beccablog, teacher-librarian

Flickr - Student creating Podcast

We have a photosharing account for the library, bvwestlibrary, on Flickr. Initially, there was a library group doing 365libs – posting photos of their library every day of the year.  We started strong with this, but didn’t continue.  Great idea for library promotion though!  Now as we post our newsletters to our blog – it is nice to be able to post on Flickr and then embed on our blog.  That way we are not using up space on our blog.

Also, Will Lion has a great Flickr account of photos and quotes.   Some relate so well to libraries.  I use his images a lot for presentations and such (creative commons).

Will Lion Photostream

Presentation Notes from Friday, October 16, 2009

I presented using CoolIris and then uploaded to Slideshare.  No audio this time.  My colleague, Amanda Davis, led the Widgets presentation – I will post the link below as well.  Look for “how-to’s” with widgets from Amanda soon!



Widgets http://prezi.com/ctt8owlrfx_f/

Links:

Library 2.0 Session

Widgets Session

Just a quick post as I get ready to complete the registration for our state conference in October.  With economic constraints, going to conferences isn’t as easy as it used to be.  I realize many people have felt the pull before this and I have been very lucky for many years to attend conferences that truly impacted my teaching.  I think it is time for more conferences to go virtual or at least have a virtual component.  I love the K12 Online Conference, beginning in December.  In many ways, this is the best way to learn and interact.  I was able  see their examples, comment, rewind to see something again, take notes on my own computer, show other colleagues… the list could continue.    Maybe something to bring up….

1. iGoogle: A great place for all my feeds. For students, they can easily customize the page for their needs AND place our widgets on the page.
2. Twitter: I receive so much information from Twitter. New ways to get information into the hands of students by posting on our website too. twitter/bvwlibrary      twitter/beccamunson
3. Google Reader: Makes my life easier. Would like students to use it more – but we are getting there.
4. Audacity: Great for student projects. Free. Easy to use.
5. Edublogs: We have several blogs – for students and staff. BVWest Reads, BVW Productions, BeccaBlog, Jag Stacks
6. Delicious:  Keeps me sane as I organize my finds and research what other people are doing.   Next year, we are moving all our links for the library projects to delicious.
7. Voicethread:  A tool our teachers have really embraced especially our social studies teachers.   
8. Widgetbox:  Love this site to create widgets and apps for iGoogle and Facebook.  However, it is now fee-based.
9. Slideshare:  Collaborative.  Takes a powerpoint inside the walls of the school and makes it available to anyone, anywhere.  I think students get that…
10. Wikispaces:  Way to publish projects, easily collaborate with others.

Others to add:  Animoto, Toondoo, Wordle, iMovie, Voki, Ning

Click here for the real Top 10 List of Learning Professionals.

This is a double-post from the JAG Stacks newsletter blog for teachers at staff at West. 

With new 2.0 tools, there are new ways to visualize text that can possibly enhance understanding and engage students.

Tagcrowd and Wordle provide visual representations of words. 

How can it be used?  Go to SIRS Researcher, Election 2008, and copy-paste the text of the two candidates.  Wordle or Tagcrowd will provide visual representations of the topics or keywords the candidates emphasized.  Want to see the bias of an author?  Copy-paste the text from a journal article into Tagcrowd and again, you can visualize the important concepts stressed by the author. 

Tagcrowd and Wordle can work with any text document accessible through you computer including Word, Powerpoint, and Internet Explorer. 

How-To Video 

My colleague, Amanda Davis, and I presented at the Kansas Library Conference this year.  Our presentation, Power of Publishing, addressed how publishing students work through Web 2.0 tools can motivate students and truly impact their learning.   Information from the presentation was posted to a wiki http://power2publish.wikispaces.com/ .  If anyone uses these tools, please let us know – we would love to hear any feedback.

Thoughts on KLA:   

1.  There were so many wonderful presentations this year & a lot of us are incorporating 2.0 tools.  For me, the presentations that showed examples of students using these tools captured my imagination.  Just like students, a good model of how something can be done is inspiring and motivational. 

2.  I always feel like this at most conferences, but it would be great if everyone could bring a laptop or conference provided  laptops or labs.  The presenters could have everyone log on to the site(s), try them out, have online discussion, etc. 

3.  I enjoy going every year.  What a great opportunity to learn from each other!

I had a wonderful time at the KSDC conference today. I am posting my presentation powerpoint with links and such.
If you have questions or suggestions from this presentation, feel free to send me an email or comment on this blog.

Challenging Technology 
(To access the links from the PowerPoint – click on the underline portion of the slide.)

PowerPoint:

http://www.bv229.k12.ks.us/bvw_lmc/handouts/kamle/kamlepresentation.mht

Handouts & Other Info: 

PowerPoint NoteCards http://www.bv229.k12.ks.us/bvw_lmc/notetaking.htm

Examples of Lessons  http://www.bv229.k12.ks.us/bvw_lmc/lesson_page.htm

KOAST Lesson Design website http://www.bv229.k12.ks.us/bvw_lmc/koast.htm

Today, I am in Ottawa to discuss the challenges of technology with research skills.  I will post my powerpoint and handouts this weekend for those that didn’t get a copy AND of course for the handouts I think I should have added.

Today, I had a wonderful opportunity presenting to a great group of librarians at the 8th Annual School Librarians’ Workshop by Northeast Kansas Library System.  I hope they enjoyed the discussion as much as I did. 

I am attaching several links and documents from the presentation.  Please feel free to email me if you have questions.  Let me know if you have trouble opening the powerpoint presentation.

PowerPoint Presentation http://www.bv229.k12.ks.us/bvw_lmc/nekls/neklspresentation.pps

Tammy Payton Link – (The original has changed, so here is the link from another library site – I hope this helps!)  http://www.csd99.k12.il.us/north/library/Research/mapping.htm

PowerPoint NoteCards http://www.bv229.k12.ks.us/bvw_lmc/notetaking.htm

Examples of Lessons  http://www.bv229.k12.ks.us/bvw_lmc/lesson_page.htm

KOAST Lesson Design website http://www.bv229.k12.ks.us/bvw_lmc/koast.htm

Tutorial for Creating a Web Page http://www.siec.k12.in.us/west/online/website/

My Email:  rmunson@bluevalleyk12.org