Thing 9: E-books

I purchased 11 Nooks for the library this past Fall.  It took us awhile to get all the kinks worked out, but once we did it was great.  It was truly a collaborative effort with the librarians in our BOCES sharing the many forms they created for their library’s e-book program.  Amy Carpenter, Stillwater HS librarian, created a wiki to store all the forms and other relevant information.  It can be found at: http://ereaderresources.wikispaces.com/.   I also purchased Overdrive Advantage, so that my students would have access to more e-book, then just the general Overdrive collection.

I took a look at Joyce Valenza’s eBook portal and there is a ton of great stuff.  I just sent the link to a kindergarten teacher that is going to have an ipad center next year. 

Post 10: Tools for creating websites, pathfinders, portfolios and more

My school district does use a canned website, but I have been exploring other tools for pathfinders, class projects etc.  I actually feel I have good grip on these types of tools. For my pathfinders/class projects I’ve used wikispaces, basically because it is so simply!  I also like it because when I use a wiki for a class project we have the discussion option that the students can use to communicate with the other students and teachers.  We’ve used the discussion feature for a number of different literary discussions. For my seniors we use Google sites to keep a research log, my ninth graders used Weebly to create business website  for their Greek god,  and my Science and Society class also usesGoogle sites to create academic e-portfolios.

I’ve purchased LibGuides to migrate my website to this summer.  I like the fact you can get permission to use another library’s guide and just tweak it to your needs.  I just need more hours in a day to get it done.

Polly, I hope you are going to keep this Cool Tools Site.  I know I’ll refer back to it for all the great resources, articles, and other “stuff.”

Thing 8: Databases

I feel I’m well versed in the world of Subscription Databases.  I have a database page on my website organized by subject.  I used the database button, because the canned website program we use has trouble with the widget.  I do have wiki pathfinders that I used the database widgets on.   All our databases are IP authenticated, so easy access for students and staff.  I’ve worked hard over the years to sell the importance of using the databased to boht the teachers and the students.  It has become the culture of the school for the students to use books and databases and then the “free Internet.”

Thing 7: Collaboration

Google Doc: Next year the school is thinking of going to Google Apps for Education, so I decided to investigate Google docs.  The school uses the platform Classlinks which allows everyone to access Microsoft Office tools, but with an individual username  and password. It works well, but not for collaboration. In the past few years, we’ve had to come up with creativity ways of working out this kink. I guess I could have had them use Google Docs, but I didn’t want the tech tool to overshadow the content of the project. If the school migrates to Google Apps for Education then the students will be using Google docs school wide. This will solve the problem we have been having when students are working in colloborative groups

Pinterest:  I became a fan of Pinterest for my personal use.  My friend’s daughter was finding these really cute craft ideas on pinterest, so I started checking it out.  My daughter sent me an “invite” and the next thing I know I’m addicted and so is the rest of the world.  Talk about going viral!  I didn’t look at it as a professional tool, but it’s a great visual way to keep track of the many interesting ideas in the library world. Another avenue to stay current professionally!

Thing 6: Productivity

I downloaded the app for Evernote to all my devices at the end of last year, hoping to use it with students this past school year.  Unfortunately that didn’t happen, but I have high hopes for next year.  I think using Evernotes and NoodleTools combined will help my juniors and seniors stay organized during the research process.   I like that they can have the Evernote app on their phone, so they have the ability to access and save information on the go. I read an article on using Evernote as a student portfolio for a number of reasons. A few reasons are the ability to scan student work, ability to take screenshots of the computer and Smartboard of student work, and the ability of a student to have 24/7 access to Evernote. Paige wants to pilot a program, Digital Footprints:  How big is yours and does it stink, this might be the perfect tool for students to use.    

The other productivity tool I investigated was Readability.  The ability to clear out the clutter of ads on a website is beautiful.  I love this feature, especially for adults and students who are easily distracted!  I also love the fact you can save an article to read later.  I constantly find resources that people post on facebook that I want to read, but not at that very moment.  The save to read later solves the problem.  In the past, I’ve used delicious to save articles/ sites, but I think this tool can be used as a clearinghouse for articles I want to read and then I can decided which I want to bookmark or save to Evernote.

Dropbox:

I just signed up for dropbox because I was reading an article on ipad  initiative and they used this tool.  I need a bit more time to check out exactly how it works and I think I’ll tie it into using Google docs.

Thing 5: Curation

Thing 5: Curation

Category 1: Social Bookmarking

I’ve been an avid user of delicious for quite some  time; I use it to bookmark school and personal sites.  I do have the seniors set up their own delicious accounts during their major research project to save useful links on their topic.  I was introduced to delicious first, so I’ve just stuck with it.  I just recently started exploring the use of the stacks feature with my school delicious account to build a stack of American Literature resources for my eleventh graders.  Unfortunately, I haven’t had the time to finish it! Yikes!  At any rate I think it has some real possibilities

Category 2: Curation

I love Pinterest!  My introduction to this tool was for personal use.  A friend’s daughter was finding the best craft ideas on it.  At first, I was a Pinterest stalker!  I was using it to find craft ideas and home decorating ideas.  Finally I got myself an “invite.”  I love the visual aspect of this tool!!  I can spend (or waste) a ton of time clicking around people’s pins!  To be honest I didn’t even visualize this tool as professional resource, but I love what librarians are doing with it. I think the visual layout of Pinterest will appeal to students to use as a resource tool.

