much more dynamic program than PowerPoint, designed full of interactive elements.  You can incorporate PowerPoints into this program which would be helpful as well as including music, sounds, and so on.  I could easily see this as an option for a presentation.  It is much more lively than other programs and is a way to document group work in a more lively way.  You can also include voice commands to play, pause, next, etc.

Slidely is one of the easiest presentation tools I have used.  You simply import the pictures, download music, and presto!  I could even use my photos from Facebook with a click of the mouse.  You choose which photos to use and the order the photos will appear.  Instead of searching for music, all you have to do is type in a song and the program finds it for you.  How much easier could it be?  I see this option as being the quickest to create a presentation and would be very easy to use for our group project.

I know I always worry when using technology with my students.  How long will this take?  Will they understand how to use the program?  Should we just go old school and do a poster board or collage?  Many of these programs would take no time at all to create a presentation once the students have researched the information and chosen their pictures.  I will incorporate these tools in my classroom as well as the library.  Beginning of the year orientations in the library or a refresher course on library resources would be great uses of any of these programs.

Wow.  What a learning curve this past week has been exploring 3-D printing, coding, and robots.  My mind is blown with all of the advancements out there.  3-D printing allows for hands-on learning in ways I never dreamed possible.  Want to hold an ancient artifact?  A model of the heart?  A mask of someone's face?  Bones from an extinct dinosaur?  With 3-D printing, all of these things are possible.  I have heard about this new advancement, but never considered the level of learning that could now take place in a classroom.  This technology has the power to revolutionize how we teach creating more well-rounded students.  I was very intrigued about the "Hour of Code" initiative.  When I first watched the video about it, I was skeptical.  When I actually did some of it myself, it was pretty awesome.  I felt proud of myself that I could help Elsa make a square!  Helping our students' self-esteem while learning computer science skills is extraordinary.

I am excited that we are teaching our students computer science and showing them the possibilities, but on one hand I am worried it is beyond my own comfort level.  With all of these changes, teachers need to be educated about incorporating technology in their classroom.  My sister teaches in an elementary school in northern Virginia, and what she is doing in the classroom technology-wise is light years beyond my own district.  They are constantly learning about how to utilize these tools, while I do not feel as prepared in my own position. However, we can make small changes in our teaching styles to eventually get to this level of teaching.

Check out my new creations learning about QR codes.  Once I played around some with the programs, I was able to create some of my own.  Here are two of the ones I made using the I-Nigma website and program.  I am full of ideas for using these codes in my classroom and soon in the library.

I added a new tool to my ever growing technology toolbox this week: video creation.  I have used some video projects with my students in the past using Photostory, but what was difficult about that program was it had to be narrated by the students which didn’t always work the way it should.  I am looking forward to trying out projects with these new tools.

The one I ended up using for my video was Animoto.  This is a very easy tool to use to create videos.  You can add your own pictures or videos, or use the ones they have on the site.  Music can be added along with text.  After some trial and error, I found how to spotlight certain pictures (making them have more time) and how to only use a portion of a video clip.  There did seem to be some limit within the template I chose as far as picture rotation.  I think it depends on the template you use how many effects you can add.  I can see using this technique with my students for many ideas.  Before reading a book or looking at a particular literary period, we always review the history of the time.  Having students make a video like this one would be fantastic.  They could work in groups and each focus on a different issue.  I am thinking of the novel Of Mice and Men.  I could have one group looking at the Great Depression, another at migrant workers, another at discrimination, and so on. 

Overall, I was pleased with the final video.  I wanted to produce something school related, but my mind was blank.  We just got back from a vacation and were looking through photos, so I decided to do one for our upcoming wedding anniversary.  Here is the link:

https://animoto.com/play/GLyR1ZhD0yArmVzeVOhLLQ

Another great video creation tool is Powtoon.  I played around with this program some, and it wasn’t as user friendly as Animoto.  However, many of my classmates created some awesome videos with this program, so I am going to give it a second look.  I would like to add a video to my website, so I am going to delve back into this site.  I can see a lot of fun projects in class using this tool.  My juniors always read The Crucible, and I can see them creating a more cartoon version of the play.  Miller’s play has a lot of added conflict from the historical events, so this could make for an interesting video!

Wideo seems to be another good tool to use.  They have some good templates where you could create a basic video quite easily.  For the more advanced person, there are a lot of extras you can play with to personalize your video.  I created a quick video using the homework video template.  Students could easily use this in the classroom as a writing assignment or as a review of a book they are reading.  

