Snow Day Reading Challenge

Well, we are on day three of being out of school due to cold and snow, so, Mrs. Wells has decided to offer a special Snow Day challenge.

Here are the rules:
1.  Read a book (any book that is your level. It could be from the library at school or your personal collection.)  It can be a book you checked out last week when we were in school as well.
2.  Google or check YouTube for samples of book trailers.   There are some AWESOME ones out there. Book trailers are quick and easy grabbers to a book.  They are like the trailers you see at the movie theater before the actual movie begins.
3.  On your school device, you have a program called MovieMaker.  It is built in.  Play around with it.  It is very easy to use.   Find some pictures, find some video, find some audio.  Look for Creative Commons, like I have mentioned before.   Assemble a movie about the book.  It only needs to be 30 seconds to a minute.   You can do clips and a voice over, you can record yourself talking about the book, whatever you feel is the way to get people excited.
4.  Save the document on your computer and stop in the library when we get back from weather days.  Mrs. Wells will help you transfer it to her.

The library staff will watch the trailers and choose the best one.  The winner will get 2 coffee shoppe coupons. Everyone who submits one gets their name in a drawing for a coffee shoppe coupon.

So... what are you going to read Hamilton?  Mrs. Well is finishing Beautiful Darkness and Insurgent.

Pinterest for the Library

So many teachers are starting to use Pinterest to get ideas for the classroom.  I started using it several years ago, when it was in beta, so I know how huge it can be to curate and find ideas.  It got me thinking that maybe using Pinterest could also be a great tool for the library.  I decided to create a Pinterest account for the Library and share the information with the students and teachers at my school.  What a great tool for everyone.

I decided the key was to create boards that were based on our genre selections in the Library as well as tools we could use in the library.  We are adding boards left and right featuring titles, displays and specific genre.

I love using the boards to organize things.  I am hoping our students and teachers also refer to the site to see what we have available.  I am going to spend a large amount of my summer and snow cancellation days building the boards so they are easy to use and meet my needs.  I also made a lot of posters and advertisements to put around the school and let everyone know what we have been doing.  Let's hope we see an influx of people using the tool to help them out.

To check out either of my Pinterest boards, you can go here:  Library  or Personal

Acceptable Use Policies

My area tech discussion council had quite a lengthy conversation last week about Acceptable Use and Privacy policies and how to handle them with students. We learned that technology is so far ahead of the times that it's hard to keep up, but, we must attempt to keep up. Even attorney's are having trouble deciding how to handle policy for kids.

Here is my thought:  Require teachers to read the terms of use before adding things to the classroom.  Check for the age permitted, check for the regulations and expectations.  Once you have read this, share the information with parents.  Develop a general Web 2.0 tool database with specific notations about the AUP and the regulations.   It could be set up in a table format like this:  (I chose Animoto because we are looking at using it for a project in school)

Name of Tool	Link	AUP Link/ Privacy Link	Age Restriction	Teacher (s) using
Animoto	www.animoto.com	http://animoto.com/legal/terms http://animoto.com/legal/privacy_policy http://animoto.com/legal/education_terms	13 or over with permission (educational site permits those under 13)	John Doe

I think if teachers are diligent and investigate the policies, they will see some of the programs are really geared for older people. It makes teachers think before they use something.  I am as guilty as others of trying sites, but, I have started reading the terms before kids get online. It is important to think about.

Suffering from Bloggersblock

I am not sure if it really exists, but lately, I have had an absolute huge case of bloggers block.  I have been picking my brain trying to think of things to discuss twice a week and I am finding it a challenge.  Maybe it's because we missed a week of school and I have spent the last week playing catch-up, maybe, I am burned out of technology and need a short sabbatical.  Maybe, I am just plain out of ideas!  I spent the last day looking through my pocket and edshelf.  I have spent some time at a local tech council meeting and I have a few ideas turning in my brain.  So, my plea for all of you who stop by, please be patient.  I am working on a few potential ideas and I promise to get back to you soon.  My resolution this year was to maintain my twice a week post.  I plan to keep doing that because I feel it is a very important part of remaining a connected educator.

Thanks for stopping.  I am going to spend some time this weekend reflecting and I hope to have a decent post for you Tuesday.