I really loved this lesson and actually I added some QR codes to my Introduction to the Library lesson that I do with the Freshmen. I really love the QR codes that are shapes - I'd like to do a Spartan head (our mascot) for the library!!
I also added an activity to a unit for Health class for the book 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher where kids have to make their own map with Google maps and pin and note places where important events happened in their lives. (If you've read the book you'll get this - if not read the book, it's great!)
I will be doing much more exploring with the new Google Maps and experimenting more with QR codes. I'd like to link QR codes in book to student book reviews somehow ... anyone done that??
Monday, November 18, 2013
Thing 2: Twitter
OK, I confess I have a Twitter account for the TAE library for probably 3 years but I don't use it and quite honestly I don't really love Twitter (sorry to burst your bubble my social media lovers). I really am a bit too old school and while I love to connect with my friends and colleagues, I really find the old fashioned way works well for me - a call or in person chat. It is nice to be able to track some folks like authors or Joyce Valenza but I'm really not sure I need to know what folks are doing all the time to help me feel more connected to them.
I actually feel like Twitter clutters things up for me more than it clarifies, however, that being said, there is some really great info that travels the Twitter highway so I do check it out here and there. With my time each day so limited, and other things more of a priority I find that tweeting that I am trying to teach citing to 120 wiggly Freshmen is the last thing on my mind :)
I'm thinking I could use it to promote library events and books more, but again, administration is certainly not totally on board with teacher use of social media so I err on the side of caution. Maybe it's because we are a small school and we interact so regularly with all our kids that makes Twitter less appealing to me.
I like it ... it's a good tool ... I don't love it! Maybe after the press of the Common Core implementation I'll feel more Twitter-friendly. I could even see us using Tweets to do book reviews in the future if I can get the OK. I have told my students to think of creating tweets out of paragraphs to help put information in their own words and keep things short and to the point. Maybe that's the value of Twitter, teaching us all how to be good paraphrasers!
I actually feel like Twitter clutters things up for me more than it clarifies, however, that being said, there is some really great info that travels the Twitter highway so I do check it out here and there. With my time each day so limited, and other things more of a priority I find that tweeting that I am trying to teach citing to 120 wiggly Freshmen is the last thing on my mind :)
I'm thinking I could use it to promote library events and books more, but again, administration is certainly not totally on board with teacher use of social media so I err on the side of caution. Maybe it's because we are a small school and we interact so regularly with all our kids that makes Twitter less appealing to me.
I like it ... it's a good tool ... I don't love it! Maybe after the press of the Common Core implementation I'll feel more Twitter-friendly. I could even see us using Tweets to do book reviews in the future if I can get the OK. I have told my students to think of creating tweets out of paragraphs to help put information in their own words and keep things short and to the point. Maybe that's the value of Twitter, teaching us all how to be good paraphrasers!
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Thing 1: Blogging
I am Mary Ann Leonard-Sheets and I am the SLMS at Thomas A. Edison HS (home of the Spartans!) in Elmira Heights, NY. This is my fifth year at TAE and this year I am also teaching AIS English 9 to 80 Freshmen in addition to running the library. We are a small school so many of us pull double duty. I am on the Tech Committee, Safety Committee, DDI Committee, and Curriculum Committee. In addition I am the Freshman Class Advisor, Faculty Auditor, and Yearbook Coordinator. I am also the Vice-President of our local school librarian's group and a Regional Coordinator for NYLA.
Since I work closely with the all the faculty to implement the District curriculum, including the new Common Core curriculum, I am always looking for ways to engage our students and help them become great digital citizens. And because I'm a librarian, I just love techie stuff so I thought this was a great opportunity to learn some things that may benefit both students and staff in the world of Web 2.0 and 3.0! When the library services director sent out the email it just seemed like a natural fit for me to get some great tips from other great librarians and teachers.
I knew about Blogs but honestly I have had the kids engage in this activity yet. Our Superintendent is very careful about how students engage online and so I've kind of shied away from blogs because they need to be so very carefully monitored. I love the suggestions of KidBlog (previously unknown to me) and Weebly (which I tried once when it first came out but I haven't tried the educators' version). I set this Blog up through Google because many of my kids are "Googleophites" and because I also I trying to push our District to move to Google for Educators. It was easy-squeasy to set this up and hopefully as I go along I will find more fun ways to improve it. I'm sure my kids and staff would have no trouble making some great blogs through Google's Blogger, however, I'm not sure I'm sold on the teacher's ability to control accounts so I may have a teacher try KidBlog (but I think my high school kids will miss having some of the bells and whistles of other Blogs). Weebly just doesn't give me enough student accounts.
I look forward to reading what others found out when creating their blogs. I'm thrilled to have this opportunity to learn from all of you!
Mary Ann
Since I work closely with the all the faculty to implement the District curriculum, including the new Common Core curriculum, I am always looking for ways to engage our students and help them become great digital citizens. And because I'm a librarian, I just love techie stuff so I thought this was a great opportunity to learn some things that may benefit both students and staff in the world of Web 2.0 and 3.0! When the library services director sent out the email it just seemed like a natural fit for me to get some great tips from other great librarians and teachers.
I knew about Blogs but honestly I have had the kids engage in this activity yet. Our Superintendent is very careful about how students engage online and so I've kind of shied away from blogs because they need to be so very carefully monitored. I love the suggestions of KidBlog (previously unknown to me) and Weebly (which I tried once when it first came out but I haven't tried the educators' version). I set this Blog up through Google because many of my kids are "Googleophites" and because I also I trying to push our District to move to Google for Educators. It was easy-squeasy to set this up and hopefully as I go along I will find more fun ways to improve it. I'm sure my kids and staff would have no trouble making some great blogs through Google's Blogger, however, I'm not sure I'm sold on the teacher's ability to control accounts so I may have a teacher try KidBlog (but I think my high school kids will miss having some of the bells and whistles of other Blogs). Weebly just doesn't give me enough student accounts.
I look forward to reading what others found out when creating their blogs. I'm thrilled to have this opportunity to learn from all of you!
Mary Ann
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