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.