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 :) 

Post #2 - Web 2.0 - LibriVox

An interesting bit of Web 2.0 that I have recently come across and adored is LibriVox.  In an age where almost every student is carrying a mobile device, LibriVox helps breathe some new life into some old, dusty texts.  Their mission statement (or, as they call it, theirobjective) is "to make all books in the public domain available, for free, in audio format on the internet."  They rely strongly on the help of volunteers to act as readers.
Of course, the quality is a little less perfection than professionally produced audiobooks, but the price (free) makes a few hiccups in the pronunciation of an archaic English term not so horribly incapacitating.  As for using it in a library setting, I can imagine that as a librarian, I may be able to stir the hearts of a few of my students, at the very least, to reach out to older books that may have not been already recorded, or find a favorite book and record it.  I can also imagine this being a project I could coordinate with English teachers that are teaching plays;  what could be more fun than having each student record their assigned lines and then the class reading along?  There are opportunities here for students that are interested in the technological aspect of digital media as well; how do you join together the audio files? How do you ensure that volume is consistent? What equipment do you use to record?
I think that this would be a great way to connect students not only with the source material but also with the community of readers and voices at LibriVox. There are lists, as well, of popular and enjoyed books (to help sift through the 7,000+ books LibriVox has for an example to use in class). At GoodReads, there is a thread dedicated to listing users' favorite LibriVox recordings.  It also talks about what some of the listeners enjoy, or do not enjoy, about the voices. It is a great read.  http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/104911-librivox-book-discussion

Viewer Comments:

WENDY PRICE, 2/10/2014 4:30 PM: Librivox

This is great, Tracey. I have never heard of this before.  I can see how some students would love to be able to say that they recorded a book.
2/10/14

KINSI NEAR, 2/15/2014 12:23 PM: In the classroom

I love the idea of students recording their portions of a play. Many students are intimidated by reading aloud in class, but speaking is often part of the class standards. This would allow students to rehearse and record rather than risk making a mistake in class. Excellent!

Post #1 - Blogshare - The Role of a School Media Specialist

Thanks to this class, I was recently introduced to The Adventures of Library Girl, posted at http://www.librarygirl.net/ ; an entry in particular that caught my attention was Penny for Your Thoughts: What's Really on the Mind of Today's Teacher Librarian.  Jennifer LaGarde, aka LibraryGirl!, puts into an illustration just what school media librarians occupy themselves with during the day.  This imagery is mostly for people who are not librarians, or people who do not work with school media librarians on a regular basis, and brings to light the inner thoughts of what is happening on a daily basis.  This is posted in answer to questions concerning why librarians need Master's degrees to "shelve and read books all day."
As a student in this field, this helps me sharpen my focus.  I am often entirely immersed in the best ways to help curriculum, concentrating on assisting students and teachers find additional resources to enrich their learning and curriculum, and it is easy for me to forget that assessment is also necessary to evaluate the function of programs put into place in my library.  This visual also reminds me that student learning should remain in the forefront of my mind.  Whereas LibraryGirl created this as a resource for people who had not had the pleasure of making their way through SLIS classes, it is a handy roadmap for me to keep the most important aspects of school media librarianship in the spotlight.

Viewer Comments:

ANNA BALLINGER, 1/28/2014 10:26 PM: Thanks!

Tracey,
   Very glad that you found this and put it out here.  As an early childhood teacher I often had this same type of conversation- along the lines of "Is it really that hard to play with kids all day?"  HA is all I said sometimes. Literally, I just laughed.  To me though this blog just confirms how important it is for us to remain professional and SHOW that we know our stuff.  We will earn our position and should hold ourselves high while be willing to act humbly.  This also brings another thought into my head... with people who do not understand the demands of education in any setting I always like to invite them to take time to visit and volunteer to help one day.  Though many do not do this, it is usually one of the best ways to show them all the things we do throughout the day.  I love to put on a big smile and say "I'd love it if you have any time to come in and help out!"  I am not currently working as a librarian, but I did for two years.  Librarians take on SO many roles.  Yes, we do shelve- we also  help students research, help them pick out books, keep up our collections, help teachers plan, help with technology, teach related arts classes, substitute when we have to... need I go on?  I guess for many it is that "grass is greener" mentality.  From the outside our job just may seem easy.  I guess that's a good thing to remember when thinking of others jobs as well.

SOPHIA FUNDERBURK, 1/29/2014 5:23 PM: School Media

Sounds like a great blog to follow especially with ways to collaborate with teachers and the best strategies to support curriculum.
Thank you!
Elisabeth

REBECCA LOWE, 2/2/2014 9:13 PM: Fantastic!

I LOVE this blog!  She has written so many blogs that have helped me emotionally and with my library.  There have been plenty of times that I would like for it to be required for staff in schools to read what she has written, but I know that will not happen.  This blog choice was fantastic.  I might use it during National Library Week in helping me display what exactly happens in the library on a daily basis.  I have been in a teacher's shoes before, so I know that it is a lot of work being a teacher, but being an elementary school librarian has been even more work for me.  I love my job though so the work is not so stressful.  We should walk in each other's shoes to know before judging.  Great post!

SOPHIA FUNDERBURK, 2/5/2014 7:09 PM: Excellent!

Thank you for sharing this blog. It is one that I have been meaning to check out, but have not had the time until you posted now! I am an elementary teacher and when I explain that I am getting my master's in Library Science to become the media specialist for my school, I frequently get, "Oh, you don't want to teach anymore." It really frustrates me because I see it as a greater opportunity to teach and have a greater impact on more children. And... I understand, though I have yet to walk the shoes, the many hats I will wear as a school librarian added to the ones I already wear as teacher! Thank you again!