PSLA Conference Here I Come!!!!!!

image taken from Wikimedia Commons

The tulips are sure to be in bloom in Hershey this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, the temperature is looking nice, and salivary reactions to the thoughts of chocolate are readily induced!

I am so very ready to go and surround my days with library friends! This spring has certainly been unique!  My role in my library has changed; I have not had an assistant in the library this semester.  I reflected upon how it is important to retain leadership and instructional roles while juggling many other aspects of the job on the newly launched Pennsylvania School Librarians Association (PSLA) Blog in a post entitled Retaining a Sweaty Grip on the Monkey Bars!  As PSLA Co-Chair of the Technology Committee, one goal was to begin a blog which represented contributions authored by many!  We have had many posts by many librarians and it has been a great professional development experience to read each!

Another goal that Mary Schwander and I have as PSLA Technology Committee Co-Chairs is to record and stream videotaped sessions presented at PSLA’s 40^th Annual Conference! We have purchased a subscription to USTREAM, received permission from selected presenters to record their sessions, and are scheduled to tape and upload!  Members will be able to view sessions that they have missed (or review sessions that they have attended!)

Finally, I am quite excited to be part of the PSLA’s first ever Unconference (an EdCamp style session) on Thursday night at the annual conference!  This session is designed to be discussion-based and will feature two sessions where participants can select discussions to jump into and add their thoughts to.  Sandwiched in-between the discussions will be a Stinks/Rocks session where controversial issues related to our job will be brought up and participants can run to the “Stinks” corner (if they disagree with the concept), the “Rocks” corner (if they agree with the concept), or go to the “Don’t Know” corner.  At that point each side can argue their point and each audience member can evaluate how the issue fits into their own world.  There will also be a Smackdown where the planners of the Unconference will unveil the best things each of us has done throughout the year.

I am so excited about these changes to PSLA and the annual conference.  I really believe that it reflects that our association is beginning to harness opportunities that are available to us and providing experiences which reach beyond the traditional methods.  I hope to see you at the conference this year.  If you cannot make it, be sure to follow the highlights on Twitter using the #plsa13 hashtag!

A New Blog to Check Out!

image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/ieshraq/2537467671/sizes/m/in/photostream/

As a first-year Co-Technology Chairperson of Pennsylvania School Librarians Association (PSLA), I had a dream of launching a co-authored blog.  

My thoughts were that we could submit:

• Our own original submissions

• Links to technology blogs other librarians or tech educators have posted along with a response to their post (maybe ideas for implementation/real world application, maybe a review of the blog post, ideas that branch off the author’s original ideas, etc.)

• Reviews of technologies/web 2.0 tools

• Anything else library related

The blog went live approximately three to four weeks ago and we have a number of posts now by a number of great contributors!!!!

You, too, can publish a post on the PSLA blog (even if you are not a member).  Here are instructions on how to do that:   http://www.psla.org/blog/2013/02/test-post/

Looking forward to your posts!!!!

 

Cyber Safety Education (for both Students and Parents)

Our CyberSafety Webinars have been uploaded to YouTube!!!!!

We are THRILLED to announce that our cyber safety webinars are now available for viewing on YouTube.  Three student groups created one lesson each: Online Commenting, Text Messaging, and Friend Requests.  They presented the sessions to 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th grade students using webinar software.  Our goal was to present to a small group and then to make the lessons public so that educators anywhere could use them as an instructional tool for students and parents.  Please use the videos and/or slideshares as a tool to educate others on cyber safety.  These videos are designed to allow you to pause the program in order to discuss the content locally and generate a conversation.

Online Commenting (YouTube):

Text Messaging (YouTube):

Friend Requests (YouTube):

You may want access to the SlideShare versions (better clarity of text).

Online Commenting (SlideShare):

Text Messaging (SlideShare):

Friend Requests (SlideShare):

Nonfiction eBook Collections: The Pros and Cons

Hi!  Last week I created a public Google Doc which allowed people to add to my thoughts on the pros and cons of nonfiction eBook collections.  It was an active document and many people contributed useful ideas!!!  Thank you, contributors!  Joyce Valenza emailed me the day I made the Google Doc public sharing with me that she planned to blog that same day on the topic (I REALLY want to say “Great Minds think Alike” but, in truth, I’m honored to be in her category even just once!!!)

As I was reflecting on how I wanted to organize and synthesize the information, I remembered a book that I read as an elementary librarian called Fortunately which alternated between fortunately and unfortunately.  I decided that I would create a slideshow with that as the format.

Here it is!

“Intentional Research” versus “Haphazard Research”

I teach my students A LOT of research skills.  I really enjoy guiding them to become “intentional researchers” and toss away their former haphazard research ways!