Category 3: Content Aggregators

Flipboard: I put this on both my iPhone and iPad, so it allows me to read the blogs I subscribe to via Google Reader in a magazine format.  This makes it very easy on the eyes.  I follow all these professional blogs, but don’t always have the time to read them.  With flipboard on my iPhone, while waiting , I can quickly read the headlines of the blogs.  This is a timesaver, because then I can go back and read the blogs I’m interested in.

Thing 4: RSS, Personal Home Pages and Feed Readers

Although I love Personal Information Portals and RSS feeds, I wasn’t able to focus on this blog post until I got through the last couple of weeks before vacation! No snow days have been a killer! I discovered personal information portals and RSS feeds a couple of years ago and set up a iGoogle page at that time. I like that I can have a separate tab for each facet of my life! On my library tab, I set up RSS feeds for a number of library gurus, tech gurus, and educational gurus. Through trial and error I did realize that some blogs’ RSS feeds didn’t work using iGoogle, so I set up Google Reader.  I always try iGoogle first; if it doesn’t work I try Google Reader. 

Last year I had the juniors and seniors set up iGoogle pages (many already had them), so that they could utilize the RSS feeds available from the library subscription databases. I was hoping they would embrace this “push technology.” I tell them once they have all the RSS feeds set up it’s one stop shopping! I had them practice the RSS feeds with the sports section of the Post Star and with Scott Westerfeld’s blog.  Once they did this we hit the databases and practiced using the MagillOnLiterature RSS feeds for The Great Gatsby.  We did learn the EBSCO feeds were easily added to the iGoogle pages, but we had to set a Google Reader for the Gale product’s RSS feeds. To be honest a few of the students understood the power of the RSS feeds, others not so much. Those that did use the RSS feeds during their senior research project definitely understood how the RSS feeds streamlined the gathering of sources for them.  The seniors used them again this year, with a short review of how the RSS feeds work.   I think this year they had a better understanding of the technology.  I’ll also have the juniors set up iGoogle pages and use the RSS feeds when they start their research project.

Thing 3: Online Communities

I've had a facebook and twitter account for some time. I use my facebook more for a personal online community, although I'm friends with professional colleagues. I'm enjoying the SLS Cool Tools facebook group. It's great to see what "cool" things are happening in other libraries.  One gets to pick the brains of colleagues without being in the same room! Although I haven't been big on tweeting, I do check out the library gurus' tweets! It's great if I just have a minute or two to see what's happening in the library and tech world, that I might want to investiagate further.
I did try to put a twitter button on this blog, but I wasn't able to figure out where to paste the code.  I thought it would be under my profile, but there was no place to edit the html. Maybe someone can help me?!?

Thing 2: Part 2

I figured there would be a number of staff and students who received e-readers for the holidays, so I wanted a way to highlight Overdrive and the library's Nooks. After watching Paige's Voki, I thought it would be a cool tool to try.  I just typed in my text because I didn't have a good microphone at home.  As you can see there was a little problem with the pronunciation of e-reader.  I'm going to try again Monday at school using a microphone.  I have a visual impaired student and I think this would work great as a presentation tool. She could create a Voki and then record her information.

Thing #2

Iphone Animoto: The Barn
When I got the email about Thing #2 Storytelling I was in the middle of a Book Trailer project, using Animoto, with a seventh grade English class. I also had just  received an email  about the iphone and ipad app for Animoto.  I decide to use  Animoto because it was tool I was familiar with, but try to use the app for these other devices. Of course then the holidays came along and need I say more... I took Polly's advice and used pictures I had on my iphone, so that's why it's garden video! This video took about five minutes to produce.


Ipad Animoto: Keelin's and Jimmy's Wedding
I also used pictures I had on my ipad to produce this video, thus the wedding video. I really  love the ease of using Animoto to produce videos.  I've done a number of different projects, with my seventh graders, using it.  Most of the projects revolved around books. Simple to use, simple video. For more complex videos I have the students use iMovie. As far as the apps, it was quick and easy to produce a video using both the iphone and ipad. The one  drawback was it limited the number of pictures/slides to 12. Depending on the project this may or may not be a problem. I can see the schools that have classroom sets of ipads being able to  use the Animoto app to create great projects.


Last year Amy Carpenter, shared an Library Highlights Animoto video she produced for her administrators and board. I loved the idea, so I did one of my own. Professionally, Animoto is an easy tool to use to showcase "evidence" for the APPR.


I'm hoping to explore another tool, using the photos of our seniors visiting and using the ACC Library this past week! A big thank-you to Joyce Miller!