Post #9 - Free Choice - Mango

An interesting media appliciation that I have discovered, and that students may enjoy, is one called Mango (available from http://mango.leetsoft.net/install.php). Created by a gentleman named Victor Barrancos, Mango is an android and blackberry app that consolidates fan translated manga from various free sites on the web and puts it into an easy to use format.  Any manga that are licensed in the United States are not available through the sites, but this helps avid manga fans find lots of titles that they would not necessarily find otherwise.  A librarian could mention this application to students that have a strong interest in Japanese or Korean culture (manwha, Korean comics, are also included).  The app allows people to download pages for offline reading as well.  Anything that can help spur a desire to read and interest in other cultures can be applied to Common Core standards, and I feel that this app might find itself useful down the line.

Post #8 - BlogShare - Daring Librarian

The blog of the Daring Librarian - located at http://www.thedaringlibrarian.com , has a lot of really interesting and almost essential facts about librarianship presented in an engaging and colloquial manner.  One of the blog entries that I especially enjoyed was that of making infographics and using fonts effectively.  She also mentions Speed Dating & Books, too, which is an interesting topic that several of my classmates have touched upon.  The entry that caught my attention was dated September 30, 2013 and talked about running the news from the school library - http://www.thedaringlibrarian.com/2013/09/news-at-school-live.html .  This is something that had been done at my high school; in fact, I even attended the class! However, teaching that class and being on the opposite side of the student-teacher relationship is something that I had only vaguely thought about.

Post #7 - BlogShare - A Media Specialist's Guide to the Internet

At A Media Specialist's Guide to the Internet, Ms. Julie Greller talks about a large amount of information about libraries, and particular school libraries.  She talks about information that is good for students and great for librarians.  The particular blog that intrigued me is dated Wednesday, March 26th and it talks about how to raise money for your school library.  It includes options instead of large databases and some creative ways to gain these funds.  The one I liked in particular was the idea of a Birthday Book Club, where parents or students can buy a book in honor of a student and put a nameplate inside the book in order to keep the gift memorialized.
This site ties to technology because there are even more options available, and I never really put thought to the idea of library fundraising.  Kickstarter allows you to crowdsource particular projects, and I wish Ms. Greller had included that as well.

Post #6 - Web 2.0 - LibraryThing

This week I investigated LibraryThing.  LibraryThing is a way to catalog books based on your own metatags.  LibraryThing is also a social network centered around you and the books that you read, and there are ways to find other users that like to read the same things.  Whereas this generation of children is already tech savvy, it would be great for them to know that reading helps connect and form communities, even virtual communities, on the world's stage.  When used in a library setting, I can see it being a way to create book discussions, connecting in the digital space to what they are reading and the people with whom they can share these experiences as well.  There is a way to track books that you are currently reading, or want to read, and this would be an awesome tool for a school library media specialist to find out what books students are interested in, as well; in effect, a reverse reader's advisory!
There are also forums within LibraryThing called Talk.  I can imagine these forums to be useful for classroom discussion while students are reading, without having to worry about spoilers or fast vs. slow readers in the classroom.  A teacher could assign a book to be read over the course of the semester, with questions and discussion to be had as reading was completed, and students could get online and read and add their own insight at thier own pace.
I created a LibraryThing for a couple of books I have sitting around at home.  My LibraryThing profile is here: https://www.librarything.com/profile/pikamiya
Another thing that I find compelling about LibraryThing is the ability to set a start date and completion date for titles you are reading.  This would help with reading logs on a school level as well!

Post #5 - Web 2.0 - Easel.ly

I came across a really interesting site while perusing the AASL list of Best Websites - Easel.ly, a website to help people create infographics.  An infographic is an easy and exciting way to visualize information, and I think for special projects - like presentations, projects, and other informational documents.  With the easy drag and drop interface and assortment of interesting objects to use within the infographic itself, students will love to create their own visually appealing documents. I created one on the extremely simple topic, doggies, locatedhere.  It was very exciting to try it, and see how easily these could be done!

Viewer Comments:

ANNA BALLINGER, 3/4/2014 7:06 PM: Wow!

I have never heard of this one, Tracey!  What a cool way for students to show what the know.  It could even be used as an assessment rather than a plain old test!  Very cool- I love learning about all these cool new things to try.  By the way, I think this would be one GREAT thing students could do to present their summer reading (for those schools that do summer reading projects).