This year when I teach, I make the resources available on a Google Site for them to refer to after the lesson.  I have used the term “haphazard research” so often with my students that I was inspired to make a T chart to identify the difference between “intentional research” versus “haphazard research”.  Here it is!

The Google Site really expands on the concepts if you want more detail or handouts, etc.

Link here for a larger view

Thoughts on BookBub

A friend asked me to look into BookBub.  It is a service that she was interested in but wasn’t sure if she should sign up.  I looked over the site and here are my thoughts:

BookBub looks similar to Groupon in which it alerts you to time-sensitive deals.  For BookBub, these deals are specific to book discounts on e-readers (Kindle, Nook, Google Reader, etc.).  I browsed the books offered in the areas of Cooking, Teen and Young Adult, and All Categories.  It looks like you will not find any books that are currently being “talked about” or that are current bestsellers.  I imagine publishers push titles to BookBub when they have a new author to feature or the title hasn’t moved as well as expected.  However, if you are looking for a good read, I think you will definitely find one for a good price using this site as a tool.  For instance, in the Young Adult section, there is a book called Dirty Little Secrets.  I have read and liked this title.  It has also been selected for the Reading Olympics list in Pennsylvania.  It is an interesting story which is written with the perspective of a young girl whose mother is a hoarder.  The author has worked with families of hoarders and her perspective is both interesting and unique.  On Amazon, it currently has 4.5 stars with 71 reviews.  Was it a bestseller in teen fiction?  No.  Is it a good book?  Absolutely.  It is available for $1.99.

What I would do to use BookBub is to sign up for alerts and then compare any titles that interest me with reviews on Amazon.com.  If the review is pretty high, I would go ahead and purchase the book.  It would be less of a gamble when you do cross checking such as this.  If you like to mainly read the latest bestsellers, this site is not for you.  If you just like to unearth a good story, this site would be a smart site to use.  Overall, it looks like a pretty cool service.

Teacher Feature: Mrs. Burley’s Infographic Project

1.      Please describe your infographics project.

I often show my students the jewels that I find on Twitter–mostly infographics that illustrate topics that we are discussing in class. They started to really take an interest in infographics. We talked about how many people are visual learners and infographics are a creative way to convey information so that it is easily received, interpreted, and processed by viewers. The students loved this and wanted to make their own!

We started by looking at infographics, from a range of different topics, to see what was effective and ineffective. The students decided that effective infographics included short factual statements, relevant and iconic images, simple color schemes, and had a clear topic and scope that was instantly apparent to their viewer. They also noted that all infographics had their sources cited on the bottom. Once we had our criteria established, we developed a rubric.

I impressed upon the students that infographics can be about anything! After we had some fun looking up some of the more absurd visuals, we started a Google Doc where the students could brainstorm ideas for their own infographics; they had to include questions that would help to focus their topic. After the classes evaluated all of the topics, they elected one that the entire class would study so that we could research and fact-check together.

One class chose social networking and another decided on the plight of the polar bear. We started another Google Doc where the students refined the questions to guide their study. We categorized these questions into subtopics which were assigned to different groups of students to research, collectively. Then, the students used a Google Doc to compile their findings and also cite their sources. Next, the students looked over the collective research and chose what content they wanted to include in their individual infographics. In the social networking class, some decided to highlight comparisons between social networks, while others wanted to show the growing numbers of users and demographics. In the polar bear class, some students chose to focus on the population of polar bears over time, citing what contributed to the falling numbers. Others chose to focus on what is happening to the polar bears and what groups are doing to help. Some chose to simply focus on fun facts about polar bears. I like they they were able to choose a direction within a given topic because it allowed for focus and diversity.

To create their infographics, students chose to use either Piktochart or Easel.ly. I showed a short video about each one and brief demonstration to help them make an informed decision. Using the rubric as a guide, they got started. For two days, the students diligently worked on their projects, asking each other for feedback and questioning research. Finally, we had a sort of gallery walk so the students could look at each other’s finished products. It was exciting to see how they each came up with completely different product from the same topics and research.

2.       What was your favorite part of the project?

My favorite part of the project was watching the students take control. They decided what an effective infographic should look like. As a class, without much involvement on my end, they decided what topic they would study. They worked together on their research and made sure their findings were valid, for the good of the class. It was a joy to see them invested in this project, and invested in each others’ success.

3.       What was your students’ favorite part of the project?

The students especially loved the collaborative aspect of this project. We have talked about the potential of Google Drive, but through this project, they discovered and experienced the benefits themselves. The students enjoyed the process, but more than that, I observed many of them talking about how they could use infographics in other classes. They wanted to find infographics to share with their teachers and family, to make sense of what they were learning in their classes, and to satisfy their own curiosity. They talked about how they could make them for projects in their other classes and they were interested in how to share them with the Twitter-verse!

Allison Burley teaches social studies at Palisades Middle School.  She can be found on Twitter at @AllisonBurley