Lots of good choices this week! It seemed a bit scary at first, but now that I have some completed videos under my belt I see how useful all of these tools can be.  Happy creating!

This week we are looking around at different school library websites to get ideas to create our own.  I found two good examples of websites using Weebly.  Weebly is a highly recommended tool and appears to be user friendly.  You choose your layout and design adding other elements as you build your web page.  I will keep you informed if it is as easy as it appears!

One of the websites that I liked was for Mira Costa High School.  I first love the bright and fun design of the webpage.  It seems as if it would draw in students to explore it.  The amount of information it contains is fantastic.  There are links for everything from research, online tools, teacher library assistance, tips for parents, and library clubs.  I also really enjoy how tech savvy this page is. On the home page, there are pictures and videos and links to social media for the library.  You can contact a virtual librarian, download the library brochure, and scan the QR code for the mobile site.  This website is the epitome of the modern library showing a combination of traditional library resources with practical applications to our digital society.

Another site I enjoyed was the Chapel Hill High Library: a mouthful to say!  As far as the page design, it is not my favorite.  The picture is bright, and it could have a stronger sense of design.  Besides the design flaws, this website is very well-organized.  On the home page, there is a chart of containing about 40 links to various resources about reading, other libraries, digital imaging tools, and so on.  There are links for each subject with teachers' projects and curriculum tabs, library resources and procedures, staff intros., and cool stuff for students such as a section on teen writers and photos of Valentine's Day quotations.  They also include pictures of happenings in the library including author visits. They have a social media presence with a Twitter account as well as Tumblr. This website seems much more manageable to create and maintain than the previous one.

In our exploration of audio this week, podcasts were emphasized.  For the first time this year, I used a podcast in my classroom.  We were studying the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, and my friend heard a podcast on PBS connecting to the ideas we were examining.  It was discussing one person's perspective that all Jewish people should leave Europe and move to Israel to stop all of the violent acts against the Jews.  It was not meant to be derogatory, but instead to detail the plight of the Jews in Europe.  We listened to it in class, and it was difficult for my students to listen without following along with a written text.  However, after listening to it twice, we had a powerful conversation about the topic.

In exploring podcasts, I found one that connected to the idea of indifference.  This theme was quite pronounced in the book Night and has become Elie Wiesel's mission: to alleviate indifference wherever it is shown.  This concept was highly discussed in our novel study and applied to all aspects of our lives, especially how it is shown in the teenage culture.  The podcast I found would be a wonderful addition to that unit.  Something about hearing this man's voice detailing his own experiences makes it more personal and emotional as opposed to simply reading the text.

Give it a listen!
http://thisibelieve.org/essay/105932/

This week we are exploring the world of audio.  I have discovered several new tools that would make a wonderful addition to the classroom.  The one I tried below is Blabberize.  I am sure my students have used tools such as this one before, but I have never played around with it before now.  I took great delight with this new tool!  I made a silly one that would work with Julius Caesar.  I might need some further practice with drawing the mouth.  I can see many uses in the classroom from a quick quotation from a character to a longer analysis of a character's intentions.  I am not sure how long the recording can be, but I could use this in so many ways.  Students could make these for a debate about who is the tragic hero.  After writing down their thoughts and examples, they could then turn to this tool to record them.  It would be an interesting twist on a discussion.  It doesn't allow for as much cross interaction because there is no chance for a rebuttal, but it would be a nice addition to a project. I mentioned before that we do campaign speeches for Julius Caesar.  Each student must have a slogan.  It would be great for students to create one of these with their chosen character from the play and record their campaign slogan.  I really enjoyed the article from Stephanie Laird on how she incorporates Blabberize in her classroom for persuasive writing.  This would be a good technique to use.  Students could be assigned a certain side in a debate, and then record their reasons along with a relevant image.

Narrable is another wonderful audio tool where students can narrate and tell the story through words and images.  I could see doing short research projects utilizing this tool.  In the beginning of the year, we always do projects on summer reading.  For one of their book choices, it might be cool to try using Narrable choosing relevant images to the book and explaining the symbolism behind each picture.  It would require some computer time, but I think the outcome would be much better than students haphazardly creating generic book projects.  They might have to actually read the book to complete this type of project!

AudioPal and Vocaroo are both good tools for adding a sound bite to a presentation.  They can't be connected with images, but using these tools within a presentation would enhance it.  I could see students adding a quotation from an author's work or a description of a character to improve the overall presentation.

What do you think of my efforts?