KAYLA BELK, 3/5/2014 2:12 PM: null

I had to re-read the Easel.ly twice. It looks a lot like Easley which is the city where I work. It definately was playing games with my mind.
I do love this source. It breaks the information down into easy to swallow bits of information and I am always a huge fan of anything that can include visuals. I might barrow this idea for my website. Thanks.

SOPHIA FUNDERBURK, 3/5/2014 7:25 PM: Excellent

Man! I can really see some uses for this! I have never heard of it before. I am going to jump right in and start using this one! I might start with rocks and minerals. This is our science content right now.
~Elisabeth

REBECCA LOWE, 3/5/2014 10:49 PM: Easily

I can see how they came up with their name.  This would also be a great tool to teach students about graphic organizers.  They could have fun with it, but also be learning at the same time.  Thanks for sharing!
Rebecca

Post #4 - Blogshare - Staplers, At Death's Door?

This is a little different, but I discovered a blog over the past week called The Lives and Deaths of Academic Library Staplers. A research librarian had noticed that the library was going through staplers at an unbelievable rate, and in an effort to determine if they were just imagining things, they started logging and keeping track of the staplers.  This was really interesting, not only because I never thought that staplers could or would go missing so easily, but I can imagine this as a great way to connect with students.  It was very reminiscent to me of the lives of Flat Stanley, and how he would go places and people would take pictures of him doing amazing things.  Although the Lives... of Staplers happens in a larger university library, I can imagine that it could be a project undertaken at a school library too. It could also be expanded, and students could do research experiments, or even creative writing experiments, determining where the staplers go, what happens to them, and why it might happen.
Jason Vance, the author of Lives and Deaths, wrote about the rampant staplercide in an article in the College & Research Libraries News. It has also been mentioned on several blogs, including the Andersen Library Blog at the University of Wisconsin - Whitewater.

Viewer Comments:

SOPHIA FUNDERBURK, 2/27/2014 9:19 PM: Funny!

I found this intriguing and I can relate to it! I never knew others experienced the same! I have one stapler that I never let the children touch. I apologize to them for my selfishness, but staplers are expensive! They always seem to get broken or no one knows where they have gone. On another note, it reminds me of Gary Paulsen's book, My Life in Dog Years. He tells his story through the dogs he has had throughout his life. I guess teachers could tell their stories through the odd materials that we find trends in missing or broken. Ha!
~Elisabeth

Post #3 - Web 2.0 - Livestream

In my rather tawdry past as an amateur Japanese subtitler, one of my responsibilities to the community was to provide information and demonstration in the use of a myriad of assorted freeware tools.  Sometimes, written words were nowhere near enough, and I often dreamed of a program that would let me limit my audience but still be able to cast, either live or recorded, information without being tied to a large program.  At the time,  I made do with the tools available in Google's Hangout-verse, but recently a particular site has come to my attention that I would like to highlight here.  This program is called Livestream.  Like Google's Youtube & Hangout realities, it allows you to record video in real time, while "casting" to an audience; however, unlike Google's suite, it also allows you to cast and play videos as well.  There is an entire community of video casters (I actually discovered this site by watching a livecast of a litter of puppies), and you can record and cast any manner of items with fairly simple setup. It does require your internet connection to be of moderately decent speed, and your casts are only available for a limited time with a free subscription, but you are able to download and keep them for further use if desired.
When thinking of using this in the library, there are a couple of different options that I can imagine its versatility being useful.  Morning announcement programs, whereas back in my day they were created by archaic, cast-off technology from the local television station, could easily be managed (and archived) through a method such as Livestream.  Reports and presentations for asynchronous classes, or special projects, can also be managed in this way.  Although very much a one presenter to a mute audience platform, not having an actual "live" (read: visible) audience may help otherwise shy students get over their fears of presentation.  Teachers who are out of the classroom for a myriad of reasons could use this as well.  It's also an extremely cheap alternative to Adobe Breeze and other programs for distance education.

Viewer Comments:

ANNA BALLINGER, 2/19/2014 6:38 AM: Cool!

This looks neat!  I wonder if this would be a good way to do news casts for schools in the mornings!  Since most schools have smart boards now they could go to the feed and watch students or principal, etc. present morning announcements and news.
Another thing I thought of was things like students being able to show the whole school their science fair projects or things like that.  I definintely like this tool!  Kids love youtube, so this will be right up their ally :)