This week we explored the infographic.  It is pretty much what it sounds like: graphics and information combined.  Infographics are becoming more and more prevalent with the increasingly visual society we live in.  Today, I attempted to create my own infographic.  It was a slow and frustrating process.  I looked at three different infographic tools that were recommended and finally settled on using Piktochart.

Once logging into the program, I had to do some searching with much trial and error to finally be able to work with a template.  Before exploring the website, I created the list I wanted to use for persuasive essay writing tips.  Once beginning to design, I cut a lot of my text off due to the template I chose.  Finding and working within the confines of a template seemed to be the most frustrating part of the process.  It seems that some templates were free while others you need to pay before using.

After playing around with the template quite a bit, I was finally able to incorporate my text and graphics.  I did not change much of the color scheme mostly due to the fact that I was getting frustrated and could not figure out how to change the background color as a whole.  It did become easier as I continued.  In the end, I was mostly happy with my first attempt.  I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to lines matching and margins, but I had to let that go some when creating this infographic.

In order to use this idea with students, a template that would perfectly match the assignment must be made.  I think it would be a bit of a challenge for some of my high school students to work in this program, but many of them are more advanced technologically than I am!  This assignment would be one where I would want to design along with my students so having a classroom set of laptops would be crucial.  I could go through some basic design choices using my computer on the Smart Board while they created on their own.  I like the idea of using this infographic as a research assignment.  One project we recently did was to write a campaign speech and poster as if they were a character from Julius Caesar.  Researching how to write a campaign speech effectively by creating an infographic would be a nice way to include more research skills in the unit as well as extend to United States history.  I need to become more knowledgeable on the program before attempting to do this with my students.

Image Tools and Teaching

After looking at the image tools, there are so many possibilities to use these in the classroom.  Foldplay seems like a very cool place to try a variety of activities.  I really like the idea of kaleidoscopes as part of the curriculum.  As an English teacher, my mind always goes to literary elements, but the kaleidoscope could be used in about any setting.  Math students could explain the steps of an equation using the kaleidoscope or the foldbook.  I can also see lessons that would be applicable to other subjects explaining a definition, scientific process, or a country.

Image Chef is also loaded with ideas.  I clicked on the meme maker and immediately thought of a colleague who uses these memes to review for the World History SOL.  Students love memes and having them make some of their own as a way of reviewing information or explaining content to another student would help them utilize information in a new way.  The signs and notes would also be a good idea for students to make early in the year explaining the classroom rules.  Most schools have color printers and laminating machines to place them around the room.  It would be a nice way for a librarian to introduce his or her students to the library rules.

Tuxpi

Matney, S. (2015). Butterfly. CC-BY-NC

This image was created with the help of Tuxpi.  I took this picture outside my husband's art gallery. My students are currently studying media literacy and looking at the power of an image, and, as Garr Reynolds (2014) emphasizes, the power of images to tell a story.  There is a great TED talk by Jonathan Klein called "Photos that Changed the World."  My students and I always have great discussions once we start discussing the importance of a picture.  Here is the link:  http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_klein_photos_that_changed_the_world?language=en 

This tool could be used in the classroom in a multitude of ways.  I frequently use collages with my high school students to analyze theme and character from a novel, story, or poem.  An online collage, with citations of course, would be another tool we could utilize.  Instead of simply listing themes, choosing powerful images to show that theme or how a character changes throughout the story would elevate the lesson.

 Reynolds, G. (2014). Presentation Zen design: A simple visual approach to presenting in today's world (Second ed.). New Riders.

Creative Commons Image

As I was looking through some pictures online for our upcoming trip to Provincetown, MA, pictures for the Lobster Pot restaurant kept popping up.  Yum!  It looks like it shouldn't be missed.

Lobster Pot by David Gallagher (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)., retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/anythreewords/4135633829/

This Taxgedo is pulled from the words on my blog page and put into the shape of one of the best things in life: dogs.

Here is a wordle I composed exploring the world of reading.

Welcome, all!  This is my first attempt at blogging, and I am excited to use it as I learn techniques and skills to become a school librarian.

The font I chose is Open Sans, a sans serif font, mostly because Reynolds (2014) recognized how these "fonts work better on computer screens as they lack the counter strokes and thin lines of the serif typefaces that can be hard to read at low resolutions" (p. 40).

As far as the layout, I also like designs that are simple and clean without distorting the message through additional clutter.  "Design is about making things clear with as much economy and simplicity as possible" (Reynolds, 2014, p. 15).

Enjoy, and I look forward to many discussions to come!

 Reynolds, G. (2014). Presentation Zen design: A simple visual approach to presenting in today's world (Second ed.). New Riders.